Visit to a Turkish Hamam(bath house) and smoking apple tea.

A trip has to be about experiencing the culture and not just about looking at the sights so there we were, in fear and trembling, stripped down to our knickers in a Turkish Hamam or bath house.  I had been quite looking forward to a good massage after many hours travelling in our mini bus and also a lot of hiking and walking making old muscles ache somewhat.  Others in our group were a little more nervous about the Hamam experience but everybody decided to give it a go.  This was a traditional Hamam, about 600 years old,  located in the centre of the town of Selcuk. 

After stripping down, the first step was to lie on a huge circular marble slab heated by a fire beneath.  We all lay there like spokes in a wheel,  giggling, joking and gently roasting. Great brawny Turkish men, clad only in cotton towels wrapped around their waists, barked orders at us in a no nonsense kind of way. After a long slow roast we were taken one by one to be scrubbed within an inch of our lives...so hard I thought my skin would come off.  This was followed by a good dowsing with buckets of cold water.



Waiting for our massage...(I'm 2nd from left)
and the only picture taken in the bath house...for obvious reasons!

We were then wrapped in towels and waited our turn to be smothered in oil and massaged by these powerfully strong men. Written down like that it doesn't sound like a fun activity but I assure you it was well worth it.  We came out sparkling clean, relaxed and all pink and glowing. In fact we all felt marvellous. I would highly recommend a visit to a Hamam while in Turkey but suggest, perhaps, steering clear of the more famous ones which may be a bit touristy.  As we left the Hamam an American couple were passing by.  The woman asked us in an incredulous voice "Did you just go in there?"  We said we had and she put her hand to her chest and said "Oh my!"  We told her it was wonderful and she should try it.  She didn't look convinced.



Our hookah coaches 

I get the hang of it...eventually!


The next evening it was time to hang out in a Turkish restaurant and smoke apple tea through a nargile or hookah.  I have not been a smoker and had never tried a hookah before so this was going to be another  novel experience.
 
After coaching by two young men who told us they were hookah teachers we set to and had a go.   The air around us was filled with shrieks of laughter as one or other of us forgot to inhale/exhale, whatever, but we finally got to master the technique and eventually sat there like old hands merrily puffing away.  Fortunately this café was familiar with tourists who don't know hookah etiquette.



Apparently part of the etiquette is to keep quiet and low key, which we certainly weren't, embarrassingly. I can understand why hookah smoking is popular in Turkey, it is very relaxing.  I have no idea whether this type of smoking is a health hazard but figured that once in a life time is not going to hurt.






Hils puffs away in style.

So there you are, two Turkish cultural activities, both heaps of fun with a feel good factor. If you're going to Turkey make sure you enjoy both.

Pamukkale (Cotton Castle) - Turkey - Ancient ruins and stunning white silica terraces

  The journey between Dalyan and Pamukkale was scenic and varied, winding through tiny villages, up and over a mountain range and onto a highway through some  mighty impressive road works blasted through great cliffs of rock.  Our lunch stop was at a small rural restaurant, Cinaraltina Kahve, where we ate delicious gozlemi and a lip smacking salad made of only tomato, onion, parsley and olive oil with a squeeze of lemon juice.  I don't know why this salad tasted so good.  It may have been to do with the setting, under a giant plane tree, or, as I suspect, the fact that Turkish cooks have a magic touch. We went on and over another mountain pass and across a vast plain of golden crops and cattle farms framed by a dramatic mountain range beyond. Then through villages with farmhouses bedecked in colourful, tightly packed strands of red capsicums  hanging to dry from every ledge and balcony.  A long, straight downhill road took us through the attractive town of Denizli. With a population of half a million it was the biggest town we had been in since Istanbul and I liked the look of this fresh, bright, modern city, imagining it as pleasant place to live.

Pamukkale - Cotton Mountain from our hotel

 Our destination for the night  was Pamukkale. Pamukkale means "cotton castle",  named for the spectacular  white silica terraces which overlook the village.  New Zealand had similar terraces near Rotorua which were a magnet for overseas tourists in the 19th century. Sadly they were buried in the volcanic eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. The pink and white terraces of Tarawera have an almost mythological status in New Zealand and I had often wondered what they were like and this was as close as I could get to finding out.  Many of the rooms at our hotel, the Hal-Tur, faced the terraces offering magnificent views of what looked for all the world like a snow covered mountain. It was hard to get my head around the fact that it wasn't snow.  That evening we had a superb 4 course meal beside the hotel swimming pool with a romantic view to the floodlit terraces opposite. 

At Heirapolis

Next morning we visited the ruined Anatolian city of Heirapolis. Dating from the 3rd century BC and now a Unesco world heritage site, the city became famous as a spa with mineral waters believed to cure many diseases.  As a consequence the necropolis, or graveyard, is huge - the curative waters didn't always work! - with some of the best and biggest tombs we have seen. 

Tombs in the vast necropolis at Heirapolis

Theatre with new excavations beyond 

The theatre with seating for 5000 and with panoramic views over the countryside, was built in 129AD for a visit by Hadrian.  It has undergone a lot of restoration but is still a work in progress. Covering a vast area, only a portion of which has been excavated,  the city, at it's height, was home to 100,000 and, during the Roman period, was famous as a centre for the arts, philosophy and trade. The apostle, Philip, lived the later part of his life in Hierapolis and was martyred there in 80AD. The city was ransacked by Persian armies in the 7th century and during its history suffered from several major earthquakes, the final one leading to its abandonment in the 14th century.  There are some marvellous examples of ornate sarcophagi and statuary from the site in the Big Bath Museum located in the ruins of the bath house (2nd century  AD).

Starting the walk down the silica terraces

We spent some time wandering the city before making our way to the modern hot thermal pools at the top of the Pamukkale Travertines, or terraces. The pools were crammed with bathers and holiday makers.  It was suffocatingly claustrophobic so we beat a hasty retreat to begin the downhill walk on the silica terraces.

To preserve the surface all walkers are required to remove their shoes and walk barefoot.  We thought it would be slippery but it wasn't, there was plenty of grip.  It was a good sensation walking in the warm flowing mineral water past terraced pools of bright aqua.... dazzling, surreal and beautiful. Even walking on the terraces it was hard to comprehend that it was not snow. It took us about half an hour from top to bottom but we really didn't want the walk to end.  At the bottom we put our shoes back onto feet, smooth, soft and relaxed from this free spa treatment and boarded our bus for our next destination, Selcuk.

Walking the Pamukkale Travertines

P.S. The Hotel, Tal-Hur, was excellent with eager to please staff and good bathrooms it was one of the better hotels we stayed in in Turkey. 

Dalyan, Turkey...A bit of a mixed bag

The Lycian tombs in Dalyan

I didn't think much of Dalyan to start with.  The town was overrun with Brits on cheap package tours, the shops were full of terrible tat, there seemed to be a lot of hippy types aimlessly milling around  and our hotel, with broken plumbing and poor service, was nothing to write home about.   My friend,  Hils, and I took a walk around town and after a long awaited cup of coffee started to head back to the hotel.
 It was then that we spotted the  jewel in Dalyan's crown; the elaborate and spectacular Lycian tombs carved into the cliffs on the other side of the river. It was worth everything else just to see them.  Later, in the evening, our whole group ventured up town again for dinner.  We dined at a river's edge restaurant right opposite the tombs which at this stage were softly lit and seemed to float eerily above the river in the darkness.  It was quite a sight.

Opening my clay pot dinner

We dined on chicken, served in sealed clay pots which had to be broken open to eat the contents. In a fun little ceremony the waiter assisted each diner to slice the pot open with a large knife. I warmed to Dalyan as we sat by the river, the odd boat chugging past, the ghostly tombs watching over us and, on the walk home, enjoyed the lively party atmosphere in town.

This is the life!

We were in Dalyan mainly as a base for a couple of leisure activities.  The next day we were booked onto our own chartered boat to take a 12 island cruise around the coast.  What  bliss to cruise the Mediterranean without a care in the world, anchoring now and then near different islands to swim in the clean, clear, aqua green sea, sunbathing, snoozing, chatting, laughing and relaxing.  At lunch we were served a feast on deck, the aubergine and garlic in yogurt was a big hit.


Lunch on deck; 12 island cruise



Ancient ruins and the ice cream boat

The busy boat harbour in Dalyan

At one point we were visited by the ice cream boat, a small speed boat which travels from charter boat to charter boat selling ice creams.  Of course we all bought one for the sheer novelty of it.






The following morning it was another boat trip, this time a serene river cruise past the Lycian tombs, the township, the bustling boat harbour and up to Lake Koycegiz.  Along the way we saw flying fish and turtles, hot mud pools and fishermen quietly contemplating on the river side.




Fisherman on the river

Aboard the river boat

Our boat dropped us off at the ruined city of Caunos.  Although it was an easy hike up to the town, past pomegranate trees dripping with fruit, it was so searingly hot that rivers of sweat ran down our backs.  Dating back to the 4th century Caunos has the usual theatre, baths, shops etc but it also had the best ancient town street I had seen so far.  I was thrilled with it.  It was a long street which ran down the side of the hillside, paved and with short flights of steps at odd intervals.  It didn't take much to visualise life there 1500 years ago. Over the hill and down the other side we re-joined our boat and continued to Turtle Beach where we stopped for another swim in the warm fresh sea.


With Hils on Turtle Beach

Turtle Beach is a very popular spot and  was crowded with people renting deck chairs for the day.  We didn't stay long, had our swim and took the boat back to town.  As we cruised through high reeds with a procession of boats following us I was reminded of the river cruises I had taken in Africa.  It had been another great day.


Cruising back through the reeds

So there you have it.  Dalyan, good and bad but in the final analysis, mainly good.  Just make sure you get out and do things and don't hang around town too long.

Saklikent Gorge - Turkey

 We had just completed a hot, sticky two hour walk down a mountain so were ready for a welcome rest and my idea of the perfect place to rest is beside cool, flowing water.  Luckily for me our next stop was at Saklikent Gorge, a dramatic, awe inspiring and stunningly beautiful spot. At 20kms long it is the second longest gorge in Europe and also the longest and deepest in Turkey. It is no wonder the crops and orchards in this part of Turkey are lush and bountiful, there seem to be springs and rivers everywhere.

Access to the gorge is by way of a suspended walkway above the gushing, sea green water which pushes upwards from the Ulupinar springs at the base of the towering cliffs. It is fair to say I was in heaven!   It is possible to walk for four kilometres along the floor of the gorge once the spring snow thaw has passed through but it is a wet walk. We, however, chose to relax and drink tea at the small tea house inside the gorge while keeping ourselves amused watching intrepid walkers negotiate the swift flowing water.

The walkers clung to each other for support and there was the occasional splash when someone tripped and got drenched.  We were content to just watch.  The gorge is an awesome place and I loved the feeling of peace and coolness there, the only sounds the bubbling water and the occasional bird call breaking the silence. The river flowing from the gorge is popular with adventure tourists and there are operators offering everything from rubber tubing on the river to jeep safaris along the floor of the gorge.  A number of open air restaurants and gift shops circle the entrance and backpacker type accommodation in tree huts is available but I didn't find it unduly "touristy".  It is all pretty low key.

Perfect spot to rest a while

Outside the canyon we found a spot at a restaurant where we relaxed in over water booths, eat lunch, dangled our feet in the deliciously cool water and watched the  adventurers racing past us in rubber tubes. It was an absolutely perfect place to rest and revive and prepare for new adventures ahead.

Delicious cool water to soothe our feet

On leaving the gorge and heading out to the main road again we passed numerous four wheel drive vehicles with groups of young tourists aboard all armed with water pistols and showering everyone in sight.  They were having the time of their lives. We oldies had been perfectly content with our more sedate couple of hours.

Home Stay on a Turkish farm

Kaputas Beach

After a couple of lazy, blissful days in Kas we set off on our journey again around the spectacular Turkish coastline, stopping briefly at the beautiful  Kaputas Beach.  We have glorious beaches in New Zealand but it is the colour of the water in Turkey that is sublime - aqua turquoise near the shore, changing to sea green and then to navy blue further out.  I could have stared at it for hours but we had a schedule to keep and were heading to a farm home stay high in the Taurus mountains. 


Fertile valley in the Taurus Mountains

Our route took us past the town of Kalkan, sadly now over run by ex-patriots, and through the world heritage site of Xanthos, then onto bumpy, twisty, narrow roads which wind through crumbling villages, their lush orchards and vines groaning under enormous crops. Our bus climbed ever upwards until, finally, we turned into the  farm which was to be our overnight stay.  This farming family provides a home stay experience to supplement their income and, like most in the area, is home to three generations of the same family.  Our accommodation was basic, in a dormitory, sleeping on foam mattresses on the floor, but it was a fantastic place to spend a night.

Bergil and Layla prepare our lunch

We settled in and then went to watch grandmother, Layla, and daughter, Bergil, prepare our lunch.  In their small kitchen they made delicious gozleme (Turkish stuffed pancakes) filled with cheese, onion, dill, cumin and parsley and cooked over an open fire,  which we ate at a long table under grapevines dripping with grapes.  Lunch was accompanied by their homemade Ayran, a sour yoghurt drink.

Ursil and his son show us the valley below their farm

After lunch and a relaxing snooze Ursil, the daughter's husband and their small son took us for a walk around the hillside and part way down to the valley.  It is an astonishing place, a veritable garden of Eden fed by natural, gushing spring water. We passed grape vines, figs, persimmons, quince, pears, blackberries, red currants, sunflowers, corn, beans and other crops, all growing in abundance and on every spare piece of land until we arrived at a lookout over the vast, fertile valley floor crammed with crops.


Layla weaving a Kilim rug

At the farmhouse with our hosts

Back at the farm we watched Layla weaving a kilim rug with walnut stained fingers and quick deft hands and then enjoyed a happy hour before another delicious meal under the vines.  We spent the evening chatting with the family, (Bergil spoke good English), buying a few of their handcrafts and drinking sage and mint tea from their garden.  In bed that night we giggled and joked like school kids on camp, even making shadow animals on the ceiling.  In the morning my friend, Hils, complained she hadn't slept because it had been "snorers alley".  The funny thing was that we all said the same thing...well somebody must have been asleep! I know I hadn't slept well because the farm dog was barking, a cock was crowing from about two onwards and I was nearly strangled by my sleeping bag liner, quite apart from being bothered by snorers!


 Everything for breakfast came from the farm; butter, cheese, bread, olives, apricot jam, honey, grape jam and eggs. 


The grape vine beside the farmhouse

Layla is a wonder woman.  As well as caring for the livestock on the farm she weaves rugs, knits jerseys, embroiders scarves, make all the jams, bread, pickles olive oil etc, ably assisted by Bergil, and still manages to look very youthful. 


Heading off down the mountain after our stay

After breakfast we loaded our van and then set off with Bergil and her little dog, Bonjook, for the 2 hour walk down the mountain.  It was quite difficult on the uneven, stony ground and narrow pathways but also very enjoyable.  Along the way we met several farming families harvesting their crops.  They were all so welcoming, friendly and generous pressing luscious peaches and great bunches of grapes into our hands.  Bergil told us that when her grandparents lived on the farm there was no road up and everything had to go up and down the mountain on donkeys.  That must have been tough!

The local farmers harvesting grapes
and, below, proud grandparents handed us peaches

This farmstay was a wonderful and unique experience.  How lucky we were to stay with a local family and gain an insight into  life on a Turkish farm. They were the loveliest of people, charming and obliging hosts and their farm, high in the mountains is a quiet and magical haven.

Christchurch's "Cardboard" Cathedral

I wrote about Christchurch last year and commented on the shock I felt at seeing the devastation this city suffered from the massive earthquake of February 2011.

The Anglican Cathedral was the much loved centre piece of
Cathedral Square.  After the earthquake it was so badly damaged
that it is has been deemed irreparable

 I was back there recently and it was good to see that the city's rebuild is progressing well.  It will be a long slow job and, as yet, there is not much to see in the way of new buildings but the city is buzzing.  It has a skyline filled with construction cranes and all around the city foundations are being poured  for new buildings to replace demolished ones. I was particularly interested to see the "Cardboard" or Transitional Cathedral built as a temporary home for Christchurch's Anglican community after their beloved cathedral was devastated in the earthquake that rocked the city.

Designed free of charge by Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, who is well known for his post disaster architecture, and in association with Christchurch architects, Warren and Mahoney, the very name "Cardboard" conjures up an image of a less than substantial,  flimsy structure.  When details emerged of a "cardboard" Cathedral to be built as a temporary replacement for the solid stone Cathedral, a famous icon of the city, many of the public were disbelieving.  And when, during construction and before the roof was completed, some of the cardboard tubes got wet and had to be replaced, they nodded sagely muttering "I told you so".  But how wrong they were.

The simple interior with cardboard tubes beams
 The design of the seats echos the tubular construction

The cathedral is a solid structure built in an A frame style.  The steeply pitched frame consists of 2 foot diameter cardboard tubes which are reinforced with wooden beams and then coated with polyurethane and fire retardants.  The beams, covered by a polycarbonate roof rest on 8 shipping containers which have been converted to provide office space and storage rooms.

The stained glass using images from the old cathedral's rose window

At the entry to the cathedral there is a large brightly coloured stained glass window made up of triangles and featuring images from the rose window in the damaged cathedral.
The Cathedral seats 700 and has been designed to be multi-purpose so that as well as being used for regular church services it also serves as a much needed concert and conference venue.

Even the pulpit is constructed from cardboard tubes

I was mightily impressed by the Cardboard Cathedral.  It is simple in the extreme, a calm, peaceful non-pretentious place.  While debate rages over the future of the old cathedral, although it now appears  that it will be completely demolished, this is an ideal stop-gap measure.  I am betting that the locals become very fond of their Cardboard, Transitional Cathedral and will be reluctant to see it go when they do eventually get a brand new Cathedral in Christchurch's main square, on the site of the old one.

Kayaking in Kas

The trip through Turkey had been busy until now so we were all looking forward to a couple of days relaxation in the gorgeous seaside town of Kas.  Kas (pronounced "cash") is synonymous with bougainvillea in Turkish and the town certainly lives up to it - long, trailing, delicate fronds of pink and white bougainvillea adorn many of the buildings in town, including our hotel.  The idyllic view from our hotel was of a ridiculously blue bay with boats anchored inshore and a lonely Greek island just off shore.  Apparently the Greek government pays its handful of residents to live on this island in order to keep it in Greek hands. Our sumptuous breakfast on the top floor, open sided restaurant, watching as the golden sun rose to bathe the town, was certainly a wow moment.

View from our hotel restaurant










Looking at the sunken city

But, no time to linger, we were off for a kayaking adventure.  I love kayaking so was excited about this, especially the part where we were to kayak over a sunken city.  A short drive from Kas, a quick kayaking lesson for beginners and we were off.  Ok, well the sunken city was a bit of a non event.  There was nothing to see apart from a couple of large underwater rocks which, we were told, were masonry, but the 3 and a half kilometre trip on flat, crystal clear water, to our destination, a small island, was everything I hoped it would be.


"Zorba" and our guides

We were trailed by an old put-put boat skippered by a rotund, jolly old man in a captain's hat.   His role was to make sure we were safe and with his weathered face and missing teeth he looked like a character in a movie so we nicknamed him Zorba.  We pulled up on the tiny, rocky island for lunch.  I couldn't help thinking that it was the sort of place you see on postcards and wish you were there - and, well, we were! It had all the necessary postcard requirements - a sheltered cove, clear aqua green sea and a white stony beach with  the
                                                                                       occasional stone ruin here and there

Tired after our long kayak we dived into the delicious sea for a swim while our kayak guides prepared a picnic lunch of dolmas, olives, stuffed peppers, fat, juicy tomatoes, cold meat, cheeses and bread.  There was just time for another swim and then we were off kayaking again to Simena, about 1 kilometre away. 

Simena castle, overlooking the bay

Simena, with a ruined castle on top of the hill, dates from the 4th century BC.  It was quite a climb to the castle in the searing heat but worth it for the view which looks out over Lycian tombs on one side and has panoramic views of the bay and coastline on the other.  Then it was back down again for welcome ice creams before starting out to kayak home.



 



We circled a partly submerged Lycian tomb close to shore and then made our way out into the bay.  By now the wind had come up and the sea was choppy.  It was hard, exhausting work with waves breaking over our kayaks - a bit scary really, but because I was the only one in a single kayak a guide stayed with me all the way back.  This was an unexpected bonus because he led me to a secret spot to view sea turtles swimming happily in a sheltered cove.

Setting off from Simena, unaware of the hard work ahead.

I was thrilled to finally make it to shore, albeit well behind the others.  We had kayaked for over 7 kilometres - not bad, not bad at all!  Zorba celebrated our safe return with an impromptu waltz along the beach with one of our group, much to our amusement. So, not exactly a rest day but a wonderful day all the same.  Back to the hotel to hot showers, a stunning sunset and a romantic dinner overlooking the bay at The Sultan's Garden, an open air restaurant bedecked with floating panels of fine white cotton and softly lit Turkish lanterns.  This is the life!  I decided there and then I could stay in Kas a week, or a month, or maybe even a year!

                                             The town of Kas with a Greek Island in the bay.