Turkey snapshots

Well, it’s been a little over a week since I got home and I’m still adjusting. It’s a little unusual for me, taking this long.. but then again I haven’t been on a solo trip in a while. Anyway, here are my favorite photos..

Home already?!??

I finally won at backgammon the other day! Twice!!

Overall, I absolutely loved Turkey. There are so many ancient ruins to see, and I was only in the southwestern corner! Can’t wait to get back and see the rest of Turkey. The people in all the towns I stayed at (no, I didn’t stay in Istanbul) were so friendly and relaxed that you can’t help but go along with it. In Selcuk, a shopkeeper asked if I was a guide. “What??” “A tour guide, are you a tour guide that came with a group?” I laughed. “What?! No! How do I look like one??” “Well you look so comfortable and confident, not like a tourist, so I thought you were a guide.” Aww! I have to admit, I’m sad to be home.

Anyway, here are my overall thoughts on the towns I stayed in, brief reviews on the pensions and notes about logistics.

ANTALYA
Kaleici, the old part of town, looks charming. The cobble-stoned streets are narrow, twisted and winding; it took a bit to figure out the orientation. I stayed at White Garden Pansiyon for 18EUR (24USD) a night. There is free wifi, breakfast, and VERY clean rooms. It was well worth the money. The owner is Turkish (but has a British accent for some odd reason), very knowledgeable and helpful.

Antalya’s otogar (central bus station) is a little outside of town. You can take the tram there for a couple of lira. From there, I paid 18 lira for the 5 hour bus ride to Patara with a bus company called Bati Antalya. Everything was on time, which included stops in the bigger towns. They drop you off on the highway at the turn-off to Patara. It seems like it’s common practice to hitch a ride to town the rest of the way.. otherwise, walking with luggage would have taken forever!

PATARA
Patara is a sleepy little village with sand dunes (don’t go there by yourself), a very long beach, and ruins. It’s within driving distance of several ancient sites, including Xanthos, Letoon, Pinara, as well as Saklikent Gorge. I stayed at Akay Pension for 30TL a night (20USD). They also have free wifi. My room was huge and clean. By far, my favorite place I stayed at in Turkey! Kazim’s wife cooks a great breakfast that usually lasted me until dinner. Also, as an example of how nice Kazim is, he took us to Xanthos, Saklikent Gorge and PInara and all he wanted was gas money.

KABAK
By car, it takes 1.5 hours to drive from Patara, through Faralya and Butterfly Valley, to Shambala’s door. This place is fairly remote and Shambala charges a lot for everything. Breakfast and dinner are included with whatever house, tent or bungalow you book but be aware that there is a 50% single supplement charge! Stock up on water and snacks to last you during the day if you don’t have a car to get into the main part of Kabak village and want to save money.

A dolmus (minibus) goes from Kabak to the closest big town of Fethiye at 8:30am and 12:30pm everyday. It takes 1.5 hours by dolmus, about 50 minutes driving. From Fethiye’s otogar, it’s another 5 hours to the city of Aydin. For that, I paid a little more to ride with another bus line called Pamukalle. They have wifi on the bus (though I didn’t on mine, for some reason), and an attendant that hands out water, tea and snacks from time to time. Dolmuses to Selcuk leave Aydin’s otogar every hour or so, for 6 lira.

SELCUK
The Selcuk otogar is right next to the three touristy blocks so unless you have a lot of luggage, there’s no point in getting a cab. I stayed up the hill from those three blocks, at Homeros Pension for 45TL (30USD) a night. I was not happy with them, which was surprising because their rating on TripAdvisor was one of the best. Dervis’ family is nice enough, but the bathrooms are shared (which was a surprise to me, especially for that price). The decorations in each room are interesting, but are also very dusty (my allergies kept acting up). There is free wifi and two computers available to use. I liked that they had a free wine hour at 7:30pm, but that goes along with the dinner there, which is 15TL. Yes it’s homecooked, but the dinner I had was all carbs… there is better food for better price in town. You also get locked out at 11pm, which is ridiculous because most shops don’t even close until midnight and bars and restaurants at 3am! Selcuk is so small that everyone knows everyone there, and if you stay long enough, you’ll start to get embedded in ah.. shall we say, neighborly drama?! The shopkeepers love to just chat. Sometimes it’s to make a sale, sometimes it isn’t. So why not just go in, have some apple tea, get to know the locals, and maybe check out some wares? This is one place that I didn’t really feel any pressure to buy anything. But the bottom line is that everyone’s just friendly there (at least to solo female travelers). The guys there are total charmers too.. it was fun! Also, you can book day tours as far out as Bergama and Pamukalle from there; both are about 3 hours’ drive away (in different directions).

Ephesus & Pamukalle

The day before yesterday, Milena and I joined a day tour to see Mary’s House, Ephesus, and the Selcuk/Ephesus museum.

Mary’s House supposedly belonged to the Virgin Mary. The guide said no one knew the location until a German nun received visions and had stigmata on her deathbed. Years later, after the foundations of that house were found, someone compared notes and realized this was it. Several popes have visited this place. I’m not religious so I wasn’t into it, but I respected that other people were.

Next stop was Ephesus. It used to be a HUGE city, and even what remains now is spectacular. On top of that, it’s not even halfway excavated! There’s one main walkway shaped like an L. At the corner stands the Library, the image that’s become so representative of Ephesus (pictured below). In a way, it reminds me of Petra, including the loads of people. The museum has some interesting artifacts, easily done in an hour.

After we got back to town, Milena and I decided to go to another bar. The bartender hung out and took a bunch of pictures with us; these Turks, I’m telling ya, they’re charmers! He also introduced us to a chain-smoking English professor emeritus of classical antiquity that comes by that bar everyday for his 7 o’clock Efes beer. It was interesting hearing his perspective on Ephesus and what he thought some of the excavated buildings were (turns out our guides may have been totally wrong).

The backgammon guy had invited us over for some homecooked Kurdish food the night before, so we brought over some beer and raki. Dinner was good, the company better. One of the guys from next door came over and we made him down a glass of raki in one go– then Enis’ brother got him a glass of water. Turns out it was vodka instead, so he ran to the bathroom puking! Milena thought that was mean but I thought it was hilarious. Spent the next couple of hours playing backgammon– there just is no way to beat Enis!! Hmph! Plus, I had a cold (or allergies? Or both? It was pretty bad).. umm, yes that’s my excuse! Said goodnight to everyone, and goodbye to Milena.

Yesterday was Pamukalle, three hours’ drive away. It’s known for its travertines (pamukalle means cotton castle), which, from my understanding, are created by volcanic water full of calcium carbonate coming to the surface and gradually leaving deposits. The pool overflows eventually and starts a new one, forming terraces over thousands of years. There are also ruins right next to them, including a pool built for Cleopatra. You can still swim in it (for an additional price).

I walked down to the ruins first. The theatre and necropolis are the most visible, but not really spectacular (or maybe I AM getting ruined out?). You have to walk barefoot in the travertines– they are so painful!! You could probably imagine all the ridges and bumps that calcium carbonate enriched water would leave. In fact, after walking in the travertines for 45 minutes (and bumping into Milena!), my lower legs were covered in a fine powder after they dried. The travertines are so white that it’s ridiculously bright– without sunglasses, my eyes were starting to water. There are tadpoles in some of the pools but they know how to get out of your way.

I’m writing this on my way to Bergama, where there are some more ancient sites.. although by the time I get to wifi to publish this I’ll already be back!

. . .

Just got back. It was ok. On my way to dinner with a South African now! Maybe I’ll play some more backgammon afterwards. I’m determined to beat Enis!

Tired

Long but fun day last night. Just a quick update– Milena, the Seattle girl I met at the otogar last night, joined me on a day tour to three ancient sites, Priene, Miletos and Didyma. I’ll write more about it later.

Afterwards, we went to a bar where the bartender hung out with us and introduced some other travelers. We all had some laughs and beers, then Milena and I broke off from the group to get dinner and wander around. Saw the Kurdish guy I met yesterday, Enis, who invited us in for more beer. We spent the night learning and playing backgammon.. we never won. Boo. We’ll get another chance tonight after we see Ephesus!

Lazy day in Selcuk

Not really much to report today. Just some good old fun. The awesome Chicago couple I met in Antalya happened to be in Selcuk so we made plans to meet for dinner. Since today was my free day, I thought I’d wander around town for a bit.

Selcuk is lined with the remnants of ancient Roman aquaducts. During this time of year, storks come and lay eggs right on top of the aquaducts, then hatch and rear their young before flying to South Africa in September. I learned that from this awesome, well-traveled Kurdish shop owner who invited me in to chat and have apple tea and cake; we ended up chatting for 4 hours! One thing I kept hearing from all the shop owners is that more and more tourists are doing the package thing and getting herded to the factory shops instead of the local shops. They claim the factory shops charge more because of commissions; regardless of whether that’s true or not, I still felt bad. They all put my money away as the first sale of the day (it’s local custom to keep that separate from all other sales) even though it was already around 1pm.

Had beers then dinner with the Chicago couple, Sue and Craig. We split another bottle of the national drink here, raki. You mix it with water and it instantly turns white and cloudy, then you add an ice cube. Tastes like licorice. I was feeling a bit homesick but now it’s all gone! I walked with them to the bus station (otogar), we all laughed the whole time there. Like, howling with laughter. Tears in my eyes. We probably didn’t help with the American stereotype but whatever! They left for a couple nights in Istanbul before going back home. Oh and I played with some random pit bull puppy that introduced itself to me by sticking its cold wet nose on my toe. Also met another solo female traveler, from Seattle too! Exchanged emails; we’re going to try and get together. She’s on her way to Kurdistan.

The next four days will be full of ruins– very excited about that!! And no, I’m not ruined out yet. At all.

I think the raki’s still in my system; I’m totally giddy still. Can you tell??

Butterfly Valley

Halfway through Butterfly Valley on the Mediteranean coast sits a tiny village called Kabak. Further down by the cove is Shambala, owned by three Turks. One has stretched earlobes and a handlebar moustache, the other a mullet-meets-fauxhawk, and the woman with long blonde dreads with flowers, feathers and beads woven in. It’s an artists’ community here, the art made from and/or inspired by the natural beauty here. And there is so much of it!

The water is a clear blue, the mountains that drop right into the water covered in hundreds, probably thousands of blooming olive and pine trees. The sun is hot, but the steady breeze and shade is perfectly cooling. I lounge on my balcony with my feet propped up, reading my book all day… butterflies and irridescent beetles fly by lazily while downtempo electronic music floats through, carried by the wind from the camp next to ours. The roads are so undeveloped and the paths so windy, that camp might as well be half a world away from ours.

I was told that during sunset, as the light travels more and more parallel to the water’s surface, you can sometimes see wild dolphins swimming along the outskirts of this cove (I never did, sadly). At night, not even the moonlight is necessary to guide your steps– all the stars that city life hides from you come out. I’ve never seen Orion’s Belt so close to the horizon before. Sometimes, fireflies come near my balcony.

Food here is locally grown or raised. I’ve never had such flavorful tomatoes. The olives are picked and prepared here; they have long conversations about how best to harvest them. Cucumbers are crisp, eggs and meat fresh. At night after dinner, I sit with (yet another) Chicago couple and an English-speaking Turkish girl around the bonfire, talking, laughing, smoking cigarettes and drinking red wine. No one knows what day it is anymore.

One of the owners dropped me off in the nearby town of Fethiye this morning. We were speeding down the steep, slanted road, kicking up huge clouds of dust at 60 mph in his 4×4 painted with zebra stripes… windows rolled down, cold mountain air rushing in, psytrance blasting from the speakers, sun on our faces. What more can I say but… fuckin’ awesome!?

A proper Patara review

So ignoring the fact that someone (not from Patara) tried to rape me, Patara itself is a cute little village.

(Update: yesterday, the Scottish family said they saw the jandarma here so I know they’re following up. I have a light bruise on the left side of my jaw and am a little sore.)

There is one road from the highway that leads into Patara. All it is, is a little break between the mountains and hills here. Akay (ah-kai) Pension, which I’m so glad I stayed at, is a ten minute walk down a forked road. To the left is the proper entrance to the ancient ruins and beach, and to the right is the village. The village itself is just one street, lined with little market shops and restaurants. It’s practically empty here, probably because of the ash cloud and it being shoulder season.

The ancient ruins consist of a theatre, a cobblestoned street lined with several intact columns, a triple-arched gate, and two other buildings I’m not sure of what they are. The ruins sit in a meadow in the valley and at this time of the year, the wildflowers are blooming. The sun is a bit strong, so pack sunscreen. But it’s not humid yet, and the breeze is cooling. The huge, sandy beach is a little past the ruins. There’s a beach bar there with beach chairs.

Yesterday, Kazim offered to take me and the Scottish family to go check out the nearby villages. I almost declined because I wanted to take it easy today, but then decided I wouldn’t let one disgusting man ruin my plans. Our first stop was Xanthos, the ancient ruins (which is a UNESCO World Heritage site) on top of the hill. It overlooks a large portion of the valley. While walking through the overgrown paths, I came across two tortoises and heard the call to prayer. So glad I left the hotel! I was hoping to also stop by the Letoon ruins but apparently the Lonely Planet guide was misleading in saying that they were right next to each other.

Next stop was Saklikent Gorge. It’s a tiny crack between the mountains with a river running through it. Normally, there’s a rope at the bottom and according to the Scottish guys, it’s great fun walking in the river. This time of year, the water is too high (I was a little relieved). We stopped at a nearby open-air restaurant; it seems a little more Middle East out in the countryside. This restaurant, as well as all the other ones, has pillows to recline on and low tables (no chairs). We had these pancake things for lunch.. Delicious! Could have stayed there and fallen asleep.

Last stop was Pinara. The ruins are at the top of one of the mountains. We drove up about 2km, along a super steep road. Parked at the entrance, where there’s a trailhead splitting off three ways. Pinara’s most noticeable ruins are the Lycian tombs carved right into the rock faces. There are so many of them, so impossibly high! The landscape here is also just amazing. You could easily spend a day here hiking around, scrambling up rock walls, and staring out over the valley!

I leave in a couple hours to go to an even smaller village, Kabak. The place I’m staying works with a taxi driver that I decided to hire. It’ll cost ~100USD for the 1.5 hr drive. I thought that was a lot until Kazim and I figured out petrol here is like $17/gallon!!!!!

Sorry, kind of rushed this morning. Here’s a pic of the Patara ruins…

Someone tried to rape me

Today in Patara, I started walking to the beach where there are also sand dunes and ancient ruins. I walked through the village, asked how to get there and they kept saying to follow the road up. I kept walking, walking, walking. Came across a tortoise (the beach is their breeding ground). Further up, came across a construction site with a lot of men working. Checked with them about the beach, they said keep going up to the left.

Soon, I came across an unpaved road through a lightly forested area; heard water so figured that was the right way. Heard footsteps behind me, saw a fairly well-dressed middle aged man walking at his own speed on the opposite side of the street. I acknowledged his presence, we said merhaba (hello) to each other. He stopped at the entrance of the sand dunes to take a picture with his phone, I took some as well. Then he tried to speak to me in Turkish and I kept motioning that I didn’t understand.

I didn’t stop him from walking near me down the sand dunes but then he walked up and put his arm around me. I brushed it off. That happened a couple more times and then he wouldn’t let me brush it off. I could tell something was about to happen. He grabbed me with his other hand, tried to kiss me, I pushed his face away. He pushed me down on the ground and kept trying to hold my arms down while groping and kissing my chest. At one point, he managed to stick his hand down my panties. I stuck my thumb in his eye, he grabbed that arm, I grabbed his windpipe with my other hand, he grabbed that arm, then I stuck my other thumb in his eye again (thank you National Geographic Channel). Fuck him. FUCK HIM. I guess he gave up at that point because he got off of me and when I got up, he started saying “it’s ok, sorry” in broken English. He even tried to brush the sand off of me and gave me his hand to help me up the sand dune. I tried to slap his face, he ducked, so I slapped his arm. When I looked at him then, I knew I was capable of murder. Torture, even. He started walking off and I got out my iPhone to take his pic. The only reason I didn’t go after him was because I realized I lucked out in that he didn’t hurt me more than I hurt him. Just as he was crossing the second dune, an older German couple appeared and I ran up to them and started crying.

They were so sweet, they comforted me and offered to walk me back to my hotel. I didn’t want to ruin their plans so I just asked to join them. We made our way through the dunes onto the beach, then through the ruins (which are beautiful, by the way, especially with the wildflowers growing in now).

They walked me back to my hotel, where I sat with a young-ish New Zealand couple on a RTW and the older son of a Scottish family a couple years younger than me. It helped a lot. The hotel owner’s wife called her husband, told him everything and he told me he would take me to the police station. Then, the wife yelled over to the neighbouring hotel and within a few minutes, several old Turkish women with their colorful headscarves rushed over to see his photo. This village is so small that everyone knows everyone; they didn’t recognize the man (yes, it was a bad pic).

Kazim arrived and we drove to the next villagr to the jandarma station. Jandarma, he managed to explain between outbursts of anger on my behalf, is part military, part police. It was totally intimidating when we got there because we were led to a room with five large, uniformed men who each had a pistol AND whatever you call the military-issued M-16/AK-47 types. I started shaking; Kazim never left my side. They had to find a soldier that could speak better English, and in walked the cutest Turkish guy ever! He was younger too (my age, I found out later). Him not being another big, older man, and being my age, cute, and really warm and nice, was exactly what I needed. I know that probably sounds weird but hey, I stopped trembling.

He asked me what happened and when I started talking, I started crying and shaking again. After I calmed down, he said that we would all drive to where it happened, and see what was there. On our way, I finished telling him what happened and we also stopped by the construction site to see if the attacker was there. Since it was five hours later, a lot of the men had left already. We went back to the station where we put together an official report, though I knew from the beginning they probably wouldn’t catch the guy. They also gave me and Kazim pastries to eat. The cute soldier said he felt very protective of me (aww!), that Turkish guys are not like that, that they all felt so horrible for me. I believed him; I could tell the officers were upset. Came back to the hotel where I was met by open arms from Kazim’s family and the few guests at the pension.

Tomorrow (actually it’ll be today by the time I get to wifi to publish this), the jandarma will come to Patara again to check with the businesses here plus the construction site I had walked by (and I think probably where the attacker was) and send my report to all the other villages this station covers. I definitely am not turned off Patara itself; if anything, this experience has elevated my opinion of the Patara people. But I’m feeling pretty alone now, in my room. Can’t sleep.

Maybe I was stupid for walking alone to the empty sand dunes? But I’ve been in situations by myself that I thought were more risky. Am I too comfortable traveling? I’m not spending too much time wondering about these things. Bottom line is, I’m street-smart but that can’t always protect me. This is one of the risks I take traveling as a solo female. This situation was not my fault, it was a wrong-place-wrong-time scenario. End of story. Also, the jandarma equivalent of 911 is to dial 156.

Sorry for the super long post. Needed some therapeutic venting. I’ve decided to post the picture I took of the man who tried to rape me. Can you feel the isolation and desperation I felt?

Can a day be mundane & interesting at the same time?

This morning, while we (being me and the Singaporean journalist I met on the tour yesterday) were walking to the tram station to get to the otogar (central bus station), I heard a thick Jersey accent behind me yell “Hey! Hey! Where ya from??” Turns out one of the local shopkeepers used to live there. Totally took me off guard when I realized it was one of the old Turkish guys sitting there. He helped us find the tram station– the people here are super nice. Side note: buy your ticket for the tram before you get on. Oops. The guard was nice enough to let us get a free ride.

I paid 18TL (~12USD) for the bus from Antalya to Patara, with the bus company that my hotel recommended, Bati Antalya. With all the stops, it took about 5 hours. What a beautiful 5 hours!! The road lines the coast (the other option is the inland road which requires transfer in Fethiye, pronounced FEH-tee-yeh). The first part of the drive is at altitude, slowly winding through the hills that sometimes give way to huge, rocky, snow-capped mountains on the inland side. It’s a sheer drop-off on the coast side, with mist trailing in and around the coves down at the water some 50, 100 feet below. It’s unbelievably beautiful! The last part of the drive is more like the “coastal” scene you’d expect to see. Only it’s more spectacular than you’d expect! There are still cliffs, but now they’re dotted with large, round, sun-bleached stones. The pattern continues on into the water, with the deep blue Mediterranean turning into a bright turquoise on the shallow shores where the white stones glow through. Occasionally, you can see people that have snuck their way over the fences to fish. The only thing I’d warn about is that the shoreline is very jagged, which means the road is too. Those that know me know I DO NOT get motion sickness. But I did. Totally worth it though!

For Patara, the bus drops you off on the highway. It’s kind of alarming because it’s in the middle of nowhere and you haven’t (or at least I didn’t) seen any taxis around since the last town, a 50 minute drive back. There’s one sign that says Patara is 16 km down. No choice but to hoof it with my pack. I thought ok, it’s not too bad– not humid, it’s 4pm so the sun isn’t murderous, plus it’s slightly downhill. But people driving by often stopped to stare and/or laugh. Hmph! Three cars full of men stopped to offer rides. Seriously?? I’m not an idiot. But I WAS getting tired.. and just then, some man stopped and I decided to hop in. The only other time I’ve hitchhiked was with Sara and Teresa in Belize. Anyway, we started chatting and it turns out that he’s the father of the guy who owns the hotel I’m staying at now! Akay Pension is owned by a family headed by Kazim and his super welcoming wife. The room is great; I know I’d stay here again. And free wifi is always a plus!

Random note: for some reason, I just cannot get the Turkish “thank you” in my head. I kept on having to stop myself from saying “gracias” the past couple days and today I accidentally blurted it out in Arabic. WTF? Anyone else ever have that happen??

No pics on my iPhone today, sorry.

Side, Aspendos & Perge

Joined a day tour this morning, got picked up from my hotel and first headed to Side. It’s pronounced SEE-duh. It’s a total tourist trap of a beach town, but I guess I can kind of see why. The main attraction is the Temple of Apollo, the gleaming white marble ruins right on the beach. The deep blue water behind it really makes everything sparkle! But then you have overweight, scantily clad, leathery European women traipsing around, wandering into your viewfinder. Sigh. It was worth a day trip though.

Next up was Aspendos, one of the best preserved ancient Roman theaters. Sorry, I don’t have much to say about that one. I ended up leaving early and hanging out with the driver in the car listening to techno. These Turks, man they love their techno!

We stopped by a natural spring to refill our water bottles before heading off to Perge (PER-geh). This was what I was waiting for all along. It’s a HUGE place, earliest inhabitants probably came around 1200BC. It was taken over so many different times throughout the centuries, but the most prominent, excavated remains are those of the Romans’. The level of detail is spectacular and yet, you still feel like you’re one of the first to rediscover it. This was especially the case in the ancient baths, where the natural greenery of Anatolia grew in and snaked through all the cracks and openings of the ruins. Along the main walkway, you can still see tracks in the cobblestones where chariots had made their marks. At one point, I even came across a small herd of sheep munching their way along the pillar-lined street towards the Nympheum. Did I go back in time??

I leave Antalya tomorrow and head to Patara. Below, crappy iPhone pics of Side and Perge.