Konya and Sultanhani

Today we covered a lot of ground, over 600km of it. Because of the distance, we left a bit earlier than usual and headed for Konya from our hotel in Denisli (nearest town to Pamukkale). En route, we passed through Aksehir that is famous as the birthplace of ancient humorist Horca. You can see many pictures or statues of him riding a donkey backwards. This area is also famous for its cherries and we tasted some during our break. But since it was not the cherry season, these came from outside the region. They still tasted good since they were free!

We arrived at Konya at lunchtime and our lunch was at a caravanserai that was converted into a restaurant. A caravanserai is an ancient traders hotel that catered to both the travellers and their caravan of animals such as camels. The environment is something different from the ordinary.


After lunch we made our way to the Mevlana Museum which is the original lodge of the Whirling Dervishes, a mystical Sufi Muslim group.

We continued our long journey and we had the next welcomed stop at the caravanserai at Sultanhani which is the largest and best restored caravanserai in the region.

Finally, we arrived in the region of Cappadocia and checked into the Peri Tower Hotel in Nevsehir. It had the best spread of buffet dinner so far. After dinner, we rushed off to an underground restaurant for our Turkish Night, a night of Turkish cultural dances including the Whirling Dervishes and the Belly Dance. For many in the tour the most interesting part of the evening was the free flow of drinks for the night, both soft and hard that included vodka.

After all the drinking, all of us had a sound night's sleep except those Manchester United fans since their team lost 2-0 to Barcelona in the Championship finals tonight. Tough luck.

(You can watch a video of two of the dances in my Vimeo link here.)

Ronald Kwok

http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok

Ephesus and Pamukkale

The first stop today was the House of Virgin Mary which is located on a hill not far from the ruins of Ephesus. This is a small Roman stone cottage, completely reconstructed. Below are the outside views since photo is not allowed inside. The first photo is the statue of Virgin Mary on the way to her house.

There is also a wishing wall on the way down. My missus is penning some wish, maybe it is "..............keep us away from the A(H1N1) flu........."!

Since this site has been authenticated by the Vatican, it attracts a lot of tourists and also pilgrims, both Christians and Muslims alike.

From here we went to a Turkish Delight supermarket in Selcuk to sample the different varieties of Turkish Delight and also the different flavoured Turkish tea. The shop did some roaring business from our group since most of us stock up the items as gifts for our return from this trip.

Finally it was the stop we most anticipated for the day, the ancient ruins of Ephesus and it did not disappoint. If you have a choice, start at the back entrance (which we did, luckily) and walk your way to the main entrance. In this way, you will see the grand Library of Celsius towards the end and thus it will not diminish your enjoyment of the other ruins. The weather was sunny and just great for photos.

(It was at the ruins of Ephesus that we had another scare. We met a large group of tourists wearing T-shirts that proudly says Mexico and they were following our footsteps, literally. Lest you forget, Mexico was where the whole A(H1N1) flu started and so we tried to keep away from them as far as possible!)

After a buffet lunch, we enjoyed a relaxing fashion show put up by one of the leather factories. Complete with apple tea or even beer if you prefer, on the house.

We continued our journey to Pamukkale, the famous "cotton castle" which is just next to the Roman ruins of Hierapolis. This is you two-in-one site but the main interest is the travertine of Pamukkale unless you are a history buff.

We then drove down to the park at the foot of the travertine where we had a very different view with a very tranquil stroll that was very soothing for the soul while the earlier barefoot walk on the travertine was soothing for the soles.

Our last stop for the day was at the C&H Hotel that has a thermal pool but most of us were too tired to try that and went to bed after dinner. It brought a very photogenic day to an end. Goodnight.

Ronald Kwok

http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/

Historical sites of Troy and Pergama

Canakkale is a favorite overnight stop for tourist visiting Troy since it is less than half an hour's drive from Canakkale and also a half-way point for traveller going from Istanbul to Kusadasi/Ephesus.

So after breakfast, we set off for the ancient ruins of Troy. Among the major ancient sites on this tour, Troy is the least interesting visually though it may be the most historical and it is good that we visited it first, to be followed by Pergama and finally Ephesus. As it is, this is also the order of visual appeal and things looked better and better as we progressed. BTW, this tour covers the major Turkish attractions in an anticlockwise direction while there are other tours that cover the same itinerary in the opposite direction i.e. in a clockwise direction. If you have a choice, pick the one in the anticlockwise direction, for in the opposite direction you may have lost your appetite for ancient sites by the time you come to Troy last!

OK, back to Troy. What is Troy without the Trojan Horse? (Unfortunaely, there was no Helen.)




Our next stop was another ancient site, this time it was Pergama. The location is more spectacular as it is located on top of a hill overlooking the present town.

The ruins are also more interesting visually compared to Troy and they remind you of those in Greece.

We continue our drive to the seaside resort of Kusadasi. I have been to Kusadasi last year during my cruise in Greece as it was one of the stops among the Greek islands tour because of its proximity. At that time we stopped at the harbour and visited the Bazaar for some shopping. I did not opt for the tour to Ephesus that was offerd then since Turkey was on my next holiday destination.

The Hotel we stayed, the Tatlises, is on a coastal hill overlooking the Kusadasi harbour and I could see cruise ships docking there and it brought back sweet memories of my last visit.

We had our dinner outdoor next to the swimming pool and we also had a nice view of the sunset while enjoying our food.

There is also a supermarket 5 minutes down the road where you can stock up your snacks and essentials. Bottled water was the cheapest that I found in Turkey, about .80 lira for 1.5 litre compared to 1 or 1 and a half lira elsewhere. Good value and goodnight.

Ronald Kwok

http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok