I
have just returned from a vacation that felt like a tale
right out of the Arabian nights. It seems impossible that
only 15 days ago, my travel buddy Barbara Borchardt of Woodcliff
Lake, N.J., and I landed in Turkey after a 10½-hour
flight from Kennedy. We immediately boarded another plane
for the hour’s flight to Kusadasi, a small town on
the turquoise Aegean Sea.
The next day, we joined our
tour of seven other adventuresome souls, two Canadian couples,
a woman from Mariposa, Calif., and doctors David and Shelley
Kaminsky of Woodbridge.
We all hopped aboard our comfortably
compact van and with our excellent guide, Mustapha Mirkelam,
we were off to see the ancient city of Ephesus and the Temple
of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,
which dates from the 7th century B.C.
We also visited the Library
of Celsus and the last House of the Virgin Mary, where it
is believed she came with St. John between 37-48 A.D. and
subsequently lived and died here. The ruins were large and
impressive, and in some places, in amazing condition. It
is warm and I found some of the climbing and maneuvering,
rough-going.
Luckily, the Canadians and
Mustapha lent encouragement and helping hands. Mustapha
took us to lunch at an interesting local restaurant ...
something we were able to do throughout the trip because
of the limited size of our group. We were served wonderful,
thin bread served on a foot-long plank of wood and an appetizer
of chopped celery, onions, tomatoes and dill with yogurt
followed by endless courses of rice, lamb, beef and chicken.
Small sweet cakes and apple tea ended the meal.
We stopped at a leather factory
and were treated to a fashion show of beautiful coats and
jackets for men and women, but since some of the coats cost
almost $3,000, there were no takers in our group.
Friday, a long drive brought
us to Pamukkale with its amazing hills of pure white calcium.
It has been a mineral water spa since ancient times. The
waters are muddy and very hot; so despite the couples enthusiastically
scrubbing each other, I opted for the clear, cold waters
of the hotel pool.
On the move again the following
day. Sometimes we drove on winding, mountainous roads affording
spectacular views and at other times the scenery was flat
and almost boring like parts of our Midwest. Antalya, our
destination, was colonized by the Greeks, integrated into
the Roman province of Asia, fortified against the Arabs,
became a rallying point for the Crusaders and later annexed
to the Ottoman Empire. In 1918, the Italians occupied Antalya
but their troops were withdrawn in 1921.
Many towns have been named
and renamed several times and show the influence of the
varieties of the many different people who have lived there
and left their mark. Turkey, because of its location at
the center of the Silk Route between Europe and Asia, is
a treasure trove with the remnants of 13 successive civilizations,
spanning 10,000 years.
The hotel in Antalya is a modern reflection of this history.
It is a psychedelic creation with each wall of our room
in a different vibrant color. The dining room has columns
of graffiti, velvet swings, lime green couches, a library
and a pool table.
We were all exhausted from
the drive to Cappadocia, which took more than 9 hours. I
could hardly wait to shower despite the tubs which are very
narrow and so deep you need a ladder to climb in. On the
way, an interesting stop was at the Museum/Monastary of
the whirling dervish, a unique religious sect whose members
whirl for hours on end, in a type of trance-like state.
A full day was spent exploring
the incredible “moonscape” of Cappadocia with
its starkly dramatic terrain, which seems unreal and is
the result of former volcanic activities. A bad earthquake
in 1950 revealed some caves that had formerly remained hidden.
These and other caves were used for months by entire Turkish
towns to hide from invading armies.
They go back to the time of the Hittites, and the largest
caves could hold 45,000 people. Some of the caves are on
four levels, with ceilings so low, you are almost crawling
through them.
Of course, we also visited
a world-renowned carpet factory where all the carpets are
still handmade. We saw many carpets, each one more beautiful
(and expensive) than the next, but I resisted.
On the way to our next stop,
Ankara, the capital of Turkey, I did succumb to a colorful
plate featuring red tulips (the Turkish national flower)
at a huge pottery factory where I even got to meet the artist
who made the plate. We visited Gordion, the city of King
Midas where Alexander the Great cut the Gordion knot and
then conquered Asia.
After lunch at a small restaurant,
where we were served under the trees, I watched many women
in the town square making small dolls in traditional Turkish
dress, for sale. They worked quickly despite the heat and
their own dress of long enveloping coats and head scarves
worn low down on their foreheads.
There were very few customers
that day, so even though I really didn’t want a doll,
I purchased one for 4 lira, or about $4. Back in the van,
we drove through rolling countryside, past an old Ottoman
village and the picture-perfect town of Eskisehir. But despite
our usual precautions, Barbara and I were hit with tummy
troubles, especially difficult in a country where many of
the facilities are “squattes” or in-the-ground
toilets. We spent the next few days watching our fellow
travelers enjoying bountiful buffet breakfasts while we
consumed only tea, toast and rice.
Jean Cherni
is founder of Senior Living Solutions, a retirement advisory
service. Contact her at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or
15 The Ponds, Branford 06405.
H. Pearce Company REALTORS®
is a full-service real estate company with more than 100
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