Ice Age

**NOTE: We had some trouble uploading photos, so you can read about our adventure and we'll post more photos later.

On the 5^th day of our whirlwind journey through historic western Turkey, we arrived at Pamukkale in the afternoon after a 3 hour drive, yummy buffet lunch (with half-bottle of wine!), and a tour of an onyx carving workshop. Both of us were not sure what to expect from this location. We guessed it had to do with ruins (as our last 4 stops were all Greek and/or Roman ruins). Well, we got some ruins, but we also got something completely unexpected and fantastic.

The ruins at Pamukkale are the ancient city of Hieropolis. It was founded in 200BC and like every city went through Greek and Roman rule until an earthquake covered the city with dirt. Currently there is only a theater, bath, main street, necropolis (cemetery), and agora uncovered. There are some other stones that have been excavated but they look more like a pile of stones rather than something important. Our guide gave us a quick tour of the site, pointing out the main locations, took us to “Cleopatra's pool”, and finally the travertines. More on that later...

Looking into a sarcophagus

Our first look at the travertines.

Agora

When we arrived at the ruins we were were pretty underwhelmed. After seeing Pergamon, Priene, and Ephesus, these ruins were not exciting. The city was twice the size of Ephesus, but only half the population. The city also did not use aqueducts like most Roman cities; they relied on the warm water from underground springs to provide water.

This is why people come to Pamukkale – the warm, underground springs. The pool our guide took us to is a thermal spring that is 'good for health'. The water was a lovely 32.5 Celcius. Unfortunately, it's also 25 lira (about $18) to go swimming in it. We didn't have our bathing suits, so decided against it. In the summer, though, it's apparently packed with people lounging in the pool, on the deck, and at the cafes around the pool. If you don't want to pay for the pool, you can visit the travertines.

This part was by far the best of our Turkey trip. Pamukkale in Turkish means “Cotton Castle”, mainly because of it's color. The mountains outside of the village have a strange white color, because of calcium carbonate from the thermal springs. The water runs down the side of the mountain and leaves behind pools of chalk, warm water, and strange, white rock formations. You can take photos of it from the top (where the ruins of Hieropolis are), or you can take a walk in the pools and on the rocks as you descend the mountain.

Richard and I were staying in Pamukkale village for a night, so after our guided tour of Hieropolis, relaxing pool-side, and taking photos from the top of the mountain, we descended. The travertines are a UNESCO world heritage site, so you must take off your shoes and wade in the water in bare feet. On the top of the mountain, the water is warmest (almost the same temperature as the thermal spring pool). As the water runs down the mountain, it gets colder, and in some places where there is no water running at all, the rocks are ice cold. The silt from chalk and calcium deposits act as sand in the bottom of the pools, and it's all squishy when you walk in it!

Close up of what the travertines look like

Wading in the warm water pools

The water ran down the mountain in these channels

Kiss

A big channel and the side of the mountain

Hi Rich! The path from the top

The water continually runs down the mountain, shaping the white stones and creating pools, until it reaches a large lake at the base of the mountain. The water began forming the travertines around 14,000BC. If you go to Turkey and you manage to get out to this point, spend at least a day and night in this area to really enjoy Hieropolis, Cleopatra's pool, and most importantly the travertines!!

Lost Yer Marble

Ephesus is a very famous ancient city. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time inside a Christian church probably knows about Paul's letter to the Ephesians. This is the city the letter was sent to. There were three different Ephesuses, but only the remains of the third city can be seen. The marble that was used to build the first city of Ephesus was taken to build the second. When the second city was destroyed the marble from that city was used to build the third city. It makes sense, because marble was and is very expensive. The third city was built during the Roman period around 100BC. It became one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean with a population of around 250,000. The third city was finally destroyed by a giant earthquake in the 7^th century AD. After that, the city was conquered by the Seljuk Turks in 1090, which ended Byzantine rule. It was reduced to a small village by the time the second Crusade happened.

The first stop we made was at the house of the Virgin Mary about 7KM away from the Ephesus excavation site. It is believed to be the last place Mary lived before her death. There is no way to confirm this, but John the Baptist was known to have lived in Ephesus. If stories are to be believed, then John took care of Mary after the death of Jesus, which means that she would have lived in Ephesus with him. Now, it has become a place of worship. Daily prayer is held outside the home. Inside the home, no photography is allowed, but there is a statue of Mary. There are also a few relics left by Pope John Paul and Pope Benedictine on their visits to Ephesus.

The house of Mary

A prayer wall

Today, around 20% of the third Ephesus has been excavated. The proper city of Ephesus is being slowly uncovered, but what they have already dug up takes around two hours to walk through. They have figured out a basic layout of the city. They have located the entrance gate, the bathhouse next to it, and the temple of Hestia near the hospital. They have also uncovered the Library of Celsus, which is the third largest library of the ancient world behind Alexandria and Pergamon. Next to the library, they found the “love house,” which apparently is connected to the library by a secret tunnel. The main road, Hercules Gate, and an extremely large amphitheater have also been excavated. You can see where the city walls were, but they are on top of very tall hills. Hopefully, they will finish excavating the site, and you will be able to see the entire ancient city of Ephesus. That would turn a two hour tour into at least a five or six hour tour. Possibly needing a day to itself.

A view of the area Ephesus used to cover

Small amphitheater for nobles

The hospital. Represented by the snake, just like today.

Hermes

A relief of the goddess of victory: Nike

The road to the library

The main road. Emily looks like she's in pain, because the sun was very bright.

Everything was made of marble, so mosaics in front of the houses were used as a show of wealth.

A relief of Medusa. It is the only example from the ancient world where you can see Medusa's body, not just her head.

Shitters for rich people. Apparently, in the winter, they had "seat warmers." A slave would sit on the ice cold marble to warm it up for their master. That job would have been horrible.

The library

Two advertisements for very different things. The one on the left is for the "love house." It basically says, if you have a broken heart and money, walk this way, and you will see beautiful women. The one on the right was a marker letting Christians know that other Christians are present. Early in Christian history, they were a radical sect of Judaism, so it wasn't always safe to be Christian. This was to let them know there were friends in the area.

Inside the main amphitheater and a wide view of the amphitheater

The road to what used to be the harbor is behind us.

After lunch, we were taken to a leather shop. This area of Turkey is known for exceptional leather goods. The fashion show was hilarious. The female models looked like they were bored. They had probably done the same show at least half a dozen times that day. The leather itself was high quality, but the prices on the tags were inflated to the point that the “special” 50% discount made the cost just as high as anything brand new.

The next stop was a museum where many of the statues and everyday objects from the Ephesus excavation site have been put on display. A lot of the things were very interesting, but the museum was filled with loud school children there on a Saturday field-trip. They didn't exactly set the atmosphere for museum viewing. Still, you could get close to the statues and reliefs and see great detail in the work. By this point, everyone was getting a little tired though. Most of us had woken up early, and one group had taken a flight from Istanbul at 7AM for a day tour. They were getting back on a plane after the tour. It didn't help that they went out and drank a little too much raki (an anise liquor similar to Greek ouzo) the night before.

The reliefs from one of the temples and a closeup.

Our final stop of the tour was the once great temple of Artemis. It is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, because of its size (100 meters long, 60 meters across, and 19 meters high) and the fact that it was the first marble temple. Today, all that remains are a bunch of marble stones and one column made using mismatched stones that they could piece together to show how tall it was. The rest of the temple was “recycled” as our guide put it, to build other structures in the area. Honestly, the temple of Apollo at Didyma was much more impressive, and it is still at least partially in tact. Unfortunately, it was never finished

Emily once again showing how tiny she is.

The Windy City

Pergamon is the ancient acropolis near the modern day city of Bergama. The history of Pergamon dates back to the Hellenic period when Greeks still lived in Turkey. Pergamon was named for the wind god, and let me tell you, it was extremely windy. Greeks occupied the city of Bergama until around 1922, when there was an exchange of Greeks living in Turkey back to Greece and Turks living in Greece back to Turkey. The Greek-style homes of the departed have been protected by the Turkish government.

The view from the acropolis.

Back to Pergamon. As with many things in Turkey, Pergamon exchanged hands many times. The Hellenic Greeks once owned the city, and then Alexander the Great stored his treasure there as he conquered Asia Minor. Eventually it was gifted to the Romans by an Anatolian king who was a bit touched in the head. That means, the Romans took it without swinging a sword. Finally, it landed in the hands of the Byzantines when the Roman Empire split. They would be conquered by the Ottomans, who would give way to the modern Turks, under Ataturk, in 1923.

There is a distinct difference between the architecture left by the Greeks and that left by the Romans. The Greek builders were much more diligent, and the walls that remain are solid, because the stone was cut to fit together flush. They didn't use mortar, because the stone used was so heavy. The Roman walls are much weaker. They were built with any stone they could get their hands on. Most of it wasn't cut properly, and they used mortar to keep it all together. They could get away with it, because they covered the walls with slabs of marble. The marble they used was taken by the Byzantines for the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

The solid walls of the Greeks next to the shoddy walls of the Romans.

The Romans did do one thing that the Greeks couldn't; they brought water to Pergamon. There are ruins of the old Roman aqueducts in the surrounding countryside, and there are terracotta pipes inside the acropolis. The Romans even turned the old Greek cisterns into hearths where they cooked soups and boiled water.

Most of the remains of the acropolis are old Greek foundations where Roman buildings once stood. Two of the most important of these being the former temple of Athena and the former temple of Zeus. The main part of Zeus' temple is now in Berlin. The relief sculptures are supposed to be among the finest from the ancient world. If I ever make it to Berlin, I will definitely have to see them. In addition to these foundations, they have excavated store rooms, prison cells, wild animal cages for the gladiators, and even a 14,000 seat amphitheater.

The main grounds of the acropolis.

14,000 seat amphitheater.

There are rooms here where they stored goods, live animals for gladiator games, and prisoners.

Terracotta pipes.

A view of the ruins.

The former site of the temple of Zeus that is now in Berlin.

Our tour guide used to be an English teacher, and his teaching side definitely came out. He explained the history of the city. He also told us a few anecdotes about things that had happened in the acropolis. Our guide is apparently the only guide that lives in the city, so he knows just about every person that works at the acropolis. It was a very fun and informative tour. Any history buff should visit. The city has been an important part of many different empires including the Greek's, Alexander the Great's, the Anatolian’s, the Roman's, and the Byzantine's.

Beware of Greeks. Even When They Bear Gifts.

This is the Trojan Horse from the movie Troy. Emily said it looked tiny. Can you spot her?

Nearly everyone knows at least part of the Iliad. If anything, they know the 2004 movie, Troy, starring Brad Pitt. We were able to visit what is believed to be the sight of the real Troy. Homer's poem, the Iliad, gives many hints as to where the city might be. When they first began excavating the sight in the mid-1800s, they were looking for gold. Instead of carefully excavating, they carved up the land carelessly until they found it. Only afterward did someone realize that there were 9 layers to the Trojan city. The first layer was built around 2500BC, and the last city ceased to exist in 500AD. Each layer represents a different time period when Troy existed as a city.

This is a model Trojan Horse they had at the excavation site.

For the next 140+ years there has been an effort to carefully excavate the sight and reconstruct the nine layers of cities. On the tour of Troy, you can see that the city began as a small village and developed into a powerful and wealthy walled city on the Aegean over 3000 years. No one is 100% sure that the sight is actually Troy, but the strong walls and location make a very good argument.

You start the tour looking at walls from Homeric (Troy six and seven) and Roman (Troy eight and nine) Troy. You move from there to the temple of Athena, which was built during Alexander the Great's time. Next, you move much farther back in time to the foundations of cities one and two. Most of the parts that have already been excavated center around cities six and seven, because these cities were most likely the ones in Homer's poems. Current excavation is being done to uncover the much larger (20,000 citizens) Roman city, and Troy one and two (2500BC Troy). As the site is layered one Troy city over another, the Roman Troy is actually 200m higher than Troy one.

Overlooking the excavation site.

Walls from Homeric times, Roman times, and pre-Homeric times.

A Roman wall where I am waiting for Emily as usual.

They have already uncovered an amphitheater, which you can sit in,and the remains of a Roman senate building. For anyone who isn't familiar with the complete story, the Aeneid is an extension of the story of Troy. According to Roman legend, Aeneas escaped the city after the Trojan War, and founded Rome. Troy became a holy city for the Romans. It only makes sense that they would have built on top of its ruins once they conquered most of the known world. There is a lot of evidence to point to the fact that this Troy is the real deal.

This is a ramp where treasure was discovered. They originally thought it was the treasure from Homeric Troy, because of the amount. It was later discovered that this treasure was only from the second Trojan city. The amount in Homer's Troy would have been much greater. They still aren't sure what exactly happened to that gold.

The amphitheater.

It is a lot of fun to see the speculation on where Achilles killed Hector and where Priam and Andromache may have watched from the walls. They even think they know where the Trojan horse was brought in. If it's all true, it gives credence to at least some of Homer's work. It was an enjoyable experience and a must for anyone that liked reading the Iliad or Odyssey.