From Istanbul I made a few overnight bus journeys to Cappadocia and the region around Efes (Ephesus) and Pamukkale.
No one in Turkey uses the train – everyone uses the bus to travel around. The buses are very comfortable with all amenities (toilets which are, however, kept locked!), TV screens on each seat, WiFi, free çay (tea), kahve (coffee), aereated drinks, and nibbles. And they also spray perfume on your hands and around you ever so often. So the journey, even though long (10-12 hours), is very pleasant. Though having a TV screen on each seat (like airplanes) sounds like fun but the problem (for me at least) is that they show only Turkish channels. One particular channel (on my journey from Istanbul to Selçuk) was showing Jodhaa Akbar but unfortunately (or rather fortunately) it was dubbed in Turkish. And on one of my other bus journeys, I couldn’t get any sleep as there was a wedding party in the bus - which was actually quite a lot of fun, once all of them broke into songs.
My first stop outside Istanbul was Cappadocia (which is Persian for ‘land of beautiful horses’ – of course this was ages back – I saw no horses). The bus ride was really painful as there was a very very very very talkative German backpacker on the bus who irritated the hell out of everybody. He couldn’t get to sleep (it was an overnight bus) so he decided to talk to whoever would listen to him. Fortunately I had given him enough dirty looks so he didn’t dare to come near me and start his monologue.
It was really cold in Cappadocia where I spent a couple of days. Though the days were totally clear there was quite a lot of snow on the ground which made the landscape appear even more beautiful than it is. Cappadocia is famous for its unusual and incredible volcanic rock formations and fairy chimneys. My group (yes, I was in a group) went for a walk in the Rose valley – which was very beautiful. The mini-trek was also made interesting by the fact that one of the ladies in our group decided to come along in high heels. So it was fun watching her struggle with the slippery surface (most of the snow had become ice).
One of the more interesting sights in Cappadocia (apart from the landscape and the fairy chimneys) was an underground city in Kaymakli – this ‘city’ (8 stories under the ground) was carved into the volcanic rock and over 5000 people lived in this amazing maze of rooms and tunnels below the ground.
I can easily say that Cappadocia had one of the most breathtaking landscapes I’ve seen in a while. There were a number of beautiful valleys (Devrent, Monks) we visited that had the most outrageous rock formations. The city of Uchisir (with its rock cut houses) was extremely photogenic (made more so by the snow all around). Goreme Monastery (11th-13th C) also had beautiful rock-cut caves and churches with excellent views all around. Some of these churches (carved into the rocks) had amazing frescoes – unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph them!
After that I went on a Greek/Roman ruins overload. Visited Ephesus (Efes), Priene, Miletus, Didyma, and Hierapolis. Ephesus was a major Greek city (at one point the second largest city in the world with a population of a quarter of a million!). Its heydays were from the 3rd C BC to the 7th C AD (when it got affected by silting and an earthquake). The Library of Celsus, built by Gaius Julius Aquila in memory of his father, is one of the most recognisable vistas of Ephesus – though the original building (which housed over 12000 scrolls) did not survive, the façade has been faithfully reconstructed. There were a few ‘terrace houses’ that were still being excavated – these houses were extremely extravagant (probably the Punju version of the Ephesesians!). I met a very interesting Kazakhi couple there who, on hearing that I was from India, immediately told me that they liked Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachhan.
Close by was what remains of the Temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). What stands today of this once magnificent building is just one reconstructed column. As the guide was describing the temple that stood there, I could suddenly imagine the extremely large and beautiful temple and was reasonably moved. I guess that is what ruins do to you!
I also visited the ruins at Priene (4th C BC – 7th C AD), Miletus (from where the philosopher Thales hailed) and the remains of the temple of Apollo (7th C BC) at Didyma (with just 2 columns standing). Though each of these sites were extremely beautiful and moving, by the end of it, I had had enough of ruins!
The last place I went to was Hierapolis / Pamukkale – Hierapolis was built in the 2nd Century BC and had the usual suspects of an ancient city – temples, agora (market-place), acropolis, theatre – you can tell by my tone how much of a greek-city-fatigue I was suffering from. But I have to say that the theatre at Hierapolis (which could house over 20000 people) was really impressive. What made these ruins different was ‘Cleopatra’s Pool’ – this pool was shaped by an earthquake in the 7th C AD and draws water from nearby springs. It is a very picturesque pool with columns inside the water (that fell in when the earthquake occurred). The waters of this pool are considered to be good for curing diseases and for preserving health and beauty.
Right next to Hierapolis is Pamukkale (‘cotton cliffs’) which are amazing terraces of carbonate minerals left by the water. It looks as if there is snow on the ground but it is just the carbonate deposits that give the ground a whitish hue. People are allowed to walk on these formations (but only after taking off their shoes) so we walked down during sunset which was a very surreal experience. Not helped by the fact that the ground, which looked soft and inviting, was hard and serrated and very painful to walk on barefoot.
That painful walk down the cotton cliffs brought an end to my trip in Turkey.
