Robert and Vicky, holiday in Turkey [Kusadasi, Pergamum, Troy, Canakkale, Gallipoli]

Kusadasi, Pergamum, Troy, Canakkale, Gallipoli

The sign says it all!

Country side between Kusadasi and Pergamum

Pergamum

 More old meets new

 A carpet shop in Turkey. I didn't know there was carpet shops in Turkey, did you?

 Pergamum

Oh what a beauty, the car that is! Robert found this in the garden of a huge leather factory, retail centre.

Troy

Anzac Cove

Gallipoli

Pamukkale, Hierapolis ,Ephesus

Pamukkale, the center of natural thermal spring waters with healing properties. Due to the chemical properties in the water, pure white colored travertines and stepped water terraces have been created on the mountain slope. It is for its resemblance to cotton piles that it is called 'Cotton Castle' in Turkish.

Photos of our visit to the travertines and the ancient city of Hierapolis which has the biggest Nekropol with 1200 gravestones in Anatolia. The sacred pool also is one of the highlights of the site. There shallow thermal waters ripple over a wonderful scattering of ancient roman ruins that lie beneath.  Hierapolis with the Temple of Apollo, the breathtaking Theater, the fascinating Necropolis and the last the great baths of Hierapolis antique city, where St. Philip was martyred. St. Philip is connected with the early church in Hierapolis and played an important role in Pamukkale the history of the city.

  Ephesus, looked at the remains of the Artemis Temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Afterwards, it proceeds to the spectacular main site of Ephesus, undoubtedly the most superbly preserved Greco-Roman city. Unmistakable highlights surviving among the ruins are the Celsius Library, Agora, Theater, Odeon, Trajan Fountain, Domitianus Temple and Roman Latrines. This was so amazing, so many colums just laying on the ground and miles of half unearthed stonework and as well as half constructed and reconstructed buildings.

Temple of Aphrodite

House of the Virgin Mary

 A visit the House of Virgin Mary; reputed to be where she spent her final days. Hundreds of people cued down the hill, quietly waiting to walk through the house [is a small functional chapel now], waiting to fill containers with holy water and a Nun who looks after the chapel. There is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary on the roadside.
Caravanserai
The first picture is of the portal of the Karatay Han near ayseri in Central Anatolia.
A caravanserai, essentially a transit stop where men and beasts rested overnight, layovers in the great bazaars could easily extend into weeks or even months.  These huge stone buildings were made to shelter the caravaneers, their camels, horses and donkeys, and their cargoes, to keep them safe from highwaymen and to provide needed travel services, a huge square or rectangular building with high walls of local stone. The walls are smoothly finished but devoid of decoration, except for the potal which is elaborately decorated with bands of geometric design, Kur’anic inscriptions in Arabic script, and the sculpted geometric patterns of mukarnas (stalactite vaulting).
Walk through the main portal and you pass the room of the caravanserai’s manager and enter a large courtyard. At its center may be a mescit (small mosque or prayer-room), usually raised above ground level on a stone platform. (The mescit may also be built into the walls above the main portal.) Around the sides of the courtyard, built into the walls, are the service rooms: refectory, treasury, hamam, repair shops, etc.
At the far end of the courtyard from the main portal is the grand hall, a huge vaulted hall usually with a nave and three side aisles. The hall is usually lit by slit windows in the stone walls and/or a stone cupola centered above the nave. The hall sheltered goods and caravaneers during bad winter weather.
Most caravanserais were built as pious endowments: a wealthy Seljuk gave money for the building’s construction and also made available a source of income to be used for its maintenance.
Caravans were welcomed into the caravansarai in the evening, and were welcome to stay free for three days. Food, fodder and lodging were provided free of charge, courtesy of the building’s founder. (Most caravans probably moved on the next morning.)