Turkey 2013


Dalyan

We arrived in Dalyan in the latter part of the afternoon after a fairly long drive from Pamukkale and checked into our hotel. As we drove through Dalyan's center, it looked a bit sleepy with not much activity.

Dalyan is known for its ruins of the ancient city Caunos that date back to 3000 B.C. Although you're supposed to be able to reach them by foot, we just appreciated them from across the river as we strolled around town.

On the left is our hotel

Along the river boat tours are offered

In the evening, we had a superb dinner next to our hotel. We all had different things to eat, Jill having the clay pot dinner that’s actually more typical of Kapadokya cuisine. More on that when we get to Kapadokya. 

The next day we drove to Fethye, probably best known for its great harbor and marina. But above the town there lies Telmessos, a place from antiquity with numerous Lycian rock tombs and ancient buildings cut into the face of a cliff.

We walked around the town’s marina area and were soon off to Kas (pronounced Kash). The road to Kas resembles Highway 1 around Big Sur. It runs right along the water with steep, rocky cliffs on one side and on the other, the sparkling turquoise sea of the Mediterranean.

The harbor in Fethye

The ubiquitous carpet shop

Kas is a touristy village that has been around for centuries. Physically, it’s very quaint because it is the quintessential Mediterranean town that lies on a hilly incline with a small harbor. Originally built and inhabited by the Lycians, over time it was ruled by Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans and finallyTurks.

We stayed in a small hotel right on the water. No beaches though, only rocky shorelines. There were swim ladders built into the rocks for those wanting to go for dip. I took advantage of it. But finding the water temperature a bit nippy, it wasn’t long before I was out toweling myself dry.  

Looking down on Kas

The view from our hotel room

Early morning walk through Kas

A Lycian tomb in Kas

Enjoying the view from our balcony

We had a difficult time deciding whether to stay one more day in Kas or move on to  Antalya. Jill and Rich had more of a schedule to keep - they were flying out of Antalya in two days. We took the less risky route and chose to get closer to Antalya.

Mosaic inside St. Nicholas church in Demre

This church and the saint it was named after is where the notion of Santa Claus originated.

Demre was an important stop mainly because it was known for having the church of Saint Nicholas - yes, the one that old St. Nick (Santa himself) originated. Also known as Myra or Kale, Demre was the capital of the Lycian province in the 5th century A.D. and played an important role in the religious authority of the period. Today it is a sort of a dusty, non-descript town and isn’t known for much other than the church of Saint Nicholas,


In spite of some rebuilding that went on due to an earthquake, it remains one of the best examples of architecture from the Middle Byzantine period. Although what remains (and what has been reconstructed) is just a small part of the church, you get the picture of what it once used to look like.



After another beautiful drive along the rugged coast we came to a large marina and the town of Finike. Although the city isn’t even mentioned in our guides, we found it to be an attractive beach city, with inexpensive hotels and friendly folks.

In front of our hotel in Finike

The beach in Finike

That night we decided to eat in our rooms. So Jill and I went scavenging for food. We came back from the hunt with store bought bread, olives and cheese and two orders of lamb shish kebabs from a mom and pop restaurant. It was all delicious.



The next morning, after enjoying our typical Turkish breakfast of bread, cheeses, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, jelly/honey and hard boiled egg, we headed for Antalya, to the old walled city of  Kaleici, where we were staying.

Turkey

The Turkish flag hanging outside of our hotel room.

After a long flight from NY, we landed in Istanbul - only to walk over to the domestic terminal and board yet another plane for a one hour flight to Izmir.

We met up with Jill and Rich, our friends from Hawaii. Rich was here for his 50 year high school reunion. They had arrived several days earlier, scouted out the city and found our hotel and rented a car. That simplified matters a lot.

In the morning, we drove out of Izmir towards the city of Selcuk but stopped along the way at the quaint and hillside village of Sirince, a place well known for its quaintness and fruit wines. We sampled various wines, mostly all mediocre to awful and felt compelled to purchase a couple of bottles of their dry, low-alcohol wines.

Streets of Sirince

Woman making our pancake lunch

Some of the local fruit wines

In Selcuk, we ended up staying at a very nice pension with the odd name of “Boomerang”. It was in the heart of town, very friendly folks running it, and was the gateway to our morning’s destination - Ephesus.

After a breakfast of bread, cheese, tomato, cucumber and a hard boiled egg (with coffee), we headed off to Ephesus. No sooner had we driven into the parking lot, when a friendly fellow offered us a free ride to the top of Ephesus, if we would stop in to see a government run carpet cooperative. We agreed.

It was an hour-long detour, but we learned lots of things about the art of carpet making that we had no idea of before. And the sales pitch was a very soft one. Soon, we were back on track and delivered at the top end of Ephesus, so that we only had to walk one way - downward to where our car was parked.

Ephesus is huge. Beginning from nearly 300 B.C. Ephesus was a vibrant city for many centuries even after a major earthquake occurred in 270 A,D. There are theaters, basilicas, lavish housing for elite Romans, fountains, squares, baths, gymnasiums, sports arenas, frescos, temples and lots of statues. But one has to fill in the void with some imagination to appreciate the grandeur of it all - particularly when you consider how long ago people walked along these streets. Really, the elite folks who were privileged to live here, even had running hot and cold water, with latrines that washed away their crap! Not bad for a couple of millenniums ago.

After our tour, we were off for a three hour drive to Pamukkale, a place known for its thermal pools and pure white hills covered with calcium deposits.

My expectations for Pamukkale were rather simple - walk around a group of pools composed of calcium deposits and warm springs. It turns out that there was far more to it that just that. Our hotel host was kind enough to drive us to the top part of the hill and drop us off at one of the entrances. What was most surprising was to see the impressive ruins of Hierapolis - and in a far less crowded condition than Ephesus. In many respects, I actually preferred Hierapolis to Ephesus.

Hierapolis lies along beautiful foothills lined with red poppies, yellow mustard flowers and other wild flowers. At one end of the ruin there is a spa pool that we took advantage of for a few hours. Afterwards the relaxing setting, we began the descent of the bowl-shaped travertine dome with the multi-layered pools.

The bright white reflective light was hard on the eyes even with sunglasses on. But the pools were magnificent. The walk downward had to be done barefooted to preserve the travertine.

Once at the bottom, we walked back to the hotel, packed the car and headed south to Dalyan, about a three hour drive.

Ruins of Hierapolis

Rich, Jill, Diane and George

The spa's bottom had numerous ancient columns on the bottom

Jill and Rich enjoying a poolside Efes

The theater in Hierapolis

Travertine pools

Cancun 2012

Cancun 2012

Chichen Itza

I let a long time slip by since our trip to Cancun. And now we're off to yet another adventure - Turkey. Thus, my main objective right now is to keep things in chronological order and make this an entry that I will update further when time permits. 

The Netherlands - 2012

Amsterdam

Although Diane and I have been to Amsterdam on a number of trips, when you’re in a city with someone who lives there, you have an opportunity to see a place from a different perspective.

After Meredith picked us up at Schiphol, we went to her flat, just south of the city center. Her place is on the second floor, on a quiet street, across from a shuttered church and next to a small elementary school. Elliot was not home. He happened to be in Portland on business and wasn‘t getting home for a few days.

After we settled in we decided to immediately set off on bikes to see the sights around her neighborhood. After all, the weather was warm and sunny. There was no time to waste.

Lake Tahoe

October 2012


The initial intent on the Lake Tahoe trip was for an all-girl week-long stay, which was purchased at a fund raiser for Big Brother/Big Sister last year. But as it turned out, it ended up being just Claire and Larry, and Diane and I in a large and magnificent home at the lake.

Tahoe is a seven hour drive from Pismo Beach. I had hoped for our accommodations to be a lake-front home, but alas - that was too much to hope for. Darn! Regardless, the home did not to disappoint. With a sparse view of the lake, it did provide a fabulous “great” room upstairs, Jacuzzi on the deck and an air hockey table that Larry and I made use of almost each night.

Home Sweet Home

On the first day, we all took a hike to the small but very beautiful Lake Eagle. The hike had a few short steep climbs but overall was a short and easy hike with a very rewarding view of a lake. We should have brought a picnic lunch!

The trail to Eagle Lake

Eagle Lake

The following day I went off on my own and took a great bike ride along the Truckee River. The natural setting was astonishing. The only problem I encountered were the nasty bumps on the bike trail. One of them nearly threw me off my bike. You really have to keep an eye on the road and hold on to the handlebars with both hands. The bumps can be pretty jarring!

On one of the other days, while Diane and Claire were off to Incline Village, Larry and I took a fabulous hike at Alpine Meadows to an area called the Five Lakes. It had a steep initial ascent. But after that, it flattened out to a comfortable hike. Larry and I readily found the first lake. But the other four lakes alluded us for a while. Eventually, we found them all, though.

On our hike to the Five Lakes

View along our hike

First of the Five Lakes we found.

One of the other (five) lakes.

One of the evenings we were there, we went to a fund raiser for the business community King’s Beach. The event had a number of restaurants, wineries and breweries that participated. The evening turned out to be a good one, in that we had lots of delicious food and drinks and even won a small raffle prize to boot!

On our last full day, Claire’s niece, Erika and  her husband, Trey came over. During the day, we took a hike along one of the many ridge walks. Later on that day, we visited a local area where they were having Oktober Fest. We had a beer and enjoyed the activities. 

One of the concoctions we devised for our evening meal.

Group hike up the Lake Tahoe trail that ventures around the lake.

Oktober Fest in town

Afterwards, Erika and Trey cooked us a superb meal for our last evening in Lake Tahoe. The entire evening turned out to be a pleasure with lots of good food, wine, air hockey and good conversation.