Pamukkale

Pamukkale - Libby's birthday and the girls had been shopping and enjoyed wearing their new pashminas.


The nice people at the hotel organised a birthday cake and alovely birthday tea by the pool.


























It looks like snow but with temperatures in the high 20s to 30s it wasn't. The Travertines are white limestone rock formations washed out of a limestone plateau by hot mineral water - the romans were the first to discover it and built hierioplis there as a thermal resort. The white terraces are like cups holding pure blue water and while they are not as extensive as they once were and totally overun with tourists at lunchtime- if you go early in the morning they are still magical - and as you can see practically deserted. You can still paddle in some of them too.















At te bottom of the hill is alarge park with pond and marsh which is alive with frogs - the noise at night is incredible.

Konya

Between Pamukkale and Goreme we stopped for a night in Konya - this not really a tourist town so the shops and markets were much more geared up to locals.


Girls on a bus - again











Konya is famous for being the home of the order of whirling Dervishes - hence the shiny statue and the spice and veggie market was very impresive - not so sure about the old bikes 'tho. Konya also stands out as the place with the hardest bed the in the world (the girls ones were OK) and the loudest Mosque with the 5am call to prayer rocking us out of our bed!

Ephesus

While at Selcuk we visited the Ancient Roman ruins of Ephesus - once the capital of the Asian part of the Roman Empire it has amazing buildings still remaining.

The amphitheatre was huge and as well as plays would have housed the gladiator fights - the museum had a collection of the gruesome weapon used and detailed drawings of the injuries inflicted! Yuk









The two story library was very impressive - no shelves but lots of niches for the vellum scrolls.













Communal toilets - all very friendly, slaves provided fresh sponges for cleanliness and the urine ran down channels to be collected - it contained natural ammonia which was very useful for boiling togas in to keep them nice and white - hope the rinsing was thorough!


The view down the main street - complete with marble paving, statues and a little ancient graffiti complaining about certain gentlemen weeing up the walls instead of in the toilets.

Selcuk

After Galipolli we headed south, with a brief overnight stay at Bergama We picked up a ride on a local bus (pictured) and then a longer ride to Selcuk. Delighted to find that accomodation had a lovely pool and, to the girls delight, three gorgeous puppies.














One of the most unexpected things about Turkey was the proffusion of wildlife - from the poppies of Galipolli to the masses of wild flowers along the roadside, wild tortoises and storks nesting on ancient viaducts, ant-lions, beetles and bugs - we were amazed by the variety and abundance.Graeme and the girls were in their element taking photos .






Libby gets close up to photograph a wild tortoise






Big beetle






nesting stork





baby tortoise - we found the big guys too








Katie dropping ants into ant-lion trap




Old aqueduct with building wedged in - see stork nest top left

So after a two hour boat ride and three hours on a Turkish Bus (first trip of many to come) we arrived at Cannakale just across the water from the Galipoli Peninsula. We had an very moving day touring the battle fields and the monuments with a lovely guide who's grandfather and great uncle had died during the Gallipoli campaign.




The landing beach - now a little narrower than then but even then it was tiny and must have been terrifying - our guide explained how the first boats to arrive ordered the soldiers over the side in full kit while still in deep water and many drowned.






The new memorial sight where the service is held every year - from where we are sitting we could look up the impossible steep terrain that faced the ANZACs.







Our lovely Guide Captain Ali (former Turkish Navy) helps Katie with the Brownie wreaths at the New Zealand memorial at Chunak Bair.









Chunak Bair - the New Zealand Monument has the honour of sharing the site with the giant Statue of Mustapha Camal - Attaturk (father of Turkey) after leading the Turkish army in defeat of the allied campaign he went onto lead and modernise Turkey. The NZ monument is also the only allied one not designed by the British architect - instead an NZ architect built it using influences from Egyptian temples with tiny slits in the side designed to let light in on certain days of the year.






One of the many grave sites with graves of Australian, NZ and Indian troops. All beautifully kept.







The remnants of the NZ trenches near the Lone Pine Cemetary - the furthest that the troops reached inland. We sat in the shade and contemplated the aweful conditions - barely enough water to drink so no chance of washing, uniforms in tatters and full of lice, bad food, dysentry. Terrible losses on both sides, by the end of the ten month campaign the will to fight was gone. As our guide said it was the beginning of nationhood for the Turks as well as the Australians and the Kiwis.




Symbol of respect that the soldiers had for each other whatever side they were on - A Turkish soldier carries an Australian to a medical base.









Gallipoli was a very moving experience, we have many more photos and will produce a more detailed collection for anyone who would like to see more - in particular we a have pictures of the stunning terrain as seen from both sides and photos of the lists of names on the monuments, especially of Otago regiments.

And so to Turkey

First stop, Istanbul

Hot and sunny - in the high twenties but with a gentle breeze we all loved Istanbul. The Sultnamet area was clean and calm, dominated by the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia with lovely gardens and fountains it was a great contrast to the chaos of Cairo.

The entrance to Taksim palace - original home of the Otoman Sultans now home to an amazing jewel collection (including the fifth largest diamond in the world). Highlight for the girls was discovering spinning tops.

Turkish flags fly everywhere from giant ones on the tops of hill to this slightly more modest version on Aya Sophia (a huge church built by the Emporer Domition in AD 500ish and still in great condition with original mosaics.

By the Bosphorus and very hot - just about to discover the delights of apple tea.

Aya Sophia by night - the eveings arouns Sultanamet where lovely with music, dancing by a whirling dervish, food stalls and a steady stream of people drifting through the gardens.