March 25, also known as "day of more rocks"

Well, today I power-visited Antalya. I arrived just yesterday, and when I got to the hotel, I ended up sleeping for 4 hours. Great way to spend my time! Clearly I needed the sleep, or I wouldn’t have passed out that long. So, I got up today, had breakfast at 7:40, checked out at 7:58, gave Sam the guard dog a pet, and was outside my hotel at 8:00 for my tour of Aspendos and Perge (more commonly known as Pergamum for us non-Turks), as well as a visit to the Kurşunlu waterfall and to the Mediterranean village of Side (“see-day”). I got back from my tour at 7:30, got a ride to the bus station, got a roll and some water, and was on the bus at 8:15. PHEW.

As a side note, I am once again writing on the bus. I am taking the overnight bus to Urgum, in Cappadocia, where I am spending 3 nights. I have 11 hours ahead of me, so it seemed like a good idea to type first while all is still fresh in my brain. I can still acquire 8 hours of sleep, easily. I don’t suspect I’ll sleep quite that long…but right now the bus is empty, so fingers crossed, kids, that it stays this way.

A few quick fun facts about Turkey:
1. There are more than 30,000 archaeological sites in the country that have been partially excavated.
2. On Turkish buses, they give you beverages and snack cakes AT NO CHARGE.
3. Four seas border the country (Black, Marmara, Aegean, and Mediterranean), more than any other in the world (or so I was told).
4. While Turkish is clearly the main language, it is not unusual to hear English (taught in schools), French and Italian (left over from soldiers stationed between the great wars), Arabic and Farsi (due to neighbors that moved in), and of course, Kurdish.
5. The Ben-Hur chariot scene was filmed at Aspendos! World History flashbacks, Amy?
I thought I better include some sort of education here, so it’s not all just my rubbish.

Moving on now, I’ve told you the things I did today. I took a tour that was filled with absolutely lovely people from all over: Japan, Istanbul, via London, London, via Iran, Norway via the Nederlands and Lithuania, Finland, Belgium, Iceland, and Russia. I believe Sergei the Russian put it best: “ruins, ruins, ruins.” He was neither young nor handsome, but he was a mean picture taker! He and I were picture buddies, and we would have included Iceland guy but he was just plain weird. And he showed off his crack (yes, that one, I’m not referring to a pipe) more times than anyone cared to see. Anyway, I saw the Temple of Apollo, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and it was my favorite thing I have done so far in Turkey. I love the sea. The ocean doesn’t do it for me, but there is something lovely about the word. Plus, it really is as beautiful as one expects the Mediterranean to be. It was just magical. I would love to sit there in winter (summer would be a crowded disaster, so much so that I would look forward to sitting in Garden State Parkway traffic southbound on a Friday afternoon) with a coffee and a book, and I’m pretty sure everything that is wrong in the world be vanquished. Said vanquishing would probably only last that afternoon, but still…
I’ll get pictures up when I have internet again and you’ll see!

As for the ruins at Perge and Aspendos, they were continually incredible. I wouldn’t say I am tired of seeing ruins, because that’s not true. But I am tired of tours. It is a little depressing, because whatever is there has been destroyed by earthquakes, so it’s all reconstruction on top of excavation. TIME CONSUMING is the phrase that comes to mind, no? The point is that I am looking forward to Cappadocia, land of bizarre landscapes, underground cities and fascinating churches. I keep taking pictures of stones, stones, stones. I’m so happy and so lucky that I’ve seen it, but I’ve seen it all in the last 4 days. It would have been better to break it up a bit. Oh well. If anyone decides to come to Turkey, hopefully this information will help you! Take more time, or take a different road.

The waterfall was small, but the water was this strange color and everything looked very surreal. It was something out of a movie landscape, but a movie like The Dark Crystal or Labyrinth. The best part? It was FREE! Oh, do I love free stuff. The cradle of civilization has to get income somehow, so I’ve decided I’m ok with paying entrance fees to everything. Honestly, the cost to maintain these sites must be astounding, so I’m not crabby anymore. And, I’m on semi-permanent holiday! That realization also helped…

I got another couch invite today, this time in Istanbul with the nice British couple. I’m happy about that, because they have a swimming pool! So, I’ll head there for a couple of days at some point during my time in Turkey. How awesome is this? When anyone hears my goal of traversing the globe on a budget, they are so game to help. It sheds such good light on the world. Luckiest girl ever: Kirsten. Of course, I may just end up traversing Turkey on a budget at the rate I’m going. Ha! Globe-trotting has turned into Turkey-trotting. Oh boy. Maybe I can sleep 8 hours!