Pammukale to Canakkale. 27.7.2010

Troy

We drove towards north towards the coast and covered some distance. We skipped the Roman town of Ephesus as we had seen Palmyra (Syria) and Jerash ( Jordan) and decided to go to Troy instead. This year my son Thomas had actually done his school assembly about the Legend of Troy from Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad. In this legend (of which there are many versions) the city of Troy is besieged by the Greeks for ten years. Towards the end, the Greeks offer a present to the Trojans, a wooden horse and promptly depart in their ships. Even though some of the Trojans warn against it, the wooden horse is brought into the city. During the night, the Greek soldiers who were hidden inside came out to slaughter the inhabitants of the city. They set fire to Troy signalling the Greek war ships to come back. Troy was defeated.
Thomas pretended to be a Greek in his assembly and had to hide in the vaulting horse(used for PE).
In Troy, the kids enjoyed climbing in and out of the wooden horse replica and meandering around the ruins. These ruins were not discovered until the 19th century when a handful of historians were convinced that Homer had based his story on the events that happened to a real city.

Pamukkale. 26.7.2010

Travertines

We rose early to keep ahead of the crowds and walked up the hill alone. The glistening white rocks combined with the trickle of water underneath your feet had a very calming effect. It is beautiful and peaceful and one of those moments when you marvel at how nature is such a marvellous artist. The snowy appearance is caused by the calcium carbonate deposits created when warm mineral water cooled and deposited calcium as it cascaded over the cliff edge and down the hill. This substance is called travertine, a sedimentary rock that has a fibrous appearance and often white, tan, or cream coloured. It is used as a building material in Europe. Cool!




Romans
The Romans quickly worked out the waters of Pammukale have restorative qualities because of the calcium rich waters. They built the spa town of Hierapolis here and a sacred pool now the antique pool) in which many Russians come here to alleviate their aches and pains. You can also visit the sprawling ruins which prospered during Roman and Byzantine times and suffered a major earthquake in 1334 when it was abandoned.

Turkish Riviera to Pammukale. 25.7.2010

Simplicity
We drove inland again through the mountains towards Pamukkale and stopped for lunch at a little town called Korkuteli. If you want to experience the real Turkey this is where you must come. Women with headscarves walking with their children in the midday sun, backgammon playing old men sit together on street corners. A mountainous landscape, fountains and a mosque in the village square adds to the charm. As we sat on the restaurant terrace a convoy of cars tooting their horns from a local wedding passed by, the musicians playing on the back of the pick-up truck. The simple restaurant we chose had no menu but we were offered canoe-shaped meat or cheese pide(a Turkish version of pizza) chicken sis or lamb sis kebab with a huge portion of salad. Why is it that tomatoes taste so good when you are on holiday? The food was simple, clean and delicious. And to finish strong tea (cay) served in delicate tulip glasses.
Afiyet Olsun ! (Enjoy your meal)


Pamukkale







UNESCO
We assembled the tent and went to explore. We have been lucky on this trip to explore many world heritage sites and here was another one. In 1988 UNESCO awarded this stunning site with world heritage status. That meant hotels and roads were removed and a new system introduced to drain and fills the pools of water on a rotating basis. In this way the sun can bleach the pools to a glistening white, which only happens when the pools are empty. It also reduces algae and pollution. Guards are on hand to make sure visitors do not stray into restricted areas and that people have removed their shoes. All that said, the sheer amount of visitors coming here (over a million per year) threatens the beauty of the Pammukale environment. Even with UNESCO’s help Pamukkale is under significant environmental pressure year in year out.
The park below is filled with local Turkish families at 7 o’clock, hardly a tourist to be seen. There is a lovely vibe in the air as we stroll around. People say ‘Hello’ or ‘Merhaba’. They touch our kids’ hair and smile. Grandmas, aunties, mums and dads, picnic with their kids on the grass or stroll across the lower travertines with their toddlers.

The freedom of camping

Meeting fellow creative travellers and sharing experiences,
Like the German guy who resides in Iran and told us he had to replace his Arabic number plates for ones with European letters to enter Turkey,
In hostels and camp sites you share advice, get the lowdown on where to go and what to miss out,
Children meet friends easily around the pool
Every meal is eaten Al fresco
You catch up with your washing and tidy up your messy car
You sit around the table and play card games with your kids
You sleep early and rise with the sun
You answer continuous questions about where your car is from (a Qatari number plate is always a conversation starter)
And you find the nicest blogging spot
On the front lawn of a pension
Overlooking the beach
The waves crashing to the shore with their rhythmic melody.

Turkish Riviera 24.7.2010

Water, water everywhere

Today we visited the Alanya Aqua Park and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Numerous slides, tubes, pools, floats and rafting kept them amused for hours. Great fun!

Goreme to the Turkish Riviera 23.7.2010

Environment

We drove along another beautiful,forested road today. Turkey has 33 National Parks, 16 nature parks, 35 nature reserves and 58 ‘nature monuments’ which are mostly protected trees, some as old as 1500 yrs. Turkey has improved it’s protection of the environment in recent years, aspirations to join the EU may have had something to do with this. The parks are supposedly protected and hunting is controlled, however sometimes the regulations are enforced in the parks but at other times the litter dropping public is ignored. Hopefully, the situation will improve in the coming years as Turkey really does have some stunning national parks to preserve for the future.














Package Tourism

We drove through the mountains for hours and eventually reached the coast and a little camping on a quieter stretch of coastline between the tourist havens of Alanya and Side. The Swiss owner has a pension overlooking the sea. We camped on her front lawn 20m from the sea and 10m up. All the mod cons were available and 2 huge dogs inhabitated the place. To Amber’s delight they had just had 8 new-born puppies which were 3 days old. And the father dog was named Thomas! We drove to Side to eat dinner and experienced the hoards of holiday makers parading their newly tanned limbs.
Package tourism, concrete and convenience are all here to stay in this part of Turkey.

Goreme, Turkey. 22.7.2010

Goreme Open Air Museum

Today we rose early in order to beat the tourist buses that come into Goreme at 9 o’clock. Goreme Open Air Museum is a cluster of rock cut churches, chapels and monasteries. It was a Byzantine monastic settlement that housed some 20 monks and then it became a pilgrimage site from the 17th century. Most of these churches and chapels only have one source of natural light- the doorway. On the walls of these little chapels are frescoes, some of which are remarkably well preserved. We explored and meandered around the village and then in true hobbit spirit we went to get second breakfast, just in time to see the tourist buses descending on the museum!

Goreme, Turkey. 21.7.2010

Fairy Chimneys

We awoke at 6 am to witness a remarkable site. Around twenty hot air balloons were floating in the sky above the surreal landscape beneath. Flight conditions are especially favourable here and ballooning is a popular way to see the extraordinary landscape of gorges and cones. We met up with our guide and drove off road in the valleys to see the troglodyte dwellings and peribacalar (fairy chimneys). These structures can reach heights of up to 40 metres, have conical shapes and are topped by caps of hard rock resting on pillars of softer rock. The local villagers call them kalelar ( castles). The geological explanation is that erosion wiped out the lava covering the tuff (consolidated volcanic ash)leaving behind the isolated pinnacles.


The Dutch and the Belgians

It is quite amazing how many Dutch and Belgian cars you see here. It’s holiday season so you see lots of Germans, French, Italians and Dutch but Dutch/Belgian cars are everywhere due to the fact that so many Turks who reside in Holland and Belgium are also home to see their families during the holidays. We entered a little shop in Goreme and we didn’t have to try to speak Turkish as the friendly owner had lived in Belgium for 37 years! Of course, the kids got free ice-creams.








Testi-kebap

We ate lunch in a local restaurant and tried the Testi kebap (pottery kebap with meat or mushrooms and vegetables cooked in a sealed terracotta pot which is broken theatrically at the table). After the kids made mud pies on the camping (there was no mud before we got there!) and had a swim and relaxing time around the pool.

Syria to Turkey. 20.7.2010

Border

We rose early as we planned to drive all the way to Goreme in Turkey (Cappadocia). First we had to negotiate the Syrian- Turkish border post at Kilis. We chose this crossing as the Bab al- Hawa crossing, which is closer to Aleppo, is generally busier and the road beyond Kilis is better. Indeed the border crossing was not too busy but as any of you who have lived in the Middle East will know, you need a large dose of patience when dealing with anything bureaucratic. Eventually after many stamps in the passports, little pieces of white paper and two and a half hours we were on our way. Interesting little fact here- we saw lots of old Syrian cars turning to rust at the Turkish border post. These cars were presumably not roadworthy enough to enter Turkey. Turkish officials were checking Syrian cars thoroughly. Petrol is also much cheaper in Syria so they don’t want you bringing in petrol either. Luckily they just asked us if we had petrol and didn’t make us empty our truck!

Gaziantep to Goreme

In contrast to Syria the roads are well-maintained in Turkey and there is a plentiful amount of service stations and rest areas. Yes, you still see houses that are half finished (either the owner needs to get more funds to build further or the builder has gone bankrupt) but Turkey is certainly more developed, cleaner and greener. We drove along the coastal highway from Gaziantep to Tarsus(birthplace of St Paul) on a relaxing road with no chaotic drivers, three lanes (so trucks can overtake each other easily and not slow the fast lane down) and no potholes. What an easy drive! We drove inland to Cappadocia through picturesque villages, valleys where you can see for miles and tree covered mountains. Even though I'm a keen geographer I hadn’t realised how much of Turkey is forested. In fact, an impressive 26.7 % of 779, 452 sq km is tree covered. The highway climbs up to 1400m past Ala Daglar National park (with Mount Demirkazik standing at 3756m). It’s simply beautiful! We arrived at Goreme at 6 o’clock and found a very good camp ground- Kaya camping. The breathtaking view of Goreme’s famous fairy chimneys- rock columns, mushrooms,pyramids and the valleys of cascading cliffs which were formed when Erciyes Dagi erupted is amazing. Tired and hungry, we ate and put up the tent. We had stepped into a magical children’s fairy tale and with that we closed our eyes and went to sleep.

Syria and its people

In restaurants, shops and on the streets they call to us ’Ahlan wa Sahlan’- you are welcome

Bicyclists, cars, boys carrying trays of bread, donkeys, men pushing trolleys full of goods all vie for space on the narrow streets whilst calling out to each other “Hi, how are you?” “How’s your health?” “How’s your family?”

Syrian sheep herders think nothing of guiding their goats in the fast lane of the highway- towards you!

Farmers drive their tractors on the hard shoulder and bicyclists zip across the highway to the adjacent village

Old ladies tell us melancholic tales of how they lost their family members when the French bombarded Damascus to suppress the rioting in 1925

Lattakian hotel workers turn up at the door to repair the toilet when we ask housekeeping for extra toilet paper and towels

In Aleppo, guys sit around and smoke nargilehs and exchange opinions about football

At Crac des Chevaliers the enthusiastic waiter tells us ‘’We have mezze with barbecued chicken or do you want barbecued chicken with mezze?’’

In Damascus families sit together in their small courtyards and watch television

Taxi drivers are helpful, eager to practise their English and believe they are rally drivers

In Hama complete strangers come up to us and tell us ‘Welcome to Syria.’ Everyone smiles and nods and looks fondly at our kids. ‘Salam’ they say

Their hospitality is unparalleled.

Aleppo 19.7.2010

Lawrence’s footsteps

Today we stopped off at the Baron Hotel on the way to the old city. We have been following in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia so I figured let’s go and see one of the most famous hotels in the Middle East. The bar and the sitting room are looking very old and worn and in the sitting room there is a very nondescript cabinet with a signed bill from Lawrence. To me the hotel looked exactly as it must have done when Lawrence walked in here from the desert nearly 100 years ago.

Travelling with children

We ventured further through Aleppo’s bustling streets. Just like Damascus the city is a jammed labyrinth of run-down apartments, minarets, mosques, churches and vendors selling their wears on busy street corners. Drivers move forward before the traffic signal has turned green, constantly honking their horns in a desperate struggle to move forward down the chaotic streets. We arrived at the more peaceful Al-Jdeida area, Aleppo’s predominantly Christian district. We had to find a restaurant quickly as Amber was quite sick with stomach cramps. She had been ill yesterday but the heat probably didn’t help. Having a sick child when you are travelling is very worrying. Suddenly, sight-seeing, exploring, enjoying, shopping, eating and discovering no longer seem important. Aleppo’s souk and its Citadel are well worth a visit. Unfortunately we missed this and went back to our hotel. The kids played games in the hotel room and watched movies. We missed parts of Aleppo but our little girl is now in good health. Happy children= happy travels!

Lattakia to Aleppo. 18.7.2010

Lattakia to Aleppo

The road from Lattakia to Aleppo begins as a dangerous, single-lane highway with trucks trying to overtake each other on the downhill bends of windy roads! The road is incredibly picturesque with farms, orchards, forests and hills and you could easily forget that this country has a desert in the east. Lots of the fruit and vegetables available in Qatar came from Syria and here you can see it all growing. Lorries pass carrying all manner of watermelons, tomatoes, cucumbers and grapes. Eventually, the road becomes a brand new dual carriageway. We have no GPS for Syria and the map I bought in Qatar is ten years old so we were pleasantly surprised to find the best road in Syria. However, the road itself was not quite finished so traffic drove both left and right on both sides of the dual carriageway! We arrived in Aleppo, again chaotic streets and erratic driving surrounded us. Aleppo has a one-way system which adds to the confusion when you are trying to find your hotel. And we thought Qatari roads were difficult, you haven’t seen anything until you come here to Syria! We parked our car at the hotel and walked into the ancient city of Aleppo ( one of the world’s oldest). The old city is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and when you walk around the streets it really does feel like you have stepped back in time. There was even a shop selling buckets of coal! We had a little wander around and then decided to get a taxi back to save the kids legs. Our friendly taxi driver didn’t quite know where our hotel was so located so he read the map whilst driving along, negotiating the road and conversing with us in broken English all at the same time. I am glad to report that we all got back in one piece, just!

Crac des Chevaliers, Tartus,Lattakia. 17.7.2010

Crac des Chevaliers, Qalaát – al- Hosn

The crusader knights’ castle stands high upon the hill overlooking the break in Jebel Ansariyya- Homs Gap. The castle’s position helped to assure authority over inland Syria. In the 12th century the crusader knights rebuilt the castle which was originally a fortress built by the emir of Homs in 1031. Crac was able to resist sieges and attacks even one led by Saladin himself ( his castle is on the same coast line). This was due to Crac having an outer wall with 13 towers. Then a moat and an inside wall and central construction built on a rocky platform. It’s very impressive and you can understand when you walk around it why the castle never fell to the enemy. In fact when the Mamluk Sultan Beybars marched on the castle in 1271 the knights at Crac were a last outpost. Jerusalem was already lost and the retreat of the Christians was already underway. The last soldiers at Crac departed for Tripoli as they were surrounded by Islamic armies on each side. Thus the castle never fell nor got destroyed. The chapel was converted into a mosque after the Muslim conquest. Amber found this room and as we walked into it it did look like a church in its design but right in the middle was an Islamic Minbar (pulpit).

Tartus and Lattakia

We drove towards the Syrian coast. Firstly to Tartus in the hope of finding a hotel or camping near the sea and sands. Alas, this part of the Syrian coast is not really geared up for tourists and Tartus despite having a pleasant corniche is ramshackle, litter strewn and worn. Lattakia is similar although less ramshackle and more pavement cafes. A huge port occupies the coastline so we travelled further north to the blue beach. Still no campings! Disappointed we stayed at Le Meridian hotel because we wanted to swim and enjoy the beach and pool. This hotel was perfect for this, although the swimming pool also had salt water! Weird! Contrary to the rest of Syria this was not a friendly place. Staff were unhelpful and the mass of Arabic tourists from Oman, UAE, and Syria made it the busiest place we have seen so far on our trip in Arabia.

Seidnayya, Maalula and Hama. Syria 16.7.2010

We said our goodbyes to our friends at the Damascus Hostel. Raymond et al made our time in Damascus an enjoyable one and the kids especially loved it.

Seidnayya
We headed out to Seidnayya, this is where Our Lady of Seidnayya Convent is perched high upon a rocky outcrop.During the time of the crusades the Christians considered Seidnayya second in importance to Jerusalem.Today, it still remains an important place for Christian pilgrimage.This is due to the presence of a portrait that may have been painted by St Luke. The portrait of the Virgin Mary has many miracles attributed to it and both Christian and Muslim pilgrims come here.

Maalula

Next stop Maalula famed for being one of only three villages where Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, is still spoken. We headed up the steep sided hill to the Convent of St Thecla. St Thecla was a student of St Paul and one of the earliest Christian martyrs. The legend says that when Thecla was cornered by soldiers sent to execute her she prayed to God. Immediately lightning appeared and struck the cliff creating a cleft in the rock and she was able to escape. We visited the St Thecla Gap a small siq (cleft) cut through the rock by run-off water from the plateau above the village. The siq reminded us of the siqs in Wadi Rum and Petra, albeit a much smaller version.






















Hama

Throughout the Middle East the giant, wooden water wheels of Hama are very famous. These water wheels called Norias make a loud, creaking noise as they turn. They are 20 metres in diameter and the wheel and the blocks that they are mounted on are all wooden- hence the mournful groans! There have been Norias here since the 4th century AD but of the 17 Norias that survive today(all reconditioned) these were designed by the Ayyubids in the 13th century.














Ancient Funfair

Hama is quite a conservative place, most women have headscarves and long clothes. Contrary to Damascus where more women can be seen wearing western- style clothes and eschewing the headscarf. We visited a local park and the Norias and Amber spotted a funfair. The funfair looked like it had been built when my mother was a girl. There were only 3 dodgem cars working but Thomas managed to run fast and wrestle for a car for him and his sister. The kids had a ball and we got lots of friendly, inquisitive smiles. We were the only western family around and with our blonde hair we got lots of friendly stares. People came up to us and introduced themselves, asked where we were from and welcomed us to Syria. Other people said hello or salam as we walked by. So hospitable!