The Cotton Castle

From Selcuk we took a three hour bus ride to Pamukkale, or, the Cotton Castle. Pamukkale is that thing you know you've seen pictures of but can't figure out why people are hanging out on snow banks in their bikinis.

The Pamukkale travertines are made out of limestone. In order to protect it you have to walk it barefoot. It looks really rough (and is in some spots) but for the most part is easy to walk on. And what roughness there is you're rather happy for because water covers the entire surface and the ridges, caused by the constant flow of water, provide traction.

I did not mess with the colors-it really looks like that

The water that runs down Pamukkale gathers into a pond in the public park (above). Along the travertines it collects in pools, creating clear, bright blue circles of cool water against the very very white limestone.

We were so glad we ignored Lonely Planet's advice to start in Hieropolis then finish on Pamukkale. We decided to walk up to Hieropolis through the travertines since that was the entrance closest to us. Totally worth it. At 9AM there were very few people about and it was still fairly cool (i.e. maybe 87 instead of the 93 it would be later) and parts of the travertines were in shadow. In the afternoon the place was crawling with people and none of us even bothered to take out our cameras since you couldn't get a good shot of anything. You could barely even get in any of the pools they were all so crowded.

It was nice to stop in each of the pools. In the morning some were still quite cool but by the time we made our way down they were all warm from the sun. The limestone the running water erodes gathers in the bottoms of the pools so while walking on the limestone wasn't really slippery, sometimes walking in the pools was because the collected limestone powder makes a kind of clay. 

We didn't wear out bathing suits but plenty other people were wearing theirs and lounging in the pools. None were very deep, I think the deepest was only up to my knees, so mostly people were just soaking. And a fair few people were also doing amateur 'glamor shots'. So even if the view of the travertines was ruined in the afternoon by the sheer amount of people, there was plenty of entertainment to be had. 

There were easily 10 times the amt of people only a few hours later

While it was not slippery, it was a little tricky to walk in some places. The water rushed quite fast in a few sections and with the natural erosion, we really had to watch our steps to make sure we were putting our feet down somewhere safe. I am happy to report that I did not fall, not once!

This really was a fascinating place to visit. The town of Pamukkale isn't much, you can tell that it pretty much grew up around the ruins and travertines as it seems to consist largely of restaurants and hotels. Also don't expect fabulous food...most of the restaurants were as or more (!) expensive than in Istanbul and not nearly as good.

It is absolutely worth the 3 hour bus ride from Selcuk though. And because there's not a whole lot here, buses to and from a variety of places (Selcuk, Cappadoccia, Istanbul, etc) are available at the many travel agencies and the airport isn't too far away if you want to make it a day trip. Definitely get there early though so you can enjoy the travertines before the crowds show up.

Next up...Hieropolis! The only ruins where I've ever seen people wandering around in bathing suits.

Around Ephesus

If you're in Ephesus and you have a little time, it's worth it to spend the night and take a little time exploring the area. People seemed nice and generally quite helpful-and there seems to be more English in little Selcuk than in all of Istanbul.

For example, we managed to get ourselves on a free shuttle the airline provides to get you from Izmir to the town, which is about a 45 minute drive. The driver dropped us off on a random corner and all we had to do was look slightly confused before someone asked us, in very good English, where we were going, which hotel we were looking for etc.

"Oh Tom!" he said as soon as we mentioned we were headed for the Artemis. "Hang on, let me call him." And five minutes later there was Tom coming to get us. Fantastic.

Among the interesting things in Selcuk (the town where Ephesus is), was this...art.

I don't know. I don't ask questions. It's like a 'hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil or a seagull will break open your skull' kinda thing. Why not. In addition to seagulls we also saw a lot of storks. They were just hanging out on the random ruins of things that seemed to pop up around town.  

Selcuk also has a pretty happening night life for such a small town. We wandered out of our hotel in the evening and saw that not only were all the cafes full, but there was some sort of dance something happening in the local park. We think it might have been for a new sports center that was offering dance classes (seems like a good explanation anyway). The dance teacher (?) was demonstrating a number of Latin dances and trying to get people to follow along. Of course all the little girls were enthusiastically twirling around but there were a surprising amount of adults trying as well. How well they followed was another question since she didn't seem to be a very good teacher and was too involved with spinning around and around and showing off her own skills than actually teaching anything.

If you've got the time it's also a quick dolmus (a mini van like public cab) to nearby Srinici which is well-known for its fruit wines.

Sirinci is a lovely little "typical" Turkish villa...which is now completely full of shops and restaurants and whatnot. The fruit wine the village is so famous for is somewhat less lovely. Like many Turkish wines it's very hit or miss and you can definitely tell which wines are made with real fruit and which are made with a lot of artificial flavorings and colors. The ones with artificial flavors taste, as Lonely Planet warned us, like cough syrups.

In addition to wine you can also buy olive oils, for which Turkey is becoming more well-known, teas, nuts, lotions made from local herbs and fruits, home made jams, and something called gum mastic. No idea what that is but it's the white jars in the below.

The nice thing about the town though is that you can walk into any shop and taste any, and every! wine they sell. If you don't want to buy anything no problem. Some of the fruits are what you're used to finding in fruit wines: apple, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, peach, etc. Some of them leaned a little stranger though.

Since this is Turkey the apricot and mulberry weren't all that unexpected. But the watermelon, citrus, and kiwi (?!?) were certainly not something you see everyday. I think we tried most of them but most definitely not the kiwi. The kiwi we steered well clear of. I shudder to even remember the bottles of lime green kiwi "wine".

The best sign ever

Because of the awesome sign we stopped here for a drink. The sign was a little misleading sad to say. However after all that tramping around, bargaining for everything except the wine, and wine tasting, we were in need of a break. So we stayed for a glass of chilled strawberry wine.

We left Sirinci with two bottles of the mulberry and a bottle of local red. One of the mulberries is currently in my growing wine collection, the other (and the red) we drank at the barbecue our hotel put on that night. If you do decide to spend the night in Selcuk definitely book yourself into the Artemis Hotel. It's pretty basic but very close to the bus/dolmus station and Tom, the owner, is very friendly and helpful. I suspect I'll be back in Selcuk in a few months and I imagine I'll be staying there again.

If wine that largely tastes like cough syrup isn't your thing and a trip the the House of Mary didn't fully cover your pilgrimage needs, Selcuk is also home to the first basilica dedicated to Saint John. Sadly there's not a whole lot left; but it's nearby the Selcuk bus station and totally worth the 8TL to get in.

I love me a pillar

From the ruins of the basilica you can also see the Selcuk castle which was sadly closed while we were there. Another view afforded by the basilica is of the remains of the Temple or Artemis. Not saying it's not worth going to see that if you're in Selcuk, but there is just the one pillar left (I think a lot of it was torn down to make the castle and basilica actually) but since you can see it from the basilica, why bother?

The coolest thing about the basilica? It's not just dedicated to Saint John the Apostle...it's also his final resting place and home to his tomb.

Tomb of St John

What remains of the basilica has some very interesting things. For example,t he baptistery. Now in the Catholic Church, even adults who are baptized just lean over the font for the priest to pour a little water over ones head. Apparently in the early days we were full immersion folks.

Steps leading into a full immersion baptismal font

There were storks hanging out even here too.

I can only imagine how gorgeous this place must have been. The detailing on some of the columns is still impressive today.

Aside from the taxi that ran over my foot at the House of Mary, I very much enjoyed the whole pilgrimage aspect to my trip.

Next up...a three hour bus ride and the amazing travertines of Pamukkale!

Inauspicious beginnings

DC has gotten a pretty ridiculous amount of snow since December. Apparently, Dulles International Airport recorded 72 inches of snow this year. While I usually declare DC to be full of wusses unable to handle a little snow...the city-wide shut down made perfect sense last week. I think that would even have stalled Michigan a little. My biggest concern was that I was supposed to fly out of DC on Friday for my beloved city of Belgrade. What if I couldn't get out? What if I were stuck in DC trying to deal with changing my ticket and losing days I was supposed to be in Belgrade?! Joy of joys though, that did not happen. After the massive snow storms last week, Dulles was fully functioning by Friday. Little did I suspect however, that getting out of DC would not be my biggest problem.

My flight got into Munich slightly later than scheduled but as I was facing a four hour layover I was not terribly heartbroken to arrive late. The heartbreak came later when my 11:00 flight was cancelled. Lufthansa rescheduled everyone for the 3:00 flight...which was cancelled. It seems that Belgrade was in the midst of its own Snowmageddon. I was rescheduled for Sunday's 3:00 flight (seats for the 11:00 were completely booked) and Lufthansa put us all up in a hotel for the night. But did the problems stop there? Oh no.

I asked that my suitcase be offloaded so I could have it for the night. What I really wanted was my laptop cord which I had not thought to bring with me because why would I need it (lesson learned). I waited for two hours for my suitcase while the baggage handlers told me to be patient as it usually took a little while. Finally I went to the counter to ask where in blazes my case was. You know where it was? Lost, that's where. Because so many European countries have been hit with bad weather over the last week, Munich has experienced a lot of delays and cancellations so the luggage storage room was a bit of a mess. How very unGerman of them. With a promise that the bag would probably be located within the hour and that they would deliver it to my hotel I finally left the airprot for my first glimpse of Munich in nearly 11 years. I saw snow. Sadly it was too late and I was too tired to even think about trekking into the city. Needless to say my suitcase was not delivered that night nor even the next morning.

When I checked in again at the airport I asked after my suitcase only to be told that it was still lost. Panic was beginning to set in. I could use one of the computers in my Belgrade office so that wasn't so bad. Lufthansa would reimburse 100% of toiletries and 50% of clothes which is great since I only ever seem to find designer lables here...but hair product! I have yet to find a salon in Belgrade that carries Tigi's Curls Rock (if anyone knows where to get it here let me know!). The horror of having to go without my hair product was almost too much. I checked at the Lufthansa service center shortly before my flight and found out two things: 1. my 3:00 was delayed due to weather in Nice, and 2. my suitcase was discovered! Hurrah! I ate a Rittersport for joy.

I really love Lufthansa. I hate that I have to fly American airlines where available. I have a feeling that United would have been much less helpful than the lovely people at Lufthansa. I hope that this will be the only snag during this trip. I have almost two full weeks in Serbia before I head to Kosovo for a week and from there Macedonia for a few days. Fingers crossed.

Michigan, where it really snows

I'll completely admit that 15 to 20 inches of snow is a lot of snow, especially if you get it all in one day. But snowpocalypse that halted DC for an entire weekend was not quite the Armageddon people thought it was. Those Midwesterners who have migrated here went okay, snow, life still goes on but we'll give you a break because this is a lot more of the white stuff than you usually see.

Then I went back to the Mitten for Christmas. I kind of think that's from where snow originates. Did you know there's actually a Hell, Michigan? I've never been there but I know it exists (and I think it's kind of cool actually) and I think that the combination of Hell + Michigan created a vortex from which snow spews. And it think the vortex might be centered over my parents' house.

 

 

 

 

 

While I was home I had to make a visit to my dad's cabin where all the sliding and campfire parties are staged. My dad built this a couple years ago. It's a two story cabin, the upstairs has two or three single-size beds, and the main floor a little kitchenette, wood stove, living/dining space, and a large picture window that over looks the pond.

 

 

Naturally in my family we don't walk back to the cabin. Why on earth would we do that? So silly. We drive the golf cart. Uh huh. My mom was driving and I had out my camera clicking away trying to get some interesting shots of this very impressive hemlock tree (seen from a different angle)

And instead of interesting shots ended up with a face/camera full of snow when I got whacked with a snow-laden branch.

 

 

Despite this very wet and cold setback, I braved the elements a little longer to try for a few more interesting, if less daring shots.