Yes, I Know, I'm a Terribad Blogger...

And I'm very late. Anyway, I wrote mi familia this e-mail about my time in Turkey immediately after the face, and I figured, since I'll likely never get around to writing something just for this blog, I might as well share it with you fine folks too:

"We visited some cool places. Ephessus, one of the best preserved and most massive ancient Greek/Roman cities, was particularly fascinating from a historical sense. At it's height, it rivaled Rome in size and prominence. Several of the existing artifacts (frescoes, statues, engravings, etc) contain the symbols used by several modern mega-corporations -- namely, the Nike Swoosh and Starbucks' Artemis logo. Some amusing passing-the-torch-of-power sort of symbolism there. There's also an enormous coliseum and Hadrian's Library, the 2nd or 3rd largest library in the ancient world (after Alexandria). I probably broke international law by going outside the open area, climbing an ancient tower, and meditating on top.

We spent a day in a small village nearby called Sirince. Ate lunch in this tiny authentic Turkish pancake house -- dirt floor, huge portions, very odd yogurt-based drink (we joked that it tasted as though it came from a yak's uh...nether regions), the works. The little old lady proprietor barely spoke English. Our friend Sam had recently gotten a Turkish makeover (I went too, but eschewed the haircut. Closest shave I have ever received), and she spoke to him for five minutes straight in Turkish before she realized he wasn't one of her people. The pancake joint was pretty out of the way, and so retained its unadulterated flavor, but the rest of the town is fairly touristy. They are famous for their sweet fruit wine. Sort of like fruit juice for grown-ups. I bought a bottle of the Quince (a sort of pear-like thing) flavor: 10 Turkish Lira = 6 dollars. Thank god for good exchange rates!

My favorite place by far, though, was Pamukkale -- that translates to "Cotton Castle". The name is appropriate. It's an entire mountain built out of collected calcium deposits from a hot springs coming out of the top. These amazing nested pools full of warm, milky blue water have formed on the side of the hill. We spent an hour or so just lounging in them after we saw what was on the top of the hill: Heiropolis. THE holy city of ancient Rome. Kilometers of necropolis surrounds cypress groves, a coliseum, the (supposed) entrance to the underworld (so thought because poisonous gases escape the rock in that spot from time to time -- stand too close, and you WILL enter the afterlife, whether you want to or not), a ton of huge ruins of various buildings, and a holy pool dedicated to some goddess or another. Used for proto-baptisms, apparently. They wanted 30 lira to get in, so I spent my time elsewhere.

Selcuk itself is maybe my favorite place on Earth. The whole city is built around a central hill, on which sits a crumbling Ottoman castle. Technically, we weren't supposed to go in, but there are large holes in the fence and no one really cares. So we did. Small children attempted to give us the tour before asking for 10 lira. We gave them 2. The ruins of roman aqueducts run through various neighborhoods. There are storks everywhere. They nest in the most astonishing places; somehow balancing 4 or 5 foot diameter nests on the tops of telephone poles. We spent most of the trip hanging out with one particular group of shopowners. They are all displaced Kurds, and simply the kindest people I have ever met. We were brought gallons of tea, taught to play backgammon, invited to smoke hookah, and told that should we ever return, we are welcome in any of their homes.

Of course, we did collectively spend probably several thousand lira in their half-dozen shops and tavernas (I have gifts!). So it may have all been clever marketing. I prefer to think they really liked us. "

Also, some photos from Pamukkale and Heiropolis:

We begin climbing the mountain...

The pools' blue color is a result of the massive amount of calcium in them.

There isn't enough water coming out of the top of the mountain to keep the whole of the

calcium deposited area "fresh," so they've set up a series of sluice gates and blocks to keep water

flowing around the areas people are allowed.

A close-up view of the calcium-deposit walls.

Some pools, like this one, were 'scaffolded' by the Romans with concrete and allowed to become

covered in calcium sediment, leading to this look. They believed the calcium, and hence the pools,

to have healing powers.

The Coliseum at Heiropolis, atop Pamukkale

Yeah, I climbed that.

The long arm (and huge, black hand, apparently) of the law.

Turkish soldiers out for a stroll among the Necropolis.

This ancient building was falling over, so they built some scaffolding to hold it up. Fancy.