Hello!
Today we made the transition from the in-land plateau back to the Aegean coast, as we start to head back to Selcuk and Izmir for our return to England on Saturday.
Breakfast at the hotel and out into the car by 8:30 a.m. It continued to be overcast, and looked very much like rain, even though according to the Weather Channel we shouldn’t see any once we reach the coast. It took us a while to find the right route, as R had forgotten that I wanted to visit a Roman site fairly close to Kutahya before heading cross country.
Eventually got things sorted out, and headed to Aezani; GREAT site; huge! We drove across a restored Roman bridge and parked at the Temple of Zeus, built by my favorite emperor, Hadrian, in 125 AD. The temple had apparently been standing since then until an earthquake in 1970 damaged sections of it! What was really incredible about this temple, though, was that there was a sanctuary (basement) underneath it! I don’t think we’ve ever been “below” a temple like that before! The arch vaulting in the roof was lovely; obviously it was very well built! Additionally, there were active excavations going on in at least three separate places very interesting to watch, but as R says, he would not have the patience to sift through that much dirt! From the temple we walked past the bath complex and over to the combination stadium/theatre; most unusual combination.
Then back on the road, to cover the approximately 300 km to Guzelyali, a southern suburb of the city of Canakkale, right on the Aegean. As we approached the coast, Robert commented on the total change of environment -- from the inland conservative cities with most of the women and girls at least in head scarves, to the shorts and t-shirts of the coast. First we started seeing huge new blocks of apartments that are either condos or rental apartments for all the Europeans who want to come to the beach. These were followed by block after block of shopping centers. In fact, we stopped at one such center ourselves to grab a quick bite at Burger King (who are OBVIOUSLY more of a presence here than McDonald’s; wonder why?!) Then on up the coast toward Canakkale.
This area is very special to the Australians and New Zealanders, as many thousands of their men lost their lives in the battle of Gallipoli, which took place just across the strait of the Dardanelles. If these waters could only talk…
Found our hotel, funnily enough called “Tusan” Hotel, and arrived precisely in the nick of time, as we had just gotten our keys and walked out to get the luggage when a HUGE bus drew up to disgorge the latest load of tourists to the area. The hotel is in a nice area on the beach, away from other places, which is what we like. R got the computer up and running, and I changed back into shorts (yippee!) and took the camera out for a walk. The pool here is stunning, as is the Jacuzzi. I walked down to the beach – although the water looked a bit murky to me – then settled down with my iPad at the pool while the tour group went in the water…too cold for me, that’s for sure! Blogging now, and hope to be able to get this posted before dinner – or if not then, immediately after, as we don’t want to get left at the post and miss a table because of the tour group!
Now if anyone has ANY idea of what that sign says...
Back from dinner! And we didn’t have to worry about a table – ours came with our room number on it! Started with soup and then salad, followed by a veggie wrap of some sort. For mains, R picked a fish from the menu, and I took chicken. Ice cream for dessert!
TROY tomorrow!!
More later!
m
No comments:
Post a Comment