Hello!
After taking yesterday off of just about everything, we need to catch everyone up!
We had dinner last night at the hotel, but this time, instead of the buffet (which we had done at lunch) we ordered a la carte. I had a mixed salad with halumi cheese and a pomegranate dressing (I am REALLY missing things like Blue Cheese dressing!) and spaghetti bolognaise (which for some reason seems to be very popular here!) For starters, R had a crepe with spinach filling; he said it was great! For his main course, he had a filet of beef with piped out mashed potatoes and veggies. It looked really good! It was rather interesting that in the restaurant, it seemed like the ladies in head scarves ate together, mostly apart from their husbands and kids. Also, there was a lady going through the line in a full chador, with her scarf up over her mouth and nose. She sat at a table with her back to the rest of the room, but we’ve been wondering how the heck she can eat anything like that!
So, done with dinner and back downstairs about 8:30 or so, getting ready for the big UEFA Champions League final game in Munich between Bayern Munich and Chelsea of London. (Last year we very much enjoyed watching Barcelona beat ManU at Phil and Dan’s house in Northampton!) The game didn’t start until 9:45 p.m. Turkish time – yawn – and of course it was a cliff-hanger that went into overtime, and finally came down to the “golden goals” – in other words, a penalty shootout. We were rooting for Chelsea (Katy & Bob – Remember when Chelsea clinched the FA cup years ago when we were in London?) Chelsea won and, according to the BBC this morning, the fans “painted the town blue!” (Chelsea’s team color is blue.) By the time the medals had been given out, it was 1 a.m. … a very short night, for sure!
Up around 6 to a blue sky and sunny morning, and into the process of getting all our belongings together. I think it was truly pure dumb luck that we were leaving Ankara on a Sunday morning. We were out the door by 7:30 a.m. and had absolutely NO problem at all getting out of town! I think people were probably still recovering from the Champions League game that night!
Headed for Gordion (yes, home to the Gordion knot!) as our first stop on our way east. Got to the museum and tumulus around 8:45 a.m. and literally had the place to ourselves! Nice, compact little museum featuring some wonderful pottery from the Phrygian excavations. They also had a Galatian funerary monument that was very interesting. It turns out that there are approximately 80 tumuli in the immediate area – these are really funeral “mounds” for their deceased royalty (and they are ALL over the place!) The tombs were originally mud brick and wood, and inside the body would be carefully placed with the goods that they needed to take to the next life. On top of this construction, dirt would be piled high – it must have taken a tremendous effort to do! – and then a layer of clay on top of this to “seal” the tomb and finally, stones and then more dirt. These tumuli are in the neighborhood of 60 m. high! Unreal! The biggest tumulus has been excavated, and that is the one we visited. It was originally thought that this particular one was the burial site of King Midas (yes, as in the “Midas touch”), but since that original pronouncement, it is now believed to be another Gordion king.
As we drove around the immediate area, there were many different brown signs (archeological sites) pointing to various things – really, way too many to keep track of! It does seem that once we see one thing, we find five or six more things that we need to come back and see! Amazing!
From Gordion, we headed to Midas City; yes, again, the Phrygian King Midas! Lovely drive through gathering clouds and fields full of yellow, purple and red wild flowers; truly a great time of year to be here! It turns out that there is renovation work on the Midas City site, and much of one wall was behind scaffolding. However, it was still possible to make out some of the Phrygian hieroglyphics, as well as visit some of the original tombs. This is definitely a site that we want to come back to, once they have finished what looks to be an outstanding renovation. There are remains of tumuli, rock cut tombs, an acropolis and living areas across some beautiful fields – a great place to come back to with a picnic!
From here we decided to head to our stopping-place-for-the-night, Kutayha, where we had booked another Hilton Garden Inn. And, while that may sound easy, to be honest, the route we chose took us over some of the worst roads we have ever had to cope with! And the off-again, on-again rain certainly didn’t help. While the main roads are almost all in universally good shape, the back roads are something else again…I know that there are pot holes that could bury a Volkswagen, and today we found some holes that could bury a Mercedes! The big one! We did run across some odd road signage – but to be honest, we couldn’t understand any of it!
So, on we went…and on…at some points, I was having a hard time controlling the car, as we were heading over stones and dirt and broken asphalt; just sailing along!
I kept telling myself that these little roads were the only things linking some of these little villages together, but that solace only went so far. FINALLY we reached a main road and scooted into Kutahya in a driving rain. Kutahya MUCH bigger than we thought; seemed to go on for miles, but eventually found the Hilton, once around the block and underneath to their parking area, and we were here!
We’re on their 2nd floor, which is the non-smoking floor – and the best thing – they DO have a washer and dryer, a duplicate of the set-up in Sanliurfa. Up to the 4th floor for laundry, and I am SO happy to announce that we now have enough clean laundry to actually get us back to England (at which point we will use Phil’s washer!!) So! Settled into room; very comfortable; raining outside off and on.
Down to dinner at 7 p.m. to their Sumac Restaurant. R had kofte (lamb meatballs) and rice; I had their steak sandwich with fries. Very good, but I want to get this finished and published so I can go to BED!
Tomorrow we’re off to Canakkale and the ruins of Troy! So…more later!
Much love,
m
xxx
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