Report from Turkey :)

[rmitchell248]

I just wanted to share a bit of today (monday) with you guys! No diving yet but we will be the weekend of the 20th. Next Saturday we will be going to Capadocia and staying here Gamirasu Cave Hotel


As for today....
First we went to Keratepe, then to Heiropolis! Keratepe is an ancient summer residence of King Asitawada of the Hittites. The ruins we saw there today were from 800 BC! This was an open air museum where in the 1940s Turkish and Italian archeologists uncovered and reconstructed much of the ruins. The foundation walls of the castle are all in tact around the perimeter but the tall walls that sit on the foundation have not survived the 2800 years. The sculptures and the remains were amazing! The discovery of the ruins at Keratepe were the only keys to unlocking the code to the Hittite hieroglyphics this was the only place in the world that the Hittite hieroglyphics and the phoenecian alphabet were side by side on stone tablets. Researchers had given up being able to translate this until they found this site 60 years ago.

After watching a video and walking around the indoor museum we went to the open air museum which was located at the 2 gates of the castle. We walked between the 2 gates through the center of the castle grounds. It was amazing!

Here is the View from the Main Gate at Keratepe. The Castle is situated on a mountain formed as a peninsula with the water around it

After leaving Keratepe we jumped back in the car and went to Heiropolis which was a Roman castle from about 30 BC to 30 AD. This castle is located on top of a rock cliff/mountain. We had lunch at the base of the mountain on an old Roman Marble Column that had fallen over. We then walked along the original stone walkway with the columns on the side past many rock structures and finally coming to a theater that was built into the hillside. It was neat to see 2000 year old colums still standing. The construction and the architecture is unbelievable!

Here is the where we had to eat lunch today

I have 200 pictures from today and will get them loaded on photo bucket tomorrow but as for now I am EXHAUSTED!!!!

 

[pacificgal]

Awesome, Robert, looking forward to seeing more pictures!

 

[ryssyr]

Nice pictures. I was in Turkey last year and really enjoyed it. I cant wait to see the underwater shots.

 

[micboucher]

Great report and pics Robert! Looking forward to more.

 

[kathydee]

Robert,

It's beautiful there! Thanks for the update- its great to hear you are having fun! Cant wait to see more pics .

 

[ae3753]

Very cool. Keep posting and keeping us up to date on your travels. Looks gorgeous.

 

[Ben_ca]

Great pictures.. I can't wait to see more.

 

[rmitchell248]

Thanks guys we are having a great time getting out and exploring on our own!

It is an amazing country to say the least and the lack of organization is something to behold. The driving alone is a story that could not be told, one would have to experience it on their own to truly understand. If you are on a 2 lane road and there is room for 5 wide it will happen. I have not found a way to upset any other driver on the road you can cut off, pull out in front of, tailgate what ever its all fair game. I have equated driving here to go kart racing... with a lot of go karts.

It is funny because Tiffany and I were discussing the fact that we are yet to have seen one accident here. If people were to drive like this in America some body would more than likely get shot and certainly there would be many many accidents. I would have to say in some strange way where the ability to follow any local law or road sign would not be a prerequisite to achieve this rating, it seems you could believe that Turks are better drivers! By this I mean better operators, more observant and much more defensive. You can pass in a 2 lane highway with oncoming traffic and the oncoming simply moves over towards the shoulder with no crossed looks or horns or fists out the window. Heck there may even be room for one more in there!

The other night we were able to get into Adana for Dinner at a place located on the Seyhan River. I honestly do not recall the name of the Restaurant but it was a quite enjoyable experience. We were joined by 10 friends some had been here before others not. We had appetizers which consisted of fruit and vegetables mixed into all kinds of Turkish stuff that i couldnt even describe. It was all wonderful down to the presentation which had our appetizers laid out from one end of the table to the other 2 feet wide. Next came bread, hummice, bread with mystery meat on top which was my personal favorite. Next all of the fixins to build salad were delivered. Eventually the main course! A 7 foot kabob, beef with chicken sitting on top of a 7 foot slice of bread. The presentation was something else, the chef brought it out along with two helpers and placed down the center of our table. it was then held in place by the team and an 8 foot skewer was magically pulled out of the center leaving it to rest on the long flat bread. I will just say that I will be back to eat this again with was delicious! Dinner was followed by a desert selection laid on the table of all kinds of stuff ranging from a pudding type of dish to fruits again the length of the table 2 feet wide! The last thing they brought was chai', Turkish tea.

It was a nice place and very busy. We got out of there with all that food for 24 Turkish Lyra per person. Which is less than $15.00 usd each! It was a great meal we had a blast. Here are a few shots of the dinner. I really enjoyed the last photo as if you look in the tree you can see a cat hanging out to see if he can score some scraps!

Kabob getting delivered

Kabob on table

Cat in ambush mode

 

[mikeguerrero]

Hi Robert,

Wow, lots of rich history on those broken stones on the ground. I started thinking of the movie, "Clash of the Titans" where Princess Andromeda got rescued by Perseus.

Would have been nice to see you in that gear as a Roman soldier ready to slay the Kragan. Hey how about you put on your Halcyon gear, and we can believe you will slay what ever you find in that lake?



MG

 

[rmitchell248]

Hi Robert,

Wow, lots of rich history on those broken stones on the ground. I started thinking of the movie, "Clash of the Titans" where Princess Andromeda got rescued by Perseus.

Would have been nice to see you in that gear as a Roman soldier ready to slay the Kragan. Hey how about you put on your Halcyon gear, and we can believe you will slay what ever you find in that lake?



MG

Mike your post actually made me laugh out loud I agree when you are walking down the thick stone road with columns on the side knowing that Roman Chariots were pulled down this same path to go to the out door theater over the hill to the right is such a humbling feeling. Once we came over the hill and looked down on the theater I could imagine the seats full and the life that was there it is pretty cool! I have a bunch of photos from both locations loading on photobucket right now I will get them up soon!