After a few days by the Med, it was time to head inland, firstly to Pamukkale, where we started with lunch overlooking the travertine terraces, which are beautiful white terraces formed by calcium carbonate hardening on the cliffs over time. After lunch we drove up to the site of Hierapolis, at the top of the travertines. I didn’t know much about Hierapolis prior to this trip but I really enjoyed the afternoon we had exploring the enormous site. It was a city of around 120,000 people so it is, understandably, quite large. The most impressive sight for me was the theatre, which has been very well restored. It’s a bit of a hike up to it but the view when you enter the top of the theatre and look down is really quite incredible.
It is possible to walk down the travertines and back to Pamukkale, but you have to do so in bare feet to help protect the terraces. I didn’t massively fancy that as it looked quite painful on the feet, so it was back to the bus for the journey back down.
Dinner at the hotel as there’s not a massive amount of choice in Pamukkale, especially at the end of the season. The weather had started turning too, and a downpour greeted us at the end of the day.
Off to Selçuk the next day for a 2 night stay. We arrived by lunchtime and a few of us firstly went to St John’s Basilica whilst it wasn’t raining. It is believed that St John came to this area with the Virgin Mary after Jesus’ death, and so this area is a very important site in Christianity. There were a few other visitors not put off by the weather. Quite an interesting site, and we could also walk up to the citadel which gave us a great view of the area.
After a delicious pide (Turkish pizza) late lunch, I hid from the rain in the hotel until dinner where it had thankfully stopped raining. Sea bass for dinner, very much enjoying the seafood in Türkiye.
The next morning we joined the hoards from the cruise ships on a morning tour of Ephesus. Hierapolis was impressive but Ephesus is on a different scale. The mosaics, the library and the Terrace Houses were my highlights.
Afterwards we visited the remains of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There’s only one column remaining, plus some foundations, but it’s pretty cool to see.
We then had a free afternoon before I had a slightly disappointing hammam. Could have done with a firmer scrub!!
We left Selçuk the next day and visited a carpet workshop, very similar to the carpet shops I’d visited in recent weeks in Central Asia, where they did their best to sell expensive carpets to us. Others purchased, I didn’t.
After a short stop in the city of Ayvalik to visit a G Adventures-supported women’s cooperative where they create products out of recycled material, we then headed to the ancient city of Troy (complete with modern wooden horse!). Of the ancient sites in this section of the trip, Troy is the least excavated and restored, and consequently much quieter than both Ephesus and Hierapolis.
Afterwards we made our way to our hotel for the evening in Çanakkale. A final seafood dinner before an early ferry the next morning over to the Gallipoli peninsula. We started at Anzac Cove, and then visited an Australian memorial and Lone Pine, and we were the only visitors at both places. We also visited a Turkish memorial and Chunuk Bair where there is a large statue of Ataturk commemorating his accomplishments during the war. Certainly more people at both of these. A very poignant morning.
After lunch we drove on some very quiet motorways back to Istanbul, where it was distinctly less quiet. And it was also raining heavily. We had a final dinner that evening at a rooftop restaurant in the old town, thankfully one with a covered roof!
I really loved this trip through Türkiye. I picked it for the variety of things we would see – scenery in Cappadocia, culture in Istanbul and Konya, the coast in Antalya and Kaş and the history at Hierapolis, Ephesus, Troy and Çatalhöyük. A fascinating country, and I’m sure I’ll be back.
