Sunday, 1 July 2012
On that day, our group left the not-so-good hotel in Çanakkale. The destination to visit would be İzmir city and remains of Selçuk, which took more than half day to get to the first destination and another one hour to the next, still within the İzmir Province. According to the seven geographical regions of Turkey, both are included in Aegean Region (Ege in Turkish), named after the Aegean Sea. On our way to İzmir city, we took one toilet stop (not sure where, maybe Edremit?) and another lunch stop at Bergama (Pergamon) which also had ancient city. It was not on our itinerary, however.
As usual, Ümit gave us "lecture" during the beginning of the journey. The topic of the day, if I am not mistaken was social life, including the work and salary of Turkish people, living cost and its element, as well as comparison between the urban and rural live. He also told us about how he got his career as tourist guide. In addition to it, after the first stop, he also made us all introduce ourselves to make us know each other and make him know all of us. Each of us came to the front of the bus aisle and told our name, occupation, company or school, age (for younger people) and other things we liked to tell. Our tour leader Stevia, who escorted us from the departure in Jakarta (not introduced yet during the previous two parts, sorry), became the first to introduce herself. She also told us the department she was working at the tour company. Most, including her, did it in Indonesian but some did it in English, including me (don't know why I ended up telling everyone in English).
İzmir
Upon reaching İzmir city around two hours after lunch at Bergama, already in İzmir Province, we alighted from the bus and walked towards the Republic Square (Cumhuriyet Meydanı). Unlike in Istanbul, which was warm but mild when we were there, İzmir summer weather was hotter, and we knew that of course while walking to the spot. The square, located on the beautiful shore of Aegean Sea, has a statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in military uniform riding a horse. Almost every city in Turkey has his statue as he was revered as the founding father of the present day Republic of Turkey. Each statue is usually placed on the city centre. The square is indeed on the city centre of İzmir, the third biggest city in Turkey after Istanbul and Ankara, respectively.
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| A column (don't know the name) at Republic Square (Cumhuriyet Meydanı), İzmir, with the Aegean Sea on the background |
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| Statue of Atatürk mounting a horse, with the flag of Turkey fluttering beside and office buildings at the background |
We were then transported by bus to another famous square, named Konak Square, also on the city centre. For our group, as Indonesian, the name itself made eyebrows raised since the name has another meaning in Indonesian language. But, Ümit already knew this so he calmly told us that it had different meaning in Turkish language. The square itself is famous for its clock tower from the Ottoman period, which is typical in design. At the square, there is also a statue of a Turkish soldier who was the first to shoot the Greek soldiers during Turkish Independence War after the World War I.
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| The İzmir Clock Tower from the Ottoman period at Konak Square |
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| The memorial statue for the Turkish Independence War. Later I knew that the statue was of Hasan Tahsin |
After that, we left for our next destination Selçuk, on the southern part of İzmir Province, about one hour journey from İzmir city. On the way, we passed through a sculpture of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on a hill, which made it Mount Rushmore of Turkey.
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| Sculpture of Atatürk with his slogan: "Yurtta barış dünyada barış", meaning "Peace at home, peace worlwide" |
Basilica of Saint John
We arrived in about an hour in the town of Selçuk. Our first spot is the Basilica of Saint John ruins. It was built on the tomb of Saint John, one of the twelve apostles, also identified as John the Evangelist, during the early age of Christianity. The basilica was situated on the foot of a Ayasoluk Hill, on top of which stands the fortress of Selçuk. Among those that now remains from the basilica are some of the walls and columns of the church building, outer walls, baptistery (pool for baptism), and of course, the tomb of Saint John. Perhaps as a part of historic site conservation, some of the basilica walls are partially reconstructed.
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| Outer walls |
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| It was inside a large church back then |
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| Some parts of this were actually partially reconstructed |
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| The Tomb of Saint John the Apostle |
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| In early churches, baptism was performed in this baptistery |
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| The vicinity of the historic site is also home to these storks |
House of the Virgin Mary
After the Basilica of Saint John, our next spot was the House of the Virgin Mary, which is believed to be the last home to Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. It is also situated in Selçuk, but quite far from the basilica, so we were transported there by our bus. Situated on Mount Koressos (Bülbüldağı), the site was considered shrine not only by Roman Catholics, who manage the site, but also by Muslims. Ümit told us that in 2006, there was a forest fire spreading throughout the mountain, which concerns the safety of the house, but it turned out that the fire got extinguished when nearing the house. "It was miracle," said Ümit.
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| A baptistery here |
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| Statue of Virgin Mary on the way to the house |
Inside the House of the Virgin Mary, there is a place for people to pray their devotion to Virgin Mary. No photography is allowed inside the house. Outside the house, although not adjacent, there is a spring which is believed to be holy water which has healing power. Next to it, there is a long wall for people who have their prayers written on a cloth or paper to attach their prayers to it. It was unfortunate that I did not bring my pen or pencil and paper there :))
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| The house itself now becomes a place to pray |
Weekly mass is celebrated every Sunday evening next to the house. However, you need to register to be able to perform or attend the mass. So, I could not avoid skipping the mass for the week >:))
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| Prayers attached along the wall |
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| The logo of the congregation that manages this site, perhaps, but don't know the name of this order |
After exploring the vicinity of the House of the Virgin Mary and some people did prayer inside the house, including my family, we returned to our bus waiting at the car park outside, and descended the mountain to Kuşadası, in the neighbouring Aydın Province for dinner and rest at the hotel. But before reaching the hotel, we visited Turkish delight (lokum) shop, where we bought boxes Turkish delight for gift to relatives and friends not joining our trip, as well as Turkish tea, Turkish coffee, and also chocolate.
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| A shopkeeper (or perhaps salesperson) explaining different types of Turkish delight |
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| Found this in the shop; nazar, or charm, to ward off the so-called "evil eye", believed to bring bad lucks. This is also a popular ornament found in keychains, necklaces, and bracelets sold for souvenirs |
Most of us bought many things in the shop. I cannot remember how many boxes me and my family bought at the time. But as far as I remembered, I took two boxes for me when I returned to Singapore. They were finished by me and also my lab mates ;)
Monday, 2 July 2012 (first half)
Spain - Italy 4 - 0. I missed the final match of the Euro 2012 last night. Anyway, our tour program for the first half of the day was to visit another famous ancient city, Ephesus, back in Selçuk. After that, we left for another city Pamukkale in another province Denizli, towards central Turkey.
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| Sea view from my room window |
But before that, we were taken to a leather factory, producing export-quality jackets made of leather (produced from skin of cattle). There was a fashion show before we were taken into the shopping room and as we arrived as a group, they "kidnapped" two lucky ones (one lady and one gentleman) to wear their collection and became an "ad-hoc" model :))
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| The real models |
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| ... and these are our stars of the day; they were not really lucky anyway, the leather clothes were not theirs ;) |
After the fashion show and shopping session (none of my family bought the leather jacket, anyway), we went on to Ephesus historic site, an ancient city. It was an important harbour city and trading centre during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine era. It was left by the population when the phenomenon of sea level regression occurred and the harbour function of the city was lost.
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| Smaller amphitheatre near the entrance |
The ancient city, like our modern cities, also has division functions such as houses, podium for public audience, government centre, library, as well as gyms.
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| Modern symbol of medicine is derived from this symbol of Hermes, god from Greek mythology |
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| Nike, Greek goddess of victory. Can anyone notice the symbol used in the present-day Nike shoes? |
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| House of government at the time |
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| Notice the holes? Yes, this was in a public toilet. |
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| Library of Celsus with four gods symbolizing four good powers. This is the spot chosen for our (only) tour group photograph. |
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| Row in the ancient market |
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| Even bigger amphitheatre |
After exploring the ancient city of Ephesus, we left the site by bus for our lunch restaurant, situated on a hotel, different from the one we stayed last night. The lunch was buffet but with typical local choices: soup, salad, as well as fish, chicken or beef.
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| For each table belonging to different group, two flags was set: one is Turkish "Ayyıldız/Albayrak/Alsancak" and one, for our case, is Indonesian "Sang Saka Merah Putih" |
After lunch, we left for another approximately three and a half hours to our next destination, which will be covered in the next release.
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