As beautiful and sobering as my experience of Gallipoli was, I was excited to get on the road and see some of the history and landscapes of Turkey.
Our first stop was Troy. My favourite part was the Trojan horse in its unashamedly obvious touristic nature, even with little windows! But the actual ruins of the city of Troy were pretty awesome.
Troy had been destroyed and rebuilt so many times, that the ruins had been identified as originating from several different eras of Troy built in the same spot. They had little markers to represent which of the cities of Troy the ruins came from. Some of the mud bricks remaining were about 5000 years old, which was mind blowing!
We then headed to Pergamum and Asklepion, the oldest hospital in the world, where there were some beautiful Corinthian style pillars still remaining. Most of my prior interactions with historical sites in Europe had been from the Roman era, and Turkey was my first real encounter with ancient Greek ruins.
The Greeks really were something else, such deep thinkers, and it was obvious everywhere we looked, Asklepion being a great example of this. Their hospitals, amphitheaters, libraries designed with genius and so much ingenuity.
Our hotels were pretty amazing throughout the trip, but we had a particularly beautiful view at Kusadasi where we stayed that night, the perfect way to end a pretty intense day.
One of my favourite days of the trip (which says a lot) was the next one. We stopped at Ephesus, with an impressive amphitheater to seat 60 000 people and a rebuilt facade from the Ephesus library to give an intimidating perspective on how impressive the city must have looked in its day.
We got to see traditional handmade pottery with some incredibly intricate handpainting.
Our final stop was Pamukkale. If you go nowhere else in Turkey, you have to see Pamukkale, an incredible natural wonder. The terraces are calcium, giving the water a beautiful blue tinge and the pools were so warm, so magnificent, so tranquil. We got thunderstormed out but it was one of the most awe-inspiring sights I've seen.
Heading to Cappadocia, we visited an underground city that dates back to the Hittites and used over thousands of years. When there were invasions, the city would evacuate into these underground places and live there for months with no sunlight, digging out tunnels and caves to live in. Many of these underground cities were unknown to exist until discovered by someone who stumbled upon them, they were that well hidden. So simple, so clever, I could not help but admire the pluck of these ancient people.
As a last big hurrah before heading back to Istanbul, we were blessed enough to have the weather be kind so we could do the thing everyone goes to Cappadocia for: hot air ballooning. My word! It was such an experience, unique because of the stillness. We glided along so smoothly, so effortlessly, we could see balloons below and above, in every direction. The best way to describe it was like being in a giant lantern festival, surrounded by so much colour and beauty. I've never experienced anything like it.
After breakfast we visited the Goreme Open Air Museum, which was all these little churches in caves with some stunning interior artwork. We then finished with a tour of a Turkish carpet place where they had handmade carpets, sponsored by the government in a similar way to what I say in Jordan, to help support people who had no other income, but also to keep the art and tradition alive. We got to watch them make silk spools from cocoons, which was pretty cool too.
The following day was driving, all day, back to Istanbul. It was a good chance to catch up on sleep, to reflect on a pretty epic week, and to reminisce on the time together with my new friends who felt like old ones. Turkey has weaseled its way into my heart and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to go and that I actually took it!
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