October 2014 was the tiny window I had between a book edit and the arrival of my mother for the winter so I decided to join a cheap tour with Intrepid through Turkey. On sale at $1500 for eighteen days was less than $100 per day for accommodation, transportation, a guide, entrances to parks and breakfasts. I couldn’t do that on my own. Plus I didn’t have a lot of time to plan the trip myself. Of course my friends and family were concerned about ISIS on the border and Ebola on the planes, that is except my well travelled friends who knew better than to listen to our hyperbolic news. With the fantastically low airfare price on Turkish Air of $900, I couldn’t come up with an excuse not to go.
I spent the first two days in the historic district Sultanahmet in Istanbul by myself getting over jet lag and visiting all the “must sees” like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Basilica cistern, the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar and a boat ride on the Bosphorus. I also visited the modern hip artist district Beyoglu and met a couple of wonderful English women from Corsica.
I joined up with the other travelers of the Intrepid tour and it turned out it was a group of twelve solo females plus our male local guide. The three older women including myself were all from the U.S. There were six from Australia which is where the company Intrepid is based. One young lady from Sweden, one from Portugal and one from New Zealand. The first week seemed to be taken up with all of us trading off and getting to know each other since everyone had a fascinating story to share. The ages ranged from nineteen to sixty two. My roommate was Leina who was born in Indonesia to Chinese parents and then immigrated to Australia for work. She and I went to a tekke, or Sufi service, at a plain building in a suburb of Istanbul. We were fortunate to be seated next to a young woman who just happened to be an English teacher so she could explain what was happening.
The group of us went the next day by bus to Gallipoli which is where the Turks defeated the Australians and New Zealanders in the first world war. It was a beautiful setting for an extremely depressing event.
We then carried on by bus to Troy and its 3000 year old ruins including Athena’s temple ruins. We were staying in small seaside hotels along the way along the Mediterranean, a particularly nice one in Avaylic.
One of the highlights of the trip was the turquoise pools surrounded by the bright white calcium carbonate sediment in Pamukkale. Here we all swam in Cleopatra’s warm hot spring pool that was scattered with Greek columns at the bottom. The grounds also had the ruins of Hierapolis which were being reconstructed and easily reminiscent of the glorious culture thousands of years ago.
From Kas we boarded a boat where we slept and ate and swam from for two days out in the beauty of the Mediterranean surrounded by Lycian ruins in the water and along the coast.
In Antalya, a modern bustling city, I went for a Turkish bath and massage at a 700 year old hammam. I was the only one there and a woman scrubbed the heck out of me! As was apparent throughout Turkey, the ancient past and high tech present lived side by side. A very European country with the predominant religion of Islam only being apparent in the daily call to prayer. Rarely did we see a full body burka, most women with their hair flowing or perhaps covered with a light colorful scarf.
We took a bus through the high dry gray Taurus mountain range to reach Cappadocia. The weather turned rainy and bitterly cold which was a shame since this was a geographically magical area. We visited the underground cities where the Christians hid from persecution back in the day when they were here at all. Extensive cities were also built high up in the cliffs surrounded by pigeons which they raised and used like chickens.
There exists valley after valley filled with the phallic karst pillars in an other-worldly array that I jokingly called “Come-alot”.
A ten hour van ride took us by the Euphrates river to Mt. Nemrut, a monument built by Antiochus to honor the gods of the past and of course, himself. We hiked to the top in thin air and freezing wind to wander by enormous stone heads and view a final sunset as the Earth rotated once again on its axis.
I opted to fly home the next day rather than endure another long bus ride. I had been surprised by how modern this country was and impressed by its extensive history. I had enjoyed meeting such beautiful and strong women but was also reminded why I generally choose to travel alone and at a much slower pace.
