Oludeniz - Fethiye

I have been away from Datca and internet for the last 2 days. We went to Fethiye and Dalyan. This time my mother and my niece were with us. On day 1, we were at Fethiye a well known tourist center about 3 hours drive from here. Although we spent the night at Fethiye our main target there was Oludeniz.




It is a small resort village famous with its beach about 20 minutes away from Fethiye. It is frequently rated among the top 5 beaches in the world and probably one of the most photographed beach on the Mediterranean.


It is also famous for paragliding and regarded as one of the best places in the world to paraglide due to its unique panoramic views, and the Babadağ Mountain's exceptional height.



While we were there we also drove to nearby Valley of Butterflies to see the magnificent view from the top. The road was so narrow and it was a scary ride but it worth...






Later in the day the weather gets cloudy and it started to rain a bit, but the view was still magnificentHowever as someone coming from the Datca peninsula, I did not like the quality of the sea. First of all water is hot. It's not cool and refreshing. We call it as hamam/ bath water here. Second it does not look very clean. There were lots of sea weeds swimming with me. But dont take me too seriously, Iam sure it was OK but I am a bit fanatic about the waters of my lovely peninsula. I swam on so many seas and oceans but couldnt find a match yet..

House of the Virgin Mary

If you ever visit Ephesus and if you are a Christian by religion, the possibility of you to visit the house of the Virgin Mary is 99%. It's very close to Ephesus and why not gain some merit while you are around.

It is believed that Virgin Mary had spent her last days in this house which is in the vicinity of Ephesus and that she had died there. It is an important pilgrimage place visited by thousands of tourists every year. The last holy VİP guest was Pope Benedict XVI who visited the shrine in 2006.

If you can ignore the crowds, it is a very nice and peaceful place on top of a mountain. After visiting the chapel, you could light candles, drink from a spring running under the house which is believed to have healing properties and make a wish on the wish wall by tying a piece of fabric.

Ephesus

Last time I visited Ephesus was 20 years ago . It was a rather cold February day, and I had a wonderful experience there. I heard the sound of silence for the first time in my life. I was sitting on an old stone and there was not a single soul around and there was absolutely no noise...No bugs singing, no birds flying, no wind blowing, no distant traffic noise, absolutely nothing. It was kind of scary at the first moments, but such peace afterwards.. Since that day I did not hear the sound of silence again..



Well, last week when we were there, it was the total opposite of my experince of 20 years ago. It was very hot, very crowded and so much noise..I think all these considered normal as Ephesus is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Turkey.

I will not give you many historical details about the town but just keep in mind that it was the capital city of Asia Minor during the Roman period and it was one of the richest city of its time.. One of the seven wonders of the world Artemis Temple was a product of this city and the very first bank in the world established in this city.. So please walk with me in the lovely streets of this ancient city.







Library of Celsus who once was the house of 12.000 books.Hadrian Temple..Goddess Kybele is still watching you..Goddess Nike.. Dont mix her with your sport shoes..And finally two very tired traveller who was posing in the theatre just before rushing to the A/C of their car..

journey

'Whichever direction you choose to go, -east,west,south,north - consider each journey as a travel to your soul. Whoever travels to his inner world will eventully travel around the world.'
Sufi Quote
I have tons of stuff to share with you from my recent travels and I have to get ready for a new adventure. This time my mother and niece are coming with us. We are leaving on Thursday. However I am in a lazy mood today. Just reading and day dreaming and found this beautiful quote on a Turkish blog and translate it for you. I thought its a good way to start a new week / a new journey. Happy Monday!!!

photo: from my travel to Myanmar / Burma

Aphrodisias

As I wrote before, we stopped at the ancient city of Aphrodisias on the way to Kusadasi. It was a tour we were planning since winter.


In Turkey, Ephesus is the most well known and most visited ancient city. However its rival Aphrodisias is a rather recent phenomena. As it is not easily reachable as Ephesus, its not on the list of many travellers.


Well, to tell you the difference between two cities, one of my guidebook gives a very nice example. 'Aphrodisias is like Florence where Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raffaello worked while Ephesus was like New York where Wall Street, Manhattan and World Bank located.'






So Aphrodisias is the city of artists, and you are realizing this when you enter the city and saw the beautiful theatre masks on the way. It's museum considered as one of the best statue museum from the Roman World.








Julius Caesar was a devotee of Venus and favored this city and known to be visited here, and the emperor Augustus granted it the high privileges of autonomy and tax-free status, declaring Aphrodisias "the one city from all of Asia that I have selected to be my own." So even at that time it was a pretty special city.
But for me the biggest surprise was its huge stadium made for 30.000 people. It's said to be the best preserved stadium of the Mediterranean region.









It was a very hot day and after a while I quit and sat on a stadium bench for a little time to meditate and enjoy the magnificent structure.. It was so quiet and very easy to imagine hearing the sounds of the races and games held here and the cheers of the thousands of people coming from thousands of years ago. It was a pretty special moment.

We are back!!!

We are finally back to Datca. We came back from Kusadasi last night after making 3 more ancient site tour on a very hot day. We were tired, exhausted but happy.

I couldnt make any more post from Kusadasi because our days were so full of visiting nearby places. Ephesus, Sirince, Miletos, Priene, Didyma...I will soon write about all of them but first I have to organize my photos. There are tons of it. But here are some random ones...

We swam on the bays of the Kusadasi Natural Park. Because of high population and heavy construction, beaches in Kusadasi are not quite nice to enjoy. So try the turquoise waters of the national park.

We watched the busy harbour from the beautiful terrace of the Kismet Hotel when the sun was setting.It was best time of the day to have our drinks..

When the sunsets were not enough there were always full moons and cosy dinners at the beach to celebrate the passing of the day. Lots of laugh, talk and good food were the integral parts..

And of course a BİG thank you to my dear friend Eser whose hospitality was beyond words..

Sunset at Kusadasi

Well, as planned we have reached Kusadasi, right before the sunset after a long and hot day at Aphrodisias. My dear friend Eser was waiting for us and our drinks were ready at the balcony. It was such a dreamy and peaceful moment. All my tiredness passes in a few minutes. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the passing of a wonderful day in my life..

Aphrodisias photos are coming soon.