Overland to London - Ephesus to Anzac Cove

 

Celsus Library, Ephesus

Day 87 (London Day 3)  Wed 20 August    EPHESUS – ANZAC COVE

After a night-drive through from Pamukkale we arrived at the top car park at Ephesus at around 2 am and settled down to spend the rest of the night, ready for when the gates opened around 8 am.

COMMENTS:     MISTAH! MISTAH! EPHESUS IS CLOSED!

          This was a profound Turkish observation made by some local intellectual giant at around 2 am.

                     How we long for the 3 S’s                                                                                                       Shower, shave, shit!

           First thing this morning, we will drop you off at the top entrance to the ancient Roman city of Ephesus (Efes to the Turks) and will meet you at the lower entrance at 9.30. Ephesus in ancient times was one of the most important and wealthiest cities on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. Its beginnings date from prior to 1100 BC when the Achaean Greeks settled  in the area, developing a harbour at the mouth of the River Meander (Menderes). In the 8^th century BC a temple was built to the Goddess of the hunt, Artemis, and the town became an important religious centre. In 356 BC, a madman named Erostratos who wanted his name to go down in history, set fire to the temple. On this very night in far-off Macedonia, Alexander the Great was born and a tradition developed that Artemis had left the sanctuary to attend Alexander’s mother at his birth, hence there was no protection against the fire. Alexander, after defeating the Persians at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, offered to rebuild the Temple, but was told that ‘one god may not build a temple to another.’ The Temple was rebuilt with money usually levied in taxes by the Persians. This rebuilt Temple was the one that became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. All that now remains on site is one, solitary, reconstructed column, with a stork’s nest at the top.  

Street of the Curetes, through Ephesus

Roman drainage pipes stacked at Ephesus

         After Alexander’s death one of his commanders, Lysimachos, moved the city to its present site and constructed a new harbour. To encourage trade, he destroyed the harbours of the neighbouring cities, thus forcing merchants to use Ephesus. In 190 BC the Roman occupied Ephesus and in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries AD, the city reached a new peak of prosperity. Many of the inhabitants became Christians. St. Paul preached here in 53 AD and St. John was said to have brought the Virgin Mary here. Tradition has it that both the latter died here. St. John’s Basilica is in present-day Selçuk and Mary’s House (Meryemana) is in the hills at the back of Ephesus. A 19^th century German mystic, Catherine Emmerich, described the site from a vision – she never visited Ephesus – and subsequent investigation revealed the foundations of the house now venerated as that of the Virgin Mary. After the 3^rd century AD Ephesus declined. The Goths destroyed the temple of Artemis. Many inhabitants began to move to the area around Justinian’s Basilica of St. John in Selçuk. The harbour silted up and malaria was rife. Eventually the city was abandoned until it became the tourist attraction it is today.

A place for the Roman males to pontificate at Ephesus

         From Ephesus we will press on to Izmir, ancient Smyrna, and now the third-largest city of Turkey to shop for food, then head on to  Çanakkale, stopping off at Troy (Truva). Little now remains of the 9 cities of Troy which date from prior to 3000 BC. Troy would have remained an obscure city on the Dardanelles if it had not been for the poet Homer and his poem ‘The Iliad’ which recounts the 10-year war between the Greeks and the Trojans in 12^th century BC.

The Walls of ancient Troy

Traditionally the war is said to have been caused by the abduction of the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta, by Paris, son of King Priam of Troy. It had been predicted on his birth that Paris would bring about the destruction of Troy. Priam’s chief herdsman was given instructions to kill the infant Paris on Mt Ida, at the back of Troy, but instead he was abandoned the baby who was suckled by a she-bear. When the herdsman found the infant Paris still alive after a week, he decided to raise the child as his own and it was while attending the cattle that the Olympian Gods decided, as Paris appeared to be honest, to judge a beauty contest between the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera and Athena in what has become known as ‘The Judgement of Paris’. Each of the goddesses offered Paris incentives, but it was Aphrodite who offered Paris the ultimate prize – the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen) as his wife.  Paris, a mere mortal, judged Aphrodite the most beautiful, much to the displeasure of the other two goddesses, and, with divine help, Helen was abducted by Paris and fled to Troy, his father’s city. Agamemnon, Menelaus’s brother and King of Mycenae, mobilised his Greek allies and set sail for Troy. 

Group in the ruins of Troy - Wooden Horse at back!

The resulting war was said to have lasted ten years. Heroes such as Achilles, Ajax, Odysseus and Patroclus were on the Greek side, and Hector, Aeneas and Sarpedon on the Trojan side. Hector, son of Priam, was killed by Achilles who ignominiously dragged Hector’s corpse behind his chariot around the walls of Troy. Achilles, in turn, was killed by Paris whose arrow struck him in the heel, where his goddess-mother Thetis held him when she dunked him in the waters of immortality of the River Styx when he was a child. Sarpedon was killed by Patroclus who was killed by Hector, hence Achilles’ revenge. Troy finally fell to the guile of Odysseus who proposed the building of a great wooden horse – an offering to the Gods who throughout much of the war had taken sides, but were now neutral. The Greek ships sailed off to hide behind the nearby island of Tenedos (modern Bozcaada) and the Trojans, believing they had won, dragged, against the advice of the soothsayer Laocoön (who, with his sons, was killed by sea serpents sent by Poseidon), the wooden horse into Troy. Odysseus and a hand-picked group of Greeks were hiding in the horse, dropped out at night, opened the gates of the city to the Greeks who had returned under the cover of night and Troy was sacked and Priam and his surviving family were killed. As punishment by the gods, Odysseus had to suffer a further 10 years of adventures, related in Homer’s Odyssey before arriving home in Ithaca. Aeneas, the Trojan, also survived and with a band of followers also sailed the Mediterranean through a series of adventures (Virgil’s Aeneid) before settling in Italy and becoming, or so the Romans liked to believe, the ancestor of the Roman people.

Wild flowers around the ruins of Troy II

We will have dinner at Troy, before proceeding to Çanakkale to catch the ferry across the Dardanelles to Eceabat on the Gallipoli Peninsula. We will spend the night in an unfinished Australian War Memorial near Anzac Cove.

 Day 88    Thu 21 August       ANZAC – SOFIA (London Day 4)

Departure time: 6.45am

Remains of a landing boat still remain on Gaba Tepe in 1981

          Early morning departure for the Anzac beaches. It was probably a morning such as this, on 25 April 1915, when in the grey light of dawn the first wave of Australian and New Zealand troops waded ashore at Anzac Cove and neighbouring beaches in the debacle that became known the Gallipoli Campaign. The plan to capture Gallipoli and thus gain control of the Dardanelles, the narrowest body of water between Asia and Europe, was Winston Churchill’s, and although the plan was viable, it was grossly mismanaged by the War Office in London. The Royal Navy was originally supposed to destroy the main Turkish defences in the area which it did with only limited success, and on the morning of the invasion was to carry out the preliminary bombardment. For some reason the barrage was inadequate and stopped too soon enabling the Turks to reoccupy the defensive positions. No allowance was made for the coastal currents and the invading troops ended up landing in a hail of Turkish fire on the wrong beaches. Losses were heavy, but the beaches and lower slopes were captured. After the first few days the war stagnated into bitter trench warfare, and although the upper slopes as far as Chunuk Bair were captured, it was finally decided to abandon the expedition after an exceptionally harsh winter and the troops were finally pulled out in early January 1916.

The Atatürk inscription in Anzac Cove

          The area has been left much the same as it was after the battles. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintain the cemeteries in the area. The main Australian Memorial is on Lone Pine Ridge and the New Zealand memorial on the heights of Chunuk Bair. The Turkish commander at Gallipoli was Mustafa Kemal, later known to the World as Kemal Atatürk.

Sculpture of Turkish soldier with wounded Australian, near Lone Pine

         From  Gallipoli (Gelibolu in Turkish) we press on through Thrace to the city of Edirne, formerly Adrianople, with its great Selimye Mosque, built by Sinan, the famous Ottoman architect, in the 16^th century.   The border with the Socialist Republic of Bulgaria is not far from Edirne and we will drive on to Sofia, the country’s capital, which we will reach after dark. We will be staying at Camping Vrana.

The oil-wrestling monument in Edirne, Turkey

text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Instagram accounts  @dustonmyfeet     and    @antipodeanneil

My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.

Overland to London - Side to Pamukkale

 

Turkish countryside near Antalya

Day 79    Tues 12 August    SIDE – PAMUKKALE (almost) ANTALYA

After leaving Side with its myriad of ‘rubbles’, we push on along the coast towards

 Remains of frieze in Theatre, Side          

Antalya, first making the short detour to Aspendos. This place is famous for its excellently preserved Roman theatre which dates from the rule of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD). From Aspendos we carry on to Antalya, one of the largest cities long the Turkish Mediterranean Coast with a population of over 100,000. Antalya, besides being  a major resort centre is also a major fruit and vegetable exporter.

From Antalya we head away from the coast, through Burdur and Dinar, and near the town of Denizli we turn off for the climb up to the famous hot springs of Pamukkale. Over the centuries the hot mineral waters, seeping from the hills, have left a deposit of silica, forming impressive pure white terraces. Here also are the ruins of the Roman  city of Hierapolis, built above and around the terraces. Here is a recently excavated ‘Plutonium’, or Gates of Pluto, which in earlier times had been the sanctuary of Cybele, the Anatolian mother-goddess.

Aspendos Theatre

The strong vapours issuing from the hot waters of a cave beneath the sanctuary are toxic (high in carbon dioxide) and it was said that only the eunuch priests of Cybele could withstand them. Also at Hierapolis is the Martyrium of St. Philip, the Apostle, who was crucified upside-down in 80 AD, and also the so-called Cleopatra’s Pool, where you are able to bathe in the clear waters among the fallen ancient Roman columns.  Sunset at Pamukkale is particularly impressive with vivid reflections in the waters and on the whiteness of the limestone terraces.

Comments:             

                 A word of philosophy, a word of complaint                             A warning here just a little too  late                                         Sam is bemoaning our fate and his luck                                Stuck on a bus surrounded by dust                                       Approaching heaven, just gone through hell                          Wishing he was in India where all was so swell.

 Day 80    Wed 13 August             ANTALYA

 Well once again we have decided, or at least OMJ has decided, to take a lengthy break. This time on the coast, so it can’t be all bad. OMJ is throwing a smoking fit, and as the Turkish army don’t seem to want her for making smoke screens during their war manoeuvres, it seems we must have her fixed. Rings and pistons seem to be the logical explanation, only problem – Ramazan holiday until Friday, so we will do our best to get back on the road as quickly as possible. To carry on in the coach the way it is, is too risky – maybe a seized motor miles from anywhere. So we will stay here at Bambus Motel, camping, for the time being.

Cumhuriyet Square in the centre of Antalya

Day 81    Thu 14 August             ANTALYA

       Again, nothing can be done on the coach, but we have been assured that work will begin tomorrow (Inshallah!). Hopefully we will be able to set a departure time tomorrow.

 Comments:                                     Jane it was plain was definitely game                                                                                   But it’s not for this story to over explain                                                                                 Her giggle was loud and overabound                                                                                    Especially at nite when all slept around

                                                          Prowling the disco late at night                                                                                              Looking for something called a Turkish delight                                                                      Juliette, Juliette can’t remember who                                                                                    Maybe we should take a photo or two

Boats along the rocky coast, from Bambus Motel, Antalya

 Day 82    Fri 15 August              ANTALYA

    At last things are moving. The Turkish mechanics do not seem to think that it is the rings and pistons but seem to think it is the fuel injectors and pump. Today they replaced the injectors which were kaput and will check the pump tomorrow. The brakes have also been repaired - properly! The coach does have to go to the garage tomorrow morning at least, but there is still a chance that we could get away sometime tomorrow afternoon, so if everyone could be around camp from midday onward.

Düden Waterfall, Antalya

Day 83    Sat 16 August              ANTALYA

       Again, a delay in the garage, but the bus will be back in camp tonight and we will head off early tomorrow morning for Kuşadası via Pamukkale. As tomorrow is Sunday, the day off, it would be at least two more days before we would be mobile again. Let us live in hope!

The travertine terraces of Pamukkale, the 'Cotton Castle'

Day 84    Sun 17 August     ANTALYA – KUŞADASİ  PAMUKKALE

Departure time: 5.45am       

 The terraces at Pamukkale at sunset       

            Well, once again the Magical Mystery Tour founders in the Turkish countryside. Leaving Antalya with lots more power and as much hope, we flew inland en route to Pamukkale and with high hopes of spending the night at Kuşadası. Over mountain, across valleys we raced, past Burdur and through Dinar but, alas, our joys were but short lived. After a loo stop near Denizli during which Tom replenished the engine’s oil, our problems returned, ending in a great cloud of black and white smoke which enveloped a large group of curious, then somewhat annoyed Turks at the tourist centre of Pamukkale – end of the road for another couple of days! So a mechanic has been found and says the rings can be replaced in two days in Denizli, all going well. A friend of Pauline’s has shown us a small camp site (small being the key word) with a pool, at the foot of the white terraced cliffs of Pamukkale where we will remain encamped for the next couple of days – Hotel Konak Sade!!!

 No Comments Please!!!

          There is a mile between every Sundowners’ smile – Robert

         Above & following pieces of prose won the Katherine Mansfield Award for originality and wit!?!

 Day 85    Mon 18 August  scheduled arrival in LONDON (PAMUKKALE renamed)

Departure time: Pretty bloody early to reach London by 10 am           

     Disembarking early in the usual English rain, we make our final run up the A4 from Dover (of White Cliffs and Vera Lynn fame) to London to arrive at Gloucester Road bus park by 10 am, just after morning rush hour!  But on the other hand, we could just have another quiet relaxing day at Pamukkale, feeling so glad that we have escaped the rat race of that teeming English metropolis for yet another day (or week).

A tomb of ancient Hierapolis within the limstone of the Terraces, Pamukkale

So, as the saga of P48 stretches out, we are all kept waiting ‘in suspenders’ once more – what will happen to OMJ? Will it be on the road tomorrow, or should Tom call in the knacker to put it down? (Should be plenty of volunteers for the job!) Stay tuned for tomorrow’s exciting episode of “How I travelled from Kathmandu to London and met the famous OMJ smoke machine.” (50 Turks now in Denizli hospital suffering from acute asphyxia); and still the question is asked – ‘when will we reach London?’ – the answer is "Definitely not on the 18^th!"

 All comments written below will be completely ignored!

text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Instagram accounts  @dustonmyfeet     and    @antipodeanneil

My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.