Tales of Touring Turkey by Fred Moore:

KASTABALA, HIEROPOLIS AND MORE

© 2009 by Author

5km/3mi beyond the village of Yenice on the road from Osmaniya to Karatepe stand the ruins of Hierapolis (Kastabala). (Not to be confused with the Hierapolis near Pamukkale) Between 52 B.C. and 17 B.C. this Cilician town became the center of an independent principality under Tarcondimotus I. Rome (under Augustus) then restored its influence by making Tarcondimotus II, the new king, Governor of Cilicia in Anazarbus.

Today, with several friends we head toward Osmaniye, to visit three sites: Kastabala Hierapolis, Karatepe Rugs and Karatepe Aslantas open-air museum. This will be a different adventure from those we normally take; we have two cars and five friends to show around. I'm riding with Greg, Candi and Susan; Carol will be traveling with Scott and Glenda. It was a simply beautiful day and we'd all planned to see new things. Each of us has seen these sites before to some degree but today we will see and hear things new about each one.

Once on the autobahn, we head east toward Osmaniye. After about 40 minutes we pull off the highway for a rest stop. This roadside stop is just outside of Osmaniye and a few minutes from our exit ramp. While we all take an opportunity to stretch, a red car pulls into the lot which is nearly empty and parks so close to our car the man can almost not get out of his own car. He bangs the side of our car as he extricates himself from his own; sometimes you have to wonder what goes through the mind of someone like this. He's kind enough to inspect our car (rubbing his fingers across it) but then goes about his business obviously satisfied he has done no harm.

After a short 15 minutes we get back onto the autobahn and continue to the Osmaniye exit. There is a heavy haze in the air so there is no clear view of the beautiful landscape toward the hills and mountains in this part of Turkey. We're just past the wheat harvest and many farmers are burning wheat stubble from their fields; this makes a beautiful landscape impossible to appreciate. As we near the exit for Osmaniye, we ease off the gas and glide down the ramp to pay our toll. Once past the tollbooth, I direct Greg to turn right, then shortly to turn right once more. Scott is following in his car as I provide leadership from the lead car.

We've come onto a two-lane road but it's paved and in good repair. It isn't far before we come into a village and then what appears to be a major waterworks area. The Ceyhan River flows through this region but also there are major man-made canal systems and this road seems to parallel a channel of the region's irrigation system. We come to a rise in the roadway, then a bridge that has plenty of hardware mounted to one side: mechanical locks for water diversion, we think. The channel today is full to near capacity and truly appears to be on the verge of cresting its banks. I speculate the water to be extremely cold; it is flowing with serious force as we look out across the surface.

Again we continue but not far along we encounter some brown signs; these always indicate something of historical significance. Today the sign directs our course to Kastabala-Hierapolis. It's about four miles ahead; we turn yet again onto another paved road along another irrigation channel and continue to drive.

We very much enjoy these adventures into the countryside, never knowing what to expect but never leaving disappointed by the time taken to adventure out. I especially like it when the roads are paved! The land we are passing through is all agricultural; it's fall so most of the crops have been harvested or are near harvest time. As we round a gentle curve we draw nearer to our first goal, we begin to see the castle looming far above some scattered ruins. We're looking at Kastabala Bodrum Castle. Here, just ahead, is the sign directing our turn toward the site itself.

The pathway is not paved (the weather has been dry though, so it's fine) and would be more accurately described as a two-wheel rocky tractor path to a farmer's field. It only a short drive, so we ease onto the unpaved surface then up and over a knoll in front of us to the parking area. At the entry to the site, there's a small cleared lot for parking; one might get six to eight cars in here. Also, to one side, is a wood shelter maybe ten feet square where the site attendant seems to be lodged. Opposite it is a marble fountain, with faucets, for fresh water.

We pull to a stop and park the car in the little shade available. The gentleman attendant says the entry fee is two liras per person. We give him the fee for three of us (since we've been here before some stay behind) and begin the trek up an unimproved narrow footpath strewn with loose rocks and debris; lined to each side with upright and toppled columns and other ruins. The incline is not steep but you are constantly ascending the hillside.

The colonnade is probably the length of a football field or two, it not easy to see the end from where we begin but as we look back from above it's not that long a climb. Our literature indicates the site was founded in the 1st century BC; the castle dates from the medieval age. Two thirds of the way up the pathway we find the ruins of a church. The site once boasted a magnificent column street, amphitheater, basilica, church, stadium and bath complex. At the top of the rise we're actually standing overlooking the Roman Period site; above us quite a bit higher on the jagged rock cliff stands the Bodrum Castle/Fort from the Middle Ages: 1300 - 1400. As we look away from the castle above across the valley below, we see the theater with seating for some 10 or 12 thousand people, maybe more, it's a small theater as compared to some we've visited. It's also fairly intact for something from the 1st century BC. Just beyond it and in the flat of the valley are some partial ruins of two structures, the stadium and the hamam. But the imagination must be engaged to view these structures. Around the entire site off to some distance there are remains of constructed tombs and tombs carved from the rock cliffs above us. I find it quite fascinating that the signs at the entry to the site were only placed there in 2001. Obviously this is one of those numerous archeology sites that just has gone unattended for a very long time. It's a site worth your time!

The literature, to which I refer, I've collected from the Internet, as the books I have do not discuss this ruin at all. We're given a leaflet at the entry point but it fails to fully enlighten us to what we're viewing as well. Those books that do mention it simply state its existence and move on with no discussion of it in any full way. That's a real pity because it's obvious this was a center of some renown at one time in the very distant past. This is a fate of many sites throughout Turkey; there simply are not enough resources on earth to excavate the multitude of sites across this great country. How sad!

Again referring to the literature, it is noted that in the fifth century AD this whole area was rich in olive oil and exports from here were considerable. However, today we see little evidence of that; from where we're standing, I see no olive trees at all. There is a great deal of agriculture in progress here though and the earth looks very rich.

We spend about thirty minutes wandering around these ruins and carefully make our way back down the trail to the car. We bid farewell to the attendant and turn the car toward Karatepe and our second goal of the day, the kilim cooperative.

We wend our way through some more beautiful countryside as we ascend the hills ever climbing toward Karatepe. We progress first turning this way then that way then back until we curve and climb into even more spectacular landscapes. We come to the brown sign for Karatepe but I tell Greg to pass it by we have a few miles yet before the right turn to the kilim village. Another ten minutes or so and there's the sign indicated our right turn; we descend onto a gravel road and curve and fall into the valley below. This is a road you hope you don't meet anyone coming at you on; it's passable but only in places and it's simply better to not meet anyone. We descend for ten or fifteen minutes and then out on the plateau we see the village just ahead. As Greg makes his final turn into the village the road narrows even more with fencing on both sides of the car. Look out there's a chicken, it's a hen; it's extremely thin but running like mad right down the left tire track just in front of us! We simply follow behind as there's no where to go, then as quickly as it came it's gone.

Immediately on the right is the kilim facility we've come to visit. We pull into the parking area and under the tiny bit of shade there for us. Before we can get out of our cars two young women have come out to greet us. We're taken first into the show room; this is a large open room with kilims hung all about the walls and draped over easels. There are bench seats around half the room all adorned with kilim works from the looms on the premises. We all take time to visually consume the pieces strewn about showroom. After a short period of investigation we all move to the building adjacent to the showroom - one I'll call the loom-room. In this building there are 12 or 14 looms set up and 8 or 10 girls weaving kilims as we watch.

The first loom to the left inside has two girls, one working from the front and one working from the back. Very interesting; I had not thought one could weave from both sides but it looks easy. These girls are using 100% wool to create these wonderful pieces; all the work is done on site from the dyeing of the wool to the weaving of each piece. Designs can be brought in and commissioned kilims can be produced as well. We are all taking special note of one loom where the young lady is weaving a kilim with Adana's Roman Bridge, Mosque and Ceyhan River in it; this is a beautiful kilim and we try to buy one. Not for sale we're told, too bad. It appeared that several were being made; I suspect they were probably for an Adana business or individual.