Tales of Touring Turkey by Fred Moore:

SILIFKE, ANAMUR AND MORE

© 2009 by Author

This is an adventure we will not soon forget; join us as we begin our journey to 'no-where' in particular. We've been talking to our friends about the long weekend and where we might go to get away; Gaziantep comes to mind, as does Kahramanmaras, Kayseri comes up in our conversation also but we talk of the possible rainy weather and brush them all aside. The Turkish Meteorology web site has been predicting rain, rain and more rain for this weekend.

We awaken Saturday morning, though, to beautiful sunshine and clear skies. I decide to call Jim and Chelly our traveling companions; we collectively decide that the weather is too good to pass up and we'll go for a drive to the west of Adana. We pack an overnight bag just in case we find ourselves with far greater weather than we have anticipated. We talk about Silifke as our possible destination for the day. We opt to take the coastal road west and stay south of the autobahn. We drive through Adana and head toward Tarsus.

We're now passing through Yenice the last train station before the train reaches Adana. We see the commuter train leaving for Adana as we near the city limits. Many fields of lettuce are being picked along this route; this is 'marul' a leafy lettuce, excellent in salad. We see field after field with ten, twenty, even more people bending, squatting and sitting to hand cut the growth of leaves; this person cuts, the next person cleans (removing dead and wilting leaves) and then another places the bundle gently into a crate for shipping. We see trucks loaded down with the labors of the day headed off to market this morning.

Just beyond Yenice we enter the southern most parts of Tarsus, a modern city of 220,000 and the historic 'hometown' of St. Paul. We notice a 'brown sign'; these denote historic places and since we're headed 'no-where' in particular, we turn in the designated direction of the historic site. We're going to Eshab-i Kehf - this is a cave near a mosque north of Tarsus. We drive north through the suburban streets and emerge in the country; we travel a good way and now round a curve and there in front of us is a great smattering of mud dragged clear across our path. I make some off-hand comment about how awful it's going to be driving through the mess and Jim says, 'aren't you glad you're not a tire', very funny. There appears to be a temporary cement plant set up here by the road; then just past it is a very large building that appears to be a chicken barn; this facility is easily a hundred meters long. We continue on this curving road north crossing over the autobahn to reach the historic site. I'm amazed as we near the site, we're coming to a mosque that I've seen from the autobahn many times and marveled at it location and wondered, why should it be all alone way up this hillside. Its minaret is unusually tall and the mosque is settled on the hillside half way to the peak of the mountain we're ascending. We climb quite a grade and pass through a very large cemetery complex lining both sides of the road. The closer we get the more interesting my thoughts become - there doesn't appear to be a village around here why do all these departed souls come to rest here? As we near the mosque site, we see many picnic tables and little cleared areas for families to 'enjoy' (this may be the wrong word considering where we are) an afternoon outing. Just above these picnic areas we see the parking area; it's lined to one side with venders selling touristic souvenirs (all kinds of things with the mosque pictured on them), they too have many items with words from the Koran-imprinted on them.

Jim parks the van opposite the vendors; Chelly and Carol go to browse the vendor stalls and Jim and I climb the multiple stairs that lead to the mosque high above. On the first landing we enter a large open deck with a fountain for washing the extremities, a ritual necessary before one enters the sanctity of worship within the mosque. The mosque entrance is still two flights of steps above us, more than we have ascended already. As we complete our climb (we've come to the level of mosque entry) and adjacent to the mosque is a flight of steps that descend to the cave entrance.

We've just passed through Akkum and shortly we're in Narlikuyu. It's 2:30 and Chelly says they know a place on the water's edge here we can have lunch. Jim swings the van down a short lane toward the water, we park right next to a tiny museum, the Three Graces Mosaic Museum. We'll take a look inside after lunch. Chelly leads us to the Kerim Restaurant and inside we find we're sitting at the nexus of a cove. This is so peaceful and words fail me, as I want to describe the awesome beauty that surrounds us. The building is small and we're seated only feet from the water, separated from it by large glass windows.

Our lunch consists of numerous salads (including pickled seaweed), fish and squid. The fish is fried Lagos, a delicious white fish that Jim and Chelly do not remember having before. The squid, 'calamari', in the local tongue is very good, well prepared and gone before we've had nearly enough. We hesitate to order more because it's quite costly. Jim and Chelly are not familiar with a restaurant just a short way around the cove that Carol and I have eaten in before; we make plans on our return trip to stop here once more and eat there. We dine in leisure and enjoy it far too much, the water is splashing just outside our window in a soothing rhythm, and our day thus far has been great and our company even better.

We leave our lunch experience behind and make our way across the driveway to the museum; a young woman appears from an adjacent building to unlock the door for us and we enter a small space lined by a slightly elevated catwalk. Once fully inside we see a most impressive mosaic beneath the catwalk. We circle the room and consume the magnificent mosaic just below our feet. This was once the floor in a very large Roman Bath complex, all of which is gone now gone except for this wonderful mosaic. About two thirds of the building is the mosaic (the other third is a tiny remnant of the bath complex); the center to one side of the mosaic is filled with a 5X8 framed plate of three women. There is an inscription above this framed plate in Greek; it translates, 'He who drinks from this water will become wise, long living and if ugly become fair'. The women are the Three Graces: Aphrodite, Hera and Athena. Another of my books names the three quite differently, calling them Aglaia (Grace), Euphrosyne (Merriment) and Thalia (Charm); I much prefer this description. We delay our day's adventure only a few minutes in this museum, but a worthy delay it is.

We park adjacent to a café that is apparently quite active in the summer but not now, although a young gentleman offers us tea or sodas. Near where we park there's a stairway ascending the hillside to the castle wall and I climb it to get a better look. I circle the castle wall for a short distance and stand far above the city looking out over it toward our hotel and the river that seems to divide the city nearly in half. I also see a ruin far below; once I have a few photos I return to the van and meet with the others. I speak of the ruin I saw from above and Chelly tells me it's a cistern she remembers from a previous visit.

After a half-hour or so we descend the hillside by driving around it; we've now made the complete circle of the castle. We return to the hotel and park the van. Since our lunch was not so long ago and so heavy, we opt out of a dinner and simply walk around the city near the hotel. Jim and Chelly want to stop at a produce stand for fruit and they buy oranges and bananas. Carol stops for a soda and I get some roasted corn.

Before we retire for the evening Carol and Chelly suggest a trip across the street to a pastani (pastry shop) for dessert; Carol, Chelly and Jim all have a piece of cake or a cup of pudding, I opt out of both. We talk about our travels and what we might do in the morning. We've had a very full day and simply return to the hotel to retire for the evening.

Our room is flooded with morning light and I awaken to crisp clean air. The morning sky is a blaze with rays of the sun; it hasn't yet crested the horizon but it casts an array of light across the broken clouds. The sky has a tinge of red as the sun climbs above the horizon to make its full appearance. I decide to go out for a walk by the river; it's 6:30 and there are a number of people out there enjoying this wondrous morning already. Two city parks form the promenades on either side of the river here by the hotel; our side is the Ergenekon Park and the other side is the Guksu Park. I begin my walk on our side but quickly decide to cross over the Roman Bridge and I walk down the other side. I encounter a number of school children on their way to classes and older couples dressed in warm-up suits walking for their health. The sound of the river woos us all; the 'white water' rapids are only right here, the river gets quieter as I walk from the Roman Bridge toward the modern one to cross over to the other side. I meet first one couple then another, then more children who look as though they've had little sleep and those who are fully animated and having fun with their friends as they scurry off to school. I pass two gentlemen walking the other way covered in paint smatterings from top to bottom; they must be off to a job this morning. I stop along the way to admire some Ottoman Architecture aligning the Guksu Park side of the river. The property lining this side of the river is quite different from the high rise buildings on our side. I walk past two platforms that have been built out over the edge of the river from the walking path; both are stacked with tables and chairs and appear to be for cafes, probably only open during the summer months.

While surveying this particular ruin, we have acquired the company of a number of children. These young lads are chasing after me for a photo and the standard lines, 'what is your name', 'where are you from'. Their few phases of English are quite good and they are with me the whole time as I walk around the ruin. As usual, Carol becomes the 'instant' grandmother; as she joins me they gather around her; she patiently speaks to each one and shares her name and gets their names in return. One young lad asks for money and his friend turns to him and tells him he is naughty and not to do that again. I take some photos of them and then a couple more as they gather round Carol; Carol gets the name and address of one of the lads so we can mail a photo to them. We can only try the address looks like it's complete so we'll be sure to mail some photos after we return home.

We return to the van and get on our way. Jim and Chelly have decided we will travel farther up the coast. We leave Silifke behind and begin our ascent out of the city. We cross over a mountain and begin down the other side and happen upon a 'brown sign', Frederic Barbarossa, Carol and I remember this from many years ago. We were on a tour through here in the early eighties with a very astute Turkish Guide, as he explained it - seems fate was not on OLE Frederic's side this day, he fell into the Guksu River (far below where we are currently standing) in June of 1160 and perished; thus ending the German part in the third crusade. The story we were told all those years ago was that he 'went swimming with his armor on' and drowned; anyway it's interesting revisiting our own distant past.

Into our drive now about a half-hour Chelly decides things are not looking as they should. We are on a winding mountain road with no guardrails and the Guksu River valley far below. As we reach the floor of the valley we cross over the river and in a few minutes reach Degirmendere, a small village. Jim pulls the van to the side of the road so Chelly can consult the map to seriously study our current route. She is more than convinced now that we've made a wrong choice and directs Jim to backtrack to get on the proper highway. We make another turn after climbing the mountain two thirds of the way back toward Silifke and before we've gone five minutes Chelly again says, no, this is still not correct. Once again Jim makes the adjustment and we reenter Silifke and find the correct highway. We're now off in the right direction; our short misadventure, although time consuming, was a very lovely drive.

Yes, this is defiantly the right route; we're driving near the sea again. Here's Tasucu, then there's this 'Best Resort Hotel', looks like five star accommodations. Now we're passing Manaster and Mylai, both of which have Roman ruins and the highway now is right on the water's edge. We travel through Bogsak now and then Akdere, then Isikli I and II, all little villages basking in the shadow of the Mediterranean. What a beautiful drive along here; the water is turquoise with the sun radiating from it. Now we're passing through Yesilovacik and as we progress here's Pine Park (we've heard a lot about this large resort; the chapel always brought folks here as a get away, when we first arrived in Adana). Not far on now we reach Yenisli and finally we make a stop along a lovely beach front service facility, Agacli Kafeteria.

We decide to have lunch here, the view is indescribably beautiful. The dining room is glassed in to the seaside and the sun is fully showering the building. The food is well presented and fabulous! I have an eggplant dish that is far better than any I can remember. The choices are many and everyone has what they want; we relax and enjoy this oasis on the road to Jim and Chelly's surprise location for the day. Jim has indicated they want to show us something we've not seen before and this trip along this waterfront is certainly something we've never done. We've seen a great deal of Turkey but there are still many sights and locations that will be new to us. Turkey continues to provide us with new and exciting adventures. We savor our lunch but can linger no longer and we get back to the van to press on. Before I get into the van I look toward the west and our line of travel, the road seems to be suspended half way between the sea and the mountaintop. I'm thankful we're traveling on this inside of the road as we drive west.

We enter the castle crossing over the mote bridge, yes, the castle is mostly at the seaside but it has a mote on its land side. Once through the entry we emerge into a vast courtyard. We're immediately confronted with the immense open space before us; this is certainly the largest castle complex we've ever visited. We can hear the sea crashing against the seaside wall. There are several slotted windows situated in small alcoves along the lower portion of the wall that allow us an intermittent view of the sea. We walk for a good way around the grounds on the interior and cross through an inner wall to find the mosque.

The tranquillity of the inner space is broken with the arrival of a Turkish tour group; it's most young women in long skirts and headscarves. A couple men who appear to be directing their visit accompany them. One-by-one they dissolve into a corner entryway and in minutes we see them emerge on the tower just above. We can hear their laughter and animated conversation ripple across the courtyard to greet us. The next thing we see is the entire group traversing the wall above us. Before we leave they completely circle the castle on the walls above. Each time they reach a tower they disappear into it for a few moments and then remerge on the other side. We explore the entire interior and even look into a couple openings in the walls as we walk around the grounds. We don't have any desire to climb the internal staircases to the upper walls, the view could be quite breath-taking but so could the fall from up there (I'm not much for heights). In the couple of doors I stepped into the staircases were quite well intact but not enticing enough to get me up them.

After nearly an hour's visit we return to the van and drive on west. Carol and I thank Jim and Chelly for this outstanding historic surprise. This certainly is a very inviting destination; if you're into castles, the drive is well worth your visit.

We're now passing through Oren and there's another brown historic sign, Animorium. We pass it by for now and venture on; we don't get far though because the road is simply getting far too narrow for 'some' of us. None of us wants to be on this stretch of highway at dark or even close to dark for that matter; as I've suggested earlier this two-lane strip of asphalt simply clings to the cliff like wet tissue to a wall. I for one realize this road has been here for probably a hundred years and the traffic has moved over it with little impact for all those years but I don't wish to become history today and I'm quite uncomfortable riding along here! We decide collectively to simply turn back for Anamur when we find a suitable space for a turn-around.

When we reach Animorium on this return trip we decide to visit. We have to turn off the main highway and head toward the water, it's no time before we reach the entry and pay our fee to get in. We drive another minute before coming to the parking area and pull in right beneath a hillside covered in Roman Ruins! I'm in awe; this is or was, I should say, a vast Roman settlement. The ruins cover the hillside before us and run the full distance from us to the sea. This settlement is dated from the 4th century BC; the literature tells us that it was most prosperous and fully alive between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. This was a strong and important city because of its closeness to Cyprus; this jut into the Mediterranean is only 40 miles from the island. The city was extremely important in commerce and export of natural resources from Asia Minor.

There are a number of fairly well preserved structures still standing despite earthquakes and the march of time. Outside the main city walls there are nearly 400 tombs of those who lived and died here, many with intact mosaics. Unfortunately for us it's too late in the day and the sun is against us; we must hurry to see the few ruins of note and move on. This is without exaggeration a site for all day; an hour or two simply can not satisfy one's thirst for what is to be discovered beneath their feet. Another disappointment came at the tiny souvenir shop, no books or literature at all, simply a few meager postcards. It isn't tourist season of course and I'm assuming during the full summer season literature is available. The gentleman manning the inner gate has been disappointed I think; I haven't purchased any of his postcards even though he presses me to do so. With our light fast escaping, we reluctantly retreat from this magnificent open-air museum. This is a site to be re-visited and we WILL certainly strive to return. As we pull away from the parking area we talk of finding a hotel; we saw signs on our earlier drive through Anamur and return to find one hotel in particular. We don't know any here but the sign we saw earlier just seemed to draw our attention. We traverse first one street then another and finally happen onto a hotel we weren't even looking for, by coincidence. When we pull in to park a gentleman and his wife are walking past us on the driveway; they stop to ask us about our intentions. We tell them of our quest for a couple of rooms, turns out the guy owns the place with his brother and 'YES' he says, we have plenty of rooms available; remember this is NOT tourist season. We've pulled into the Touristic Strand Hotel - Restaurant - Bar.

We hate to leave such wonderful surroundings but the day is moving on and so must we. We head out to make our way to the main highway, when we find the street we need we're at a traffic circle with a statuary in the center, it's a women with a bundle of bananas. The entire statue is matte black except for the bunch of bananas she holds and they are very yellow; the contrast is stark. We turn to the east and cross over the Kocacay River as we leave town. Chelly says to Jim she wants to buy some bananas and she wants them from ONLY a banana stand. Shortly on Jim pulls over by a produce stand and Chelly motions him to keep going, saying she only wants to buy from a banana stand. It isn't long before we come up to a small stand along the highway that has nothing but bananas, lots and lots of bananas. Carol and Chelly both buy several kilos and we get off down the road.

We're headed back toward Aydincik to make the trek over the mountains; Halil told us at breakfast that he thought the road from there would be better for us than the road from Anamur that goes over the mountains. It isn't long and we come to the turn-off inland. We decide to make a rest stop and then take off to ascend the peaks before us. We're now headed for Gulnar on top of the mountain. The road is narrow but it's a good surface. Shortly after we start up this road away from the sea it begins to rise with the terrain. We climb, climb and climb even more, first we turn right then left then right again. Each turn swaps us from driving next to the mountain and then driving on the outside of the road; you feel as though you're flying as you look out the van window and see nothing but far distant mountain peaks and the valley fathoms below. Several turns now and we have ascended 3 or 4 thousand feet above the sea and at each turn we glimpse the trail of asphalt we've conquered thus far. Then the climbing is over, we've crested the mountain peak and come out on the plain above. Oh look, SNOW, off in the distance those hills are laced with snow. We drive through attempts at agriculture; I use that word because this is simply the rockiest soil I've ever seen. There's no way you could begin picking rocks here but these fields appear to be planted in winter wheat. The green growth is apparent across the plain as we drive through the area. There are a number of homes scattered along our route too but most appear abandoned (closed for the winter months) and we guess they must be summer residences. We travel up and down the rolling hills and at one point come to another historic site, Menekse Magarasi. A gentleman comes out to greet us as we pull over to look and he wants us to come in, we thank him but beg off for this time, maybe another time. This appears to a cave complex, possibly tombs; again my quest for explanations in the literature only lead too more frustration. I can find not even a footnote regarding this historic site tucked away up here on this mountain range. As we drive on we begin to have snow at the roadside; it obviously wasn't long ago that it snowed quite heavily here. We pass some drifts at the side of the road that must have been broken through by snowplows; they truly must have made travel here quite challenging a week or several days ago.

Here's the village of Bozagac, there are plenty of folks active here, several standing along the road as we pass; we figure some must be waiting on a dolmus. Then, just as quickly, here we are in Gulnar. This is a village of 10,000 souls up here in the clouds; it's situated on the hillsides in a box canyon. We have houses above us and below us as we drive into town. It's Monday morning and it's obvious this is no backwater town, the activity around us is stead and purposeful. All of the shops appear open and active. We make a complete semi-circle in and out of the village in five minutes.

We come to a crossroads in the city and have to make a decision, do we drive to Mut or simply turn toward Silifke and we opt for Silifke. We really need to be getting home, so this isn't a decision we want to make, it's a decision we have to make. The sky is clear and the air at this altitude is as well, we can see for miles. Chelly decides she needs to drive a while; she's feeling a bit seasick from all our twists, turns and climbing the mountain. Jim finds an appropriate shoulder and pulls over to switch places. Chelly takes us on down the road; we pass through Kayrak and Gukbelen as we head for the coast again. There's a great deal of logging going on through here and clear cutting doesn't seem to be a problem. We come upon logs nearly rolled into the road, piles and piles are laid up for trucking away later. Here we are now at Cumhuriyetalani, hope you've been getting these village names down, there could be a test later; this certainly a name for you to remember! We're starting a more serious descent now going through Bahandiz and up the other side.

We've left all the snow behind us and here's another historic site; Kibris-Baris Harekati Sehitligi (a military monument of some sort). This is the place we made our turn around yesterday so we're just minutes away from Silifke now. We join with the main road into Silifke and we're back driving the coast road. We decide we'll drive as far as Narlikuyu and have a late lunch again at the seaside cove, this time at Lagos Restaurant. We drive nearly an hour and finally arrive at our lunch stop. Jim parks along the street above Lagos Restaurant and we walk down to the building sitting at seaside. We have to descend three or four steps as we enter the restaurant and we are ushered to a table by the window. The waiter removes the window and we're the thickness of the wall from the water. The waves of the cove are gently splashing up against the rock just outside the window.

Carol and I order for all of us, we order calamari and salads to begin with and for the main course, as we anticipated, we're having Lagos; this time it will be grilled not fried. Our initial order of salads and calamari come quite quickly but we wait some time for the Lagos. When the Lagos finally makes its appearance none of us are disappointed in the long wait, it's simply the finest fish, prepared with excellence, that one can possibly ask for. Chelly comments on how wonderful the Lagos is and we all rave about the calamari as well. We savor our lunch and the weekend experience as a whole; we had a terrific three days together. We conclude our trip by driving to the autobahn, get on it and head straight home. My mind races over the past few days and I wonder how I can convey the absolute wonder of it all, I hope you've enjoyed it as much as we did.