For having no plan as of the night before, the day really turned out to be a great one! We started off the morning heading to the dolmus stop for a quick ride to go explore Phaselis with George, Joan, Tom, Candice, and some other Fulbrighters. George negotiated a taxi fair down to a reasonable range and we piled in. At the gate to the park (Olympos National Park) the taxi driver negotiated our entrance to be only 4 adults, even though our car had 8 people in it, and he dropped us off right at the beginning of the ruins.
Phaselis was founded in 690 BCE and is birthplace to famous poets, Alexander the Great stayed a winter here, and pirates even lived here later on. Too much history in this country called Turkey!
Just a few minutes into our visit Maren needed to use the toilet, so off we went in search of someplace that would work. I didn't have my hopes up, but was pleasantly surprised with very nice pedestal toilets complete with toilet paper, just quite a walk from the ruins. It was a beautiful day and not too hot, so it was a nice walk with Maren anyway.
Amazing aqueduct ruins, supposedly one of the longest aqueducts in the Roman Empire.
We explored the site quite a bit and followed the old road right down to the beach, where there was no stopping the kids from taking a dip. Aeden didn't even wait for an answer or help taking off his shoes, just headed right in. First the girls had their pants rolled up, then no pants, then shirts tied up, then no shirts...luckily the underwear stuck around.
We watched ships come into the little harbor (the South Port) and laughed that this is probably the "secluded harbor" that the pirate ship from Pirate's Beach Club comes to on their morning 3-hour tour. There was a tender at the dock, so we thought we'd check about a boat ride back to the resort. Candice negotiated a price and we rounded up everyone onto the boat and headed off...only to stop at one of the larger ships and pick up more passengers and bring them back to shore. It was a little weird, but we had fun joking about how they were pirates and we were being boarded, watch out!
It was a short ride back to the resort, but wonderful to be out on the Sea and just relaxing. Aeden was nice and tired, so he just sat back and chilled for the ride, so I didn't have to worry about wrangling him while we were on board, and we had a great trip back. I couldn't help but notice our barefoot captain's raggedy toenails...almost gave me flashbacks to the nightmares I had as a kid after watching "That's Incredible". The water was crystal clear and bright blue, nothing at all like Puget Sound or the Pacific. It was beautiful, but in a boring sort of way, no jellyfish, seaweed, or crabs to watch and dodge.
All this and it was only getting to be lunch time when we returned to the resort!
After lunch we repeated our afternoon of naps and quiet time, Brian and the girls on the water slides, Aeden and me in the kiddie pool, showers and rest time, then dinner with the Fulbrighters. Tonight's dinner may have been titled, "Turkish Seafood Extraordinaire" with a few giant sea bass and every other seafood you could imagine. I think the main course had a choice of about 6 different fish, and the earlier courses included a fancy shrimp salad, cured fish of all kinds, seafood rolls, and calamari (two rounds!).
Aeden had a birthday cake and a round of Happy Birthday from the group (finally!). He didn't seem to complain that his dinner mainly consisted of chocolate banana cake.
After dinner there was a Turkish language and culture contest between the Western Turkey grantees and the Eastern Turkey grantees. The tensions ran high and the juding fell to Ersin Bey, the head of the Fulbright Commission in Turkey. He very clearly stated that "TV Turkish" would not be acceptable, only proper Turkish. Lacey, in particular, had a great time being one of the group and hanging out with the big kids, while Brian took the opportunity to chat with Ambassador Jeffrey.
After all this, Brian headed off with a group of Fulbrighters and Embassy staff to Olympos National Park to see the Yanartas (burning stone). Unfortunately, there is a nightclub called Chimaera that is nearby, and the colmus driver was sure that this group of young hooligans must be wanting to go there, not possibly to the national park at 10:30 at night. So it took some detours to get them to the right place finally.
Natural gas escaping from the volcanic outcrops is permanently aflame and this mountain is where Bellerophon and Pegasus killed the Chimaera by pouring molten lead into its mouth. Brian and Tom covered a hole to put out the flame, but as soon as it is uncovered it lights itself again and continues to burn. The flames were once larger and were guided upwards to serve as a lighthouse in ancient times.
The kids and I were already fast asleep by the time Brian got back.
The photos from today:
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| 2009-05-16Phaselis |
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