Have you seen the old girl...

8th March 2012

We are on the move again.

Our first stop is the ancient of Aspendos. The theatre of Aspendos is the best preserved Roman amphitheater, and still houses some concerts today. But first we stop at a portion of the aqueduct that was built around  AD100. We are told that the theatre and aqueduct were built because of a competition started by the king to help decide who should marry his daughter. The architect of the theater won, mostly because of the very effective acoustics  in the theatre.

It goes without saying that at every tourist attraction, you can find Turks trying to sell a variety of Turkish goods. Of course they all have their ways of tricking people into buying something. Here they would give you an orange,and perhaps a little Evil Eye bead, and  then, just as you are so impressed about how nice they are, they claim that you should now hand over some money.

The theatre of Aspendos is quite impressive. For the first time we can really get a good idea of what these theaters would have looked like. The sizes of theaters also give you a good idea of the size of the city. If a theatre has seats for 2500 people, then it usually means that there are 2500 families in the city, so for political type meetings, there would be a seat for one person of each family, to ensure everyone knew what was going on.

We are really enjoying the vast amount of information that Ilker is gving us. It also seems to shorten the perceived travel time. Today, he chatted about the education system. It is compulsory for children to spend 8 years at school. This is what the government provides. For these 8 years, they provide everything. Even the uniforms. A further 3 years is not compulsory, but the government is currently looking at changing this. It would however have a rather large financial impact on them. Either way, should you want to go to university, you need to write an entrance exam. 180 minutes to complete 180 questions, based on everything you have learnt throughout your school years, including all the various subjects. The questions are multiple choice questions, and for every 4 incorrect answers, they deduct 1 point. Your final mark achieved for this examination, determines whether you are able to go to the university, but also, what university you are able to go to. Ilker claims to have been lucky, in that he had a good day when he wrote his exam, and was therefore able to go to one of the government universities. He paid a mere 90 USD for his entire third year.  Ilker has three degrees - philosophy, tourism (3 years) and economics. 

From Aspendos we drive across the Taurus mountains towards Konya. Ilker has a special surprise in stall for us. Up in the mountains, there is a little village called Akseki.  The bus takes us on a winding gravel road to a cluster of old Turkish houses. Here, we are treated to a wonderful home-cooked meal of lentil soup (with the best ever homemade bread!), lamb stew, and dessert.  We get to see what their houses look like inside. We were amazed at all the beautiful carved woodwork. And I suspect some people may be willing to pay quite a bit of money for some of the carpets. In everything that Ilker tells us, we get the impression that the Turks are very proud people. In Akseki, you can see the pride in their eyes and smiles. They are only too keen to have us taste their local wine, and we are all disappointed at not being table to buy some of it. Walking back to the bus, I was stopped by an old lady holding a little lamb, convinced that I would have wanted a photograph of her. I did, and so when she suggested that I should now pay her for the favor, I gladly did. 

Our trip continued over a snow-lined pass over the beautiful mountain range. In places, there are walls of snow almost as high as the bus, and we stop to take photo's. In stead, we have a snow fight.

Konya is considered to be the most conservative city in Turkiye. We are told that we would see the highest number of covered ladies here. Yet, Konya has the highest alcohol consumption in Turkiye, and also the highest number of prostitutes. Konya is also the place where Rumi, also known as Mevlana. Rumi was the founder of the Whirling Dervishes. As the guidebook states, Rumi believed that music and dance represented a means to induce an ecstatic state of universal love and offered a way to liberate the individual from the anxiety and pain of daily life.  He believed that everyone has a little piece of god inside them, and so we are all the same, regardless of religion, race or nationality.  I quite like the Seven Advice of Mevlana:

1. In generosity and helping others be like a river
2. In compassion and grace be like sun
3. In concealing others' fault be like night
4. In anger and fury be like dead
5. In modesty and humility be like earth
6. In tolerance be like a sea
7. Either exist as you are or be as you look

Our hotel in Konya is a 40 story tourist battery cage. But the view is great, and our room faces directly North, and with the news of a huge solar storm in progress, I'm foolishly hoping that some outrageous phenomena would cause Aurora to be seen this far south. I do realize that I'm being silly, but hey…..