Photos, diabetes, and other things Nick wıll take from Turkey.

The great benefit of travelling by your tastebuds is that it doesn’t preclude you seeing the sights as well. As such, while I still can’t really communicate with anyone very much, my times in Turkey have been packed full of sights, adventure, and puddings.

Turkey has a few big touristy spots; the fairy chimneys in Goreme, Istanbul, Ephasus. But one that wasn’t quite what I was expecting was Pamukkale. At Pamukkale, there is a spring. From this spring flows water that is packed full of minerals, but mostly calcium. The water then flows down the side of a mountain. As it does so it cools, depositing the calcium in ridges along the side of the cliff. The result is the side of a cliff cloaked in calcium, creating the travertines. Where the water formed pools, the deposits formed ledges that stretched out over the cliff and created what looked like miniature jacuzzis. So much so, in fact, that tourism during the 80s and 90s led to a line of hotels being constructed above them so that the paying public could bathe in them. Unfortunately, the construction stopped the flow of the water, and even after the demolition of the hotel the flow has not returned to its original force. Still, a magnificent sight (photo).

Then there was Ephasus (photo). Reputed to give visitors a feeling of what it would have felt like to live in a Roman town, it doesn’t fail to impress. The city’s layout is still very much apparent. The library and the 25 000 seat theatre are the two big draw cards, and draw they do. I think that one of the reasons that the site seems so whole and ‘authentic’ is the fact that the marble streets are still largely intact. While recurrent earthquakes may have ruined the buildings and shifted the stones around a bit, walking on stones where you can see the tracks of roman carriages really embellishes the connection you feel with the place.

I’ve climbed a few big hills/small mountains since my last post (my knee is now quite good): on in Izmir and one in Bergama. Atop each is a citadel. Overlooking Izmir is one of the many castles founded my Alexander the Great on his way through the region, BC. In Bergama, the walls house an acropolis; the entire ancient village is within its walls. This meant quite a lot of exploring, and amazing views. Sitting at the top after walking all the way, you realise what a good defensive strategy it is to build castles on hills. Before the invention of gunpowder, trying to breach those walls after the steep, steep hike a couple of kilometres uphill in your armour with your weapons would have been hell. It’s amazing that sometimes people succeeded. The ruins in Bergama were almost as good as those at Ephasus, though much harder to get to and around. But they somehow seemed all the more rewarding, as things do when you have to put in an enormous effort to achieve them.

Troy wasn’t that great, but it was interesting to see where Achilles killed Hector and was killed by Paris in turn (see photo of a giant wooden horse). Tomorrow I’m heading to Gallipoli and ANZAC Cove (for my little bit of nationalism). War seems to be high on the ‘to do’ list in Turkey. But I’m expecting tomorrow to really be quite moving, if only because of the amount of ANZAC propaganda Australians are fed.

I don’t know how much weight I have put on in the past week and a half, but it’s definitely there. My consumption of both chocolate and rice pudding (both of which have apparently become dessert staples in Turkey) has become quite ridiculous. I’ve also been eating 4 main meals a day. Not because it’s cheap (it’s not particularly). Not because I’m really that hungry. Just because it’s there and tastes so damn good. My culinary conquests have included imam bayildi (eggplants stuffed with a spiced, garlicky rice), gozleme (savoury pancakes filled with fetta, potato and spinach), su boregi (a Turkish cheese and parsley lasagne) and many more besides. And so, so much pudding. I really must ease up on the pudding consumption. Tomorrow.