May 14th Discovering Phaselis

Our last hike along the Lycian Way with http://www.feast-story.org led us to the ancient ruins of Phaselis and beaches in Kemer. We walked along trails that overlooked the Mediterranean Sea and the first of three harbours. As we walked through tall pine groves the landscape soon changed to include tall cedar trees. 

Along the trail we began to walk through a Necropolis (cemetery) on the outside of the city walls. Large stone sarcophagi typically indicated that each sarcophagus was the resting place of someone important. Whereas, smaller more shallow imprints of a burial were detected by the rectangular imprint that is forever imprinted upon the land. Many of these graves have been unearthed and in some cases numbered in the past twenty years. 

Ancient sarcophagus found three metres down in the sea

Shells are visible on the side of the sarcophagus

Imprint of a grave 

Tombs 

Framing the city walls are large portions of an ancient Aqueduct facing Military Harbour which is one of  the three harbours. This was an important peninsula site where ships docked. There are incredible remnants of the roman baths, cold room and steam room; so that the sailors could clean themselves before entering the city.  

The Agora

The round discs inside the Roman Bath were stacked below the floor so that the heat from the fire could circulate the warm air around the room.

Phaselis became an important colony settlement with its inhabitants originating from Rhodes. Our guide told us that any records that were kept from 694 BC were recorded according to ancient Olympic Games which occurred every eight years. So if something occurred during the year of one of the games, it would have been documented as having happened in the year of the 22nd Olympic Games, for instances. 

The ruins of the walls of the Acropolis (the oldest residential area of the city) was rebuilt in 309 BC  during the Hellenistic period. Most of what exists today is from the Roman Imperial Period, and the Byzantine Era. It's preservation indicates that it had been a very prosperous city. 

Alexander the Great spent a winter in Phaselis with his army while recovering from sickness. Phaselis began in the 6th Century and ended between the 8th and 9th. The layout of the city is still in relatively good shape allowing visitors today to see the roman baths, gymnasium, frigidarium, shops; and Agora, the public space where the ancient people would have gathered for assemblies and market. 

At the end of this colonization the people moved to Antalya. Phaselis was then used as a quarry as it had the stones that were necessary to build the city walls of their new city. 

At the southern end of the Agora one can see identical remnants on either side of the grand walkway indicating that there was a gate which is believed to have been an archway built to honour the Emperor Hadrian. Passing through the remnants of this ancient archway led us out of the city and toward the sea.  The water was cool but the bottom was so sandy that I could walk out quite a piece and still stand on the sea floor while the water rose up to my neck. 

Imagine the archway that once framed the southern opening of the Agora leading toward the sea

After a cool dip, and a picnic lunch on the sand we climbed back into our shuttle buses and headed toward a cable car to take us up to Mount Tahtali which is 2365 meters above sea level. This mountain is also known as Lycian Olympus and Phoenicus or Phoinikous in ancient times. 

It was a clear day, so the views from the summit were spectacular. There was a race going on called "Sea to Sky" with participants walking or running up the mountain. I witnessed a man coming up to the summit. He was quite pooped and I would say, looked relieved to be at the top. I asked him how long it took him and he answered that it had taken him 7 hours. The elevation is so high that there are still patches of snow. Of course I had to walk out onto the snow and touch it for myself. I even made a snowball and sent it on down to the sea!! 

 

 

One of my Singaporean friends cupped the snow in his hands and then washed his face with its coolness. I saw a family waving a Ukrainian Flag as they danced and sang from the peak of this great mountain.

When we finally headed back to the hotel we were given a choice of 30 minutes of last minute shopping or back to the hotel for showers. I opted for the hotel because I was going to treat myself to a Hammam (Turkish Bath). Boy was I ever glad that I did. 

I was led into the steam room where a wet towel was laid upon the marble square in the centre of the room.  What came next was a showering of warm water, an incredible body scrubbing and bubbles all over my front and back. After a good rinsing I was ready for a face peel and a warm cup of tea. The experience was wonderful, my skin felt silky smooth,  and in no time at all I was ready to dress for dinner.

One slight experience that I must tell you about happened when I walked into my room to prepare for my Hammam experience. I got to my room and whipped out my room key because all I had was one hour. When I opened the door, I stood in disbelief. In fact, I thought I had just opened up another persons room because where there should have been a single bed for my friend Jo, and a double bed for me; there now was a newly installed bunk bed which extended into the walkway with my bed further into the room. 

After a few minutes I spotted my blue suitcase near the sliding door so I knew it to be my room but had no idea why anyone had come in and replaced Jo's single bed for a rather well built bunk bed set. In fact, the room had the lingering scent of freshly cut wood. 

I decided that I would wait to speak with Jo about the absurdity of this and went to the Hammam to be pampered. While I was there, I had totally forgotten about the newly installed bunk bed until I returned and met up with Jo.

Our storytelling friend Cem dealt with the whole mess and while we were at supper; the hotel staff went back into our room to dismantle the bunk beds and redo Jo's bed. They forgot to replace the light fixture that had originally been on the wall above her head.  To make matters right, they left an apology note, a plate of fruit and a small bottle of wine. 

Even when I might think that there isn't another story to be told, our travels to a foreign land has left us with a rather odd tale of disbelief to share. 

For our very last evening together we journeyed back to Phaselis to tell stories in the well preserved theatre. Earlier in the blog I may have used the term ampitheatre but our wonderful guide Yunus Ozdemir  informed us that there are no ampitheatres in Turkey. 

An ampitheatre is an oval or circular building with rising tiers of seats arranged about an open space and used in ancient Rome especially for contests and spectacles. The term derives from the ancient Greek "amphitheatron," from "amphi" meaning on both sides or around; and "theatron" meaning place for viewing. 

So what are theatres then? Both ancient Greek and ancient Roman theatres were built in a semicircle, with tiered seating rising on one side of the performance area. Many of the theatres that we saw were built both in Greek times, and then enlarged or rebuilt in Roman times. Many were roofed structures, often with a large wall behind the actors which often served to block the view of the sea or town. Some theatres had an orchestra, and others were closed off to allow for gladiatorial or animal fight games. 

This particular theatre was set high above the Agora and we had to climb many steps to reach it. As we got closer to the top we began to hear a saxophone being played. I was already thinking that maybe someone else had the idea to play their instrument in this great space, or was the mosque shaking up their nightly prayer session? When we finally arrived at the ancient theatre in Phaselis we were greeted by a gentleman playing his sax. To our great surprise, he had been hired to welcome us into our last storytelling space. He serenaded us with music by Sting and other well known artists as we began to settle in for storytelling for one last time. 

The theme of this last evening of storytelling was 'journey' and each story was as vastly different as were the tellers who came together from four continents. 

Ava & Jeeva

Rani 

Lindsey 

Swee Yean 

 

Ava balancing a jug on her head

Kiran 

Jo

Gideon

This trip was a gift of friendship, discovery, sharing of many cultures, exploring the wonders of Turkey both ancient and modern; participating in shamanic rituals, delighting our senses with all manner of good food, and standing in the footsteps of history to tell our stories and use them to nourish the ancient ruins.