Ephesus and Foça (Posted by Megan)

After our time in Kaş, we headed west along the coast to Foça, a seaside town on the Aegean Sea. But first, a day in ancient Ephesus!

When we arrived on a cold, rainy afternoon, we walked from our little hotel to the ruins of the Temple of Aphrodite. We didn't realize it at first, but this was actually a temple to a different Aphrodite than the one we know from Greek mythology. Instead, this Aphrodite was a local goddess of fertility. Nonetheless, it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - so imagining it while it had been standing was impressive.

The next (cold, rainy) day, we had a blast exploring Ephesus. The city was one of the largest and most powerful in the region during the classical Greek and Roman eras; as the port slowly silted up, it fell into ruin. For Christians, it's likely most famous for being the target audience of the Pauline epistle that became the book of Ephesians in the Bible. The amphitheater, marble roads, ruined buildings, and reconstructed library remains were spectacular. (And looking on the bright side, the rain just meant that we had large parts of it nearly to ourselves.)

From Ephesus, we headed a few hours up the coast to Foça. Our time in town was full of seaside walks, exploring the old windmills and cannons up on the surrounding hillsides, playing lots of games in cafes, and finally getting back into a routine of cooking for ourselves (after mostly eating out in Vietnam and India). In between the rainy days, we also managed to enjoy some blue skies over the Aegean coast.

We're almost a month into our time in Turkey now, and the road trip portion of our trip is about to wrap up.  Next up, Gallipoli and Istanbul!

Week 29: Kaş (posted by Wade)

Kaş might be one of our favorite places from the year abroad. It is located on the southern coast of Turkey, facing the Mediterranean and surrounded by dramatic rocky hills.

Kaş is in the heart of ancient Lycia. The Lycians were neighbors to the ancient Greeks who colonized the coast of Asia Minor further to the north - they had their own alphabet and language, which you can still see carved into various stones around town. They also left behind ancient rock cut tombs and sarcophagi strewn across the surrounding hills.  And, of course, there are the obligatory ruins of a Roman-era amphitheater.

The town is also kid-friendly, with pedestrian roads, tourist shops, and a rad playground. We were there in the off season, so we felt like we had all of Kaş to ourselves.

Other highlights of Kaş included playing a tile game called Okey at the local coffee shop, enjoying a nearby rocky beach, shooting hoops on the town's basketball court, and chowing down on the best seafood casserole that we have ever had.

Week 28: Konya (posted by Eliza)

 

On Sunday, January 11, we drove from Safranbolu to Konya. When Google Maps took us off the main road, it started snowing a lot, dad claimed it was a blizzard, but it was only a snowstorm. A while later, we came across Anatolian plain where there was no snow and no trees. 

When we arrived at the AirBnB, we went out for dinner that served Konya's special dish: etliekmek. It's kind of like pizza but long instead of round. They also don't use tomato sauce.

We had a good night's sleep and in the morning we went on a walking tour with a guide named Mirac. He took us to a famous dervish school founded by the poet name Rumi in the 1200s. So, that was pretty cool. There is a museum there, where we saw where Rumi was buried. We also saw a chest which contains a strand of the Prophet Muhammed's beard.

It was very rainy and cold, but Mirac said that this was "good weather" compared to what they usually had. We visited more mosques built by the Ottoman's and even a cat's tomb that a dervish built in the 1200s. Dad met a high school basketball team -- one of the players said that his cousin is Alperen Sengun.

The next night, we had whirling dervishes to think about. A whirling dervish is someone who spins around in religious ceremony to help them achieve enlightenment, or something like that. It was quite boring, to be honest, but it was definitely worth seeing. They were spinning for like fifteen or twenty minutes and when I tried to spin for thirty seconds I couldn't do it.

The last day in Konya, Anne, Mom, and I went to a science museum. It was so interactive and so fun. I learned more science at that museum than I have on the whole year abroad so far. My favorite part was the last part where they had a very big collection of legos. We stayed at the legos for like an hour.