Moscow on the Mediterranean and Completing the Trifecta of Pisidean Cities

For reasons unknown the Fulbright Commission in Turkey always chooses Pirates Beach Club in Tekirova on the Mediterranean coast south of Antalya and Kemer for their annual grantees' meeting.  The resort fulfills the requisites in terms of comfortable but far from lavish rooms, all you can eat meals, house brands of wine, beer and liquor included, a large beach area, several pools, children's programs and more.  However, it has positioned itself, as has much or all of Tekirova, as serving the Russian market.  The resort was filled with young Russian families with kids in tow enjoying the beach and sun.  These were well behaved Russians with little smoking and moderate drinking.  No outbursts of thrown glasses or dancing on the tables.  Our group - Americans with some Turks - were decidedly different.  Nevertheless, we melded into the scene and were well taken care of by the resort staff.

Pirates Beach Club is a set of two story hotel rooms in a well landscaped area with a big, but somewhat rocky, beach

Bougainvillea near our hotel room which was on the second floor near the pool

The nearby pool area.  There was another pool which seemed more focused children

Needless to say, the resort had a pirate theme, really overdone.  The poor staff had to wear pirate themed garb and this guy brought the parrot (or macaw) out at various times during the day

The parrot was so pretty and seemed friendly.  They let him (or her) eat naturally at palm trees sometimes

Randy wanted his photo taken by this pirate babe, even though she is fake in every way.  Probably all he could handle anyway...

After a relaxed buffet dinner on the terrace the evening before, we arose the next day to wonderful weather - sunny and warm without being hot or humid.  Randy, David and Sarah headed for the beachside Roman ruins of Phaselis (which Alice had seen twice on previous visits) while Alice spent the day in Fulbright meetings.  The Fulbright grantees were an interesting mix of younger (graduate student grantees) and older (senior scholars) with subjects ranging from microelectronics engineering to obscure Ottoman poets.  Most were history or art majors.  Also present were the Counsel General of America from Istanbul and several folks from either the U.S. Embassy in Ankara or Washington D.C.  The Turkish staff of the Fulbright Commission in Turkey were also there to run everything.  The day was as interesting as six hours in a meeting room with no windows could be.

The men at our favorite watering hole - the lobby bar

Alice at the lobby bar drinking some decent Turkish white wine

That evening we convened as a group for a roasted lamb dinner.  The resort had roasted a whole lamb and the meat was amazingly tender.  The location, al fresco overlooking the sea, was perfect.

Our Fulbright friend Linda Strom from Youngstown State University with Sarah at the lamb dinner on Friday evening after a long day of meetings

David with U.S. Embassy Counselor for Public Affairs Mark Wentworth

Gulhan Unlu and her son. Gulhan is doing research on kefir, a kind of yoghurt drink, and its health benefits at Middle East Technical University

Matthew Redmond from Georgia Tech and his wife, also a Georgia Tech'er.  Matthew is at METU also and is a microelectronics specialist

Olivia Valentine and her Turkish mate are artists.  Olivia is doing artful things in Cappadocia

Leticia Hinojosa from Texas A&M worked on art history as a doctoral researcher in Turkey.  Shown her with photographer husband

Patrick Adamiak is a history doctoral student trying to conduct research in Istanbul despite the archive being temporarily shut down

Amanda Lanham and Jeffery Dyer are a couple, both doctoral Fulbrighters, who are studying art history and history, respectively, from Boston

Ron McBride on right is a Senior Fulbright Fellow at METU also.  Next to him is the wife of the U.S. Counsel General in Istanbul

John Curry and his lovely wife and cut red headed baby son.  John is a Senior Fellow studying history in Istanbul and reads a variety of Ottoman scripts and seemed the truest academic of the bunch

Randy and Alice.  Alice is a Senior Fulbright Scholar instructing industrial engineering at Bilkent University

Linda and Sarah raise a glass

The view is not done justice with this photograph - the sea and sky were a perfect backdrop to our festive lamb dinner

The next morning was spent relaxing around the resort with its ping pong tables, small zoo with birds and one lone monkey, the pool and beach area, and gardens.  Randy and Alice also walked into the town of Tekirova where the signs were in Russian, Turkish and English.  Items were quoted in dollars.  This was puzzling as this is never seen in Turkey (prices are always in either Turkish Lira or Euros) until we were informed that prices in Moscow are listed in dollars.  Ah - this makes the shopping Russian feel right at home.  It was also interesting that many of the shops were for furs and leathers in this very tropical climate.

The Fulbright folks had arranged a private boat tour for us during the afternoon.  This was so much fun as the boat was spacious and traditional (and with beer and sandwiches).  After motoring near three small offshore nature islands we stopped at two coves for swimming.  The water was just the right temperature - cool enough to be refreshing but not to cold.  In the first cove we were the only boat so had the area to ourselves.  The second had a little boat traffic but swimming there was still relaxing and invigorating at the same time.

Our pirate vessel ready for our afternoon boat excursion

The Georgia Tech couple looking very sporting

Neither Linda nor Randy got into the water

The view of Pirates Beach Club's beach from the boat

One of the cluster of three islands which we cruised by

A close up of the island where birds were congregating

Alice and Sarah share a topic before swimming

Alice and Sarah in a happier mindset in the water of the Mediterranean

The group swimming at the first cove stop

That evening also occurred al fresco overlooking the sea.  This time, the resort had purchased a huge fish - maybe a type of tuna - and it was carved up and grilled.  Wonderful!  Afterwards, there was a live musician and dancing ensued.  Mainly Turkish but also some pop favorites were thrown in.  We deserved our sleep that night after the sun, swimming and dancing.

Our Turkish singer with the weird hair style was only one guy but he sounded like a whole band

The Saturday night fish was impressive indeed

Half of the unlucky fish fed our whole group

The half was trimmed and filled before grilling

Gulhan with both kids waiting for the fish

Ron enjoyed his boat outing and swimming and is ready for some chow

The Boston couple along with Ulku Inal from the Istanbul Fulbright Office and August Thomas who had a bunch of medical misfortunes during her master's studies in Istanbul

Linda, Alice, Amanda, Jeffery and August - scholars young and slightly less young

Alice and Randy seem alone but actually the table was full - where were the others?

A twist brought out the best in the group

David (in green shirt) surprised the crowd with his expert moves

Get down tonight!

We left immediately after breakfast for Ankara with a stop en route at the third Pisidean city of our trip - Termessos.  This city is probably the most visited of the Pisidean cities because of its proximity to the busy tourist coast (about one hour away).  But that is all relative - there were only a few other visitors on this Sunday and no bus tours in sight.  This site/sight did not disappoint.  It is located in a national wildlife park and is reached by a far hike up (the Pisideans with the exception of Antioch) favored tops of hills/mountains for their metropolises.  The bottom did contain an arched temple and an interesting necropolis (graveyard).

The third Pisidean city of our trip

This is just as remote as the others and actually requires more climbing to reach the upper city

The lower city, by the parking area, has a ruined temple

Some other of the lower city ruins near the temple

David and Sarah survey the extensive necropolis also in the lower city

Sarcophagi are scattered in an eerie way by earthquake activity

More disturbed final resting places

David reads an inscription (one of his favorite hobbies and easy to exercise in Turkey)

A double headed eagle - faded but still discernible adorns a tomb

The walk was pretty with wild flowers and views back over the hills and valleys.  We saw an interesting and very large gymnasium with unique faux columns.  There was a site with five entries to the underground cistern.  An agora and assorted buildings all in mostly ruined state.

On the long walk up to the upper city where most of the ruins lie

The aqueduct area by the gymnasium

The gymnasium is large and impressive  - most likely a combination of school and physical activity areas

A lion detail - common wherever Romans were

Alice at the gymnasium

David, Sarah and Alice admire the skill of Roman building

The faux columns on the wall of the gymnasium.  We had not seen these in Turkey before

Alice reaches near the top of the upper city (the gymnasium is a teaser along the way - more climbing is necessary for the rest)

What was once the agora area at the upper city

More of the agora ruins

An inscripted monument at the agora

Rock tomb visible at top left

A well with plenty of water still present

Five covered openings to huge cistern below

An incredible wild orchid

Part of the city on the way to the theater

The jewel in the crown, as it were, is the theater which is unbelievably situated.  The one at Sagalassos was magnificently situated but this one was even better.  Sitting in the seats (the theater is almost entirely still intact) the view is of the nearby imposing peak with views on either side off to other peaks and valleys.  It would have been hard to concentrate on the entertainment taking place in the theater with a backdrop like that.

Near the theater with mountain peak behind

Another shot from the upper row of seats

David and Sarah take in the surroundings

Alice revels in the scenery and remnants of an impressive venerable peoples

Theater at the left side

Theater at the right side

David taught Camera Bitch how to make panorama pictures - this 180 degree shot takes in the entire theater

From the left of the theater, the distant mountains are visible

Carved doorway at the theater

Another panoramic view of this amazing relic

Alice was certainly glad she made the climb up to this wonder

One more parting shot

Most of a water basin near the well seen earlier which we revisited on the way back down

Sarah drops a test stone to gauge depth of the well (pretty deep)

David on the tricky climb down among the rocks

On the climb down looking across to the massive city walls still guarding this ancient metropolis

 The drive back to Ankara was routine along the good road going through Afyon and Polatli.  Since it was late when we got home and we were tired, we refreshed ourselves at our go to restaurant - the North Shield in the Bilkent University Hotel.

This trip had several disparate themes - beach and booze, Phrygian and Pisidean history, fellowship with like minded American academics - but the most memorable aspects were spending time with the Tates (always enlightening and intellectually challenging) and the incredible natural beauty of Anatolia.

Four friends sharing an awesome experience in a spectacular setting