Uzuncaburc with Fred
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Our weekend quest is Uzuncaburc, a village in the mountains above Silifke. Carol and I have not been here since the mid-eighties; one of our first few adventures in Turkey so many years ago. All I remember of the site is the two large columns I photographed at that time; Carol suggests she can remember many other features to include the tiny little village around the site.
We've decided to spend the weekend in Narlikuyu at
the Calamie Hotel. This hotel is very lovely, aesthetically, with black marble
stairs and a fully accented marble lobby. The lobby is well appointed with
several sets of chairs and sofas for a leisurely visit or quiet conversations
with a panoramic view of the beautiful cove stretched out below. Although it
seems every time we stay here the hotel experiences a power outage, the
location is extremely picturesque and relaxing. We're in room 205 today, on the
seaside. Our balcony is plenty large with a table and two chairs; we've
actually brought two of our canvas folding chairs for more comfortable lounging
and all fit fine. The balcony faces south and a little east so most of the day
the sun is on the other side of the hotel. This is really a wonderful location
for peace and quiet; the breeze off the water rises up and drifts across the
balcony to make it a really inviting setting. One can sit out here for hours
and simply become intoxicated by the surroundings.
One of the hotel staff meets me at the car and
helps bring our bags to our room. We put our things away and after about thirty
minutes, we return to the car and head for Silifke. We drive alone the coast
for a short time through AtaKent, Atayurt and finally into Silifke. Once we're
in down town, I notice we can't get to the roundabout I want to find because
the street is blocked off; I remember a specific sign indicated the road to
Uzuncaburc and wanted to turn there. I make a couple turns in what I feel is
the correct direction and find the street leading out of town north. In a very
short time, we find a historic sign pointing the way. We're still driving
through the outskirts of the city when we begin our ascent up the mountain
toward our destination for today. The road is not real wide but it's two-lane;
I don't feel comfortable driving on these roads with no shoulders and vertical cliffs
at the road's edge; fortunately we're on the mountain side of the road going
up. It think to myself, it would be nice to have guardrails along the road but
then realize – to have guardrails one needs earth to drive the guardrail
supports into!
The roadway seems to be clinging to the mountain
walls and we turn first right then left and then upward as the road crests the
ridge. We begin driving atop the mountain now where things seem quite tranquil;
we drive through a stand of fir trees and then on through some pretty rough
terrain. We drive through first one village, then another on toward our goal.
Our roadway rises here and falls there, as it finds its way over and through
this rock strewn landscape. Now we curve left and climb, now right and fall in
search of a straight stretch of highway; there simply is none on this route. I
find myself thinking back all those years ago and I can not remember there
being any villages along here, but twenty years obviously make a difference in
both population and landscape.
Our journey continues to roll and curve gracefully
through the country and then, just ahead, we spy a Roman ruin. There are tombs
of ancient kings spotting the landscape all over up here; some are erect and
majestic after 2,000 years others, simply a shell of their past majesty. In
this part of Turkey, it's difficult to scratch the earth without finding a
Roman ruin; the entire south coast of Turkey cradles one Roman city after
another and many of those ruins are still standing in various stages of deterioration.
In the village of Demircili, ancient Imbriogon, we see two fairly well
persevered mausoleums listed as the double temple-tomb from the 2nd and 3rd
centuries AD. We continue our drive another few minutes and find a less
well-preserved tomb right at the edge of the road. This one is simply a shell
of its former self with most of its grand structure in ruins at its foundation.
We see a number of suspect piles of structural stones across the landscape here
and surmise each was once a tomb or other ancient building.
There it is; across the fields we see the tops of
our first columns. As we get closer to the site, I make a left turn and start
down a dirt lane toward the columns. Here we are, Uzuncaburc, the former Roman
site of Diocaesarea. I pull in beside two sets of tall columns and before I can
make a decision on what to do next, a gentleman comes toward the car to
indicate I should park here. I pull off the edge of the road near an old
village structure that looks much like one of those in a painting (a watercolor
of Uzuncaburc) we have from twenty years ago. We pay the man our two lira entry
fee (per person) and begin our trek into Roman history. The ruins we venture
through date from the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD. The columns near our car are
the parade gate, the beginning of what once was a colonnaded street. To our
right as we enter the site is the fountain house – water was brought here from
115 Km away; part of that Roman waterway is still bringing water to this
village!
On our left a wall begins rising out of the ground.
The city used to be encircled by this great wall but much of it is gone now.
Some of it is buried under centuries of silt and some of it dragged away to
construct more recent buildings in the area. It rises from ground level to
maybe 3 meters in height as we walk further into the site. There are three
‘tourist' stands in the shade of the wall; one gentleman has literature and
postcards, then there's a lady with handcrafts and finally another lady selling
handcrafts. We manage to put each of these entrepreneurs off as we pass each
one in turn. Just beyond the last lady's table of crafts, we step through a
break in the wall and head for the Temple of Zeus Olbios. We stroll down what
must have been a garden path to the entry arch of the temple; we certainly
don't need to enter through the arch, but we do. Aside from the somewhat erect
arch, there are 30 of the original 36 columns still standing majestically
today. There were six columns across each end and 12 down each side of the
temple. The columns are massive, both in height and diameter. The temple was
130 feet by 70 feet. It served both the Romans and the Byzantines
We stroll around inside the former temple and as
you stand in the center and look both toward the front and then the rear, you
can get a feel for the size of this building. On the ground within the columns
grasp are rock foundations still visible; we can get an idea where the original
walls stood and we can see the outline of other structural designs. I walk to the
back corner of the former building and look up at the capital far above my
head; the books tell me these are nearly thirty two feet tall. I remember very
well now. These are the two columns I photographed so many years ago; I try to
reach around one and can't make it but half way round. Looking across the lush
green courtyard there are miscellaneous small ruins strewn about; capitals,
columns (in numerous pieces), large cornice and frieze blocks of hand carved
stone and numerous square wall building blocks in different sizes. There's also
a very nice garland-sculpted sarcophagus set against the wall we entered
through just minutes ago.
My heart is saddened here too; graffiti has made an
appearance within these majestic ruins as many of these ancient artifacts
strewn about us have been spray painted red. Part of the inside wall is white
washed or painted; it must have been to obliterate some unwanted writing. Why,
oh why, is this done!
We leave the temple and walk on toward the city
gate on the opposite side of the site. As we walk, we linger at the street's
edge to admire more artifacts abandoned along the path. There are many
grapevines cultivated throughout this ruin (small patches seem to pop up
between ruins) and they too mingle with the toppled columns and fallen
artifacts. We stop for a moment so Carol can get a photo of a capital standing
nearly consumed by the lush green vegetation. This is a wonderful time of year
to visit with everything green and fully alive. The gate is a very large three
arch Roman edifice; two smaller arches flank the larger center arch. The center
arch is nearly forty feet in height. The gate stands alone today but obviously,
it once adjoined the walls of the city and funneled many travelers into this
majestic realm.
As we take a few moments and admire this gateway, a
village lady passes by; she pays us no mind and goes about her daily life as
usual. I can't help but wonder what she might be thinking of us as we linger in
her backyard as so many before us have done. She's probably our age and has
lived among these ruins all her life without a second thought of their origin
or significance to the world. I'm sure she knows they're Roman and I'm sure
those ladies we passed at the wall are her friends, maybe even family, so these
ruins bring commerce to her doorstep, but what else? On the other hand, what do
I really know of these ruins or any others? I simply find pleasure in standing
where Romans once stood, trying to imagine what this city must have been 2,000
years ago! Think of it; there must have been beggars milling about at this gate
waiting for the distant traveler to take pity on them and toss a coin into the
dirt for them to retrieve. I imagine children chasing about wanting to help the
traveler with his animals or belongings hoping for a small tip.
Anyway, I can go on and on about my thoughts but we
head back toward the center of the site and make a right walking toward the
other temple. This temple is Tyche, dating from the 1st century AD. There are
five columns still erect with their capitals and cornice completely intact.
This temple is unusual according to the literature because it's architecture is
square; the vast majority of temples are rectangular. This one also boasts
single-piece granite columns nearly 18 feet tall. There is a bit of structure
in the back of this temple, most of it under ground now.
After a few minutes, we turn our backs on the
temple and retrace our footsteps back toward the parade gate where we parked.
We again walk past the tourist tables and gently put them off once more; saying
we will return in a bit. I have to ask as we walk back toward the car; we're
looking for the theater. The gentleman who offered us tea earlier tells me the
theater is beyond the entry and the car park. It seems we drove right by it as
we entered and we didn't even notice it. We pass a couple small village
buildings and then come to a wall of large stones; as we gaze over the wall the
theater is fully visible from top to bottom. The seating is in an advanced
state of deterioration and the steps between the sections of seating are worn
well beyond safe climbing. The stage area has totally collapsed on itself and
there are piles of rubble at the foot of the theater; 2,000 years will do that,
of course, but the awe of the structure remains. This is not a large theater
either and the literature doesn't indicate its capacity, but one can still get
a sense for what must have gone on here. Close your eyes, can you hear the
crowd roaring with adoration over the stage production taking place below? I
often imagine there's a renowned orator spouting poetry or a small group of
actors performing a tragic play and the audience is hushed then jubilant as the
performance plays out.
We head back now for tea under the trees; the
gentleman with the sales table filled with literature and postcards invited us
for tea at the beginning of our tour. Carol has a glass while I read my
‘Silifke and Environs' book. Once Carol finishes her tea, she decides to visit
each table to shop. I sit and enjoy the breeze while I listen to the birds talk
to one another. The occasional chicken crows from a yard first behind me then
off further in the distance. I watch too, as several butterflies dance on the
mountain breeze flitting between wild flower blossoms. The sky holds just a
wisp of white in its vast ocean of blue just overhead. The air is so clean and
filled with country freshness, I continue to consume it more deeply with each
breath.
As I sit waiting on Carol to make her purchases, I
begin to remember the photos from the past. One in particular, taken in the
Temple of Zeus Olbios where I laid on the ground, pointed the camera toward the
sky and took a photo of the tops of two columns holding tight to their
capitals. I had thought of duplicating that photo but age has given me pause;
getting to the ground would be easy but getting up would be a much larger
challenge so I pass on the opportunity. Ah, Carol has completed her shopping
and has bought a little something from each table, not wanting to ignore any
one of the three people. We walk back to the car and start our journey back to
Narlikuyu.
We return on the same road we arrived and stop now
to get a photo of the tombs we saw while coming up to the site. As always, the
return trip seems so much faster than the trip going; in no time we're back in
Silifke and then on to Narlikuyu. We drive down past our hotel to the seaside
and have a late lunch at Kerim Restaurant. Our table is just inches from the
water and we're treated to grilled sea bass and salads. We have an excellent
leisurely lunch and enjoy the sounds of the sea lapping up against the concrete
platform our table rests on. After lunch, we return to our hotel room to savor
our afternoon solitude.
As I mentioned, our hotel sits on the hillside just
above all these fish restaurants which encircle Porto Calamie (as this place
was known in the Middle Ages) – our hotel is named for the old port. We retire
to our balcony to while away the afternoon; the harbor water is cloudy green in
close and becomes bright blue as it merges with the horizon. The blue water is
a little rough, interrupted by white caps as I raise my gaze from our balcony
toward the horizon. This afternoon we have a wonderful breeze off the harbor.
Carol is relaxing reading a book and I'm simply sitting
here watching the world go by. There goes a speedboat across the mouth of the
harbor – surfing the wake with grace and agility. The air around us as we sit
here is filled with a cacophony of sounds – the chatter of birds darting from
one balcony to another and the traction of traffic on the course road surface
below. We hear many large trucks and buses as they shift to climb the hill and
the voices of servers and patrons at the restaurants that encompass the harbor
shores. There's an electric mower just below us as well; it starts and stops as
the yardman tends to the lawn.
Slowly our afternoon is transformed to evening and
we watch as our day fades away to darkness. We retreat to our room and retire
for the night. I sit on the edge of the bed and meditate on the hours just
past; we move so easily here from the 21st century to the 2 century and back
again, all is just a few hours. Where else in the world can one's imagination
be enhanced by reality so completely? Most of the world around us can only imagine
walking in our footsteps today. How fortunate we are to be able to experience
these ruins up close and personal, walking where untold generations of our
ancestors walked before us. Good night.
Day break has invaded our room, I roll over and
grab for my watch, it's 5:12 a.m. and the morning is fresh and clean. I get up
and look out the window; the sky is ashen and grasping for the light that will
turn it to day. I open the door and step onto the balcony; I hear the water as
it caresses the shoreline below. The roosters of the village stretched out
before me are making it clear the day has dawned and it's time for work or play
or whatever. I sink into my canvas chair and watch the dawning of the new day.
Breakfast isn't until eight o'clock so I have nothing to do but enjoy the
awakening all about me.
I sit thinking about our day. Carol has decided we
must visit Heaven and Hell again; there are two massive craters in the earth
just a few minutes north of us that have been dubbed Heaven and Hell. Heaven is
the larger of the two and has 450 rock cut steps to the bottom where one will
find the Chapel of Virgin Mary. Carol wants to descend to the Chapel; when
we've visited in the past, we've not gone into Heaven's chasm.
My thoughts of today's adventures are broken by the
faint sound of a two stroke fishing boat motor. These little motors are quite
distinct in their sound as it comes across the water; it's a putt-putt noise.
When I look toward the sound, a small fishing boat is just coming into view
from around the coastline in front of me. This guy has either been out at night
or he got up way before sunrise to go out on the water. As I watch him enter
the harbor, he cuts the motor and coasts in toward the rocks. This is one of
the two fishing boats we usually see tied off just beyond all the restaurants.
The sun has now made its full appearance above the
horizon; a large red-orange ball hangs in the sky just above the water. I try
to get a photograph but for some reason a digital camera simply will not
recreate a sunrise; it completely obliterates the fiery ball I see in the sky
before me.
Carol is now getting up and we freshen up for
breakfast. We go up to the terrace and find only the initial offering prepared.
We sit and wait for the entire spread; one dish after another is brought out to
the buffet and placed and then replaced to be sure it's in the proper serving
arrangement. One has to remember time is a relative thing here; 8:00 is simply
a target not a set time. I don't find it pleasing but Carol reminds me, as
always, to be patient.
The young man who obviously runs the kitchen has
placed and then replaced and rearranged one dish after another but he seems to
have settled on everything now; no wait he comes back with green ivy he has cut
from the building. He stuffs the green leaves around and under each placement
of food dish. He slips away once more and minutes latter returns with purple
flowers harvested from the side of the hotel. You've got to admire this
gentleman's eye for aesthetics; he seems pleased with his creation and
retreats. Carol pulls the camera from the bag and shoots several photos of the
display. I, on the other hand, go for the stack of plates at the end of the
buffet table and begin to destroy his fine work of culinary artistry. It 8:30 and
I've come for food NOT photo opportunities. I get my tomatoes, cucumbers, meat
(this is like a small sliced bologna) and white cheese, my very favorite
Turkish breakfast items. The buffet is plentiful and the variety is almost
limitless; this rivals any breakfast buffet we've seen in country.
It's nearly 9:30 now and we go to the car to start
our day. It's only ten minutes to Heaven and Hell up a winding paved road. We
park near the tourist mall and walk to the edge of Heaven's chasm. It's early
and we're alone here, or so we think, until a bus pulls in behind us. A group
of all women tourist de-bus and we think they will be all over the site but
instead they look into the chasm and then walk around the building with all the
shops and get back on the bus around the other side; two minutes at the site
and they're gone.
Carol and I start our descent into the chasm of
Heaven; we make it to the first level and then the second, maybe 50 or 75 steps
into the crater, that's it we're done! The steps are not even nor are they very
‘elder friendly' so we ascend and call it a day. Even on the lower level steps
we could see nothing but the interior of the chasm; we simply weren't willing
to take the risk of descending any further. When we finally managed to reach the
shops above, we were both winded and I could hear my heart thumping in my ears.
We sat for a time and had a bottle of water and admired a few of the handmade
grain bags hanging from the roof supports. We wandered through the tourist
shops and admired a couple very lovely rugs but left empty handed because our
love of the rug and their love of money did not come within reach.
We left and drove higher up the hill to the
asthma-curing cave – we didn't go in there either but took some photos from the
parking lot. The literature seems to suggest that this cave has curative or
healing properties in its air. From here, we drive back to the main road and
headed off toward Silifke again. Once in Silifke we visited their local museum.
It's small but nicely organized with an archeology room on the ground floor, an
ethnographic room and a coins & jewelry room on the second floor. In the
courtyard at the rear of the building they have displays of statuary, a
sarcophagus or two and plenty of stone-carved artifacts.
On our way back to Narlikuyu, we stopped to
photograph some art pottery in the park at Atayurt. There's a fountain in the
park that was designed to mirror the appearance of amphora, the two handled
urns that once held wine, olive oil and other liquids for import and export.
This wonderful sculpture is probably eight feet tall and the large amphora is
tilted to provide liquid for the two smaller pieces below it. I've admired this
several times and today decided to get this photograph. We actually park the
car right beside the amphora. Today we find Atayurt having their Sunday pazaar;
Carol wants to walk through all the tents. We spend 30 minutes wandering about
- Carol bought some fabric and I bought a pair of sandals.
We get back into the car and continue down the road.
As we get closer to our hotel we decided to have lunch at one of the many
cafeterias on the winding road to Heaven and Hell. I drive up the hill again
and Carol suggests we stop at Cakil Cafeterya & Aile Cay Bahcesi; she
simply chooses this one at random. Our lunch is gozleme, a very thin flat bread
with meat and potato (I have the meat, Carol has potato), grilled on a rounded
metal grill; it's almost as if one were to use the bottom of a wok placed over
a gas flame. We're sitting well above the dirt parking lot on a patio with a
wonderful breeze sweeping across our table, blowing our napkins away. There are
several spaces set aside in the traditional fashion (they're designed to look
like nomadic tents); one can sit on pillows around a metal tray and have lunch.
It's a little difficult for me to get down so I prefer the table with bench
seats. We have a leisurely lunch and then set off for Kizkalisi to fill up with
petrol.
While the car is being filled up, Carol spies a
pazaar across a field and declares that to be our next stop today. We have to
drive well down the main road to find a break in the median but in a short time
we're back and we're walking through the tents (the pazaar) here in Kizkalisi.
Carol finds only one item – a tablecloth of hand-spun cotton. We return to the
car and head back to the hotel.
We return to our hotel and then to our balcony to
enjoy the peace and quiet of the afternoon alone. It's so relaxing here, we
have no where to go and no demands on us to do anything! Carol again sits
reading and I sit collecting the tributes of this wonderful day and what it
offers us as we slowly consume it. I think about the people going about their
daily routines in this awesome setting and I wonder: Do they have any concept of how beautiful this is or do they
simply take it for granted as we so often do?
It's near dinnertime and we decide to walk down
once again to the seaside for a meal. We walk all the way around the cove and
stop at Narlikuyu Balik Restaurant as we've never eaten here and want to try
it. We're met and seated quite quickly, we order our favorite fish, sea bass
and the waiter leaves us. The location is lovely and we enjoy the breeze as
well. None of the restaurants here are poorly located of course, each sits
right on the water's edge. This one has no more seaside than any of the others
but is the last one around the cove. As we wait on our fish, I begin to believe
our visit here is a mistake, the attention given us is greatly lacking as
compared to our experiences at the other places. Our dinner finally comes and
is perfectly acceptable but I think we'll skip this restaurant in the future.
While we sit and enjoy our dinner, a couple of
boats come into the harbor and swimmers dive or jump into the water but stay
only a short time and then the boats are gone. One couple at an adjacent table
has apparently engaged a boat because after they finish their meal and young
gentleman comes to escort them to seaside and into his boat; they get settled
and set out to sea before we finish. We pay our tab and leisurely stroll back
to our hotel. The evening is cool and except for the climb getting back to our
hotel wonderful, HaHaHa. Again, we relax on the balcony until we retire for the
night.
Good morning, we opt to get going early and do not wait
for breakfast. We pack up everything and I make three trips to the car. It's
another beautiful morning and we're in no rush so as we drive back toward Adana
we make a few stops along the coast to see the sites we've not visited before;
we begin by stopping at Akkale, it's simply one kilometer off the highway.
As we approach the site we can see several ruins in
the field, there's a lane to the ruins but the entry has been obstructed so I
park and we walk over to investigate the larger building. Our literature tells
us the complex is an early Byzantine estate or winery dating from the 5th and
6th centuries. At the center of the complex, there is a palatial mansion
comprising several stories. It measures 180 by 210 feet, that's a very large
structure; basically, what we see is a shell. There's a tower adjoining the
main building with a spiral staircase that made easy access to all stories
above. The family of this complex was obviously quite wealthy.
As we explore a little more of the site we discover
several other facilities in similar states of damage. It's truly amazing to see
even those few standing structures when one considers the age of these
buildings. I have to chuckle when I stand amidst ruins like these; I mean we
build massive structures today too but few will be standing majestically as
these are, 2,000 years from today!
We leave now and continue our travels on toward
Kizkalisi. Just to the east of the city we crest a hill in the highway and make
a slight curve and the landscape offers us an incredible (in-your-face) view of
the Roman Theater of Elaiussa/Sebeste. Sebeste is the Greek name for Emperor
Augustus from 20 BC. This recent excavation in and around the theater have made
it very evident to all who drive this highway. The freshness of the excavation
coupled with some reconstruction has brought boldness to the already
magnificent view.
I pull to the side of the road for pictures but
then decide to take some time here this morning to wander around and through
the theater area. There's another structure set just below the theater and it
has a tremendous mosaic floor that has been unearthed for our viewing pleasure.
I'm a little disappointed in the book I carry; I have a book but the
descriptions are only superficial. (I realize that my choice of literature may
be my challenge but even the internet offered me no assistance once I returned
home.) The theater, carved out of the hillside is fairly large and open for
easy access, although it's a climb on some pretty irregular steps. We climb
until we enter into the stage area and up a few levels into seating; our view
is across the main road and into another major excavation. Over that ruin, we
see the beautiful blue water of the Mediterranean; my book indicates that the
site across the road was once on an island that has since become a part of the
mainland where we currently stand.
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