The Mountain Of Eternal Flame - Turkey, Day 7
Friday, June 3, 2005
Today was designed to be a chill out day. For 4 days straight, we had been intensively and intentionally building relationships with Turks. Saturday and Sunday were shaping up to be really busy days as well, so we built in a day of rest and that was today.
After the traditional breakfast at the pansion, we arranged to have 3 Taksis (the Turkish spelling for Taxi) pick us up. "I" and "L" met us and we rode in the Taksis across town to a bus stop. There we met "T" and all of us jumped on a bus bound for Olimpos. Not the Mt. Olympos in Greece with the Greek gods, this was an ancient city (2400 years old) nestled in the mountains and situated right on the beach. The Mount Olimpos here in Turkey actually has an eternal flame on the top of it. There is apparently an ancient natural gas leak from the top of the mountain which you can light and roast your hot dogs! Alas, we never ventured up to the flame.
We rode the Havaş (bus) through the rest of Antalya along the coast and up into the mountains. The mountains rise right out of the sea, so even though we were driving up in the mountains, we were very near the sea. The mountains were stunning - lots of pine trees. I remarked that the next time I come to Turkey, I'd like to do some backpacking in those mountains. We rode to a small store up in the mountains which ended up being a bus stop. There we got off of the Havaş and waited for another bus that would take us down into Olimpos. The guys threw the frisbee while we waited. Ralley Türkiye was in full swing, so every few minutes a rally car would go speeding down the road on the way to another checkpoint. We were throwing the frisbee around in the parking lot, and inevitibly, it would go into the road every now and then. Luckily none of us got run over by a rally car on the way to retrieve the bee.
After about 30 minutes, the next bus came and we piled in. This one took us down into a beautiful valley. We entered the Olimpos area, which is managed by the Turkish board of tourism or something like that. There are literally thousands upon thousands of ruins sites in Turkey and they don't really have the budget to keep them all up. As we were driving into Olimpos, there were several vendors selling fresh fruit and vegetables as well as a number of treehouses/bungaloes that you could rent for lodging. Apparently, Olimpos is a haven for hippies from around the world. They rent a treehouse for a few days and commune with nature or something like that, then backpack on down the road to some other hippie haven. When the bus stopped, we got out and purchased a few snacks. Cola, Light Cola (for James!), fruit, cookies, chips, etc. The chips we bought were made by Doritos and were called Doritos Turca, which probably means Turkish Doritos. Ah, globalization... They were basically Doritos with lots of oregano on them - very yummy. One of my favorite things to do in other countries is try their snack foods. Of course, then I always wish that I could get that particular snack food in the states.
We then changed into our swimsuits at a pay restroom and paid our entrance fee into Olimpos. We walked for about 1/4 mile down a trail that paralleled a stream and passed several ancient ruins from when this area was a large city. More on the ruins later... We eventually came to a stunning beach. The stream emptied into the Mediterranean here and mountains rose up on both sides of the stream. There were several large sailboats anchored out in the bay. These were boats that were sailing along the coast, stopping in beautiful places like Olimpos. What a life.
The great thing about the beach here was that it was completely uncommercialized and very uncrowded. There were several people around, but we were all quite spread out so it was very peaceful. The water was a gorgeous deep blue. We settled on a nice little spot on the beach and spread out our stuff. "I" was assigned to walk back to the village to pick up our lunch, gözleme. Jay, James, Dick and I decided to swim out into the bay.
This bay looked exactly like something you would see in a pirate movie, so as we were out in the bay treading water, we had a great time making jokes and acting like pirates. I remember laughing really hard and trying not to drink too much salty seawater.
This brings me to a quick explanation. For years, I have had an alter-ego that many people know as "Trip Brett". You see, sometimes people from church or wherever only really see me on the stage at The Grove or in some "official" capacity. In those settings, I have to be fairly serious - there's just not a lot of room for goofing around when I'm leading worship at church. Well, on trips for some reason, people often get a chance to see the goofy side of my personality for the first time. Many people on trips like this have enjoyed the escapades of "Trip Brett" and this trip was no exception. Prior to leaving for Turkey, several people on my team had only really gotten to know me in our training meetings, which were fairly serious and business-like. So, while we were still in the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, I had warned my team that there were soon going to get to know my alter-ego. I think it was somewhere in the Amsterdam airport when "Trip Brett" really emerged (maybe it was the Haagen-Daaz). I really enjoy "Trip Brett". Lots of people have told me that they really like "Trip Brett" as well. There is something so enjoyable about laughing an goofing off - I'd like to indulge this side of my personality more often back here in Northwest Arkansas.
So, "Trip Brett" was in full force out in the bay. Now back to our story...
After a while, "I" emerged from the trail with a couple of bags full of gözleme. This delectible treat is known as the Turkish pancake. It's basically this flat bread/pastry rolled up with stuff inside like cheese, potatoes, spinich, etc. I ordered potatoes and cheese (though somehow mine only had cheese in it). So, I settled down with my lunch of gözleme, Doritos Turca and Cola.
After lunch, most of us laid out on the beach and took naps. At least I know the guys around me seemed to be napping. I certainly did. What a great relaxing time - beautiful sights, swimming in the Med, eating yummy food and napping in the warm sun on the beach.
After a short nap, I decided to grab my camera and tripod and explore the ruins of the old city. First I hiked up a steep hill to a place labeled the "acropolis", which basically means "city on a hill". This was a lookout where the residents of this ancient city could keep a wary eye out for pirates. Up on top I met a couple of Aussies who were taking some vacation time riding on a tourist boat along the coast. They were due to sail to Antalya later that day and fly home. I continued exploring the ruins down in the valley. The trees and foliage had long ago reclaimed this large city, so everywhere you looked in the forest there were remnants of old walls, aqueducts, above ground tombs, temples, castles, etc. I kept trying to imagine what this city looked like 2200 years ago when it was a bustling metropolis. I spent a couple of hours exploring and taking pictures.
Unsure of what time we were planning on leaving, I made my way back to the beach. Once I got there, I realized that everybody was still relaxing and in no hurry to leave. I sat around and talked to the guys for a while. Then me and "I" decided to hike across the stream to a castle that was poised on the opposite hillside from the acropolis. We made our way to this spectacular spot and climbed out onto a high wall. We sat down on the wall and dangled our feet over a 100 foot drop while gazing into the bay. We were looking down onto some large rocks that rose out of the bay. Several people (not from our group) had swam out to the rocks and were climbing up on them, then jumping into the deep water. We also saw a number of goats walking around - some of them out on the rocks in the bay. I kept wanting to see one of them jump into the water, but I guess goats have no sense of adventure.
"I" and I had a great conversation about life, church, the poor, the world, anthropology and our dreams. We probably talked up on that wall for an hour and a half - it was thoroughly enjoyable. I had known "I" prior to this trip, but only really as an acquaintance. It was through conversations like the one that we had on this day that we began to build a real friendship. After a while we decided to explore around some more in the ruins. At one point we realized that we were walking on an ancient mosaic that was probably the floor of some cool room thousands of years ago.
Finally we hiked back down to the beach. A few people had already hiked back to the village to hang out in an outdoor lounge area to nap, read and relax. The rest of us packed up our stuff and hiked back to the village to join them. We sat around relaxing, reading, telling jokes, eating Magnum Bars (ice cream bars) and fruit. There was a nice breeze blowing and I remember that the temperature was just perfect. It doesn't really get much better than this. Finally around 5:00 we decided to catch a bus back to Antalya. We jumped on one bus and waited to depart. After a while, some conversation took place in Turkish between the bus driver and "I", then he told us to get off of the bus and get on another one that was behind us. This particular bus would take us all the way to Antalya, so we jumped on, sat back and relaxed.
After we arrived in the city, we walked over to the restaurant where we had eaten on Wednesday, Gaziantep. This time I ordered the Döner Iskender and chowed down. We finished off the meal with çay (tea). In Turkey, they drink tea pretty much all day long whether the weather is hot or cold. It is served in these little tulip shaped glasses on a small metal saucer.
We then walked back to Kaleiçi. After a short stop for some ice cream, we went back to our pansion.
At some point on the bus, I remember having this thought: "I want to come back here." Not just Olimpos, but Turkey in general. I think I was really starting to fall in love with the place. The people, the food, the sights, etc. God had really changed my heart and attitude in the course of 7 days. Before we left I wasn't really looking forward to the trip. Now I was really having a great time. I remember saying to Elise the night before we left for Turkey that I was needing some serious rest and relaxation. I didn't expect to get any of that on this trip. Of course, God knew exactly what I needed and he certainly provided a very enjoyable, relaxing day on Friday.
Today was designed to be a chill out day. For 4 days straight, we had been intensively and intentionally building relationships with Turks. Saturday and Sunday were shaping up to be really busy days as well, so we built in a day of rest and that was today.
After the traditional breakfast at the pansion, we arranged to have 3 Taksis (the Turkish spelling for Taxi) pick us up. "I" and "L" met us and we rode in the Taksis across town to a bus stop. There we met "T" and all of us jumped on a bus bound for Olimpos. Not the Mt. Olympos in Greece with the Greek gods, this was an ancient city (2400 years old) nestled in the mountains and situated right on the beach. The Mount Olimpos here in Turkey actually has an eternal flame on the top of it. There is apparently an ancient natural gas leak from the top of the mountain which you can light and roast your hot dogs! Alas, we never ventured up to the flame.
We rode the Havaş (bus) through the rest of Antalya along the coast and up into the mountains. The mountains rise right out of the sea, so even though we were driving up in the mountains, we were very near the sea. The mountains were stunning - lots of pine trees. I remarked that the next time I come to Turkey, I'd like to do some backpacking in those mountains. We rode to a small store up in the mountains which ended up being a bus stop. There we got off of the Havaş and waited for another bus that would take us down into Olimpos. The guys threw the frisbee while we waited. Ralley Türkiye was in full swing, so every few minutes a rally car would go speeding down the road on the way to another checkpoint. We were throwing the frisbee around in the parking lot, and inevitibly, it would go into the road every now and then. Luckily none of us got run over by a rally car on the way to retrieve the bee.
After about 30 minutes, the next bus came and we piled in. This one took us down into a beautiful valley. We entered the Olimpos area, which is managed by the Turkish board of tourism or something like that. There are literally thousands upon thousands of ruins sites in Turkey and they don't really have the budget to keep them all up. As we were driving into Olimpos, there were several vendors selling fresh fruit and vegetables as well as a number of treehouses/bungaloes that you could rent for lodging. Apparently, Olimpos is a haven for hippies from around the world. They rent a treehouse for a few days and commune with nature or something like that, then backpack on down the road to some other hippie haven. When the bus stopped, we got out and purchased a few snacks. Cola, Light Cola (for James!), fruit, cookies, chips, etc. The chips we bought were made by Doritos and were called Doritos Turca, which probably means Turkish Doritos. Ah, globalization... They were basically Doritos with lots of oregano on them - very yummy. One of my favorite things to do in other countries is try their snack foods. Of course, then I always wish that I could get that particular snack food in the states.
We then changed into our swimsuits at a pay restroom and paid our entrance fee into Olimpos. We walked for about 1/4 mile down a trail that paralleled a stream and passed several ancient ruins from when this area was a large city. More on the ruins later... We eventually came to a stunning beach. The stream emptied into the Mediterranean here and mountains rose up on both sides of the stream. There were several large sailboats anchored out in the bay. These were boats that were sailing along the coast, stopping in beautiful places like Olimpos. What a life.
The great thing about the beach here was that it was completely uncommercialized and very uncrowded. There were several people around, but we were all quite spread out so it was very peaceful. The water was a gorgeous deep blue. We settled on a nice little spot on the beach and spread out our stuff. "I" was assigned to walk back to the village to pick up our lunch, gözleme. Jay, James, Dick and I decided to swim out into the bay.
This bay looked exactly like something you would see in a pirate movie, so as we were out in the bay treading water, we had a great time making jokes and acting like pirates. I remember laughing really hard and trying not to drink too much salty seawater.
This brings me to a quick explanation. For years, I have had an alter-ego that many people know as "Trip Brett". You see, sometimes people from church or wherever only really see me on the stage at The Grove or in some "official" capacity. In those settings, I have to be fairly serious - there's just not a lot of room for goofing around when I'm leading worship at church. Well, on trips for some reason, people often get a chance to see the goofy side of my personality for the first time. Many people on trips like this have enjoyed the escapades of "Trip Brett" and this trip was no exception. Prior to leaving for Turkey, several people on my team had only really gotten to know me in our training meetings, which were fairly serious and business-like. So, while we were still in the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, I had warned my team that there were soon going to get to know my alter-ego. I think it was somewhere in the Amsterdam airport when "Trip Brett" really emerged (maybe it was the Haagen-Daaz). I really enjoy "Trip Brett". Lots of people have told me that they really like "Trip Brett" as well. There is something so enjoyable about laughing an goofing off - I'd like to indulge this side of my personality more often back here in Northwest Arkansas.
So, "Trip Brett" was in full force out in the bay. Now back to our story...
After a while, "I" emerged from the trail with a couple of bags full of gözleme. This delectible treat is known as the Turkish pancake. It's basically this flat bread/pastry rolled up with stuff inside like cheese, potatoes, spinich, etc. I ordered potatoes and cheese (though somehow mine only had cheese in it). So, I settled down with my lunch of gözleme, Doritos Turca and Cola.
After lunch, most of us laid out on the beach and took naps. At least I know the guys around me seemed to be napping. I certainly did. What a great relaxing time - beautiful sights, swimming in the Med, eating yummy food and napping in the warm sun on the beach.
After a short nap, I decided to grab my camera and tripod and explore the ruins of the old city. First I hiked up a steep hill to a place labeled the "acropolis", which basically means "city on a hill". This was a lookout where the residents of this ancient city could keep a wary eye out for pirates. Up on top I met a couple of Aussies who were taking some vacation time riding on a tourist boat along the coast. They were due to sail to Antalya later that day and fly home. I continued exploring the ruins down in the valley. The trees and foliage had long ago reclaimed this large city, so everywhere you looked in the forest there were remnants of old walls, aqueducts, above ground tombs, temples, castles, etc. I kept trying to imagine what this city looked like 2200 years ago when it was a bustling metropolis. I spent a couple of hours exploring and taking pictures.
Unsure of what time we were planning on leaving, I made my way back to the beach. Once I got there, I realized that everybody was still relaxing and in no hurry to leave. I sat around and talked to the guys for a while. Then me and "I" decided to hike across the stream to a castle that was poised on the opposite hillside from the acropolis. We made our way to this spectacular spot and climbed out onto a high wall. We sat down on the wall and dangled our feet over a 100 foot drop while gazing into the bay. We were looking down onto some large rocks that rose out of the bay. Several people (not from our group) had swam out to the rocks and were climbing up on them, then jumping into the deep water. We also saw a number of goats walking around - some of them out on the rocks in the bay. I kept wanting to see one of them jump into the water, but I guess goats have no sense of adventure.
"I" and I had a great conversation about life, church, the poor, the world, anthropology and our dreams. We probably talked up on that wall for an hour and a half - it was thoroughly enjoyable. I had known "I" prior to this trip, but only really as an acquaintance. It was through conversations like the one that we had on this day that we began to build a real friendship. After a while we decided to explore around some more in the ruins. At one point we realized that we were walking on an ancient mosaic that was probably the floor of some cool room thousands of years ago.
Finally we hiked back down to the beach. A few people had already hiked back to the village to hang out in an outdoor lounge area to nap, read and relax. The rest of us packed up our stuff and hiked back to the village to join them. We sat around relaxing, reading, telling jokes, eating Magnum Bars (ice cream bars) and fruit. There was a nice breeze blowing and I remember that the temperature was just perfect. It doesn't really get much better than this. Finally around 5:00 we decided to catch a bus back to Antalya. We jumped on one bus and waited to depart. After a while, some conversation took place in Turkish between the bus driver and "I", then he told us to get off of the bus and get on another one that was behind us. This particular bus would take us all the way to Antalya, so we jumped on, sat back and relaxed.
After we arrived in the city, we walked over to the restaurant where we had eaten on Wednesday, Gaziantep. This time I ordered the Döner Iskender and chowed down. We finished off the meal with çay (tea). In Turkey, they drink tea pretty much all day long whether the weather is hot or cold. It is served in these little tulip shaped glasses on a small metal saucer.
We then walked back to Kaleiçi. After a short stop for some ice cream, we went back to our pansion.
At some point on the bus, I remember having this thought: "I want to come back here." Not just Olimpos, but Turkey in general. I think I was really starting to fall in love with the place. The people, the food, the sights, etc. God had really changed my heart and attitude in the course of 7 days. Before we left I wasn't really looking forward to the trip. Now I was really having a great time. I remember saying to Elise the night before we left for Turkey that I was needing some serious rest and relaxation. I didn't expect to get any of that on this trip. Of course, God knew exactly what I needed and he certainly provided a very enjoyable, relaxing day on Friday.
posted by
at 7:14 PM
1 Comments:
your blog has been a really awesome way for us to hear in detail about your trip and see pics. it's great.
By
shauna, at 4:02 PM
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