Hamilcar Barca Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 If anyones wondering where I've been for the last 5 weeks, I was on holiday in Greece and Turkey with three friends. I'll try to keep this breif because I could ramble on for hours. We started in Athens where we stayed for a week and did three days tours, one to Delphi, one to Mycenae/Epidavros/Nafplion and a day cruise around Aegina/Poros/Hydra. The rest of the time was spent hanging around the plaka and looking around the cityu. Because I was with three girls, there was lots of shopping as well. Oh and of course we saw teh Acrolpois, a site to beold. Next we flew to Istanbul/Constantinople. This was alot cooler than expected. Staying in the old city, one of the first things we did was go to a 300 year old turkish bath (featured in the book "1000 places to see before you die"), this been more or less the same thing that the Romans handed to the Byzantines which were then handed to the Otomans. It involves first of all a 30 minute sauna in the hot room (which remains the same as it was 300 years ago), followed by a exfoliatiation massage and a wash down. You come out feeling suberb and ULTRA clean. We then talked to the owner of the baths who recommended us to one of the best (and most unknown) leather specialists in the old city - I got a tailor made premium tanned leather jacket for only 150 Euro at a leather specialist store. The next day I found in a similar area of town, an old antiquities store where I picked up a 22 carrot gold ring with a perfectly preserved coin from the reign of Constantine embedded on the front (with cert of authenticty). My first Roman coin ('ll stick a photo of uit on here latter). While in the old Eastern capital we also visited the Hippodrome, teh blue mosk and many of the basilicas created during the reign of Justinian. Next we travelled down the coast line to Gallipoli, this place of course been the site of the doomed ANZAC expedition fought in WWI in which my Great Grandfather fought in. Next was to Kusadai and then to Pergamum where we visited the Acroplolis, I also found here a silver coin of the emperor Caracella. I'll continue with this latter and post up some pictures , theres to much to document in one post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 I'm envious. Please post those pics. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black_Francis Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 Yes, I second Ursus, show us some holiday pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 I thought it was illegal to sell antiquities like coins in Turkey and or collect them from ancient sites? Punishable by severe prison terms? I guess it doesn't matter now as you've made it out ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamilcar Barca Posted July 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 It is illegal to sell them in Greece but not in Turkey. I didn't get them from archeological sites either, the Constantine and Caracella coins were both from antiquities dealers. I'll stick photos up as soon as I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scanderbeg Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Turkey isnt exactly well known for its preservations of its ancient historical monuments. More then often you can actually get away with taking something from a site with few caring> And its not like they dont have the funds to care for them, they mostly dont care much. For a while, even the Hagia Sophia was rotting. Pieces of plaster(which covered the mosaics due to muslim law) began falling off, many mosaics have been damaged heavily for water seeping in. This includes some other old Byzantine monuments. In the east, old Armenian churches in an area that was once the center of the Armenian kingdom(forgot the name). There are literally hundreds of churches scattered throughout the land, with tons more covered. They are just sitting there getting worse and worse. Considering Turkey doesnt have an open border with Armenia, Armenia is not allowed to come in and care for them either. Ill be leaving possibly in the next two weeks to Albania and from there Ill make a trip throughout Greece then i will likely turn around and head to Italy(and travel the country) or towards Turkey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil61 Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 What a great trip. I've spent a few months in Turkey but never Greece, it's really a great place. Did you get to visit the ruins of Ephesus? Really stunning. The leather jacket story is familiar, I did the same thing only it was in eastern Turkey, near Adana, and the prices were even cheaper then western Turkey. It's really a great country to visit and very inexpensive; almost unkown to most Americans, but the Europeans have figured it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longbow Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 I went to the tourist resort of Marmaris a few years ago,its incredibly cheap!and incredibly hot!lovely peoply though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamilcar Barca Posted July 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Did you get to visit the ruins of Ephesus? Yes, that was fantastic. After we left Ephesus we went into the Greek islands. Mykonos, Ios, Santorini, Samos, Crete and Rhodes. I'll have photos in about a week (hopefully). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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