April 16, 2010 (Friday)

Hierapolis. Got breakfast at about 8 am and then checked out of our hotel and headed to Hierapolis. The ancient site of Hierapolis is actually right up the hill from the resort town of Pamukkale.

The roads and entrance to the site are changed since we last were here in 2002. The entrance, large parking lot, and ticket booth complex are now a long way from the actual site remains and museum. You have to walk a long way uphill to get to the upper city and theater (probably 15–20 minutes).

The uphill trek is through the western necropolis area. A necropolis is a city’s ancient burial grounds. Those of Hierapolis are alongside the hill leading up to the city. Last time we were here we were able to drive through this area on up to the city. Now, we have to walk. The necropolis is a fascinating and huge burial area that covers acres of ground with monumental tombs, crypts, monuments, and sarcophagi everywhere. Along the way, Jerry takes a few pictures, but he plans to explore more on the way back down after we finish the Hierapolis site and museum. The long walk is hot and tiring, but spring wild flowers are in abundance, so the view is full of color.

We finally get up the hill to the ancient city. The gates to the city’s main avenue, called Frontius Street, are dated to the time of Domitian, similar to Laodicea’s Syrian Gate leading to Syria Street. Jerry says this gate construction indicates how active was the imperial presence in Asia Minor, especially the Flavian dynasty, at the time the book of Revelation was written. Grand arches into the basilica bathhouse complex also date to the time of Domitian.

Hierapolis Theater. Unfortunately, even when we get to the upper city and the theater itself, we discover you no longer can enter the theater at the bottom; the only entrance is at the tiptop on the backside up the hill! Another hill to climb. Ugh. Jerry goes ahead not to miss the right angle of the rising morning sun for his theater shots, and I follow behind, hiking up slowly. Once up there, I find Jerry and take pictures, and we do another “talking head” movie for Jerry’s classroom. This theater shows the back wall structure, called the skene, in pretty good condition, which is rare. (That’s why the theater at Aspendos on the southern coast is spectacular.) You can see how beautifully the skene was adorned with inscriptions, carving, reliefs, and statuary. Jerry was right. The theater is really perfect in the early morning light.

Hierapolis Museum. After getting the morning theater shots Jerry had wanted ever since our last visit to Hierapolis, we then head to the museum that we did not know was here in our first visit; unfortunately, this destination is another long walk from the top of the theater. The museum is larger than we thought. They have used three of the vaulted, basilica-style rooms that are part of the Roman bathhouse complex to develop three “salons,” or exhibit spaces.

Inside the museum, Jerry appreciated an artist’s depiction of the ancient city, which showed well how the city perched on the edge of the mineral cliffs with its theater right in the middle of the city. They had the typical displays from various time periods of pottery, bowls, lamps, and instruments. The coin display had quite a number of examples. Jerry, however, was disappointed. None of the coins were dated or labeled in any way. Without such information, he said, a coin display is practically worthless.

One Roman sarcophagus was of interest, because the chamber was found in nearby Laodicea from late 2nd century or early 3rd century A.D. The sarcophagus was for a husband and wife. Reliefs on the side depicted the life of the individual, education, and heroic scenes representing social status and honor.

Another Roman sarcophagus was a nice find, Jerry said, since the crypt dated all the way back to the time of Claudius (A.D. 41–54) in the first century, a rare find in this state of preservation, and is from Hierapolis. (Claudius was the emperor during the time of the Apostle Paul’s first and second missionary journeys.) The images of the reliefs on the partially-preserved sides of the sarcophagus are related to the bravery of an administrator of Hierapolis extolling him as if he were a god.

The remains of a colossal statue of Hadrian got Jerry’s attention. Hadrian was the Roman emperor (117–138) who put down the last Jewish revolt under the messianic pretender Simon Bar Kockba. Jerry documented Roman gladiator combat scenes depicted on reliefs on grave stele. We finish the museum in a heated rush, barely finishing as they started closing up for lunch.

Leaving the museum, Jerry likes the blooming violet trees in the courtyard area and grabs a quick picture of me underneath one. We then get our routine shot in front of the museum entrance.

Mineral Springs. The museum is near the famous thermal pools of Hierapolis at the top edge of the cliff over which the waters pour to create the white cliffs that can be seen easily from Laodicea down in the Lycus valley. We have viewed them before, but we walk over to visit them again and look out over the valley to see Laodicea in the distance. The pools are still impressive.

We make the long walk down the hillside back to the parking area. At least this time, the walk is downhill. Jerry takes more pictures of the necropolis remains. He seems especially interested in gladiator indications in the burial artifacts. Finally back at the ticket area at the bottom of the hill, we get a sandwich and an ice cream to cool us down a bit. After our late lunch at the rest area and café next to the parking area, we get back to the car to find our new hotel for the night.

Hotel Tripolis. Our new accommodations are at Hotel Tripolis, where we’ll stay the next two nights. The hotel is new construction with pretty grounds. The room is large with sort of a Hampton Inn look. We send laundry out for washing. Jerry decides he has just enough time before the Laodicea site closes for the day to search for the water pipes one more time. I stay behind at the hotel to rest and catch up on the journal. So, here we are. Tomorrow is our first rest/shopping day after 17 days of furious travel, work, and research! Looking forward to that!

Laodicea Return. Jerry returned from Laodicea—successful! He found the pipes! The story is really funny. Jerry had searched and searched again, and still saw nothing like what he had seen in the picture that was his mental landmark. The pipes were coming up straight out of the ground in the picture. He had scoured the ground inch by inch in exactly the spot he knew Richard’s emailed Google map had indicated. His heart was sinking. He could not believe he could not find the pipes and thought he would fail again. He was exasperated, indeed, desperate. He knew the archeological site was going to be closing for the day soon.

“And now, the rest of the story . . .” He told me that I would not believe what happened to cause him to find the pipes. He said that, in a really comical way, he found the pipes just like the Spaniard Inigo Montoya in the movie, “Princess Bride,” found the spot that would lead to the “man in black” with his sword pointed up to tell direction like a divining rod.

In like fashion, in his desperation, Jerry said he literally lifted his hands up to God, really frustrated, saying, “please help me find . . . ,” and in the moment he was saying the words and turning his head upwards to heaven, there the pipes were right above him staring happily back down at him! They were not coming from below out of the ground as he thought from the picture he had seen, but instead from above, coming down out of a water tower! What looked like pipes coming up out of the ground in the picture he had seen was really an inverted orientation of the camera looking straight up into the sky, but with no sky visible in the close focus of the picture to give an indication that the camera was pointed directly up into the sky! That’s why he missed them yesterday. He was looking down all the time, not up! So funny. A happy ending to a desperate search.

He took many pictures, so his trip back for one more try late this afternoon was worth it. The terracotta pipes beautifully show the lime deposit buildup of the strong mineral water that closed off the flow of water eventually, forcing the constant replacement of the pipes over time. This mineral water of Laodicea features in a statement of Jesus in Rev. 3:16.

More Humor. Oh, and there’s more. Our laundry returns to our room, washed, but not ironed and folded—kind of damp dry, and Jerry now has a pair of pale yellow pants that used to be beige. I had no idea what they did to a beige pair of pants to turn them pale yellow; but, they were cheap and are still wearable. He’ll have an interesting “change of wardrobe.” J

Supper Search. For a change of cuisine for supper, we thought to drive into the modern town of Pamukkale, which is right next to the ancient site of Hierapolis and not far from the hotel, to investigate whether we had a local option for a restaurant besides the hotel. Since most of what we saw on the main strip was just “tourist” style with trinket shops and quick-stop stores, we end up back at the hotel. We have the hotel buffet with the many German tour groups that arrived late this afternoon, turning the place into a beehive.

Car Trouble? As we parked our rental car when we got back to the hotel in our search for supper, Jerry discovers we now have yet another car problem, a red blinking light on the dash—dang! We take the Turkish car manual into our room and try to figure out what the blinking icon on the dash means by trying to connect the icon shape with any descriptions about that image in the manual. We decide we think the blinking light means the car is due for scheduled service (oil change, etc.) and is just a reminder. We hope that the light will just blink for a set period of time to remind the car owner that the car needs regularly scheduled maintenance, and then voluntarily turn off. To bed­—fairly decent sleep.

For a video of the Hierapolis and Laodicea action today:

April 15, 2010 (Thursday)

Side. Up early and out of here! In the rush packing, Jerry accidently knocks my camera off the low bed, and it hits the stone floor, but not too hard, and seems to be OK. We put Side in our rearview mirror as fast as we can. Off to Denizli, the major city in a valley that is close to the ancient tel of Colossae, which has never been excavated. No matter to my Pauline scholar. He just wants to walk the mound. So, we are off to find Colossae. The Garmin is somewhat helpful in getting us out of Side, and then we can follow highway signs. Side to Denizli is a pretty long ride.

Denizli. Once we get to Denizli, we get gas, use the bathroom, and get the car washed at a BP station. While we’re in line getting the car washed, they bring us hot tea. The Turks are so hospitable. Once done refueling, we’re off to find Colossae, just outside of Denizli, using our Google Earth printout from our research in getting ready for the trip. We know we are close to our destination for the day, Colossae, but we are haunted by the memories of looking for hours and hours the last time we were in this area in 2002 and never finding the site. Of course, back then, highways were under road improvements, and construction had signs down. We also did not have Google Earth satellite photos.

De-ja-vu? We drive out of Denizli on the main highway east. We had calculated how far to our turnoff from the main highway from Google satellite images. We felt like we had gone far enough down the highway, but we had seen no sign again! We start getting an uneasy feeling. Just then, I recognized a building from a Google Earth satellite picture Jerry had collected from his research. Since the Google Earth image was an aerial shot directly overhead, and we were on the ground at a totally different visual perspective, Jerry thought my recognizing the building was pretty incredible. In any case, that split-second decision to tell Jerry we needed to turn back immediately because I thought we had passed the turnoff saved us completely missing our turn and never finding Colossae—again!

Discovery! So we make a U-turn and go back. Voila! There is a small sign to Colossae (2 km) that we missed, and, sure enough, a little way down that road, we make a hard right turn, go down that road a little distance, and then, rising up before us is the tel! The map below offers the GPS coordinates of the site.

If you like, you can put these coordinates into your Google Maps search box in your browser, and you can get even more detailed information about the Colossae tel: 37.78628, 29.2606.

Jerry is very excited. He has waited eight years to get back to Turkey to find the tel of Colossae that we never could find in our first trip, and he was so disappointed and frustrated, because we knew then that we were really close but just could not find the spot. And we almost missed the site again! However, we did discover one bad development right as we were approaching the tel of Colossae.

Camera Trouble. We stop the car to take a distance shot before going up to the tel. I take out my trusty little camera and take a photo, and my camera freezes. We cannot fix it. Jerry does everything he knows to do, including taking out the battery, rebooting, and other actions. Nothing worked. It fell off the bed at that horrible little hotel this morning, and that evidently did her in. So now, I have no camera, except my cell phone. Jerry is really distressed, since he is sure he is responsible. He feels terrible. I have been the main one getting pictures of him while he takes pictures of everything else. Oh well. We just have to press on. Lord knows what Jerry would do if his camera went on the blink! That would be disaster for his research funded by the Lilly Foundation and Ola Farmer Lenaz grants.

Colossae. We go to the tel, which has a guard/keeper on site, but no charge is required, so we climb on up. Jerry wonders about a cave-like cut into the wall on the way up the side of the tel and discovers remnants of architectural blocks just lying exposed on the surface of the tel. At the top of the tel he points out the mountains nearby that provided the fresh, cool, snowmelt water for the city. We could see the snow at the upper levels. Jerry goes all around the tel while I entertain myself looking at pottery shards and marble pieces that are everywhere. We do a “talking head” movie for Jerry’s classroom lectures and finally take our leave of the site.

We have now seen the tel of Colossae, which so totally eluded us 8 years ago! Jerry is on top of the world for success this time around. He says he gives all credit to his eagle-eye, “very observant” wife for barely catching in a split second in her peripheral vision the corner of a building she recognized from Google overhead satellite shots where we needed to turn off the main highway just as we passed by. [“You go, girl! Yeah!”—Jerry]

Laodicea. After finishing our site visit of the Colossae tel, we drive back toward the modern city of Denizli. The city of Denizli is much improved over just eight years ago: new roads, new signs, big gas stations, etc. The site of Laodicea is right on the outskirts of Denizli to the north. The signs marking the site are very clear and easy to find, unlike Colossae.

The GPS coordinates of Laodicea are given in the map below. Click the minus sign at the top left of the map to zoom out a little if the gold site maker is not visible.

Current Excavation. Laodicea is being excavated now, which is wonderful. The site has so changed since we were here! About all we could see were surface remains. In fact, so much had changed, we have a hard time at first getting oriented. The main street has been established and a few columns erected, etc. Excavators are working while we’re there. The Syrian Gate, one of the main entrances into ancient Laodicea, has little left of its former glory. The gate was meaningful for Jerry due to its construction under the time of Domitian, the Roman emperor most likely surrounding the historical context of the book of Revelation. The gate led to Syria Street, Laodicea’s main avenue, that was beautified by Domitian. In other words, Domitian clearly was accepted by the leaders and population of Laodicea as their patron to whom they formally owed their political and religious allegiance as his obedient and grateful clients.

With work going on currently, the site is much more organized, with some areas identified by signs and descriptions. Jerry is pleased to find the bouleterion (“council assembly hall”), but the angle of the ground does not provide a good shot. He wished he had a helicopter (next grant, buddy boy!) This type assembly hall has semicircular, inclined seating on the pattern of theater seating in which the rulers and noblemen of the city discussed, debated, and voted on laws, rules, and regulations for Laodicea.

With more signage on the site, Jerry also is pleased to find the location of the various bathhouses that serviced the population of Laodicea. Baths were an important ingredient to a Roman city, the Facebook of Roman social life, and they generally are found almost anywhere Rome went, including Bath, England, which is actually the site of the ancient Roman baths near London. Some of these bath areas on the site of Laodicea are identified, but not yet excavated, such as the east bathhouse complex in the first picture below.

Jerry also found the southern bathhouse complex, which was a little more visible above ground. Jerry was interested in the water system of Laodicea because of a connection to a statement in the Letter of Laodicea in the book of Revelation.

From Laodicea’s western theater the white cliffs of the related ancient city of Hierapolis are easily visible. The white cliffs are limestone deposits from evaporating water of the hot mineral springs flowing over a cliff. Ancient Hierapolis is like our Hot Springs, Arkansas. The warm, mineral water baths were popular for their supposed medicinal effect, and Romans used them for many ailments. (The modern name of the town is Pammukale, which, roughly translated, means, “Snow Palace.” Even today Pammukale is a very popular resort area.)

We were visiting Turkey during early spring. The weather can be unpredictable because of weather systems bringing spring rains. However, we counted ourselves so fortunate that most of our touring days, with only two major exceptions toward the beginning and at the end, were bright and sunny. In the bright sunshine we had most of the time, the poppies were dazzling. I do so love the red poppies of Turkey. They grow wild everywhere, sometimes creating entire carpets of red along small valleys off the roadside. Laodicea was full of poppies popping up everywhere. Delightful.

Water Pipes. What archeologists call “Terminal 1” of the water supply system at Laodicea has some exposed Roman terracotta water pipes of a water terminal station for Laodicea near the stadium complex on the far west side of the site. Jerry’s former student and professor at East Texas Baptist University, Richard Johnson, had gotten a picture of the pipes, and Jerry wanted a picture too. The pipes would help illustrate well a verse in one of Revelation’s Seven Letters. So Jerry hiked off to find the pipes.I waited a long time in some shade I found not far from the Syrian Gate entrance and worked on our photo database. Jerry finally comes back around, hot and exhausted, but he did not find the pipes. Bummer! He’s disappointed not to get his picture, but the afternoon, though pretty hot in the direct sun, was gorgeous, and Jerry had seen so much more than the first time we visited the site in 2002. He was so glad to see the excavation work going on. Jerry did see this terracotta waterline archeologists had discovered. These are the waterlines that the water terminal he tried to find would supply.

Although the focus of this research trip is not on the wildlife of Turkey, Jerry was catching shots all the time of animals and critters of all kinds. He especially liked this one. He dubbed him, “Mr. Laodicean Lizard.”

Colossae Thermal Hotel. Leaving the site of Laodicea, we stop at a roadside market and get Jerry a big liter of water, since his hot hike for the water pipes had dehydrated him severely, even though he was drinking water along the way. We then go on down the road a few miles to the Colossea Thermal Hotel and check in. The Colossae Thermal is a great hotel where we stayed in 2002. We have a great room—a suite for the price of a double! Today is going to be a good day! We ate dinner buffet with tour groups that were there, and the food was delicious. After dinner we perused a shop and looked at some scarves. We find out that free wifi is available in the lobby.

Back in our room, Jerry called his friend Richard long distance using our Skype account to get the exact location of the pipes at Laodicea. Jerry asks him to email a map to us at my A&R email account that we can retrieve downstairs using the hotel lobby’s free wifi. Later we get an email from Richard with a Google map showing the exact location. Jerry is incredulous. He recognizes from Richard’s Google map that he actually was very close to the spot this afternoon but somehow just didn’t find the pipes. He is quite determined to go back tomorrow afternoon after we have finished touring the ancient site of Hierapolis to try again at nearby Laodicea strictly for the water pipes, if we have time. Jerry’s poor feet are so sore, so I massaged them with lotion for him. Happy feet are important on a trip like this.

Rental Redux. I decided to try again to follow up on reporting the car damage. I called Avis in Adana where we had rented the car and asked to speak to Neozi (pronounced ‘knee ozzie’), the guy who had helped us when we rented the car. Neozi wasn’t in, but I talked to another person who spoke decent English (yea). I told him the damage to the car was a definite scratch on the back door, but not like seriously dented in. He said everything was OK, that we could continue using the car, and we could just wait until the Istanbul airport where we were returning the car to deal with the damage. I pray God help us deal with the situation easily when we get to the airport in Istanbul. Off to bed, and slept pretty good, but I still woke up thinking about the car.

For a video of the Colossae and Laodicea action today:

April 14, 2010 (Wednesday)

Antalya Harbor. We got up early. Jerry is still tired from the harrowing day yesterday in the long, hard drive through the mountains down to the southern coast of Turkey and then damaging the rental car bumper in the Antalya Museum parking lot. When we ask this morning, we find out our Tuvana Hotel breakfast is not served until 8 am, so unexpectedly we have time to do something before breakfast. We decide to take in the old harbor from which Paul and Barnabas sailed, whose ancient name is Attalia. We ask for directions, and head out walking in that direction. The walk is easy, and the morning is beautiful.

The foothills of the mountains run right up to the shoreline, and reminds us a little of California’s Pacific coastline. We are up in elevation and are descending to the harbor. From this higher elevation on this cool, crisp morning, the harbor lays like a gemstone glistening. The view is picture postcard. The boats are colorful. The water is perfectly clear. When we get to the water’s edge, the harbor is so clear and calm like glass, you can see down some 30 or 40 feet, or more. We do a “talking head” movie of Jerry at the harbor that is great! We spend some time at this harbor where Barnabas and Paul caught a boat at the end of the first missionary journey on their way back to Antioch of Syria. I get to thinking that what Paul accomplished in his missionary travels is amazing. The distance from Antioch of Pisidia in the highlands of the mountains down to Antalya on the Mediterranean coast is quite far, so I’m wondering how long Paul took to walk that distance. I must do some research into Roman roads and distances traveled.

Hadrian’s Gate. We leave the harbor and start walking back towards the hotel through the streets of old Attalia. As if he had radar implanted, Jerry walked not to our hotel but straight to Hadrian’s Gate! (We had planned to do that after breakfast, but here we are.) The gate is beautiful in the morning sun and is important to my intrepid scholar as the only surviving Roman remains of ancient Attalia. He was especially pleased that the original Roman paving stones through the gate were preserved for viewing with a see-through walkway over them.

We finish picture taking and walk back to the hotel, asking directions now and then from shopkeepers along the way. The winding streets of Old Town Attalia are confusing. One man we asked for directions wanted to have a conversation so he could practice his “English.” He was very nice, offering us tea, as is the Turkish custom. We shared tea and conversation and enjoyed his hospitality.

We said a courteous goodbye to our friendly shopkeeper and moved on to our breakfast at Tuvana hotel. (The nose-blowing lady from dinner last night is here—ugh!) Once breakfast is done, we are off to check out of our delightful hotel, sad that we could stay only one night, and get the car.

Paul Harvey. This part of the journal is like the old Paul Harvey reports on the radio. Paul Harvey would set up a story in the opening bit, and, after a commercial break, he always would finish his story by starting with the line, “And, now, the rest of the story.”

So, here’s the opening Paul Harvey bit. We get directions from the car attendant how to get out of town and head to the ancient site of Perge, another stop of Paul on the first missionary journey, which is not far at all inland from the ancient port of Attalia. Well, of course, after we leave the hotel parking area, we find out that the way we are told to go is blocked by road construction right in the middle of busy downtown—naturally! To backtrack, Jerry has to make an impossibly tight right turn. Sure enough, trying to negotiate the turn with the sharp angle of the car and avoiding pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk was too difficult in the tight space, and Jerry scrapes the car’s right side on the high curb—dang those Antalya curbs! That’s the second time in less than 24 hours we have sustained damage to our rental car in Antalya due to high curb structures. With all the traffic now tied up behind us, we have no choice but to back up, get straightened out, and take a second shot at the tight turn, which Jerry somehow manages this time. We continue on our way with our damaged car. We find the main highway of D400 toward Perge, and off we go, although we are so disgusted, upset, and worried about the car.

“And, now, the rest of the story . . .” Is the Antalya story over yet? Well, no, not quite. Wait! There’s more! So, we’re tooling down the road moving along evenly with everyone else, and then suddenly a Polis officer is waving us over! We got a speeding ticket! 97.50 Turkish lira! We were flowing evenly with all the other traffic, not even passing anyone—yet, we are the ones pulled over! Jerry was so mad. Now, we’re beginning to think something is going on. In less than 24 hours we have damaged the rental car, not once, but twice, and then added a speeding ticket on top of that! Thank heavens we had stopped at that ATM. We pay the officer, get a receipt, and off we go. Jerry is steaming. He was not even trying to speed. This is turning into a very disgusting morning.

Perge. We easily find the signs on D400 to the ancient site of Perge and head there. Perge is where John Mark left the mission team on the first missionary journey after the initial work on the island of Cyprus, which upset Paul greatly. The issue of John Mark even fractured the mission team at the beginning of the second missionary journey, when Paul and Barnabas argued so strongly over John Mark’s participation that they parted company.

Once we arrive at Perge, which does not take long, we find the site is good. The central triple-arch gate into the city is still preserved. The nymphaeum (water fountain or water supply) is a beautiful, elaborate edifice, and the water ran down into a canal system in the middle of the street that flowed for several hundred yards. (I guess New Orleans is not the only city that at one time had a canal down its main avenue.) Perge has a very well preserved stadium. [A stadium is not the same as a theater; a stadium is an oblong oval used for footraces in the Greek world and later for chariot races in the Roman world.—Jerry] The theater officially is “closed,” but Jerry found a way to get some pictures anyway by climbing up a steep incline on the backside through thistles and briars. When he is “on the hunt” for a picture, that boy hardly can be denied, I must say. Jerry was excited to discover some nifty information in an inscription on the Perge site about a Roman lady who was a powerful patron of the city and held important civic offices. He said this inscription was important for sociological documentation.

Aspendos. When we finish the site of Perge, we think we still have time to take in another ancient site nearby called Aspendos, which has a magnificent theater, so we head there.

Really, that’s all to see there—the theater, but what a theater! Really stupendous. Stupendous Aspendos. (Is there an echo in here?) The theater is simply the best-preserved theater in Asia Minor from the ancient world. I liked the colorful camels in the parking lot, but Jerry said we were not riding. You should note that the Aspendos theater has a ferocious guard dog, but we managed to avoid his vigilant sentinel. Jerry talked me into climbing all the way to the top of the theater—and what a view! Well worth the climb and vertigo.

Side. Once finished at Aspendos, we head on down D400 to the resort town of Side, where we’ll have some down time for a few days. We get to Side, and the Garmin does help us get to the general area of the hotel we have reserved. However, when we finally find the hotel, the sight is dismal. [In Jean’s defense, we were being helped by a different travel agent for these arrangements, and that did not work well for this location.—Jerry] The place looks completely deserted, and paint is peeling off the walls badly. Yuck! We locate and talk to the proprietor but don’t get our luggage out. We decided to go to the ancient site of Side not far from the modern town, which is right on the shoreline, to try to see the theater and the archeological museum before closing time, but also to try to find a different hotel, even though we’ve already paid for this one.

Side Museum. We find the museum right next to the entrance road leading up to the archeological sight and ancient theater. We do the museum in a rush, because closing time is closing in quickly. Since the museum is small, we fortunately are able to canvas the holdings in our small window of time.

We view displays of nice coins that, unfortunately, are not dated or described, figurines, and Roman glassware. The influence of the sea on the city’s life is seen in exhibits of wine amphores and boat anchors. (This is the only museum we have seen, including in Europe, that has a display of ancient boat anchors.) We are discovering that every museum, even a small one, seems to offer something distinctive. Jerry finds another notable item of this museum in its interesting display of Roman burial practices and artifacts. Also, we saw a rare relief depicting the punishment of Ixon, a Greek myth not well known. [Xion treacherously killed his father-in-law, the first act of kin-slaying in Greek mythology. Stigmatized by all, Xion received Zeus’s mercy and was taken to Mount Olympus. There, however, Xion lusted for Hera, Zeus’s wife, and was punished forever bound to a winged, rotating fiery solar wheel.—Jerry] Some sarcophagi were on exhibit, but a notable one was a really fine example, well preserved, of the Pamphylia type from the 2nd century A. D. that had the typical Eros and Nike reliefs. The museum’s outer courtyard had more Roman sun dials on display than we have seen anywhere. A gladiator stele demonstrated how this particularly Roman bloodsport was ubiquitous throughout the Roman empire. We barely are able to finish the museum just as they lock the entrance gate behind us.

Site Visit. We ride around the Side site to see what we can see. We walk around the outside of the outer wall of the theater (but cannot go in due to being closed). From the backside of the upper elevation of the theater, Jerry gets a few shots overviewing the general site from a high point looking down over the general agora (market area) and forum.

Vespasian Monument. Leaving the parking area for the Side site going down the hill toward the city wall one catches a view of a distinct architectural piece integrated into the outer wall of the city. The inscription shows that the monument originally was dedicated to Emperor Vespasian (A.D. 69–79) and was meant to be a double-stepped podium for speaking purposes flanked by two Aediculae sides and a center niche, probably for a statue. Over time the podium and honorarium to Vespasian lost its function and was moved to its present location, where the monument was converted into a fountain. Jerry found this Side connection to Vespasian meaningful, since Vespasian was the Roman general who conducted the Jewish War  (A.D. 66–70), leaving his son Titus to finish the siege of Jerusalem and destruction of the Jewish temple when Vespasion went to Rome to acclaim himself emperor to end the Roman Civil War that ensued after Nero’s suicide. Vespasian also conceived and initiated the building of the Colosseum, the most well-known Roman edifice in the world, which was finished and dedicated by Titus (c. A.D. 80). Many do not realize that Jewish slaves from the Jewish War and spoils of the Jewish temple treasures helped build and finance Vespasian’s Colosseum project (so Josephus).

Hotel Hunting. We still have a little daylight left, so we ride back into town and try to find another hotel. Unfortunately, we are finding out what being early birds before the tourist season officially opens means—nothing much is open. The entire town is vacated like a hurricane exodus along the Gulf coast. Hotels are closed. Stores are closed. We have no options. We were going to use our Side stop for a little well-deserved R&R (we have been going non-stop dawn to dusk for fourteen days straight) at what we thought was a resort area. We learn too late that Side is a “resort area” only some months of the year. We become proactive about our predicament and decide to cut short our stay in Side to just one night, preferring to push hard the next day in a long drive to get all the way to the Pamukkale area tomorrow. Since we stayed in Pamukkale the last time we were in Turkey in 2002, we know Pamukkale is a beautiful resort area open year round.

However, first we need to eat after a long day, so we hit the main drag. Once again, we are confronted by the realities of a non-resort resort area. Most restaurants in town are closed too, since it’s “early for the season.” Only a few restaurants are open. We finally find a very small café that is open that we feel like trying and catch a little supper. We are, of course, the only customers. The lady who is the proprietor cooks eggplant with red sauce, soup, and bread, which is actually very tasty.

After touring and supper, we finally get back to the hotel and see the proprietor. We tell him we’ll cut our stay short and leave tomorrow. I was proud of Jerry, because he managed this communication feat without insulting our host. Those pastoral skills sure do come in handy.

Paul Harvey Redux. So here we are in this horrible little room. The “shower” is just a spigot in the wall of the bathroom with no shower curtain, so getting a shower and not getting the rest of the tiny room wet is very difficult. Amazingly, the hotel does have wifi, so I get Skype to work, which facilitates making long-distance phone calls. After reading and interpreting the “legaleze” of the car rental documents, I decide we have to report the “damage” the car has sustained within 24 hours. I was soon to discover, fat chance.

“And now, the rest of the story.” I place the long-distance call to the number indicated on our papers. Unfortunately, the conversation is extremely frustrating. The person who answers has incredibly poor English. She keeps telling me over and over that I have to “get a Polis report.” She seems not to understand the nature of the “damage,” that is, that what happened was not an “accident” that involved another vehicle or the Polis coming, or any official report being written up. I finally gave up the communication struggle locally. I decide that I’ll try to call Avis in the USA. The Avis representative advises me to call the place where we rented the car, which was way back in Adana. I try and try to reach the car rental place in Adana but cannot. I’ll have to try to call them the next time I have Skype.

To bed with only a very thin sheet. Even though the walk down to the old Attalia harbor this morning was really nice, and the ancient sites of Perge, Aspendos, and Side were useful, productive visits for Jerry, on the whole, with the damage to the rental car, a completely undeserved speeding ticket not minutes later, a true dump of a “hotel” this afternoon, and an impossible communication struggle just trying to do the right thing tonight, today has been a really bad day. Probably the worst. We are tired from our travel, anxious about the car, miffed over a ticket, and lying in a dump.

For a video of the Antalya, Perge, Aspendos and Side action today: