April 12, 2010 (Monday)

Konya. Glad I wore earplugs last night. Even with the plugs I heard the Muslim “call to prayer” at 5:00 am. Of course, we are in the Muslim “bible belt,” so I guess these calls to prayer are louder and longer than most. Finally up at 5:40 am—we might as well get up since it’s obviously time to “point east.” Got our duds together and then did a movie from the hotel balcony abut the place of Iconium on Paul’s first missionary journey (3 tries finally did the trick). This morning is still cold and wet. Breakfast is in the restaurant on the first floor. We decide our hotel would be a great hotel for a tour group.

Lystra. Jerry retrieves the car from the underground parking garage where he parked when we arrived, and we load up in the drizzling rain and head out. We make our best guess for getting to Lystra and go pretty far on D696 heading SW. After feeling like we missed a turn or a sign because we have gone what feels like too far, we finally decide to stop at a gas station that suddenly appears on the right to ask for directions. I show our map to the non-English speaking attendants where we are trying to go. They motion to go back the way we came, so we turn around. Just as we’re driving back out onto the highway, Jerry sees a brown and white sign on the right that says “Lystra 26km” on a road angling right. Had we not stopped at the gas station just then, we probably never would have found our way to the ancient tel of Lystra. Providence. So off we go. We take one wrong turn and end up on a muddy street in the village of Gokyurt—oh, the looks we got! We turn around, backtrack, find the road again and continue.

We were just about to give up, thinking that, once again, we just must have missed a sign somewhere along the way, when off to the right the tel of Lystra appears in the distance. Jerry recognizes the tel immediately. Can’t believe it! The tel of Lystra appears to be slightly larger than Derbe. We saw a dirt road off to the right that looks as though its path goes around the tel. Thinking that path has to be the access road to the tel, Jerry turns off the paved road to try it—big mistake! (Don’t forget the weather has been rainy for several days.) Within about 30 yards, we quickly realize we are getting seriously stuck in deep, thick mud. Jerry really has to gun the car in reverse to get us out of there. This car is now covered in mud!

We go down the paved road more directly in front of the tel and park along the highway. Jerry decides he will have to reach the tel on foot. The weather is cold and windy and drizzly, but my persistent scholar dons his hat, rain parka, camera and off he goes. I sat in the car and watched him wandering around up there on the tel. He was gone a long time, sometimes completely disappearing on the other side. Can you find the car on the road in this shot below from the top of the tel?

When he finally came back down, we made another Jerry-as-talking-head movie with the tel of Lystra in the background (takes 2 tries). I had an ingenious idea of using the umbrella to block the wind from the camera microphone—worked like a charm. We also did a “drive by” movie, where I drive slowly down the road by the tel as Jerry records and narrates a video about Lystra. The day already is complete for Jerry. We found Lystra.

Yalvaç (Antioch of Pisidia). After our side trip out to the tel of Lystra, we retrace our road back into Konya to find our way to D330 in order to head to our next target, ancient Antioch of Pisidia, which lies just outside the modern town of Yalvaç. The D330 route to Yalvaç is through the mountains, and at times we see snow on the ground. On the way, we ate our snack: boiled egg (saved from breakfast), some peanut butter crackers, and 2 oranges. Bon appétit! On to Yalvaç—the Garmin proved helpful in getting us to the highway to Yalvaç. To our surprise a sign to Yalvaç actually appears.

When we arrive in Yalvaç, hundreds of people are at the center city market. We stop so I can ask a policeman where our hotel is located (Oba Otel—the only hotel in Yalvaç). He speaks no English, and I speak no Turkish, so we are quite a pair trying to communicate. I finally understand something about traffic keeping us from getting to the hotel and that someone is coming to help us. About 15 minutes later, a car drives up, and a man comes to speak to the Polis and then to us in minimal English. We finally understand from him that our best action to take right now is not to try to go to the hotel, since the way actually is blocked by the crowds of people, but rather to go on to the ancient site of Antioch of Pisidia just outside of town. He will lead us to the site of Antioch of Pisidia by driving his car there with us following him in our car (he tells us to “repeat me”).

Antioch of Pisidia. A few turns through city streets and just north of town and we arrive at the site. The Turkish people are so helpful. We brash Americans could learn a thing or two from them about helping visitors to our country. We pay our 3TL site entrance fee and the ticket man gives us all kinds of literature about tourist and archeological sites in Turkey. We ask about a water closet (bathroom), having been on the road for a while now, and the ticket man walks us to the facilities, since he can’t explain how to get there. What a relief—it’s been a long drive today!

We then start our tour of the remains of ancient Antioch of Pisidia. The site is impressive but not well maintained. We see the typical Greco-Roman remains: a theater, church (synagogue), Temple of Augustus, nymphaeum, etc. In the distance we can see the remains of Roman aqueducts, which you can see off to the right in the picture of Jerry below.

Shortly after we arrived, a class of high school students comes running eagerly up the hill to catch up with us to “speak English,” that is, practice their English skills. We have nice exchanges with them. We take a picture with the group and get the teacher’s email address so we can send the picture to her. We figure the ticket guy called her to let her know Americans were on the site. We were the only tourists at the site, and the students made a beeline for us. After some time with the class, we finish seeing the site. We just had time. The site was waiting on us in order to close for the day.

When we get back to the entrance gate to leave, the ticket taker and another guy are waiting for us. They tell us they will show us the way to Oba Otel, so they get in the back seat and point the way. Good for us both: they get a ride back into town, and we get to our hotel. Some streets are quite narrow, so driving the car is a little harrying. Our hotel is on a small street filled with “markets” with vendors selling their wares, so now we get the picture about the policeman saying we couldn’t drive there because of traffic. We park out front and check in. The hotel is adequate, and the people are nice.

After settling in, we walk up to a café that we think is a restaurant, but the establishment turns out to be a coffee shop only (Turkish equivalent of a Starbucks). We ask for a restaurant recommendation, and one of the patrons sitting at table nearby with his laptop computer offers to walk us to a nice restaurant. The walk is pretty long, and the guy has to get all the way back to his coffee shop and computer. The Turkish people are really something; they can’t tell you, but they will lead you, ride you, or walk you to your destination. The restaurant is very nice, cheap, and the food is great. Two full meals plus Cokes for only 16TL.

After supper we walk back to the Internet café we spotted earlier across the street from our hotel and spend a little over an hour on the Internet. The charge is only 2.75 TL—what a bargain! Back to our hotel, we get hot Turkish tea to take up to our room. Jerry immediately goes into his nightly charging-the-electronics routine, setting up his familiar “charging station” that we have at every stop. We briefly look at plans for tomorrow and do a little journaling. Getting late—good night!

For a video of the Lystra and Antioch action today:

April 11, 2010 (Sunday)

Karaman Museum. After breakfast at our little Karaman Hotel, we head out to find the Karaman Museum. We spend about 1 ½ hours there. The museum was very easy to find from our hotel. You almost cannot recognize the museum, though, because the building is disguised by a mosque right next door. No entrance fee and very hospitable—they served us hot Turkish tea while we visited the museum. One notable item of the museum is a fourth-century inscription mentioning a Michael who is bishop of Derbe, not only a rare mention of the city of Derbe in inscriptions but also a Christian connection running three-hundred years all the way back to the apostle Paul.

We finished up the museum and left Karaman about 10:37 am. We head out on our way to Konya, which is the modern city of ancient Iconium, another city along Paul’s first missionary journey.

Konya (Iconium). We traveled on D715 to Konya, and the weather today is rainy and cold! This cold and wet day is our first inclement weather in Turkey. Found our hotel in Konya kind of by accident. We were trying to locate it, and Jerry followed his nose, and suddenly there was the hotel right in front of us. You just can’t beat that radar of his. We really like the hotel. The style is definitely Turkish and very nice. Our hotel is right across the street from the Melvana Museum, actually an old mosque converted into a Muslim museum, and constant tour busses are coming and going from there. The museum celebrates the life of a very famous Muslim philosopher who is highly revered in the entire Muslim world. The Melvana Museum is the main attraction in town. Konya is very Muslim, conservative, and religious. Women do not go out in public without veils.

I checked in while Jerry parked the car in the underground parking lot a half block away. We go up to the room to get into warmer clothes, rain ponchos, and umbrellas. We ask for a lunch recommendations at the front desk. We could not find the restaurant recommended, however, so we go to a nice restaurant right next door to the hotel. Good is very good. While we were sitting there, suddenly a large group of men all with skull caps on are coming around the corner carrying what looks like a casket (bright green color) and cross the street. We’re not quite sure whether it’s a funeral or some symbolic event but it seems they are headed for a cemetery, which appears to be behind a stone wall across the street.

Konya Archeology Museum. After a good lunch, we inquire about the Konya Museum, our reason for staying in Konya, and our hotel manager tells us it’s “straight down the street” about 400 meters. We strike out on foot walking to the Konya Museum. We try and try to use the Garmin in its pedestrian directions mode, but nothing the Garmin is saying makes since, because this town has NO “straight” streets. After going what Jerry is sure is more than 400 meters, we determine we are wasting time and go back to the hotel to ask for more directions. The manager instructs the bellboy in Turkish to do something, and the bellboy walks us outside the hotel and down to a bus stop. He apparently tells the driver that we need to get off at the Archeology Museum. That museum bus stop indeed is all the way down on the same street, as the manager had said, so I guess the building is “straight down the street,” but sure as heck a lot more than 400 meters! So, we finally arrive.

Entry fee is 3TL. We are the only people there, and the ticket attendant has to unlock the doors for us. The courtyard is full of stone carvings, gravestones, and inscriptions. You can tell that the landscaping is nice, and had spring arrived, the flowers would have been pretty. We had only cold, wet rain.

Just inside the doors of the museum building is a stunning collection of Roman sarcophagi—truly amazing. These stone monuments are some of the best we will see, except for those in the museum of Antalya.

The museum has very interesting holdings, including the skeleton of a baby in its burial position from the Neolithic age (6500-5500 BC). The baby was about a year old at death. Jerry also enjoys a collection of seals, because they illustrate how the cylinders were rolled to create the impressions with greyscale images of the imprint of each seal.

We finish the inside and have yet to find the Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium inscriptions that Jerry thinks should be in this museum. Jerry’s spirit is sinking in disappointment—but we turn right coming out of the entrance, and there are the inscriptions under a little tin roof next to an outside wall. Hurrah! They are found. Jerry’s delighted and goes about taking pictures. Suddenly, however, he is seized with a bad muscle spasm in his back and has to sit down for a while. The spasm is very painful. Jerry thinks he was holding his back for a long period at a bad angle trying to take the inscription photographs, and after a while his back just said enough is enough. Finally the pain subsides, and he continues with the picture taking.

We finish up at the museum at about 4:30 pm and decide to walk back to the hotel rather than wait for a bus, even though cold and damp. Finally back in our room, we get warmed up and order room service (about the same price as going out) since outside is so wet and cold. Food is good. Jerry has meatballs, and I had a chicken skewer. Fresh fruit for dessert and Coke to drink! What could be better? Jerry, as always, goes about setting up his charging station for all his electronic equipment.

We look at plans for tomorrow and try to determine how we will find the tel of Lystra, which may prove to be even more of a challenge than Derbe, but we’re going to give the search our best shot.

For a video of the Karaman and Konya action today:

April 10, 2010 (Saturday)

Adana. Up early and get packed. We go to business center to print maps to Derbe and Lystra. Google map won’t print satellite view so Jerry gets his camera and takes pictures of the computer screen. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find the sites if we are on visual reconnaissance only. Hit the petro station by the Hilton. Wow! 90 Turkish lira for our diesel fill up, and we only needed ½ a tank.

Tarsus. We left the gas station by the Hilton at 8:20 am. We stopped briefly for me to buy some snacks in the market for breakfast: cookies, orange juice, etc. The view of the Taurus Mountains from the highway is very pretty, so we stop by the side of the road and take some pics and a movie of the mountains. This is the route that Barnabas traveled to retrieve Paul from Tarsus to go back to Antioch to help with the Gentile work there. Back in the car and on to Tarsus.

St. Paul’s Well. The Garmin works, and we find St. Paul’s well by using the “point of interest” feature on the Garmin. It leads us to the place, but some roads are blocked for some official event. Turkish military are in dress clothes and lots of dignitaries lined up. So, we go around a couple of times and find our way to the other side of the event. We park on the street and walk through the grounds of a mosque to get to “St. Paul’s well.” The fee is 3 Turkish lira. The well itself is not of particular interest, with the association with Paul only tradition, but the excavations around the well revealed Roman paving stones believed to date somewhere in the first three centuries A.D., so that is interesting.

The site is nicely kept and manicured, with pretty gardens and roses just budding out. The roses will be very beautiful in a few weeks. Jean enjoys a stroll through the tidy landscaping.

Tarsus Roman Road. From there we go back to the car to review Mitchell Reddish’s description in his sites of Greece and Turkey book of how to get to the Roman road excavation in Tarsus, which is located about 500 feet southwest of St. Paul’s well. Jerry measures out some steps to get distance and visual bearings on the points of the compass, and we start out. We walk around the traffic round-about to get around the official ceremony and presentations that are going on in the main market square, and decide to ask one of the officials standing nearby for directions. We get enough information to go in the right direction and find the Roman road! Yeah!! Jerry is very excited! We look through the fence and then walk around the area to find the ticket window, but the site is closed today! Ah! Turkey—one just never knows for sure what is or is not open at any time. So, we can’t get in to visit the actual site close up, but we have a good view from the side, and Jerry gets good pictures anyway; he just didn’t get to walk on the road, which my scholar so wanted to do.

We started to head back to the car but decided to take some pictures so we can give visual “location” information to others who may need to know who are trying to find the Roman road. By now, the presentation has broken up, and the dignitaries are leaving, all having red roses in their hands. One of them handed me his red rose as a gift. So nice. We get back to our car and drive a few blocks to a fruit stand. I buy us 2 bananas, 2 apples and 2 oranges.

Roman Yolu. Now we’re off to find another Roman Yolu (road) 10 miles north of Tarsus. Jerry still wants to walk an ancient Roman road, just one of his personal goals for the trip. This site was mentioned by Reddish in his book. We had to go way around to get to the correct road, because E90 has no egress. We finally get to D750 North and head out. Sure enough, we find the “Roman Yolu” sign on the side of the road pointing left up a narrow winding road up the mountainside to Saliliki village. Our quest is looking promising. We ascend this winding road up the mountainside that continues to narrow to almost one lane and through Saliliki village with children in the street, cows being herded, etc. We got lots of attention, because I imagine they don’t see many cars or Americans in these parts. We drive, drive, drive, all the while looking all around to see if we can find another “Roman Yolu” sign directing us to the site or the Roman road itself.

Our forward progress comes to a dead stop in a dirt driveway at someone’s house. The road just completely dead-ends in a driveway! We start to turn around. A young man comes out to the car, and we try to ask if he knows where the “Roman Yolu” is. He speaks no English whatsoever, but he tries to help. He gets in the back seat to “show us the way” (hand motion communications). He’s very nice. He gives his name, Mehmet. When we get to the fork in the road, he motions for us to stop, and he points to the left fork, which is back the way we came, and gets out of the car. We offer to pay him, but he won’t take anything. The Turkish really are so nice. We determine that all he understood from what we were trying to ask is the “yolu” part, which means “road,” and didn’t recognize the word “Roman.” He thought we were asking how to get back down the mountainside to the paved road from which we had turned. So, we end up back at the Roman Yolu sign by the highway where we had started. Talk about a Bill Murray, “Groundhog Day” experience!

We decided to take one more stab at finding the road up the mountainside, figuring we just had missed another sign or something, and start back. We mark the mileage so we’ll know exactly when we get to the 5 km distance that the “Roman Yolu” sign on the main road indicated. We get to the 5 km mark and stop. Nothing. No signs. No ancient Roman road, Jerry is exasperated to be “so close, yet so far.” He even gets out and hikes a long way both right and left of the road, figuring overgrowth or a rise in the ground hides the road, but still finds nothing. He sees beautiful scenery, but no road. We have another Colossae experience on our hands here. [We searched literally for hours outside of the town of Denizli on the sabbatical of 2001–2002 trying to find the tel of Colossae, but never did find the tel.—Jerry] Jerry is real disappointed. Once again on this trip, he misses out on walking down a Roman road Paul may have walked.

Cilician Gates. We go down one more road and decide we must give up, so we go back to the highway, set the Garmin for our final destination of Karaman, and off we go to find the Cilician Gates on our way. We do find the big pass (not really a gate, just a pass through the Taurus Mountains) and take some pictures. Paul would travel through this mountain pass on his second and third missionary journeys. Jerry, of course, is delighted to get a movie of our car going through the pass. Then on we go, pushing to find the unexcavated tel of Derbe.

Derbe. Our nice, fast four-lane Highway E90 plays out, and we are back to D750, which soon becomes a two lane and is very tough driving. I have never seen so many trucks of all kinds. The Garmin leads us towards Karaman, and when we get about 20 miles away, we start looking for the road to Derbe by way of Sudugari village. What do you now, but suddenly to our wondering eyes did appear a sign pointing the way to Sudugari, so we turn and go through Sudugari to Ekinozu and on through that little village. Even in such a little village, we feel quite fortunate to find yet another sign to Derbe, so we turn and follow our noses, and voila! There it is—a large oval shaped tel with a rather beaten up sign that appears marking the site as Derbe.

Jerry is ecstatic to find the last stop on Paul’s first missionary journey before they turn around to retrace their way back thorough areas they had preached in South Galatia. Traveling these distances (in a car) gives a new realization of how determined and dedicated Paul was to spreading the Good News! We stay at Derbe 1 ½ hours and walk all around the top, etc. making movies and pictures. Little gophers are everywhere popping up out of their holes and running around. We try to get some pictures of them, but they are fast little critters. As we are going back to the car, Jerry noticed broken pottery pieces that are ancient by their markings, he thinks Chalcolithic. We assume erosion and rain wash has unearthed them. Oh, what treasures there must be under all this dirt!

Karaman. We drive the short distance on into the modern city of Karaman near the tel of Derbe. After traveling these dusty, dirty roads, the car is filthy. We stopped at a Shell station for fuel, and it’s 95 Turkish lira. No wonder everyone walks everywhere over here. The attendant speaks some English, so we ask directions to our hotel, and he gives directions that square up with what the Garmin is telling us. We also asked about a car wash, and what do you know—they have one, and it’s free with a fill up, so we get the car cleaned up. Only one wrong turn on the way to the hotel, and we find it. We check in and are served hot tea while we wait. They want to keep our passports, but we talk them into copying them and giving the passports back to us. Up to our room, which is large, with a nice sitting room (thank you, Levent). The restaurant is on the sixth floor, so we go up and have dinner. Dinner is decent Turkish fare. I think we’ll rest tonight. Our itinerary tomorrow is catching two museums and some short driving. Shouldn’t be a hard day. We’ll head to Karaman Museum tomorrow morning after breakfast.

For a video of the Tarsus and Derbe action today: