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:

April 13, 2010 (Tuesday)

Yalvaç. Up at 5:45 am to get ready and pack. We learn that breakfast is not until 8 am, so we vamp our plans and go riding around the fairly large city of Yalvaç to find the location of the Müze (museum) and to see if we could find the Roman aqueducts, which we saw not far from the Antioch site, but we had no signs or maps about how we might get to them. The front that had brought us rain for several days in Lystra (Karaman) and Konya (Iconium) finally was clearing out by the time we got to Yalvaç (Antioch of Pisidia), so we started having better weather by the time we were touring the site of Antioch of Pisidia yesterday afternoon, and this morning we have absolutely superb weather. On the way through town, we see the Müze (museum) building, so now we know where this building is for our visit later in the morning. The market that had kept us from our hotel when we arrived yesterday is all gone today, so getting around is easy. We found out that we had arrived on Market Day yesterday.

Antioch Aqueducts. We find the dirt road next to Antioch of Pisidia and follow this road, because Jerry has a strong suspicion this road might lead out to the aqueducts. Yea! He was right. What a radar he has, and what a great find. The aqueducts are in fairly good shape. First-century Roman aqueducts are amazing structures. We stay a while and take photos in the wonderful morning sun. Majestic, snow-capped mountains are in the distance, a beautiful vista against the bright, blue sky.

Jerry went down the hill to take a movie and had me stand near the aqueduct for perspective. While he was filming, unknown to him, two wild dogs started running up from far behind him, charging toward him. He was oblivious to their threat, so intent was he on making his video. I did not want to interrupt his action shot as he was narrating his movie and walking toward me, but I was afraid to death of the threat unknown to him of the wild dogs coming at him. I decided not to disturb his filming, but to let him walk past me. As soon as he passed me with the camera, I did what one might call the “Zhivago move.” In the movie “Dr. Zhivago,” With an assertive wave of his arms, Yuri chased off the howling wolves one night that were frightening Laura. So, taking my cue from the movie, I made a stand between the charging dogs and Jerry and waved my arms with as much assertive authority as I could muster without making a sound—and the wild dogs immediately stopped dead in their tracks and turned and ran away! Whew! Jerry never knew of the danger he was in until I told him later. He was pretty astounded all that took place while he calmly was walking along the aqueducts making his movie. One thinks of the lyrics, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” Uncanny that Jerry had taken pictures of sparrows soaking up the morning sun on the top of the arches of the aqueducts.

We finished up at the aqueducts and headed back to the hotel. We enjoyed a late breakfast of soft boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and hot bread. Now, we ‘re off to the Müze we had spotted earlier.

Yalvaç Müze. The Yalvaç Museum has one of the nicest museum building entrances we have seen, with a pretty architectural front and manicured grounds. When we arrived, the same man from the Antioch archeological site yesterday that showed us the way to our hotel was at the front desk! He’s a pleasant fellow and asks if we slept well. He unlocked the museum for us, and again, we are the only ones in the museum. We then toured the museum inside.

The museum had interesting holdings, starting off with the jawbone of a Late Myocene mammal found in one of the valleys near Yalvaç. Jerry was interested in a seal with the image of a horse from the Bronze Age (about 3rd cent. B.C.). Several inscriptions derive from a temple of the god Men. An inscription mentioning the province of Galatia also caught Jerry’s attention, as well as a relief of a naked (= conquered) Galatian, hands tied behind his back and a rope around his neck, imitative of the style of the famous reliefs depicting Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul. Delicate gold-work is seen in an intricate gold vase about 2 inches high from the Roman period. A marble arm with a scroll in the hand illustrates the scroll form of books and writing. An overhead picture of a model of the ancient city of Antioch of Pisidia Jerry found most instructive for visualizing the ancient city’s layout and buildings.

One of the most fascinating pieces to Jerry was the head of a fisherman of the 1st century A.D. Since the disciples of Jesus were fishermen, Jerry’s curiosity naturally was peaked. The head was displayed in a case allowing a 360 degree inspection. Jerry studied this piece for quite some time but could not determine how the fisherman vocation could be ascertained from the features of the head. He then decided that the fisherman aspect must have been a part of the rest of the sculpture, if that survived, or something related to its discovery “in situ,” that is, in its original location.

Jerry was greatly disappointed to find that the Paul room of the museum was under renovation, so almost everything was missing (in storage we guess). The display cases were completely empty, and empty pedestals spoke of missing statuary.  Jerry was so disappointed because he was certain he was going to derive a number of illustrations for his classroom from this area of the museum. However, one has to get used to unforeseen circumstances when traveling abroad and especially when dealing with museums.

Even if the Paul room was pretty much empty, the museum still had other treasures of interest to my scholar. For one, Jerry was excited to see a rare copy of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti (“The Accomplishments of the Divine Augustus”), a summary of highlights of Emperor Augustus’s career written by Augustus himself.

In addition, Jerry also was glad to get to view the Pauli inscription of an L. Sergius Paulus, discovered at Pisidian Antioch in 1912. This person possibly could be from the same Pauli family as the proconsul of the same name, Sergius Paulus, whom Paul encountered and converted on the island of Cyprus on the first missionary journey.

We then toured the garden area outside in the neatly manicured yard of the museum. The yard displays statuary and inscriptions in an orderly fashion. A pretty blooming tree in the garden has bees buzzing all around its white blooms.

We need more TL (Turkish Lira). Luckily, there’s an ATM right across the street from the museum, so I am able to get more cash easily. Now, off to find a gas station with a car wash, because this car is now extremely muddy! We stopped at a Shell station on the edge of town and filled up, only to find out that the car wash does not work. Ugh. So, we and our muddy car get on a road headed south that will take us to D330, the main north/south highway down to Antalya on the southern coast of Turkey via Isparta. We’ll have to find a car wash in Antalya.

Mountain Driving. The drive down to Antalya was a long and hard trek of hours and hours through mountain pass after mountain pass. The inclines were steep, the altitudes dizzying, and the roads full of switchbacks to make the ascents and descents. Jerry is a real trouper. He has been driving these Turkish roads for days on end, fighting the congested traffic in cities and the caravans of trucks of all kinds on the highways that always need passing. He seems to be like the Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going and going and going.

We went through a very pretty village named Egidie located on a lake, which appears to be very much a resort town. Tulips are being planted in the median in preparation for the tourist season. The town is quite quaint and scenic. Wish we could have enjoyed Egidie’s view for a while, but we have to push on through the mountains with their unending switchbacks up and down. Tough drive.

Antalya (Attalia). Finally! After hours on the road, we arrive in Antalya but can’t find our hotel. The traffic is the worst we’ve encountered for congestion and confusion in this city of ¾ of a million people. Streets are not named, not even the major ones. However, we do see signs to the museum we intend to visit while here, so we decide to go to the museum first and then look for our hotel later.

Antalya Müze. The Antalya Museum has a nice, paved parking lot. Unfortunately, the curbs are about a foot high. This high curb spelled disaster for Jerry. As he pulled into a parking spot, we got the front bumper hung on the curb! Naturally, Jerry backed up the car immediately to get the bumper off the curb. The front bumper, however, just hung on the curb and was torn partly off the car! Yuck! Jerry inspects the damage, but we decide to deal with the problem later, not wanting to miss getting into the museum. So, we go on into the museum and purchase our tickets. We got a sandwich in the little café before touring the museum.

The Antalya museum is spectacular. I can see why this particular museum has won so many awards. While the museum has holdings that go back millions of years, such as a petrified Echinodematas, Jerry’s interest was Greco-Roman. To give you just a sampling of what we saw, let me detail what you will be seeing in the pictures below.

An exquisite vase from the classical Greek period is representative of an entire collection of beautiful Greek items. The theatrical display included interesting copies of theater masks. The museum has numerous statuary, busts, friezes, and engravings. One impressive statue on a monumental scale was of Alexander the Great. Friezes of sacrificial bulls led into the Perge theater, as well as friezes illustrating the story of Poseidon, certainly appropriate, since Perge was an upriver port close to the Mediterranean coastline. An impressive frieze of Roman military horses arrayed in parade style came from the cenotaph of the emperor Gaius Caesar. Social life was illustrated in the markings of the top of a stone game table that included nearby an illustration of a Greek vase  in which two Greek soldiers are engrossed in playing a game. The coin collection illustrated well the Hellenistic period of Jewish history, especially the rulers of the Syrian throne leading up to and after the Jewish revolt under the Maccabeans. As stated, many periods were covered, including a well-preserved burial from the Early Bronze Age along with the unusual burial chambers that were found in Patara. The Patara burial skeletons were displayed under glass that you could walk over. Very interesting indeed. Another find from Perge is an extensive collection of artistic Roman glassware. Jerry had a keen interest in a statue of a Roman priest of the imperial cultus. The collection of monumental sarcophagi is the best we will see anywhere on our trip, with the lone exception of the Alexander sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archeology Museum. A picture of Jean taking notes while standing behind just the lid of one of these burial chambers illustrates their huge proportions.

Of all that we saw in this fabulous Antalya Museum, however, the “Dancer” sculpture hands down was our favorite work of art. This fabulous piece is a beautiful bronze statue that is so life-like that you almost can feel the wind blowing her light garments as she dances. The workmanship is extraordinary for the graceful lilt of the female form, the informal hair arrangement in loose, braided rolls on either side of the head, the soft, rounded facial features leading into a strong neck and squared shoulders, the easy draping of the thin garments casually wrapped around the left arm at the hip and gently collected between the fingers of the right hand swaying the loose-flowing skirt across the right thigh in perfectly coordinated movement of arm and leg, with the exquisite evocation of fluid movement along every crevice and curve. Jean was thoroughly taken with this unique masterpiece from the ancient world.

Tuvana Hotel. We finished the museum and head back to the bumper problem out in the parking lot. Jerry worked on the bumper for a while and got the main piece popped back into place pretty good. He thinks the bumper will stay in place. We are off to find a car wash in this teeming city, since the car is still muddy from the visit to the Lystra tel out in the countryside. We found a car wash pretty easily, thankfully, and got the car cleaned up.

We then start trying to find our hotel, which proves impossible. The traffic is horrendous, the streets are blocked, etc. I don’t know how Jerry stood the mayhem. Lines for lanes and stoplights for intersections are only suggestions as far as Turkish drivers are concerned. They drive like bumper cars at the fair. I’m doing no better trying to orient us with the map and the Garmin. What do the Turks have against street signs?

After an hour of useless turning round and round the same intersections, Jerry suggests we should stop and hail a cab to take me to the hotel so Jerry can follow. Finally, after a pretty long wait, I am able to get a cab. The trip to the hotel was unbelievable. Jerry thought he literally was going to loose both outside mirrors trying to negotiate what cannot be more than alleyways. What we learn later is that our hotel is right in the middle of old town in the ancient historical district, whose streets were not much more than walking paths originally. When we finally arrive at the hotel in this historic district, we realize in no way we ever would have found this hotel on our own.

The headache to find the hotel was worth the destination. The Tuvana Hotel is as charming as promised and more; since the tourist season has not really begun, our room is upgraded when we check in. The room is beautiful.

We have dinner at the hotel, which was very good food. Our only distraction from the wonderful restaurant atmosphere was a lady at a table nearby blowing her nose frequently and most loudly, not in any way making any attempt to be discrete about the process. That was disgusting. We are able to ignore her in the main and still enjoy our meal. After dinner, we sit outside in the swing of the enclosed patio garden area for a little bit. We decide we have had a good, but very stressful day, with the long drive through mountain passes coming out of Yalvaç down to the coast, tearing off the bumper at the museum, and fighting Antalya traffic in search of a hotel impossibly hidden down an unmarked alleyway. A shame we have plans to stay here only one night, as the arrangements are wonderful.

At the end of the day, Jerry, of course, goes right into his nightly ritual of setting up his “charging station.” He is quite the techie guy. How he keeps everything going is amazing.

Tomorrow we’ll walk down to the ancient harbor of Attalia (today’s Antalya) and then find Hadrian’s gate before leaving for the ancient site of Perge. [With the reservations she secured at the Tuvana Hotel right in the middle of Antalya’s historic district, Jean has placed us in one of our best accommodations of the trip, simultaneously putting us within walking distance of both the ancient harbor and Hadrian’s gate to boot, so, once again, she has demonstrated how well she has mastered the art of the travel itinerary—Jerry.]

For a video of the Yalvaç and Antalya action today: