Cross Road since Prehistoric times...Turkey: She lost her Pants twice in Antalya and picked apples with the evening Azan

2103/09/22

Merhba: ( Hello)

Remember that we gave our laundry to the neighborhood lady for washing? Beth’s laundry got lost (was delivered to wrong hotel) and later in the evening, when Behlul tracked it down, Beth got her clothes minus one pair of pants. This morning , while walking to the main gate to catch the magic bus, we stopped by the laundry lady’s home and Beth told them what her pants looked like and we continued walking to the main gate. On the way we saw an orthodox Russian church and walked in to hear beautiful music and a beautiful service. The priest was a woman and the church was full of a sweet smell and lit with candles. It felt magical. Within 15 minutes of walking , a guy came on a bicycle with the pants. They tracked them down, brought them back from the wrong hotel and delivered them to us. We are totally impressed by the kindness of these people.

Russian Church

In Turkey, one has to try the Hamam (Turkish Bath) at least once. So, we did too. We were delivered to the hamam and then left to fend for ourselves with the Hamam ladies who spoke little or no English. We were ordered to take all the clothes off (totally unexpected) :) It felt like a torture chamber first but was very relaxing after it was all over. There were no papers to sign, no medical releases and no prepayments.

This morning we left the city and drove east to a tiny village in Taurus mountains. Before leaving the city, we did see the museum. Turkey has been inhabited by humans since they learned to cultivate and make settlements. The museum has precious pieces from the civilizations dating back 20,000 years.

Child's Milk Bottles: 300BC

Burial

Toilets: 400BC

The drive through the mountains was beautiful. We passed three big lakes with deep blue water. Both sides of the road were dotted with apple orchards, wheat fields, and other vegetable farms. This area of Turkey is a major supplier of fruits and vegetables to Europe and rest of the country. I have never seen so many apples on the road side ( not even in California) . We drove for 6 hours , stopping to pick apples, take pictures and to see the Hetite Water Temple along the way. The Water Temple is 3400 years old and has carvings of Gods and Goddesses on it. Hetites were the first empire in this area and they were the inventor of iron tools ( that’s why they were able to defeat Egyptians) .

We are staying in a typical village of 500 people. We already met the village head . The dinner was wonderful and conversation ( with the help of Behlul) fun and educational. Our hosts are farmers and live off the land. They have three cows, chickens, goats and several farms in the area where they grow wheat, beets and garbanzo beans. The house is very much like Jagdish’s childhood home and has the typical animal smell ( cow dung) Our American friends had no idea what that smell is :)