December

31 December

I headed back to Istanbul to stay with a couchsurfing dude. Things got a bit weird though... he is, well, addicted to couchsurfers. The symptom? I got home in the afternoon after my first night's stay, to find all my stuff gone out of the bedroom. I was horrified to say the least. It meant that my host had not only been in my room but been through my things. I was with his room mate at the time who was a great support, and together we searched and found my stuff, in another room. Fine. That room had a lock on the door so I unpacked, locked the door and took the key with me. I discovered later that the logic of him moving my stuff was that he was bringing over another potential couchsurfer and wanted to show her "the good room". I tried to explain what my problem was with all this. I am not entirely sure he understood, but in the end, we mostly sorted it out. I moved back into the other room (which was 100 times warmer). That said, the day after that another couch surfer turned up and she and I ended up sharing the room. Mena is a wonderful lady though and we ended up having a great time together. The host, in the meantime, was off schmoozing to some other potential couchsurfers. All very odd.

New year itself was a bit of a quiet affair in the end. I was supposed to go to a couchsurfing event with my host, but after our disagreement I think he was feeling anti-social. So instead I headed into town with his flatmate who was kind enough to let me tag along with her for the evening. We headed to the centre of towns, but the crowds were completely intimidating, and we ended up starting on the way home. The new year itself we spent at a bus stop. We had thought that there might be some fireworks or something, but there was naught. A bit of an anticlimax really! 

30 December

I spent the evening wandering about the town I was in, buying a few bits and pieces, including a big bag of saffron. The next morning we were off again. This time there were two Aussies in the group, which was kind of nice. I chatted to the tour organiser and begged for us to not eat lunch again in a ghastly tourist restaurant. They were a bit surprised by the request, but everyone else in the group agreed, and I am sure that they saved themselves a great heap of money, paying for us to eat at a sort of roadside eatery opposite our second destination. But first things first eh?

Our first visit was to Priene. There, after climbing the steep slope you are rewarded with beautiful views over the plains and the ruins of an ancient city. The five doric columns of the temple stand with the hill as backdrop with scattered stones of the remains strewn about as if by a giant hand. The first thought really is "why don't they put them all back?", as it seems so very clear that it could be done. The theatre is in great condition too, with beautiful carved stone seats for the guests of honour around the orchestra and a complete proskenian and skene. The only inhabitants in this city that once housed around 5000 people are the goats that wander freely among the stones.

We then headed to Miletos. A stadium perches on a hill with the city sprawled below. Some of the stones are exquisitely carved.

We ate a delicious lunch at the roadside cafe - sorry no photos as my camera battery was as dead as a dead thing and off being recharged. Then we piled into the car to go to Didyma.

You would think after so many impressive sights, yet another wouldn't make a big impact wouldn't you? But Didyma, though a small site, is majestic and amazing. Didyma was the site of the second most important oracle in the world at the time. The sheer scale of the place is extraordinary. Make sure you do press the button to go to the full size images of these shots, so you can get a bit of the

and that was pretty much it for my explorations of Turkey outside Istanbul. That said, I did get time to wander a bit more around Selcuk, and spotted the castle on the hill (sadly closed for renovations)

An earlyish start to the day, we climbed into the bus for a long drive, to Pamukkale. Pamukkale is a bit of a double act. As well as the site of an ancient city, it is also the home of a fascinating natural phenomenon. Hot natural springs with a lot of lime in it flows out to make white pools. At one stage they were pristine white with bright blue water. Sadly, too many visitors brought too many bacteria and now, to try and get back the beauty of the pools, water is carefully directed around the area, leaving some areas to dry out. I admit, I spent most of my time in the museum, and just a short time with the pools and had not enough time to explore the city. Sigh... too much to do, too little time once more.

My 'package deal' included being picked up and taken to the airport at a truly hideous hour of the morning. I arrived in Izmir and was driven to meet the tour bus. Then our tour hit the hill... first stop Mary's house. The story is that when Jesus was dying he told his disciple, John "this is your mother" and his mum "this is your son". When Jesus was dead, John returned to Ephesus to continue to preach and teach, and Mary came with him.

The Turks say that Mary's house, on a hill outside Ephesus was lost to history. For hundreds of years though, the locals went up onto the hill every year to participate in festivals, though the reasons why were lost in the midst of time. Then someone found the ruins of a small building, and the belief is that this ruin is the remains of Mary's house. The ruin was built up to make a small cottage, but they have marked where the original ruins end. At the site is a natural spring (considered holy) and also a wall where traditionally people tie a piece of cloth for.. well, luck I guess.

The next stop on the tour was supposed to be Ephesus itself, but when we arrived, the skies opened and it became completely impossible to walk around through the sheets of rain. The small stalls next to the entrance did some good business in umbrellas and disposable raincoats, but even armed with these the rain was falling just too hard. I think the final straw was the guide buying an umbrella from one of the stores, and it snapping in half in the wind about three minutes later! I do have to share with you the advertising sign on this stall:
We gave up and headed down the hill to the town, where we visited the museum. Here in the museum is displayed a few very famous items. A little statue of Priapus for example (conservatives, children and insecure men should not follow the photo link), and a fascinating statue of Artemis. Now Artemis in the period of these statues (125 AD) was depicted very differently from the more modern interpretations of a huntress. No, this Artemis is definitely a goddess of fertility - they don't get much more bountiful than this!

After a remarkably boring lunch, we headed back to Ephesus. The rain had cleared up and we were able to take a good wander around. This where the disadvantages of being a tour arose. I always wish there was far more time. There was enough that we could walk through most of the site in the time, but less time than I would have wished for.

But it was while we were walking that the reality struck me. I was in Ephesus. As in Paul's letters to the Ephesians. Oh. My. Suddenly I really felt the significance of this place, the weight of history behind where I was standing. Pieces of history that have affected the entire world happened in this very place. I had experienced a feeling a little like this when I went to Versailles, but this was so much more powerful. So much of the world has been influenced and changed by the words that were written and spoken to the people who lived here centuries ago. Ephesus once was a coastal town and one of the most important ports in the world. Then the river that ran beside into the sea silted up and the town died. It is now about 8km from the sea.

Nike	The rules of the marketplace in multiple languages	The library
"the marble road"	a mosaic path

The bus then drove us back to our respective hotels. One of the hotels was tucked away in the back streets of Selcuk, and while we were parked there, I spotted these:

Just the little features of the landscape here. I wonder how old that Turkish bath is? A hundred or more years at a guess... just a piece of background.

So in the afternoon of boxing day, I hopped on a plane and headed out to... Istanbul! (now to all those people who said I should skip updating the past few months and just do the most recent stuff, aren't you glad I ignored you? You didn't really want to miss out on this did you?)

I arrived quite late in the evening and was able to take the train part of the way, but not all the way to my hotel, so I caught a taxi the rest of the way - of course in retrospect he did drive rather the long way around, but not to worry eh? More of a problem was that my bag did not arrive. I hate that when that happens!

My hotel was very central indeed, only metres away from the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. I spent the morning orienting myself, and arranging the next step of my holiday. I planned to meet up with the couchsurfing mob in Istanbul for new year, but since I had a few days spare before then, I thought it was a good opportunity to get out of town.

In the afternoon I explored the Hagia Sophia. Looking a little worse for wear, there are still some beautiful mosaics and ceiling paintings to be seen.

That night, I met up with Erol, one of the local couchsurfers, who offered me a space on my return from my side trip, and took me for a walk around the city.

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Isn't it lovely?

26 December

Christmas was going to be relatively relaxed.. a nice day with Paul & Sheila and the kids. Then suddenly I had a desperate plea from two couchsurfers arriving on the afternoon of Christmas. How could I say no? It did pose some challenges, as I myself was flying out on boxing day, but we managed. I didn't get a chance to snap any photos of Paul, Sheila and the kids, but I did take the camera with me to the Couchsurfing Christmas dinner! I baked a big leg of lamb as my contribution to the potluck. It was a delightful evening - couch surfers seem to me to be generally good folks. A bit like SCAers but pehaps not quite as quirky! So we chatted and laughed and had a great time.

21 December

December was not all smooth sailing. Driving to work one morning, I stopped my car at a pedestrian crossing but the person behind me did not. My little red car got a good bump up the behind. I went to the hospital for a quick check up but all was fine. A visit to my mechanic solved the boot not being able to close, at least temporarily - a bit of gesturing on my part and he simply "a frappé avec un gros marteau ". This solution lasted until we had a few days of rain, at which point I discovered the problem of leaking. The guy who hit me paid for the repair though, so Cecilia was soon fixed up. Just as well, as I had plenty on my plate and didn't need an out of commission car to hamper me.

The things on my plate included rehearsals for the choir's Christmas concert:

Bill and I sang a duet, which went quite well, and as always the choir at least had fun!

8 December

I had a wonderful surprise! My brother Dave came to Geneva for a work thing, and I was able to steal a few hours in the afternoon to spend some time with him. We went for a drive up into the hills to see the snow. We dropped in to a local French supermarket, picked up a baby bottle of red, bread, cheeses, clementines and then had a little picnic in the car (poor Dave's Indonesian 'winter' jacket really wasn't up to Swiss winter weather!).

I have found it a real pleasure to get to spend time with my siblings one-on-one in recent years. Sort of re-meeting them in some ways. Finding out the things we have in common and the areas in which we differ. For Dave and I, our current work interests intersect and differ which makes for some fascinating discussions. It was lovely to see him, and I was sorry that his visit was so brief.