Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Hierapolis and Pamukkale

Turkey has an array of stray animals: cats (there cannot possibly be a single mouse in Turkey), dogs (which are tagged, neutered and vaccinated for rabies etc) and even fowl.  We found ducks and roosters in the strangest places.....like the driveway of our last hotel where one duck decided to do his own call to prayer about 3:00 am. Right under our window.

Today we exchanged peach orchards for fig orchards; the best figs are all exported. Our driver stopped the bus in a village, jumped out and returned five minutes later with a huge bag of freshly picked cherries for us all.  We really like Genghis and will miss him after he drops us at the airport for our flight to Istanbul.  

The ruins of both the necropolis and the town of Hierapolis were fascinating.  The calcium carbonate cliffs of Pamukkale are downright strange. We walked down the hillside barefoot in the gushing water which flowed through six pools.

Lots of construction in Turkey, especially apartment buildings, 3-4 stories in smaller areas and buildings like the Marilyn Monroe one in Mississauga in the cities.  They are needed for the growing population if under 30's.  With 75 million people and so mountainous, most people live in apartments. Some buildings have what looks like bread ovens built into the balconies.  They are actually coal bar-b-ques!  Western Turkey is incredibly fertile, sort of like southwestern Ontario.  The fruit has been amazing.

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