There’s old and there’s ancient. We are surrounded by both.
The Robert College campus is old; next year the school celebrates its 150th birthday. Originally the Robert College School for girls was located across the Bosphorus but was relocated in 1909; that campus, here in Arnavütköy where we live, became the unified secondary school of today in the nineteen-seventies.
The Robert College campus is old; next year the school celebrates its 150th birthday. Originally the Robert College School for girls was located across the Bosphorus but was relocated in 1909; that campus, here in Arnavütköy where we live, became the unified secondary school of today in the nineteen-seventies.
This scene remains recognizable on our campus today.
But beneath the city of Istanbul lie layers of much older developments. A tunnel under the Bosphorus planned to relieve the incredible traffic across the two existing bridges was planned to be completed last year; but as the digging proceeded, artifacts were unearthed, archaeologists were called in and repeatedly the construction ground to a halt. Now the anticipated completion date is hopefully next year.
But beneath the city of Istanbul lie layers of much older developments. A tunnel under the Bosphorus planned to relieve the incredible traffic across the two existing bridges was planned to be completed last year; but as the digging proceeded, artifacts were unearthed, archaeologists were called in and repeatedly the construction ground to a halt. Now the anticipated completion date is hopefully next year.
On a recent holiday, Kurban Bayramı, commemorating the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his young first-born son as an act of submission and his son's acceptance to being sacrificed (God intervened to provide Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead) celebrated now with the donation and slaughter of sheep and cattle with 3/4 of the meat being given to the needy, we traveled to south-west Turkey and toured several extensive Greek and Roman ruins.
Ephesus was once a prosperous port but now lies dozens of miles from the shore. With remains dated to 6,000 BC on the site, it is known as an important city during the Classical Greek era and by the 1st century BC, under Roman control, it had grown to encompass a population of 250,000. The largely intact facade of the Library of Celsus is imposing. Though the present excavations cover 30 or 40 acres, it is estimated that this represents about 15% of the original cityscape.
After leaving Ephesus we headed for Herakleia; when our gravel road petered out in the gloaming, we backtracked but did not reach our destination until the next afternoon. That’s a story for another time.
The drive through the rocky landscape was painted with a faded palette including the flat green of olive trees.
The drive through the rocky landscape was painted with a faded palette including the flat green of olive trees.
This area looks up the flanks of Mount Latmos which appears in Greek mythology as the site of the cave where Selene's consort Endymion lies forever young and beautiful in blissful sleep.
Today Latmos, formerly, Herakleia, is a remote and sleepy village with ancient ruins scattered willy-nilly over the hillsides. The region has been continuously inhabited since the Bronze Age. Now the 320 local Turks share the cobbled streets with trekkers, rock climbers and mostly German tourists.
We stayed in a charming pension with a lovely outside dining area overlooking Bafa Lake, ten miles long and three miles wide, once an inlet of the Aegean Sea and now a landlocked brackish lake.
Though the ruins of a temple of Athena can be found in Herakleia, between the 7th and 14th centuries the area was host to Christian monasteries and the solid rock tombs of that era are bizarre and imposing.
By the time we found the ruins at Priene we were ruined.
But that afternoon I was pleased to buy a gallon of homemade lemony olives from a farmer on the roadside and returned to Istanbul feeling rich in many ways, inspired by the old, ancient and tasty new.
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