A Geologist In Turkey

The stories and experiences of a SDSM&T Geology student in turkey during field camp and beyond.

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The archealogy museum

Due to it being a museum there are no pictures to show from the archeaology museum. It is a complex of several buildings and opinions differed greatly on how worth it the entrance fee was. The exhibit on YenikapI impressed my companion and I, which is an ongoing archealogical site in (stanbul, the largest grouping of sunken ships and the oldest known settlement in Istanbul. My traveling companion felt that the large amount of material about Egypt was just pandering to be like every other museum. We both (and at least one other person we talked to) felt that the history exhibit was fairly boring as it was "carved rock from X, empire X, type of rock" it could learn a lot from the YenikapI exhibit. The Alexander the Great sarcophagus was fairly impressive and just about everyone was impressed with it. It was fairly clear that it was what they wanted you to see (the floor of the room is dark red, the lights are all aimed at it it's the only sarcophagus in a glass case).

So overall it's worth really depends on how interested in history you are. If you are very into anthropology or history then it is probably worth it just to see the wealth of artifacts they collected. 

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The basilica cistern sadly due to it's underground nature photos were difficult, the first two pictures are of the twin medusa heads. According to the official literature the "scientists" believe there positions (tilted and upside down) to be deliberate, my traveling companion thought that is just looks like the way they sit the best. Both heads were taken from ruins elsewhere in Turkey. A quick and interesting stop for those interested, at 10 TL a piece it is one of the cheaper sites too for those on a budget or in a hurry.

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The blue mosque. All of these pictures are from the outside because I did not feel any of my pictures of the interior were impressive enough to justify posting them. They were well prepared for visitors going as far to post english rules outside the entrance (what to wear/not wear, do/not do etc) and were prepared with headcoverings etc for anyone not prepared. Given that it is free I can't say whether the fee was worth it or not but donations are suggested. Definitely seeing at night. It is an operating mosque so visitor's are not allowed in during prayer times.

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These are a few pictures from inside the Haghia Sophia (ayasofya in Turkish) which was first a 6th century byzantine church and later an ottoman mosque (many of the mosaics have verses of the Q'ran written over them). The box like structure towards the back is the mihrab (the niche that indicates the direction of mecca), the structure next to it is the pulpet from which the sermon would be given. The circle in the center of the floor (last photo) is the spot where byzantine emperors were coronated. That was pretty impressive. We were there during construction but it was still well worth a visit. A suggestion to any fellow travelers visit the Hagia Sophia early to avoid the crowds.

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Some of the more impressive photos from the acropolis of Pergamum, most are from the trajaneium (a place dedicated to the emperor Trajan) but the last one is taken from inside the temple of Athena towards the temple of Dionysus.

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Pictures from the asclepion of Pergamum (near modern Bergama). It was founded after it's founder was injured in another city and was healed at their asclepion, he was so impressed he brought the cult of Asclepios home. It would become one of the most well known healing facilities in the ancient world.

The hideous looking pool of green water is the bathing pool, part of a process of multiple baths (including cool, hot, and mud) used in the healing process.

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Got the photos off my travel companion JF so enjoy some photos of the iconic library of Ephesus. You should be able to understand just how detailed the carving is from these images. There are many other awesome structures throughout the city so it was well worth the entrance fee. See my previous post of Ephesus

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Some photos of the travertines of Pamukkale! The name Pamukkale means cotton castle. The entire rock face is covered in water for the two geos this was heaven. Warning if walking up it to get to Hierapolis you'll still need to take of your shoes, which might be uncomfortable on the small ridges of calcium carbonate. Well worth the 20 TL entry fee to geologists and swimmers alike. 

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These are from Ephesus, a famous greek and roman city, near Selcuk, Turkey. Sadly my camera died so no pictures of the iconic library. Definitely worth a visit for any history fan and well worth the entrance fee.

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We stayed in Selcuk for a few days at a small pension called the ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) whose proprietor was quite helpful and the guests and hosts spoke english for those looking for that. During that stay we chose to check out the sites in the area which included St. John's Basillica (the first two pictures are from his tomb). Which was well worth the entrance fee even to someone not into religious tourism like me. It was worth it just to see the architecture that was still there. We also went to the temple of Artemis (The pillar and pool of water) which was described by our group as "unimpressive." One thing I would warn visitors about is the local symbol, that is about as common as Kokopelli in the southwestern united states, the god Bes, whose Idol is often associated with the area. He is generally depicted with a large phallus and his likeness is fairly common.

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Some pictures from KusadasI (Koosh-a-das-ugh), "Pigeon Island", named for the shape of the island as it appears from land. The prices were expensive for what we were used too but we only met one person who didn't speak english. For those who won't eat anything they can't pronounce or just want food they recognize it's perfect because most places sell the usual burgers with fries/chips etc. We walked past ladies beach which was incredibly crowded but the bazaar had everything a shopper could ever want. There were bars and clubs for those who are more into that scene and a few parks. We managed to enjoy our day regardless.

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An experience I don't envy

5 members of our group and one professor (the only one not fluent in turkish) were detained by the Jandarma because the Jandarma didn't know what they were doing especially after they looked at their maps and notebooks. They were able to get across that they should head towards the bus in the hopes they would encounter the Turkish speakers. Luckily everything was resolved and it was described as the best arrest experience any of them have ever had.

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Some photos of the black sea in Turkey

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A basic dictionary

Over my time in turkey I have picked up a few words from simple interactions and even in some cases directly asking a native speaker. Note these words are mostly written by the way they sound not necessarily proper spelling. Most of these are spoken with a horrendous accent and are likely not perfect (think halo for hello) but do get your point across. The people here try very hard to communicate with us and several transactions have occured with no words being spoken, or with only numbers and "tesselkur"

In general the alphabet is fairly similar with a few exceptions, c with a tail is ch, s with a tail is sh, c without a tail is j as in jake, i is ee as in eel, I is ih as in fist.

Kanka: dude (I have not seen it used to describe women in any context)

Kanki: dudes plural 

FIstIk (fis tick): pistachio

cikolatta (cheek o lotta): chocolate

merhaba (mare ha-ba): hello (city)

turcke billmium (turk chay bill me oom): I do not speak turkish

bir (beer): one

own: 10

besh: 5

bira (beer-ah): beer

tesselkur (tesh el keer): thanks

nekkedir (neck a deer): how much

mahut (ma hoot): chickpea

belediye (bell a dee yay): municipality building

abla: sister

ane: mother

yeni (yen e): new

sivrihisar (seive re his are): pointed

bano (ban yo): bathroom (place to bathe yourself)

toylet: bathroom (place to relieve yourself)

Hammam (huh mom): turkish bathhouse

kurus (ka roosh): turkish equivalent of cents

lira (lee rah): turkish paper money

dur (der): stop

biscota (bisk oh ta): cookie

su (sue): water

sut (suit): milk

cay (chai): tea

amerika (AMERICA!): America

taksi (taxi): taxi

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My camera was dead so I had to use my phone for this image of an old armenian church in the town of Sivrihisar, Turkey. This was a rare opportunity and we were the first tourists to ever enter the building. It was originally built in 1880 and was in use by the armenian community until the 1920s when they were forced to leave do to the war, and it languished until a few years ago when the government spent millions to refurbish it, this refurbishing was completed the fall before we arrived (summer 2013). More pictures were taken by others but sadly this was the only one i could fit on my phone at the time.

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A few of the most interesting things i'e had to come to grips with in turkey are the time difference and the overall low pricing of everything. However what's most fascinating is that those are not obvious enough to identify an american.

We were recently in Mudurnu and while there at least once the person I was traveling with and I were greeted in turkish and as we walked away we heard "were they american" (in turkish). And a quick survey made it apparent at least a few of the ways we stood out. A big one was our appearance, both of us were glow in the dark eastern european descendants and both of us wore hoodies. Two things that are fairly rare here in turkey. But beyond that we were also a male and a female traveling together, which is fairly rare outside of a family group and especially for the twenty-something age group in which both us could be found.

While friends have a very different idea of personal space here in turkey it doesn't take long to notice they're almost always the same gender. Females are holding tightly to other females, and two men and clutching eachother's shoulders but very rarely, especially amongst the older generation do you see this amongst men and women.

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The first image is a sample of a fascinating granitoid (handsample implied Quartz Monzonite) with large phenocrysts of K feldspar. The bottom two images are of a beautiful fold of marble all in the general area of Kadincik, Turkey