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Kizil Kilisi is the Red Church

Rob — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:53:11 +0000

Red Church Album
Kizil Kilisi is the Red Church, half an hour’s drive up and over the hills behind Guzelyurt. Rather fragile, it stands strikingly alone in cultivated fields surrounded by hills.

It is the only byzantine church still standing in this part of the world, many have been destroyed or allowed to crumble by previous Turkish governments as probably a deliberate policy of erasing the Christian past – see Alexander Dalrymple’s From the Holy Mountain.

The Friends of Cappadocia are raising money to restore it before it collapses, but it is a race against time as you can see here…

We agree with Gertrude Bell who came here in July 1907 that this is an amazing and impressive site. http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/ “found the finest church I have yet seen, standing quite complete all by itself. A building like this is worth 7 days’ journey. It pulls all one’s other work straight, and having thoroughly understood this one because I could see every detail, I can correct several other plans from it.” letter 11/7/07

From Bell’s diary:
Thurs July 11 [11 July 1907] Off at 6.30 with 2 Greeks and Haidar and rode over the hill east to Sivri Hissar. It is the little point one sees from far off. There is a small castle on top and the village lies below to the east. We went first still further east down into the valley where I found a great church standing all by itself with heaps of featureless ruins round it. It has the same ground plan as Chukurken and I think I can safely correct my plan of the latter from it. The nave had an aisle only on the N side, 2 double columns form the arcade. The nave and transepts are barrel vaulted, the vaults not horseshoed.

Gertrude Bell photo 1907

All the windows and arches and the apse are horseshoed. No decoration over windows or doors, a Greek cross in a circle over the door lintels. The dome over the cross is octagonal, 4 sides broken by windows, 4 sides scooped out into quarter vaults. Above the octagon a round dome. The dentil appears on the upper member of the cornice outside. The column caps were much weatherworn and I cd not make out whether they had been decorated but I think not. The chief difference from Churkurken was that the aisle vault was lower than the nave, the W front coming down in a steep gable. I am not quite sure about this but the photographs will show. A penthouse narthex. S of the church a spring of good water with a sarcophagus shaped water trough by it.

From the Friends of Cappadocia: - “A lonely proud church stands since the 6^th century opposite the chain of Melendiz mountains. It’s the only remaining built church of that period in Cappadocia. Kizil Kilise is thought to have been built on a property belonging to St Gregory of Naziance, one of the founders of Christianity in Cappadocia and his tomb may have been in the church. If nothing is done soon, the church’s dome will fall and the rest of the church will collapse with it.”

NEMRUT DAGI

Rob — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:58:18 +0000

Album: NEMRUT DAGI: a colossal folly

We hiked the few hundred (vertical) metres to view the tumulus at Nemrut Dagi summit at sunrise in freezing winds.

East Terrace

But there was no sunrise, and actually some snow, through which we traipsed at some points.

Some of the giant heads of gods and kings were still surrounded by snow, which gave them an unexpectedly comical appearance.

Somehow the bleak overcast made a fitting setting to contemplate the enormous hubris of King Antioch who had constructed for himself the biggest tomb monument since the Pharoahs. It’s surrounded east and west by fallen colossi who stare bleakly back at you

Look at Wiki for the exact statistics of the giant cone of baseball-sized rocks which he crushed to conceal his burial chamber, which still has not been discovered after more 2 millenia, as it’s incredibly difficult to tunnel into unstable small rocks.

Tumulus of Queens at Karakus

At the same time its location is announced to surrounding Kommagene by its prominence as the highest point on the eastern end of the Taurus mountains.

To get to Nemrut Dagi from Sanliurfa, we had to change over to a smaller minibus as the road there is through incredibly wild mountain country, often narrow, and there are many very tight hairpin bends.

Until the government forbad it, the few farmers in this area were growing opium-high price, low volume. This all simply emphasizes the lunatic nature of King Antiochus’ project. The logistics alone are mind-boggling.

Antiochus projected himself as on good terms with the gods, as in this frieze from his summer capital where he shakes hands with Heracles (Hercules).

Returning from Nemrut Dagi we crossed the Cendere River on the Roman Bridge which was still in general use till a few years ago.

Severan Bridge, constructed during reign of Septimius Severus, the second largest Roman arch ever built...

Another highlight on our way back to Cappadocia was our visit to the old caravanserai in Sanli Urfa. After wandering through the bazaar, we ended up in the lovely old courtyard of this resting place for travelling traders.

Built by Suleyman the Magnificent in 1566, it’s now wonderful place to sit on a tiny stool under the big plane trees, and savour an very good Turkish coffee!…Surrounded by the locals, all male (!!) Chatting, playing cards, drinking tea or coffee. The ultimate coffee shop!! Far removed from Starbucks!

visited on 28 April 2009

22 hours in Ankara

Rob — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:34:16 +0000

A day and a half’s travel to Ankara from Istanbul and on into Cappadocia is enough to make you realise that Turkey’s public transport infrastructure is greatly superior to that of much of Australia, despite Turkey being a relatively poorer country. We left the Hotel Ersu and walked to a conveniently close fast tram stop. Cost for any length of trip: a flat YTL1.40, roughly 1 Aussie dollar.

Then across the Bosphorus by ferry, 15 minutes later we were at Haydarpasa Railway Station, the station for Asia built for the Baghdad Railway in the1890s.

The glorious interior of Hydarpasa Station

We travelled for 4 hours by fast and comfortable conventional train to Eskisehir, where we changed to the new bullet train to Ankara. On this we reached speeds of up to 245 km/hr, travelling in leather armchairs in business class, with power for my laptop! First and Business class to Ankara was only YTL34 all up, for a journey of c 500 km.

Boarding the Ankara express

Thence a short taxi ride to the welcoming Hotel Spor, round the corner from Meydani Ulus, the heart of old Ankara.
After visiting the justly famous Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, we caught a Metro (YTL1.70) to the vast, well designed and organised bus station, ASTI. Like so many other similar transprort termini in Turkey, Greece and Egypt, this leaves Sydney’s Eddy Ave for dead, and again reveals how poorly organised Sydney transport is. Scores of buses arrive and depart on three levels, and buses can also fuel up on the spot. It’s like an airport, but vastly superior to the overpriced shemozzle that is Mascot. (By the way, if melbourne can do it with their Southern Cross bus/rail interchange, why can’t Sydney?)

ASTI bus terminal, Ankara

On the bus to Cappadocia, we were served tea gratis by the stewards! Murrays take note. Finally arrived by mini-bus at the exceptional Kirkit Pension, where we dined in a cave listening to gypsy music: a zither and drums.
So in less than 2 days: tram, ferry, train, bullet train, taxi, metro, bus and mini-bus!
20 and 21 April.
see also Great Eastern Lines

In Istanbul

Rob — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 06:16:55 +0000

In front of the Blue Mosque

Since arriving from Thessaloniki on the Monday night train, we have been very busy, working hard at sightseeing etc, Friday we went ferrying up and down the Bosphorus, and climbed an ancient Byzantine (Genovese, they were allied against the Venetians) fortress. Saturday (today) we are rushing out to the Topkapi Palace. Why? because we are leaving on Monday for 3 weeks in the wilds of Anatolia, leavened by a few days on a gulet. This is our own homemade “Turkey encompassed” with a little help from our friends at Kirkit travel, a company run by a very nice friend of Kim Sanders.
A highlight will be climbing to Nemrut Dagi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nemrut

So far Turkey has been the most amazingly enjoyable experience, so different to Cairo. Perhaps we have best liked just wandering in Beyoglu, enjoying some music, and looking at all the young people enjoying themselves. Hardly a walking tent in sight. I really can’t describe standing inside Agya Sofia, maybe words will come later.

Very worthwhile driving right around old Istanbul on a red sightseeing bus, and seen the huge Theodossian Walls. We couldn’t find the way to climb the walls, there were also a lot of unfortunates hanging around. Also visited the beautiful Eyup Sultan Mosque – tomb of Mohammed’s standard-bearer. However, as the bones weren’t found until 700+ years after he died, it’s an open question whose bones are actually in the box. Totally serious Islamic spot,
The population of Istanbul is officially 18 m, but really 20-our whole Oz pop. in one city, like Cairo!!! It’s such a beautiful city, and unlike beautiful Sydney it sports MANY more stunning buildings!!!