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On the road again.From there it was on to the city of Tarsus. I can't remember what order we hit everything in, since every time I've been there I've taken a different route. But we saw all the following sites.
Cleopatra's Gate was built to welcome it's namesake, Cleopatra, to Tarsus. Marc Antony and her met here in 41 BC. Tarsus, like most cities of the time, was surrounded by walls. It had four gates, one to the north, east, and west, and this one, the Sea Gate, to the south. This is the only gate left standing today. Also, at one time it was right on the water, where as today, it's many miles inland.
St. Paul's church was once an Armenian church. It was claimed and restored by the Catholic church but the Turkish government later realized that the Catholic church had never held any rights to it. Today, it stands only as a relic of what once was. We stopped here for a quick history of the Christian church in Tarsus which is a pretty somber story.
Ulu Camii means Grand Mosque in Turkish. Every city has numerous mosques, but each city also has one that is the greatest and grandest of all. Usually they pick the grand mosque based on which one is the oldest, biggest, or most noteworthy for whatever reason. This one, in Tarsus, has quite a history. It is said to be built on ground where Seth, Adam's son, lived, as well as the same ground where Mohammed's personal "prayer caller" lived. On top of that, it houses the graves of a couple famous locals.
The funny story here has to do with Seth. I was showing these pictures to a Turkish friend of mine a while back. It was before my Turkish had reached it's current level of fluency (beginner-mid anyone?), so we were speaking in a mix of Turkish and English. When I got to this picture my friend asked, "Do you know Şit?" The i makes more of an E sound, meaning that he said something close to "sheet" but also closely resembling other words. I laughed and explained to him what he had said. Then I answered, "No, I don't know şit."
The small handout we were given says that Daniel came to Tarsus "after a starvation." Not sure where that fits in the whole exile and return to Jerusalem story of the Bible, but it's worth a good laugh. They have finished excavating what they believe to be his tomb, but we may never know. They can't open it to see who it is because the two people who have approached the tomb have both fainted. I wonder what would happen if they were ever able to open it? Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark anyone?
Next we stopped in front of the statue of Shahmeran. This is a local legend that I have yet to get straight. As you can see from the statue, they depict him as a man. The first story I was told was that he fell in love with the daughter of the local king and was killed when he fell in the bath house were she was bathing. This bath house supposedly still has the red spots to prove that his blood was spilled there. However, after doing some research, the most credible story I have found is that Shahmeran should actually be considered the Snake Queen. She is mostly depicted as a half woman, half snake in ancient paintings. She was the goddess of wisdom and of secrets. According to legend, she was found by a man who had fallen in a well. She allowed him to leave on one condition, that he not tell of her location. The man could not keep his mouth shut and the Sultan heard of her location. The Sultan was ill and had been told that the only cure was eating Shahmeran's flesh. The Sultan had the Snake Queen killed and boiled. An evil adviser drank some broth first and was poisoned by his greed and died. The Sultan drank next and was cured of his illness. The man who had found Shahmeran drank last and was given great wisdom and went on to be the Sultan's top adviser.
You can just see the edge of it on the right hand side of this picture. Right near the Shahmeran statue is another old church turned mosque. I can think of at least two more in Adana and two more in Istanbul that I've visited just like it. Sad.
The big pile of old rocks in the picture is the remains of an old Turkish bath. It was actually a Roman bath, since Tarsus was governed by Rome at the time and the Turks were still in Central Asia somewhere, but Roman baths have such a bad connotation to them. Turkish baths are much more refined.
Sadly, it seems that the Roman roads around here are in better shape than the modern ones! During my short stint with the Georgia Department of Transportation, I learned that our modern roads don't last very long. Granted, they do have massive cars and trucks driving over them almost constantly. But still, this thing is in great condition hundreds (and possibly at least a thousand) years later.
The story is that they were digging to build a parking garage and unearthed this gem. It's right in the center of the city. It was one of the main roads, this one running east and west, to each city gate. The center road is made of black, volcanic rock, which is very hard, to absorb the punishment of being traveled on. It is arched, to allow rain water to drain off into the ditches to the side. Also, the sewer system under the road is still in use today by some parts of the city. You can't really see in the picture, but behind that tree branch is a market center with granite columns. More than likely they were brought in from far away, since we don't have any granite here, for some special occasion. Also, on some of the stonework, you can see crosses, showing the Christian influence that was once here in the city. The road probably continues on for miles. We'll never know, since we can't relocate the whole city. In a place like Tarsus, if you dig anywhere for long enough, you'll find something ancient.
That's part of the story Mr. G was telling his tour group. We eventually found out that they were from the local air force base, but not before we got to take some wild guesses about where they were from and whether they knew this dude was full of crap or not. We were at St. Paul's Well. This is an old well in the area of Tarsus that they believe was where Paul lived. Whether it's actually his neighborhood or not, no one can know for sure. But Mr. G, short for the Turkish word for "trust," was anything but trustworthy. He was telling his tour group a bunch of crap about how the water from the well gives salvation to Christians. Ally busted out her Bible and was about to lay the smack down when we finally made contact with someone from the group. She was a nice lady who said she was a believer and knew it was crap, so we felt better about the whole situation.
Next was a lunch stop at the waterfall restaurant. They serve some really good stir fry type stuff that we all really love. It's Ally's favorite dish and this is the best place around to get it. Not only is the food good, but the view is pretty nice too. After filling our stomachs and taking a few pictures at the waterfall, it was time to head home.
We grabbed a "taxi" at the restaurant. Actually I think one of the waiters just yelled at his brother to take us to the train station. On the way, Steve was trying to learn how to blow a bubble inside a bubble with his chewing gum. The pressure was just too much and he ended up shooting his gum into the floorboard. But, no worries, he just picked it up and put it back in his mouth. That's my kind of guy. We had a short wait in the train station before we headed home.
We didn't have many Turks show up to play ultimate that day, but we had enough foreigners to have a good game. We tried a new field which had been lit up the week before, but my attempts to get the lights turned on were unsuccessful. We had a good time though and I think it was good for my local friends to see some girls playing. It's hard to cross that gender boundary in this part of the country. I don't know that we ever will, but maybe now that they've seen that girls can play, and play well I might add, maybe they'll try to recruit some for us.
It was sad to see the group go. Not only was it a nice break from the everyday grind here, but it was very refreshing to have people come in with the energy and excitement they had. They brought a bit of joy with them that really brightened up the place for those few days. It was a great blessing to share life with them, even if it was just for a short while. Thanks for everything and I hope you come again someday!
Changing gears totally, I wanted to share a quick story with you. We don't have a hot water heater in our house. A lot of apartments don't. Instead, they have solar powered water heaters on the roof to provide their hot water. We don't have one of those either. In fact, the only hot water I have in my house is provided by a small little box that is mounted on the wall of our shower. The water goes in cold and comes out in varying degrees of warmth. It's usually very good. There's only one problem with it... it is a major drain on our electrical system. It's such a drain that you can't have anything else running at the same time as it is, or else it will flip the breaker for the whole house!
Case in point: I was enjoying a nice warm shower the other evening. It's been cold here for the past couple weeks and the shower is one of the few places where I can warm up. I was enjoying it so much that I just closed my eyes and let the water run over my head. It was so nice and warm. Then, all of a sudden, it was ICE COLD! I let out a girlish squeal and opened my eyes to find myself in total darkness. After a quick moment of "Oh my gosh, I've been blinded by the cold water," I realized that the breaker had been flipped. I had to dry off and walk all the way out to the stairwell of our building to turn our power back on. What else was pulling the power in our apartment, you ask? Our mini-fridge and two laptops. I might've been charging my cell phone too. I'll have to be sure and unplug that next time.
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