Oran Mor-The Great Song of Life

2014-10-10T10:43:00.001-04:00

The Acropolis

The Parthenon has been under restoration since 1975. There has been a lot of controversy about how far they should go in recreating it. It is incredibly huge and no photo can really portray this. The other temples on the site--to Nike and Erectheio-- are dwarfed by it. We went with a tour group to see it. It was very crowded but well worth the visit. We are not fond of Athens as a city. The traffic is awful, the people are stressed and not friendly, there is graffiti everywhere, and we saw demonstrations in the street and armed police everywhere. We felt much safer in Istanbul! Oh, for the Golden Age before motorcycles and tour buses...

2014-10-08T14:28:00.001-04:00

Goodbye to Turkey
We have said our sad farewells to the "Likyan Sisterhood" with promises to keep in touch, and are on our separate paths. Marlene and I are now in a fancy hotel in Athens. Suddenly everything is in Euros and expensive! Tomorrow we do the touristy tour of the Parthenon, etc. Will send photos then.

2014-10-07T11:44:00.001-04:00

Patara
There was rebellion in the ranks today with many of the ladies voting for time at the beach in Patara instead of another grueling walk to see Roman aqueducts.

We did do a tour of the ancient town of Patara in the morning. This photo is of the Agora or market square. But then we were ready to "beach it"!

Tomorrow Marlene and I say goodbye to Turkey and our newly-made friends: Amy, Ruth, Margie, Angela, Nancy, Brigitta, Barb, Cheryl, Larene, and Shirley. And to our best ever guide, Cenk, who was an angel to put up with this feisty group for seven days on the Lycian Way. Onward to Istanbul and Athens!

2014-10-06T14:08:00.001-04:00

This morning we left our hotel in Akbel and the van let us off to walk an old Roman road down to Patara we passed through a little village and down a country road passing orchards of apples and quinces. An old man at one of the houses stopped us and began pulling apples off a tree in his yard to give us. "Ei bayrumlar!" we called to him. "Happy holiday!" We are in the fourth day of the Feast of Eid commemorating the substituting of the ram for the sacrifice of Isaac. It is a five day national holiday here. Lots of eating is going on with families gathering to share food among themselves and with the poor.

Here is the Roman road we walked.

2014-10-05T12:23:00.001-04:00

Kekova
Today was a rest day from our trekking. We took an all day boat ride around the Aegean, eating a traditional Turkish meal onboard while sunning and diving into the turquoise sea.

Here is an inlet where we stopped with boats similar to ours. We saw a sunken Lycian city, destroyed by earthquakes and a Roman necropolis in the hills.

2014-10-04T12:31:00.001-04:00

Alinca to Akbel

Here we are standing among the ancient temples and tombs of Lycia in a small town named Sydima. Here we had a meal with a local family on their very special holiday known as the Feast of Eid in other countries and Kurban Bayrami in Turkey.

2014-10-03T13:59:00.001-04:00

Climb to Alinca.

I knew this would be a hard day: 17km all up. We climbed the side of a mountain today on terrain much like yesterday's. The reward was a fantastic view of the Mediterranean. Many para gliders sailed below us as the Baba Dag region is a world famous spot for this.

Our reward that evening was our van driver Bayrum playing the "saz" and an impromptu Turkish dance with the hotel owner's mother leading the way (after a little persuasion!)

2014-10-02T11:42:00.001-04:00

Faralya

This is the official beginning of the Lycian Way. It was actually a 12 km hike up a very rocky path and down a very rocky path!

Here is an example of the path up with one of our group, Margie, taking a break.

2014-10-02T01:00:00.001-04:00

Lycian Way

We arrived in the little village of Karakoy and stayed at this hotel. A short trek took us up to a ghost town from the 1920's when after the Turkish War of Independence, Greek villages in Turkey and Turkish villages in Greece exchanged lands. This Greek village was never occupied, however, due to rumors of haunting and it was never reoccupied.

Today will be our first day of walking the Lycian (Lykyan in Turkish) 17 km. I will find out how well I can keep up with these experienced hikers!

2014-10-01T02:22:00.001-04:00

Haram, Efes, Herefe

Sorry, but this is all I can show of the Haram or Turkish Bath that six of us went to in the morning. It has been in operation for over a thousand years.

This is a workroom within one of the villa excavations at Ephesus--a giant jigsaw puzzle!
My phone died before we got to the carpet shop so I have photos of the Turkish rugs only on my camera. Several of our group bought small but very "pahali" (expensive) ones. I now have a greater appreciation for this dying craft of hand knotted carpets. Herefe is the name of a family that produces some of the finest of these.

2014-09-30T00:52:00.001-04:00

The Turkish Aegean

This is the view from our hotel room in Kusadasi, a tourist town close by Ephesus. Today is a very full one starting off with a Turkish bath. Then we tour Efes, as the Turks call Ephesus, then we have lunch with a Turkish friend of Shirley's who owns a carpet shop. We will learn how the carpets are made and have an opportunity to buy one (of course!)

2014-09-28T09:02:00.001-04:00

Love Valley and Underground cities

Can you guess why it is called Love Valley?

Villages built underground refuges to keep safe from marauding Hittites, Seljuks, and miscellaneous invaders over the centuries.

2014-09-27T10:10:00.001-04:00

Red Valley Hike

Here we are in the dramatic landscape of sandstone.

Cartoonish shapes. (Not us!)

2014-09-27T02:06:00.000-04:00

Cappodocia

How is this for a view out our hotel window? We saw many balloons last night but alas, my balloon ride this morning was cancelled due to high winds.

Our hotel is like a little village built into the hillside.

Here is another view out our window. We are going hiking in these hills today.

2014-09-25T10:18:00.001-04:00

Istanbul

Hard to choose a photo for today. This is Roman Cisterns under the city.

Here I am at the Spice Market.

And touring the Bosphorus Straits. Many adventures in just two days.

It's Istanbul, not Constantinople!

2014-09-23T11:31:00.000-04:00

2014-09-22T12:01:00.001-04:00

On our way! Atlanta, Rome, Istanbul.

My Turkish Adventure

2014-09-21T11:31:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I leave for Istanbul with my friend, Marlene. We will be joining 10 other ladies of a "certain age" including our indefatigable tour leader. Age will not deter us from scrambling up Baba Dag and exploring the underground reaches of Cappodocia, nor from bargaining in the Grand Bazaar or swimming in the Turquoise Mediterranean Sea. I intend to write a brief blog with a photo every day that I have a connection and perhaps fill it in with journal entries from my old fashioned written journal when I return home on October 11th. Merhaba!

Auld Reekie

2012-09-06T16:49:00.001-04:00

Sleepy Street in Lindisfarne

We had a very long day of transport connections and had a snafu with the rental car which actually was a blessing. (We decided to pick it up on Saturday instead of today, since we really don't need a car in Edinburgh.)We are at a Bed and Breakfast called Auld Reekie after the old nickname for industrialized Edinburgh. It is on the third floor of a Queen Anne style townhouse in the "new town" (early 1700's). I am running low on megabytes, so I think I will sign off of my blog, and close the saga of the pilgrimage of the Way of St Cuthbert. Lindisfarne was everything we had hoped for-peaceful, spiritual, beautiful and holy. A place to renew the spirit. Now we have plunged back into the hurly burly of city life! Tomorrow we climb Arthur's Seat and explore the castle. Saturday we will pick up a car and go to St Andrew's. Then on to the west coast. I will send a note once in a while when I can get some wireless. Cheerio!

Three ancient relics of something called a "telephone box"
In Edinburgh

Lindisfarne

2012-09-05T15:46:00.001-04:00

Pilgrim Marlene
on the Sands to the Holy Isle

What a glorious day! We walked three miles to the sands and timed it about right to cross starting at 11:30. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to cross. The little village was swarming with tourists, but they mostly had to leave before the tide came back in at 4:00. Now it is peaceful and we were lucky to find a place to eat dinner. We have seen the priory and been to a service at St Mary's Church. Tomorrow we will see the castle and go to the Heritage Centre where they have displays on the Lindisfarne Gospels. Then we will get a taxi to Berwick and a train back to Edinburgh.

St. Cuthbert.

Our pilgrimage has officially ended. Now the touring begins. I will pick up a rental car tomorrow. I will really need your prayers now !

Fenwick (pronounced Fennick)

2012-09-04T12:19:00.001-04:00

The view out our window

We are at a lovely Georgian style modern home B&B (big stairway up the center with rooms around like a gallery). Our windows look out to the sea far away and a tidy back garden with close cropped grass and many flowers swaying in the endless wind. Tomorrow we walk about three miles and then reach the sands we must cross on the Pilgrim Path to Lindisfarne.

St. Cuthbert's Cave

Today we saw St Cuthbert's Cave where monks took his body to escape the Viking raids on Lindisfarne. Then when we came up over a rise we saw the Holy Isle for the first time. Our own personal "Monto do Gozo"! The weather remains perfect. We have not used our ponchos except to sit on.

Wooler

2012-09-03T16:42:00.001-04:00

The Border Crossing

We had our longest day today-13 1/2 miles of up hill and across boggy moors. We left at 8:30am and arrived in Wooler at 6:30pm. I am so proud of Marlene! She stuck it out in good spirits. Tomorrow we have 11 1/2 miles on fairly even terrain. We crossed the border around noon and magically we started meeting people with English accents! Tomorrow is the last day before we cross the sands to Lindisfarne.
I have had more technical challenges. My camera battery depleted so I put the extra one in and it was depleted too. I tried to charge them but my charging set up for UK is just not working. So I am stuck with the camera phone until I can find a shop that can help. Also I wanted to let you know I found my journal stuck in a deep pocket of my suitcase! Yippee!

The Moors of Northumbria

Morebattle to Kirk Yetholm

2012-09-03T02:15:00.001-04:00

We had a lovely Scottish summer day to walk to the highest point and halfway mark of the Way of St. Cuthbert. When we made it to the top of Wideopen Hill, we sat and enjoyed a "biscuit" in celebration. As we gazed at the path we had just ascended, we saw a young woman approaching us. Could it be a pilgrim? In fact it was the one and only pilgrim we were to run across in our entire pilgrimage. How fitting that it should be here at the summit that we met her. Her name was Emily, and she was from Sydney, Australia. She had been in the cities of the UK for a while and had just felt the need to get away to the countryside for some solitary time. She would soon be on her way to Iceland for a month as a resident artist somewhere in that country.

Marlene and Emily on Wideopen Hill

We are now in a lovely Bed and Breakfast that was once an old mill. Tomorrow is a very long walk, 13 miles, with nothing in between as far as amenities are concerned. This will be quite a challenge.

Before checking in to our lodgings, we wandered around the town. A beautiful church towers over Kirk Yetholm and we noticed that the church seemed not to be an ancient one, but more Victorian perhaps. Our timing was perfect, because an older gentlemanwalked down the path, and as we smiled and said hello, he asked if we would like to see the inside of the church. This man, Ian, was a retired Anglican priest who was now serving as assistant pastor at this Church of Scotland kirk. He joked that he had to be very careful when doing the service not to make the sign of the cross (big faux pas!), to leave off the last "forever" from the Lord's Prayer, and of course that it was "debts" and not "trespasses." He asked if we knew why the Presbyterians didn't use the word "trespasses." We admitted that we didn't know, and he said, the Scots had no understanding of the word because there is no such thing as trespassing in Scotland. The land all belongs to the Scots, and so long as you do no harm, you may be on the land without violating the law. So they went back and translated the word differently. And now you know!

In the borders there were many shepherds and their dogs were very important to them. Ian told a story about how the shepherds would bring their dogs into the church. When one shepherd had a falling out and decided to go to another church, his dog refused to change, and would come into this church and sit through the service in his accustomed spot.

Kirk Yetholm Church of Scotland

Harestane to Morebattle

2012-09-01T17:45:00.001-04:00

We decided not to walk to Morebattle due to Marlene's knee and also the prospect of more woodland mud. We were in Jedburgh, so we decided to explore the abbey there, and then take a bus to Kelso and explore that abbey, too. This is a pilgrimage after all! We were so glad we did. The Jedburgh Abbey and museum were fantastic. We learned so much about abbeys and the monastic life. We now know what the difference between an abbot and a prior is, and what a canon does (no, not the gun, silly, the monastic canon.) And why some monks were called black monks and some white monks. And how they only had one room with a fire where they could go to get warm. We know what they did in the chapter room, and the difference between a larder and a pantry. All sorts of neat stuff.

We also went to the Mary Queen of Scots House where we learned all about that ill-starred queen. She really was the Marilyn Monroe of her day--beautiful, famous, popular, and a lass who made extremely bad choices in men.

Morebattle High Street
with Templehall Inn

On to Kelso which was having their local festival day. It was in honor of St. James, the patron saint of pilgrims, so we thought it very appropriate to go. We enjoyed the craft booths, and the local dignitaries dressed in medieval costumes, as well as a group of young children playing Scottish jigs and reels and strathspeys on their wee violins. They were really very good, too. There was not much left of the Kelso Abbey ruin, thanks to Mr. Cromwell, but we did go and pay it homage as well.

Then we caught a bus to the little town of Morebattle.The name of this town does not actually have anything to do with war. It comes from "mere botle" which means "the settlement by the lake." We found it to be a delightful little village and we stayed at the Templehall Inn which happened to be the local village hangout. Jovial men-and a few women-lingered, along with a couple of dogs, at the ancient bar, discussing local gossip over a few pints of ale. A couple of the patrons eventually moved to a table where a lively game of dominos served as a background to our supper.

St. Boswell's to Harestane

2012-08-31T15:15:00.001-04:00

So-called "Dere Street"

Today started out bright and sunny and we set out in high spirits. Our walk today however, turned into another day of slogging through mud. It would have been a lovely woodland walk along the River Tweed, and walking down a Roman road called Dere Street sounds pretty straightforward, right? The mud was like quicksand in some places and almost took Marlene's boot off, causing her to twist her knee. She limped to the Harestane Visitors Centre where we had tea and waited for a taxi to take us to our Bed and Breakfast at Airenlea in Jedborough. Hopefully, her knee will be better tomorrow. Meanwhile, I seem to have left my journal somewhere which is a heartbreak because it also contained my journaling from the Camino.