Alisons story for local newspaper
`Been Travellin’
By Alison McEwen
(Apologies to C. J. Dennis and `the Play’)
The Boss and me we been travellin’
The Grand Tour you know.
To see the Turks and the Greeks
And their ancients
Cost a bob or two
Are you crazy says the family?
Just bring Dad home alive, says No 2 son!
Surely it can’t be that bad, I thought.
As we squashed into the big bus with wings
– A380, someone said – Is that passengers or something else.
Think there were 500 of us off to Dubai.
Aw! People everywhere, where are they all going?
Booked a buggy to get around. Good thing, the Boss doesn’t walk so far, these days
In and out, up and down lifts – stay here with the disabled was the order.
Wheelchair, buggy and arrive at the Gate for Istanbul.
Sounds exotic. but not a Fez in sight – outdated now.
Arrive with great bunch of people.
Walk walk walk – uphill for coffee, overlook the sea, downhill for streets of the city.
O Oh, the Boss can’t manage the distance even with his walking sticks!
See Catholic church, Iron church, Suleymaniye Mosque,
My those guys keep clean – wash face, neck, ears, feet – good thing we don’t do that before church – might see holes in my socks.
Out for tea, group left already, we walk , turn left, lost! No group! Whats App – Whats that?
Think we should have practised that – tea by ourselves and back along the promenade to bed!
We are off again, in the footsteps of Paul, the apostle, seeing the joints he visited. He was a pretty fit bloke because I don’t think he got around in jets or a 40 seat Mercedes bus.
We fly into Cappadocia – weirdest rock formation ever – from volcanoes, the lava flows formed tuff rocks, wind and rain shaped them into cliff faces with holes in them and pointy fairy chimneys – fair dinkum I think ( don’t say – ‘cause I am supposed to be a polite Christian lady) they look like a piece of male anatomy. The holes/caves in the rocks look like pigeon coops but no pigeons. Instead the early Christians lived and hid in these caves. When the enemy was coming they closed the entrance off. The churches they made still have their early frescoes.
Really cool was the hot air balloon ride over these tuff rocks.
The Boss missed out because he thought he would look at one of these early churches and didn’t take his walking sticks, fell and cut his shin, blood going everywhere because of the blood thinners he takes.
The doctor in the group nicked the dressings from the bus’ first aid tin to stop the flow and taught me how to dress it every second night and it has fixed itself real good. – didn’t tell the family for awhile because this proved we were crazy!
We went to this Greek town – learnt that the Greeks got kicked out of Turkey in 1923 and the Turks were kicked out of Greece – did a swap! Near the Greek restaurant was the most enormous poplar tree. The trunk was over 100 years old while the branches were chopped down every few years.
We stayed in a hotel that was carved out of the tuff rock – like Coober Pedy, SA . The rooms did not have AC!! – hot, hot.
The next museum we visited, the Boss was able to see because our guide found a wheel chair for him. I was walking with our 3 pronged walking stick with seat. When the guide talked for a long time – so enthusiastic about the place he was showing us, I sat on the little seat so my legs didn’t buckle. The Boss and I shared this little seat plenty of times on the trip.
It was really exciting to walk on the main street in Psidian Antioch where Paul had walked. The huge slabs of marble were the original.
At the top, all temples and towns were built on high hills, we looked back to the mountains – the same view as Paul would have looked at 2000 years ago. Except the hills in foreground would have been covered in cedar trees. Paul would have had to walk through these mountains to get to Antioch and the other towns.
Hierapolis had Roman ruins but was like a theme park with pools to swim in. But far out were the limestone formations! From a distance they looked like icecream flowing down. You could paddle in the shallow pools. Never seen anything like them.
The boss missed out on some of these sites but he chatted up the bus driver, even got up a Turkish/ English dictionary on his phone.
The ruins give your imagination a picture of these fantastic towns and cities. The earthquakes collapsed the buildings and the landslides buried them. Towns were built one on top of another. The archaeologists painstakingly `unbury’ them one layer at a time – small scoops, spades and brushes are used. Years of work. Professors of archaeology come with their students to work on sites during the academic summer holidays. The city of Troy has 9 levels.
Ephesus was exciting as we walked down the main road that Paul had walked, passed the baths, the Senate and the Temple of Hadrian to the Hillside houses. These homes were owned by the rich – heated by hot air through pipes, cooled by cool air, mosaics on the floor instead of rugs, paintings on the walls for decoration rather than wall paper of today, indoor courtyards. But it was the theatre that left me `back in time’. The seating was granite rock arranged in a semi circle. It would seat 24,000 people. We stood on the stage and could `hear’ the Ephesians shouting `Great is Artemis of the Ephesians’ for 2 hours. Acts19: 23 – 41 If Paul had gone into the crowd as he wanted to, they would have killed him. The façade of the Library of Celcus and the remains of the Temple of Artemis and other excavations leave a deep impression.
Our visit to the Australian WW1 memorial situated above Anzac Cove was very important to us. Frustrated that access to Anzac Cove – the actual beach site was closed off for a bike race!! Very disappointed as we were looking forward to that visit particularly. We did get the understanding of the steepness of the terrain and the madness of the campaign. The Turk trenches were so close that the Turks and Australians could talk to each other. One Turk became friends with an Australian and many years later when there was a `reunion’ he brought his granddaughter and there is a statue to mark the occasion. The Turkish memorial is also on the same site. 8000 Australians were killed in the campaign.
On to Greece and Athens – the Parthenon. Had this covered there is a elevator!. Asked about it? Only for wheelchair people! Now we were in the soup. However, all cheers for the Boss he manfully climbed up and up – got there! Sitting on our stool he was able to listen to the guide and walk around the Parthenon marvelling at the engineering – 438BC. Built in 9 years with 10,000 workers – earthquake resistant. I was amazed at the desire to build a temple to Athena, and to celebrate keeping the Persians out.
Stagger me, the Ottomans stored gunpowder in her in the siege of the Acropolis in 1687. After 8 days of cannon fire from the Venetians, one cannon ball finally hit the gunpowder and blew the roof off the Parthenon, severely damaging it.
Now to get down from the acropolis, the Boss makes it down while I hop across to Mars Hill and pretend I am Paul addressing the Athenians who gathered there each afternoon to `shoot the breeze’. Down but 500 metres to go to the Museum to stop for lunch. The Boss is very stressed but we make it and he sits down on a stone bench.
The kindness shown by the Group will never be forgotten. Two of the men walked with the Boss, the leader Bruce Morrison walked back to help and offered to go and buy lunch – heaps of walking. More than living their faith many in the group personified the Lord Jesus.
During the afternoon walk around the museum, the Boss with others sat in the café and drank coffee and recovered. Picture me hopping from one display to another – sitting on my stool then onto the next display – loved it!
So much more to see – Corinth Canal, Corinth, Delphi, drive along their `Great Ocean Rd’, the rock formations and monasteries of Meteora perched on top.
Back in Istanbul, we visited the Hagia Sophia Church – 6th Century AD, The maths it took to design the high dome was something else! And the Blue Mosque – the tiles were hand painted and then baked and the Topkapi Palace. The sultans knew how to live it up.
Reading this you are all dreading being invited to a pics’ night with slide after slide but no! I lost my phone hence my photos, on the bus to the airport!!!!!!!!!!!! I cried. Discovered its loss in Dubai!
Not the only thing we lost – the Boss’ Akubra hat in the tray at one xray machine, one hearing aid at the Blue Mosque, me teeth on the plane home – recovered by air hostess, and of course one phone!!!!!!!!!!!
We got the older kids some things for Christmas from the Grand Bazaar, not forgetting friends but one gift, we brought back was only accepted by one friend, no-one else wanted it – a dose of COVID!
McEwen Farming and Family Stuff 