Touring Turkey. Part IV

August 13...24, 2015

In Turkey it’s common for petrol stations to hang up ribbons with flags in their brand colours. Does this make the petrol pumps more cheerful? Or more noticeable?

Konya

One of the most ancient cities in the world.

Disorderly and cosy.

Almost all of the buildings are single-storey.

The archaic way of life has survived right up to the present day. Everyone still sits on the ground outside the entrance to their lodgings.

After all, it’s nicer that way.

Modern Turkish civilisation is inexorably trampling over the distant past.

Old houses are being mercilessly destroyed.

A new city is burgeoning atop the rubble.

With broad, straight streets.

With soulless Chinese houses.

With modern stadiums.

And squares as dreary as they come. Models of the squares delight public officials and utterly repel the public.

The city is disappearing and being reborn by the minute. This process occurred throughout the XX century, but these days it’s a rare sight.

Sagalassos

The ruins of the ancient city of Sagalassos, fairly intact, lay undisturbed in the mountains for a long time.

In antiquity earthquakes and Turks laid waste to the city. However, it was located sufficiently high up in the mountains for the stones not to get stolen.

The Belgians began restoring the city in 1985. They’re stacking the stones in logical mounds.

Discovering shapes of yore.

Erecting arcs anew.

The contours are starting to emerge.

They’ve dug up a Roman bath.

Restored the main square.

They’ve even got the fountain in the once-opulent nymphaeum up and splashing again. Today the nymphaeum looks like a car crash corpse prepped for a funeral.

In a few years’ time it will be a knockout.

In the meantime, you can enjoy contemporary Turkish street sculpture not far from the ancient ruins.

Afyonkarahisar

A quick overview of the main attractions.

Kütahya

A reasonably nice city lacking any particular noteworthy merits.

Payphone.

Rubbish bin.

Adorable little neighbourhood.

A little Ottoman allure.

The past.

The present.

Bursa

If you come to Bursa not expecting to see anything grand or exciting, then everything will be just fine. Metrotram.

The city tram runs along the right side of the road, thereby guaranteeing that no one will park there.

The tram also runs through the pedestrian centre. For that reason they’ve put in a special rising arm barrier preventing cars from venturing there.

The city.

The city centre is essentially a giant roofed bazaar.

In parts the roof breaks off to make room for yet another antiquity.

Yet another antiquity.

Then the bazaar picks up again.

Bursa bin.

The Turks managed to phrase their application for Bursa’s Unesco World Heritage site status rather deftly. The spin they put on it was that Bursa is the cradle of Ottoman civilisation. Turkey, in all its grandeur, originated from this village, or so the story goes. The cradle looks something like this:

Rubbish bin.

Dumpsters.

At first blush, you might think that there’s absolutely nothing of interest here.

But then you notice the tractor.

And then another one.

Then it dawns on you that there are tractors literally everywhere, and this thought makes your sojourn here a tad more enjoyable.