Hellenic day

This Sunday I decided with a few crew go see some hellenistic sites handpicked from the guide book.

Becin castle

Becin Castle is overlooking the town of Milas, the castle itself has lot of ruins in various states of disrepair and there seemed to be an old shepherds hut on top where you could see that the animals had resided below and the shepherd on top. The castle itself was not really hellenistic and had been occupied by all sorts of groups at different epochs. Only sort of preserved structure giving any clue to its use was the old hammam where some of the plaster remained in the steam room and one could recognize the heating compartment. Otherwise the ruins gave a nice backdrop towards the city of Milas and the fig and pomegranate trees gave a nice atmosphere to walk around the fortifications.

Didyma

Didyma (Temple of Apollo)

Next on our stop was Didyma in Didim, this was the largest temple of its time dedicated to Apollo but it was never completed. The temple is massive looking at the small people around the pillars and inside where the spring was used to house the oracle. Both the spring was dry and the oracle gone when I visited.

Miletus theatre

After this we still had some time to motor up to Miletus theatre. A massive stadium that could seat 15.000 persons at best. It still had the tunnels and walkways behind for spectators to get to their seats. Simply stunning construction and when it was still in operation it was next to the sea which now had receded far away. The whole area covers several sq kilometres and other buildings and I think one could spend days here exploring the old ruins. 

Bodrum

Having settled into the Yalikavak marina we finally had a chance to take a few hours off and I decided to go to Bodrum to see the sights as I had never been there before. According to the guidebook the only places that have any value historically is the Bodrum castle and the Mausollus mausoleum.

Yalikavak marina

Moonlight II in Yalikavak

The city itself is pretty large and the castle is smack in the middle of it. One can straight see the protective capabilities of the fortress in medieval times as there is a bay on each side of it. Entry to the castle was 30TL which gives you access to the whole area. The route has arrows in red and green and it did not make much sense to me but it seemed the red arrows were dead ends. There were a few displays scattered in various spaces but nothing major. Very nice scenery and I got a few nice shots that I will probably post at a later stage but for now you have to make do with these.

Bodrum castle

After having wondered around the fort for some hours we had enough and headed for a coffee and then decided to check out the mausoleum that was supposed to be one the wonders of the world in its time.

Bodrum castle

Entry to the mausoleum was 10TL and all there is a big hole in the ground with the burial chamber and some drainpiping visible as the rest of the mausoleum was apparently used to build the fortress. Lot of rocks were strewn around so it looks mostly like a sad DIY mausoleum now. At least there was a small exhibition center showing how it had looked in its heyday.

Mausollus mausoleum then

Otherwise the whole seaside was littered with restaurants catering for tourists and of course there was the shopping. For anyone having visited Istanbul I can tell you the same wares were peddled here, copy everything. I think the only really good articles are the leather clothes.

Mausollus mausoleum now

Vacation in Finland

Having seen the troubles in Bangkok I suggested that I will go to Finland to sort out my Indian visa and vacation. The office agreed to it and on a short notice I arranged tickets and guarantee letters to get my visa sorted out.

On the 28th I disembarked and spent the evening in Saini's flat where we had some farewell Kingfisher and a late dinner. On 29th when my visa expired I went by taxi to the airport at abt 2am as my flight was leaving at 5am via Istanbul to Helsinki.

The airport was busy even-though it was the early morning. The security was tight and boarding pass and passport had to be shown at many check points. Everybody was scanned and patted down for dangerous objects. Immigration was efficient as I was leaving, bam-bam and I was done.

I was flying Turkish Airlines. I had flown this airline before and I can say they take you from A to B but don't expect much more than that. As a perk you get a complimentary pair of socks & eye covers. I must admit that the in-flight food was quite edible considering the difficulties in getting something to taste good 10km up in the air for hundreds of people. The service was very robotic, everything went on rote. The in flight entertainment system was broken at my seat an when I asked a stewardess, she replied "there is a problem". Yes, I could see that. Fortunately I had a book to entertain me until I fell into a short slumber.

Apparently the holiday season in Turkey is not attracting many Indians and as the rain season in India discouraged Turkish tourists I think as result the airplane was only half full so I could spread out comfortably not needing to worry about elbowing my neighbor. We arrived Istanbul a bit late after the 5 odd hours flight and I had to hurry to catch my connection to Helsinki. In Istanbul there was of course another security check (sic!) where laptops had to be ripped out of the bag, belts removed etc.

Once arrived in Helsinki after the 3 hours flight I noticed in the immigration queue that there was actually more people in the non-EU line than the EU citizen line. Oh well, the guy hardly looked at my passport and I was back home in Finland after a 6 years interval. Then it was the usual waiting for the baggage, which eventually arrived quite quickly. After that I headed for the Custom green line, all I saw was an Officer with a drug sniffing dog and that was all, finally I had passed the last hurdle in entering Finland.

I was met by Jari, my long time friend some 24years back. He lived in Espoo, close to Helsinki, where I was going to do my Indian visa so I had agreed to crash at his place until then. The weather was at 15 deg centigrade and, not surprisingly, I was feeling very cold.