My very long travel to visit the fascinating Turkey. Jouney report part 1

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Arrived in Anatolia (the Asian part of the country) with a Turkish vessel started from Ancona, landed in Cesme, a port city facing the Greek island of Chios. Cleared through customs with my Fiat Punto and in the company of a friend started the long journey penetrating up to Sardis. This city was famous in antiquity for its king Croesus, to this day retains some impressive remains of the royal palace also visible from the street and, a little further along a creek a sacred time, the bases of the columns of a temple. Continuing south through a hilly road we reach the imposing ruins of Ephesus, perhaps the greatest archaeological excavation of the classical world, however, very striking, with amphitheaters, gymnasiums, temples and libraries. The sacred path slightly uphill paved and there is still facing the ruins of palaces and temples. Continuing south we climb a hill where we find the remains of another ancient city, Priene. The excavations are nothing compared to what we saw at Ephesus, but their location on a hill makes them very special. Not always the archaeological remains, however, are comparable to the fame of the city that are witness, the case of Miletus, a little further south, which offers mainly an amphitheater nestled in the countryside near which, heedless of history, some sheep grazing. Our first intense day, all dedicated to the Greek polis in Asia Minor, takes us into the evening slendido temple in Didim. What is fascinating because of that view is the best preserved or because seeing the lights at night make it particularly interesting I'll never know but it certainly is a pleasure for eyes and a plunge in history. Not having to fill only of culture but also of food we do it in a nice but expensive restaurant that offers seafood and the view over the temple. We still continue and perhaps to stop and sleep in a very nice town house in a wooded area on the way to Mila. It was a little late and maybe the rooms were fully booked but the landlord gave us a room anyway presumibimente daughter was awakened late at night to make us a place! The next day we headed to Bodrum, a very beautiful city nestled in a bay dominated by a headland on which there is an interesting castle. After you walk on the waterfront and seeing the typical boats moored, we climbed the hill to visit the castle. When viewed from a distance it's beautiful from the inside is even more, not only for the beautiful area museums which bring us back to the time of the Knights of Rhodes, in the courtyards and gardens but also for the beautiful views of the gulf that Here you can enjoy. After this plunge into the Middle Ages back to classical greek stopping inland to Aphrodisias and its excavations. This city was the cradle of Hellenistic sculpture as some remains still quite well preserved show. We continue to Pamukkale, famous for its beautiful white limestone pools full of blue water. The effect you have is to walk down a snowy hill, not without difficulty, barefoot, to the top. On the hill behind the famous swimming pool, there are the ruins of another historic city, Hierapolis. Back in the valley and resumed the car we had to "escape" chased by swarms of touts for hotels, the first serious disturbance of this trip, but will not be the last. Our "flight" stops Kurkuteli where we sleep in a little hotel very shabby, dare I say "from fear", especially for hygiene. The next morning we stopped a short distance turning into a national park within which lie the ruins of Termessos, whose inhabitants long retained their independence since the best even on Alexander the Great. To reach them we must leave the car in a parking lot and walk for about 50 minutes on a mountain path. At the summit we are rewarded by the unusual spectacle of the remains of a city once impregnable and especially its amphitheater. Retrace the path backwards, we take the car and continue to the largest city in the area. Antalya is great, modern tourism, has broad avenues, fast food, but also remains of ancient minarets and mosques, we were almost forgotten in all this Hellenism that here we are in Islamic land. A beautiful public park overlooking the sea where we walk before resuming our journey. Next stop the archeological site of Perge where we expect so unbearably hot, but also an immense expanse of ruins of palaces, temples and agora. What remains of two cylindrical towers introduce us to this path in the story enough to say that we really liked Perge. A few miles to the east and here we come to another archaeological wonder, the great amphitheater of Aspendos, still well preserved and still used for performances. We continue to stop at the east Side where the remains of a Greek theater before the port area where the typical large boats docked we had already seen in Bodrum. From here we drive to Anamur, to the city of Alanya, the road is good but after a difficult road lies ahead is arduous. Despite the crow flies we are about eighty miles we will have a narrow road full of hairpin bends up and down cliffs that border the coast, much traveled mainly by heavy traffic. Driving here is really sweating and the pleasure of crossing banana plantations does not alleviate our guide tiring. We come finally to Anamur, so tired and hungry that at the first stall we stopped to dine outdoors and sleep. The owners of the kiosk are very nice but they try to rub in every way and we can too. The next morning we look at a few steps from the kiosk a medieval fortress semicircondata waters that we had already seen the night before, then continue east. Along the road leads past the medieval fortress, then along the Mediterranean Keles decide to stop for a few minutes, it's hot and I took advantage for a swim in a hollow between two rocks. We have a long transfer, and moreover there is an unbearable heat but luckily there is air conditioning to "throttle" and a modern highway that begins and ends in Gaziantep to Mersin. Before you take the highway we stopped at Silifke to change some money, coming in Gaziantep you enter another world, we have left behind the Anatolian peninsula and we are in Mesopotamia. After one night of luck the next morning we reach the great Ataturk Dam on the Euphrates river, watched by a rooftop terrace and then we rely on Nemrut Dagi, a high and barren mountains where there is a mammoth monument depicting the remains of people sitting are the sovereign of a small state of the Classical period. To get here you must climb on a mountain road, then park and walk up a steep staircase. When you arrive at the monument one wonders how these enormous sculptures may have been brought so far. The road to Diyarbakir stops abruptly in front of banks of the Euphrates, we load our car on a ferry with us find the place where many local consignment, a truck crammed, bicycles etc.. Across the river we are in turkish Kurdistan (see "trip to Kurdistan." On return from Kurdistan will continue to walk the streets with Turkish "Turkey trip-Part Two").