Well, it has been quite a Hittite-filled day, and it’s only the beginning! I first discovered Turkiye when reading about Catalhoyek, a neolithic settlement, possibly the oldest “town” to be excavated in the world, and was fascinated by the way the people lived and built and decorated their houses. The more I read, the more fascinated I became with the entire Anatolian area … and somewhere along the line, I ran into the Hittites. Until 1834, basically the only mention ever heard of the Hittites were a few things in the Bible, and for a great many years, they were believed to have been a myth! Turns out, they weren’t! They were one of the great civilizations and ruled a large portion of Anatolia from about 1750 to 1200 BC. And no matter what Ramses II, the first and greatest spin doctor of them all said, it was the Hittites who won at Kadesh (a site in what is now Syria), NOT the Egyptians!
At any rate, to begin the day. We went down a floor of our hotel to the Executive Lounge for breakfast at 7 am, and were ready to taxi to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations at 8:15 am (it opens at 8:30). As it turns out, there was a line of tour groups, and here – true confessions – we stepped out of the cab and right into a big gap in the line and in the door … something I would never do at home … but I wasn’t at home, so I did it … I know, shame on me! At any rate, we were the first folks through the door into the museum. There were people through the gate before us, but nobody seemed to want to go into the museum! Weird! We did! And it turns out, we had the entire museum by ourselves (except for the cleaning ladies and security guards!) for over half an hour! It was incredible!!
We had been to the museum twice before, and both times it had been different. The first time, they were in the midst of a major renovation – but they had moved “a few” things so that there were still things to see. The second time, they were through the renovation, and we had a lovely visit. But today! Wow! They had an entirely new exhibit on Gobeckli Tepe AND Catalhoyek, and it was amazing! They had portions of two pillars from Gobeckli, as well as probably 10 or 12 wall portions from Catalhoyek! We were able to see leopards as well as hunting scenes – incredible! We’ve visited the Catalhoyek site three times already, but it’s not that easy to get really close up to the wall paintings. Here in the museum they were beautiful preserved, conserved and explained. SO worth seeing!!
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| Front courtyard of the museum |
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| Portion of a pillar from Gobeckli Type! |
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| Such incredible animal carvings -- neolithic! |
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| Wall paintings from Catalhoyek |
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"Venus" figurine with Leopards
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| More wall paintings |
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| Wall relief of two leopards |
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| 6,000 year old pig pot! |
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| Another 6,000 year old pot; thought it was so beautiful! |
Also were able to revisit some wonderful Hittite artifacts, as well as some amazing stones from sites all over the country, including Carchemish. This particular site was a very important neo-Hittite site, but is now basically “on” the Turkish-Syrian border, which makes visiting more than a bit problematic.
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| Hittite Sun Disc |
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| Deer standard |
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| Really love the hands on this double pot! |
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| Hittite statute from Hattusa |
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| Bull sculptures |
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| And lots of pots! |
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| In the Hall of Stone Monuments - from Carchemish |
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| Hittite Lions |
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| More Hittite lions |
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| There's a theme here... |
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| Neo-Hittite ruler |
After taking lots of photos, we headed back to the hotel to check-out and get on the road to Bogazkale, Hattusas and Çorum, where we are staying tonight!
Getting out of Ankara was fine, albeit a bit crazy, but fortunately for us, NO tunnels to deal with, and in about 15 minutes, we were basically clear of the city. From there, we headed east, and toward Sungurlu for a couple of hours. Again, fairly easy driving, but not really motor-routes; traffic not too bad at all! Arrived at Bogazkalearound 1 pm, and headed first to the Bogazkale Museum. This very small, compact museum has a couple of really noteworthy pieces, and makes an excellent introduction to Hattusas.
My favorite are the sphinx statues that are a real highlight! Turns out, they were located at the Sphinx Gate, which was part of the walls of Hattusas. However, at some point during excavation, two of the sphinxes were sent to Germany for restoration. One was returned to Bogazkale in the 1920’s, but the second somehow found its way to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Despite repeated requests to have the second sphinx returned to Turkiye, it didn’t make it … until finally, several years ago, the Turkish government basically told Germany the following: No more excavation permits for any German organizations/universities, etc. until you return the Sphinx. And guess what?! The second Sphinx somehow magically was returned to Turkiye! Ah yes! The wonders of a well-placed threat!
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| Sphinx' from the gate at Hattusa |
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| Love the pattern! |
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| A drinking glass, no less! |
From the museum, we drove to Hattusas, and did “the loop” – the circuit around the site. We stopped at most of the usual places but have to admit that as this was our 4th visit, we did miss a couple that had big tour buses in front of them … really do prefer to have the places to ourselves!
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| Recreated section of Hittite fortress wall |
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| Famous "green stone" of Hattusa |
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| Lion Gate |
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| Two old lions together at last! |
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| From the top of Hattusa looking south |
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| Temple area of Hattusa |
Finally, left Hattusas for Çorum, our stop for the night. It’s about an hour’s drive, and there was the Anitta Hotel, where we have stayed twice before! Checked in, and are now in room 1408, which is actually on the 4thfloor, but we do have a view of the Archaeological Museum, which certainly beats the view of the brand-new HUGE shopping mall and must be 20+ floor apartment museum, which wasn’t here the last time we were here, about 6 years ago! Çorum is growing! Nice double room, which is actually WARM for a change!
Managed to get the computer and phones logged in to wifi (which looked pretty doubtful for a bit!) and then I wanted to head over to the shopping mall to the Migros (all purpose grocery store) to pick up a few things – toothpaste, Kleenex, and R needed batteries. So, as it was all of a 4 minute walk according to Google, off we went. HUGE place, with lots going on! We were able to find everything we needed, which was great!
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| Debby, this one's for you! |
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| Our hotel with the moon above! |
We contemplated eating at their huge food court on the third floor but decided that deciphering Turkish menus was too much trouble, so headed back to the hotel. As there was a large Asian tour group just getting off their bus, we decided to head directly to the 12th floor restaurant for dinner, as we hadn’t had any lunch, and definitely wanted to eat sooner rather than later!
Excellent dinner! R had their “pan shrimp” – which was shrimp and garlic cloves sauteed together, and I had their cream of mushroom soup. I had ordered a salad – which I wasn’t able to touch, because of there being too much food! For mains, R had their penne pasta with basil, and I had spaghetti bolognaise, which was great! We had a split of red wine, which was also good.
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| My mushroom soup |
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| Lovely salad! |
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| R's amazing pan shrimp with garlic! |
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| R's penne with basil |
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| My spaghetti bolognaise |
Waddled back downstairs immediately thereafter, and R is now sleeping soundly! I hate to wake him up, but he needs to read this and download pictures so I can get this going and get to bed!!
Much love and more Hittites tomorrow!
m
xxx
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