Exploring the Ancient Treasures of the Mediterranean Region

Since my undergraduate days as a history major, I have been drawn to the history of the places I visit.  Thus, one of the most interesting aspects of Mediterranean travel for me is learning about the ancient civilizations of these lands.  It is a treasure trove of ruins, of artifacts, of history, and of peoples.  There were the Minoans, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Etruscans, the Romans, the Venetians, the Byzantines, and the Ottomans.  Each of these cultures has left traces of itself in various parts of the Mediterranean region, and sometimes the traces of one provided the foundations for another.  

For example, the ancient amphitheater in Taormina, Sicily was first built in the third century BC as a Greek theatre.  Greek plays were presented on the stage.  While watching, audiences could enjoy the spectacular views of the ocean in the distance.  About six hundred years later, Roman conquerors converted the theater into an amphitheater where the action consisted of brutal battles between gladiators or between people and animals, chariot races, or executions.  The view was blocked by the enclosed circular design.

The Taormina (Sicily)  Amphitheatre

I have visited Italy many times and Greece twice, but other than a brief cruise port in Kusadasi (where I succumbed to the charms of a carpet merchant and purchased a very expensive Turkish rug for our living room), I had not been to Turkey.  Two years ago, Scott and I sailed the Aegean Sea and visited many interesting historic and archeological sites, including the ancient Turkish town of Ephesus, outside of Kusadasi.

There were still many Mediterranean sites that we hadn’t yet explored, so when friends invited us to visit them in Italy, we booked another cruise, this one sailing from Istanbul to Rome.  At the end of the cruise, we planned to rent a car and spend a couple of weeks in Italy.  We began this month-long adventure with a couple of days on our own in Istanbul, before embarking on the cruise. 

Istanbul is a city that straddles two continents:  Europe and Asia.  Most of the touristy sites are on the European side of town, but there are some treasures to be found on the Asian side as well.  Scott has a good friend who is Turkish, and she and her husband provided us with a list of “must sees” in Istanbul.  Their list was surprisingly similar to those given in the guidebooks we consulted prior to our trip.

European Istanbul as seen from Asian Istanbul

Aya Sofya was originally built in the sixth century as a Byzantine basilica.  (The Byzantines were the Greek-speaking people of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire.  When the Roman empire became Christian, Rome was the capital of the Catholic half, and Constantinople—now Istanbul—was the capital of the Greek Orthodox portion.)  When the Ottomans (Turks) won control of Constantinople in 1453, the Aya Sofya was converted  into a mosque.  While there is much to see inside this massive church/mosque, including stained glass, golden domes, mosaics, and tombs of many famous people, we decided not to fight the crowds and just looked at the façade.

The Blue Mosque is on the left and the Aya Sofya on the right

The Blue Mosque, so-called because of its blue domes, was built by Sultan Ahmet, who ruled in the early 1600s.  The façade features a series of blue-tiled domes and six minarets.  Again, we decided not to go inside, but rather enjoy walking around the building and the lovely park that stretches between the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque.

·       The Basilica Cistern is a massive underground water storage tank dating from the sixth century.  We did brave the line to enter this tourist site, which turned out to take just about ten minutes.  We enjoyed walking through the cistern on a series of raised wooden platforms, admiring the approximately 336 pillars that hold up the roof for underground storage of what, at one time, was 18 million gallons of water.  The cistern is lit with a series of lights which change colors, allowing for interesting photo effects.

Inside the Basilica Cistern

·       The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar are massive markets.  We walked through the Grand Bazaar but none of the touristy shops tempted us.  Both markets were packed, mostly with locals doing their daily shopping.

From left to right:  crowded city streets, the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Market

·       The Bosphorus Strait is a naturally-occurring waterway that separates European and Asian Istanbul and links the Aegean and Black Seas.  Cruises along the Bosphorus are popular, but we contented ourselves with crossing over it after we joined our cruise ship.

The Bosphorus Bridge

For our independent time in Istanbul, we booked a small highly-rated hotel, the Romance Istanbul, in the old part of European Istanbul (the Sultanahmet section), within walking distance of most of the things we planned to see.  

Food in Istanbul.  Top left photo is of a traditional meal of bread and lentil soup.  The women in the photo on the right are making the bread.  Roasted corn from a street vendor is also popular.

We arrived in early May, thinking that we would beat the summer crowds, but we were disappointed in this.  The city was bustling.  There were people, people, and more people everywhere!  Some were tourists, but as we learned, Friday afternoon also meant that the locals were out in force, shopping in the Grand Bazaar or just the shops along the streets.  Do you need guns or military gear?  How about toys?  Gardening implements?  Luggage?  Kitchen utensils?  Dates?  Spices?  Sweets? No matter what you might want, you can find it here!

Just a few of the many shops and stalls lining Istanbul streets

Our hotel was across the street from a lovely park that bordered the walls of the Topkapi Palace, home to generations of ruling sultans between the 1400s and 1800s.  Unfortunately, we did not have time to go inside the palace.

Our hotel on the right and the park outside the palace on the left.

For the cruise portion of our adventure, we boarded Oceania’s newest ship, the Vista, and began with an overnight stay in Istanbul.  We took advantage of one of the ship’s shore excursions to visit the Asian side of Istanbul, where we toured the Beylerbeyi Palace, built on the shores of the Bosporus as a summer palace.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside the palace, so I had make do with taking photographs of the rooms shown in the brochure we received.

The Beylerbeyi Palace on the Bosphorus

After the Palace tour, we walked along the Bosphorus, to a small mosque where the sultan’s family had worshipped.  Our guide explained that the Muslim faithful gather in a mosque to pray.  Since praying is done with forehead to the ground, there is no furniture in the open space.  There is a pulpit where the Imam delivers words.  Depictions of people are not allowed in mosques, so stained glass windows and decorative murals are made using geometric designs and words from the Koran.  One such panel celebrates the worship of Allah.  Men pray on the main floor.  In this particular mosque, space for the women is provided behind and above the men’s space.

The sultan's mosque.  The golden enclosure in the top left photo was where the royal family sat.  The women were in the balcony area beside it.

One of the interesting things we observed during our free time, was men and boys fishing along the river.  Their primary catch was small fish, about the size of sardines, which they called mackerel. 

The fishermen are on the right.  A plate of mackerel is displayed in a nearby restaurant window.

After leaving Istanbul, our ship sailed south along the Turkish coast, docking in the town of Izmir.  We joined a shore excursion to the ancient town of Sardis.  According to our guide, Sardis was home to one of the seven churches mentioned by John in the Bible book of Revelations.  We visited the remains of a town that had been alternately Persian (7^th century BC), Greek, Roman, and Byzantine.  We particularly were interested in the remains of what had been a Jewish synagogue.  Roman ruins included a two-story gymnasium and baths.  

The top left photo is of the gymnasium.  The others were taken in the Jewish synagogue.

We also walked through an unfinished temple to Artemis (goddess of fertility), where our guide pointed out examples of Ionian columns, both finished and unfinished.  In one corner of the temple are the remains of a Christian church, built in about 400.

The temple and columns from various angles.  The bottom right photo is of the church.

On the island of Crete, our ship docked in Heraklion where we embarked on an excursion to the Palace of Knossos.  This excavated and somewhat restored palace was home to King Minos of the Minoans.  According to Greek mythology, Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa.  The Minoans inhabited Crete in the 7^th century BC.  The site was discovered by a British archaeologist in the early 1900s.  Unfortunately, our guide wasn’t the best, so my recall of what we saw is sketchy.  However, thanks to the internet, I have since learned that the palace was the center of a vibrant coastal trading economy.  The region was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1450 BC.

Ruins, restored murals, and pottery at Knossos

My favorite port on this cruise was the city of Valletta, capital of the island nation of Malta. The views from our ship of the ancient city walls were fascinating.  Malta is in the center of the Mediterranean Sea and therefore has been strategically important for centuries.  At various times, Malta was inhabited/controlled by Venetians, North Africans, Romans, Spaniards, and most recently, the British.  In the 1500s, the king of Spain gave Malta to the Knights of Saint John, who were part of one of the Crusades.  We did not visit the impressive cathedrals of that sect. 

City walls around Valetta.  The dome of the church of the Knights of St John is seen in the top right photo.

We elected to go on a shore excursion that visited the ancient cities of Mdina (walled city) and Rabat (“suburbs“), important in the journeys of the Apostle Paul.  The last two chapters of the Acts of the Apostles detail his time here.  Paul, a Roman prisoner, was being transported by ship to Rome to stand trial.  The boat was shipwrecked on Malta.  Paul performed a number of healing miracles, converting the local people to Christianity.  Our guide claimed that the first Christian church was started here by Paul in 64 AD.  The country is overwhelmingly Christian with 96% of the population being Roman Catholic.  There are 360 churches on Malta.

Walls of the old city of Mdina and street scenes from Rabat.

As part of our tour, we visited a series of catacombs or burial caves.

Our ship also docked in the Italian towns of Taormina (Sicily) and Sorrento.  I had previously spent ten days in Taormina taking a cooking course, and Scott and I spent Christmas in Sorrento one year, so we didn’t do much new exploration in these towns.  

Sorrento as seen from the ship.  The yellow building in the top left photo is where we stayed a few years ago.

We did venture into Taormina and enjoyed meandering through the streets of the old town and beautiful Public Garden before having lunch (in the rain) at a sidewalk café.

Taormina.  The gardens were designed by a Scottish noblewoman who came to Taormina in the 1880s.

Our cruise ended in Civittechia, a port city north of Rome.  We disembarked, rented a car, and headed for the hills where our friends Elizabeth and Carl had rented a villa in Todi.  We enjoyed several days with them, exploring some of the small towns of Umbria. 

Todi sits on the hilltop in the distance of the bottom left photo.  The other photos were taken at the house Elizabeth (photo) graciously shared with us.

 

The photo of our Todi hosts (top right) and the bottom left ones were taken in Spello.  The cathedral is in Spoleto.   The top left and bottom right photos were also taken in Spoleto.  

From Todi we drove to Vetralla, where a long-time friend of mine has lived for the past thirty years.  We stayed in a lovely Agritourismo (Due Casili) and enjoyed exploring more small towns in Lazio and Tuscany with Todd as our very knowledgeable guide.

The photos on the right are of our Agritourismo.  Todd and I are in the bottom center photo.  The top left photo was taken at Todd and Piero's house and the view of the city of Vetralla was taken from their kitchen window.

Todd and his partner Piero took us to the town of Caprarola to visit the Villa Farnese, built in 1500s by a nephew of the Pope of the time.  The villa features a wide spiral staircase that allowed horses to deliver the prince and his guests to the appropriate levels of the palace.  The prince participated in the Council of Trent (painting in the top right below).  One of its tasks was determining how to address “the Lutheran problem.”  Farnese led troops against the Lutheran reformers (middle right painting below).  The villa contains many interesting rooms and paintings. 

We were particularly impressed with the map room, the walls of which were painted with maps of the world, as it was known in the sixteenth century.  The maps were amazingly accurate, even those of the “new world” which had only recently been discovered by the Europeans.  The gardens were quite beautiful.

Villa Farnese:  Palace, paintings, map of the new world, and the garden.  I am between Todd and Piero in the top center photo.

Todd and Piero also took us to Viterbo.  As we made our way to the old walled city, we encountered a procession of people dressed in period costumes, beating on drums, and carrying flags.  Todd and Piero had once lived in Viterbo’s old town where Piero worked as a physician in the hospital which had been built in the 16th century.  It is no longer used as a hospital since a new one has been built.

The old Viterbo hospital is shown in the top left photo.  The tower in the old town square where Piero once lived is in the top right photo.  The bottom photos were taken at the end of the procession through town.

One day Todd took us on a scenic drive through the beautiful Val d’ Orcia in Tuscany.  Our destination, near Montalcino, was a former monastery, the Abbazia Sant’ Antimo, built in the 800s and “remodeled” in the 1100s.  The monks had specialized in medicinal herbs and there is still a small garden with a gift shop were many herbal remedies are sold.  (I bought some balsamic cough drops, but they did little to calm my cough.)

The abbey is shown in the bottom left photo.  The frescos are inside.  The top two photos show views of the area from the abbey.

Our last day of sightseeing was spent in Tarquinia, an ancient Etruscan site. We visited burial grounds from 500 -400 BC, discovered by archaeologists in the 1870s, and the Museum of Etruscan Antiquities (I’m sure that’s not its correct name but does describe its contents). Both were very interesting.

The winged horses sculpture (top left) is in the museum.  The other photos show the burial grounds (necropolis) and some of the decorations celebrating life found inside the tombs.

We stopped by for a last visit with Todd before heading to Rome and an airport hotel.  He wanted to show us his beautiful little Vetralla church.  The Church of Saint Frances was built in 1207!  The mosaic tile floors and frescoed walls are lovely but not well restored and the church was very dark.

Inside the church of St. Francis

As Americans, we tend to think something is old if it was built prior to the Revolutionary War.  Spending time in Europe definitely reminds us of how young our country is.  We are already planning our next trip in the hopes of discovering even more treasures in this ancient land.