Experience Turkey

Merhaba dear friends,

It’s Karolina, again. Before my EVS I was reading a lot of articles about EVS, what is it, why to join and so on. I found a lot of information about it, for example how is EVS unique, how it helps to communities, to the society, how you can acquire new skills and abilities useful for your personal and professional growth. But it was all just written information for me, without any specific examples. And also, till you don’t try, you don’t know. In the previous blog I also tried to be more specific, how is it when you live in a different country with different culture. This time I would like to share my adventures from the last month, it will more look like a traveler blog, but don’t forget that EVS is also about traveling and exploring.

I just started my 7th week of volunteering, that’s mean that my volunteering time is almost over. Unfortunately, time flies too fast when you are having fun. During the past month, I have visited Pamukkale, Denizli and Antalya. If you are planning to visit Turkey, don’t skip Pamukalle. I saw many pictures of Pamukalle before I visited this place, but anyway it took my breath away. This surreal, brilliant white travertine terraces and warm, limpid pools filled with calcite-laden water, truly spectacular in its own right is called in English Cotton Castle. I also caught the perfect season for travellıng Pamukalle, it was not so crowded, the weather was perfect and we felt as celebrities (there were plenty of tourists from Asian countries and every time they saw us, wanted to take pictures with us). Besides of this geological phenomenon, you can find in the neighborhood an ancient city of Hierapolis. The thermal spa of Hierapolis was established by the kings of Pergamon.  The ruins of the baths, temples and other Greek monuments can be seen at the site. Hierapolis is an exceptional example of a Greco-Roman thermal installation established on an extraordinary natural site, even thanks to this combination Pamukalle- Hierapolis are on the list of World Heritage. By the way, if you are already in Pamukalle and you like history, make the effort and visit another ancient city of Laodikeia. It’s also on the list of the World Heritage and it’s one of the important archaeological remains for the region along with Hierapolis. Here, you may find the largest ancient stadium of Anatolia.

Also thanks to IYACA, where I can do my short EVS, I visited Antalya. The association organized a great training course about non-formal education for youth workers. Our journey started early in the morning, as we went with a car I could enjoy the spectacular view of nature. We passed a lot of mountains and some lakes, especially the view of Karacaören Barajı stayed in my mind, clear lake surrounded by mountains, it reminded me the nature of my home. After the hilly part of Turkey, we finally arrived in Antalya, seaside. I had the chance to discover Antalya as well.  Antalya is full of natural sights, we visited Düden Waterfalls, it consists of the The Upper Düden Waterfalls and The Lower Düden Waterfalls. The Upper Waterfalls are a series of small cascades in a tranquil municipal park. We could experience a fabulous view through a curtain of a falling water from a cave situated behind the waterfalls. The Lower part of Düden Waterfalls with the ending at the mediterranean sea provides an unforgettable view. Our group was lucky and we even catch the sunset. Not only I could learn more about non-formal education, also I met new, amazing people, full of new ideas and willingness to improve themselves and the educational system in their countries, to make a better world. Thanks to them this week was wonderful. Besides I learnt a lot about the cities we passed on the way from Ankara to Antalya, about the history of Turkey. By the way, did you know that there is a different between çay served in Antalya and çay served in Ankara?