Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Amasya


One rental car, 5 women, and a weekend. We decided to check out a charming town called Amasya about 4 hours east of Ankara. Amasya is known for its Pontic king tombs, Ottoman architecture, birthplace of the first geographer, Strabo, home of the first insane asylum that practiced music therapy (the Mongols), and a narrow river valley.
Pontus was a kingdom located in a fertile valley between two rivers. It was established by a refugee-adventurer from a Greek city-state , Mithridates. He established Amasya as the capital of Pontus around 300 BC, and as a result many of the Pontic kings are buried there in tombs carved into the cliffs above the town.
Many people have since occupied the town. Our hotel was stuffed with Ottoman artifacts:





The Ottoman houses along the river, Yesilirmak:



The girls:




The town:


The Pontic King tombs:



The first signs of spring!


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Ummm, there looks to be lots of good potential climbing there! Cyprus looks like a nice trip, we´ll have a friend teaching there next year!