Mt. Nemrut, Chuck Norris, and Iftar

So much continues to happen. It's difficult to capture it all when I only have one or two hours a weekend to access to a computer I can post on. We continue to struggle with having a limited amount of clothing and personal belongings but still seem to find ways to find cool things to do and places to go. Let's start with Chuck Norris.

Karen and I got to shake Chuck Norris' hand and have our picture taken with him. Chuck had been in Iraq visiting the troops and came through Incirlik on the way back to Germany. He was very nice. We were at work in the 39th Medical group and they said Chuck Norris will be coming into the lobby around lunch time. I called Karen and she came up with the camera. There were only about 100 of us in the lobby when he came in. Chuck said he had been wanting to go back to Iraq and thank the troops again but he wanted to do a less formal tour and be able to go into work areas and shake every one's hand. So he said (paraphrase), "...so I only have a limited amount of time but I wanted everyone to know I am grateful for your service, we are thinking of you back home, we pray for you - and I hope to be able to shake each of your hands and you can get a picture if you want to. " They tried to make sure the Americans got to Chuck before the local Turks but I had to laugh when I saw our Med Group shoeshine guy, Jaf, third in line to get his picture with Chuck Norris. Chuck did serve in the Air Force and spent time at March Air Force Base. There is a whole cult thing that has built up around "how bad" or "how tough" Chuck Norris is. For example, "In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone has ever gotten. " My favorite is, "Chuck Norris is so bad that at night the Boogie Man checks his closet for Chuck Norris." We did get one closeup shot of Chuck and somebody took a shot of Karen and I with some of my coworkers and Chuck. We hope to post if we ever get our computer and personal belongings.

As far as personal belongings we are now hearing that could be into November. We will be living out of our suitcases for three months!

Then came Mt Nemrut in the land referred to historically as Commagene; a spectacular must-do experience if you visit Turkey. We went on a Dulmus (small Turkish minibus) with a group of about ten and a tour guide. It was about a five hour drive east. Going east is interesting because a large part of south eastern Turkey is off limits to us due to instability with terrorism, Kurdish nationalists, and the PKK party. I noticed we seemed to be about 90 kilometers west of Diyarbikir, which is off limits. So it was cool to be going right up to that limit. What I like about Mt. Nemrut is that it corrects the idea people have that this continual east/west Asian/Europe conflict is a new idea. The statues at the top of Mt. Nemrut were built by King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene around 62 BC. I think part of what he saw himself as was someone who was able to bring together eastern and western ideas in peace. Ironically, Turkey still finds itself trying to fill the same role today. Here is the Wikipedia explanation: " Nemrut or Nemrud (Turkish: Nemrut Dağ or Nemrut Dağı, Kurdish: Çiyayê Nemrûd, Armenian: Նեմրութ Սար) is a 2,134 meters (7000 ft.) high mountain in eastern Turkey, 40km north of Kahta, near Adıyaman. At the top of Mt. Nemrut, King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene built his tomb-sanctuary along with huge statues (8-9 meters high) of himself, two lions and two eagles, and various Greek and Persian gods such as Hercules, Zeus-Oromasdes (associated with the Persian god Ahura Mazda), Tyche, and Apollo-Mithras in 62 BC. These statues were once seated, with names of each god inscribed on them. The heads of the statues are scattered throughout the site; the pattern of damage to the heads (notably to noses) suggests iconoclasm. There are stone slabs, with bas-relief figures on them, that are thought to have formed a large frieze. These stones display the ancestors of Antiochus, who were Macedonians and Persians both. This tomb contains stone carvings of gods, such as the head of an eagle. The same statues and ancestors found throughout the site can also be found on the tumulus at the site, which is 49 meters tall and 152 meters in diameter. The statues have the likeness of Greek facial features, in conjunction with Persian clothing and hairstyling. The western terrace contains a large slab with a lion, showing the arrangement of stars and the planets Jupiter, Mercury and Mars on July 7 62 BC, the possible time when construction began on this monument. The eastern portion is well preserved, being composed of several layers of rock, and there is evidence of a walled passageway linking the eastern and western terraces, from a path below at the foot of Mount Nemrut. Possible uses for this site might have included religious ceremonies, due to the astronomical and religious nature of the monument.
The arrangement of such statues is known by the term hierothesion. Similar arrangements have been found at Arsameia on Nymphaios at the hierothesion of the father of Antiochus, Mithridates I Callinicus. This tomb was excavated in 1881 by Karl Sester, an engineer from Germany. Subsequent excavations have failed to reveal the tomb of Antiochus. However, this is still believed to be the site of his burial. In 1987, Mt. Nemrut was made a World heritage site by UNESCO. Tourists typically visit Nemrut during June through August. The nearby town of Adıyaman is a popular place for car and bus trips to the site, and one can also travel by helicopter. The statues have not been restored to their original position, although this would not be difficult to do."

To give you an idea of how high up Mt. Nemrut is look at the highest point in this photo and that is where we went to. It is the peak that seems to come to a point:

I believe we stayed in Kahta were I took a couple of great photos of the local children playing underneath our window. We also saw a very old Roman bridge and several other sites of extreme interest. I just don't have time to go into all of them in detail. Mt Nemrut is 7,000 feet high. It can be a little scary going up some of the roads when they turn to gravel or dirt with no guard rail...but an unforgettable experience. It's hard to imagine people building these statues and a tumulus over 2,000 years ago at the top of this mountain:

The pictures are all borrowed off the internet as we still can't post ours.

We also found the nicer more progressive part of Adana when we went to the Iftar at Park Zirve. An Iftar is a large community dinner held during Ramazon at the end of the day's fast. Park Zirve, overlooks the lake at Adana and is truly one of the nicest restaurants I have been in. We ate outside and were entertained by Whirling Dervishes. I had hoped to put a nice pic of Park Zirve but I couldn't find one. Their web site is: http://www.parkzirve.com/ . And if you are wondering what a whirling dervish is here is a pic:

There is so much more to write, but I am out of time. Karen will probably be trying to return to work as cost are more than we thought they would be. I am playing in a fall softball league. And Karen is going to go back to Park Zirve this week for another Iftar with just the ladies.