Swimming in Turkey July - August 1989

Unlike Byron, I have never swum the Hellespont (and am not likely to!) - nor for that matter from the Lido in Venice and all the way up the Grand Canal.  The Hellespont is the narrow channel known now as the Dardanelles, the narrow channel connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

On swimming the Hellespont, on May 3, 1810, Byron wrote:

                                           'I plume myself on this achievement more than I could possibly do any kind of glory, political, poetical or rhetorical.'

I have however, swum in a number of places in Turkey, and here they are.

The BLACK SEA at TERME
20 July 1989

Looks a bit dull, but the water was fantastic and we enjoyed the swim. Really nice body surfing waves.

 



AKDAMAR ISLAND in LAKE VAN, Eastern Turkey
28 July 1989

"The origin and meaning of the island's name is unknown, but is often attributed to an old Armenian legend. According to the tale, an Armenian princess named Tamar lived on the island and was in love with a commoner. This boy would swim from the mainland to the island each night, guided by a light she lit for him. Her father learned of the boy's visits. One night, as she waited for her lover to arrive, he smashed her light, leaving the boy in the middle of the lake without a guide to indicate which direction to swim. They say his dying cries of "Akh, Tamar" (Oh, Tamar) can be heard to this day at night." (Wikipedia)

So the origin of its name may lie in swimming.

On the road from KÂHTA to MT NEMRUT
30 July 1989

A very welcome stop at a restaurant  / camping site on a  long and dusty trip to Mount Nemrut. Not sure of its name but it could be Damlacık

 

KAYA CAMPING,  GÖREME, CAPPADODOCIA
2 August 1989

A lazy day, poolside. Aaaaaaaaaaaah.

SIDE
4 August 1989

After weeks inland, our first sight of the Mediterranean was at Side, where we rushed into the beautiful water and enjoyed a swim in the sea.

 

BELDIBI  on the MEDITERRANEAN with the TAURUS MOUNTAINS in the background.

4 August 1989

A pebbly shore, backed by sand, right at our campsite. Beautiful swimming in calm, crystal clear, warm Mediterranean waters.

Beach between Beldibi and Demre (Myra)
5 August 1989

I don't know the name of this beach, but it was beautiful.  Entrance was 500 Turkish Lire, but that bought a deck chair. That gorgeous, crystal clear water again.

KAPUTAŞ between Kaş and Kalkan - BLUE COVE
6 August 1989

The most exquisite beach. The road crosses a mountain gorge. Below the bridge is this beautiful cove, reached by stairs from the road.

PAMUKKALE ('Cotton Castle')
7 August 1989

Not really swimming, though people used to.  Due to drought, there was not much water in this area of hot springs and travertine terraces. The ancient city of Hierapolis was founded in the 2nd century BC as a thermal spa. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Area, and you can no longer walk over it any more like we did, nor immerse yourself in the waters.

I am glad; when we visited, they were a very big disappointment - littered with cigarette butts and a grey, dirty site. Now, apparently , they have returned to their pristine, gleaming white natural state. The terraces are formed from calcium bicarbonate carried in the spring water.

PAMUKKALE - Swimming in the ancient SACRED POOL
7 August 1989

In the grounds of what was the Pamukkale Motel (now a thermal centre) is the ancient Sacred Pool, warmed by hot springs and littered with underwater fragments of ancient marble columns. It is possibly associated with the Temple of Apollo. It was amazing swimmign around over anceinet ruins! During the Roman period, columned porticoes surrounded the pool; earthquakes toppled them into the water where they now lie.

This is where the spring that feeds the mineral pools of Pamukkale originates.

Cathedrals of the Flesh by Alexia Brue

From the blurb on the back of the book: "A lot of books make you feel dirty. This one makes you wish you were clean." Guardian. Well, that's one of the funniest puffs I've ever heard. Look at that picture on the cover...it's the Gellért Baths in Budapest, and it's the real reason this book makes this Blog, which is titled "Swimming", not "Bathing". One of the great regrets of my (travelling) life is that I never went to the Gellért when I was in Budapest. I did pop my head in, and we did spend the day at the pool complex at St Margaret's Island, but passed up the Gellért. Been kicking myself ever since. Here's another blogger's homage to the Gellért complex: Heaven, dinner and a rooftop bar by Di Campbell. 

 So, back to the book. Alexia Brue and her friend Marina (a Kazakhstani princess, no less) harbour fantasies of setting up their own bathing complex, so Alexia sets out to visit public baths in a variety of countries, including * * home town New York; * * Turkey (where, sadly in my view, she doesn't visit the best hamams in Bursa and its suburbs and Termal, confining herself to Istanbul); * * a search for no-longer existing Roman baths in Ancient Korinth, Greece * * the rich bathing traditions of Russian banyas, Finnish sauna, Japanese onsen (hot spring resorts) and sento (city bathing houses). It's a lovely travelogue/guide to bathing sensations, and some of the facilities and bathing traditions include plunge pools or swimming as one aspect. The Resource Guide at the back has added a few possibilities to my swimming wish list, for example the Caracalla Therme in Baden-Baden, Germany; several more in Budapest, some amazing bathing experiences in Iceland and the luxury hotel/spa Therme Vals in Switzerland.

Australian mythologies - Gallipoli and Swimming

The 1915 landing at Gallipoli has assumed a mythological place in the Australian story. Despite defeat it is a national "coming of age" story, when for the first time Australians and New Zealanders saw themselves as other than "mother country colonials".

In the same way swimming has a place in the concept of Australians as outdoorsy, physical types (despite much obesity-related evidence to the contrary!). The Australian Crawl is the name given to the swimming stroke most commonly used today (the 'front crawl')

Sometime between 1870 and 1890, John Arthur Trudgen learned the front crawl from Native Americans during a trip to South America. (The exact date is disputed, but is most often given as 1873.) However, Trudgen mistakenly used (in Britain) the more common sidestroke (scissor) kick instead of the flutter kick used by the Native Americans. This hybrid stroke was called the Trudgen. Because of its speed the stroke quickly became popular.

The Trudgen was improved by the Australian-born son of swimming teacher, "Professor" Richard (Fred, Frederick) Cavill, champion swimmer Richmond (Dick) Cavill (1884–1938). While he and his brother "Tums" developed the stroke independently, they were later inspired by Alick Wickham, a young Solomon Islander resident in Sydney who swam a version of the crawl stroke that was popular in his home in the Roviana Lagoon. This modified Trudgen stroke became known as the Australian crawl.

So, combine the Gallipoli legend, and the Australian predeliction for swimming, and what happens?

“Swimming in the sea was popular with the men at Anzac particularly as their daily water allowance left little for washing either themselves of their clothes. As the weather turned hot, the beach sometimes looked like a holiday resort. The Turks began lobbing shells into the sea amongst the bathers, but the men continued to swim there. " - from Patrick Carlyon, The Gallipoli Story. Penguin 2003

Jack Buntine, a Gallipoli survivor said in an interview:

"Taking risks in life is recommended; after all, you might be killed crossing the road - but the risks that Buntine took demonstrated a devil-may-care attitude. “Oh, we used to go swimming’ at Gallipoli and they would be shootin’ at us. You’d see bullets goin’ in the water around you - but they didn’t worry me. Johnny Turk was not going to stop me swimmin’. "
From: This website (click)

Below: Beach scene, Anzac Cove

Below: Soldiers swimming from barges, Anzac Cove. As we see below, those soldiers included the British Commandeer of the Australian And NZ troops, Lieutenant Genral William Birdwood.

Below: Birdwood swimming at Anzac Cove, May 1915. "General Birdwood enjoyed a swim when possible. In the water, naked like everyone else, he was sometimes mistaken for a lowly private. Journalist Phillip Schuler wrote that one day a canvas pipe from a water-barge fell into the sea. The barge-man, not recognising the general, yelled at him: ‘Well lend a fellow a *&^%* hand to get the *&^%$^ thing up.’ Birdwood did not punish the barge-man for his rudeness. Rather, he helped out and later delighted in re-telling the story.” Patrick Carlyon, Penguin 2003.

Below: The beach at Anzac Cove.
Below: Mixed media work by Australian artist Sidney Nolan entitled Anazac Swimming at Gallipoli
This article by Steve Meachem says:
"Jane Clark, the deputy chairwoman of Sotheby's Australia and author of Sidney Nolan: Landscapes and Legends said Nolan was staying with the novelist George Johnson on the Greek island of Hydra in 1956 when he visited the war correspondent Alan Moorehead, who had written his best-selling account of Gallipoli on the nearby island of Spetsae. Nolan was struck by the similarities between the first Anzacs and the Homeric heroes.

In the 1950s Gallipoli was much less established in Australian mythology than now. Most of the focus was on World War II. But in the Gallipoli campaign, Ms Clark said, Nolan saw the same "legend of failure" that attracted him to the stories of Ned Kelly and of Burke and Wills.
Perhaps Nolan was thinking of his own less-than-heroic military failure. In July 1945, fearing front-line duty in New Guinea, he deserted from the army. Still it was these Gallipoli paintings that consolidated his international reputation."

Below: Swimmers at Gallipoli by Sidney Nolan (Australian War Memorial collection)

Istanbul, Turkey

21 May 2006. My friend's house near İstanbul

Pamukklale Motel, Turkey

A really unusual pool in the grounds of the Pamukkale Motel, with submerged fragments of fluted marble columns. Loved floating around here, and swimming underwater amongst all the ruined bits.

Kaya Camping, Cappadocia, Turkey

This pool at the Kaya Camping Ground between Urgup and Goreme is fantastic when you are travellign around in summer in Turkey. On our trip we spent one whole day lounging around here, recovering from the rigours of travel!

These two Canadians enjoyed it too! Click here.

Near Mt Nemrut, Eastern Turkey

This was one of the most refreshing swims I've ever had. A hot, dusty day. Not exactly sure where it was, but on the road somewhere between Kahta and Nemrut.