Go take a flying leap

I did.

Got back from Ephesus and Pamukkale, where I saw some fabulous ruins, an incredible calcified mountain with thermal springs. After that, I decided to take a flying leap off a cliff.

At the ruins of Hieropolis, in Pamukkale (where the calcifications are; “Pamukkale” means “cotton castle,” and it’s so named because the calcification is so white that it looks like snow or sand, but it’s really calcium-rich hot springs), I saw some paragliders high over the mountain. At first, I thought they were para-sailing, but realized that, other than the spectacular thermal baths, there wasn’t enough water to have a rowboat, let alone parasailing. They were coming off the mountain, not the water.

BC bathrooms

Didn’t really give it a second thought – other than “someday!” – until later, when my traveling companion said she’d mentioned it to our tour guide and he said it could be arranged after the Pamukkale tour ended, as we’d have free time before the airport.

Backing up, TC and I had knocked off the weekend for a two-day exploration of Ephesus (destination of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians) and Pamakkule, the cotton castle and ancient ruins. After an unholy early morning that involved 2:30 alarms, a pickup for the airport, which at the crack of 3:45 a.m. was a half hour late, a before 6 a.m. flight and hustling between an airport pickup and a couple of tour directors by 8:30, we explored Ephesus, which was phenomenal.

Ephesus encompasses a wide area. It was, after all, a city of 250,000. There’s an upper and a lower city with two marketplaces – where Paul sold his tents. At the time, it was a beach town and I could see people camping on the beach. Except now, the beach is about 8 kilometers away whereas Ephesus had been a port with a walkway from the docks to the amphitheater. It must have been quite a site to get off the ship and walk toward the city with the crowd – the thing seated 25,000 – right in view.

Ephesus library

The library is the highlight, of which the façade is the only thing that’s been rebuilt. There is an underground tunnel from the library directly to the brothel, so men could tell their wives they’d be at the library and then go get a hands-on anatomy class.

The panel with Nike was fascinating. I knew the shoe company had ripped off the goddess’ name, but hadn’t realized the swoosh had been lifted, too. If you look just below the right hand, you can see that the robe thing is flowing, and it’s in the shape of the shoe’s swoosh. The hand is pointed down at the curve in what we know as the swoosh. (Further evidence that nothing is original.)

One unexpected turn was the men’s bathroom. The centuries BC bathrooms were nicer than some I’ve seen in my travels! Made of marble, there were essentially 45 seats – holes in the marble, all sided-by-side. Underneath, there would have been running water to wash away everything right into the Aegean Sea. And during the winter, when marble was cold, apparently the wealthy pottie users would dispatch their slaves to go take a seat to warm it up.

It seemed a little close for comfort, but hey, what do I know? I stay out of men’s restrooms if possible. But even now, we have urinals, so we haven’t exactly evolved from the B.C. bathrooms. No reading material, though.

Parmukkale, "cotton castle" calcification

The amphitheater was pretty incredible, and, like I said, it must have been a sight to see upon docking. We saw where the gladiators would have entered, and where the doomed – many times Christians – would have entered to meet their fate.

Cruel entertainment, for sure. This was during Roman Empire times, but somehow, based on recent events, I don’t think the thirst for blood has been quenched.

We also saw the site of Artemis, the site of an ancient wonder of the world. There’s only one column left standing – Romans re-used parts of it in other buildings after earthquakes and such – but man, it’s an impressive sight.

The following day, we hit Heirpolis, a city that’s almost completely unexcavated ruins. They’re in the process of digging things up, but it was really this huge area of columns and stones, with some buildings being re-created behind the city walls, which were also being put back together again. The amphitheater and church there were impressive, and the medieval castle, which overlooked the calcified mountain, was incredible.

Those were right next to the thermal baths, including the pool that Cleopatra bathed in as Marc Antony’s wife. The pools were simply amazing. I’ve got one photo here, but if you Google “cotton castle” some utterly fabulous photos will appear.

Hieropolis

We waded up and down the baths, which were mostly warm and toasty. It looked just like white sand or ice, so it was always a surprise to step and have it not only be warm but firm as well. The view was basically a small mountaintop, so it overlooked a valley. And over the valley there were people paragliding here and there.

After lunch and a mandatory sales pitch for minerals, we were rather unceremoniously dumped off a hotel, a holding spot until an airport pickup three hours later. Before Octavius the Guide left, I asked about the possibility of paragliding, and wondered if the hotel operator would be the one to arrange it.

Octavius picked up the phone and started talking to someone on the other end, then he asked two guys who’d been in our small group if they’d want to go, too. He said it would be cheaper if more of us went. (TC had no interest).

The guys, both Malaysian health professionals and one of whom worked in Saudi, said OK, but then the guide pretty much left. I had no idea where it stood, and I went up to find a bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came back down, I heard TC say, “Oh, there she is.”

Nike. See the swoosh?

We had no idea that it was on, but apparently so. The three of us hopped into a nondescript van that didn’t need shocks because the seats bounced up and down to cushion the ride. It was kind of surreal because we really hadn’t put any planning into doing it and just hopped in.

The van slowed down, basically a California stop, in front of a storefront and four maybe mid-30 guys hopped in. They slammed the door and we were gone. It would have been scarier except I did notice the storefront sign said “Pamukkale Hijackers.” Who’s to say what is legit in Turkey?

We wound up some tiny and bumpy roads, and at one point I saw this decrepit building with an iron gate – but no fence – on the side. I thought it was rather dilapidated, and suddenly we whipped through it – that was the front door.

The road, never nicely paved to begin with, suddenly saw a drop in quality, and then we rounded a corner and, in a cloud of dust, we were on top of the mountain.

We were really doing this.

Now, I’ve skydived and hang-glided. I dove with sharks. I lived in Jakarta. I do not have much issue with doing things that other people consider a little nuts.

I also pondered those decisions. This one, it went from thought crossing an otherwise empty head to fruition in about 20 minutes, and about 18.5 of those minutes were spent bouncing up and down in the springy, squeaky seat of a van that probably predated women’s suffrage.

Hustled out of the car, I was told to abandon my Chacos for some flimsy but closed-toed shoes that had probably seen more feet than your average bowling alley footwear, then commanded to follow a guy in a blue shirt – one of the people who’d jumped in the van.

I can’t say I caught his name, but about two minutes later, I was hooked up to him and had him briefing me on what to do. And this time, when I say brief, I mean it. There was no “OK, did you catch that?” or “Any questions?” It was “do this and then this.”

The instruction came down as the guy in the blue shirt who I was connected to was running towards a cliff. I had no choice but to run, too, and then jump. Off a cliff.

Not that I remember jumping, but it didn’t matter. I was concentrating on not losing the borrowed shoes, which had come loose during the run. I must have taken the flying leap, though, because next thing I knew I was flying, and Mr. I’m-in-His-Lap asked in my ear if I wanted to fly or land.

How do you answer that? I wanted to do both!

So we flew for awhile, going back and forth over this crevasse, where I could see a view of the whole valley – calcifications and town and all. It was pretty amazing.

I’d taken off first, and I saw one of the two Malaysian guys jump next. They headed pretty much straight down – glide down, I mean, not dropped like a rock – but we continued to go back and forth over a smaller area for a few more minutes.

When Mr. Lap asked again if I was ready to glide down, I said after the second Malaysian guy went, we’d follow them. So we did that, and the view expanded to the whole ruined area, the whole calcifications and the whole nine years. The area with ruins was much, much larger than we’d walked – I’d missed a very long road with a gate out the other direction.

The bird’s eye view gives you just an incredible perspective of how beautiful God’s handiwork is. I had such a good time, but figured at some point I had to land.

Only at that juncture did it occur to me that something could go wrong. Nothing did, but it was odd that at no point did I ever encounter any apprehension or have any thought that, gee, I could get taken up a gust and smacked into a mountain.

We were sailing over some tall pine trees and I do remember thinking that maybe we could get hung up on them, but that really doesn’t happen in gliding. You do (or Mr. Lap did) have control of the steering, and even if you don’t have any wind, there’s still air resistance, so you’re pretty good for landing somehow, so long as there’s a clearing.

And there was. We came down in a corn field, where “knee high by the Fourth of July” doesn’t mean anything. These little guys were only about a foot tall. I asked Mr. Lap how to land and he said “just stand up.” I remember thinking that was a bit nuts, but it really was that easy. Unlike the skydiving – we slid in on our butts – we just came down and stood still.

A random truck came to pick us up, then we met the other two jumpers where they’d landed. They took us back to the nondescript storefront, where we paid (seriously, they waited til after to take our money – very un-American!) and then took us back to the hotel like nothing had happened.

I can’t say it was a bucket list item because it never occurred to me to do it, but now I’ve jumped off a cliff.