2019 Nov 10 Antalya → Kaş · Museum Day

Sunrise gilded the sea, a golden halo slicing the Mediterranean in two; early boats threaded through the light. I was drowsy and ready to crawl back under the covers, but the day’s “treasure-house of art” chased the sleep from my head—a museum packed with uncountable stone statues, ornate sarcophagi, and glittering gold coins was waiting. I got up, set out, and said goodbye to the room with the 270-degree terrace.
One tip worth saying out loud: if there’s a Chinese audio guide, rent it without hesitation. The upgrade in understanding is lightning-fast; it can stretch your museum time from 10 minutes to 3 hours—assuming you’re interested to begin with. In places without a guide, with nothing but Turkish labels, you feel frantic and lost; after a lap your only reaction might be a string of “wow!”s.
With the tech in hand you learn things like: the figure with a child and a little monster is Dionysus; the woman seated on a bull is Europa with Zeus in disguise—cue the “shy” chapter next; the fine-featured “young man” with spear and shield is actually Athena; this round disk is carved with the zodiac—find your own sign; this sarcophagus is for humans, that one for dogs; the Gate of Hades looked like this; Medusa ended up as a guardian on sarcophagi; and the long-separated halves of Herakles finally reunited across oceans after centuries. The lifelike rendering of skin, the drape of sandy fabrics, the flutter of a wind-blown cloak—so many highlights, all carved from hard stone.
These stone treasures once stood in temples, theatres, arenas, city gates, and palace niches before anti-looting efforts moved them here. After a whole day, even beauty made me a little weary. Three hours on the road later, I slept beside a minaret in the hillside bay town of Kaş.

Postscript. The Dark Church is a cave chapel full of exquisite frescoes that requires an extra 18 lira ticket; the booth sits right at the entrance. Two Chinese tourists were hesitating to buy when a fellow Chinese auntie, in a loud local accent, rushed over to stop them: “It’s tiny and there’s nothing to see—just a scam!” They gave up on the spot. In truth, those 1,700-year-old color frescoes depict the Passion and life of Jesus—bright, vivid, and among the best-preserved in Turkey. We like to say “seeing is believing,” yet more often eyes are open but do not see. A small reminder to people around us: the world has countless viewpoints—if you haven’t seen it yourself, don’t pass along a blind verdict.

2019年11月10日 安塔利亚→卡什 博物馆日，鳗说鳗聊

● 旭日的阳光洒向海面，金色的光晕把地中海切成两块，早起的船只穿行在其中。有些困倦，准备回笼继续咪一小会儿，但计划中的艺术宝库在脑海里催散了困意，一座有着数不清的石头雕像、华丽石棺和金灿灿金币的博物馆在等着我，爬起来，出发，告别270度大阳台的房间。值得提一句的是，只要有中文语音导览就要毫不犹豫地租一台，这种见闻提升是神速的，能让你在博物馆里的时间从10分钟增加到3个小时，当然这需要你本身就有兴趣，在没有导览的地方真是心急如焚，满地的土耳其语，让人摸不着头脑，想象一下，参观完后，眼中只有衣不遮体半裸残破石头像，手中举着各种道具搔首弄姿，见到漂亮雄伟的只能发出“卧槽，卧槽”的单一赞美。但有了这高科技你就会知道：那个身边带孩子和小怪兽是酒神，那个女的屁股下面的牛是宙斯幻化的，下一幕就是羞羞的章节，那个一手持矛一手持盾牌的清秀男子原来是女神雅典娜，这个圆盘上刻的是黄道十二宫，找找自己的宫在哪里，这个石棺是放人的，那个是放狗的，地狱之门长得什么样子，美杜莎是怎么被人追杀最后成了石棺上的守护神，还有身首异处几百年最后才得以从大洋两岸重新团聚的大力神赫拉克勒斯石像。人物能在坚硬的石材上刻画的栩栩如生真是赞叹那个时代工匠的高超技艺，皮肤的柔滑，沙质服装的垂感，风吹起的战袍......看点太多了，但表现材质居然都是坚硬的石头。这些石头宝物原本是矗立在神庙，剧场，角斗场，城门，皇宫的神龛里，随着打击盗墓的团伙被移到了这里。整整一天，审的我连美都有些疲劳。3个小时车程，今天睡在宣礼塔的旁边，山坡上的海湾小镇，卡什。番外篇：黑教堂是一个满是精美壁画需要额外支付18里拉的山洞教堂，售票处就在洞口，两名国人旅行团的游客正在犹豫是否进去，正在要买票之际，一位同是国人的大妈嘈着地方音大声且急促的阻止起来：“里面小的可怜，什么都没有！骗钱的！”原本要买票的两位就这么声情并茂的听从了劝告放弃了这里。其实这18里拉里呈现的是1700年前的基督教耶稣受难及生活的彩色壁画，颜色鲜艳靓丽，人物多而生动，在土耳其这么完好保存的也仅此一处。总是说眼见为实，其实更多的是睁眼不得见，以此场景劝慰周围人，眼界千千万，己不见勿盲传误人。