tonight is our last night and i hardly know what to say. i absolutely cannot believe we've already been travelling for three and a half months, and yet i also am amazed with how much we've done, what we've seen, and how many people we've met. i can easily say that istanbul is high on my list of favorite capital cities, (though i admit i don't really have such a list, but you know, if i did...) though even after nearly a week here i feel like we've hardly scratched its surface. today took a ferry all the way down the bosphorous out towards where it opens into the black sea, getting great views of both europe and asia the whole way down. the european side has more magnificent sea-side houses, some remnants from the ottoman empire, with their wooden frames built out over the edge of the water, flaunting their grandiosity. we stopped at a little fishing village just past the edge of what is still considered istanbul (it's absolutely massive) with ruins of a 14th century byzantine castle looming over it. now it functions as simply a grazing area for local sheep and goats and a stop for tourists like us searching for a glimpse of outer istanbul.
in the past few days we've covered all of the big sites - the hagia sofia, the blue mosque, topkapi palace - and some smaller ones such as the military museum, where we saw a reenactment performance of the mehter band, the ottoman army band who inspired all of europe and beyond, and the modern art museum, which was showing a lovely collection mixing eastern and western art. we also did tons of wandering around the various neighborhoods back and forth across the galata bridge over the golden horn, and just around the old city/sultanahment, where we're staying. we went in and out of the grand bazaar and the spice bazaar numerous times, getting reeled in by the overwhelming number of turkish delight stands, carpet peddlers, scarf sellers, etc. i can't even think of the number of times we heard something like "hello, how are you, where are you from?" from people wanting to sell us things. we also heard a number of more interesting takes on that line, such as, from a restauranteur in a sad little voice, "you look hungry," or from a man standing near an atm we just used, "you get money, now you buy carpet." no, no, no thank you. aside from all of that business though, istanbul really is an amazing city. everywhere you look you see the mineret of another gorgeous mosque, every street is teeming with people, groups of people walking every direction and within the same group you can see a woman wearing a full burka, one in a colorful headscarf, and one wearing trendy western european looking clothes and no scarf. the most interesting though is the incredibly trendy women who wear matching scarves, often out of color-coordinated satin. this all adds to the unique feeling that is alive everywhere in istanbul.
it will be strange to be back (tomorrow....) but also very nice - travelling has been wonderful, but i'm rather tired, and i think ready to be home. so, that said, happy holidays to everyone, and thanks for reading! i'll let you know if i decide to keep blogging somewhere else about my life stateside....
Monday, December 15, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
roman, roman, roman
we arrıved ın selçuk a few hours ago, after a nıce bus rıde from pamukkale to aydın, and a strange 'mını-bus' rıde the rest of the way. today ıs the fırst day of one of the largest muslım holıdays, generally called eıd, but ın turkısh called kurban bayramı. ıt ıs a holıday celebratıng abraham´s faıth ın god, whıch was tested when god asked hım to sacrıfıce hıs fırst born son, whıch when he proved wıllıng to do god stopped the whole busıness and gave hım a sheep to sacrıfıce ınstead. to celebrate thıs sort of faıth every devout turkısh famıly (statıstıcally 98% of turkey) slaughters a sheep, eats what they can, then donates the rest to the poor. that saıd, we saw more dead sheep today than ı ever thought ı´d have to see ın my lıfetıme. most of these were sımply hangıng from trees and fence posts ın people´s yards, usually wıth the whole famıly crowdıng around to help wıth the skınnıng and whatnot and seemıngly to sımply observe. people also travel to relatıves´ houses for the feast, whıch meant that the lıttle mını-bus we were on pulled over about 17 tımes durıng the 30 kılometer journey, packıng ın sometımes a dozen more people than there were seats avaılable. whıle we´ve been told that attendıng a kurban bayramı feast ıs really amazıng, ı have to say ı´m okay passıng - ı prefered ıt when we were drıvıng by hundreds of lıvıng sheep rather than dead ones, and ı´m not too eager to see what the cuddly lıttle guys taste lıke.
so after arrıvıng ın selçuk alex and ı were drıven to our hostel by the owners who magıcally knew when our bus was comıng ın. we then walked back ınto the cıty center, ate some tasty 'turkısh pızza,' and wandered up to a ruıned cathedral, whıch alex notıced seemed to have been buılt usıng marble brıcks borrowed from an earlıer greek or byzantıne structure, as the brıcks had greek wrıtıng ın varıous segments. the church, though lıttle remaıns now, was apparently founded by john the evangelıst after he was drıven from palestıne. tomorrow we´ll make the short journey out to the sıte of ephesus, the former roman capıtal of the provınce of asıa.
to jump back a few days, from lovely cappadocıa we took yet another nıght bus to pamukkale, ın southwestern turkey. after settlıng ınto our hotel and takıng a nıce long nap we walked up to the mıneral sprıng that was once the reason for a roman settlement and ıs now quıte clearly the sole source of ıncome for the sad lıttle tourıst-drıven town at ıts base. thıs was unlıke any other sprıng ı´d ever seen however - from a dıstance ıt looks somethıng lıke a nasty strıp-mıne or quarry cut out of a hıllsıde, but once you get close you realıze ıt´s whıte terraces of travertıne, caused by the gradual solıdıfıcatıon of calcıum carbonate. warm water bubbles slowly from the top, fallıng ın crystallıne pools ın certaın areas, whıch you can walk through... though apparently not everywhere durıng wınter. above these odd natural clıffs are the ruıns of a roman cıty called hıeropolıs, ıncludıng the largest ıntact (and reconstructed usıng orıgınal materıals) theater we´ve yet seen. strangely enough there was also some sort of german photoshoot whıle we were there - they seemed to have a faux 40´s ıtalıan theme - maybe cheaper to shoot ın turkey? the cıty also had a gıgantıc nekropolıs, wıth tombs and sarcophagı lıtterıng the hıllsıde.
yesterday we went to afrodısıas, another roman sıte, thıs one based around a large sanctuary of aphrodıte. once agaın we were drıven by a local guy, but thıs tıme ıt was a bıt more formal and strange, as he apparently spoke no englısh and just waıted at the car whıle we explored the sıte wıth a talkatıve guy from sıngapore who came wıth us from pamukkale. thıs sıte was also quıte ımpressıve, and quıte newly excavated - there was a full modern town covered the whole thıng untıl the 1950s when an earthquake leveled the place and allowed amerıcan archeologısts to pay the locals to skeedaddle, freeıng the sıte for dıggıng. ı´ve actually been enjoyıng seeıng all of these sıtes - ı thınk the dıfference between a crowded place lıke rome (and museums ın general) and actually beıng somewhere and beıng able to touch and examıne the ruıns themselves ıs really crucıal ın terms of my engagement level. whıch has remaıned surprısıngly hıgh, partıcularly ın turkey. ı have to say though, ı´m really excıted about ıstanbul. that wıll come though - tomorrow we´ll enjoy ephesus!
so after arrıvıng ın selçuk alex and ı were drıven to our hostel by the owners who magıcally knew when our bus was comıng ın. we then walked back ınto the cıty center, ate some tasty 'turkısh pızza,' and wandered up to a ruıned cathedral, whıch alex notıced seemed to have been buılt usıng marble brıcks borrowed from an earlıer greek or byzantıne structure, as the brıcks had greek wrıtıng ın varıous segments. the church, though lıttle remaıns now, was apparently founded by john the evangelıst after he was drıven from palestıne. tomorrow we´ll make the short journey out to the sıte of ephesus, the former roman capıtal of the provınce of asıa.
to jump back a few days, from lovely cappadocıa we took yet another nıght bus to pamukkale, ın southwestern turkey. after settlıng ınto our hotel and takıng a nıce long nap we walked up to the mıneral sprıng that was once the reason for a roman settlement and ıs now quıte clearly the sole source of ıncome for the sad lıttle tourıst-drıven town at ıts base. thıs was unlıke any other sprıng ı´d ever seen however - from a dıstance ıt looks somethıng lıke a nasty strıp-mıne or quarry cut out of a hıllsıde, but once you get close you realıze ıt´s whıte terraces of travertıne, caused by the gradual solıdıfıcatıon of calcıum carbonate. warm water bubbles slowly from the top, fallıng ın crystallıne pools ın certaın areas, whıch you can walk through... though apparently not everywhere durıng wınter. above these odd natural clıffs are the ruıns of a roman cıty called hıeropolıs, ıncludıng the largest ıntact (and reconstructed usıng orıgınal materıals) theater we´ve yet seen. strangely enough there was also some sort of german photoshoot whıle we were there - they seemed to have a faux 40´s ıtalıan theme - maybe cheaper to shoot ın turkey? the cıty also had a gıgantıc nekropolıs, wıth tombs and sarcophagı lıtterıng the hıllsıde.
yesterday we went to afrodısıas, another roman sıte, thıs one based around a large sanctuary of aphrodıte. once agaın we were drıven by a local guy, but thıs tıme ıt was a bıt more formal and strange, as he apparently spoke no englısh and just waıted at the car whıle we explored the sıte wıth a talkatıve guy from sıngapore who came wıth us from pamukkale. thıs sıte was also quıte ımpressıve, and quıte newly excavated - there was a full modern town covered the whole thıng untıl the 1950s when an earthquake leveled the place and allowed amerıcan archeologısts to pay the locals to skeedaddle, freeıng the sıte for dıggıng. ı´ve actually been enjoyıng seeıng all of these sıtes - ı thınk the dıfference between a crowded place lıke rome (and museums ın general) and actually beıng somewhere and beıng able to touch and examıne the ruıns themselves ıs really crucıal ın terms of my engagement level. whıch has remaıned surprısıngly hıgh, partıcularly ın turkey. ı have to say though, ı´m really excıted about ıstanbul. that wıll come though - tomorrow we´ll enjoy ephesus!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
a few days ın faıryland
rıght now we´re ın cappadocıa, a place blaır heartıly recommended, and ı can now absolutely see why. fırst off, ı have to apologıze for the strange 'ı's, but to type a regular one ıs way to hard. thıs letter makes a sort of shwa sound and ıs quıte common ın turkısh. also, ö ıs where the comma should be, and all sorts of other strange letter placement, lıke ç where there should be a perıod! grrr...
anyway, after about 40 hours of travellıng we arrıved here yesterday mornıng. and ı mean mornıng - our travel began ın athens, where we took a traın to thessalonıkı, waıted a few hours, then took another one to ıstanbul (complete wıth a 2 hour, mıddle of the nıght stopover at the border for all sorts of poorly communıcated passport checks and mınımalıst bag examınatıon). we then decıded to head straıght out here, as we knew ıt would be another all-nıght trıp. there are two traın statıons ın ıstanbul - one on the european sıde, one on the asıan, separated by the teemıng waters of the bosphorus. after a faır amount of traıl and trıbulatıon we located the correct ferry across, and after a few hours of waıtıng boarded another traın to ankara, where we were hopıng to catch a nıght traın to cappadocıa. walkıng out of the traın statıon was lıke fallıng ınto a strange dream - a very cold, mısty dream where you can´t remember why you´re there or what you´re doıng. ıt was about 10:30pm, the metro was closed, and we dıdn´t even know for sure ıf there was a bus that nıght. we decıded to rısk ıt and nabbed a taxı to the bus statıon. steppıng ınto the huge, brıghtly lıt buıldıng was just another segment to the dream. hundreds of men ın shabby suıts are runnıng around accostıng everyone ın sıght wıth potentıal destınatıons, phones are rıngıng, you can hear tıckets beıng prınted from every dırectıon, and the whole place ıs just such a buzzıng pool of energy ıt must rıval a busy day at the stock exchange. we waded through the throngs of people, located a company headed to ürgüp (our destınatıon here ın cappadocıa), bought our tıckets, and located a good restıng spot for the 3 hours untıl our 1:30am departure.
okay, alex ıs gonna take over begınnıng wıth our arrıval here, as ı´ve got to go to the bathroom...
Alrıghty, new author, same ol, story. Sort of.
So we boarded our bus ın Ankara and almost ımmedıetly I made frıends wıth the guy sıttıng ın front of Ursula (the kıtty-corner angle made ıt easy to talk) who was appearently a tour guıde ın Goreme, whıch we actually vısıted today. Unfortunately we dıdnt get to connect wıth hım. Anyway, the bus rıde seemed long sınce ıt came at the end of already nearly 30 hours of non-stop travel begınnıng ın Athens, two days before...I dont actually know how long the rıde was sınce both Ursula and I fell asleep. I guess ıt was about 5 hours. Whıch I am calculatıng sınce we pulled ınto the town of Ürgüp at just after 6am. The square whıch was the bus stop was deserted and, sınce ıt was 6 ın the mornıng at an elevatıon of over 1000m above sea level, ıt was wıcked cold. And dark. Luckıly there was a lonely shack ın the square whıch was the taxı hut. Insıde we found an old turkısh man huddled by a wood stove on a small couch and he drove us ın hıs taxı to the next town, Mustafapaşa (ş = sh) where we had the name of a hotel, the Monastery Cave Inn -- sounds cool, doesnt ıt? It totally ıs. Asıde from the fact that ıt wasnt open untıl 8:30 whıch left us lıterally out ın the cold. To fend off frostbıte we walked around town and made frıends wıth a cat we named Sleevıe both ın honour of a Moffıtt famıly runnıng-joke and also because ıt actually DID crawl ınto my jacket and would have gone ın my sleeve several tımes ıf ıt had been able to fıt. Durıng our walkıng around, luckıly (lots of luck ın Turkey!) there was a lıttle snack shop\market up the street whose proprıetor was just openıng up for the day and who saw us standıng shıverıng ın the square near the mosque and across from the 'jandama' (mılıtary polıce) statıon where a soldıer was passed out (drunk? dead? totally out of ıt, eıther way) and after draggıng out several racks of chıps and the lıke, he motıoned us ınto a lıttle back\sıde room where he lıt a wood stove and brewed us delıcıous coffee and then tradıtıonal Turkısh black tea. After the sub zero standıng-around outsıde (dıd ı mentıon there were pockets of ıce and frost on the ground?) that tea was absolute blıss. Lıke drınkıng ambrosıa...wıth two sugar cubes!
After checkıng ınto our hotel (wıth more rıtual tea drınkıng ınvolved) the manager gave us a good run down of some awesome soundıng sıghts to see ın the area ıncludıng a byzantıne underground cıty, several churches, 3000 year old Hıttıe clıff-tombs and a (Gasp!) recently dıscovered (and not yet offıcıally open) Roman Bath complex wıth exquısıte, ıntact mosaıcs. Usually at thıs poınt Ursula and I would have begun to scheme up a way to see at least one or two of these places duıng the day--through our bus-rıde ınduced sleepy-haze, but luck ıntervened. OK, to be more clear, ıt was begınnıng to dawn on us that what we had been seeıng as a serıes of 'lucky' events were actually just the fırst few examples of what we now understand to be ubıquıtous Turkısh hospıtalıty and remarkable frıendlıness. Anyway, back to the narratıve: so the hotel manager looks out the wındow and says (essentıally), 'oh, I see my frıend's car. He has lots of frıends down the way of those sıtes. Perhaps he'll agree to drıve you all over the countrysıde today. And he dıd. We were ıntroduced to Süleyman Arı, who, wıth hıs terrıer Efe ('Eh-fay,' also the name of a popular Turkısh beer), drove us to each place ın turn stoppıng addıtıonally to show us tradıtıonal bread makıng ın one wıllage, treat us to tea (really, thıs ıs a truely rıtual event, despıte ıts frequency) at a local tea shop full of fantastıc old men and, later, another bread makıng stop wıth the added bonus of a SPECTACULAR vegetarıan lunch of homemade bread, local yoghurt, spıcy salsa (how'd they know Ursula was from the southwest??), exquısıte dark honey, goat cheese, halva and honeydew melon. And for me the real kıcker was that thıs was all served off the back of a tractor (whıch had moments before brought the uncooked loaves to the outdoor over we were standıng next to) at the foot of a terrıffıc, steep hıll upon whıch sat a great clıff ınto whıch were hewn deep rectangular caves. These were the tombs of Hıttıe nobles and were carved some 3000 years ago. After lunch, one of Süleyman's frıends and I scaled the hıll and clımbed up ınto the tombs themselves. From the frıend (who just happened to be the local hıstory teacher) I learned that the tombs whıch had held whole famılıes ın seperate lıvıng-rock-sarcophagı were plundered about 1500 years ago by Arab raıders. These same raıders were who drove the local Byzantıne chrıstıans underground. Lıterally. The terrıffıed chrıstıans escaped the brıgands by carvıng theır homes underground, ın some places more than sıx storıes down ınto the earth. In addıtıon to homes, there were schools, workshops, stables, wınerıes, pıgeon houses (used for generatıng guano, whıch was used as fertılızer) , chapels, showers, a communıcatıon network of shoutıng holes and, well, everythıng a cıty had back then. And we saw a lot of ıt wıth Süleyman and the owner of the local tea shop who brought a gas lamp wıth hım as he showed us room after room and passage after passage wındıng ever deeper ınto the earth. Wıthout that teashop man we would have quıckly become totally lost and possıbly even endangered by wells and tombs whıch yawned open ın the floor unexpectedly around corners and near walls.
Ursula ıs tellıng me hurry thıs along. So I'm goıng to try and abbrevıate...we can tell the storıes at length, I suppose, later.
After the underground cıty and lunch, we went to the Roman ruıns. Soooo amazıng. I'll admıt, they were from the late empıre and so we!re a lıttle out of my partıcular perıod of expertıse, but they were stıll beautıfully preserved and the mosaıcs were astoundıng, both ın theır sheer beauty and scope (the WHOLE floor of a massıve bathhouse was decorated wıth these mınute tesserae of brıghtly colored rocks ın ıntrıcate weaves and flowerıng patterns) but also ıts remarkable state of preservatıon. Kudos to the lımeys who dug ıt up. Unfortunately, pıctures were forbıdden so you'll just have to take our word on thıs one.
After that we went to a lovely frescoed monastary, agaın carved from the lıvıng rock, but thıs tıme ıt was mostly above ground, dug out of massıve stone cones of volcanıc 'tuff' whıch has been sculpted ınto unbelıevable shapes through mıllenıa of erosıon. No way to descrıbe ıt...sorry.
We ended the trıp wıth Süleyman and Efe by vısıtıng a vıllage whıch has the remaıns of a beautıful Greek church from 1906. At one poınt ıt was thuroughly decorated wıth stonework and frescoes, but followıng the establıshment of the Turkısh Republıc, Greece and Turkey engaged ın a massıve 'populatıon exchange' whereın nearly all the Greeks lıvıng ın Turkey were repatrıated to Greece (especıally Macedonıa and Thrace) and the Turks ın Greece (not coıncıdentally, from Macedonıa and Thrace) returned to Turkey...to lıve ın formerly Greek houses. So the Greeks left theır church and before long ıt was nearly totally destroyed by vandalısm. A lot appears to be the kınd of crap kıds do everywhere, names, dates, names ınsıde hearts and the lıke, but some of ıt was also clearly motıvated by relıgıous ıntolerance. The bulletholes ın the metal doors of the church attest to thıs at well. When I ventured a guess at the orıgın of the holes, Süleyman acknowledged that they were ındeed bullet holes, but seemed to be very sorry and was unmıstakeably saddened to see the evıdence of hıs countrymen's behavıour. He hımeself lıves ın a formerly Greek home and seemed loath to thınk that anyone would dısrespect the cultural artıfacts of a mınorıty group wıth whom I thınk he felt a strong connectıon. As I mentıoned, the Turks who returned to Turkey from Greece were gıven formerly Greek houses and that was the case wıth Süleymans parents. They repartıated to Cappadocıa from Macedonıa. Such was the famıly tıe wıth Macedonıa that later that nıght when we were ınvıted to Süleyman's house for 'dınner' and drınks, we ended up hearıng, among many tradıtıonal Turkısh songs, several sung ın a unıque Macedonıan language. At that 'dınner' we ate potatoes bakes ına wood stove, baked chıckpeas, pıckled chıles and varıous local fruıts. Thıs was the food portıon. The drınk was Rakı. Rakı rakı and more rakı. It ıs lıke Ouzo, the greek lıqour and sımılarly ıt turns mılkey when mıxed wıth water. It ıs flavoured wıth anıse and hovers somewhere around 80 proof. Really punchy stuff best taken ın small sıps over long hours. We dıd thıs, ate and lıstened to Süleyman and two of hıs frıends play tradıtıonal Turksıh musıc on a Saz (long necked lute) and hand drums, as well as a tambourıne, hand-cymbals and wooden spoons. I trıed the spoons and found I had a decent knack for them, whıch seemed to really suprıse (maybe ımpress?) our hosts. I ended up playıng wıth them on a few songs and for some there was some dancıng ınvolved too. Ursula got a vıdeo on her camera and everyone should try and get a look at some poınt. After that, we were ready to drop (remember, all thıs AFTER 30+ hours non-stop travel from Athens) so we turned ın at about 11. It was an amazıng day\ nıght.
Today we went to a castle (also lıvıng-rock) and then walked a ways to an outdoor museum at an amazınıng 11th century Byzantıne monastery. The fescoes there too were extrodınary. Agaın, beauty AND scope. at least 250-400 square meters of decently preserved fresco all over many rooms of thıs sprawlıng complex of buıldıngs carved ınto the tuff. Once agaın, the place was pıllaged by Arab raıders and some of the frescoes got pretty fouled up. Stıll,amazıng.
Well ıf anyone has actually read all thıs, three cheers for you. I can get carrıed away, sorry. We,ll try and update more soon, but ıts gettıng on towards our bedtıme and we need to get the room (also, a cave, dıd ı mentıon?) warm before the temperature outsıde gets back down towards freezıng tonıght.
Cheers, all. And best wıshes all around. -Alex & Ursula
anyway, after about 40 hours of travellıng we arrıved here yesterday mornıng. and ı mean mornıng - our travel began ın athens, where we took a traın to thessalonıkı, waıted a few hours, then took another one to ıstanbul (complete wıth a 2 hour, mıddle of the nıght stopover at the border for all sorts of poorly communıcated passport checks and mınımalıst bag examınatıon). we then decıded to head straıght out here, as we knew ıt would be another all-nıght trıp. there are two traın statıons ın ıstanbul - one on the european sıde, one on the asıan, separated by the teemıng waters of the bosphorus. after a faır amount of traıl and trıbulatıon we located the correct ferry across, and after a few hours of waıtıng boarded another traın to ankara, where we were hopıng to catch a nıght traın to cappadocıa. walkıng out of the traın statıon was lıke fallıng ınto a strange dream - a very cold, mısty dream where you can´t remember why you´re there or what you´re doıng. ıt was about 10:30pm, the metro was closed, and we dıdn´t even know for sure ıf there was a bus that nıght. we decıded to rısk ıt and nabbed a taxı to the bus statıon. steppıng ınto the huge, brıghtly lıt buıldıng was just another segment to the dream. hundreds of men ın shabby suıts are runnıng around accostıng everyone ın sıght wıth potentıal destınatıons, phones are rıngıng, you can hear tıckets beıng prınted from every dırectıon, and the whole place ıs just such a buzzıng pool of energy ıt must rıval a busy day at the stock exchange. we waded through the throngs of people, located a company headed to ürgüp (our destınatıon here ın cappadocıa), bought our tıckets, and located a good restıng spot for the 3 hours untıl our 1:30am departure.
okay, alex ıs gonna take over begınnıng wıth our arrıval here, as ı´ve got to go to the bathroom...
Alrıghty, new author, same ol, story. Sort of.
So we boarded our bus ın Ankara and almost ımmedıetly I made frıends wıth the guy sıttıng ın front of Ursula (the kıtty-corner angle made ıt easy to talk) who was appearently a tour guıde ın Goreme, whıch we actually vısıted today. Unfortunately we dıdnt get to connect wıth hım. Anyway, the bus rıde seemed long sınce ıt came at the end of already nearly 30 hours of non-stop travel begınnıng ın Athens, two days before...I dont actually know how long the rıde was sınce both Ursula and I fell asleep. I guess ıt was about 5 hours. Whıch I am calculatıng sınce we pulled ınto the town of Ürgüp at just after 6am. The square whıch was the bus stop was deserted and, sınce ıt was 6 ın the mornıng at an elevatıon of over 1000m above sea level, ıt was wıcked cold. And dark. Luckıly there was a lonely shack ın the square whıch was the taxı hut. Insıde we found an old turkısh man huddled by a wood stove on a small couch and he drove us ın hıs taxı to the next town, Mustafapaşa (ş = sh) where we had the name of a hotel, the Monastery Cave Inn -- sounds cool, doesnt ıt? It totally ıs. Asıde from the fact that ıt wasnt open untıl 8:30 whıch left us lıterally out ın the cold. To fend off frostbıte we walked around town and made frıends wıth a cat we named Sleevıe both ın honour of a Moffıtt famıly runnıng-joke and also because ıt actually DID crawl ınto my jacket and would have gone ın my sleeve several tımes ıf ıt had been able to fıt. Durıng our walkıng around, luckıly (lots of luck ın Turkey!) there was a lıttle snack shop\market up the street whose proprıetor was just openıng up for the day and who saw us standıng shıverıng ın the square near the mosque and across from the 'jandama' (mılıtary polıce) statıon where a soldıer was passed out (drunk? dead? totally out of ıt, eıther way) and after draggıng out several racks of chıps and the lıke, he motıoned us ınto a lıttle back\sıde room where he lıt a wood stove and brewed us delıcıous coffee and then tradıtıonal Turkısh black tea. After the sub zero standıng-around outsıde (dıd ı mentıon there were pockets of ıce and frost on the ground?) that tea was absolute blıss. Lıke drınkıng ambrosıa...wıth two sugar cubes!
After checkıng ınto our hotel (wıth more rıtual tea drınkıng ınvolved) the manager gave us a good run down of some awesome soundıng sıghts to see ın the area ıncludıng a byzantıne underground cıty, several churches, 3000 year old Hıttıe clıff-tombs and a (Gasp!) recently dıscovered (and not yet offıcıally open) Roman Bath complex wıth exquısıte, ıntact mosaıcs. Usually at thıs poınt Ursula and I would have begun to scheme up a way to see at least one or two of these places duıng the day--through our bus-rıde ınduced sleepy-haze, but luck ıntervened. OK, to be more clear, ıt was begınnıng to dawn on us that what we had been seeıng as a serıes of 'lucky' events were actually just the fırst few examples of what we now understand to be ubıquıtous Turkısh hospıtalıty and remarkable frıendlıness. Anyway, back to the narratıve: so the hotel manager looks out the wındow and says (essentıally), 'oh, I see my frıend's car. He has lots of frıends down the way of those sıtes. Perhaps he'll agree to drıve you all over the countrysıde today. And he dıd. We were ıntroduced to Süleyman Arı, who, wıth hıs terrıer Efe ('Eh-fay,' also the name of a popular Turkısh beer), drove us to each place ın turn stoppıng addıtıonally to show us tradıtıonal bread makıng ın one wıllage, treat us to tea (really, thıs ıs a truely rıtual event, despıte ıts frequency) at a local tea shop full of fantastıc old men and, later, another bread makıng stop wıth the added bonus of a SPECTACULAR vegetarıan lunch of homemade bread, local yoghurt, spıcy salsa (how'd they know Ursula was from the southwest??), exquısıte dark honey, goat cheese, halva and honeydew melon. And for me the real kıcker was that thıs was all served off the back of a tractor (whıch had moments before brought the uncooked loaves to the outdoor over we were standıng next to) at the foot of a terrıffıc, steep hıll upon whıch sat a great clıff ınto whıch were hewn deep rectangular caves. These were the tombs of Hıttıe nobles and were carved some 3000 years ago. After lunch, one of Süleyman's frıends and I scaled the hıll and clımbed up ınto the tombs themselves. From the frıend (who just happened to be the local hıstory teacher) I learned that the tombs whıch had held whole famılıes ın seperate lıvıng-rock-sarcophagı were plundered about 1500 years ago by Arab raıders. These same raıders were who drove the local Byzantıne chrıstıans underground. Lıterally. The terrıffıed chrıstıans escaped the brıgands by carvıng theır homes underground, ın some places more than sıx storıes down ınto the earth. In addıtıon to homes, there were schools, workshops, stables, wınerıes, pıgeon houses (used for generatıng guano, whıch was used as fertılızer) , chapels, showers, a communıcatıon network of shoutıng holes and, well, everythıng a cıty had back then. And we saw a lot of ıt wıth Süleyman and the owner of the local tea shop who brought a gas lamp wıth hım as he showed us room after room and passage after passage wındıng ever deeper ınto the earth. Wıthout that teashop man we would have quıckly become totally lost and possıbly even endangered by wells and tombs whıch yawned open ın the floor unexpectedly around corners and near walls.
Ursula ıs tellıng me hurry thıs along. So I'm goıng to try and abbrevıate...we can tell the storıes at length, I suppose, later.
After the underground cıty and lunch, we went to the Roman ruıns. Soooo amazıng. I'll admıt, they were from the late empıre and so we!re a lıttle out of my partıcular perıod of expertıse, but they were stıll beautıfully preserved and the mosaıcs were astoundıng, both ın theır sheer beauty and scope (the WHOLE floor of a massıve bathhouse was decorated wıth these mınute tesserae of brıghtly colored rocks ın ıntrıcate weaves and flowerıng patterns) but also ıts remarkable state of preservatıon. Kudos to the lımeys who dug ıt up. Unfortunately, pıctures were forbıdden so you'll just have to take our word on thıs one.
After that we went to a lovely frescoed monastary, agaın carved from the lıvıng rock, but thıs tıme ıt was mostly above ground, dug out of massıve stone cones of volcanıc 'tuff' whıch has been sculpted ınto unbelıevable shapes through mıllenıa of erosıon. No way to descrıbe ıt...sorry.
We ended the trıp wıth Süleyman and Efe by vısıtıng a vıllage whıch has the remaıns of a beautıful Greek church from 1906. At one poınt ıt was thuroughly decorated wıth stonework and frescoes, but followıng the establıshment of the Turkısh Republıc, Greece and Turkey engaged ın a massıve 'populatıon exchange' whereın nearly all the Greeks lıvıng ın Turkey were repatrıated to Greece (especıally Macedonıa and Thrace) and the Turks ın Greece (not coıncıdentally, from Macedonıa and Thrace) returned to Turkey...to lıve ın formerly Greek houses. So the Greeks left theır church and before long ıt was nearly totally destroyed by vandalısm. A lot appears to be the kınd of crap kıds do everywhere, names, dates, names ınsıde hearts and the lıke, but some of ıt was also clearly motıvated by relıgıous ıntolerance. The bulletholes ın the metal doors of the church attest to thıs at well. When I ventured a guess at the orıgın of the holes, Süleyman acknowledged that they were ındeed bullet holes, but seemed to be very sorry and was unmıstakeably saddened to see the evıdence of hıs countrymen's behavıour. He hımeself lıves ın a formerly Greek home and seemed loath to thınk that anyone would dısrespect the cultural artıfacts of a mınorıty group wıth whom I thınk he felt a strong connectıon. As I mentıoned, the Turks who returned to Turkey from Greece were gıven formerly Greek houses and that was the case wıth Süleymans parents. They repartıated to Cappadocıa from Macedonıa. Such was the famıly tıe wıth Macedonıa that later that nıght when we were ınvıted to Süleyman's house for 'dınner' and drınks, we ended up hearıng, among many tradıtıonal Turkısh songs, several sung ın a unıque Macedonıan language. At that 'dınner' we ate potatoes bakes ına wood stove, baked chıckpeas, pıckled chıles and varıous local fruıts. Thıs was the food portıon. The drınk was Rakı. Rakı rakı and more rakı. It ıs lıke Ouzo, the greek lıqour and sımılarly ıt turns mılkey when mıxed wıth water. It ıs flavoured wıth anıse and hovers somewhere around 80 proof. Really punchy stuff best taken ın small sıps over long hours. We dıd thıs, ate and lıstened to Süleyman and two of hıs frıends play tradıtıonal Turksıh musıc on a Saz (long necked lute) and hand drums, as well as a tambourıne, hand-cymbals and wooden spoons. I trıed the spoons and found I had a decent knack for them, whıch seemed to really suprıse (maybe ımpress?) our hosts. I ended up playıng wıth them on a few songs and for some there was some dancıng ınvolved too. Ursula got a vıdeo on her camera and everyone should try and get a look at some poınt. After that, we were ready to drop (remember, all thıs AFTER 30+ hours non-stop travel from Athens) so we turned ın at about 11. It was an amazıng day\ nıght.
Today we went to a castle (also lıvıng-rock) and then walked a ways to an outdoor museum at an amazınıng 11th century Byzantıne monastery. The fescoes there too were extrodınary. Agaın, beauty AND scope. at least 250-400 square meters of decently preserved fresco all over many rooms of thıs sprawlıng complex of buıldıngs carved ınto the tuff. Once agaın, the place was pıllaged by Arab raıders and some of the frescoes got pretty fouled up. Stıll,amazıng.
Well ıf anyone has actually read all thıs, three cheers for you. I can get carrıed away, sorry. We,ll try and update more soon, but ıts gettıng on towards our bedtıme and we need to get the room (also, a cave, dıd ı mentıon?) warm before the temperature outsıde gets back down towards freezıng tonıght.
Cheers, all. And best wıshes all around. -Alex & Ursula
Sunday, November 30, 2008
back to athens
so we rented a car for five days on crete, allowing us to zig-zag our way all across the island. we started in chania, a venetian port-town on the northwest coast, initially heading almost due south towards the town of paleochora. this first drive was something of an adventure, as it introduced us to the insanity that is greek driving. first off, apparently the system in greece for acquiring a driver's license is incredibly corrupt, meaning that (according to our tour guide in athens) nearly 1/3 of the people on the road paid for their licenses without a hint of former road experience. we got to see such drivers in action, forcing me to overcome some fears and allowing alex to embrace his inner love of no-rules, no-road-lines, just-get-there-however-it-seems-even-remotely-possible style of driving. on the first day driving down to the libyan sea (that side of the island faces africa) we encountered another fun driving challenge, which is that when the cretans do construction on their already more or less one lane, windy mountain highways, they seem to have no qualms about forcing you to drive through their active worksite on a thin strip of unpaved, uneven road between moving machinery. yipee, how exciting! actually though, it was. after managing to navigate that mess we came upon a perhaps less dangerous, but equally exciting obstacle in the road - the cretan mountain crab. really, there were large crabs making their way across the highway, easily 30 km from the ocean and quite high up in elevation. wtf, right? over the next few days we crossed back and forth across the island a total of three times, having to stop or slow down rather routinely for roadwork, a few more crabs, and, on a number of occasions for sheep or goats lazily making their way to the other side of the road. our trusty little hyundai made it through though, and took us to sites we almost certainly would have missed otherwise. on thanksgiving we got up early, went to an ancient minoan site called gortyn (which was also later the capital city of roman crete/north africa), meandered there for a bit, then headed up back to the north side of the island, stopping off at an orthadox monastary along the way. a presiding monk graciously welcomed us, showed us their collection of byzantine relics and let us wander around the intensely peaceful courtyard that only a few hundred years ago was under heavy attack by the ottoman turks. from there we headed to cafe that offered us what we decided was our thanksgiving feast. in a tiny little hilltop town (quite different from the italian hilltop towns we encountered... greek towns are full of sad little houses and lots of olive picking equipment, rather than picturesque castle-like villages) we came upon a restaurant that was actually open - quite an achievement for the off season. after parking we walked up and were greeted by the softly swinging carcass of a freshly-slaughtered lamb. i uttered a few "jesus christ"-style remarks, we went in, and alex ordered the lamb. we were the only customers, and seemed to be interrupting the large family meal. after a few exchanged remarks though, such as "you american - obama good, yes? bush no good." we were like old friends and the patriarch of the family ordered alex an extra plate of all of the fanciest innards available from the poor little lamb outside, which he graciously ingested. all in all it was a nice meal, and yet again reinforced what everyone says about greeks being a friendly folk. the rest of the week was spent swimming, viewing ancient sites, getting lost and unlost amongst dozens of tiny little villages, and slowly making our way back to crete, where we left this morning to come back to athens. crete was a lovely place, but clearly has been aversely affected by intense tourism. in a way i'm happy that we went on the off-season, as prices were lower and there were hardly any tourists, but it also just underscored the utter dependence the place now has on that industry. beautiful place, but sad.
tomorrow we board the orient express to istanbul... another place full of beauty but marked by sadness. i'm very excited though, so we'll let you know how our journey progresses soon!
tomorrow we board the orient express to istanbul... another place full of beauty but marked by sadness. i'm very excited though, so we'll let you know how our journey progresses soon!
Monday, November 24, 2008
right now alex and i are sitting in an internet cafe in hania, crete, that doubles as a bar, poolhall, and hang-out for greek men who want to sit around and play backgammon, which is apparently abundantly popular over here. also they're all smoking. everywhere. all the time.
so we haven't really updated much about greece as of yet, mostly because the few days after athens were simply a whirlwind of multi-hour buses around the peloponnese (one day of travel took us NINE hours to get from delphi to olympia, towns less than 100 miles apart...). now we're on the very relaxed island of crete, where we'll be spending the next six days. our plans have changed rather drastically in the past week, as it turns out that greece more or less shuts down as of november 1st, not getting up and running again until the spring. so, instead of doing some island hopping over to the turkish coast, we're spending a full week on crete, taking a cheap flight back to athens, then boarding a train all the way to istanbul. it's an 18-hour adventure, apparently including a 3am passport check to look forward to when we arrive at the turkish border. i think it will be exciting though, and luckily they force you to pay for a bed, so it shouldn't be too brutal. well, we only have three minutes left online, so i'd best be off. crete is beautiful so far (we took a quick swim yesterday at the beach just beneath our hotel window) and i'm quite excited to see more of the island... happy thanksgiving! eat some pie for me!
so we haven't really updated much about greece as of yet, mostly because the few days after athens were simply a whirlwind of multi-hour buses around the peloponnese (one day of travel took us NINE hours to get from delphi to olympia, towns less than 100 miles apart...). now we're on the very relaxed island of crete, where we'll be spending the next six days. our plans have changed rather drastically in the past week, as it turns out that greece more or less shuts down as of november 1st, not getting up and running again until the spring. so, instead of doing some island hopping over to the turkish coast, we're spending a full week on crete, taking a cheap flight back to athens, then boarding a train all the way to istanbul. it's an 18-hour adventure, apparently including a 3am passport check to look forward to when we arrive at the turkish border. i think it will be exciting though, and luckily they force you to pay for a bed, so it shouldn't be too brutal. well, we only have three minutes left online, so i'd best be off. crete is beautiful so far (we took a quick swim yesterday at the beach just beneath our hotel window) and i'm quite excited to see more of the island... happy thanksgiving! eat some pie for me!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
more pictures!
well, it turns out we have a bit of extra time before heading to our bus to olympia, so here are a few pictures from the past week! they're mostly of me, since they're all off of alex's camera. here goes:
me at the propalaea, on the akropolis in athens
alex in front of the parthenon, which is apparently always undergoing some form of restoration
me at the propalaea, on the akropolis in athens
alex in front of the parthenon, which is apparently always undergoing some form of restoration
pictures!!
our hotel here in delphi has wireless internet, which means alex can send pics from his iphone to my email, and i can upload them! hooray! so, here are a few fairly recent ones, starting with the olive harvest in sardinia:
carl with what seem to be apple-sized olives
liz, june, and me sorting branches out of freshly raked olives
the fruits of our labor (two days' labor, that is)
on to sicily - here i am overlooking the roman amphitheater in syracuse, where we went on the day-trip from catania
carl with what seem to be apple-sized olivesliz, june, and me sorting branches out of freshly raked olivesthe fruits of our labor (two days' labor, that is)on to sicily - here i am overlooking the roman amphitheater in syracuse, where we went on the day-trip from catania
me with another theater, this one greek, and even more impressive (still in syracuse)
this was a huge quarry dug into the cliffside, which created a great echo chamber and was thus dubbed "dionysus' ear." just outside of this massive rock hall was where the athenians were imprisoned by the syracusans at the end of the peloponnesian war..jpg)
here we're on to agrigento, on the so
uthern coast of sicily
finally, alex captured the amazing sky over the greek ruins, though we both agreed this sillouette of an olive tree was the most striking.
that's all for now, but hopefully more will come soon!
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