 
Turkey
We arrived the day before the Kosovo war ended and a week after the
beginning of the trial of Abdulah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish Workers
Party or PKK. (On June 29, he was convicted and sentenced to death.) We
saw no impact of the war or the trial except complaints from merchants
about the falloff in the number of tourists from Europe.
Ankara We arrive in Ankara in the evening and are met by our guide, Akif and driver, Serdar. Akif takes us to dinner at the Zenger restaurant on the top floor of an old, upper class home near the top of the Citadel -- an introduction to Turkish food and a spectacular view of the city lights. Next day we take a quick tour of the city including Ataturk's
Mausoleum with an introduction by Akif to the history of the Turkish Republic.
Then to the Museum of Anatolian
Civilizations, a very interesting museum in terms of the history of
Anatolia and the items in its collection. It provides a context
for the "history" part of our trip.
Now we are on the road to Cappadocia. Most of the roads we travel are good, two lane roads. As we drive by gas stations we are amazed at the prices posted on the signs: unleaded 257,400. That's Turkish Lira and works out about $2.35 a gallon. The exchange rate when we arrive is 410,000 Turkish Lira to the U.S. dollar, it only takes $2.45 to be a millionaire. We frequently had to stop and count the zeros on bills. Almost everything is reasonable and it all looks expensive. Most of the gas stations are large with service, shops, restaurants and very nice, very clean rest rooms, although you are expected to leave 25 to 50 cents. When you buy gas and a meal, some of them wash your car or van. We hear stories about Turkish traffic and believe them when we see various road signs. Our favorite sign could be posted in the U.S. Tour busses are very large by American standards. Most have a front
and back door. Our van seats six comfortably.
Cappadocia is a region in central Turkey. The earth is soft rock covered by a thin layer of hard rock. Both have eroded leaving towers and cliffs that have man-made caves carved into their faces. The first evening Pat and I take a walk and find a cave being used as a garage. A lady sees us taking a picture and waves to us to join her. She invites us in to see her house -- built against the cliff face -- and two adjacent caves used for storage and as a workroom. Her son and daughter (best guess, 18 and 14) speak only a few words of English. We are given tea and cake and share the sunset. This is the first of many examples of Turkish hospitality. Our first night we stay in a hotel room in a cave. The interior is plastered, fully furnished and includes a sink, shower and toilet. Breakfast the next morning is served on a patio with a view of the town. After breakfast we walk to center of town. There are several horse drawn carts and the types of tractors with small wheels in front, large wheels in back and hand painted trailers that were a familiar part of the television coverage of the exodus from Kosovo. We stop at the shop of a rug merchant that also sells access to the Internet by the hour. Turkey uses a Roman alphabet, but with an extensive set of accents including umlauts (two little dots over a letter). To add a bit of complexity, they make a distinction between an "i" that is dotted and one that is not. To accommodate all of this, the keyboard is arranged somewhat differently. It was easy to read email; almost impossible to send it. We visit a joint venture between the government and a family that owns a number of carpet stores in the area including the one we visited earlier. They have looms and artisans on site to demonstrate and explain the differences in material, methods, density and designs. They also have an extensive selection of carpets for sale. This sort of demonstration is interesting at a minimum and critical if there is even a remote possibility that you will buy a carpet while in Turkey. Cappadocia offers three attractions. First, the cliffs and towers create a unique landscape. Scenes from the original Star Wars were set in the caves of Cappadocia. Second, the cliffs and towers are carved like Swiss cheese for homes and storage rooms that were used from the time before Christ to the middle of the twentieth century. Third, the early Christians carved churches and painted them with stories from the New Testament. There are a group of 13 churches plus other church related rooms that are protected and being restored in a national park near Göreme. They date from the tenth through the twelfth centuries. All of the churches have frescoes. The earliest are painted directly on the stone; the newer ones are painted in plaster. In the cliff side churches we have our first of several encounters with the transition from Christianity to Islam in Turkey. Christian artwork is largely based on events and the people involved. On the other hand, Islam treats pictures that are in a religious setting as idols. A muslim can meet the obligation to pray five times a day at specified times almost anywhere he happens to be. Almost anyplace can therefore become a religious setting. The frescos in the churches have been defaced -- in the literal sense of that word -- by later Muslims who lived in what were, for them, just caves. In many places, the events and the characters are clearly depicted but their faces have been scratched away. Akif pointed out the architectural features of the small churches and the frescoes. We are given an in-depth review of Christian stories, illustrated by drawings more than 1,000 years old and narrated by a Muslim. Sightseeing, religion and history brought together. We leave the churches and visit several sets of caves and then an underground city. The city we visit is one of several that may have been connected underground. They served as hiding places and safe haven for later Christians when marauding Arabs came. The entrances were hidden and there are large stones that can be wheeled in place to block an invader. There are vertical air shafts that still keep the air fresh. We head southwest with a stop in Konya. Konya (Iconium) Turkey was the western end of the silk road between Asia and Europe. To assure the continued use of the route through Turkey, the sultan became an early Conrad Hilton and erected a chain of carvanserai. The Sultanhani Caravanserai is on the road into Konya. It was built in 1229 and rebuilt after a fire in 1278. It has an open courtyard and a covered section for the "kitchen, dining rooms, w.c. and bathrooms, living and sleeping rooms." The carvings on the entry suggest this was upscale. The Ottoman Empire was preceded by another group of Turks called the Seljuks. They captured much of what is now eastern Turkey and established their capital in Konya in the 11th century. In the 13th century, the sultan invited the father of Gelaleddin Rumi to come to Konya as an adviser. Rumi followed in his father's footsteps and is recognized as a poet, philosopher and the founder of the Mevlevi Order or Whirling Dervishes. We visit the Selimiye Mosque and the Mevlana Mausoleum which contains a mosque, dance hall, dervish living quarters, school and tombs of some leaders of the Mevlevi Order. There are a number of outstanding artifacts including a small collection of silk carpets. Celebrations in honor of Mevlana are held yearly in December. This is the only time visitors can see the dancers other than their occasional tours. Antalya Our hotel in Antalya is a five star resort with a white sand beach and the Mediterranean on one side and a golf course on the other. The next morning we head east to Perge. It was originally settled by the Hittites around 1,500 BC. Paul preached some of his first sermons here. Paul made three journeys through southwestern Anatolia between 45 and 58 AD, often accompanied by some of the original 12 apostles. The city has undergone some restoration and the theater is being restored. Akif uses the opportunity to introduce us to some of the architectural differences between the Greeks and the Romans. Theater is a Greek term: from theasthai to view. The emphasis
in design was on visibility. Theaters were usually built into hillsides.
Auditorium is a Roman term meaning lecture room or place to hear. The Romans
shifted the design emphasis from seeing to hearing. Many of the theaters
we visit were originally built by the Greeks and then expanded by the Romans
including the construction of a much higher wall behind the stage to improve
the acoustics.
There is ice cream almost everywhere in Turkey: hand dipped ice cream cones and packaged items in freezers. Almost all of it is by one company: Agida. Walking back through town after lunch we encounter our first of several handmade ice cream stands. The ice cream is good, but the service is magical. Literally. The ice cream is scooped up and put on the cone with a metal ladle about 30 inches long. The performance starts when the vendor puts the last scoop on the top of the cone and then swings the ladle, ice cream and cone up and hits a bell. Each vendor has his own bits of magic. A good opening gambit is to extend the ladle with the ice cream and cone stuck to the end. You take the cone and he takes back the scoop of ice cream leaving you with an empty cone. Then he may hand you the cone and then take it back leaving you holding an empty cone that was the bottom of two cones. This goes on for several minutes. The performance is worth more than the price of the ice cream. The small museum in Said has excellent items and displays of sculpture including the head of the god Hermes. On the way back to Antalya we visit Aspendos, including the theater which was designed in the second century AD. It seat 15,000. The 6th International Opera and Ballet Festival had opened the night before with a production of Carmen. This evening is a dress rehearsal for Aida. Akif mentions that the orchestra is the National Symphony (his daughter plays second cello). We get passes to the dress rehearsal -- the primary difference is the small audience and the king is wearing glasses. A truly exceptional evening, under the stars. The next morning we go to Antalya to see the city and Hadrian's
gate. We then drive through the mountains to Fethiye.
A Blue Cruise is part of many tours of Turkey so we included one in ours. We arrive in Fethiye early in the afternoon. Our captain and cook welcome us, help stow our gear and we have lunch on board. Our boat is ERDI 2, a 19 meter (57 foot) "sailboat" -- sailboat in quotes because it doesn't have any sails. It appears that none of the charter boats have main-sails and only about half have furling jibs -- we never see a jib unfurled. Motoring is more predictable than sail. On the other hand, we don't have to be any particular place at any particular time. For the next three days we motor from bay-to-bay. The water is very clean. Our boat flies a small flag expressing its commitment to ecology. We go ashore for sightseeing including ruins, and Aegean resorts. By chance, we find some men using long bladed scissors to shear long haired goats. They sell the hair to nomads in eastern Turkey to make tents. We swim, eat, read and relax. At night we sleep on deck -- our choice -- under millions of stars. Our captain handles the boat. Our cook handles everything else. He swims to shore with a rope to tie the bow to a stout tree, puts down and winches up the anchor at the bow, rows the dinghy to take us ashore and cooks excellent meals. The food is always plentiful. Every meal is cooked from scratch. We enjoy great home cooking on deck in the comfort of a well appointed boat. The cruise provides a welcome respite from the pace of the rest of the trip. On the other hand there is so much to see and do that we would have preferred two days and three nights. We found the evenings and mornings to great times to be on board. We leave the boat at Marmaris (Göcek-Marmaris) as the shops in this small town are starting to open. We stroll through town and then back in the van for a trip up the coast to Kusadasi. Kusadasi In western Turkey, the mountains run into the sea rather than along the coast. Driving north you can take roads that go up and down over the mountains or in and out around the ends of the maintains and along the coast. We do some of both. We stop at Bodrum to see the town and arrive in Kusadasi late in the afternoon. Our hotel here, like the second one in Cappadocia was built as a five
star hotel but may have been ahead of the times. We are told it is only
twenty-five percent occupied and they have obviously had to cut back on
the maintenance.
We enter the city from the east side and walk down the main street past a small theater and partially restored fountains, homes and shops. There is a decapitated statue that provides an opportunity to to see how you might look as a statue. There are public toilets that give a new meaning to the word public. At the bottom of the street is the three story facade of the library. On the corner in the center of town is the brothel. We turn right and walk toward the large theater. In this road is what may be the world's oldest advertisement. It has a foot print of a left foot (on the left side ahead) and a heart covered with coins (love for a price). All of this point back to the brothel. At the end of the road on the right is the theater. It has a sign that says it was built in 300 BC and seats 24,000 . The sign says it was in use for almost 1000 years. It is still used for occasional concerts -- a useful life of more than 2,000 years. We visit St. John's Basilica. Historically significant, but of limited tourist interest. Next we visit the Archaeological Museum which has an impressive collection of items recovered during the excavation of Ephesus. It includes an interesting exhibit about Artemis and her goddess ancestors -- links back almost to the beginning of civilization in Anatolia -- and successors including Diana. After a late lunch we returned to Kusadasi for some last minute shopping. On the way out of town, we passed a roadside stand that had a huge, live hindi tied up out in front. We would have referred to it as a very large Turkey gobbler. We ride to Izmir where we leave our van and driver. We fly to Istanbul
on Turkish Airlines. A nice flight with a box lunch. The flap of the box
says, in four languages, "This meal does not contain pork." Frugal travelers
can use the top of the box as a post card. We'd fly them again without
hesitation. The sun is setting as we arrive.
Akif has taken us to one of his favorite restaurants. He had arranged dinner and was not to be dissuaded. But we weren't that hungry so we compromised on hors d'oeuvres. In Turkey, this can amount to a small meal. The food is excellent and the people-watching is great fun. The walk back to the hotel gives our dinner a chance to settle and is definitely shorter than the walk out. Istanbul is a city of 12 million people that spans two continents and more than 2,000 years. The Bosphorus Straits run north and south for 31 km (19 miles) between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Europe is on the west bank; Asia is on the left. The Straits are spanned by two modern suspension bridges. The water is quite clean and there are residences, small marinas, hotels, mosques and a former sultan's palace along the shore. The seaport of Byzantium was founded in 667 BC. In about 330 AD it became the city of Constantinople when Contantine I moved the capital of the eastern Roman Empire here. The eastern Roman Empire was followed by the Byzantine which was followed by the Ottoman in about 1450 AD. We have only found one web site that addresses the change of names from Constantinople to Istanbul; that says it happened in 1930. The next day's first objective is Dolmabahce Palace, the last palace built by a sultan. It is in the newer part of the Istanbul north of the Golden Horn on the west bank of the Bosphorus. When it was finished in 1853, the Ottoman Empire was declining but still wealthy enough to impress foreign dignitaries and sustain the sultan and his wives in ornate style. From there we take a taxi north along the Bosphorus past former homes of the sultan's ministers and the modern homes of the upscale part of Istanbul. In Sariver, almost at the northern edge of the city we have lunch then boarded a ferry boat for the ride back. A pleasant ride and a chance to see more of the city and get a view of the entire palace. The boat makes several stops and we get off on the south side of the Golden Horn, just below the old sultan's palace at Topkapi. The quay is bustling with people and street vendors. Just beyond the ferry boats are two boats about 30 feet long tied to the sea wall. They are selling fried-fish sandwiches. Waves from the ferries are hitting the sea wall and then tossing and rolling the boats. The fish are being cooked in a round, flat pan about three feet across that is sitting on a wood fire. The cooking oil is rolling front-to-back and side-to-side. Despite all the rocking, the cook never misses a beat. The three men taking orders, handing out sandwiches and making change manage to stay on their feet. There is a park between the water and the road. Last night we walked west from our hotel. Today we walk west to our hotel. Just before we get to the hotel there is a road through the old city wall. We go to the hotel, freshen up a bit and then back through the wall to go exploring on our own. We are in the neighborhood of some old wooden homes that look as if they will fall if the house on either side were torn down. The neighborhood quickly improves. There is an elegant Four Seasons hotel "created from a century-old neo-classic Turkish prison." We will discover tomorrow that we are just a few blocks from three of the major sites in Istanbul. This evening Akif takes us to dinner at a theater restaurant featuring native dances including belly dancing. We take a taxi across the Golden Horn and then a narrow gage street car and then walk to the restaurant. The next day we retrace part of our route through the city wall and the old neighborhood and into the Topkapi Museum. The day is hot, but the trees provide welcome shade. We tour the grounds and buildings including the room in the movie. The dagger is still there, but unlike the display in the movie, it is in a case at the side of the room. There is a tour of the sultan's quarters and the harem. We work our way around a crew from BBC-TV filming Mozart's Abduction from the Harem. In 1517, the Ottoman Empire captured Egypt and brought the Caliph to Istanbul. Until 1924, two years after the fall of the empire, the Sultan was recognized by many as Caliph, the spiritual leader of the Islamic world. There is an exhibit of religious artifacts at Topkapi. We walk a few blocks to Hagia Sophia [more to come] We walk just a few more blocks to the Blue Mosque [more to come] Three of the major sites in Istanbul are within easy walking distance of each other. We have lunch and in the same neighborhood visit the underground cistern. It is cool and fresh as we walk through this cave-like structure with its roof supported by marble columns. Carefully planned lighting and classical music provide a welcome break. Then back to the heat of the day. We walk back almost to where we got off the ferry and enter the spice market. Throughout our tour of Turkey we have seen shops with a selection of bulk spices. Here there are shops offering bulk and packaged spices and related products including sents for perfumes. The market has a vaulted roof. We are told that all of the shops used to sell spices. Now there are only a few spice shops and an eclectic collection of jewelry, clothing, gift, household and other shops. Some are for tourists, but most appear to be for residents. We exit into the open-air market which is a series of narrow streets bordered by small shops and crowded with shoppers, street vendors and delivery men. Most of the shops are selling merchandise appropriate for residents including one selling circumcision costumes. We walk three or four blocks and enter the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar, like the spice market has vaulted ceilings. We are told there are 4,000 shops. Most of them are small, many with room for only 2 or 3 customers at a time. Others have counters and customers stand in the aisle ways. Lots of jewelry and antiques and antique jewelry. Pat stops to negotiate for a silver cross for a necklace. I wander next door and start talking to the owner of a shop that sells prints and pipes. He's been to the U.S. several times to participate in Harley Davidson rides. He has photographs of himself with Hillary and with Chelsea Clinton and he has a Web site. Pat bought the cross. If you need a specific item from Turkey or the Ottoman Empire for yourself or as a gift, it is probably for sale in the Grand Bazaar. Even if you are not a shopper, wander and be amazed at the range of things you find. There are street maps to help you find your way out. We spend the entire fascinating day in the old part of Istanbul within walking distance of our hotel. Our last evening in Turkey we return to the restaurant we visited Saturday evening. Now it is Monday and there are fewer people, but the meal is up to our expectations. This has to be an early evening because we have a 6:00 a.m. departure for Frankfurt and then home. Comments and Observations This was a great trip, thanks to the hospitality of the Turkish people we met and the planning and support of Akif. You can probably see a great deal of Turkey and enjoy it on your own, but not in two weeks. You need a guide or tour to deal with logistics and language and choices of things to do, places to see and routes to take. Food: You will never go hungry in Turkey. There are restaurants and food shops everywhere. We didn't drink the water. We ate salads and unpeeled fruit a few times without incident. Almost everything has some spice, but except for a few items, the spices were mild. With Akif's guidance, we sampled a wide variety of dishes, some totally new and some Turkish variations on familiar dishes. Historically, Turkey was an agricultural country with a variety of climates and growing conditions. Food was abundant and varied including fish from the four seas on the north, west and south. Local sources were complemented with spices and cuisines imported along the Silk Road or from the outposts of the Ottoman Empire. Combine availability with the stability provided by the Empire and Turkey has had the key ingredients to develop one of the major cuisines of the world. Enjoy. Rest rooms: One of the concerns we hear frequently from Americans about any foreign country is: How are the rest rooms? In Turkey, they are fully adequate and they range from some of the best we have seen to among the worst. Fortunately, the worst are few and far between and there is almost always an acceptable alternative nearby. Rest rooms in gas stations are generally elegant, state of the art (automatic flush) and very clean. They do expect a tip or may even impose a charge of 25 to 50 cents (U.S.). Worth the price! Many restrooms offer a choice of eastern (squat) and western toilets (sit). The diversity of toilets in Turkey led us to the creation of our first Adventure page that is not about a specific trip: toilets.
Lyon, Popanz & Forester home | LPF Adventure | Search Updated July 31, 1999
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