Tracy's Addiction

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Entry

  Istanbul, Turkey
Sunday, October 19, 2008

It is with a heavy heart that I put pen to paper this week.  As with all great tragedies throughout history (Adam and Eve, Joan of Arc, Britney Spears) we have a leading lady with a fundamental character flaw.  In this heart wrenching tale, the heroine is Tracy and the character flaw, "politeness".   It started with the deceptively innocent, "Here try some, no charge for you".  While my strength of character is not easily swayed, Tracy's moral compass is such that a refusal would have seemed rude...and so started her desperate downward decline.   A "harmless" one-time experiment has now spiraled to a thrice daily habit.  The name of the demon whose claws are so firmly embedded into my wife's soul...Turkish Tea.

When I read this to Tracy, she laughed and asked if I thought "people enjoyed reading such blather".  I said it doesn't matter because I enjoy writing it (therapy for an unhealthy mind perhaps?), and besides, what better way to lead into one of the reasons we are enjoying Turkey so much

Turkish Tea

.  We have both become quite attached to the black tea that comes in dainty little tulip shaped glasses.  It's strong, but once the mandatory sugar cube is added, the tea becomes quite delicious.  Accompany it with the "tastes better than it sounds" traditional Turkish breakfast of marinated black olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, mystery meat and a hardboiled egg, and there is no better start to the day (except for the cucumbers, that is)...

...And that's how we started our two days in the Gallipoli Peninsula, in the northwestern part of Turkey.  The first reason we came here was to visit the ruins of Troy.  Most people know the story of the kidnapped Helen of Troy, and the Trojan horse, but did you know the following:

·    The ruins of Troy are actually the remains of 9 cities built on top of each other throughout the centuries.  The excavation work was made even trickier because the first "archaeologist" of the site was only seeking the treasure of King Priam, so he employed the "Go Directly to Treasure, Do Not Pass Go" method of excavation.  This caused considerable damage to the site, making it difficult to decipher later;

·    The whole Trojan horse story, as told in Homer's Iliad, is bogus.  Yes there were many years of war in the area, but the story has no more validity than the claim that Luke Skywalker was the love child of Sonny and Cher...finding out the "truth" was a bit of a bummer.  What's next...did the dude with the wax wings not really fly too close to the sun???;

·    The highlight for the kids ruins (besides hiding in the underbelly of the fake giant horse) was finding all the frogs in the bog by the secret caves...yes, another example of the simple things that keep them happy;

·    By the way, the fake horse from the Brad Pitt movie is also in a nearby city but there are no stairs into that horse's underbelly, so according to the kids, it loses style points

Traditional Turkish Breakfast

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The second reason we went to the Gallipoli Peninsula was for its World War 1 history, where we (rightly or wrongly) spared no gory details from the kids.  This area was the first line of defense for Istanbul, and it holds special significance for Australians and New Zealanders, who, along, with the opposing Turks, suffered tremendous casualties in 9 months of fierce fighting.  Some points to note:

·    Two bullets, fired from exactly opposite directions that hit in mid air and stick together are known as "fused" bullets.  The odds of this happening are said to be 160 million to one, yet they have found many such fused bullets in this area...it highlights the volume of ammunition that was being discharged!;

·    In the nine months of fighting, 500,000 injuries were sustained, of which 100,000 resulted in death. The Gallipoli Peninsula covers about 250 square kilometers...this works out to two injured soldiers for every square meter of land.  Also, the peninsula is home to 34 war cemeteries, most of them filled with men in their earlier 20's, including one memorial stone for a 16 year old...what a waste!;

·    Despite trying to kill each other, a great respect was born between the Aussies, the New Zealanders and the Turks

Trojan Horse and Kids

.  One story is told of an Australian who was shot in "no mans land" between the trenches of the opposing forces (which were only a few meters apart in many areas).  There were simply too many bullets firing for him to be rescued.  But as he cried out in pain, a Turkish solder held up a white flag (his underwear actually) on the end of his bayonet, climbed out of his trench and carried the injured man back to the Aussie trench...fighting stopped during the rescue but resumed thereafter. 

·    At one point, there were such heavy casualties that the two sides agreed to a cease fire.  Then, the Australians, New Zealanders and Turks all worked together to bury their dead.  Subsequent to this, fighting was limited and done more out of obligation than any passion for the war;
 
After this sobering time in Gallipoli, it was on to Istanbul.  The 6 hour bus ride was uneventful except for the elderly Turkish lady sitting next to us.  Every time the attendant starting serving drinks this lady kept motioning to Tracy to hand over our drinks.  We thought maybe she wanted some of our drinks for herself but that just seemed weird.  As it turned out she just wanted to keep all the used cups...a much more rational reason?!?  Regardless of her motive, she must have been thrilled with Tracy's "little problem" because it added 3 or 4 extra cups to her collection

Eceabat (Gallipoli) at Sunset

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After navigating the public transit system into downtown Istanbul from the bus station, Tracy gave the kids a nice lesson in negotiating by visiting a few hostels and comparison shopping.  She was able to go from the first offer of a small multi bed dorm room with no washroom, to the "deluxe" room with a beautiful bathroom and the "special" breakfast menu, all for a cheaper price...nice job!

Istanbul is a fantastic city.  Only Paris beats it (so far) on our ongoing list.  It is full of amazing sights from the beautiful Blue Mosque to the Topkapi Palace to the hectic bazaars.  The sounds and smells and energy in the city are hard to describe.

One of the most awe inspiring sights of them all was Aya Sofya, a massive 5th century church that was converted to a mosque in the 1400's.  There were beautiful mosaics of Christ that had been covered with plaster during the mosque years and then painstaking uncovered when the building was declared a museum. 

I could (to borrow a word from my wife) "blather" on further about how impressive Aya Sofya was, but instead I'll tell the emotional tale of our visit

Gravestone for a 16 Year Old

.  We were surprised to be told that only children 7 and under are admitted free.  Up to this point all the sights in Turkey had been free for all the kids.  Given the ticket price of $20 per person, Tracy suggested that maybe we should think about it over a cup of tea.  The ticket agent then helped solve our problem.  He agreed to sell us three tickets; the two girls could go in free, but if anyone were to ask us we should tell them that Laura was only 7 years old (not her true age of 9). 

To set a good example, we have made a point of not lying about the kids' ages to get reduced ticket prices.  We figured this situation was okay since it was the ticket agent himself who was suggesting it.  Besides the children were far too busy being a nuisance in the line to even notice the discussion with the ticket agent.  [How's that for rationalization!]  So, wouldn't you know it, the ticket collector, at the front door immediately asks Laura, not us, how old she is.  Without missing a beat she flashed a smile and said, "I'm 7 years old."  Two emotions hit me.  Shock, that our Laura, while being completely focused on giving Michael a wedgy in the ticket line, had heard every word that the ticket agent had said.  And bone chilling fear that she could lie so effortlessly and convincingly...I'm terrified of her teenage years!!

So we got into Aya Sofya...but not for long

Turkish War Hero

.  We had arrived at 6pm and had confirmed that it would be open until 7pm.  We were somewhat annoyed when the guards started ushering people out at 6:30.  We had not yet seen everything so we informed the guards of the posted closing time of 7:00 and indicated that we would like to stay until then.  This didn't go over very well and prompted the guard to call in additional guards to help escort us out.  It had been about a month since we had been kicked out of the hotel room in France, so personally I figured we were due.  Tracy was more upset and made a point of saying so.  To slightly alter an old expression, "Hell hath no fury as a woman burned".... needless to say, within minutes, arrangements were made for us to be escorted back into Aya Sofya the next day (through the VIP gate, no less) free of charge.

Besides seeing the sights in Istanbul, we also had to procure our Syrian visas.  Not ideal considering the Syrian consulate was nowhere close to where we were staying.  After making the 45 minute trek to the Syrian consulate, we were told that a letter from the Canadian government "authenticating" us and our passports was required.   So, off we headed to the Canadian consulate, which of course was in another direction.  The nice lady at the consulate (who by the way wasn't even Canadian), charged us $50, and then printed out a standard letter for us.  When we asked her what she had to do to 'authenticate' us, she said "Nothing, I believe the passports already authenticate you"....arghhh! 

The next day I headed back to the Syrian embassy (because it was only open between 9:30 and 11:00 for visa applications...more arghhh!).  Highlighting the political turmoil in the region, the Syrian visa application form had a checkbox dealing with Israel that asks, "Have you ever visited, or do you plan to visit the occupied Palestinian territories?"   This checkbox is also known as "Check this box if you want to forfeit your visa fee, and have your visa application immediately rejected!"  We decided to keep our travel plans to ourselves

Galipoli Peninsula

.  Regardless, when I headed back there the third time, the visas had all been approved.

Okay back to the sights and sounds of Istanbul, and some miscellaneous thoughts:

·    One particularly fascinating and grand place was the underground Basilica Cistern, the large, marble columned, water storage area at the end of 20km of aqueducts.  After being forgotten for 1,000 years, it was rediscovered after someone investigated the residents' reports of finding "wells" in their basements, and being able to catch fish in them;

·    The Topkapi Palace (which included the harem that could house hundreds of concubines) contained millions and millions of dollars of ruby, emerald and diamond encrusted stuff, including a pair of 100lb gold and diamond candlestick holders, and the 86 carat Spoonmaker's Diamond...so named, because this diamond (the 5th largest in the world) was found in a garbage dump, and was traded to a street peddler for 3 wooden spoons;

·    The Topkapi Palace also contained interesting religious artifacts such as a hair from the prophet Mohammed's beard, and the arm and part of the skull of John the Baptist...no kidding!;

·    [Time out for a travel tip....we brought a small 5 way audio splitter so that the kids could jointly listen to the Ipod or a movie on the computer through earphones

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

.  It came in handy as well at the Topkapi Palace as we only had to rent one audio guide and we could all listen to it simultaneously using the audio splitter.];

·    Turkish men really seem to enjoy relaxing by playing backgammon and smoking large water pipes.  We introduced the game to Michael, and he has taken quite a liking to hanging out in the upstairs bar working on his game (minus the water pipe, however)...that's my boy!;

·    The other hobby we noticed was the hundreds of men fishing off the bridges in the middle of Istanbul, all a few feet from each other, and all drowned out by the sounds of Istanbul...so much for the quiet solitude of fishing.  Maybe, more of them should try fishing in their basements;

·    Speaking of the sounds of Istanbul, we're not about to convert to Islam but we all really enjoy hearing the haunting "Call to Prayer" that is broadcast 5 times a day from all the mosques' loudspeakers;

·    We became further perplexed about whether Turkey was in Asia or Europe when we saw references to the different telephone area codes of Asian Istanbul and European Istanbul

Aya Sofya, Istanbul

.  The problem was later resolved however, when we discovered that the waterway that cuts through Turkey from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea (and right through the heart of Istanbul) is the dividing line.  I was so excited about my discovery that I proudly told the guy on a ferry ride that we had just crossed from Europe into Asia.  He just shook his head, and with downcast eyes he replied in Turkish, "I'm sorry about your wife's problem.";

·    The ferry ride was needed to get to our 19 hour train ride to Cappadocia, in the center of Turkey, which we are currently on.  It's quite a deal.  We have a 6 person sleeper car (2 triple bunk beds), and with the 3 child discounts and the 2 teacher discounts it works out to less than $20 per person.  What?...I'm teaching them some things too!

·    We've added "furniculars" to the list of transportation vehicles we have now travelled on.  They are fascinating underground cable cars, and took us from the end of Istanbul's light rail system to the start of Istiklal Caddesi, the busiest pedestrian road I have ever been on.
 
And finally from the culinary files, or should I say, the home schooling files:

·    For history we made a pilgrimage to the store that originally started making Turkish Delight in 1777...it received mixed reviews

Laura at Aya Sofya

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·    For science we have been experimenting with the tastes and textures of various types of baklava...the experiment is far from over but the preliminary conclusion is that the original is much better than the pistachio or chocolate versions;

·    For math we have been counting the number of ways that eggplant can be incorporated into a meal.  Eggplant kebab was the latest one encountered.  The best one so far has been Imam Bayildi, which is eggplant stuffed with onions, garlic and peppers.  The name translates into "The Imam Fainted" (because it was so tasty).  By the way, eggplant is called "aubergine" in Turkey, perhaps to make it sound sexy and appealing;

·    For health we introduced the kids to fresh pomegranates.  We explained to them how the high antioxidants in pomegranates effectively counter all the free samples of Turkish Delight we had been eating as we grazed our way through the Spice Bazaar;

·    In another history listen entitled Pilgrims in Turkey we enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving Day feast of shish kebab, meatballs and baklava [Poignant moment:...we did miss being at home with family for the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday].

·    In Diversity Training and Sensitivity class we decided to try as many street vendor foods as possible, while commenting that their differences make the world a better place.  So far we have had BBQ'd corn on the cob, roasted chestnuts, sesame seed bread, breaded and deep fried meatballs, and pide (the Turkish take on pizza)...all pretty good, especially the chestnuts.

The train is pulling into a station and that can only mean the tea guy will soon be coming through.  It's time t

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Istanbul	Basilica Cistern, Istanbul	Sarah at Topkapi Palace	Teaching the Locals a Lesson
Fishing Solitude?	Turkish Treats	Waterpipes in Spice Bazaar, Istanbul	The Tea Guy! The Tea Guy!
Street Vendor in Istanbul	Istiklal Caddesi, Istanbul	Blue Mosque

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