Istanbul

• Fearcuairt's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Istanbul

Trip Start Jul 09, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 03, 2008 Next
Entry

  Istanbul, Turkey
Saturday, July 19, 2008

Well, today we leave to the so-called "Axis of Evil" and I have butterflies in my stomach. Is it normal to have butterflies in your stomach before you travel to a country to which most people you know on this planet would never venture? For the most part, it is a mixture of uncertainty and excitement...and the usual fear of flying.

We have had a fantastic stay in Turkey, in spite of the usual travelling hassles we have encountered. Turkey is a fascinating country - incredibly diverse in the sense that you can go from the aqua blue waters of the Aegean sea to desert to volcanic mountain, all in one country. You can see from our map the distance we have travelled in 8 days - it does not seem like much, but to help you envision Turkey, imagine cutting Winnipeg to Vancouver off of Canada, leaving Ontario to Nova Scotia (let Nfld be a nation of its own again!) and that's the size of Turkey. Not a small place.

When I last left you, we had come off a gruelling night bus from Istanbul to Cappadocia. Cappadocia is a major tourist stop, as well, but mercifully void of cruise ships because it is no where near water; thus the crowds were much more manageable. Cappadocia's claim to fame are miles and miles of "fairy chimneys" or sand stone and basalt towers, sculpted over centuries of weathering. I am at a loss of how to describe these formations in other terms than that of the phallus. Michael says my mind is in the gutter, but truly, to me these erect...sandstone formations look phallic; beautiful and fascinating, but phallic. Now, what is really fantastic about the whole region, is that ancient and modern dwellings alike are carved into the rock. With it being sandstone, it is very soft and thus easy to sculpt. We stayed in a cave hotel, which is basically an opportunity for you to live like Fred Flinstone for a few nights, in a room hewed into the rock face; no curtains or air conditioning needed. The rocks keep it dark and cool. But modern Turks are no where near the first people to discover this. In fact, carved into the sandstone are hundreds of cave cities, originally occupied by the hittites, and then more recently (recently as in the 11th century) occupied by Byzantine Christians escaping Roman persecution. At the Goreme Open Air museum, you can wander and climb through cave monstaries and look at frescos painted by these people inside their rock cathedrals. Cappadocia is also home to several underground cities, known to have housed up to 14 000 people at any given time; again, Christians escaping their enemies and retreating into these underground shafts. I say shafts, but truly they are entire cities,with roadways, churches, schools, wineries and stables, underground. You can still descent 8 stories into these caves, although 90 % of them are yet to be excavated. It really does give you a sense of how deep the faith of these people must have been. To be able to live for months on end, 8 stories under the earth, in search of religious freedom, is truly a testiment to one's beliefs.

From Cappadocia, we boarded another night bus to Pamukkale. Pamukkale is famous for the ruins of a Roman bath town, Heirapolis, built by the salt travertines of Pamukkale, which translates into cotton castle. You may be familiar with this place, as every time I see brochures for Turkey, this one features prominently. Terraces of salt fold out over the hills, with natural warm spring water pouring over each terrace in gentle waterfalls. It looks like snow - heaps of it - melting on a warm spring day. Unfortunately, take a wade in the pools with the other 4000 tourists that are there with you, and you quickly find these terraces are a little, shall we say, hygenically challenged?

From Pamukkale, we went to Kusadasi. Kusadasi is something else. It's a port town on the Aegean sea, and is a favourite all-inclusive destination for Brits. It's also a major port of call for cruise ships. Now, no offense to any of you who like cruising, but after being in Kusadasi, I will never take a cruise. We awoke our first morning and went to take breakfast on the terrace of our hotel, only to be alarmed at the arrival of four massive, monolithic boats that literally left us in the shadows. But it got worse. Leaving to Ephesus in the morning, we joined a cue of dozens upon dozens of shuttles from the boats, and we realized we would be sharing Ephesus with literally 10 000 people. Alas, Ephesus, the best preserved Roman city in the world, was a big flop for us. It was unbearably hot, you could not concentrate on your guide for longer than a second due to the sound of shouting in dozens of languages, kids whining, people pushing. etc. My big fascination that day was watching a very large brown flying bug that may belong to the bee family (it had big stingers) descend like a space ship upon flies and suck them up. Interestingly, at the end of the day, the cruise ships all packed up and left. In fact, I was taking a nap in our hotel when the ship blasted its horn and i swear I nearly wet myself, or had a heart attack, or both. And there was Kusadasi, left alone to sleep until the next convoy.

We have been back in Istanbul for two days and enjoyed the spendour and history of this city. Yesterday we took at boat up the Bosphorous to the ruins of a castle where you can see the Bosphorus opening up to the Black Sea. It was a fantastic, sunny day to be on the water, and we truly wish we had another week for Istanbul alone.

We have enjoyed Turkey, and Turkish people are genuinely kind and friendly. However, we have also noticed over the last 8 days that many Turks seem xenophobic. In fact, a guide we had in Bursa, over 8 hours, shared an exigesis on how he hates Kurds, Persians, East Indians, Pakistanis, Americans, Germans and Jews. Who is left to hate, i wonder? It seemed that with every one we talked to we were struck by a sense that young Turks seem to think the world is out to get them. Maybe it is.

I have also been impressed with Turkish washrooms. No country outside of Canada and the USA has had such a prolific presence of clean and free washrooms. Some of them were absolutely impressive - you did not have to touch anything; even the doors closed automatically. I am never at a lack for toilets in this place.

Well, I guess I will have to leave this as a "to be continued from Tehran" - our taxi is here 45 minutes early, and we need to rush pack and get out of here. I may not have access to travel pod in Iran - rumour has it it is banned - but I will have mom post my blogs as I am ready to write them. Hope you are all well - until next time!

Print this entry Share Istanbul hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry