Samsun: Recapping Days Before, and of the 19th
Trip Start
Feb 08, 2008
1
40
125
Trip End
Sep 11, 2009
Samsun,
Turkish Black Sea Coast,
Turkey
Monday, May 19, 2008
Nevertheless, there are some events from Patnos to Samsun to remark on.
At Patnos, the morning following the last post, the weather looked dodgy/ I didn't want to go on to Malazgirt and try continuing on. On the other hand, I didn't want to be so close and not visit that historic place. So I decided to make a side trip of it, return to Patnos, then continue on.
The Turkish Travel Pixies were early at work. When I arrived at the dolmus stand at the edge of town there was a dolmus with a Malazgirt sign in the window. I stepped into the waiting room and asked a fellow how soon it was to leave. That is, in my faltering Turkish. I think he responded in Kurdish
A Reconstructed Bandýrma
. But he gestured for me to sit beside him. And no sooner than I had done so, he got up and headed for the dolmus, gesturing for me to follow. And, away we went.Malazgirt was not what I expected. I sort of thought it was a monument out in a field. No, it was a town with a castle. The raised center of the castle was a city park. A one-armed young gent attending got the key and led me up to the parapet for a look around. (The hotel across the way was better than the one in Patnos. If I had known, I might have gone there, then continued on, as the weather was improving).
To return to Patnos I didn't want to go to the dolmus stand and have them sit me by until the next dolmus for Patnos might leave. So I walked out of town, figuring to hitchhike--and a dolmus would stop for me anyway. But, from my standing point a trucker stopped after a wait of only 15 minutes. (I noted in my mind that at age 66 I was still hitching. A sort of 40th year anniversary of my age 26 start around the world). It was a more comfortable ride back to Patnos than a dolmus.
From Patnos I took a taxi to the otogar. You just have to have an intermediate transport to the outlying otogars in Turkey. There the Travel Pixies were again attendant, and a bus for Erzurum left in about 10 minutes.
In Erzurum I didn't do anything more than have a dinner in the fancy town establishment, which name I can't remember. It's the one listed in the LP guide of 2006. I had a Chicken Kiev, which seemed to me to be pretty much a chicken corndog
Turkish Air Force Acrobatic Team
. But a good chicken corndog. I also had a Turkish raki for once. It was all fine enough and I was just finishing up at about 8:30 when the place suddenly filled with patrons--and almost every one of them lighting up a cigarette! And maybe ignoring their mates and talking on a cell phone. The next day's travel was from Erzurum to Sivas. Fascinating scenery! Plus, some lightening strikes to be seen.
In Sivas I returned to a hotel I had stayed on a previous pass-through, so once I got oriented it was easy to find. Then I went out walking. And something happened. I stoppe to look at the remarkable Selcuk architecture. Or rather the remarkable carvings gracing the remaining architecture. Then I headed for the Castle (Kale) which I hadn't previously seen.
At the base of the Kale, where I approached, were two restored Ottoman houses. I poked my nose into the garden of one as the gate was open. It was just after dark. I saw a person's feet through a window. Rounding a corner there were some gentlemen standing outside the door to the house, and they saw me immediately. One spoke to me in English, of course seeing I was a yabanci. One thing led to another and he asked someone if he could show me around. Inside I saw some food on a table, so something was going on . . . .
After a quick look into some of the rooms, he introduced me into a room around which a bunch of men were sitting. And I was invited to join them. Well, from what I could gather from the friendly, but constricted English of a couple of these gentlemen, the majority of the group were men connected as faculty or administrators with the Turkish military college, and the rest were Sivas men
Turkish Air Force Pilot
. The military college guys were on a tour similar to what I was doing, remarking on the time and sites of Ataturk's launching of the war for Turkish independence following the First World War.After a short while I was introduced, and in what Turkish I could muster, tried to introduce myself. Trays of finger food--Turkish style--were brought before us. Basically, bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, some greens. And tea, certainly. A gentleman played the Turkish saz, a not very (to the western ear) melodic 7 stringed sort of mandolin. He played Turkish folksongs that the military guys had appearantly requested, judging by the prepared pages I saw. But most seemed to know the words by heart. The songs seemed to represent various regions of Turkey.
The fellow, sort of my minder, seemed to be the one who had prepared the program. At one point he read a poem. Another fellow later recited a poem. Then the minder fellow held the text of one song so that I could see it, and I tried to join in. Following, that was favorably commented on.
There were breaks for the musician, time for conversation. Trays of fruit were served. And more tea, of course.
It all concluded around 11:30, with concluding remarks by both hosts and guests--including some thanking me or my presence, and me trying to reciprocate.
Man, that was some unique experience!
The next day I travelled from Sivas to Amasya, one of my favorite Turkish cities. It is in a unique geographical location; it has a sense of itself, and so has a visual attractiveness, where most Turkish cities do not. It was also a Sunday, and thronged with Turkish tourists. I looked into a hotel near where I had stayed on my last visit. The price was something over US$100, so I passed.
I went back across the river to a place where I got a room for 25YTL (+/-US$20). Hey, it had a clean bed, and a hot shower. What more do you need? The room was also above the thronged (yea, that word again) and trafficed riverside street. And there was a streetlight almost in my bed.
However, before that became an issue, I still had enough daylight time to climb up to the top of the Kale, precipitously overlooking the city.
Coming down from the Kale after dark, I went out and had another fancy dinner, and this time with a beer. So, hanging my sleeping bag over the window, and blocking a few leaks with clothing I got the room dark enough. And, with earplugs and the beer buzz, I was quickly asleep and troubled not a bit.
Now, today I made the short, early run from Amasya to Samsun, on this the 19th of May, remarking Ataturk's landing here in 1919 to begin the war for Turkish independence. It is a Monday, and a national holiday. And, there's no other word for it, the place is thronged with people. I couldn't get any information on when and where any events were to take place. So I just walked along the sea front promenade, to the far eastern park, next to which is a reconstructed duplicate of the Bandirma, the ship which Ataturk and his cronies rode from Istanbul to Samsun. He was sent here by the crumbling Ottoman administration--against which he would soon rebel--to quell some local uprisings--against Greeks, I think. Anyway, the ship is a floating museum which can be visited. Signs around (an empty stage, unattended tv cameras) showed that I had missed the main event.
I took a dolmus back to the area in which my (another, even better, 25YTL) hotel is. And then, while standing out in a park there was a roar, and about eight jet planes flew past close over head, streaming red and white smoke. It was obviously the Turkish Air Force acrobatic squad. So I headed back to the waterfront, as earlier I had passed a sort of reviewing stand. Well, that was far down the line, but we could still see the performance as it took place mostly out over the off-shore bay.
And, that's it for now. Hopefully, I'll fly, myself, to Istanbul tomorrow.
P.S. I regret the inflexibility of the mapping function of this site. It doesn't allow for the insertion of intermediate locations between posting locations. So it looks on the map like one flies from place to place, and not showing, for instance, cities mentioned above.
