Farewell to Turkey

We are in India now, so as usual, a bit behind on the blog! For the rest of our time in Turkey, we finished our 3 day trek on the Lycian way, which took us six days as we stayed each place several days. We then went by night bus to Selcuk and saw the ruins at Ephesus. After 3 days in Selcuk we returned to Istanbul, picked up visa for India and got our visa for Kyrgyzstan before flying via Bahrain to Delhi. For my 'Western' eyes, the airport at Bahrain was fantastic-a real treat to see the turbans and robes and veils of all types. Many of the veils were as finely styled and as individualistic and fashionable as the hairstyles back home! One of the things I enjoyed the most about Turkey was getting to know the people and the culture while having endless cups of Turkish Chai. We also visited several Mosques and enjoyed speaking with the Imams. In one small town the Imam asked through the man who was interpereting for us if we would convert to Islam. He then told us that if we did, it would be the quick way to heaven for him! The Muslims we met and spoke with are peaceful and call us brother and sister, and expressed regret at the activities of a few extremists, and also at the Western response, which I would agree is often more divisive than effective.

Lycian way



The small beach is our prize at the end of the day



Turans camp, where we spent two nights. The cushioned seating areas are a Turkish tradition.






A typical house with vegatable gardens, fruit and olive trees, and a yard full of various animals- cows, goats, and chickens.



Most houses also have grape vines which create glorious shaded roof terraces.



Our cabins at the MonteNegro Pension in Faralya. We had a private cabin with bath, on site swimming pool, Turkish breakfast, and a five course dinner here for about 45$ US per night.



The traditional Turkish breakfast



Laundry and herbs drying in the sun.



Terraces on the Lycian Way



Mount Baba Da on the Lycian way



Paragliders go from mount Baba da to the beach in Oludenez



Ruins in Epheses



The Theater at Ephesus





Wall frescoe in the terrace houses of Ephesus

The bazaar at Selcuk

Isa Bey Mosque

A newer mosque in Selcuk

Selcuk

Getting to Alinca

Olympos:
We spent several days in Olympos, which was very touristic, although very enjoyable laying on the beach and exploring the ancient ruins there. In fact, at one point after a swim in the beautiful blue Mediterranean and laying baking in the warm sun, all I could think was "this is the life!". Coming back from the beach one day I was chased by a man into a fruit shop, where his wife proceeded to fill my turned up shirt bottom with fresh, green Turkish plums.

Getting to Alinca:
After Olympos, our agenda was to do a three day trek on he Lycian Way, stopping in small villages for the nights' lodging. To get to the start of our trek, we needed to take a bus to Esen and then find a way to Alinca. Esen is pretty far off the tourist track and this turned out to be quite an adventure. Our bus driver from Olympos dropped us off on the side of a road surrounded by fields. He told us that soon a Dolmus (small local bus) would come by and we could take it to Esen. On arriving in Esen we began walking down the road, looking for the bus station. Soon we were surrounded by 6 to 8 people talking loudly and excitedly to each other, and occasionally, to us in Turkish trying to figure out why we were here. We were finally made to understand that there was no Dolmus or Taxi that could take us to Alincha.
"Dolmus, no."
"Taxsi, no."
"12 kilometers." A scissoring motion is then made with the fingers.
I say to Tim "I think they mean we have to walk".
Someone nods the affirmative.
"12 Kilometers walk"
He motions his hand forward and then jerks it to the right, indicating where we will find the route. Someone shouts at him.
After more shouting back and forth between them, we are made to understand to wait. A couple of the men ran off. After a little bit, another man shows up on a scooter. He speaks a little English and has been asked to come speak to us. He tells us that another villager is looking for a taxi and invites us to his tea shop for the inevitable, addicting Turkish chai. He asks us why we want to go to Alinca,
"you will find nothing there" he says.
I jump up and run into the small shops, desperately searching for food that can be carried. The English speaking man, Metin, helps me and I am able to procure a loaf of bread, a large amount of cookies, and a bag of delicious homemade goat cheese. On walking out of the shop Metin grabs two tomatoes and gives them to me (In the US we would probably say "steals" but it is more casual here). I have spent about 3$ US.
Eventually someone shows up with a car (not actually a taxi, although they continue to call him Taxi driver) that is willing to drive us for about 27$ US. In case this seems like a lot (It was a lot!), I will just mention that petrol here is about the equivalent of $10.00 US a gallon! Garden tools and bags of cement are adjusted in the trunk to make room for our packs. Finally we are off! The road to Alinca climbed about 2100 feet (700 meters) on a narrow, steep, winding gravel road. Eventually the "Taxsi" driver stops in front of a few stone and plaster homes perched on the edge of the mountain and says "Alinca". At this point, I am laughing so hard I can barely get out of the car. For me, the most unknown and foreign parts of the trip are the most fun and memorable. We begin walking up the road, looking for the pension we had read about in the lonely planet guidebook. A women with a long, sharp looking garden scythe begins following us. To our relief she said "Hosh Geldiniz" (Welcome) when we turned to face her. "Hosh Bulduk" (good to be here) we replied.
"Pensiyon?"
She points down a trail. We follow the trail for a bit and to our relief, we did find the Pension. We have made it to Alinca!

The beach at Olympos





Olympos ruins



A man pauses by the road to pose for my camera where we are dropped off near Esin



Alinca





A woman with her red haired daughter in Alinca



His shoes are just a bit too big!

Cappadocia

We left İstanbul last week on an overnight train to Kayseri, followed by a bus to Göreme, which is in the heart of the Cappadocia (Kapadokya) region. All together it took 23 hours. In Cappadocia there are houses, churches, and even entire underground cities carved into the rocks. Early Christians carved out these rock villages 1000-1500 years ago. They took refuge in the underground cities whenever invaders came through and were able to stay there for up to 6 months. They painted intricate frescoes in the churches, which have, unfortunately, been badly damaged over time. The faces of most of the people have been chiseled out!

We did not arrange for accommodation in advance, and wandering around, we ran into Faruk, who recommended several places to stay as well as eat. We eventually chose one of these recommendations, Arif Pansiyon and stayed in a cave room way up on the top of a rock spire with a view of the entire town of Göreme. The mosque was very near and the minaret that broadcasts the prayer call was only slightly lower then our window, waking us up at 4:30 in the morning the first few days until we got used to it. Later that day we ran into Faruk again, and he took us on a crazy drive in a tiny 2 seater pickup with 4 of us squeezed in the front. Faruk's father shifted gears, pressed the gas, and honked the horn while Faruk manned the brakes as we tore around corners on a winding road. They asked Tim if he could shift, but he declined as he could barely move! It was pretty wild.

We met many neat people in Göreme and feel like we are slowly learning about life and culture in Turkey. The Turkish people have a wonderfully varied heritage as they are literally on the crossroads between East, West, North and South, near the birthplaces of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. They seem to be very adept at integrating all these cultural influences into a wonderfully vibrant and tolerant culture all their own. The people here are very entrepreneurial and work very hard, often at multiple jobs. One person might work as a guide, grow grapes, make wine, and have a little souvenir shop. Often people's business requires that they work from morning until night.

We have been told that there are less independent American travelers here since 9/11. They mostly come in large tours now. Tim and I don't feel any anti-American sentiment, although, understandably, there is anti-Bush sentiment. People seem to realize, though, that many of the American people disagree with our government's current policies as much as they do. We are definitely enjoying Turkey and would recommend travel here, but consider leaving your American flag t-shirts at home!

From Göreme, we took the shared taxi's, called dolmuş, to Kaymaklı to look at the underground city there. It was pretty amazing, 4 levels of interconnected tunnels and rooms, all able to be blocked off by rolling huge chock stones across the entrances. There were chapels, sleeping areas, kitchens, and wine making rooms. The town of Kaymaklı itself had virtually no tourists as most people visit on a tour bus that drops you off and picks you up in front of the underground city. Having taken the dolmuş, we were free to eat lunch in a local restaurant and walk around the town. As we walked, children ran up to us to practice their English and have their photo taken. Afterwards, they asked to see the image of themselves on the digital camera screen and then went off happy. Kaymaklı was also the first town we have been to in Türkiye (the Turkish name for this country) where we saw people hurrying towards the mosque at the prayer call. Thinking it would be a very interesting place to stay for a few days, we looked for a Pansiyon (guesthouse), but there were none in town.

Afterward we took a dolmuş to Uçhisar to look at the rock castle here and then attempted to walk through Pigeon Valley back to Göreme. We soon became blocked off by steep, washed out areas. There we met Hasan, who was relaxing in the valley drinking Turkish tea. Hasan led us along a maze of footpaths, through a long, narrow tunnel carved in the rock, up to a view point for photos, and back down into the valley past a pour off.

Another day we rented bicycles from Faruk's rental agency, Öz Cappadocia, and biked through back roads, visiting other valleys and carved rock dwellings. We met another man who showed us an extensive sixth century church and monastery. It was he who told us that Clinton was the best president. He then said Bush was the worst, and Iraq an absolute mess! I could not agree with him more!

We finally left Göreme last night on an overnight bus this time, which took about 12 hours to get us to Olympus.

View from the train



Frescoes in Dark Church at the Goreme open air museum. This was my best photo because for this one, I forgot to turn off the flash!



Exterior of some of the rock dwellings.



Rock formations looking towards fairy chimneys







View of Uçhisar and the upper pigeon valley from Uçhisar Castle.



Hasan at the view point he took us to.



Contemplating chicken, which I ate for the first time in about 9 years. I decided that if I tried to stick to a vegetarian diet while traveling I would at best miss out on a lot of good foods, and at worst, starve.



Making silk thread from silk worm cacoons at Carpedocia



No one goes to Turkey without buying a carpet! After exhausting shopping we finally chose ours at Carpedocia, where they had many unique designs of high quality.



Left to right: Tim, Faruk, Yarrow, Faruk's father.



Our room at Arif's is through the upper door in the rock. Following is the view at sunset from the deck of the Pansiyon.





Small girl in Goreme




Our recommendations to other travelers:
Öz Cappadocia - Car, scooter, motorcycle and bike rentals. Tours. Good recommendations and traveler help. Say Hi to Faruk for us if you are there! www.ozcappadocia.com
Contact: Faruk
Carpedocia - carpet makers cooperative. Many unique and high quality designs. www.carpedociacarpets.com
Contact: Savaş
Arif Pansiyon - Normal and cave rooms-great views. www.arifcavepension.com
Contact: Arif
Dibek Cafe and Restaurant - Excellent traditional home cooked food in a beautiful historical building. Try the homemade wine!

Feeding the Pigeons: Istanbul

Istanbul is difficult to write about. It is steeped in the past, an exuberant mixture of tradition and progressiveness, religion and tolerance, friendliness and hospitality. The Turkish people are proud of their country. The bright red Turkish flag flys everywhere. The prayer call sounds five times a day, and while most people seem not to notice it, I can imagine that this shared experience creates a sense of unity unlike anything I know in the United States. Here, while genearally conservative, it seems that the way a woman dresses is between her and God. There are women in tank tops, those wearing all enveloping black chadors with only the eyes showing, and 'muslim chic' women with bright headscarves in beautiful designs and stylish fitted jackets and jeans. The people are friendly and hospitable. We arrive and a Turkish friend we have not actually met before takes us to a lovely dinner. We have problems buying train tickets, and a man who speaks English helps. After purchasing tickets, he shows us how to get to the other train station, tells us good places to visit, and recommends an inexpensive Turkish restaurant for lunch. All this is followed by his phone number in case we have any problems in Turkey. The taxi driver who takes us to the US embassy tells us how to take a bus back to our accomodations. Men give up their seats to women on the tram. The photos I chose to post show a small snapshot of daily life. A woman feeds the Pigeons. A man catches one and gives it to an enchanted girl who holds it for a while. Soon after taking the last photo the bird flew away.