Melanie and Steve, Around the World in _

Posted 9:17 PM by MelanieandSteve
TURKEY, 26 Oct to 9 Nov (Written 27 Nov) -- Turkey “Bloggel Bloggel”.

OUR FOLKS HAD A DATE IN CONSTANTINOPLE, AND WE WERE WAITING IN ISTANBUL: Planning to meet Honor and Walter, Melanie's parents, in Turkey, the two of us arrived in Istanbul a day earlier in order to scope the place out. When Mel's parent's arrived on 28 Oct, Honor's birthday, we were ready to begin celebrating.

ISTANBUL...THE CITY, (by literal translation) is Turkey's capital and former center of the Ottoman Empire.

--ISTANBUL... SULTANAHMENT AREA: We were there at the right time and place. For the month of Ramadan, festivities abounded. Like a carnival, food stands lined the streets by hypodrome park: There were popcorn sellers, roasted corn on the cob, chesnuts roasting on an open fire (I did say Ramadan reminded me of Christmas), concerts, candy, and the ever iconic, Turkish Kebabs. (Steve found Turkish kebabs in Turkey were not as luscious as "Turkish" Kebabs all over Europe).

--ISTANBUL... MORE GOOD TIMING: 29 Oct was Turkey's Independence Holiday, Attaturk Day. Turks love the "Father of Turks," Attaturk. The image of this founder of the Turkish Republic was on statues, money, and sides of buildings. We strolled through the Taxim area of town known for it's markets and people watching. We rode the trolly, admired unique produce, and searched unsuccessfully for the Attaturk Day Parade. Later, near our hotel, a huge fire work display erupted directly over our heads as we walked through the park. We had to take cover from the falling ashes.

--ISTANBUL... WE SAW:

----Two Enormous Mosques line the Sultanahment area and mirrored each other. One red (Ayasofia), and one blue (Sultanahment). Inside Sultanahment, we were impressed by the openness as there were no chairs or pews to interrupt the airy space. It had high vaulted ceilings much like a European Cathedral except not rectantular. It was famed for it's beautiful blue tile on the walls and ceilings. Lots of windows made it bright inside. Melanie liked the soft carpet on her bare feet. Shoes must be removed to enter any mosque. Steve had to wear a sarong over his shorts and Melanie and Honor had to cover their heads with shawls. Here is a funny story about when the Sultan Ahment built the mosque: He was the sixth Sultan to rule Istanbul, so he wanted it to have six minarets. Many Muslims were offended because the Mosque at the holiest city of Mecca had six minarets. The Sultan came up with a solution. He payed to have a seventh minaret built in the city of Mecca. Now everyone was happy and he got to keep his six minarets.

----Tomb of Sultanahmet: Again, under shawl cover, we visited the resting place of their famous Sultan, as well as other royalty.

----The Underground Cistern: Once, this underground reservoire beneath the mosques transported goods. Because it often transported loot and kidnapped women, it has since been closed to transport. It is still used to moderate the climate inside the mosques and as an artistic place to visit. The glassy waters in the dark underground were colorfully lit, white hanging orbs reflected above it, and erie classical music echoed in the background. Old Ionic, doric, and Corinthean pillars punctured the water, including one with an upside down face of medusa at its base. We haven't seen anything else like this.

----Whirling Dervishes: We sipped turkish tea and the seasonal Sahlep (like rice egg nog) and watched this traditional dance form. A man in a flared skirt solemnly spun in place throughout the song at over 60 spins a minute. He appeared comfortable, but we had to wonder how he didn't get dizzy.

----Topkapi Palace: this was once the hub of the largest Empire in the world, the Ottoman Empire. We saw the grounds, crown jewels, relics of religious figures including the skeleton hand of John the Baptist. One fun item on display was an 86 karat diamond found in a garbage dump in the17th century. The man who found the diamond in the ruff didn't know it was a diamond. He traded it for three spoons. Since then, people have discovered it's value, fought over it's ownership, cut it into a beautiful gem, and placed it in the museum.

--ISTANBUL... THE BUS BUST: The city tour on bus we took was a total bust. The recorded audio guide was staticy, difficult to understand, and uninformative. Worst of all, between informational snippets, two bars of eternally horrible elevator musak repeated ad infinitum. Going out of our minds, we finally decided to get off and walk home. A blessing in disguise, we enjoyed the long walk home along the shore of the Bosphorous.

--ISTANBUL..."BREAK-FAST" WITH MURAT AND HIS FAMILY: Melanie befriended a man named Murat on her first day in Istanbul and he had Mel and Steve over for Ramadan evening meal with his family. Later, Melanie introduced him to Honor and Walter. They all hit it off so well that Murat invited us all to come again for supper. Inside the beautiful Pottery and Carpet store, rugs were layed out on the floor and a feast of dishes were placed at each setting. We sat on the floor for the amazing meal and afterwards, when most guests had gone, Murat sat with us for Turkish and apple tea. By the end, Murat seemed like family of our own.

--ISTANBUL... THE LAST NIGHT: There was more to see in Istanbul, and we'd be back. But tonight, we enjoyed an exceptional meal, great conversation, sharing of pictures, and a few good games of cards by the fireplace in our atmospheric hotel restaurant.

ECEAVAT / TROY / GALIPOLI: Eceavat was a good home base from which to explore Galipoli and Troy near the south enterance of the Dardanelles straight. In Australia, we had watched the movie "Galipoli" to brush up on their war history. We'd also recently watched movies "Troy" and "Helen of Troy". Now we visited the actual places. We hired knowledgeable guides for both of these historic sites. As memorable as the sites was a late evening spent playing cards with Mom and Dad on the floor of our sterile hostel room.

--ECEAVAT... TROY: At Troy, we saw the wooden horse shown in the movie "Troy." We learned a theory that there really was a large wooden "Trojan Horse". It is believed that an earthquate destroyed the walls of Ancient Troy. The people wanted to thank the god of shaken earth, Poseiden, so they built the horse as a gift for the god. There is evidence of eleven cities built at the same geographical location, one on top of each other. Over several thousand years, as one city would become abandoned and burried, another Troy would be built on top of it, demonstrating it's strategic location near the straight linking the Black and Mediteranean Seas.

--ECEAVAT... GALIPOLI: Our guide TJ, named for his Tom Jones haircut, not only knew his stuff, but he loved it. His descriptions and explanations of history were rivetting. We were impressed to learn of the humanity of the warriors at Galipoli despite huge amounts of bloodshed. Once during a battle, for example, an Australian man fell injured between enemy lines. He screamed in agony but nobody could help him. Then one Turk waved a cloth high on a stick. Gunfire ceased. The Turk walked to the agonizing Aussie, carried him to the Australians' trench, and then returned in silence to his own side. Then the fighting and gunfire resumed. Similar acts of courage and humanity occurred repeatedly.

PAMUKALE... HIKES, HEALING PLACES, AND ALMOST HOME:

--PAMULALE... ALMOST HOME: Word of mouth is always the best warranty. Allgau Pension came highly recommended and turned out to be as special to us as the formal sights of Pamukale. Mehmet met us at the bus station and took us 'home' to Allgau, introduced us to his two kids and his wife Umi, and helped us find our way to the nearby not-to-be-missed cliffs and ruins. In the early morning, Umi included Melanie in her immediate family's Ramadan morning meal. Over a fancy feast, Melanie spoke broken German with Umi's mother and father who used to live in Germany. Also, together we watched the beginnings of U.S. Presidential election coverage. Mel began to feel the pangs of disappointment as early as 4am that day.

--PAMUKALE... HIKES: Only about 600 meters from Allgau were the Turkish Travertine Cliffs. Years of running water packed with calcium minderals have deposited blankets of chrystal white on the hillsides. It looked like a ski slope in the middle of the hot desert. At the base of each drop-off the calcium formed into pools filled with turquoise waters. In the past, people could swim in these pools. Now, we could only waded in them in bare feet. We did swim in one pool reserved for swimmers. In it were ruins of old fallen Roman Columns. The water was warm and also effervescent. Bubbles would form on our bodies and tickle our skin as they floated upward. It was like swiming in a pool of Perrier.

--PAMUKALE... HEALING PLACES: It was not surprising that ancient Turks believed this mountain of white cliffs contained healing powers. Above the travertine cliffs, they had built a metropolis. The ruins now include an intact amphitheatre, a main road, a bath house, and parts of the old city walls. We walked through most of it and finished our stay with a memorable pink sunset.

OLYMPUS...( TURKEY, THIS TIME.) TREE HOUSES AND MOUNTAIN MYSTERIES: We went to Olympus, a small town on the south coast of Turkey for some R and R and seaside siesta.

--OLYMPUS... TREE HOUSES: We slept in "tree houses" built high on stilts. These charming wooden shacks were made of tree limbs, accessible by ladder, and furnished only with a mattress on the floor. They were nestled against the hillside next to vegetable gardens, orange orchards, and a forest of evergreens. There was also a common area with low tables and pillows for chairs by a camp fire. We were walking distance from the beach where we spent two liesure days, near ancient ruins. We bonded with the friendly staff and enjoyed the home-cooked feast they served each night. About seven dollars covered the treehouses, breakfast and dinner each day. We were almost ready to move in permanently.

--OLYMPUS... MOUNTAIN MYSTERIES: After dark, we hiked to the Flames of Chimera on Mount Olympus, once eternalized in Homer's Odessy. These flames lit the very first Olympic torch centuries ago. From holes in the rock on the mountain, flames burned eternally. Scientists still don't fully understand mysterious cause. Ancient Greeks and Turks attributed them to a fire breathing monster in the Earth.

CAPPADOCIA/GOREME... COLD, CHIMNEYS, CAVERNS, CULTURE, VISTAS, VALLEYS, AND VASES: Cappadocia and Goreme were far to the eastern side of Turkey and required overnight busses to to and fro. Because of it's distance, we almost cut them out of our travel plans. We are so glad we didn't. It was a magical place worth every long moment on a crampy bathroomless bus.

--CAPPADOCIA/GOREME... COLD: The deserts of Pamukale had been almost too hot. The beaches of Olympus were pleasantly warm. Istanbul got chilly at night but was mild during the day. But the blast of cold that hit us in Cappadocia was a total surprise. Out came the jackets and beanies, on came the long pants, and in we hurried to the cozy pillowy rooms of our pretty caverned pension for some hot tea to warm us up.

--CAPPADOCIA/GOREME... CHIMNEYS: Cappadocia is a geologic wonder hewn from ancient volcanoes and years of erosion. Formations of hard rock have remained standing where surrounding soft deposits have worn and washed away. What is left are hundreds of "Ferry Chimneys" - stone pinacles. Before the common era, Hitites burrowed homes into the stone pinnacles. To this day, people live in the resulting cave dwellings. We slept in our own stone-cut cave rooms.

--CAPPADOCIA/GOREME... CAVERNS: During war times, the Hitites dug entire cities under the ground for refuge and lived below for thirty days at a time. We visited a seven-story underground city, 165 meters down. Eventually, the Hitites were driven out by the Greeks and then the Greeks were driven out by the Turks. Now, the Turks are overrun by the tourists - - ha ha.

--CAPPADOCIA/GOREME... CULTURE: We went to a 'cultural show' and dinner in another underground cave. It was a big hit with Whirling dirvish dancers, Flame jumpers, Belly dancers and much more. The great local food consisted of twenty or so mediteranean dishes to sample and a delectible main of goulash. Mid evening, everyone went outside to dance around a bonfire. Afterwards, we could hardly drag ourselves away from the post-show music and dancing. Mom, Dad, Mel and Steve all tried their best swing moves.

--CAPPAROCIA/GOREME... VISTAS and VALLEYS: We pulled off the road several times to enjoy scenes of ferry chimneys as well as rainbow palates of colorful valleys. Their names, like honey valley, love valley, or rose valley, reflected their warm colors. We hiked through some. The smooth eroded slopes of Honey Valley looked like vanilla ice cream from above. The Valley was a playground of caves and smurf house mounds. We hiked Ihlara valley along a flowing river flanked by 50 or so cave monasteries where Christians hid out for centuries.

--CAPPADOCIA/TGOREME... VASES: Actually, pots. We visited a pottery factory, since pottery is one of Turkey's claims to fame. After watching a demonstration by an expert on the potter's wheel, Steve tried his hand at it and made a sugar vase and lid. Everyone was impressed with his innate skill and steady hand.

ISTANBUL ONCE AGAIN: ... BYZANTIUM, BOSPHOROUS, BATHS, AND BEYOND: We spent our last day and night in Istanbul before flying to Vienna. There were a couple must-do's that we missed the first time around. We checked into our sea-view hostel and headed out to the Baths and Boat Docks of Byzantium.

--ISTANBUL ONCE AGAIN... BYSTNATIUM: Istanbul wasn't only once Constantinople, but it was also once Byzantium. Fun fact for this alliterative prose.

--ISTANBUL ONCE AGAIN... BOSPHOROUS: We were told that a cruise on the Bosphorous "Was Istanbul" and without it, we couldn't say we'd experienced Istanbul. So we took a two hour cruise and enjoyed the sights. We passed under Turkey's iconic bridge, a symbol of connection between Europe and Asia.

--ISTANBUL ONCE AGAIN... BATHS: Any tan we may have acquired during our beach days at Olympus was wiped away with one grueling episode of exfoliation. They call it a 'massage', but it was really a massive scrub at the Turkish Baths. After they rubbed our bare bodies (men separated from women) with “brillo-pad” style sponges, we were left with pink skin covered by rolls of dead epidermis. It looked like the rolls that come off a soft eraser. The hour or so of abrasive decadence, followed by an oxygen deprived stint in a super-hot sauna, was as much ritual as it was luxury. But we were glad to have the experience once in this fifteenth-century bathhouse.

NEXT TIME: BEING WIEN-EES.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Paul R., Mom., Cambria G., Jonathan R., Meika N., Dolly P., Sam F., and Laura G..

HAPPY ANNIVERSARIES TO: Kara and Alex, and also Julie and Dave.