Turkey is the ultimate pull between Eastern tradition and Western values, in so much as a country perched on the edge of Europe's kingdom and Asia's de-masking principles. The same struggle within every Middle Eastern and rising Asian country is somehow furthered, even actualized in a land sliver called Istanbul.
Somehow I landed in Istanbul and expected to be met with China's East vs. West story, however I greatly mistook my host country and everything it hopes to represent in the world. I did take the time to read up on all the favorite tourist destinations but did not get around to reading the "complete" 30-page history section of the Lonely Planet until a week after arriving. I know, I could not even commit to 30 pages of preparatory work.
I am struck by the male-ness of this country and anyone who has traveled to a Middle Eastern, predominated by Islam, can immediately relate. Men hang around the street to offer you tea, stare at tank-top wearing tourists, make small talk and shake every penny out of you. To equate them to vultures wouldn't be a huge stretch. Women, on the other hand, are rare seen and even more rarely heard from.
In traveling 17 days throughout Turkey, with my mom, who wants to see as much as possible in the shortest amount of time, the trip is group-tour packed. It is not a group-tour all together, but each stop consists of a pre-arranged group tour. Personally, not my cup of tea in succession.
So I thought I would share the tour, one grueling hot August day at a time:
Aug. 10:
Leave Vauxhall at 3:30am to take the Luton Airport shuttle from Victoria. Arrive at Luton at 5am for our 6:10am EasyJet flight to Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport located on the Asian-side. After taking the Kandikoy bound bus, then a Eminounu bound ferry across the Bosphorus, and then the Tram to Sultanahmet, my mom and I arrive to The Nobel Guesthouse, right next to The Blue Mosque, by 2pm. We scarf down lunch at the guesthouse's Sofa Cafe, now gone alcohol free as a marketing strategy to be different from the neighboring bars and restaurants. We walk around Sultanahmet to stretch our tired legs.
Aug. 11:
With my mom still on Los Angeles time, she is up early and
walking around Sultanahmet at 7am in the morning. She mills around The Blue Mosque area, taking photos and meets a
carpet salesman who offers to give her a tour of the city. She accepts tea with him and finds out he is
a widow like my mom. When I get up, I
sit down for breakfast and look around for my mom. She comes bouncing around the
corner and explains a nice carpet salesman will give us a tour of the city for
free. I met this flat-headed man and we
head out in his car to the lookout over the Asia-Europe divide and a castle,
the name has escaped me. The whole time
he is hitting on my mom and I feel uncomfortable and helpless, not because he
is bigger than me, but because I am not sure how to react. I have less than 24 hours of experience with
Turkish culture. After all that, he
takes us back to the carpet shop and I have to say NO carpets. He guilt-trips my mom out of $100USD for the
tour. Not a good introduction to Turkey
and it puts a strain on my interactions with my mom.
Aug. 12:
We wake up early to see Topkapi Palace at 9:30am, where the
sultan’s harem and treasure is on full display. The palace itself must have lost some of its luster as I expected
more opulence. Next, we head to the Aya
Sophia, the great Christian church turned mosque and now museum. Then we head across the street to The Blue
Mosque, where I put trousers on and my mom adorns a borrowed blue sarong. This simply decorated mosque has a huge
echoing space that draws thousands during prayer time. In the afternoon, we book our a 2-day trip
to the Gollipoli Peninsula, through HassleFree Tours.
Aug. 13:
Our 30-person tour bus, comes to pick us up for the
Gollipoli tour. The Gollipoli Peninsula
interests me for the formidable World War II (1914) battle that solidified
three young nations; Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. Considered to be “the last gentleman’s war,”
this small land mass is home to memorials paying tribute to the Turkeys and
Allied forces, the stories and the artifacts. This is a pilgrimage for Turks, Aussies and Kiwis, wanting to see the
place from their history lessons. It
is, after all, the root of ANZAC day, April 25th and a great history
montage for an American, like myself. We spend the night in the port city of Cannakale.
Aug. 14:
In the morning we head to the archaeological dig, Troy,
famous for the Trojan horse and the fall of an empire. Troy was rebuilt nine times from earthquake
damage and after German grave robbers dug up Troy in the 1950s, the
archaeological digs haven’t produced much. Disappointing overall.
Next we head back to Cannakale to eat lunch and take a private car to Pergamum. On the way through town, we pick up the guild and head up to the hill top palace. There is a full theater and parts of the regal structure still oversee the valley. After a quick explanation and wondering around the grounds, we head down and are asked if we would like to see a Women’s Handmade Carpets Cooperative. We reluctantly agree. A quick demonstration on dying and carpet making, and $425 later, we leave with two rugs. Then, we high-tail it to Selcuk.
Aug. 15:
We decided to stay in-town to walk around the relic near the
Australia New Zealand guesthouse. We see
the Temple of Artemis, where one solitary pillar and a few geese pecking around
the edge, then we hit the Ephesus Museum and have lunch in the Old Town. I just have to mention Roma Ice Cream
parlor, with handmade, rich full cream scoops. Then we go up to St. John Basilica, over looking the town and
containing one fresco and the high two story archways of yester-century. We have a nice BBQ dinner on the roof of our
guesthouse and call it a night.
Aug. 16:
The main tourist attraction in Selcuk is Ephesus, with the
famous library façade. Teeming with
tourist, my mom and I try to stay in the shade and away from the flag following
mobs. Ephesus is quite amazing and the
actual grandeur of the entire walled city can be imagined, even down to the
pipes that brought water into the city and the toilets leading sewage
away. For an additional 10 lira, we see
the excavation of a palace apartment home. The tiles and fresco are still intact. We head back to the guesthouse to cool off and then head to the bus station
to Pammukale.
Aug. 17:
We have a hearty feast at our guesthouse, The Venus Hotel,
and bed down to spend the day looking at the travertine. My mom gets food poisoning and stays in bed
the whole day. I head out in the late
afternoon to see the pure white calcium pools. Instead of heading to the beach the following day, we stay in Pammukale.
Aug. 18:
The next morning we take it easy, to ensure my mom can
handle walking without a toilet close at hand. We take it in stride and see the old ruins and the vast necropolis. Another five-course feast at our
guesthouse. Its all home cooking, I
can’t resist.
Aug. 19:
Down to Antalya, where the sun touches the earth. It is 35 Celcius and over 100
Farenheit. We are boiling and take the
afternoon with ease by walking around Kaleici Old Town.
Aug. 20:
A booked tour of Eastern Antalya where our guild informs is
we would need over a month to see all that Antalya has to offer. We see Perge, the thrice conquered city and
thrice rebuilt in the style of its owners; Byzantines, Greeks and the
Romans. Lunch is over a beautiful
National Park waterfall with camels dressed as a mariachi band. Next onto Aspendos, the 10,000-seat theatre
and onto Side, where overly tan Russian tourists out number Turks at this
portside resort town.
Aug. 21:
A day at the air-conditioned Antalya Museum, where all the
relics from the previous sites are housed. I should emphasize the air-conditioned museum. This museum is the most complete roof over Greek statues. That evening we trek to the bus station for
our over night bus to Cappadocia.
Aug. 22:
Arrive in Cappadocia at 7am and worn around the edges. My mom is excited to be in a new place. We agree to change our pre-arranged tour to
go on a tour start at 9am. We eat
breakfast and I complain that I can’t think from lack of sleep. By 10:30am we are in the Ihlara Valley,
split from the heat of a volcano. In
the valley we see a fresco church and pigeon nests, when the Byzantine
Christians used to house them for communication. We go to Selime Monastary and explore the sandstone houses built
into the rock then head to the Underground city in times of war. We view the sunset and My mom celebrates her birthday with our tour
guild, Sukran, in the town center, Urgup. We have a merry old time.
Aug. 23:
Up again for the organized tour of the valley and canyons
that have given Cappadocia so much prestige. This time to see the Pasabagi “Fairy Chimneys” which look more like
Smurf huts, and what I call Pictionary Valley, better known as Devrent Valley,
where every rock formation is something. We have a wonderful dinner in a Cave Restaurant and finish off the
afternoon in the Goreme Open Air Museum.
Aug. 24:
Our only free day in Urgup, where we explore two block past
the tourist area and we are welcomed into shops and a nice old man selling
bread from a tray atop his head, gives us each one as we sit by the
fountain. There are some great shots of
daily life, which I love.
That night we see the most touristy thing of the evening, a performance called Turkish nights, with a sampling of tribal dances and marriage customs, a belly dancer, whirling dervishes and a fire spinner thrown in for good measure. It was too touristy for me and I get violently ill from the yogurt dressing.
Aug. 25:
We wake up early to make our short flight back to Istanbul
and my innards are burning trying to get its watery liquid expunged. I need the toilet every 10 minutes but have
to settle for once every half hour. Painful. Once we get back to
Istanbul, I go to bed. I am so raw and
sore that I don’t want to wipe any longer. My mom goes out to find wet wipes. I go out at 8pm hoping to find a few souvenirs before leaving.
Aug. 26:
In the morning, I am feeling better, not 100%, but
better. My involuntary fast is over
when I eat breakfast for the first time in two days. We pack up, say our good byes to the nice Nobel Hostel folks and
head to the Sabiha Gokcen Airport.
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