Merhaba, My Friends

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Parting is such sweet sorrow. And other platitudes.

I am going to work harder to keep the blog current than to backfill. But keep your eyes peeled for backposts between current ones. This one covers the past two days here in İstanbul.

Yesterday was full of departures and goodbyes--or perhaps farewells, depending on who's in mind. While I sure I won't be seeing everyone from my group again, even in Louisville, I will certainly be seeing others. Such is life.

The day started early for the group heading home--the bus was scheduled to leave the hotel at 4:00 AM. In reality, everyone was extremely prompt and the bus arrived at the airport before 4:00. Being less bright than I sometimes imagine, I decided that accompanying the group would be a fantastic idea. Despite my misgivings as the alarm buzzed less than 2 hours after laying down, in the end it was definitely worth the trip to say farewell and have a few last minute conversations.

This also gave me an opportunity to explore the Istanbul metro system, which consists of only about 10 stops between the airport and its terminus near Aksaray. The ride was about 30 minutes (I think), and felt a lot like a strange dream in my sleep deprived and thoughtful state. Naturally I passed right back out once in the hotel.

I spent most of the day wandering with Ben, Mackenzi, her friend Lauren, and one of our police guides-turned-friend Rauf. Our most notable destinations were a barber shop (Ben and I got great Turkish shaves for only 3 Lira--I am now sporting a stylish circle beard and a sideburn tan line courtesy of two weeks of Turkish sun. We also spent a couple of hours at a café on the Galata bridge overlooking the Golden Horn-- the bottom level of the bridge is devoted to expensive restaurants overlooking the water.

Today I spent about 7 hours in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum-- another really impressive collection of sculpture and ancient art, rivaled in my experience only by the Athens Archaeological Museum. The Istanbul collection is much, much larger and more varied, while the Athens collection may have more spectacular individual pieces. Neither should be missed, of course. Most of my photos will be from that museum.

Also, I promise I have done more this trip than look at nude statues. Not that you could tell from the photos I post.

View of the Market District and Golden Horn from the Galata Bridge café

Bes, "god of irresistible power' greeting me at the museum entrance

Funeral relief depicting a farewell. One of the more emotionally touching sculptures I have seen.

Ah, Nike. My favorite of the Greek goddesses. Perhaps she should have been the goddess of the wind, considering so many of her depictions seem to be standing in a hurricane.

Poor Marysas, forever remembered for being skinned alive..

These photos are obviously out of order. These are fishermen on the top deck of the Galata bridge. The Galata tower is in the background.

Another of the Market District from Galata Bridge.

Saint Anthony of Padua Cathedral in Galata

Sumerian, Hittite, or Assyrian --not really sure. This exceeds my historical knowledge and I failed to photograph his tag.

In the spirit of Turkish Justice, here is a very, very old murder Sumerian conviction. Both the tag and plate photographed.

This is mostly impressive due to age--20 centuries BC

Entrance to a Babylonian street

Babylonian/Sumerian. Again my European history is failing me. Probably because this isn't European.

More of the Babylonian gate.

Appears to be a Medusa, but I didn't find the tag. Even Medusa cries.

Peacock decoration inside the Tiled Portico

Iznik tiles and gold leaf decorations inside the Tiled Portico.

Beautiful stained glass (also in the Tiled Portico)

A view of the entrance to the museum. It stretches in a "C" shape

More decorations in the Tiled Portico. I can't think of the name for this. Grotto?

Athena adjusting her sandal (maybe Aphrodite?)

What appears to be a child fighting a wolf. Nothing amiss here..

Intricate relief carvings on a sarcophagus

Sarcophagus of Alexander (unfortunately a misnomer)

Sarcophagus of Alexander--battle scene

Proof that ancient people had the same LSD trip nightmares I have. They just carved them into stone instead of trying to forget them.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Back to blogging

Despite both the web address and title of this blog, thus far it must look a lot like I'm in Greece rather than Turkey. That was true for the first few days of my trip, but for the last ~13 days I've been in various parts of Turkey, the happenings of which I will attempt to recap here over the next few days, particularly as the University group leaves on Monday morning and I strike out independently. More on that as it occurs.

To give a very, very brief recap of the last ~2 weeks, we spent 3 nights in Kahramanmaraş, 2 in Göreme, 3 in Ankara, and now 4 in İstanbul.

Kahramanmaraş is located at the point I would call "exactly South Central," although I suppose the province itself leans a little East. Regardless, it sits only around 100 miles from the Syrian border, a fact which probably makes Mom a little uncomfortable but never seems to register on the minds of the people living there. The city and province are known for their ice cream, a distinctive product made from goat's milk and flavored with salep, the flour of ground orchid root. The town itself has very few foreign visitors, at least of the touristic variety, and is a great example of the progress Turkey has made in the last two decades-- new buildings are going up at a pace rivaled in my memory only by Beijing, and there is a clear emphasis on education. We visited three brand new school facilities--two elementary schools and one University. Both of the elementary schools put every American primary school I've ever seen to shame with the quality of the facilities, and the teachers seemed very enthusiastic. Clearly I can't speak for the quality of the education, but if it is anything but first class it's not because they are afraid to spend money on it.

Göreme is a town located approximately "Central Central," tending a little southward, located right in the middle of Turkey's Cappadocia (pronounced "Kapadokya" in Turkish, Cap-a-doeshya in English) region. For those who haven't heard of it before, this area is famous for its strange geological formations that resemble fairy chimneys (giving the region it's nickname). These pointy protrusions are made of volcanic tuff, a porous and easy to carve stone, lending itself to digging and tunneling. Thus the cliffs and chimneys alike are pocked with the remains of thousands of dwellings, churches, mosques, etc, and a few are still being used for each of these purposes. Additionally, Iznik ceramics, hand woven rugs, and gemstones are produced here--each of which we got ample opportunity to witness (and naturally, to purchase).

Ankara, Turkey's capital city, gets a bad rap from most lovers of Turkey. Someone once told me that Atatürk's only mistake was moving the capital from İstanbul to Ankara. Clearly this is an oversimplification, as Ankara has a much better strategic and organizational position, etc--but the point was clear-- there is nothing in Ankara worth visiting. Thankfully this impression is sadly mistaken. While Ankara lacks İstanbul's flair and historical importance, it is no slouch from the perspective of modern cities, and the fact that Atatürk himself is buried there in a grand mausoleum is enough to make it worth at least a side trip for anyone visiting Turkey. I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the city, as well as its amazing level of "European-ness" if you will excuse a terrible platitude for a moment. In reminded me of Washington DC without so much crime and grime. Scratch that, it is nothing like DC. It actually isn't a bad city..

Our last (group) destination and current location is İstanbul, the jewel in Turkey's Anatolian crown. I've been reading a lot about İstanbul throughout the semester, and all of the gushing praise it receives from authors, poets, artists, and even television personalities (Anthony Bourdain-- check out his İstanbul episode of "No Reservations" for a lot more food info than I can provide!) seems entirely justified. I've never liked cities much, and even Athens began to grate on my nerves after a little while. The dirt and chaos of that city is toxic in the medium to long term-- İstanbul, on the other hand, is certainly chaotic, but it has a much higher degree of cleanliness than Athens, New York, Washington, or Louisville ever dreamed of having. I am sure at least part of this is due to the fact that we are in the historical district, etc--but even those areas in Athens and Thessaloniki are dirty. We have visited the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, and Topkapı Palace today, and will be visiting Dolmabahçe Palace tomorrow.

Pictures of all of the above adventures, as well as detailed explanations, will be forthcoming. For the next couple of days I will be focusing on maximizing my time with the group, so don't expect too much until Monday or Tuesday.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Athens-Thessaloniki Train, and adventures locating transit to Istanbul

In this latest installment of my Greek adventures, I spend a lot of time sitting down staring at various scenery...

Yes, this was primarily a transit day. The train between Athens and Thessaloniki is 6-7 hours of beautiful scenery, rolling by a dirty train window at speeds that oscillate between 5 and 70 miles per hour. This is not as infuriating as it sounds, since at any speed, Macedonian mountains are breathtaking. It's much easier to snap awful photos at 5 than at 70.

The sharp eyed tourist or overly poetic visitor may note that the landscape in Greece at this time of year is dominated by shades of blue, purple, and green. I think this is what gives it its unique charm--it's a combination that I don't see much of (naturally) at home, so it is always novel in a way that isn't easy to grasp at first. Even discovering the mystery halfway through the ride didn't serve to diminish its intensity.

I read a poem, probably by Lord Byron, about the silver of the olive leaves, and at the time I thought "this guy is crazy." Turns out, he was actually right. A photo of an olive leaf is clearly green; at a distance, in the wind, and in contrast with the pines and the sky, an olive grove does actually look like silver.

The train system in Greece may as well be 100 years old. The buildings that whiz past are a fascinating mixture of old and new, with an astounding proportion of them exhibiting the kind of run down lack of attention one would expect from an abandoned town. Apparently TrainOSE doesn't bother to tear down old stations, either--they simply build a new one 100 meters up the track and relabel the old one "paleo-stathmos," with whatever town's name replacing the dash. Thus 'Paleosaloniki Stathmos" for the old Thessaloniki station (although no such sign exists, it's the best name I can think of at the moment). In some places this disrepair is picturesque, in others it is simply a clear sign of financial and demographic problems.

Also along the rails are pillboxes, perhaps every few hundred yards through the mountains, but regularly even through the flatlands. I don't know the provenance of any of them, but they do show quite clearly Greece's turbulent history in the not so distant past. Albania is famous for Hoxha's extensive fortification of the countryside; Greece has something analogous, albeit on a smaller scale. I half expected to find a gun barrel sticking out from of the slit windows, with an evzone glaring over its sights. Even the old garrisons for the small detachments of mountain troops were evident in a few places, although I don't believe I managed to snap any photos of them.

Our arrival in Thessaloniki was otherwise uneventful. Our Serbian hotelier showed us to a room much nicer than the one I stayed in during my first trip here (even though it was in the same hotel). Finding the place turns out to be easier on foot than by cab--the hostel is located in one of the very, very old neighborhoods, with the vernacular architecture of 17th century Greece dominating the scene. These streets are excellent for wandering, getting lost, or enjoying views; but as any of the taxi drivers we attempted to utilize will tell you, they are a nightmare to get around in, particularly via car. It took 2 taxis to get us 'home' after dinner tonight, and it would have taken more had the second not made extensive use of his map book, cursed in Greek, and generally lost patience with every other driver on the way. He was admirably friendly to us, however, and he did get us very close to the hostel--which was much appreciated in the rain. If there's one thing that is harder than finding a house in such a neighborhood, it's finding a replacement taxi.

Dinner is another story altogether. After attempting to find an old haunt of mine, and succeeding only to find it boarded up, we stumbled upon a very nice alternative. The restaurant was called Zythos, and it had quite a collection of traditional Macedonian specialities, as well as a good selection of Byzantine and Ottoman inspired dishes. Ben and I shared some Kibes (pork and cheese, ground, breaded, and fried), a Macedonian country sausage, Byzantine pomegranate chicken served with mashed potatoes, and lamb meatballs, grilled chicken, tomatoes, and green peppers served with eggplant puree. All washed down with a bottle of absolutely incredible Macedonian Retsina. I never thought that stuff could be tamed for respectable restaurant usage--but somehow this particular brand was downright refined.

That's it for now-- we are attempting to find our way to Istanbul tomorrow. Unfortunately Greek railways have cancelled all of their international routes as a cost cutting move, and no ferries go to Istanbul from any point in Greece. The bus system is... fascinating here. That is what we will be attempting tomorrow, but if today's experiences finding the proper bus station are any indication, it may be airports ahoy for us.