Friday, June 30, 2006

Video: Ephesus

I arrived in the small town of Selcuk after a quick three hours on the bus, and spent the evening wandering, reading, writing and making the aquaintance of two canadians (on a whirlwind tour through turkey and greece) and an american from california (taking the summer off from traveling and currently working at Jimmy's Hostel, the place I'm staying).

This morning I caught a free ride over to the ruins of Ephesus and met two more fellow travellors from canada doing a three week tour of Turkey. The ruins at Ephesus make up one of, if not the, best preserved/reconstructed representation of an old roman/greek city, with the best ruins at Ephesus being the temple and a theatre that seats twenty-five thousand.

According to the guide book, Ephesus was primarly made up of the temple, baths, fountains, theatres, and a big market...not a bad life for the Ephesians. Additionally, we came across the public toilets...you had to be pretty friendly wıth your neighbor. Unlike Bergama, Ephesus is very popular with the tourists which packed the place.

Photos: Ephesus


The Ruins at Bergama

Having caught up on a bit of sleep, a fellow American staying at the Athena Pension and I headed out to see the Acropolis Ruins at Bergama. 5 mins into a search for a taxi we ran into an enthusiastic local that took great care in explaining a short cut we could take to walk to the ruins, so we figured 'why not'. Unfortunately the short cut turned out to be a little less short than we realized and it ended up taking a little over an hour to hike up the hill in scorching heat (I have finally become accustomed to constantly being drenched and sticky).

There are quite a few ruins on a hill above the current town of Bergama which are pretty amazing. The most intersting of which is a Greek Theatre built into the side of the hill. Additionally there is some great white marble still standing as the remnants of a temple. Luckily these ruins aren't too popular and it was easy to get some great photos unspoiled by throngs of tourists.

After wandering the ruins for 2 1/2 hours we caught a taxi back to town, packed up and I hopped a bus to Ephesus.

Photos: Bergama

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Video: The Road to Bergama

After Troy turned out to be a bit of a bust, I decided to hot stop out of there and head to Bergama, a place recommended for its ruins, by the hostel folks in Canakkale. I caught an early morning bus and 5 hours later was in Bergama. The buses here are incredibly comfortable and make long trips a piece of kosher cake. What I didn't realize is that the bus I got on didn't actually stop in the city, so when it came time to get off I was rather unceremoniously dumped on the side of a dirt road about 5 miles out of town! After failing to wave down a few Mini-buses, I started trekking. Luckily about 1 1/2 miles into my walk a kind Turkish man on a scooter took pity on me, pulled over 15 feet ahead and waved for me to hop on. He took me to the edge of the city, about 2 miles closer, and with a shake of my hand and a hearty smile told me to have a 'fine day' and was on his way.

I spent another 2 hours walking into the city center and stumbling around in search of a reasonably priced hostel, finally succumbing to solicitation by a taxi cab which took me to the Athena Pension. The Athena Pension turned out to be a really quaint restored Ottoman house with a great open court yard kinda place, a mother bird and four babies living in the raftors, and a great sign.

Having walked around all day, I decided the ruins would have to wait til morning. Instead, I took a stroll around downtown. I stumbled across a dirt street with a tea house that is apparently the place to be in Bergama, especially if you're a retired man. I met a retired biology teacher who now owns a carpet shop and spent a couple of hours chatting with him and watching some hearty turkish retirees drink tea and play of Dama (turkish checkers). I finished the evening off with some turkish meatballs and an amazing glass of 'mountain tea', before making it a fairly early night.


Troy

I finally left Istanbul and struck out on my own across the vast expanse of Turkey. My first stop was a town called Canakkale, just outside of which rest the remains of Troy. I took an overnight buy from Istanbul and arrived in Canakkale early Tuesday morning and after a quick nap hoped on a tour bus to Troy. I'm sorry to say that, as I had been warned, Troy turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. There is a giant wooden horse replica (apparently built specifically for tourists as it has windows), and a lot of scattered ruins. Interestingly, Troy has been rebuilt, largely from the ground up, 9 different times and it was pretty amazing to see a cross-section of the many different layers on top of each other. Troy was certainly much more interesting with the Tour guide, without whom it would have been a bunch of useless scattered ruins.

Photos: Troy

Monday, June 26, 2006

Books

I've been enjoying the chance to catch up on reading I've been meaning to do for a while. I'm currently reading: 'The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity' by Tariq Ali

I wanted to solicit any book recommendations that anyone might have. I'm interested primarily in books that may be relevant to travel or areas I will be going, or nice easy reading enjoyment books...

Turkish European/Islamic Dichotomy

I've just finished reading 'A Fez of the Heart: Travels around Turkey in Search of a Hat' by Jeremy Seal, a book that discusses Turkey's history and cultural identity in relation to the Fez, which was the defacto Turkish hat until being banned in 1925. One of the most interesting topics that the book touches on, albeit rather briefly, is this contradiction of Turkey being a secular 'European' country (still vying to be part of the EU, and striving for European/modern identity) which at the same time has a 98% Muslim population as well as an Islamic governing party currently in power. My limited experience in Istanbul certainly leans towards the former; while Turkey may be reported as being 98% Muslim, in Istanbul, aside from the errant headscarf and the many mosques that pepper the city, one would be hard pressed to distinguish this from any other European city.

What is most interesting and curious to me is that what I took from the book above is that Turkey, as part of the Ottoman Empire, was largely made up of practicing Muslims. However, in the 1920s, Turkey became a secular state when Ataturk (father of the Turks) came to power. With those two points in mind, what I am anxious and interested to find out is what was unique about Ataturk (past, upbringing, etc) that pushed him in such a strong secularist direction. Additionally, I'm curious to see how this euro/Islam divide is apparent in places outside of Istanbul.

If anyone has any input, or if I have made any gross mis-statements, please let me know.

Smoke Like a Turk

Adam informs me that in this part of the world there is no 'smoke like a chimney', its: 'smoke like a turk'. Needless to say, smoking is quite prevalent. It seems that everyone smokes at least to some degree, anywhere from the 1-2 cigarettes a day (the so called 'non-smokers') to the several packs a day. Surprisingly, the actual smell of smoke is no where near as bas as the actual level of smoking would suggest. I'm not sure what would cause this, but the smoke definately seems to be less potent, at least aromatically, than it is in the US.

Scrounging for Frappacinos

Adam and I had a brush with poverty yesterday when we had to covertly dig through the couchy chairs at Starbucks for change (roughly 5 cents) to afford a Frappacino to split. The sweet taste of victory...;)

Video: Protest

Another one of Istanbul's regular cultural experiences is the protest. In the 10 days I have been here I've seen at least 5 protests. What's interesting, as you can sorta pick out in the video, is that a 'protest' may consist of 5-10 individuals, but the police sent to 'keep order' and what not usually outnumbers the protestors 10 to 1...

Sunday, June 25, 2006

For the Gear Heads

Now that I've been using it for about a month or so now, I wanted to give a brief update on some of the gear and how it's holding up. The pack has been phenomenal, still slightly larger than I would like, but so far I've been able to take it as a carry on on all of my flights. The REI Daypack has also been great, I use it pretty much every day walking around the city.

The clothes have also been holding up well, and keeping me cool during these hot days. Having washed everything by hand a couple of times already, I am starting to have some doubts that the clothes will last the duration of the trip. By far the best piece of 'clothing' has been the Chacos, they are so comfortable that I've taken to wearing them almost exclusively. They have definately proven their worth; I can walk anywhere in them and they keep my fee cool and dry.

The camera has worked amazingly well, especially for taking video. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the short video clips do a great job of providing a good perspective or experience.

More later.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Sheep Intestine...ummm...

Just a quick update on sheep intestine (kokorech), and mussels with rice (midya dolma). I was finally able to get a taste, and I was right...really good stuff!

Video: Istanbul, a tourists perspective

Adam and I finally had the chance to do some site-seeing at the end of the week and made the rounds to a few of Istanbul's primary tourist attractions. We walked through the Blue Mosque, an enormous mosque with an amazing inside and ceiling. We also spent some time in Aya Sophia, originally a church built by Justinian which was later converted into a mosque and is now a museum and in the process of restoration. While the outside leaves a bit to be desired, the inside contains several amazing Christian mosaics (1, 2, 3, 4).

The most enjoyable part of the tourist trip was the Grand Bazaar: a huge indoor/outdoor market with everything you can imagine, from nuts, dried fruits, and mounds of turkish delight, to shoes, leather goods and electronics. It was fun to banter with the vendors as we fended them off...Adam has a hard time saying no.


The Prince's Islands

I was fortunate to have my own personal tour guide, Eda, to one of the Prince's Islands this past week: Buyukada. The Prince's Islands is a group of 4 or 5 islands about an hour ferry ride from Istanbul, and Buyukada is the largest of the group. One of the nice things on the islands is that there are no vehicles, aside from horse drawn carts, so it was a very welcomed retreat from the insane traffic of Istanbul.

We arrive on the island around mid-day, spent some time walking to the top where we had lunch and soaked up the pollution free air for a while and took in the view. After lunch we tried, unsuccessfully, to find a beach for some swimming, did a lot of walking (passed a 'new age' mosque), had some tea, played some back-gammon (seemingly the national game), before catching the ferry back and having some interesting 'special sauce' drenched but very tasty mini-hamburgers at 'the Bambi cafe', the name of which I don't think is indicative of the contents of the bugers.

The Toilet

I keep forgetting to mention the Turkish bathrooms and related custom. Somewhat to my surprise, the Turkish toilets are unable to handle the use of toilet paper, by means of flushing anyway. I guess the pipes are too small and clog if toilet paper is flushed. This is not to say that toilet paper is not used at all, it is indeed used (thankfully), however instead of being flushed it is deposited in a waste basket next to the toilet. This definitely takes some getting used to. I'm trying to view it as a half step between full blown 'western' toilets and the squat toilets I will undoubtedly encounter in Asia and elsewhere. In fact I have encountered a squat toilet in Istanbul, but luckily didn't need to go quite that bad.

In addition to modified toilet paper use, there is another bathroom related custom that I'm still getting used to: you have to pay to use the toilet. That is to say that almost every restaurant bathroom and certainly every public bathroom has someone sitting outside, usually an elderly person, with hands open to receive a payment, roughly 25cents, for bathroom usage. Sometimes you pay at the beginning and sometimes at the end, at which time it is usually a courtesy and I have had to be reminded several times. Adam informs me that these payments are to maintain the order and cleanliness of the bathrooms...

Monday, June 19, 2006

Turkish Food

Istanbul has been full of great new food to sample, and Adam and friends have done a great job of making sure I try it all. One of the first things I tried was Simit: sesame crusted bread rings, which although somewhat bland, could single handedly sustain the starving backpacker, being that they cost about 25 cents a piece. Next was Matı: pasta filled with minced meat (somewhat like ravioli), covered with olive oil and a tastey yogurt sauce, definately one of my favorite dishes so far. A dish which is quite popular, much to my surprise, is the baked potatoe. Don't be deceived however, this is no 'American' baked potatoe, but one on steroids containing: cheese, potatoe salad (that's right), corn, peas, olives, some kind of rice, sausage pieces, (and potentially more that I'm forgetting), topped off with generous helpings of ketchup and mayo. For those that may be cringing at the contents...it's really good!

Two more favorites have been the pides (sp?) and borek, pides being some what of a 'pizza stick' of bread filled with cheese or meat and the borek being a very flakey pastery filled with meat or cheese.

Tonight we'll be trying some sheep intestine sandwhich, the name of which escapes me, and rice stuffed mussels. The descriptions sound a bit less than desirable if you ask me, but if experience serves, then they should prove to be fantastic.

Video: Cruising the Bosphorous

Yesterday brought some perfect weather for a nice cruise along the Bosphorous.


Sunday, June 18, 2006

Video: Istanbul

I made it to Turkey without too much ado.

Before getting here, I really hadn't done any research on what Turkey would be like. Outside of a vague knowledge that they were trying to get into the EU, my understanding of Turkey was pretty ignorant. One of the things that came as a big shock is the sheer size of Istanbul: apparently there are around 20 million people that live in the city. 20 million! As you can imagine that makes pollution fairly bad and traffic is just crazy (it took Adam and I 2 1/2hrs to get back to his place from the airport). One surprise, despite all of the people, is the lack of garbage/sewage smell that seems to permeate a fair number of European cities. I was wondering what happens to all of the garbage (having not seen any garbage trucks), and found out last night that it gets picked up at 2am apparently.

I'm staying with my buddy Adam, who has most generously allowed me to crash at his apartment while in Istanbul. He lives with a Kiwi, and two Turkish students in a fairly small place that is, unfortunately, somewhat consumed with mold in places, primarily the bathroom.

My second night in Istanbul Adam took me to a traditional Turkish 'Meyhanes' (tavern). We spent about 4hrs hanging out with some friends of Adam, eating various dishes of eggplant, yogurt, cheese, and deep fried battery goodness, along with some 'Rakı' (aka "lion's milk"): a very strong, licorice tasting alcohol that starts out clear and turns white/cloudy when mixed with 3 parts water.

According to Adam the Meyhanes is the quintessential Turkish experience and I certainly got a feel for the locals when the band started walking around playing round after round of traditional Turkish love songs, some of which are apparently about eggplant (the Turks love their eggplant!). The mixture of Rakı and traditional songs led to a lot of great table dancing (see video below).

Aside from the revelry of late Turkish nights, the days have been busy with lots of walking and relaxing. I have managed to make it to a mosque (and inside) or two but site seeing is later this week. We did manage to while away a few hours sitting and watching soccer around a hukah. I've also started to plan the rest of my Turkey trip and plan to head south next weekend for about 3 weeks, down through Troy and Ephesus along the Aegean sea coast.

Photos: Istanbul


Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Wrapping Up Oxford

Well it's been a great few days in Englad. I've been able to see a few new cities I've never been to, get in lots of sleeping, catch up with a couple old friends and meet several new ones. For those looking for a relatively sleepy town, with a decent number of character ridden pubs and cafes, I'd recommend spending a few days in Oxford. It has a nice pace to it.

We had a pretty fun and relaxed day around Oxford yesterday. Rikki, Greg and I spent the day wandering around, stopped in the Three Goats Heads pub for a drink, narrowly avoided a flash downpour by ducking into Cafe Loco for a spot of tea, and went punting.

I spent most of today just wandering the streets, getting lost and finding my way, admiring the buildings and relaxing in the park with 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'.

One of the activities I have been enjoyed taking part in, to my own surprise, is watching all of the World Cup 'football' games. Somewhat to my embarassment, although not really, all of the English folks that I've met know much more about all of the US players/team than I do. I have to admit it was a bit disappointing to see the US get destroyed by the Czech Republic the other night.

Tomorrow I'm off to Turkey and the beginning of a bit more culture shock.

Photos: Oxford

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Video: Ducklings

While 'punting', a group of ducklings and their mother came begging at the side of our boat.

Video: Punting

Rikki, Greg, and I doing a bit of 'punting' along the Thames in Oxford. Punting => using a giant pole to propel a flat bottomed boat.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Work and Play

My friend Rachel has a great quote stuck to her computer monitor that I wanted to share:

"Man was born to spend his life alternately a prey to the throes of anxiety and the lethargy of boredom".

Voltaire - Candide

Brighton, England

Coming back from France, the plan was to meet up with Rachel and Rikki in Brighton, about 2hrs south-east of Oxford, on the coast. Unfortunately, due to a lack of communication and planning on my part I was unable to get a hold of them when I arrived in Brighton Friday night, and ended up spending the night at the very lovely Queens Hotel. Luckily we were able to connect the next day and meet up to enjoy several of the World Cup games.

We also spent a nice amount of time on Saturday and Sunday enjoying the sun at the beach. Strangely, to me, the beach at Brighton doesn't really have any sand, but is made up of fairly large stones, which was an interesting experience. It certainly made things much less messy.

Photos: Brighton

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Lille Europe

Well, after missing the first train, I was lucky to get a seat on the next train to Lille and got going about 2hrs later. Unfortunately, we had to swith trains half way to Lille due to technical problems, but I did finally make it about 2 1/2hrs behind schedule.

My friend Becky very graciously met me at the train station and gave me a wonderful tour of the city. We saw a lot of old squares and narrow streets, the old stock exchange, and an interesting building with a few cannon-balls still embedded in the outter wall, where we had some very strong coffee.

After coffee, we had a fabulous and leisurely pizza-esque meal, the name of which escapes me. Much to my surprise, the sun didn't really set until almost 11pm, which gave the day a much slower pace. We spent the next day doing some more walking around, checked out the Citadel, and soaked up some sun in the park, before I headed back to England that night. Thankfully the ride back was much less eventful.

Photos: Lille

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Missed the train

I just missed my train to France (apparently you have to check in a minimum of 30mins before departure) so I had to hop into an internet cafe to get a few phone numbers and thought I'd provide a quick update.

I had been doing pretty good with jetlag, meaning not having much of it, until yesterday. After having a great day on monday walking around, taking it easy, and catching up with my friend Rachel I had planned on doing more of the same yesterday. When I attempted to get up at 11am my body finally rebelled and I crashed, sleeping most of the day until 5:30, with a brief wakeup from 11-1.

The weather here has been great, about 80F degrees plus/minus, which I am told is highly unusual and that I shouldn't expect it much longer. Ok time to go, before I miss the train again. This will be my first trip on the chunnel, I hope I don't get claustrophobic.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Monday, June 05, 2006

Boston to London

Much to my surprise and delight, the flight from Boston to London was actually about 30mins early arriving, which was nice after the Denver to Boston debacle. Arrived at the airport, went straight through customs with no issues and made it on the bus to Oxford all in about 20mins. So far, the weather looks warm, so it should be a nice relaxing week of touristy lounging and strolling around Oxford, maybe take in a lecture if possible.

Audio: Leaving Boston

this is an audio post - click to play

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Emotionality

It turns out that leaving work was much more difficult than anticipated; even though you know it's coming, it's tough to abruptly stop a 40hr a week habit, even if you didn't necessarily love it. Above all, it wasn't so much the work that's missed, but the people that made it bearable.

Seeing as I'm only in Boston, it doesn't quite feel like I'm 'on my way', but I imagine once I start hearing foreign accents and languages it will hit me pretty hard. You always hear people talk about being in your 'comfort zone' and that leaving it is such a good way to grow, that was one of the motivations for this trip: to leave the comfort zone. I'm only now realizing how comfortable that really was, and I think that's due in large part to all of the great relationships and people that it feels like I'm 'leaving behind'.

This trip has a very qualitatively different feel than past travels in the sense that it's not a vacation with a foreseeable end, and at the same time I'm not completely moving to a new place, but it falls somewhere in between: its a 'vacation' but with the timeline of a move. (I use 'vacation' very loosely, I think it's going to be much harder than that.) With this sense of vacation, it feels like a great chance for some new, fun experiences while the sense of moving brings a feeling that everyone and everything is going to move on without you. While I am confident that it will be, right now it's not so clear that it would be worth it if indeed things did completely move on in my absence.

Out the door

I was scheduled to leave Denver at 1:15pm yesterday on what I thought was a pretty quick and easy flight to Philadelphia and then on to Boston by 9pm. A little less than 5hrs after the initial arrival time (1:30am), I finally made it to Boston...not a good start. In addition to many delays, my hope for warm weather during the entire trip was shattered when ther was cold rain in Boston all day today and it's still going. Despite these minor set backs, I did get to catch up with my friend Jill and meet some of her friends and have some good food and fun.

Pictures: Boston