MICHELE'S MUSINGS

Turkey

first let me say I LOVED Turkey. If I only had 3.5 months instead of 3.5 weeks here. The people were so gracious, the food delicious, the countryside very diverse, the transport-easy, clean, and cheap. We made our way around by bus mostly, and one long leg by train. Small crowded minivans were the transport of choice in the more rural areas. Friendly locals guided us without hesitation...seeming to know where we were going before we asked directions. Many Turks know some English, and even when they don’t it doesn’t matter...communication is not a problem here. In the south west we sailed the Mediterranean on beautiful wooden sailing ships for 11 dollars a day including a delicious lunch. We hiked the amazing valleys of Capadoccia, exploring cave dwellings of the early Christians who lived here from 300 AD to 1950 AD. We explored underground cities that brought back memories of the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” The cities went on for miles underground and had passages that could be closed off by releasing a carved stone wheel into the passage. They were lived in by the Turks on and off over the centuries, who were constantly being invaded due to geographic misfortune (being at the crossroads of east and west). The colorful markets overflowed with baskets of grains and spices, cloth, leather goods and carpets. We took small fishing boats to quiet beaches...the Mediterranean was warm and clean here. I experienced a real Turkish bath in the city of Bursa... a bit intimidated at first, I entered the women’s only bath wearing towel and underwear, hoping I was doing it right. The Turkish bath ritual takes place in an ancient domed structure with a completely marbled room filled with pairs of woman sitting on the marble built-in benches. pools of water for soaking are in the center of the room...spouts of fresh water pour out of the walls from carved marble spigots into small channels or basins. The women used a loofa and soap to wash eachothers bodies...taking turns, and taking their time. Since I didn’t have a bathing partner, I bought 2 tokens...one for a professional loofa, and the other for a massage. Large middle aged women with pendulous breasts dressed only in their underwear did the job...I laid on a marble slab as the woman soaped me up, and slid me around on the table like a greased pig. She beamed proudly as she pointed to the mountain of dead skin she managed to loofa off me. The massage was great, followed by buckets of warm water being dumped all over me. There is a separate bath for men...Drew gave it a miss. The ancient ruins of Ephesus, Aphrodesius, Priene, Miletus, and Didyma were beyond amazing. I’ll never forget looking at a 2500 year old Lyceun tomb and be able to distinguish the lettering clearly. I observed perfectly preserved carvings of botanical patterns etched deep in the stone oblivious to time and the elements ...just sitting out in the open, not behind glass or fencing. Ephesus is the most popular ruin, but Aphrodesius was my favorite...we were virtually alone in this ancient city that took us 4 hours and 3 buses to reach(we actually decided to hitch part of the way back , another positive experience, when we saw that the minivans passing us by were so full that we could see Turkish posteriors pressed against the windshield)...We were amazed by the perfectly preserved Olympic sized stadium, and mostly intact coliseum (the word colossal comes from this term) where gladiators battled lions and eachother for public entertainment. We stayed in he thatched huts on stilts in the region of another ancient city called Olympos. Sort of a hippie hangout; for 5 dollars a day we had food and shelter. We spent the days swimming and beach walking, and at night went to view an amazing site; we hiked up a trail by moonlight to see the eternal flames....gases released from the ground burned and glowed like torches from the rock. We visited Mosques in Istanbul, and Celcuk and talked to the equivalent of the Islamic minister or priest about Islam...I was given a lesson in Turkish carpet weaving and Turkish bread rolling (both much harder than they look! We came back ready to tell everyone we know how wonderful Turkey is to visit...The first earthquake happened only 6 weeks after our return to the US. We couldn’t believe it...the people of Turkey were already suffering economically from decreased tourism as a result of fear of terrorism. We found this ironic that in Europe there were bomb threats in France and Italy while we were there causing evacuations of museums and train stations, not to mention the bombings in England...still people don’t hesitate to visit Europe. Turkey is definitely a place we will return to...next time to less touristic places in the east. We hope you will all put Turkey high up on your must see list...if you ever yearned to see Greece, skip it and go to Turkey instead!

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