Day 7 (May 14 2010)

Today marked our first full week traveling. In the morning, we left the large town of Izmir for the site of Sardis. First we left to see the considerably large temple to Artemis there, almost the size of the massive Artemision in Ephesus. Nearby the temple is a smaller early Christian church. The main spectacle at Sardis is the massive gymansium/bath complex with shop stalls in the side. The front of the gymnasium is at least 60 feet tall, and was reconstructed for the full effect. It's too bad they don't make buildings this big anymore! Next to the gymnasium is a beautifully preserved Synagogue, with almost completely intact sections of tiling that still show detail.

After touring this spectacular  site, we left for the Ephesus area. On our way there, we stopped at a carpet factory/museum where we got to see the beautiful process that goes into their handmade carpets. There are three main types of carpets you can get: wool carpets, cotton on wool base carpets, cotton on cotton carpets, and pure silk carpets. Plain wool is easier to make as the threads are bigger, but it is limited to strictly geometric designs as finer flowers would appear too rough. By using cotton on wool carpets, the thread count can be much higher and much smoother and more intricate designs can be made, such as flowers and vines. Cotton on cotton is like this except a small bit finer. Silk is like the Porsche of carpets, it is very expensive and has such a high thread count that it takes years to make a tiny carpet with it. However, the colors are so vivid and the contrast is so fine that full pictures can be made with this carpet design. When brushed in one direction, the pile of this carpet can give a completely different appearance when viewed from different angles. It is truly a beautiful work of art.

The manager first told us that this was a working museum, not a store, but if we wanted to buy something nobody would say no. After this, we were shown by the manager of the store how silk is made from a cocoon to a strand of thread. He showed us the carpet makers blaze away at the tiny knots and weaves, and we were then given free drinks (Some alcoholic) and taken to a show room to be awed by their mind-boggling assortment of over 10,000 carpets (we weren't shown all of them, thank goodness). I'll put it this way: few people left the building empty handed.

After this experience, we left for the amazing site of Ephesus. Ephesus was one of the biggest port towns in the Hellenistic age, and thus is home to one of the largest Greek theaters still standing, many almost perfectly preserved row houses and a staggeringly large library. There's so much to this massive port town that only a tiny fraction of it has been excavated for lack of funds. I imagine if they did excavate it all the site would be too overwhelming to visit, though.

We visited most of what has been excavated there, but by far my favorite part was the beautiful row houses. As Regan explained it, this is where the finest and richest of the town would live, in beautiful mansions adorned with intricate floor tiling and wall murals. This part of the town was like the Beverly Hills of Ephesus, and no detail was left uncompleted.

After a long and thrilling day, we left for the hotel Tusan near Canakkale. Wow!

Day 6 [May 13, 2010]

Today we woke up and got on the bus. Our first destination was to a hilly rustic and isolated town known as Assos. We walked up a steep cobblestone street past ramshackle huts and charming elderly Turkish trinket merchants. My mom says that it felt like walking back through time. Eventually, we reached the top which held the delightful ruins of a temple.

            The view of the sparkling sapphire Aegian sea took our breath away. From this vantage point we saw the massive mysterious island of Lesbos, looming in the distance miles away. On our way down we stopped at a café and enjoyed a quick cup of warm apple tea. Aristotle stayed as Assos for several years and taught there.

After driving to a lunch at a roadside restaurant, we visited the fabled and awe-inspiring acropolis of Pergamon. The city, or more appropriately temple complex, is perched on the steep edge of a mountain. The view stretches endlessly, and we could see the very edge of the Aegian coastline 4 kilometers away. We will always remember ‘climbing over the ruins like eager mountain goats’ as our guide Ugur described us. The great thing about Turkey is that you can interact with the ruins. Touch them, climb on them, and imagine yourself living and walking on the same streets as the Ancients.

The theater at Pergamon is the steepest theater in the ancient world. It seems like the Greeks somehow carved out a semiconical theater from a bleak mountainside. I’m sure the angle of elevation more than 45 degrees steep, but it somehow gives you enough space to sit comfortably and view the very small theater platform at the bottom.

We soon left for the city of Izmir, which is a large industrial city (Like Pittsburgh) where we went to my first hotel where I was given a physical metal room key (like what you use to open your mailbox). Time for some sleep!

Day 5 [May 12, 2010]

Turkey D5

            We woke up early Wednesday to pack up our belongings and head out of Istanbul. Time to see some of the Turkish countryside! We hopped into the bus and rode through the extremely dense suburbs of the city. The horizon had a very thick layer of haze, mostly from pollution but possibly in part from the Icelandic Volcano. We drove through a valley filled with a sea of apartment buildings high-rises and small crowded houses, packed together like canned sardines.

            Ugur had us stop by at a gas station somewhere in the European side of Turkey, known as Thrace. Many roads here have signs pointing to Bulgaria and Greece which have borders with Turkey very close to where we drove. The gas station’s bathrooms, as traditional in Turkey, were very clean but cost 1 lira to use. There was a man sitting in a booth collecting fees in the wall between the men and woman’s rooms, which I thought was very funny.

            We soon crossed the straight of Dardenel to the much larger Asian side of the country. New continent for Marlow! Our first destination was the famed site of Troy. This site was home to almost 10 cities spread over 140 layers, each one directly over the other. In the early 20^th century, when archaeology was a brand new field, an infamous German man by the name of Heinrich Schliemann came and dug a massive trench through the middle of the site. He dug far faster than archaeologists do today and disturbed and destroyed much evidence because of his greedy haste. When the Turkish government asked for Schliemann’s finds to put in museums for preservation, he sold much of it to private collectors, the Russians, and a small amount to the Berlin Museum which was sacked during the end of World War II. 

            Before visiting the site, we went to meet Hadrian (The statue that Regan Barr photographed and Amy cataloged back in the day) It was exciting to hear the story of his discovery. The museum was filled with many artifacts from Troy and the sarcophagus telling a sorrowful sacrificial tale.

            We toured all 9 layers of the site, including many intact walls and a tarp-covered mud wall designed to prevent climbing soldiers as it was slippery when wet. Because Amy and Regan were archeologists, they know the director of excavations at Troy and he he led us on an exclusive tour. His enthusiasm was wonderful, and we got a good sense of how difficult it is to excavate at a site where early excavations by non-archaeologists ruined the strata. (Thank you, Mr. Schliemann)

            Afterwards, we headed to the hotel for a grand assortment of foods and a pool. Sleep.

Day 4 [May 11 2010]

Our group woke up from a wonderful night’s sleep (a solid 9 hours!) refreshed and optimistic. This time, we would be heading out for the Dolmabahce Palace (Pronounced like Dome-Ah-Bahtch-Ay), the Istanbul Archaeological Museum and then for the famous Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.

            After refueling on a perfectly delicious breakfast with heavenly mocha cappuccinos, we hopped on our bus for a ride over the Golden Horn to the Dolmabahce. To explain to all who don’t understand the geography of Istanbul, it is a city that sits on a large straight connecting the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. This is the only city in the world that is both in Europe and Asia. We spent all of our time on the European side, which is divided in two by a large bay known as the Golden Horn. Our hotel is in the old city district, on one side of the Horn, and the Dolmabahce is in the new city district, on the other side.

            We soon arrived at the stunning Palace. Our first greeting was a beautiful front gate and tower and several heft security guards. After security, we entered the front gate into a courtyard garden leading to the inner building. The building has the original wooden flooring so we had to put on pink bootie shoe covers. For some reason, the palace had a no photography rule and we soon learned why. The massive royal abode is covered in gold leaf engravings, solid gold china sets and 2+ ton solid crystal chandeliers. If people took pictures, the 1 hour tour would easily take at least 5 hours.

            After this incredible palace, we hopped in the bus for a ride to the Blue Mosque. Also known as Sultanahmet Camii, it was built by the city of Istanbul by 1616 AD. It is currently used by Muslims actively, and is the most prominent mosque for miles around. Here are some interesting facts about requirements before entering a mosque. You have to take your shoes off, if you’re going to pray you must wash your feet, knees and shoulders must be covered, and you shouldn’t speak loudly.

            On our way to lunch, the mosques began playing their blazing loudspeakers with prayer hymns to remind Muslims that it was prayer time. You can pray wherever you are, as Muhammad states in the Qur’an that ‘All the world is a Mosque’. People will typically go to a Mosque to pray if convenient and they are nearby.

            I had a lunch of fish and something resembling a fried meatball with mashed potatoes on top. For dessert, I had some Turkish ice cream; it tastes the same as American ice cream but it can be speared on a metal scoop and spun around like very thick dough. It is scooped with a flat square and is very dense, but the only difference in flavor is it’s more creamy and has a slight musty accent.

            Our next visit was  to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. The IAM (No, not a piece of dog food.) contains many archaeological finds, from a comprehensive tile collection to the supposed sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. Big Alex turns out to have not been left there, and his actual location and method of death remains unknown.

            Finally, we reached the much awaited Hagia Sophia. Its name meaning ‘Lover of Knowledge’, this building was originally constructed as an early Christian church for many centuries until the Ottomans captured Istanbul. As is the tradition, the Ottomans would always take the most prominent building of worship in a captured city and convert it to Islam. The Hagia Sophia was particularly easy to convert; since the shape was already a large dome with corners, all they had to do was construct four minarets and plaster over the pictures of Mary and Jesus. Because Islam believes that Jesus was one of the great prophets (along with Adam, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, and David), they would not destroy the wall tiling. It turns out, the plaster helped immensely to protect the paintings and as a result they’re 100% intact.

            After this, we left for the hotel and had dinner. We played some ‘You’re a Liar’ (also known as B.S.) and had Turkish delight, and I went to post some of my blog. I found that out of the few countries in the world that has banned YouTube, Turkey is one of them. The reason is that Greeks and Turks have recently been exchanging video insults, including claims that the Turkish President is gay. The government was outraged, and ruled it unlawful until further hearing. Turkey has fairly little freedom of speech, and you are not allowed to denounce the Prime Minister or Turkishness.

Day 3 [May 10, 2010]

After a pityful 4 hours of sleep, we awoke to our first day of the actual tour in Turkey. After a quick shower, we headed down to the breakfast area, which was a buffet of some american food (eggs, toast, coffee) but also had a variety of more traditional items, like sliced meat & cheese, assorted delicious pastries (some with herbs and cheese) and fruit & yogurt. I had a little of everything, and discovered the wonders of an automatic coffee machine. It dispensed steamed milk on coffee and perfectly warm mocha cappuccinos at the push of a button. If I had one of these in my house, I would be a hopeless caffeine addict.

            I soon walked out (twitchy and talkative) and we took a short drive in the bus. Our first destination was the ancient Topkapi Palace. The Topkapi was used by the Sultans for centuries, up until 70 years ago when the Dolmabahce was built. The palace is surrounded by a large wall, which leads into a garden where another wall surrounds the inner palace with Sultan’s quarters. The communications between the Sultan and the Prime Minister were very formal at that time; Ugur showed us where the two would sit waiting for written messages from each other less than 50 feet apart. The government was very bureaucratic because of this problem; very little could be accomplished.

            Our next destination was the Basilica Cystern. Built as a an emergency water reservoir in case of land siege, when an enemy would almost always break or poison the water supply on the relatively fragile aqueducts. The cistern is easily hundreds of thousands of liters large; it’s so big it takes a few minutes to walk from one side of it to the other. The most amazing fact is the cistern is sitting directly under a modern urban area, with buildings sitting on the dirt a few meters above it. It makes you realize how strong ancient architecture is; no cheesy construction from them!

            At the far end of the cistern, two large medusa-head blocks are used as pedestals for the columns. They were actually placed there while the city was predominately Christian-ruled and worship or use of ancient mythological figures was strictly forbidden. It turns out they were scrap rock that was probably taken from a decrepit ancient temple.

            Next, our group headed to the Grand Bazaar where we had lunch and explored the massive catacombs of crowded vendors. The vendors don’t set fixed prices like in the US and large chain stores, they actually use the ancient process of haggling and bargaining to determine the final price. The vendor will start off with a high prices, and the buyer will set a low price, and they’ll slowly move to somewhere in the middle where the item is finally bought. Mom bought a beautiful silk scarf from a vendor; he started off with the price of 140 lira (about 70 dollars), she offered 50 lira, and she ended up bargaining the price to 75 lira.

            Eventually, our group re-convened and we set off four a small ‘cruise’ of the Straight of Bousphorous. This straight connects the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, which provides trading access to Ukraine and Russia. The Sea of Marmara connects with the Mediterranean via the straight near Troy (Darden Straight).

            The area is lined with ritzy seaside houses that run for tens of millions of dollars. Even though there are many of them and they are relatively small, this is because the city of Istanbul prevents new development to prevent ruining the view.

            After our cruise, we headed back to the Kent for our pre-ordered dinner. The dinner was four small courses, all of them with many vegetables and arranged beautifully, and were delectable. Soon after, I logged on to the Kent’s excellent internet to post about our flight adventures on the blog, and went to bed for my first full night’s sleep.

Day 2 [May 9 2010]

I woke up from my rather brief rest at about 11:30 EST. Our flight trajectory was rather interesting as the plane went straight north to the upper border of Quebec before turning east to fly over the southern region of Greenland.  I was too curious to sleep and found myself constantly peeking out somebody’s window to look for a gap in the clouds to see the famous ice sheet. After a while, I got bored and decided to watch some good ol’ “Top Gear.”

After getting through an episode, the in-flight TV (unfortunately an archaic CRT screen jostling around on the ceiling) turned on to play ‘It’s Complicated’ starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I wouldn’t recommend the movie, unless its free and you have time to spare, as its essentially an upscale soap opera with a few choice funny moments. Fortunately, it managed to burn through enough time to get us solidly into the North Sea near England, and our breakfast appetizer was served.

Before long, we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany. I find it funny that almost every airport, no, make that every airport in the world looks *exactly* the same from the runway. The signs to terminals and concourses are the same, almost all in English; even the font is the same. This turned out to be a blessing, seeing as I don’t know a single word of German (Other than bratwurst and hamburger). Also, more than 95% of Germans know English at least conversationally, so we’re OK.

On the bright side of things, ‘jet-lag’ (so far) hasn’t affected me whatsoever! Maybe it’s because I was awake all night and watching it get bright when my iPod clock said 2:00AM, but as of right now I have no symptoms at all. Still, I didn’t get much –any- sleep but adrenaline and caffeine (Germans know their latte machiattos) keep me conscious.

Frustratingly, because our trans-Atlantic flight was delayed, we couldn’t make our normal Istanbul flight.   Regan Barr stood in the Lufthansa line for over an hour to re-book our flight to Istanbul.   This time the wait was 9 hours. Wow, volcanoes sure can disrupt world-wide travel --- we saw more than one person sleeping on airport benches and floors and many red eyed  travelers suffering from sleep deprivation.

As of right now, I’m uploading pictures and writing up the events on my computer. My (EST) clock says 9:20am, but my body says 3:20pm (German time). Isn’t this the reverse of what should be happening?  It helps that we are sitting in Kuffler & Bucher eating the national food – bratwurst and sauerkraut.  Is this breakfast, second breakfast or lunch?  Not sure but it is very delicious!

We spent some time in a McDonald’s McCafe sub-store. It seems that in almost every country in the world you can order a Big Mac and Coca-Cola (Auskjghjklenheim das Koeka-Kowla, or something like that). Eventually we headed toward the terminal for our rather delayed flight, where we learned we were actually fairly lucky with regard to delays. Apparently ol’ Eyjafjallajokull had one too many bean burritos and was then spewing pyroclastic material (We’ve all been there). According to the German version of WLN, the volcano had covered much of Europe and most of Germany, *except* for Frankfurt and Istanbul. Wow, we really got lucky on this one. There were at least 20 standby hopefuls behind us who had come in by train from the other closed stations.

Our flight was pretty plain; we had the normal Lufthansa plane dinner and I then tried, and failed, to sleep. Fortunately the flight was short and I was near an Azerbaijani flying to Istanbul to tour the sights.  In Azerbaijan, their national language is nearly the same as Turkish. I tested a few attempted ‘Hadi Gorusuruz’s and a ‘Hoscakal’ on him (We’re pretty sure he’ll survive) and survived my flight without much boredom.

We soon landed in my second European country, Turkey, and learned that sadly my passport hadn’t been stamped for Germany as I had never left the airport. Hmmph. Fortunately, the Turkish border guard qualified me for the famed stamp of truth and excellence, and by 3:30 AM I sleepily wobbled out into the baggage claim.

Well, it appears that we weren’t done yet. To put it simply, our baggage hadn’t been delivered to the airport. It was in another country. Darn. I’m glad I followed the advice of bringing a spare pair of clothes in my carry-on, so I wouldn’t be on my 3^rd day of one pair of clothes.

We soon met our tour guide Ugur who speaks excellent English (and apparently Japanese too) who took us to our hotel where we checked in and went to sleep. I’m rather tired now (it’s the next day but I still haven’t slept enough), so I think I’ll end here.

Day 1 [May 8, 2010]

I woke up excited about an incredible new adventure that would take me to two new countries spanning two new continents. This is going to be one heck of a trip!

Mom and I spent the entire morning rushing around trying to find lost items (almost always a misplaced charger or computer cable) and eventually Mr. Cooper came to chauffeur us to RDU, where things were pretty uneventful. I met our tour leaders, Regan and Amy Barr and we set off for Dulles.

When we arrived in DC, disaster struck. We encountered the most feared possibility that an international traveler will face: a delayed flight. Our 8+ hour flight that was originally scheduled for 5:30pm was moved up to 9:10 (Submit your guess in the comment section here). Lufthansa lived up to it’s reputation for hospitality by providing us with free hummus sandwiches, water and sodas during our wait.  sWe got to spend 4 hours chatting and meeting our trip mates and sharing boutique chocolate bars in unusual flavors  like cashew pomegranate, lavender blueberry and a cayenne-laced dark chocolate that seemed mild until you swallowed.   Yeeee Haw, where’s the water trough?   Finally, we boarded our flights.

When we got our first glance of our trans-Atlantic plane, I was flabbergasted. We were being escorted across ‘The Pond’ in a jumbo jet – it was the biggest plane I’ve ever been on, by far! I walked open-mouthed past row upon row of seats so wide large and with so much legroom that you could easily hold a small soccer match in each one of them. But perhaps I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up: the rest of the plane packed anyone who wasn’t first class like sardines into small chairs without personal air control. Ouch. (Note to self: never look at first class seats when walking down aisle)

As you might expect, I had a grand total of 15 minutes of solid sleep on our 8 hour overnight flight probably because I was stuck in the middle, wearing tight fashion jeans (you try sleeping with the blood flow to your thighs cut off!).   I was rather hot, constantly thirsty and waiting for an attendant to walk by with a water tray.  It didn’t help that I was pumped full of adrenaline and excitement for our trip.

Read more in my next post!

Agenda

Hello everyone!

We'll be leaving soon, so I thought I'd put up a rough idea of where we're going.

Our flight leaves this Saturday, and we'll fly up to DC for our long-haul flight to Munich (9 hours!!! Anybody have tips as to how to stand that long of a flight?) and lastly from Munich to Istanbul. We'll probably have at least one jetlag recuperation day, and then get about touring this incredible city.

While in Istanbul, we'll see the:
-Hagia Sophia
-Blue Mosque
-Grand Bazaar
-Dolmabahce Palace (Pronunciation?)
and several other places.

Next Stop: Troy
- Special tour as our tour guides have excavated there.
- Site of Assos

On to Pergamon, Sardis and Ephesus:
- Home to one of the standing wonders of the ancient world (Temple of Artemis)
- Temple of Apollo at Didyma
- Massive & intact ancient stadium/outdoor theater (Greek?)

Miletus, Priene, Aphrodisias, Aspendos and Perga

- Cliffside Acropolis
- Tetrapylon
- Completely intact and usable Roman Theater(even the sound & light system! just kidding)

And so much more! Check in every few days from May 8-18th and read what's happening. I hope my writing isn't excessively exuberant.

A final adventure!

Hello, followers.


This is my blog for Lukeion's trip through western Turkey this May. Website here: http://www.lukeion.org/lukeion_family_trips.htm


I'll try to make regular updates, but actual internet access may vary.


Enjoy!