Turkey

Merhaba,

It´s been a while since I wrote, so apologies for any vital omissions from the story so far. I´ve also had horrible camera trouble, so there´s some really cool stuff I don´t have photos of -- if you were with me at the time, and you do, then I´ll be forever in your debt for a couple of the best.

Last time I wrote to everyone was from Istanbul, Turkey. Shortly after, I met my parents, and we spent two weeks on an Intrepid (the company) tour of the country. This was my first guided tour of anywhere, so that was part of the experience too.

Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, is an ancient city that features some really cool old buildings. Probably the most impressive from the inside is Aya Sofia, which dates from the 5th century and was a Christian church in Byzantine times, was then converted to a mosque, and has now been deconsecrated so that it can accommodate the streams of curious tourists. This photo isn´t of Aya Sofia, because it´s being renovated and there´s scaffolding everywhere, but you can always google it. The photo is of the Blue Mosque, which is comparatively recent (500 years old), but is very impressive to see also. There´s a lot of atmosphere in Istanbul when the prayer calls are happening late at night, and the Blue Mosque is all lit up nicely. My mother, who teaches history, was in her element, and even I was inspired to pick up a book on the history of the Middle East on my way out of Turkey, which I´m still slowly making my way through.

This is our trustworthy guide Faruk, and behind him the white embankments of Pamukkale. One of the most interesting things about doing a guided tour was that our guide was a young Turk who had recently completed military service. At one point, we were all trapped together on a boat for five days, giving me a chance to get some insight into the experience of growing up in Turkey, and on Turkey´s views of the many political intrigues it is involved in.

Mum & Dad (or Sharon & Brian as their mothers call them) explore the ancient ruins of Hierapolis (parts of which date into the BCs). We went to Ephesus too, which was also cool -- better preserved and restored, but more tourists.

Ampitheatre in Hierapolis.

This is a café in Seljuk. Once you leave Istanbul, the lack of women in public life is very noticable (you see them working in the fields, though...). At one point, we were in a seaside town, and we saw a group of about 100 men, all drinking, eating, and dancing together... at home it´d have to be a gay bar, but in Turkey it´s quite normal. From a western perspective, it´s not only restrictive for the female half of the population, but surely a bit boring for the other half?

The history of Turkey is everywhere -- this is a ruined castle on an island in the lake near the village where we stayed. It´s possible, and quite fun, to swim out to the island, jump from the rocks, and throw lakeweed at the local imam.

This is a photo from the same village. Despite the developed look of Istanbul, people in the villages here still drive their stock into the village at night and take them out again at night, reap grass for hay by hand, and hand milk their cows. Actually, I used to have to hand milk our cow when I was young, so it´s not so far from modern life in New Zealand after all.

This is a photo of some Turkish gulets, including ours. We spent five days at sea in the beautiful Mediteranean, which is incredibly blue, warm, and inviting. We played chess, cards, and some stupid but amusing games of Faruk´s inspiration, as well as going hiking on the islands every day, sometimes to some very interesting places (including a ghost village from the forced evacuation of Turkey´s Greeks early in the century), and swimming a lot.