After the Grand Bazaar it was time to buy presents for home. I saw jam in a shop on Divan Yolu. (This avenue whose name means Road to the Imperial Council, i.e. Topkapı, starting from the Sultanahmet district and running past the Grand Bazaar, was the first part of a road to Rome, some 1600 km away.) However I wanted to see if the prices were any better at Mısır Çarşisi (Spice Bazaar) first. They weren't but I got dainty lokum (Turkish Delight) in that district, Eminönü, from one of many specialty stores. Then I went back to Divan Yolu for a couple of jars of jam. While there I took a peek at the hamam (Turkish bath) that I would visit that evening.
I took my loot back to the hostel and grabbed a bottom bunk that was available. There were a couple of new arrivals, a young Brit couple.
This is one of the more modern Istanbul street cars. They were quite advanced; residents can pay their fare with a contactless stored value token system.
After an afternoon siesta I went for a Turkish bath. I was assigned a small changing room where I could store my belongings and put on a towel. I first worked up a sweat in the warm room, then progressed to the hot room. After a splash with cold water, a masseur approached me. We haggled a bit and agreed on the price of a rub down, which was not included in the admission but paid directly to the masseur later, somewhat surreptitiously, a bakşiş. It was a somewhat passive experience for me, I just laid back on the stone and got pounded and scrubbed. I didn't believe it possible that a rub down could scrape off so much dead skin. I felt like a new man, recently moulted, upon emerging. The photo is of the "foyer" of the hamam.
After that I went for a walk in the district of Kumkapı. This traditionally housed a large number of Armenians. These days it has many good fish restaurants.
But they were obviously out of my price range. I was invisible to the spruikers and waiters; I didn't appear to be someone who would eat there.
Never mind, there were lots of good places on Divan Yolu for a late meal. A charming old waiter at the Karadeniz enticed me into trying their doner meal. It was quite good, although the baklava at the end of the meal was a bit too sweet for my taste.
When I got back to the dorm, the Brits were discreetly making out like rabbits in their corner.
In the morning, the drawbacks of hostel accommodation were apparent: the sink was blocked, and there was no toilet paper. At least there had been no snorers in the dorm. I decided that I would reserve a nice room at the Hotel Poem for my last night to leave in style.
I couldn't face another Turkish breakfast so I had french toast instead.
Here are some more market pictures. Lots of those tasty eggplants and peppers.
The prices are probably in thousands of TL so of the order of one to a few dollars per kilo.
I went to the Grand Bazaar also known as the Covered Bazaar as most of it is indoors. This is the Beyazit Gate. There were lots of tourists there, especially French, even that early in the morning.
Metalwork and utensils.
Beautiful porcelain.
One of the wider and less crowded passages.
There were lots of jewelry and clothing, and of course souvenirs, but nothing of interest to me.
Sahaflar Çarşısı (Old Book Bazaar) which was nearby, was of more interest to me. I wasn't looking for antiquarian books but for Nasreddīn Hodja stories translated into English. Nasreddin is a well-known character not just in Middle Eastern and Central Asian folk humour but far beyond. He is witty but sometimes also the butt of a joke. Here's a short one: One morning, his neighbour asked Hodja, "Last night we heard noises coming from your house. It sounded like something falling down the stairs. What happened?" Hodja replied: "My wife threw my robe down the stairs." "Come on, Hodja! A robe doesn't make that much noise." "But I was wearing it," Hodja said.
I'll continue the rest of the day in the next post to spread out the pictures.
It really wasn't my first day in Istanbul, just the first of my last 3 days. I had allocated 6 days total to Istanbul, half at each end.
I had started getting up early again to accustom myself to the impending timezone jump. That morning I managed 0500. It was noisy outside when I opened the balcony door, mostly sea birds crying. There was even one that sounded like a dog waffing. The sun was out though there were clouds. I went to the hotel terrace and sat for a half hour watching the jetty. I saw lone commuters hurrying to catch the 0600 ferry, and saw one ferry leave for Heybeliada, the second largest island of the group. Then I went for breakfast.
This clock tower is just outside the hotel and one of the first points of reference after disembarking from the ferry.
I left my bag with reception and walked to the monastery of Ayios Nikolaos. It's a reminder that more Greeks lived here in the past. It showed no sign of current use. There were flies everywhere due to the horse shit. They even followed me down the hill.
Büyükada has many stately mansions due to rich people setting up holiday homes here.
I had a walk through the island's markets. Many shops had advertisements in Hebrew, perhaps due to Israeli visitors, and perhaps history as Jews have been in Turkey for centuries. There is even a synagogue on the island.
This is the island's central "taxi" rank.
The trip back to Sirkeci was breezy. Istanbul was crowded and noisy as always. I checked in at the youth hostel, then went for a walk in the markets. I like looking at the colour of produce.
A stall selling flours and pulses. A tourist like me taking pictures always got curious looks from the subjects, especially as my eyelid was still swollen.
This is the Orient Hostel, another hostel in the same neighbourhood of Sultanahmet, where I had decided I would catch a shuttle to the airport on departure day.
In the evening after dinner, I caught a ferry to Üsküdar, on the Asian shore. It was a cool place, in both senses. The lights of the European shore were magical to watch. On regaining the European shore, I found a cafe serving Turkish coffee but it was disappointing. If you like it, then you like coffee with the flavour boiled out of it and sludge at the bottom of the cup.
You're probably thinking this entry will start off the usual way, with me writing about how I enjoyed my sleep, or not, and what breakfast was like. When I got onto the train I thought, in 11 years time, after blogs are invented, I will just write about a normal night train journey. Just kidding. But it was not to be. As I was returning to my compartment from checking out the buffet car for a nightcap, a piece of aluminium trim above the door detached itself and hit me above my left eyelid. Fortunately my eyesight was not affected but my eyelid swelled up, looking like I had got a black eye in a fight. The conductor was solicitous, but really there was nothing to be done but to give time for the swelling to recede. I stuck a bandaid over it, not because it helped any, but because it made the injury look plausible to onlookers. Oh, and there was nothing that I liked in the buffet car and it was full of smokers so I bought nothing.
In the morning, the train skirted the Asian coast of the Sea of Marmara for a long time. There were ugly high rises visible from the line. Our progress was slowed by the suburban trains of Istanbul, but it was all taken into account in the schedule. Here we have arrived at Haydarpaşa.
The architecture of this station bears witness to a more elegant age. This is the first station in Asia coming from Europe. There was no restaurant serving food as the guide claimed; it only served drinks. So after taking photos I hopped onto the ferry crossing the Bosphorus for Karakoy. There was no feasible breakfast place there either so I walked across the Galata Bridge to Sirkeci. The next ferry to Büyükada was at 1015, so I had breakfast at a restaurant on a back street, my injury attracting curious glances from the clientele. What I need, I thought, is a cheap pair of large sunglasses. But I didn't find any for sale.
The crossing took about 90 minutes. It was an overcast day with cool breezes. I stayed outside because of the ubiquitous smokers. I hated them with a passion. At Büyükada, which means nothing more exotic than Big Island, as it's the largest of the Princes Islands, I checked into the Princess Hotel (what else?) slept until 1330, then went out for lunch. I was set upon by hordes of restaurant owners so business must have been slow. Nobody seemed to have enough small change. A had told me that the government was trying to control inflation by restricting the supply of money!
I took a walk along the promenade, passing the historical but slightly dilapidated Hotel Splendid. Büyükada is a resort island, a handy getaway destination for Istanbul residents. Motorised vehicles, except for service vehicles, are prohibited, so life moves at a slower pace. To get around you walk, ride a bike or take a horse-drawn buggy. Here you don't have to watch out for homicidal cars; you can hear the buggies coming in good time. Alas, the smell of car exhaust fumes has been replaced by the stench of horse shit. Progress is seldom unalloyed.
The best views were unfortunately from private houses along the shore. You can only partly see this swimming pool belonging to one of the hotels. At the end of my walk was a campground which required an entrance fee, so I turned back.
For dinner I had an excellent meal of Inegöl köfte which was more expensive than on the mainland. Then I savoured the cool evening until bedtime.
Incidentally if you are wondering Ankara is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable. There are no photos for today so I'll make this short.
I had all day to spend before the night train. A had to work, so I took myself to sightsee Ankara. I tried to find the THY (Turkish Airlines) office to reconfirm my return flight as they were handling agents for MH, but got redirected to the next suburb, so decided not to bother. I went to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. Turkey, or Asia Minor in the past, is a very ancient land. Artifacts from the beginning of recorded history have been found. The Turkish language comes from Central Asia so multiple civilisations have overlaid this part of the world. You might remember that the Old Testament mentions Hittites. Well, they lived in Anatolia. Archaeology and history aren't my favourite subjects, but I was impressed by the wealth of artifacts displayed. I think photography was not permitted in the museum otherwise I would have a souvenir of this visit.
After walking around the market area of Ankara, for lunch I found a sitdown kebab place near A's workplace and had one of the specialties: Gaziantep Kebap. It was delicious, filling and cheap; came up to about $3 converted. I looked for the two recommended bookstores. One was moribund, the other was nowhere to be found. Victims of the economic downturn? I bought some cherries for my hosts and made my way back to A's office. Watched them work for a while. It reminded me of my workdays back home. When a terminal became free, A let me check my email, but there was nothing urgent.
After dinner they drove me to the train station and we said our goodbyes. A said he might visit me later in the year to check out the employment situation in Australia, and perhaps do some diving, his passion. And then I was headed westwards into the night.
I'm going to compress 2 days into one blog post again because I took hardly any pictures the first day when I spent many hours on a bus.
Breakfast was excellent as you would expect of an upmarket hotel. I wished I could have afforded a hot-air balloon ride to view the region; that would have been spectacular. Sigh.
The bus to Ankara was slow, partly because of the many stops, partly because of poor roads. It was a bit of an ordeal because two old passengers behind me nattered throughout the trip. What did they have so much to talk about? Finally we arrived at AŞTİ (the main bus terminal) at 1600, about 30 minutes late. I hopped onto the Ankaray, a light metro line, and headed for the central railway station, the Maltepe stop. My hosts, A, a German living in Turkey and his Turkish wife, P were patiently waiting for me at the station. I bought my sleeper ticket for the train back to Istanbul in a couple of days, and then went to dinner with them. Back at their apartment, they asked me many questions about migrating to Australia. (Note from the future: as far as I know they never left Turkey, P was pregnant and she seemed very attached to her parents in Ankara so I surmise that she was uncomfortable with starting afresh in a new country.)
The next day was Sunday so we did a tour of Ankara. First stop was Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic. Through force of character he dragged a backward remnant of the Ottoman empire into the 20th century and established Turkey as a modern, secular state. However his legacy is not without controversy which is beyond the scope of this blog to delve into, so the hyperlinks are there for more information. By the way the two men and a child are not posing for me but another photographer. I have a couple of other photos, but they are of the boring structured space surrounding Anıtkabir.
This is probably Gençlik park, from the fountain.
I had volunteered to give a talk that evening to the local Linux group. Only 5 people turned up. One problems with open source software in Turkey was that people didn't think highly of something that was free. Piracy of proprietary software was rampant, as one might guess. I think the FOSS scene there has improved since then.
After the meeting we had supper with P's parents and siblings at their home. They were having a small outdoor barbeque in their yard. They were lovely people, lavished Turkish hospitality on me and were pleased that I could speak some Turkish. A joked that I put him to shame.
My slumber was most enjoyable again as my room had a very comfortable bed. After breakfast, I bought a bottle of local wine for my hosts in Ankara from the Pension. Then I caught the bus to Ürgüp, another important tourist town in the Cappadocia region. I wanted to experience staying in a cave hotel. The one I picked, the Esbelli, was a bit of a splurge, but I reckoned that I deserved luxury now and then. Unfortunately the map in the guide was slightly misdrawn and I worked up a sweat looking for it in vain on the wrong road.
But it was well worth it. The room, which was carved into the soft tuff of the hillside, was comfortable and cool inspite of the heat outside. There were extras thrown in. They had an Internet connection so I checked my email and sent a message to my hosts in Ankara. I could help myself to free cans of drink from the fridge and use the laundry. I spent the afternoon getting a fresh set of clothes.
Here's another shot showing the strata in the rock and the ventilation hole in the ceiling. Note the clothes "closet" carved into the rock.
The hotel has a commanding view of the town in the valley and I took pictures from the terrace and from nearby Temini hill. The town itself was sleepy when I was there for lunch.
In the evening I walked down to the town and passed these homes built into the rock. Some of them looked like they had seen better days.
In town I had a dinner of tandır güveç (a clay pot) followed by a pistachio pastry from a confectionery bar. The town had come to life. Families were out enjoying the evening air.
Then it was back to the hotel to watch the town in the fading light of dusk.
I really enjoyed a restful night in the quiet of the country. After breakfast, I joined a day trip.
First they drove us in a van to the nearby town of Uçhisar where we viewed the tuff rock outcrop and had the geological stuff explained to us.
Then we went to the piece de resistance, the Underground City complex at Derinkuyu. These cities, of which Derinkuyu is the best known, were believed to have been first excavated in the 7th or 8th centuries BC and then enlarged by Christians in the Byzantine era. They were used to hide from marauders in times of invasion. The figures are awesome: 11 floors extending to a depth of 85m, capable of housing tens of thousands of people together with their livestock and food stores. Entrance to the city was controlled by a "millstone" with a peephole that could be rolled to seal the passage from the inside only. What's more, many such cities were connected in a network by kilometers of underground tunnels. Naturally, the electrical wires you see here do not form part of the original installation, hahaha.
Only about 10 percent of the city is open to tourists. I'm sure archaeologists are kept busy studying these cities.
This is a small chapel in the depths of the city. I admit to feeling uneasy with the tons of rock above me.
Then they took us to see an impressive gorge.
After lunch, they showed us the odd conical mounds that were used as a backdrop for the original Star Wars film. Certainly looks other-worldly out of context.
More of those mounds.
They took us to see a caravanserai. Caravan is a group of travellers, and serai is related to the Turkish word saray for palace or an enclosed space. Remember Topkapı in Istanbul? Its full name is Topkapı Sarayı.
These rest stops were set up by rulers to provide safe lodging for travellers, especially merchants. Asked about charges and so forth, the Turkish guide joked: It's like a motel, $30 for a bed, $10 for dinner, etc.
Finally we ended up back in Göreme, within sight of the fairy chimneys. You can plainly see the effects of differential erosion. Somehow you have the feeling that this is what an elf's dwelling might look like, if they existed.
Here it's plain to see that the harder rock "hats" belong to the same stratum.
A closer look with a telephoto lens.
Wonder how much longer before these topple.
There is a church carved into the rock here.
Guided tours often end in some inducement to shop and this one was no exception. They left us near some pottery shops. This was within walking distance of my pension so I decided to leave the party there and then. There had been a pair of NYC sisters on the van. One of them had just returned from teaching in Russia. I wondered if I would bump into them again in the evening in town, but it never happened.
At dinner the Canadian regaled us with an incredible story of being grilled by Israeli customs officers on leaving the country. Now that's paranoia.
I slept episodically in the bus. Sometime between episodes I noted the brief stop at Konya, one of the larger cities of central Turkey. I had however decided to leave it out this trip.
In the cold dawn I found myself in the small village of Göreme trying to stay warm in my jacket while waiting for my backpack to be unloaded from the hold. Quite a change from warm Antalya. It was a short walk to the Köse Pension where I had a reservation. Everything is close by in this small village of a couple of thousand. The Pension was neat and cozy. I had a non-Turkish breakfast here for a welcome change, then napped a bit to reduce my sleep deficit.
Göreme lies in a national park and the main attraction here is the fairy chimneys. Dawn, the proprietress, recommended a walk through Rose Valley. The valley is an open air museum and an admission charge is levied. I entered from the top and walked downhill. The trail was a bit treacherous due to the loose sand particles and I slipped a couple of times. But it was great to breathe fresh air.
This area was once the site of ancient volcanic eruptions which laid down layers of soft tuff and harder basalt. The hard layer protected the soft tuff underneath from rain erosion, while wind erosion carved the soft tuff. The result is other-worldly formations shaped like cones, mushrooms, etc. Caves can also be easily excavated in the soft tuff to form troglodyte dwellings which are remarkably comfortable because they stay cool in summer and retain heat in winter. In fact some hostels and hotels in area offer the novelty of staying in caves.
The region has a climate suitable for growing grapes and this is one of the major wine producing regions of Turkey. On my walk I passed vineyards.
I took a beer break at a restaurant on the trail. There were a group of French tourists having their lunch there. A couple of Slovenian girls walked past while I was quenching my thirst. I later caught up with them on the trail and we chatted about Australia and Slovenia. Their hometown was near the border with Italy. We exchanged email addresses at the end of the walk. One of the girls was Irena. For the next year or two we corresponded sporadically, then lost touch. In my blog of my 2007 trip to Slovenia, I have already set down how I was tempted to visit her hometown while driving around Slovenia.
If I'm not mistaken, this is a church carved in the rock near the town. This area was settled in the Roman period and Christianity was the prevailing religion then.
Back at the Pension, after a nap, I eyed the swimming pool in the now hot day but decided to let the day cool a bit and the water warm a bit. It didn't make any difference: when I tried the water it was chilly so I had a quick dip and gave up. By this time it was evening, so I took a walk around the village. There wasn't much action except the tourists around the souvenir shops and a small farmers' market.
Dinner at the Pension was excellent because the produce was fresh. At the table were a Kiwi couple, a couple from Brisbane, an English family and a Scotsman. Much of the talk was about travelling around the Middle East. I must have had a tiring day because I went out like a light when I hit the sack.
