Turkey: A Quick Glimpse

Photos:
1. Old city in Gazientep near the Citadel
2. "Gypsy Girl" mosaic at Gazientep Museum
3. mosaic from Gazientep Museum (dating as far back as 1100BC)
4. Sclupture at Gazientep Museum (dating back as far as 800 BC)
5. Mt Nemrut near Kahta
6. Phallic rocks at Love Valley, Goreme, Cappadocia
7. Roman ruins at Olympos beach
8. Doner stop between bus changes
9. Me at the Pamakkale travertines
10.Library at Ephesus
11. Main street at Ephesus
12. St John's tomb at St John's Basilica in Canakkale
13. Aqueduct in Canakkale
14. Doner kebab man in Instanbul
15. Blue Mosque, Instanbul


Trying to see all that a country has to offer in 2 weeks is insane. It's the see 9 countries in western Europe in a week Asian tour style: pure craziness. Really, bussing it from point A to point B, taking the ferry from point A to point B, rushing to see the ruins, honestly it is a pure insanity. But the middle east wasn't on my list of countries to mosey along this time. I am leaving that for India. A full 3 months, again, not really enough time. Anyhow, Turkey has been an experience full of history and new learning. Travel does expand your knowledge. I met Kiwis and Aussies at Gallipoli near Canakkale whom I learnt about Anzac Day (25 April). I knew about Gallipoli in WWI but not the specific day. The Turkish town names. Takes getting used to. All I learnt to say in 2 weeks is Thank You. It took me 2 full days for the remmeber ther words: teshikir edirim. I think Arabic is a lot easier.

Instanbul
I found Instanbul to be the most expensive city in Turkey. This was also told to me by some Turkish. Independent travel in Turkey is very doable. The tourist infrastructure is pretty much in place. And unlike Morocco where you can repeat what you want in English until you lose your steam, the person in Turkey whom you are speaking with WILL understand some English even they have no clue what you are asking ;) I do not feel so un-safe in Turkey. Characters are not shady or as dodgy as I found in Morocco. Outside of Instanbul, I found no major harassment. The harassments were pretty mild. Again, I am using Morocco as a baseline. I did get invited to about 4 rug shops in 2 days and got served chai tea. Eventhough I kept telling them I didn't want to buy a rug they were still hospitable. I got dragged into these rug stores, because as you are walking around Instanbul in the tourist areas, out of the blue, some Turk will start following and talking with you. Often times they want you to come and see their merchandise at their store. So you go. I went because I wanted free chai tea ;) These persons at times were very educated and spoke good English. So far, no marriage propositions. You do run into the annoying person every now and then yelling over to ask if I was Japanese or Chinese. At some point in Instanbul, I wandered outside the tourist infested areas. Here nobody bugged you. The price of chai tea was also lower. I paid 4 TL (Turkish Lire) in the Grand Bazaar. Outside the tourist infested areas, I paid 1 TL. Duh, 4x more for the same small cup. Stupid.

Outside Instanbul
I found chai tea for 0.50TL. Chai tea. Turkey for me is all about chai tea the moment. I only drink Turkish coffee in the mornings. Been eating doner. Chicken doner. Yummy. Cheap and tasty.

Temperature in Turkey
It is cold by my standards. Averaging about 10-12C at night. It was freezing at Mt Nemrut at an elevation of 2051m, misty and cold it was 0C or less. I took a donkey ride up and it was ridiculously cold. Should have just walked the way up. Also got a frisky donkey man, who got on my nerves. In the town of Kahta where I overnighted it was about 11C at night.

This concludes my report on Turkey. I head to Aleppo, Syria tomorrow leaving for the border early in the morning.

Comment on Syria and Jordan
Sryian internet blocks access to Facebook and blogger and bandwidth is slooow. With the Jordaning dinar as strong as the Euro one would expect better Internet bandwidth but was slooow. My entry on Syria to Egypt will be uploaded once I get to it.