I ended up really liking Ayvalik so I'm still here. I think I'll leave tomorrow and head down to Izmir. Note I still claim to be on my way to Canakkale (even though I'm heading south instead of north). My first daytime assault on Cunda failed miserably, as I realized I was getting sick as soon as I arrived, and after a short face-saving walk around the town I was forced to head back and spend the rest of the day in bed. I was feeling much better the next morning. My second attack started in the early afternoon. I am [View Full Entry]

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Ayvalik. An inseperable part of the Turkish national homeland(!). Signs all over point out that it was here that the first military resistance was formed against the advancing Greeks back in 1919. I daresay I'm a bit puzzled. By all indications this was as Greek a town as any in western Anatolia. I spent all day walking down the quiet narrow alleys, among unmistakably Greek houses, spotting the occasional unmistakable church. One sign on a shop read "Rum evleri tamir ve yikimi yapilir" (lit. "We fix and demolish Greek houses"). This is yet another town fallen victim to the forced popu [View Full Entry]

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Finally made it to Ayvalik. (I don't have my card reader with me so the pictures will be uploaded asynchronously). The road here was interesting. I took a minibus from Bergama to Chandarli (a small vacation town on the coast, slightly south and west of Bergama), checked out the Genoese fortress there, and got many giggles from a group of 4-5 teenage girls. I swear, if I could only get 1/10th of the attention from chicks within my age bracket... I decided to walk to Dikili (which didn't look too far on the map), taking the coastal route, convinvced that I [View Full Entry]

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I finally made it to Bergama. It took me roughly a day (24 hours) to hitchike from Balikesir, including a detour that took me way out of my way to appreciate Assos for an hour. The sheer quantity of historical artifacts is astonishing. There's an enormous pagan temple built in honor of some egyptian god: the Christians built a church inside of it, and the Muslims converted one of its towers into a mosque. The acropolis at the top of the hill is impressive (despite the fact that the Germans disassembled and carted away the most impressive parts of it which [View Full Entry]

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On my walk from Bursa to Balikesir I was passing by a spring of sorts (they're all over the place) when an old villager invited me to sit down with him and proceeded to ask the usual questions. He couldn't get over the fact that I was walking such a distance "for fun", and asked me if I was an anarchist. Such was my state of mind at the time that I nearly replied "no, but I do have sympathies", which would likely have earned me a solid beating as I would be seen as a troublemaker. I guess the image [View Full Entry]

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Last saturday I got the notion in my head that I'd like to do some walking... Bursa is cool and all but the constant stares and "hello"s one gets in a city get old real fast. After some quick consulting with my rudimentary map I decided that Balikesir would be a decent target: roughly 150km -- not too near and not too far. I had left most of my heavy gear (including walking shoes, socks and warm clothes) back in Istanbul and admittedly had too much useless gear with me (4 books!), but I figured I'd give things a shot and [View Full Entry]

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Here's something I find useful to meditate on when I'm feeling restless or pissed off: Dwell on uncomplicated beauty: A landscape; The sun on your face. Nothing touches you. Keep the image of your death Cheerfully before you at all times. Gain perspective. Seek to clarify and comfort, Never to obscure or mystify. Your aspirations are pointless; Your ambitions can do nothing. [View Full Entry]

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Bursa... It's changed somewhat since I went to school here back in '95: it's mostly gotten more crowded, but it's still teeming with charm. Six of my classmates got together on this past sunday to visit the school again; I invited myself to stay over, and I stayed in my old room with the new crowd for 3 days. It's hard to believe these guys are 9 years younger than me; I guess I'm getting old. The city has its back to a mountain so if you're willing to walk about 30 minutes uphill from the city center you find yourself [View Full Entry]

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I think I've always had the romantic ideal of "leaving it all" and "seeing the world". At the beginning of 2004 my hitherto complicated life (work, family, girlfriend) suddenly got simplified and I found myself face to face with the first (and possibly last) chance to make the dream come true. After some haggling with my boss I obtained a year's unpaid leave of absence, which combined with roughly 2 months of accumulated vacation gives me 14 months to travel. In the weeks leading up to my departure I moved out of (and cleaned) my place, said my goodbyes to my [View Full Entry]

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