Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 23

HE SAID... We woke at 5.30am and organised ourselves for our travel from Selcuk to Pamukkale. We had a pretty basic breakfast at 8am and then headed to the train station. The train arrived at 9.25am, and it was fairly packed. There were no seats, so we stood for the first hour of the trip. The aisles filled quickly with locals travelling on market day. When we arrived at their destination, the train cleared and we grabbed a seat. We were wearing the evil eye charms our guide had given us. It was meant to ward off jealous stares and thoughts from other people, and the symbol prevails in every Turkish tourist shop. Many Turks wear an evil eye, and they even place them in new cars to prevent jealous glares from their neighbours. We travelled ... read more

HE SAID... We jumped on a local bus for a 25 minute trip to the bus station in Bursa. We then transferred to a bigger and more comfortable bus for our six hour Selcuk trip. Looking out the window of the bus, we could have been travelling through rural Spain, although there was a little more green foliage. Olive trees spread to the horizon, and tiny farmhouses dotted the landscape. We stopped a few times for toilet breaks, and a guy brought around drinks and snacks during the journey. It was a comfortable bus, and the views of the Turkish countryside were fabulous. We eventually arrived in Selcuk at 5pm. We couldn’t believe the heat when we jumped off – it was around 37 degrees, and the sun was intense. We walked to Dream’s Guesthouse, dropped ... read more

I have changed my focus for research. The Cult of Saint Mary, while interesting – was not “panning out” as they say. With this realization and the inspiration given by a friend I have decided to embark on a study of women’s sexuality in Turkey. I hope to include interviews, news sources, academic writings, etc. My friend said that her father-in-law paints the outside of his house every year, but never touches the inside. It’s about appearances. And in the Middle East in general, the appearance of a family’s holiness is in their women. In the South we refer to these types of individuals as being “Sunday Mornin’ Sorry.” For those of you who are not blessed enough to come from the South – let me explain. Men (and women – you know who you are) ... read more

Gobekli Tepe is a fascinating site and only recently discovered. Along with the sphinx weathering it appears to be another significant piece of evidence suggesting human civilisation goes back further than modern academics think. The circles are officially 11,000 year old age, and are considered to be religious sanctuaries, which is a significant finding. They have uncovered 4 stone circles and radar scanning has shown that there are more to be excavated. The stones that they have uncovered have animals carved on to them and some of the carvings come out of the rock, almost like they were glued on to the side of standing stones. There are carvings of foxes, antelope and some animals that look like dinosaurs to me, there are also anthropomorphic standing stones with human arms, hands and even waist belts on ... read more

HE SAID... We woke at 5.15am to catch up on our trip notes and pack our bags for the trip from Istanbul to Bursa. We headed to breakfast at 7.30am, checked out at 8.15am and jumped on a mini-bus to the ferry terminal. We cautiously navigated the ferry’s shifting gang plank (it had already upended an elderly Kurdish lady) and tried to find our allocated seats. Having no luck whatsoever, we just grabbed a few spare seats and hoped the ticket holders didn’t turn up. We were on our way to Bursa. We arrived on the southern side of the Sea of Marmara at 11am. We jumped onto a local bus and wound our way up the coastal hills to a metro station, caught a crowded train to the heart of Bursa and then walked through ... read more