Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 363

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Middle East » Turkey November 15th 2007

Hello all, Turkey is an amazing land - so unique compared to other places I have been. The first day we arrived, we were accosted by merchants and it hasn't let up - though strangely it's not as irritating as you would think. They are not aggressive, but they are slimy, charming, and persistent. They will try anything to get you in their store... and what really astounds me is their language ability, and not only English! So, the first day we were conned into a local merchant's store... of carpets, no less, but the experience was worth it. We were on our way to see the blue mosque and it suddenly closed to visitor's for prayer time, which meant we had an hour to kill, of course we learned this from a man outside who ... read more
nuts!
Our Water Pipe
Tastes like apple!

Middle East » Turkey » Black Sea » Barhal November 15th 2007

Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Pamukkale November 14th 2007

December 9 - 11, 2006 Saturday When we woke up Saturday we knew we needed to get out of Antalya. It was a nice enough place and not touristy in the way that other well-trod, over-blown, tout-filled towns are in other parts of the world, but for Turkey it was our low point thus far. We had really been struggling to make decisions about what to see and where to go while in Turkey. Any sane traveler should be able to see and savor Turkey in 26 days but we felt smothered and rushed almost since our arrival. The tough decision was whether to head further along the southern coast, seeing the ancient ruins of Olympus, the fire breathing mountain Chimaera, and then the sweet seaside village of Kas, or to move on to the ruins ... read more
Soccer Action in Pamukkale
Amy Stepping Gingerly Over The Rocky Dry Calcium
Roger Wades Into The Water

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul November 12th 2007

Three Mosques, Two Markets, and One Boat Cruise: Istanbul in a Nutshell To begin our trek westward we decided to start with Istanbul, gateway to the west (or east depending on which way you’re heading). Located at the natural divide between Europe and Asia, Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus Straight. One side of this huge shipping lane is Europe, the other side is Asia. Istanbul contains many sights that are well worth any traveler’s time. Given the history of Istanbul as the center of the Roman Empire during its later years, the heart of Orthodox Christianity, the sight of one of the largest mosques in the world and its military significance to the Ottomans, it is no surprise that this huge, expansive city has much to offer. Would two days be enough time to even get ... read more
Dome
Enjoying The Bosphorus Cruise
Arabic Gravemarker

Middle East » Turkey » Mediterranean » Kas November 11th 2007

Our latest exciting installment begins in the walled city of Dubrovnic. The city is spectacular, with beautiful marbled streets, stone buildings and truly enormous walls surrounding the entire city. Just as mind boggling was the huge cruise ships turning up 2 or 3 at a time and gorging out thousands of tourists to flood the city. Those walls are designed to keep people out but I tell you they are darned effective at keeping them in too, worse luck. We decided to pop down to the newest country in the world, Montenegro. Shiny it wasn't, but Kotor on the coast was oozing charm. The little (yes, walled) town had a gritty charm that Dubrovnic had lost with the tourists. We hiked up the cliff face to the crazy castle ruins crumbling over the precipice. The train ... read more
Dubrovnik Cable Car
Castle Climbing Above Kotor
Balmy Belgrade

Middle East » Turkey » Black Sea » Artvin November 10th 2007

His name is Mustafa Aygün but everybody calls him Mevlut Çavus, the nickname of its father. I met him in 1994 when I arrived to Barhal for the first time, in 1997 I stood in its house and since then I go at least once to the year. Onun ismi Mustafa Aygü, ama herkes ona Mevlut Çavus derler, babasinin lakasi. 1994'te tanististik, o anda ilk kez Barhala gittim, 97'de onun evinde kaldim ve ondan itibaren her sene giderim, son seneler Ramazan Bayramda.... read more
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Rahime Aygün
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Middle East » Turkey » Black Sea » Artvin November 10th 2007

The church is one of the best kept in the region, was built in the 10th century as a monastry dedicated to John the Baptist at that time Barhal was a part of Georgia and probably was a donation from the royal family. the Church became mosque in the late 18th century during the time of the Sultan Abdül-Hamid the 1st, the firman of the event is in the muhtarlik, they still call it "Kilise" There are some stones with sculptures in the façade, tunels contecting to the other side of the mountains and we all think that arround it there must be a lot of tresures digged. Barhal Manastýrý bu bölgede bulunan en önemli tarihi eserler arasýndadýr. Barhal Manastýr Kilisesi X. y.y’da “Vaftizci Yahya” adýna Bagratlý Krallýðý’nca inþa edilmiþtir. Kilise üç nefli bazýlý kal planýna ... read more
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Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul November 9th 2007

We sang that song the entire trip so I thought it would be a fitting title for this entry :) Sorry it's taken SOOOO long for me to post this! Between my new job and the holidays there hasn't been much time for blogging...but I'm getting caught up now :) So we were very excited about our Istanbul trip but even after reading about it in preparation for the trip, we still didn't expect what we found there. First of all, let me start by pointing out that part of Istanbul is actually in Europe while the other half is in Asia. Even so, we (for some reason) were expecting it to be much more like Morocco was (even though Morocco is in Africa) than a large European city (maybe because Turkey is 98% Muslim and ... read more
Brian's Birthday Cake
The Orient Express Station
Matt in the Blue Mosque

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul November 9th 2007

Istanbul was one of the trips we were most looking forward to and we were not let down. The capital of Turkey is a juxtaposition of elements which makes it all the most interesting. It is a country which now belongs to Europe which however was always seen as the link between Europe and Asia and therefore considered different, it is an Islamic country yet ‘liberalised’ by rejecting the Sultan and Kaifate ordering system back in the early 1900’s, it is a city which came under rule by many cultures yet it is distinctly and proudly Turkish and finally it seems so modern and contemporary and yet it is so traditional.!!! The Islamic aspect of the city is its most interesting aspect as all the major mosques seem to call the community to prayer at virtually ... read more
Impressive by night
Impressive by night
Aya Sofia So grand

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul November 9th 2007

We slept as long as we dared, leaving just enough time to pack and leave for half eleven. At about twenty five past eleven just as we were getting the last few things ready we got a phone call "reminding" us that checkout was in ten minutes. We were out in time however that phone call was the final contribution from a bad hostel which we made sure to write on their review. Once evicted from our room, we sat in the common room and had a mass postcard writing session. I managed to address all of mine no problem, but Rob needed to get onto the Internet to access his addresses. We separated out the things we wanted to post and left the rest of our belongings at the hostel. The café a few doors ... read more
City Walls
Done and Dusted
Enroute to Bus Station




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