Blogs from Central Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 43

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Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Cappadocia March 3rd 2007

for 2 days now we have been ın central Turkey ın an area called Cappadocıa. Its volcanic origns have created a dry landscape vaguely reminiscent of Montana's open sagebrush spaces and Utah's multicolored cliffs and bluffs. Added bonus feature: pillars, outcroppings, towers and caves in the volcanic tuffa which is light enough to be eroded or carved easily. Early Christians lived in these caves, to escape persecution, and local folk created underground villages to escape violence and war over the centuries.... read more
Byzantine church entrance
early terracotta painting
cliff houses

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Ankara February 1st 2007

Tekrar selammmm Eveeeet.... pek çoğunuzun bildiği üzere yaklaşık 5 ay aradan sonra ilk defa Ankara'ya geldim, 10 günlüğüne. Şimdiden görüşemediklerimden özür diliyorum. O kadar insanı görmeme rağmen göremediğim de bi o kadar war. Her neyse, Uzun bi aradan sonra Türkiye'ye, özellikle de Ankara'ya gelmek ilaç gibi geldi. (halen benim gibi gurbette olan arkadaşlara tawsiye ederim) ancak biraz sarsıcı olabiliyo, insanın pek dönesi gelmiyo:)) çok sık gitmemek lazım. Malumunuz bu 10 gün, yiyip içip gezmekle geçti... detaylara girmeye gerek ama sonuç: Ankara'da 3 kilo aldım, 3-4 aylık rakı ve nargile ihtiyacımı depoladım vs. Muhtemelen sadece 5 ay uzakta kalmamdan dolayı, Ankara hiç değişmemiş gibi geldi. Yani klasik gurbetçi tribi yaşamadım, "way be buralar noolmuş" gibi... Aaaa, tabi ki İ.Melih Gökçek alt we üst geçit çalışmaları hariç. Cinnah-Tunalı-Bahçeli arası hiç 50 dakika sürmemiş... read more

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Cappadocia January 6th 2007

Hello everyone, I spent two weeks over Christmas and New Year's in Turkey. The news leading up to my visit involved their entry into the European Union. The sense I got from BBC/CNN was that Turkey wasn't meeting some of the requirements and so an invitation had not been issued. The people I spoke with over the two weeks said that they didn't see a benefit in joining. They also don't necessarily see themselves as European--more of a combination of Asia and Europe. They thought that there were two real reasons that an invitation hadn't been issued: Turkey has a huge population--around 70 million--about the same as Germany. They thought that this may give them more power than the EU is comfortable with. Secondly, they think the real reason is that Turkey is, of course a ... read more
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Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Konya December 29th 2006

A whısper: For years you were a stone that scratched souls; try to be the soil for a whıle. I woke up shakıng off dreams of Norwegıan lıterature classes and russıan mafıa and whırlıng-ınduced trances. I couldn't place where I was. Maybe I had been travelıng for too long. Nothıng ın the room offered any clues. Then I saw my Rumi book of poetry and remembered...Konya...yes, home of the Mevlana. I ventured outsıde my room and downstaırs. There was a hazy fog and an eery sılence settled over everythıng. Not a sıngle sound. No talkıng musıc pıgeons roosters dogs sılverware buses. Downstaırs they hadn't yet turned on the lıghts. Breakfast was waıtıng on vacated tables lıke a ghost town abandoned. Nothıng stırred. Was I ımaginıng thıs? The mist was lıght and slightly tangible. It carrıed an ... read more
Sufi Playing and Dancing
Whırlıng ınto Trance
Sufı Musıcıans

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Ankara December 28th 2006

I arrıved in the capital by overnight traın having caught up on my sleep, my journaling, and my oxygen. The 9 1/2 journey train ride (which can be done in 5-6 by car) actually turned out to be a pleasant experıence, havıng a non-smoking sleeper cabin to myself. In Ankara, I stayed in one of the worst hotels ın my whole journey and one of the best...the first gave me a sınus headache just walkıng ınto the place and ıt stunk lıke sewage ın my room but ıt was cheap and had a bed and I was tıred of walkıng around sınce my ankle has been swellıng up...the next day I opted for a nicer hotel...actually the nıcest and by far the most expensıve (40 dollars) I have stayed at sınce I began thıs trıp ın ... read more
Cherubım Sphınx type fıgure
Maın Ankara Mosque
Insıde Maın Ankara Mosque

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Ankara December 28th 2006

Ataturk lurks. Who do you call when you want to create a new nation out of the remains of a defeated empire? I saw his stern image lurking everwhere. In paintings and book covers and on top bronze horse in city roundabouts. I wanted to find out more about the man they call Ataturk, Father of the Turks. Mustafa Kemal was the man mostly responsible for creating the modern nation of Turkey. He is a type of George Washington for Turkey. After WWI ended the real fight began for Turkey's existence. He was a general during the war and now he was enlisted by occupied-collaborationist Istanbul to fight the Turkish resistence, only instead of squashing the rebellion he ended up recruiting and organizing them against Greek advances into former Ottoman territory after WWI. Largely due to ... read more
Atatark

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Cappadocia December 19th 2006

Having been in Istanbul for a week, we needed a break. It wasn't a break from Istanbul that we needed so much as a break from cities in general. So we marched down to the travel agency near our hotel and told him to send us away. Where to? Cappadocia. He had a two day tour with a night in a cave hotel he could offer, so we figured we might as well. The only hang-up was that for what we were wanting to pay, he could only do bus tickets instead of a flight. Julie and I both hated the idea of 12 hour overnight bus rides, but thriftiness prevailed, and we accepted. Actually, the bus ride was much better than we expected, and we both slept a fair amount. When we got to Urgup, ... read more
Cave cities
The fellowship
Cappadocia

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Cappadocia December 16th 2006

It well and truly begins here. While i am writing this about three weeks after it happened (im not a very dedicated blogger at the moment), our arrival in Goreme in central Turkey marked the start of our bike ride. We collected our mound of stuff from the bus and were greated by a bloke from a local pansyion. Being laden with a large amount of stuff we accepted an offer for a ride to his place. Here, in the shadow of the famous fairy chimneys we reassembled our bikes and began preparations for the ride. Later that night we met up with some friends i was chilling with in southern turkey. Zac, Julie, and Pam. We went and hung out at Zac's place, played pishlie (a turkish cardgame which along with backgammon is a national ... read more
Preparations in full swing

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Cappadocia December 10th 2006

Leaving Konya was as painful as getting in. I was determined to use that tram to get out of town but finding it took a long time even though it was only a few minutes walk away. I was told by the hotel guy that I had to take bus so I went to the bus stop in front of the hotel and tried to ask someone but no one could speak english or understand my broken turk, until one man laughed at me and told me to walk before taking off (but not saying in which direction). Trying again to snatch information from these overly nice turks I ended up finding the 2 women from the hotel (those who mistook me for a turk) who showed me the way. I was just 2 minutes away ... read more
Uchisar house
Pasabag chimneys 4
Me and Rafik

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Konya December 5th 2006

The overnight bus from Istanbul was smooth sailing. I had heard of the good reputation of turkish bus companies and they certainly lived up to my expectations. Quality buses, no hassle. I'd even say they're a bit boring. Anyway, I got in Selcuk in early morning and quickly found my way to an ANZ hostel, the first one I stumbled upon. I got a dorm bed for a good price after only a little bargaining and even had a good breakfast. I chatted it up with a retired canadian couple backpacking around who were so friendly and interesting. The man was a career officier and had been stationed in Pakistan before Independance, he had crazy story to tell about those weekends he used to spend in Kandahar and Kabul and the stuff he found in the ... read more
Whirling Dervishes 2
Mevlana Mosque
Inside Mevlana Mosque 2




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