I'm on my way

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Well, what a few days!

On Friday, I left my hotel in Athens in the morning to go to the airport. When I arrived, I couldn’t see my flight to Samos on the departures board, and sure enough, the flight was cancelled. They offered to put me on the standby list for the 6:30 flight, but that was doubtful as the flight was already overbooked by 2. It was no good anyway, as the ferry from Samos left at 5:00.

So, after talking with my travel agent back in Australia, I booked a flight for 5:30am the next day, in case it was cancelled so there would be another possible flight. I then organised a hotel for the night, in a family-owned hotel in a small sea-side town near the airport.

The owner came and picked me up, and was a great guy. We had a great chat on the way and he extolled the virtues of the town (the name of which escapes me). After getting my room, I headed into town (a 15 minute walk) to look around and grab some lunch. I had some grilled bream, which cost way too much but tasted great and then walked along the seashore and around the town. Looking around town took less than an hour, but it was good as the town is not a big tourist place so felt more like the “real” Greece. I returned to my hotel and read for the afternoon. I had an early night as I would have to get up at about 3:00am

Up and ready by 4:15 when the car came to pick me up, it turned out that 3 other people were catching early flights (one turned out to be on mine). This flight wasn’t cancelled so I arrived at Samos at 6:30. My transfer to the port was there waiting for me and after about a 20 minute drive, I was in the port. Of course, the tour office wasn’t open yet so I had to wait a couple of hours. Once they did, my ferry ticket was arranged and I left my big bag at their office while I set out to explore the town. I had plenty of time to kill - it was 9:00 am and the ferry left at 5:00 pm.

First stop for me was the archaeological museum. It had some interesting stuff but, despite it being in 2 buildings, it was pretty small. That killed all of about 45 minutes. Seriously, I couldn’t drag it out any more. One good plus is that the museum is free on Saturdays.

I kept walking around the harbour and found little of interest. In the end I spent a couple of hours surfing the web at a place with the sign “Beer Garden” that had wi-fi and internet access for just 50 euro-cents an hour.

After that I grabbed a bite to eat and then went for a walk down the “commercial street”. It wasn’t very long and there was nothing of interest to me so I went looking for some grass where I could perhaps lie down and have a nap. No luck, so I took a bench near the water and listened to my iPod for a couple of hours. While there I was approached by a guy who kind of weirded me out as he tried to make conversation with his halting English. When the bad weather started moving in I put my shoes back on, only to have the guy move over closer to me on the bench. Realising what was going on, I promptly informed him that I don’t swing that way (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) and headed off in search of my ferry. I was going to have to leave in 15-20 minutes anyway, but I guess it was a compliment and added to the whole “Greek” experience.

I boarded the ferry and after an uneventful trip, we arrived in Kusadasi. The sea was up a little bit (as far as the Aegean gets up, from what I’ve seen) so disembarking was a little hairy. After getting through passport control and customs, I began to get worried as there didn’t seem to be anyone waiting for me. Eventually I spotted another guy holding a sign some distance away and sure enough, it was my tour guide for the Turkey tour.

It turns out that the first day was spent at Ephesus (which I am extremely annoyed at missing - bloody Olympic!) but both nights were spent in Kusadasi so it was literally no trouble catching up. I was taken to the hotel and I did little that night as I was tired and wanted to get some sleep.

I woke up this morning, had some breakfast and then headed outside to wait for the tour bus to pick us up. I saw the guide arrive and then he went inside, before coming out with a couple. They are from Melbourne and it turned out that it is just the 3 of us on the tour (more will join us in Istanbul though, I think). They and the tour guide are great and we’ve been chatting all day. It’s a real different experience to the Greek tour, feeling very personal.

We left Kusadasi and headed north for the town of Bergama. In case you’re wondering, yes, I did ring my mother to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. There’s nothing much at Bergama itself, but on a nearby hill are the ruins of the Acropolis of the ancient city of Pergamon (or Pergamum as my new book calls it - I’m not sure why the different spelling). I knew Pergamon from my reading of Roman History (they provided cavalry - mostly light, but some heavy - to the Roman army before it was bequeathed to Rome in the last king’s will) so was pretty happy to be there.

We walked around with the guide giving us some great info (he’s pretty knowledgeable about history, which is nice). We then headed off for lunch (which seems to be included in this tour!). After lunch, our guide asked us if we were interested in seeing a place where they make Turkish carpets (which, despite not being as famous as Persian ones, are apparently more durable because they weave with a double knot instead of a single one). The three of us said yes, so we headed there.

The place is a co-operative operation which basically provides a wage to women in the surrounding area, as well as an avenue to sell the carpets. Apparently 95% of the money goes to the women, and there is no time pressure on them. There were also a handful of women who worked on the premises.

The fellow who was showing us around started off by describing the difference between vegetable and chemical dyes, and also the locality of dyes. Pergamon, for instance, has a particular red dye that is only used in Pergamon and is not available elsewhere (except by chemical dyes which look different as they are consistent whereas vegetable dyes have some variation).

The next part was fascinating as they showed us the process of getting silk from silkworms. It really was very interesting to see. After that they showed us the ladies working on their looms and then into another room for the obligatory showing of potential products for us to buy. Despite none of us intending to buy any carpets, I bought a Pergamon tribal rug (their signature dye is a spectacular bright red which really grabbed me) and the other couple bought a carpet as well (not sure which one as we went into different rooms). I won’t say how much it costs, but it was $900 less than what the Melbourne couple paid for theirs. But mine can only be made in Pergamon, which makes me feel better about the purchase. Fortunately they ship it for free (apparently the cost is covered by Turkish government culture subsidies).

But don’t get the wrong idea. The guide insists the people not to put pressure on people to buy and they didn’t, but I think having the process shown to us and seeing the beautiful carpets were what did it for us. Or may be we’re just suckers.

Anyway, that was pretty much it for the day and we had a long drive north to the town of Canakkale (I think I’ve got that right) which is near Troy, which we shall see in the morning. Unlike the tour in Greece, the hotels on this tour are great. This one is 5 stars and is very, very nice. It’s also pretty new. The icing on the cake (well, besides the delicious local specialty for dessert) is that internet access, if you provide your own pc, is free!

Ah, life is great!

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Photos

A very large Kuoros in the museum
The left arm was found used as a step by the Romans.

View from the hotel at Canakkale
Looking at the Dardanelles.