Blogs from Marmara, Turkey, Middle East - page 193

Geo: 41.0245, 28.9881 GÜN 1 Günlerden Cumartesi Gençliğimde tüm öğrenci hareketlerinde adres olarak Moskova gösterilir ve karşıt görüş daima "Moskova'ya ....Moskova'ya" diye bağırırdı. Çetin Altan zırt bir yazı mı yazdı adres belli Moskova'ya ... Sol bir dergi mi dağıtılıyor ? adres yine belli Moskova'ya... Aklınıza gelecek ne kadar ortanın solunda yer alan bir eylem varsa adres Moskova'dır. Tüm gençliğim Moskova'ya gidenler ya da gönderilenler ile burada kalanlar arasındaki kavgalarla geçti. Kader ,daha sonra oda ve sınıf arkadaşımı Moskova Büyük Elçisi yapacaktı ve bende meslek icabı haddinden fazla Moskova 'ya gitmek durumunda kaldım. Perestroika öncesi ve sonrası ortamlarına tanık oldum. Dünya'nın en beleş ve ucuz yerlerinden biri iken, Dünyanın en pahalı kenti olma konumlarına tanık oldum. O eskiden Moskova'ya diye bağıranlar hala ... read more

We are back in the UK again now, back to the cold! But back to a decent hot shower as well. Turkey was good, we'd love to go back again and look round properly. This trip all we had time to see was Cappadocia and Istanbul. We stayed in Goreme, Cappadocia, in a room that was part real cave and part concrete cave. The area is known for its weird and wonderful rock formations, cave houses, and some underground cities. We tried to see a bit of everything. The first day there we took a bus tour of the highlights, getting a feel for the surroundings. We saw plenty of rock formations, a huge underground city 8 levels deep, a well preserved caravanserai, and the local pottery. The tour ended at the pottery, we were given ... read more

Geo: 41.0245, 28.9881... read more

Geo: 41.0245, 28.9881... read more

It was close to 8.00pm when the bus dropped me off in Eceabat, a town near the battlefields of Gallipoli. A sign pointed to Anzac House, which currently housed my tour party from FEZ. I was on crutches with a heavily sprained ankle, a result of a drunken fall down a flight of steps in Rome a few weeks back. Walking through the front door I was greeted by my tour guide and the owner of the barhostel, they had already sent the group that afternoon for the tour of the battlefields and midday service, and most of the group were in the lounge watching Gallipoli the Movie. Gutted at missing out on the tour and not having a bed for the night booked, I took it upon myself to have a beer or two to ... read more

Coming to Istanbul was a very pleasant surprise. Straddling both Europe and Asia, we motored through rural landscapes to the Turkish border till we reached Turkey's small European foothold to Istanbul. Founded by the Greeks as Byzantium more than 2,500 years ago, renamed Constantinople in the year 330 when Constantine the Great made it the capital of the Roman Empire. After the Ottoman conquest, this Byzantine city along the Bosphorous was renamed Istanbul in the 15th century. Geographically, Istanbul remains the gateway between East and West, Orient and Occident, Christian and Islamic worlds, Black Sea and the Mediterranean. It was very cold and windy when we got here. Despite the chill, we were game enough to board a small boat and cruise the Bosphorous Canal. I still remember our Turkish guide, Ahmed. I remember some of ... read more