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Published: July 14th 2014
Blue Mosque
Faces the Hagia Sophia across the squareMy travels may have come to an end a week ago, but my blog is just wrapping up now. Between recovering from jetlag, spending my only week at home with my family, and moving my life down to Chicago to start work tomorrow, the blog just got a bit delayed. My apologies to my avid readers, but pretend that the quality of this post is that much greater because I’ve had a week to distill my experiences (see, I can even convince myself).
Since posting last, I closed out my trip by visiting Istanbul, the Greek island of Chios, and Athens. For those who are geographically inclined, my route for the latter half of my trip was basically a clockwise semicircle from the UK to Athens. The plane tickets for this leg weren’t the cheapest, but the airline service was amazing: each leg featured an in-flight meal (even the 50 minute skips over the Aegean) and there was a lot more legroom. All the little things were definitely appreciated as I was beginning to get worn down from the continuous travel. Also, round of applause for the Athens airport coming in at runner-up of best airport on the Grande Adventure:
Haggia Sophia
The minarets are about a thousand years younger than the church it wasn’t optimal that I had a midnight-6am layover there coming from Istanbul, but it provided an hour of free internet and had very expeditious security.
Istanbul was a unique stop on my trip simply because it wasn’t Western—when it’s mosque minarets (slender towers from which Muslim prayers are broadcasted throughout the day) instead of church steeples, one knows that they’re not in Europe anymore. The language, dress, city layout, cleanliness, and amount of stray animals were also markedly different. There was enough public transport infrastructure strung together that I could make it from the airport to my hostel, fortunately. My hostel was a highlight—I was staying on a 20-person covered rooftop with an amazing view of the Hagia Sophia for about $7 per night. The Hagia Sophia is a 6
th century church turned mosque turned museum. It is one of the oldest religious buildings still standing, and was the largest church in the world until the construction of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. Despite the impressive credentials, it didn’t live up to the hype: admission was almost $20 (St. Peter’s is free) to see just the nave and a balcony, most of the mosaics were poorly restored, and
Hagia Sophia Interior
The stairs and arabic disks are also after-market additions there was a lot of scaffolding inside that blocked sightlines. No visit to Istanbul is complete without it, though, which the Turkish government clearly understands and exploits. I visited the Hagia Sophia after having visited the Blue Mosque, a fully functioning mosque just across the square. It’s not especially blue, but the architecture and arabesques were certainly impressive. As I had previously been in other mosques in Andalucía but none with were still functioning, it was interesting to see how the space was used. It’s really one large, square room (with large self-supporting domes that eliminate the need for pillars and make the structures so structurally impressive) that is carpeted, with a single raised platform from which the prayers are called. There were no exhibits or displays inside so some people spent more time removing their shoes (the whole holy ground thing) and covering themselves than looking around in the mosque itself. Other sightseeings included the basilica cistern, archeological museum, Topkapi Palace, and Grand Bazaar. I also met up with two friends who were also traveling in Istanbul concurrently, so we marauded around together and ate some delicious Turkish food. I had doner and other Turkish dishes throughout Europe earlier
Hagia Sophia Mosaics
While not the best preserved and often painted over, the mosaics were the most impressive part of the chruch in the trip, so it was good I could have the real deal as well. Overall, I appreciated the differentness of Istanbul, the exchange rate (2 Turkish lira to the dollar) and the centuries of fascinating and tumultuous history. I didn’t appreciate the swarms of tourists, relative sketchiness, and overpriced but underwhelming attractions.
With Istanbul behind me, I turned toward Greece, the final country on my Grande Adventure. My journey there entailed an overnight layover in the Athens airport en route to the island of Chios, but as previously mentioned it was practically a pleasure. The little puddlejumper over to Chios was possibly the smallest plane I had ever ridden, which fit nicely with the 2-gate Chios airport. Chios was definitely one of the least touristy places I visited on my trip, but it formed a nice contrast with the bus tours and throngs of crowds in Istanbul. I decided to come to this out-of-the-way island because I heard it had the best diving in the Aegean; however, after spending my first morning calling several no longer operating phone lines and bouncing between tourist information offices, I figured out I wasn’t going to be able to swing it for
Archeological Museum
Originally thought to be the casket of Alexander the Great (actually not, but he is depicted in the frescoes on the side) the few days I was here. Pivoting seamlessly, I decided to rent a car to trek out to the medieval villages and pristine beaches around the island. The pivot was indeed seamless until I sat down behind the wheel only to notice that my little orange Kia was a manual transmission, not automatic. Like all the other cars in Europe. Whoops… Considering I had around 2 prior hours of experience on stick, I attempted to make a go of it based on what I remembered. Unfortunately, the fact that I was parked on a busy uphill street foiled my feeble efforts. Undaunted, I ventured off along the harbor to find some free wifi to Google my way out of trouble. I found this gem of a webpage and within 10 or 15 minutes was on my way:
http://jalopnik.com/5230172/how-to-drive-a-stick-shift-in-ten-easy-steps. I still stalled out at more lights that I car to admit, and needed the help of a friendly Greek gentleman to reverse down an alley I had inadvertently gotten myself stuck down, but after my 2 day rental period I can say that I crossed a major item off my bucket list by mastering the stick. Some of my favorite sites
on the island were the Cave of Olympi and the ancient Nea Moni monastery (see pictures). So in the end, Chios was definitely a much-needed relaxing break from the faster-paced places I had been previously, and I got a healthy dose of sun and swimming to boot.
Finally, I came to the last leg of my journey in Athens after another 50 minute flight from Chios. Having made backup scuba arrangements, I went straight to a dive shop from the airport, and we drove the southern coast of the Greek peninsula to dive the Devil’s Hole. It was the first dive off the shore that I had done, which was a nice change from the long boat trips I had to take previously. That being said, because we were in an area that also included swimmers and a bustling seaside tavern, there was an unfortunate amount of debris and garbage in the water. The Mediterranean is also different since, as a “dying sea,” it doesn’t have prolific coral and reef fish to go along. It still has great underwater topography with caves and tunnels, though. And the best part: we saw 2 octipi! Seeing an octopus was another bucket
Topkapi Palace detail
The historic residence of the Sultans; the treasure trove was pretty impressive list item of mine, and I saw both a large one sleeping in his lair and a little one scuttling along a rock wall. Having seen the octopus, I was satisfied with my diving experience. After getting back to the city proper, I managed to squeeze in the Acropolis Museum and catch the sunset from the top of Mount Lycabettus. The next day I hit all the main historic attractions—the Acropolis, Parthenon, Temple to Olympic Zeus, and Roman and Greek Agoras. Time, history, and environment has not been kind to these structures. After the Parthenon’s current iteration was completed in the 5
th century BC, every foreign power that conquered Athens did something to modify, desecrate, or destroy the building. Anything that wasn’t obliterated that way was lost to looters or eroded by acid rain. Because of this, very little of the Parthenon visible today is original, and all of the artistic frescoes or statues are gone. The agoras are mostly just foundations traced in the ground. Despite their states of disrepair, though, there is still something powerful and metaphoric to be found in these structures. They speak to the transience of power and riches, but also mankind’s striving for idealism
Basilica Cistern
The columns were pilfered from other Greek and Roman settlements, so they're not uniform and creative abilities. By the end of my stay in Athens, I had gained a lot of new knowledge of classical history while also seeing firsthand the current political and economic state of the country. Hope my tourism dollars helped!
And that’s all, folks. The plane trip back was uneventful, but the tasty food selection and bountiful movie choices on my personal screen again reinforced the message that foreign airlines treat their customers so much better than American ones. Sleep was less forthcoming on this flight, so I plowed through The Grand Budapest Hotel, 12 Years a Slave, and Inception. I also finished up The Count of Monte Cristo, which had been my literary project during my downtime on the trip. (I also read Ender’s Game while abroad, but found it so unsatisfying that it’s barely worth mentioning.) For now, it’s time to adjust back to US Central time, get ready to enter the work world, and replenish my sorely depleted bank account. Taking my whole trip into account, I felt that it was a great balance of so many things: time by
Cave of Olympios
Small but incredibly dense and colorful myself and with others, experiencing nature and exploring cities, living on the cheap and letting go to enjoy myself, trying completely foreign and more familiar things. Not knowing when I’ll have this much completely untethered time again, I felt I made about as much of the time as I could have hoped. But now it’s time for another new adventure in a new city, so this is trekker extraordinaire Evan Fry saying thanks for reading and wishing you the best on the adventures of your own!
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