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Published: December 24th 2010
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Our 10 days in Turkey has come to a close. The country was a pleasant surprise.
Our first stop was Istanbul. We were both expecting a massive dirty busy city; while Istanbul is busy (population of 20-25 million) and massive (spans 30 kilometers along both sides of the Bosphorus channel) it isn't dirty. Istanbul is truly one of the premier cities in the world. The sites are plentiful and gorgeous while the history, food, culture and people certainly vault it up there with Tokyo, New York, Paris, London etc...
We could write an entire blog on the history of Istanbul. During its long history, Istanbul had previously served as the capital of the Roman Empire (330–c.395), Byzantine Empire (c.395–1204 & 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Thereafter, the new Republic of Turkey, moved their capital to Ankara during the Turkish War of Independence. Istanbul was chosen as a European Capital of Culture for 2010 and European Capital of Sports for 2012. The historic areas of the city were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.
We stayed in the Sultanahmet district literally right next to the Blue Mosque. Our first day in Istanbul was marked
by the craziest weather we've experience thus far. The winds were over 50km/hr and it snowed like crazy for the entire day and night. The snow didn't stick as the temperature hovered around 2-3C but we were forced into our ski pants, toques and gloves... all the while taking in beautiful historic sites; fashion was clearly thrown out the window in favour of staying warm and dry.
We spent the day at the Topkapi Palace which was the official residence of the Ottoman sultans for over 400 years (1465-1856). The Palace is opulent beyond belief and the treasures on display, including the incredible 86 carat 'spoon maker's diamond' (replicas available in the gift shop!), make the Crown Jewels of London look simple! For information about the Palace and in particular the Imperial Harem and Eunuchs (bizarre yet fascinating!) visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Harem
We also made our way through the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is a must see in Istanbul; a vast (5 blocks by 5 blocks) maze of shops hawking everything from Jewelry to Belly Dancing costumes to rabbits/chickens (live of course) to carpets all at 'good price for you... because you are my first customer and
you will tell your friends in Canada about my shop'... oh, we've heard it all by now! We didn't buy anything but did load up on spices at the Spice Bazaar which was much less touristy and much more yummy!
That night we made our way to the final Galatasaray football (soccer) game in their existing stadium (a newer bigger stadium has been built to replace it). Turkey is football mad and there are three major clubs in Istanbul. There is a history of violence at Turkish footie matches, so we decided to buy expensive tickets theorizing that the thugs and hooligans would be in the cheap seats. As you can see from the video footage, the match was overshadowed by the ridiculous weather. Having said this, the home team played awfully allowing a goal in the first 30 seconds. Chants turned to rants; after the home team went down 2-0 early in the second half; the crowd began to berate and scream at their team. Fans tore seats from their moorings and pitched them on the field (somewhat excusable given it was the last game the stadium would ever see!). They then started chucking their Galatasaray toques, shirts, gloves,
shirts and whatever else onto the field... in blizzard conditions... BRRRR!! We left early and made our way back through the storm; Sabrina earned HIGH marks for pleasantly tagging along!
Istanbul is one of those cities where one could spend months and not see it all or do everything. The rest of our time was spent walking about, taking ferries up and down the Bosphorus, walking and eating. We had an amazing dinner in a restaurant located in an old Roman cistern. On a trip to the fish market, we had a plate of freshly caught hamsis (anchove-esque fish from the Black Sea) for the equivalent of $3.50! Fish is generally served with onion and a radicchio-like lettuce... YUM!
Our next stop was the spectacular region of Cappadocia in south eastern Turkey. This region is characterized by amazing rock outcrops, cave hotels and underground cities. Millions of years ago, there was a volcanic eruption and the entire region was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash. Over the years, this ash has erroded away under a layer of pumice leaving bizarre rock formations that you can see in the photos of this blog. We stayed in a cave hotel
(our best hotel room to date) in the side of a hill in the lovely town Goreme and spent our days exploring the region. The first day saw us make our way around the open air museum of Goreme. This ancient cave city served as a Christian monastery and had many churches and houses; perhaps most amazing however were the relatively well preserved frescoes in the churches.
The next day we took public transportation (an experience unto its own) to an city called Kaymaki. There are over 100 underground cities in Cappadocia and the one in this city is one of the largest we were told. The underground city was created as a hiding place in case of invasion. Citizens would scamper down and stay upwards of months waiting out the intruders. The city had 8(!) stories and covered an area of 4 x 4 kms! They had churches, kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, cantinas, jails (!) and an extensive communication system (small holes between rooms... our guide called them the telephone system!). Every so often we came across deep air vents which were also water wells. Our guide told us of a Polish tourist who had fallen down one of the
vents (80 meters) and was rescued the next day... alive. Not sure if this was true but there were notches in the sides of the vents where one could climb up and down so perhaps this tourist thought he might give it a go. It was quite an experience exploring the city; if one were claustrophobic, this would have been torture. The hallways were quite small and narrow. They were able to effectively seal off any entrance with large circular rocks that they could position from the inside but were impossible to move from the outside.
Our last visit in Turkey saw us in Izmir, a city of 3 million on the Aegean coast (eastern Mediterranean). Most people visit Izmir on their way to Ephesus which is the second most visited tourist site in Turkey after Istanbul. Ephesus is a large Roman ruined city that housed up to 200,000 in its hey day. It is near a smaller town, Selcuk, about an hour south of Izmir. On the day we went to visit (via the local train; tickets were $3 each!), it POURED with rain. It rained so much that the normal tour path of the site was turned into
a river. We're told that the site is generally mobbed by tourists; on the day we visited, we could count the number on our hands! The site is generally well preserved and there is a very interesting section where the entire site/ruins have been covered and developed into a area for tourists and archaeologists alike. In co-operation with an Austrian group, they have created a most interesting preservation of beautiful mosaics and excavations of the ruins (and somewhere to hide during the deluge!).
Izmir is also a relatively interesting city on its own. It has a large bazaar that we enjoyed perusing as well as a long waterfront dotted with paths and severely overpriced restaurants. We have to admit to being taken in at one of these restaurants; the food was below average and the prices were ghastly! Oh well, they can't all be winners.
On the whole we were pleased with our Turkish adventures. The Turks are generally happy and very friendly. They are nowhere nearly as aggressive towards tourists which was a nice respite having been hounded constantly in Egypt. The transportation network is adequate and while the country is very large, inexpensive air travel is possible. It
would seem that Turkey's next step is to host a major cultural or sporting event to really vault it into the limelight. The Olympics or a World Cup would be fitting. They are coming off a successful hosting of the World Basketball Championships and Istanbul has been named the European Cultural Capital for 2010... which could be considered a start. There is some lingering political strife between the Kurds in the south (who have their own language and strong desire for independence) however on the whole it seems that everyone gets along.
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emma Parke
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Wow
You guys look amazing !!! see you soon , Emma