Nicole schreibt...

Turkey 2005

Turkey had been on my list of countries to visit for quite some time now, for a variety of reasons, ranging from the wish to see the ancient Roman and Greek sites of Asia Minor to the question of whether Turkey should or should not join the EU. With so much to see, I opted for the thing I had sworn to never do - a group tour by coach that would take us from Istanbul in the north to Antalya in the south. So we'll see how that turned out. The start wasn't too grand for the plane from Düsseldorf to Istanbul left at 7.15 in the morning, which meant I had to get up at 4.00am. Which is the worst-possible nightmare for me. Arriving in Istanbul, we were in for our first adrenaline rush when the transfer bus hit the chaotic streets of the inner city. Let me tell you that Istanbul is NOT a town into which I'd drive with my car.

After a nap in the hotel to catch up on sleep (with not much success) we seized the fact that arrival day was still free of programme to walk to the Grand Bazar, a huge covered area that has been the central market of Istanbul for hundreds of years. These days it's mainly aimed at tourists and full of tacky souvenir rubbish with the odd nice bits thrown in. Following my experiences with the extremely persistent sellers on the Moroccan souks of Agadir and Marrakech I had been a bit worried about visiting the bazar, but found the Turks a bit less annoying, allowing you to browse and look without immediately jumping at you with their sales' talk. In fact I felt warmly received everywhere, which made a rather puzzling difference to Germany, where I feel very out of place and often awkward when I'm in a place with many Turkish people who seem to be rather cool towards the Germans. Which might of course have to do with the fact that WE gave THEM a much cooler welcome when they first came to Germany than the German tourists in Turkey now get. I also liked Istanbul itself which was just the right side of exotic with its sights and smells to feel 'far away' but not as alien as a place like Yangon for example.

The first day of the round trip began at 6.30 Turkish time (5.30am at home, which didn't help my general feeling of sleepiness) with dull hotel breakfast, before the whole group was bundled into a coach and introduced to our tour guide Ogus for the first time. Our first stop was the Süleyman Mosque dedicated to Sultan Süleyman the Great whose tomb is next door. This was an interesting stop for me because it was during Süleyman's reign that the Great Siege of Malta took place (see my trip to Malta for more on that) and according to folklore, the defeat left Süleyman so crushed that he died only a year later. From there we went to Sultanahmet Mosque, better known as the Blue Mosque, one of Istanbul's most famous landmarks. Having seen so many Buddhist temples in the last years, it was interesting to see these mosques from inside and I enjoyed the calm serenity of the huge buildings with its hundreds of little lights. Next stop was the Hagia Sophia, an ancient Byzantine church dating back to the year 530 AD, which was later converted into a mosque and is now a museum.

Last stop of the day was the place I had most itched to see: The Topkapi Palace, home of the Ottoman rulers for almost five centuries, a sprawling complex of fairytale buildings out of 1001 Nights at the very corner of Sultanahmet, the European side of Istanbul. It was a gorgeous place to walk around in and we didn't even get to see the Harem quarters because time was running out. A boat tour on the Bosporus was offered as an extra for the afternoon, but with the weather on the bad side and so very tired, we decided to opt out and walk to the hotel instead to try and get a long night of sleep. The next morning took us to the Egyptian or Spice Bazar first. Once this was the main market for spice and exotic goods from all over the Ottoman Empire but while some shops still offer spices, it's little more than a smaller version of the Grand Bazar full of tacky tourist stuff these days. After that, we left Istanbul behind, which I found a shame really as this is definitely a town worth its own trip and staying for 3-4 days to fully explore.

The first day's journey brought us to Bursa, once upon a time the capital of the old Ottoman Empire before they conquered Istanbul and relocated there. The sights include the Green Mosque and the Green Mausoleum which houses the tombs of Sultan Mehmet and his five wives and three sons who died early, and the Grand Mosque, which we could not enter as we arrived just as prayers began. Instead we strolled over the large, chaotic market, basically just killing time until we were all picked up by the coach and taken to the hotel. Bursa doesn't really linger in the memory and it's my guess that it is only included in the tour schedule because the distance between Istanbul and Çanakkale is too wide to cover in one trip. Next morning we were on the road there, passing along the Strait of Marmara and Gallipolli, where one of the worst battles of World War I. took place in 1915. We reached Çanakkale right in time for lunch and afterwards took a stroll along the marina, where we caught sight of the horse (above). If it looks familiar - you're right. This is the original horse that featured in the Hollywood epic "Troy" with Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom.

The tourist guides haven't caught up with this yet, so it was a nice surprise for a movie geek like me. We continued to Hirsalik then, the hills where Schliemann excavated the ruins of legendary Troy. Unfortunately there isn't much left to see, not even enough to stretch your fantasy, although what irriated me most was how small the area was, considering that Troy was supposed to be one of the largest cities of the ancient world. We continued on to a pleasant little seaside town called Ayvalik where we would stay overnight, but by then I had begun to feel slightly miserable with a bloated stomach and cramps. Thinking about it, I remembered the previous night when I had woken up mad with thirst. Since I couldn't find the water bottle we had bought and didn't want to switch the light on to wake good old Mommy up, I decided to be brave and drink a few sips of tap water in the bathroom, which now returned to haunt me in full force. I only ate some bread for dinner and returned to my room, leaving my Mom to ask tour guide Ogus for tablets. Instead he came up what is apparently a traditional Turkish home remedy: Coffee powder (and not just any old coffee but strong Turkish mocca) mixed with some lemon juice. Let me assure you it tasted at hideous as it sounds, but it did the trick. The next morning took us to Pergamon first, one of the best-known ancient sites of Asia Minor, Unfortunately mst of the best stuff that has been excavated there was dragged off to various museums, especially to Berlin where the Pergamon Museum houses the famous Altar of Zeus. But there is still quite enough to see on the Akropolis to give you an idea of the old town, including the huge and incredibly steep theatre. Another ancient site is just next-door, the ruins of Asklepieion, the ancient equivalent of a modern wellness resort where people went to soak in spas and get massages.

After a lunch stop at a nice roadside restaurant the sightseeing day continued in Selçuk, where we first stopped at what's believed to be the house where Mary, mother of Jesus, spent the last 12 years of her life (above right). It is a chapel now and a place of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims alike.

After this excursion into the spiritual world, we returned to ancient Asia Minor and the famous site of Ephesos, which has survived surprisingly well intact, so for the first time I could truly envision walking through a Greek or Roman town - if you ignored certain blessings of modern civilization :) To the right is a photo of the ancient Greek library, the first two-storey building I have ever seen on an ancient site and below the famous amphitheatre of Ephesos which is still being used for concerts and operas these days and apparently boats an acoustic most modern opera houses would be proud of.

Until then I hadn't been impressed with the organized round trip. Too much stress by getting up early and the bland food that was being served in the hotels and roadside inns for where we stopped for lunch was not my idea of a vacation, nor did I like the fact that traipsing around with a large group and a tour guide keeps you cut off from contact with local people - certainly a pity in such a hospitable country like Turkey where people had made us feel so welcome on our first day in Istanbul while we were alone still. Luckily, the last day in Pamukkale made up for that. First stop of the morning was Aphrodisias, an ancient Roman town dedicated to the Goddess of love which was also surprisingly intact and boasted a huge stadium for Ben-Hur-style chariot racing. We then proceeded to Pamukkale proper where we visited the ancient site of Hieropolis that mainly serves as an entrace to the famous limestone terraces, where you can dip your feet in the hot thermal water and generally just enjoy the sight of a hill that looks like the world's biggest cream cake.The hotel was right at the bottom of the hill and we got there early enough to finally be able to jump into a swimming pool for some rounds. The food was for once excellent too and having a besotted young waiter flirting with me all evening and trying to persuade me to have a cup of coffee with him after dinner didn't hurt either...

Unfortunately the last day was back to being typical touristy boredom. There was nothing but the road to Antalya ahead of us and I had figured that we could get there in the early afternoon - enough for a dip in the pool and a leisurely stroll around the town with some souvenir shopping and a good dinner. Instead we stopped at a carpet factory, where we were briefly shown how carpets were woven and then ushered into a room where they tried to flog the carpets, which all in all lasted almost two hours. And once we got to Antalya, a visit to a jewellry shop was also on the agenda, but this one was mercifully short. The hotel was on the outskirts of town, so my Mom and I decided to take a taxi into Antalya for some shopping in the Bazars (which she had raided before) and a private dinner in a nice seaside restaurant instead of another dull group feeding in the hotel. Since it was already dark by the time we emerged from the bazar (with some new "designer" jeans) I can't say that I have seen anything of Antalya as such, but we found a fabulous restaurant overlooking the marina and the ruins of the ancient fortification and the Southern Aegean, which made more than up for that. When we finally wanted to return to the hotel, another problem presented itself: None of the taxi drivers knew where our hotel was and the only vague direction I had to offer was "Turn left onto the seaside road where the McDonald's is" (how sad is that, if McDonald's is the only landmark that sticks out to you in a new town). Once on that road, we had no clue how to proceed but as luck would have it, a car sporting the "Öger Tours"-logo on its side was suddenly driving beside us. Having informed the taxi driver that that was our tour operator and should hence know where the hotel is, he proceeded to chase the poor lady driver down the road and finally into a parking lot (God knows what she must have been thinking) and when things were cleared up, she agreed to drive ahead of us to our hotel (which at that point was only some yards further down the road). I bet this taxi driver will never forget the location of this hotel again! The incident reminded me once more how much nicer it is to travel independently - a little more stressful perhaps, a little more risky, too - but also infinitely more rewarding for little acts of kindness and communication with the locals mean so much more to me than longwinded explanations about an ancient site. That's what your Lonely Planet is for, anyway. And as for Turkey, it was certainly an eye-opening trip and showed me the true country beyond the cliches and images formed by Turkish immigrants in Germany and I certainly haven't been there for the last time!