Delight, Turkish-style

Turkey, June 2007

The result of my life is
No more than these three words:
I was raw, I was cooked, I was burned

~ Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi
(13thC Muslim poet, philosopher, jurist, theologian and Sufi Master)


A camel formation in the region of Cappadocia, Central Turkey.

Me and Crazy Ali in a town near Göreme. Crazy Ali owns a shop and writes poetry in three languages. He recited some to me as we drank apple tea together (the others were on a hike I could not do).

Boy trotting past on donkey.

Hot Ali teaching Emily backgammon after a day sunbaking in Silifke. See the Maiden Castle off in the distant water?

Ahh.. Antalya. Where Western civilisation began. I see why.

The group in front of Hadrian's Gate, Antalya.

After a hamman. All wrapped up, drinking apple tea.

Emily and I at Mama's Kitchen in Kas. Best food in all of Turkey. Well done Mama!

Swimming above a sunken ancient Lycian market place. The clearest water one can imagine. So salty we bob like corks.

Relaxing on one of the boat trips to islands and ancient ruins.

The travertines at Pammukale. Calcium formations, the only ones in the world, they look like icial glaciers. It was sunset and about 45 degrees C.

Travertine puddles.

My feet in the travertine puddles. The water is supposed to have healing properties and my foot did hurt less up there.

The girls- Emily, Janet and Tracey- at the travertines. Couldn't stop taking pictures of this place!

Listening to a guide under an olive tree with Ephesus (Efes) in the background.

Stadium at Ephesus.

Out in Kas. The local Turkish beer called Efes. Janet, Tracey, Emily, Fintan and Charlene.

Anzac Cove, Gallipoli.

Moi. On a boat near Cannukale.

Inside the Aya Sofia, Istanbul. I wanted to set up house and LIVE in this building.

Me and friendliest cat in Istanbul.

Being silly in the Grand Bazaar, Sulthanamet, Istanbul.

The Aya Sofia, opposite the Blue Mosque. These buildings face each other and one does not know where to look first.

Rabbits that tell fortunes on the street. They choose a bit of paper from the box by picking it up with their teeth.

Spontaneous dance on one of the Princess Islands. Istanbul in the background.

Emily burning sage, a Native Indian American remedy, to de-curse, cleanse and purify. Smokiest hotel room ever but I think it really worked.

Istanbul at dusk from the ferry.

Whirling dervishes hypnotise both participants and spectators.

Enjoying the show.

Fairy chimneys, Cappadocia. See the functioning window?

Cappadocia, strangest place on the planet. People live inside cave-houses in these rocks!

Turkey was, well... quite simply... rhymes with rightful.. starts with deligh...

Ill get you up to speed. After Hel and I said goodbye in Dubrovnik I spent two weeks travelling around the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This trip deserves its own post and as soon as I can, I will. Then I flew to Brussels, stayed a few days... Likewise in Bruges. Dont know why Belgium gets a bad wrap, I loved it for the architecture, the laid-back vibe, the chocolate (naturally), as well as the strange mix of identities and languages. After, I spent five days in Amsterdam, the Venice of the North, where I broke my foot (see below post) and was thus embarassingly well-behaved in this liberal, open-minded city (must remedy this gap in my youth later.)

I flew in to Istanbul early June. I met the Intrepid group a few days later and we spent the fastest three weeks of my life together. We were a mixed bunch from Oz, the US and Ireland. Half silly younger ones, half silly older ones. We all got on and experienced Turkey with what I hope were open eyes and open hearts. We laughed alot. (The country has so much to offer and I think its a real shame that when most people go there they stick to the resort towns and never really get a taste of Turkey's real delight.)

The time I spent in Turkey was filled, no- overtaken- by an energy that cannot be described. But the weeks were fuelled by this energy and perhaps is the reason behind the time flashing by. When I describe the country now, here in Berlin, to anyone who will listen, I even speak faster! In one month, here is a fragment of what unfurled:

Temperatures soared up to 51 degrees C; bazaars beckoned; hammans (Turkish baths) cured tired shoulders, bunny rabbits predicted furtures on pavements; Bosphorus, Agean and Mediterranean seas cooled; ancient ruins told stories of the Amazoninas, Lycinas, Byzantines, Romans, Selcuks and Ottomans; Cappadocia's strange rock formations transported us to the moon; lokum (Turkish delight) revived; mosaics in every mosque and church took breaths away (the best was the Aya Sofia followed by the Blue Mosque); early calls to prayer awoke dream-filled sleep; 10-hour bus rides elicited prayers; detailed ceramics, carpets and silvers tempted; white calcium travertines at sunset inspired countless photos; islands lured; turkish tea and coffee flowed...

From Istanbul to Göreme, Mount Nemrut, Antalya, Silifke (Sherefeh!), Fethiye, Kas, Pammukale, Selcuk, Seringe, Cannukale, Gallipoli, then back to Istanbul. Phew! And we didn't even touch areas up near the Black Sea (must do) and the very far East. UNESCO and World Heritage listed sites are so concentrated in this ancient land, you bump into archeologists! I saw my first of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World- the Temple of Artemis- built in 650 BC. Not much remaining, a solitary column re-erected by archeologists and a few foundations but pretty wonderful nonetheless. This is a land of the ogy- mythology, theology, archeology, pedagogy- here they all culminate to help us view our modern world in sharper focus.

The further East, the more untouched and traditional. Boys zoomed past on donkeys, toothless men played backgammon on the street (I learnt too!) Traditional music and dancing, as well as the famous belly dancers and whirling dervishes, hypnotised me for an evening. I was glad to be on the coast when the heatwave struck. I was not so glad to be inland trying to get around Ephesus and Hierapolis when the heatwave continued. I floated on top of an ancient sunken city and cursed my decision not to bring a snorkel. I bought some jewellery, I couldn't resist. A pair of silver and emerald-green earings and a pendant known as a turrah, with the Seal of Suliman.

We feasted- Ottoman-style- on böreks, gözlemes, lamachuns, pides, doners, shishs, freshly grilled fish, more aubergine than you could poke a stick at, and other fantastic mezzes like rice-stuffed capsicums and seaweed salad. Huge cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, white mulberries and watermelon we found happily in season, cheap as chips, juicy and delicious. We try countless varieties of fruit wines and settle on the quince. The first drop tastes like a good botrytis sticky. After a glass we agree that wine should be made from grapes only. On the coast, down south, Turkey's Greek heritage offered us moussaka and stuffed vine leaves. The national drink, raki, was anaseed-flavoured, diluted with water, served ice-cold, reminiscent of the French pastis. The Greek also apparently have a drink like it, how we are all connected!

I quite definately fell in love with Istanbul for its energy, and its perfect balance between the West and the exotic. There was a sense among the group, our last day, floating on the Bosphoros, that we should all just stay on. Strange, at the same time one can look forward to the next journey, the start of a new chapter, there is also this human urge to be inert, to extend time...

Janet and Emily- thank you for teaching me the art of spontaneous dancing
Janet- thank you for liking my sandals
Emily- thank you for the sage-burning, curse-curing, cleansing ceremony. If I was cursed, I am now most definately de-cursed
Tracey- thank you for your irony, wit and assuring me that Americans can get sarcasm. I look forward to Iceland
Fintan- thank you for putting up with all us girls and for teaching us knacker drinking
Charlene- thank you for being such a lovely mixture between sense and sensibility, strength and sentimentality... and for the make up tips!
Thank you all for being a reminder of relative sanity when I thought I must be taking crazy pills!

Tesekkür ederim, I wont forget this trip in a hurry.

Photos soon! In the meantime Janet kindly allowed me to flag her blog where you can find some pics of our time in Turkey. Plus she describes the itinerary much better than I have the patience for today. Click here.