Knotty Ewe On the Land

My last few days in Istanbul earlier this week were very enjoyable.  I tried to take them at a much more relaxed pace as I knew that the tours in Israel and Jordan would probably move along at quite a clip.  I did however so many of the things that were tops of my list.

I went across to the new part of Istanbul to do some exploration.  Rose and I had been here a few days prior when we were at Taksim square, however, I particularly wanted to go up the Galata tower which was originally built by the Genoese as a lighthouse in the 13th century.  It is now one of the best vantage points to view Istanbul.   There is a restaurant at the top, however the price of 6 Lira for a cup of tea really put me off (normal price is 1 Lira).

Galata District from the old Istanbul side of the Golden Horn

Galata Tower

View of Old Istanbul from the tower

I took a long 6 hour boat cruise down the Bosphorus which was lovely and relaxing as I just sat and admired the scenery of the many little towns we stopped at.  The main reason for the length of the cruise was it stopped at the last stop for 3 hours forcing us all off for some lunch and to stretch or legs.

Cruise ship – rather like the Wolfe Island ferry but no cars

I didn’t neglect to also attend some of the wonderful museums that Istanbul has. Primary of where for history lovers like me is the Archeology Museum.  Unfortunately I found that Turkey is in a fit of upgrades and renovations of its public monuments and museums.  So unfortunately half the Archeology Museum was closed and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts is completely closed.  Disappointing but what was open was still interesting.

Sections of the chains used by the Byzantines to block access to the Golden Horn and Bosphorus effectively preventing enemy invasion by sea

Cute lion guarding the entrance to the Archeology Museum

The Ceramics Pavilion

Sarcophagus of the mourning women – contained the remains of an emperor who loved women

Of course I also did some last wandering through neighbourhoods and the bazaars.

A highlight though was my visit to a historical Turkish bath that was originally built in the 1500s by the Imperial architect.  Sorry no pictures of the actual experience!!

Here is a link to their website.  Of course the pictures in their gallery is a true representation of how we behaved and looked.  It was fun though.  When you arrive they give you a bag that contains disposable bathing bottoms and a scrubbing mitt as well as plastic tickets for the services you will have.

My bath kit with undies, scrubbing mitt, and tags for services.

I opted to have an attendant.   She first took me into the central steam room where she lay me down on a heated marble platform.

After dumping buckets of warm water over me she used the scrubbing mitt to vigorously scrub all the dead skin off me from head to toe.  She got quite a layer off!  After more buckets of water over my head, I was then scrubbed down with lovely scented bubbles.   After more dousing I was rinsed and sent off for a lovely relaxing massage in my own private little room.

It was very relaxing and lovely!

My last tourist stop was a visit to a small Byzantine Church commonly called Little Hagia Sophia as it was supposedly a model for the large Hagia Sophia. Unfortunately there wasn’t much of the old Greek decorations left so the inside wasn’t very interesting.  However, as I had to wait for prayers to finish before I could go in I sat on a bench to just enjoy the quiet.  I was joined by a very cute companion who was determined my lap was the only spot acceptable for a nice nap.

Little Hagia Sophia

My new friend

Ducks wandering around the mosque grounds

I very much enjoyed my time in Istanbul and Turkey and was sad to leave early on Thursday morning.  I will definitely try to go back to Turkey again in the future.  Though next time I would like to see more of the north east portion along the Black Sea.

I was very sad to say good bye to Rose this morning as she left early on the shuttle to the airport.  I’m now on my own for a few days before I head to Israel.  I decided to spend the day in the northern part of the old city.

The old part of Istanbul is on a peninsula that is bordered by the Golden Horn, Bosphorus Sea, and the Sea of Marmara.  The peninsula was protected for almost a thousand years from invaders by the landward walls constructed in the 5th and 6th centuries.

View from the eastern most segment of the wall

The walls

The original wall on the right and the reconstructed part to the left behind. Experts are upset how new it looks especially for a Unesco sight.

Close to the walls is the Church of Our Saviour in Chora (aka Church of Chora).  It has some of the best preserved mosaics in the city.  Sorry if you are bored with all the mosaic pictures – I find them fascinating that they are made out of tiny pieces of stone that make these lovely varied pictures.

My companion at lunch

After a relaxing lunch in the sun (which included many cups of apple tea) I walked back to the southern part of old city which took about 2 hours.  It was lovely to see the residential neighbourhoods.  Because it is Sunday there were so many people on the streets visiting friends, running errands, and children playing.

Ottoman architecture – wooden houses with the pop-out windows on the second floor

This evening I treated myself to a nice dinner as it is my first solo evening.  I find it hard to go to a restaurant on my own and sometimes you get very strange looks from both the staff and other patrons.  It was nice tonight though.  I had a vegetable kebab that is cooked in a sealed clay pot. They then break the pot to get the food out.

The clay pot came out on a special table the put in the middle of the pedestrian street. It was on a flaming plate – I think for presentation rather than to keep it warm.

He held it upside down whacking it with a small hammer

The pot was broken apart and pored into a bowl

The yummy end results!

There is so much to see and do in Istanbul.  For me one of the big draws of Turkey is the Byzantine history which I did a course on in university.  Unfortunately in the almost 600 years since the final Ottoman conquest in 1453 much of the Byzantine monuments have either been removed or repurposed (e.g. churches turned into mosques).

We have spent the past few days in Istanbul seeing the primary sights of interest.  On the first day of our tour we did an orientation walking tour that took us by, but not into, many of the significant points of interest.  So the past few days has been about visiting those places.

Before we could hit the sights though my first stop was to get my phone fixed.  About half way through the tour while we were in Kas I dropped my phone and unfortunately it proved to finally be the fatal drop that broke the screen.

My dropped screen looked something like this (not my phone though)

I initially tried to have it repaired at a a store aptly named the “Phone Hospital” but unfortunately it could not be repaired and the entire screen assembly needed to be replaced.  As he quoted an exorbitant price to do this manoeuvre the temporary “fix” was to put in a cracked used screen that still sort of worked (though everything appeared faded and in negative).

The working but broken screen (note the missing chunk in the bottom right corner!)

This was driving me crazy, so on returning to Istanbul I got a new screen at the lovely cell phone store around the corner from the hotel where they originally set me up with cell phone connectivity for Turkey.  It has now been beautifully resurrected and my missing limb has been returned to me.  However it is now a bit less useful.  In Turkey you have to register SIM cards with the government after two weeks at a cost of $75.  At that price I”m trying to survive my last week with no cell coverage (unfortunately this means no Google Maps as I navigate around Istanbul).

First stop on our sight seeing tour was Hagia Sofia which was the primary cathedral built by Justinian in the 6th century.  During Ottoman rule from 1453 to 1922 it was a mosque and now since declaration of the republic it is a museum.  The building reflects this mixed heritage in interesting ways.

Exterior of Hagia Sofia

Interior under the massive free standing dome.

Ottoman discs show texts from the Quran and the dome above the apse (on the right) has a Byzantine mosaic of the Virgin and child.

Byzantine mosaic fragment

Rose getting a wish granted by the angel who lives in the pillar who got trapped there during construction of the Cathedral. You have to stick your thumb in the hole and twist it all the way around.

We walked across the street to an inconspicuous building which is the entrance to the Basilica cisterns.  The cisterns were only opened to the public in the 1980s following restoration.  There are hundreds of cisterns under old Istanbul built by the Byzantines to store water from the forest 19 km north of the city. This is the largest and is really fun to visit.  Adding to the dark atmosphere is very spiritual music.  I kept feeling like I was at a spa.

Hundreds of columns support the cistern roof

The brick many domed ceiling

The shallow water is populated by fish which keep the algae at bay

Some of the columns are repurposed Roman columns that have bases of Medusa’s head

As prayer time had finished by the time we finished our visit to the cistern we were able to walk across the park that separates Hagia Sofia from the Blue Mosque.  The Blue Mosque is so named for the blue tiles that cover the inside. The mosque was built at the start of the 17th century.

Blue Mosque

Following our day of sight seeing we met the remaining members of our group who were still in Istanbul.   The Galata Bridge is one of three bridges that connects the old part of Istanbul to the new part on the other side of the primary harbour (called the Golden Horn).  Underneath the Galata Bridge, where it is too shallow for boats to pass they have constructed many restaurants.  This is supposedly the best place to go for fresh fish in Istanbul.   Though it was good, it was very touristy and over priced for what we got.  It was fun though to say good bye (again) to almost everyone.

Restaurants under the Galata Bridge

On Friday we spent most of the day taking our time exploring the Topkapi Palace.  This massive complex was the hub of the Ottoman Empire administration and residence of the Sultan up to the mid-19th century.

We were trying to take things at a slow pace to recover from the tour and also to get / stay healthy as Rose was fighting quite the cold and I’m just finishing off my cough.  So we called it quits for the day and retreated to our hotel room for the evening.

Yesterday we had another easy day by taking the hop-on-hop-off bus around both old and new Istanbul.  We even crossed over to the Asian side, so I guess I can officially now say that I have been to another continent!  We did get off at Taksim Square to explore a bit.   The area originally under dispute (the trees) is now clear and the area was filled with families and young people out enjoying the weekend sun doing some shopping.

Rooftop seats on the bus

The bridge to Asia

The trees by Taksim Square that started all the protests

Taksim Square

Kitty considering getting a tattoo

Chocolate vendor – very yummy chocolate!

Traditional Istanbul streetfood – a soggy bun with pattie

The Golden Horn

Our last dinner together

The last two full days of our tour were spent in Cappadocia.  They were two very busy days as well which was  tough as we were all getting pretty tired having been on the go constantly for the tour.  It was wonderful though.  Cappadocia was one of my favourite places.  Like everywhere I seem to go I very much want to go back and explore more.

The surreal lunar landscape of Cappadocia is the real gift of the region and it was a pleasure to explore it.  The tall pillars of rock are formed from ancient volcanic eruptions and subsequent erosion.  For centuries people dug houses into the rock above ground.  In times of crisis they dug cities under ground which were places of refuge.  In particular for the Christians during the waves of Arab invasions from the 7th  to the 15th century.

Hiking

Starting the hike (the puppy really liked Steve)

Group shot – including the stray puppy who followed us from the village

Rock pillars in “Little Love Valley” – not sure what “Big” love valley would look like as these were absolutely massive

Talking time with our leader Salih (puppy was very attentive especially to the waving stick in Salih’s hand)

At a break point in the trail there was a family that serves tea (çay) and the woman crochets lovely jewellery.

We all went a bit nuts buying bracelets

A tree covered in blue glass ornaments which are protection against the evil eye

Colin opted not to do the hike and hired a bike instead to explore the wild trails instead. It looked like a lot of fun and you don’t have to prove you have a motorcycle license!

At the end of our hike we arrived at the Goreme Open Air Museum which is a Unesco site preserving some of the medieval cave dwellings including many churches with well preserved colourful frescoes.  For me the highlight was the 12th and 13th century Byzantine frescoes in the Dark Church.  It is so named as very little natural light penetrates the church so that the frescoes are incredibly well preserved and still very vivid.  If I hadn’t been with a group I would have sat down and just looked at their incredible colours and form for hours.

Dark Church frescoe

Dark Church frescoes

One of many monasteries carved into the rock

This shows the scale of how many caves and dwellings there are.

Inside one of the churches

Ochre decorations exposed by erosion of the external walls of the church centuries ago

On our last night together we all got dressed up to attend a “Turkish Night” which was a cultural dance show of regional dances from Turkey accompanied by a very bad dinner.

The boys demonstrated their ironing skills to look extra spiffy!

Our last group shot :(

A very energetic dance from the Black Sea

The belly dancer pulled Colin from the audience to try his hand at dancing. He wasn’t quite up to doing the splits.

Everyone joined in the dancing fun at the end of the night

One of the highlights of a visit to Cappadocia is enjoying the wondrous landscape at dawn from a hot air balloon.  So following a very late night at the Turkish Night was joyfully rose from our beds before dawn to ascend to the heavens.

This was one of the many instances on this trip when I have wished that I had a better camera and more skill in taking pictures.  The above images really don’t show how magnificent it was.  There were about 80 balloons in the air with 20 passengers in each. Having that many colourful balloons in the air really made it special.  Our pilot told us that they only have control of going up and down (with the hot air generated by the flames) and the rest is up to the winds so there were some balloons that went earlier and got very high up but by the time we go into the air the winds had shifted a bit.

The truck coming with the trailer for the balloon to land on and the passenger van to take us back to town.

Our pilot after safely returning to earth

Doing the balloon ride was pretty expensive considering we were only in the air for about an hour.  Some enterprising members of our group did some shopping around in town and managed to get a much reduced price over what we could have gotten through Intrepid (almost half the cost!).  So that made it much more reasonable.  It is absolutely worth it though as it is, I think, truly unique and so much fun to go up in a balloon!  I felt like an explorer or as if we were doing an Around the World in 88 Days journey.

Following a proper breakfast and as much coffee as we could consume so we could keep moving we went to visit one of the many underground cities in the area.  The one we visited is the worlds biggest underground city.  Up to 20,000 people would live here for up to 4 months if the area was under attack.  The city had space for churches, stables, a school, kitchens, food storage, wells and living quarters.  The cities were “lost” for centuries after they were no longer needed and have been “rediscovered” and excavated by archeologists in the past 50 years or so.  The passages and stairwells between levels are very small.  My legs were sore from crouching the entire time.  Sadly only a couple of my pictures turned out.

Rose showing how low the ceilings were

Aaahh space to stand up! 

Sadly at the end of our last day in Cappadocia our group started to break up.  The original itinerary for our tour was to take the overnight bus from Goreme to Istanbul.  Colin managed to find a very cheap flight so about half the group chose to also fly rather than take the bus.  We met for one last breakfast though in Istanbul.  Seeing the bus survivors I’m very happy we flew!!

I was sad to say goodbye to the tour group as we had a really good time and got on very well.  I hope to see some of them again in future (though it will likely be a while before I get to Australia!).  After saying good bye to everyone Rose and I headed off for some exploration of Istanbul (see next post to come).

In the past two days we have spent a total of 13 hours on buses as we travelled first from Kas to Konya yesterday and then Konya to Goreme in Cappadocia today.  Our stop in Konya was really just a stopping point on our travels.  We did have this morning to do some exploration but it really wasn’t worth the stop.  If there were some other way to do this long travel leg I wish they would find it.  It seems that the bus networks are very well developed here but not the trains which is too bad.

Konya is the centre for the Whirling Dervish sect as it was the home and burial place of Mevlana the founder.  The primary attraction to the city is the Mevlana Museum which is actually his tomb.  So most of the visitors are actually pilgrims.  It was interesting to see the reaction of the different visitors – some were praying, others kissing various relics, and those like us just wandering through without much context for really understanding.

Mevlana Museum and mosque

Dervish tomb (before I realized photos weren’t allowed)

Women pilgrims waiting to enter

This morning we visited a felt shop and had a demonstration of how they make their felted artwork.  One of the primary products of the business is the felted hats worn by the Whirling Dervishes during their twirling.  It was fascinating to see how they do this fiber art.  They even dye all their own wool and most of the process is still manual.  I am resisting very hard the urge to learn this new fiber technique (I need to just stick with knitting).

Morning tea before starting the day

The felt shop

Adding details to the art piece using roving and soapy water

Whirling dervish hats

Silk scarves with felt details

We spent the afternoon on the bus, and arrived in Goreme just before dinner time.  Goreme is the tourist centre for Cappadocia.  The draw now a-days is what they call the fairy chimneys which are tall pillars of rock as well as the underground dwellings and cities that have been dug into the rock since antiquity.  We will be exploring all of this more in the next couple of days.  Then on Wednesday we take an overnight bus back to Istanbul where our tour will end.

This evening we went to a local family’s home for dinner.  The house was dug into the rock hill with the front made of brick and concrete.  The dinner was one of the best I’ve had since starting my travels.  I think everyone on our tour is a bit home sick and really loved the home cooking – it was full of veggies and very hearty.  I was happy as it didn’t have red meat or cheese.  I’ve been struggling lately to find meals I can eat so it was lovely.

Room of house dug into the rock hills

Hearty soup with noodles

Fantastic dinner – baked beans, fresh veggies and rice

Our host showing us her cooking awards

Happily full tourists!

Following our wonderful adventures on the Lycian Way I thought I had reached the best part of the trip.  However, more seems to be in store for us.  After leaving Kayakoy we took the bus to Kas which is in the very south of the country.  It is a lovely resort like city that was still warm and sunny even though we are at the very end of the tourist season.

We made a new friend on the way to Kas

Our hotel covered in blooming bougainville

The view from our hotel roof top terrace. The large island belongs to Greece.

Kas

It was a lovely town that I wish we had more time to really explore.  Besides the cute town there were lots of activities to do including more hiking and scuba diving.   We spent a day out on a large boat exploring the local bays and waters.

A boat like ours

Sailor Steve checking the horizon

Enjoying a swim in the Mediterranean Sea

It was a beautiful day.  The coast is very rocky and seems to just plunge into the sea from the hills.  The waters were so blue it was unbelievable and lovely for swimming.

Beautiful hills tumbling into the water

Rocky shores

We weren’t just lying around in the sun we also managed a couple of tourist stops including to see a sunken city and a stop at lovely little Kakova island for ice cream.  The sunken city was a Lycian city that was destroyed and covered by the sea by an earthquake.

Lycian city sunken during an ancient earth quake – this was the habour

Stairs leading down to the sunken city

Kekova island where we stopped for ice cream

Kekova island – view from the top of the hill

As the sun started to set we headed back towards Kas.  It was a very lovely day.

Beautiful sunset from the water

Enjoying the sunset as we cruise home

Yesterday was one of the most spectacular days of my trip so far.  It was pretty much as perfect as I could want.  For the past couple of days we were staying in a small village called Kayakoy.  We have been staying in a lovely small hotel where we were the only guests as it is the very end of the tourist season now.  We felt like we were visiting someone’s home it was that relaxed and comfortable.  Also the food was wonderful.  The only draw back was how cold it was at night – we were all digging out our thermals to wear and piling on the blankets.  It was a good reminder of what it will be like going back to Canada in December!

Relaxing at the hotel in Kayakoy.

Rooster at the hotel

Above Kayakoy there is a ghost town of abandoned houses.  This is one of the villages which in the 1920s had its entire ethnically Greek population transplanted to Greece and ethnically Turkish residents moved here from Greece (the great population exchange in which in total 1.5 million Greeks were moved from Turkey to Greece and 500,000 Turks were moved back to Turkey).  The houses were never really used by the new Turks and so were abandoned and have now deteriorated to their picturesque state.

Climbing the hill to the ghost town

Ghost town above Kayakoy

From the ghost town we started our hike over the mountain to Oludeniz.  The 6km that we walked was the first portion of the Lycian Way which is an ancient trading and communication route that connected 110 Lycian villages along the coast of south-western Turkey.  It was a beautiful and challenging hike.  I would love to come back and hike more of the 510km trail (maybe not all of it though as it was very rocky and very challenging).

Our reward at the end of our hike, which only took about 2 hours was to arrive in Oludeniz which is a lovely beach side community.  It was very relaxing to lie on the beach and go for a swim in the crystal clear waters which were the perfect temperature – refreshing but warm enough to relax and float around.

As we were coming over the ridge along the Lycian Way we spotted many many paragliders launching off a mountain beside the sea.  After enquiring as to price, duration of flight etc, a group of us decided to give it a try!  This was very very far outside my usual comfort zone but why not!  I don’t regret it at all as it was a magical and wonderful experience (terrifying but fantastic!).

We rode up to the top of the mountain to 6500 feet.  The van ride alone was hair raising as it was hairpin turns all the way up the side of the mountain going about 80kph and the seat I was sitting on wasn’t fully bolted down.  The higher we went the more nervous we got, but the perspective of having to ride the van down was motivation to go ahead with the launch.

Getting in the van to go up the mountain.

At the top of the mountain we got strapped into our gear which was really a padded chair inside a backpack and a helmet.  My pilot clipped onto the back of my harness with the parachute attached to him.  We had to stand at the very edge of the mountain.  When my pilot said run I ran as hard and fast as I could off the side of the mountain.  It was terrifying but then as soon as we were airborne it was just gentle peace.  It was truly magical to be sailing so high above the mountains and the sea.  It was close to sunset to the sun was very low on the horizon.  It was incredible.

Getting in the van to go up the mountain.

The mountain we launched off

Strapping into our gear

Waiting on the side of the mountain for the signal to go.

Running off the side of the mountain

Airborne

My pilot took pictures and video but unfortunately they are stranded on a DVD and I don’t have my DVD drive.  I’ll post them at a later date.

I loved paragliding – it was magical and wonderful.  I can’t believe I did but I’m so glad I did!  What a rush!

There are some places in the world that are so unique and beautiful that they take your breath away.  Yesterday we visited Pamukkale and it is one of those places.  After taking the train (a very civilized experience – roomy and on time) we arrived in Pamukkale around noon.  In the late afternoon we headed to the travertine pools with the intent of enjoying them and being at the top of the hill to catch the sunset.

Waiting for the train

Yummy stirfry lunch to fortify us for the hike up the cliff (that is Katie from my tour group)

The village of Pamukkale sits at the base of a pure white cliff.  Looking at it from the bottom it looked like snow and the walk way going up the side looked to be a ski route.  However, it is solid rock and there is warm spring water running down the hillside.  There is a thermal spring at the top of the hill which is the source of the water and the desolved calcium in the water.  The Greeks created a massive spa settlement at the top of the hill called Hieropolis.  Unfortunately there isn’t much left besides scattered stones and the amphitheater.

Along the cliff there are pools which have formed as a result of calcium buildup.  The water looks very blue.  Unfortunately due to the tourist traffic, the natural pools have been very damaged so there are artificially created pools which are still gorgeous as you walk up the hill.  You have to walk barefoot to protect the stone.

White cliff above the town

Walking up the hill barefoot on the stone covered in running warm spring water

Solid rock cliff wall

Travertine pools

White travertine pools

In the ruins there is a thermal hot spring pool that you can take a dip in.  It is lovely and warm so very relaxing.  The bottom of the pool is covered in bits of ancient marble columns which you can sit on.

Bathing in the thermal spring waters with ancient marble columns

We stayed for the sunset.  With the change in light the pools change colour.  Unfortunately the sunset before we could make it all the way up to the ancient amphitheater.  The sun now sets around 5 pm as the clocks changed back last weekend.

Amphitheater at Hieropolis

Sunset over the ruins

Travertine pools at sunset

Travertine pools at sunset

In the evening we wanted to go for a drink but unfortunately the village was so small and many of the businesses are now closed for the season so we ended up back where we had lunch.  It was fun though.

We are currently staying in Selcuk close to the western coast to visit a couple of key sights in this area.  Key amongst them is the well preserved Greek ruins of Ephesus which they claim are only second to Pompeii in the extent of their preservation.  We headed to Ephesus early this morning.  It is an incredible place set in a wonderful landscape.

Water pipes that supplied water to the city

Main street

Rose in the Odeon or small theatre

Sculptures

Marble Street leading to the Library

Public building

Public latrines – slaves would warm the seat for their masters

Library of Celsus

Facade of the Library of Celsus

Amphitheater

Ephesus, as everywhere else in Turkey, had many feline in habitants.  The cats I’ve seen so far in Turkey are the best fed and well groomed stays I’ve seen in any country.

After exploring Ephesus for a few hours we went for lunch at a small restaurant to enjoy Gozleme which is thin pastry folded around filling.  We were able to watch the one woman rolling out the dough very thinly and fill it while another cooked it over an open fire.  It was very yummy, especially when accompanied by pomegranate juice.

We then boarded our bus again for a trek up the mountain to visit a cute little village called Sirince.  The village specialty is fruit wine made from the produce of the valleys around.  We got to try many different kinds including melon, peach, bumble berry, and cherry.  The melon was the best – it would go down very easily.  Some of the others just tasted like schnapps or cough syrup.

Bumbleberry wine

Modelling my sip

Protection against the evil eye embedded in a shop door way

We also made a quick stop by the ruins of St John’s Basilica which was a 6th century Byzantine basilica built by Justinian on the site of the tomb of John the Apostle from the first century AD.  It is really hard to imagine how massive and magnificent this church once was as there isn’t much left in tact.

Ruins of St John’s Basilica

During our free time, Rose and I wandered visited a souvenir store in Selcuk owned by Julia.  I have seen many stores with colourful embroidered table clothes/bed covers/ wall hangings.  She had many beautiful ones and was a pleasure to talk to.  After much deliberation we each got one.  I’m not exactly certain what I’m going to do with mine as it’s rather large and too fancy (silk hand embroidery) to use as a table cloth.

Julia, the shop owner, and I looking over the many choices of beautiful embroidery

My new souvenir

Tomorrow is October 29, the anniversary of Turkey’s founding in the 1920s.  The city has been decorated for days – draped mostly in massive Turkish flags and pictures of Ataturk.

This evening there is a big concert and celebration taking place in the square next to our hotel which from the sounds of it, the crowd is enjoying very much.  I hope it doesn’t go too late as we leave early tomorrow morning to take the train to our next stop.  This tour is really fast moving.  When we aren’t seeing sights then we are travelling to the next spot.  There is very little time for us to do our own thing.  However given the shopping extravaganza we went on this afternoon that is probably a good thing!

Yesterday we said a temporary farewell to Istanbul.  We will be back in a couple of weeks when we finish our tour.  The fun part of this tour is that we take public transit as much as possible.  So in many ways, this is the trip that I would have done had I had time before I left to figure out all the logistics and details of navigating the Turkish bus system.  Since I didn’t have that time, we ended up taking a tour to simplify things.

So our departure yesterday morning was to catch the ferry from Istanbul across the Sea of Marmara to Bursa.  The ferry was a fast jet boat so it only took a few hours.  We spent the remainder of the day wandering around Bursa enjoying some of the attractions.

We stopped by the Ulu Cami mosque which is noted for its 20 domes and the fountain in the middle of the prayer area inside.  It seems that stopping at every mosque is a requirement – kind of like visiting the church in every town in Europe.  Unfortunately they all pretty much look the same and they all blur together after a while.

Ulu Cami mosque

Ulu Cami mosque – fountain inside

Ulu Cami mosque – prayer niche indicating the direction to Mecca

We stopped by a small shop and saw a demonstration of a shadow puppet play.  These are very famous in this region and there are traditional stories told with the puppets and characters.  It was a lot of fun to watch.

Shadow puppet play

We then wandered up the hill past the old walls to get a view over the city.

Old gate

View of the mountains that surround the city

Ulu Cami mosque from the hill

As Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Turkey in the thirteenth century it has many examples of buildings in the Ottoman style.

In the late afternoon we went to a cafe to hear some music.  The songs they played must have been well known as the crowd that gathered to listen all knew the words and were singing along.

Here is a short video: MVI_1179

Afterwards we headed out into the residential area of the city where we joined the local community at a Dervish lodge.  These community centers were originally outlawed when Turkey was formed as a modern country in the 1920s as they were seen as neuclei of decent against the government.  They are now open again and starting to flourish.  In this case the lodge aims to educate people about Islam and the teachings of Mevlana who was a mystic in the thirteenth century from southern Turkey.  One of the practices he promoted was whirling as a was of getting closer to Allah.    Because this was a true Dervish ceremony we had to sit through the 1.5 hour Turkish sermon that preceded the actual whirling ceremony.  They were kind enough to let us wait in a guest room though and even provided tea (lots and lots of tea!).  When it was time for the Dervishes to do the whirling we were ushered into the main lodge to watch along with the rest of the community.  Women were supposed to be upstairs and men downstairs (per good Muslim practice) but it was too crowded so we hunkered down on the floor where we could.  It was incredible to watch them twirling around and around.  Some were obviously in trances as their eyes were rolling back in their heads.  Moving meditation and prayer.  Unfortunately our guide couldn’t explain why there was one in purple in the centre.

Dervish lodge

Whirling Dervishes

Dervishes accompanied by a small orchestra and male singers chanting texts from the Quran

Whirling dervishes

I think the whirling dervishes has been the highlight so far on this tour for me.  It was incredible to watch.

Today, day 3, we spent the entire day on a bus from Bursa going to the southern town of Selcuk.  It took about 7 hours in total to get here.  The bus did stop along the way so we could stretch our legs but it was a very long day of doing nothing.  We didn’t have time to see anything when we arrived here today.  We will go see Ephesus tomorrow morning which will be very interesting.