Troy: From Moscow via Troy to Sirince

May6

I had seen real Trojan gold in Moscow, Trojan ruins in, well, Troy, and now I was going to see the jeweler who made a lot of the jewelry in the movie “Troy” when I visited a little town called Sirince.

After my visit to Troy, I took a bus to Izmir (formerly called Smyrna for those fig lovers among you). I spent the night there, not being able to face the extra hour it would take to get to the town of Selcuk, my base for visiting Ephesus, after my night bus to Troy. In the morning I hopped on a dolmus (mini-bus, thus far much easier than in Russia because I’ve taken them for inter-city rides) and was off to Selcuk.

I decided to take a tour to Ephesus the following day as I’d heard that the site signage wasn’t great, so I had the afternoon to spend in Selcuk. I first set out to see the remains of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World but now only one lonely column and some tumbled marble blocks in a pool of water amid crowds of tourists and a few oh-so-persistent souvenir sellers.

I then decided to take a dolmus up to the Greek town of Sirince, perched on the hills less than ten kilometers from Selcuk. Just the ride up there was amazing, over a steep road climbing through olive trees and some vineyards. It reminded me a lot of Tuscany. And in fact Sirince is known for its fruit wine, one of which I sampled with lunch. (Quince wine, cool and sweet.)

I enjoyed clambering around the rather steep streets. I had a couple of interesting encounters, too. One older lady sitting on her stoop asked me if I were looking for the Orthodox Church, told me it was under renovation and the gate was closed, but that I could cut through her garden to see it. She also asked me if I were married and had any children. I cut through her garden and enjoyed a lovely view, but I’m honestly not sure whether the church was actually a site or just another church. Does it really matter? I had a memorable time, anyway.

After lunch I passed a jewelry store which had a quote from Lonely Planet about the fact that this store supplied a lot of the jewelry for “Troy”. I wanted to look in the window but of course ran into someone who worked at the store, one of the nephews of the master jeweler. And so we chatted, I had tea, tried on some jewelry that was extremely tempting. He did a great job – I was very close to buying something, but managed to walk away unscathed. I’d rather spend the money on a balloon ride in Capadocia.

Some pictures from Sirince:

Topless Towers of Ilium

May6

As I had a lot of time to kill between arriving in Canakkale and the tour setting off, I took a walk by the water to the horse used in the movie Troy:

And before you ask, no, I’ve actually never seen the movie. But I grew up on retellings of the Greek myths and then later the actual classics themselves, so I was super excited to see Troy, despite the lack of sleep and the fact that everyone told me there’s nothing to see there.

Well, I went, and there is definitely something to see! I had been envisioning a few holes in the grassy plains (like the archeological site at Nara) but I got to see part of the walls from Troy VI, the incarnation of the city that is likely that of the Iliad. All it took was a bit of imagination to see Hector standing at the top of the wall looking down at the mighty Greek army laying siege to his city.

The version of the horse up at the site:

The East (?) gate of Troy VI along with some Roman period city walls:

More of the site covered in poppies – and what was once the sea:

Me in front of what may have been the main gate to Priam’s city:

I Think I’m Finally (Almost) A Real Backpacker

May4

So after my six hour overnight bus trip to Canakkale (my base to visit Troy), I have checked off a couple of items that I had this far successfully avoided: using a squat toilet, and smelling like a backpacker. Let’s start where I left off: in my lovely Istanbul guesthouse, after a long day in the sun, about to take public transit to the Istanbul bus station.

It’s a bit of a walk between the tram stop and the metro line that goes to the otogar (bus station). I asked for directions a few times but made it just fine. I’m not a fan of going places I don’t know with my backpack after dark since I stick out like a sore thumb, but there were plenty of people around.

And oh yes, the toilet. Well, I had avoided them in both Japan and Korea, but they were the only option in Istanbul and beggars can’t be choosers. Honestly, it wasn’t a big deal at all. However, the fact that it’s this far into my trip is a pretty big achievement.

I was really early for my midnight bus. A bus pulled in around eleven, which seemed very early but I wasn’t going to quibble. The destination listed was Canakkale and it was in the spot listed on the ticket. It was only when a lady had a ticket for the same seat as I did that the conductor realized I was one bus too early! My bag was already loaded, so he took me to the ticket counter and helped me swap out my ticket to one on that bus. My new seat mate was an older lady who kept insisting I eat some of the crackers she had brought. Whenever I stopped munching for a few minutes, she would pay my hand and point at the packet, making a satisfied noise when I took some more.

I managed to doze on the trip, waking for a few minutes on the ferry crossing the Dardanelles (anticlimactic on a bus at 4am). What I had realized only after I changed my ticket was that my new arrival time would be before dawn, around 5 in the morning. Luckily, I was able to sit in the lobby of the Anzac hostel there until the tour office opened for my tour to Troy.

Last Day in Istanbul…for Awhile

May4

My kind host at the guesthouse (to which I had moved the day before) heard that I had nebulous plans for the day of finding a phrase book and guidebook and then playing it by ear. First he gave me some books from his book exchange even though I don’t have books to leave – I’m all set for Lonely Planet guidebooks now, which is a relief to my wallet! (English language books abroad are always so expensive – as long as “abroad” is not England or some such country, of course!) Then he suggested an itinerary for the day which consisted of the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent, the Egyptian (or Spice) Bazaar, and a not-so-touristy small mosque called Rustem Pasha Mosque known for its Iznik tiles (similar to those in the Blue Mosque). Huzzah for more tiles and fewer tourists! (Come to think of it, that should be a blog post title.) He even recommended a good cheap eatery, a relief after the prices in Sultanahmet.

I started by going into an English language bookstore on Divan Yolu (the heart of the tourist area) to pick up a phrase book. Everyone seems to speak English in touristy Istanbul, but I wasn’t sure this would be the case throughout the rest of the country, even though I’m going to pretty big tourist destinations. I felt a desperate lack of a phrase book in Russia and was not about to repeat the mistake. (As I write this almost a week later, I most regret not getting a dictionary as well – but really most people so far have spoken great or at least adequate English.)

I then wandered down towards the Spice Bazaar. I had a long day to kill as I had gotten my overnight bus tickets to Canakkale for a midnight bus. I enjoyed my brief walk-through, but stayed resolute: no shopping in Istanbul until my return, so I don’t have to carry this stuff everywhere. (I did leave a small bag at the hotel, but didn’t want it make it bigger…or blow my entire budget with a couple of weeks of travel left.)

I had a vague idea of where the mosque was so decided to go in the general direction. Getting a little lost lets you see beneath some of the layers of a city at times. I walked uphill towards the mosque through a street of toy shops; it seems that the areas around the bazaars are themed as if in continuation of the bazaar. Eventually I met up again with the flow of tourists and wended my way to the summit.

Of course it was a scorcher of a day, and I had arrived right around one of the prayer times, but I found a shady part of the courtyard and waited. The architecture is splendid, the interior much simpler than Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque.

Start of Divan Yolu: mile marker to cities in the Roman Empire:

Suleymaniye Mosque:

View of Tombstones:

Courtyard:

View of the Golden Horn (or Bosphorus – it’s easy to confuse them and the Sea of Marmara):

Roof view:

The mosque on leaving:

I decided to head downhill towards the University of Istanbul upon leaving the mosque. But first, ice cream! It was a perfect day for ice cream, like a summer day out of childhood with a strong sun, and it was definitely time to rehydrate, too. I stopped at a little store that had prices posted (easier to figure out what to pay since I haven’t learned much Turkish yet) and bought one of those wrapped vanilla and chocolate cones that remind me of my childhood family outings to French or Swiss parks. For some reason, the man behind the counter then gave me a second cone as a gift! I’ve not got the foggiest clue why, but this kind gesture made me smile (and gave me lunch).

Enjoying my ice cream, I passed by the large gates to the University and with sticky fingers entered the booksellers market. (All looking, no touching. I know better than to smear chocolate on a book.)

This route, while enjoyable and extra ice cream filled, brought me out of the way from where I wanted to go, so I more or less completed a circle to get to the next mosque. Boy was it worth it! A little away from the beaten track, it actually feels like a house of worship, and it has breathtaking tiles. (I know I keep using adjectives like breathtaking and gorgeous, but I think they are deserved at all these sites.)

I then headed back for a rest on the terrace of the guesthouse, before returning to the Spice Bazaar area for dinner at the decent self-service place that had been recommended. I finished dinner with some Turkish coffee. Tasty, but most of the grounds settled to the bottom despite my swirling. I’ll have to try again!

Heading back to the hotel with some time left to kill, I stopped back at the bookstore to buy Orhan Pamuk’s memoir about growing up in Istanbul. I headed over to the Hippodrome to read quietly for a bit. However, I ran into a big group of motorcycle cops doing exercises of some sort – maybe a graduating class? I watched them for a bit, read my book, then got ready for my night bus adventure.

In the Harem

May4

No, get your mind out of the gutter, it’s not like you’re imagining at all! (Although I was wondering how my number of site visitors would go up if I tagged this with the word harem!)

Sunday was all about Topkapi Palace:

It was the palace of the sultans (and yes, their wives,mothers, and other women lived in the harem) for 400 years, from the 15th to 19th centuries. As the needs of the sultan changed, a new and different part was added to the palace. This makes the palace enormous, and I spent over four hours there.

First comes the first courtyard:

And after that I have to admit that I can’t remember specifically where many of these photos came from (harem vs the other public areas). It really is just that big and a little overwhelming, but yet another beautiful and historic site. There is an amazing view of the Bosphorus and, at the innermost part of the palace, a tulip garden.

Can you tell how much I love the ceramics here?

And though I can’t show you pictures as photography was forbidden, I did go into the exhibits at the palace as well. These included a sacred artifacts exhibit (with a cast of Mohammed’s footprint and a staff purporting to be Moses’s), a room of various sultans’ gorgeous caftans, arms and armor that I think my archer friends would love to see (such lovely inlaid bows!), and rooms containing the treasury items like huge diamonds and gold thrones.

Exploring Istanbul

May3

After a delicious breakfast on the rooftop terrace of my hotel (spent gazing at the Blue Mosque, with Hagia Sophia and the Sea of Marmara behind me), my new Canadian friend from the previous night and I headed over to Hagia Sophia.

Now I must confess that I had spent the entire previous evening mixing up Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, as the Blue Mosque is so impressive! However, Hagia Sophia is also very impressive, especially as it’s so much older!

Hagia Sophia started its life as a church in the sixth century AD, and became a mosque 900 years later. Its dome was the biggest until the Renaissance Duomo of Florence. And it’s very impressive:

The interior (now a museum) is filled with a mix of decorations from the 6th century to much later when it became a mosque. Among them are some incredible mosaics, several in gold:

My plan for the afternoon was to go to the Blue Mosque, but as I arrived at Sultanahmet Square (between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque), I heard the call to prayer. I decided to sit on a bench in the square and wait, which was a great decision as it turned out. There are three mosques around the square, and I sat in a wall of sound as the three muezzin tried to outcompete each other. It was an incredible experience! I’m pretty sure at one point one of them turned up his loudspeaker.

Once prayers were over, I had a chance to enter the gorgeous Blue Mosque, so called because of the glorious tiles on the inside. I thought it lovely, but a pity that there were so many tourists (and yes I do recognize the irony there). Whenever I enter a house of worship, I try to find a quiet corner to meditate or pray, and it just didn’t seem possible there.

But do feel free to drool over the glorious tiles!

I had bought a three day museum pass so decided to get out of the sun by going to the Archeological Museum. One of the most spectacular items they have is the Alexander sarcophagus, which depicts, but did not enclose, Alexander the Great. The artistry is amazing and some traces of the paint still remain. They also have a chain that was used to close off the Bosphorus (picture at the bottom of the post).

As part of that museum complex, there is a little tile museum that is both a beautiful building and a lovely collection:

Below: some flowers in the way out of the museum

My busy day wasn’t over yet – I met up with my new Canadian friend and had dinner with her and her friends (who had arrived) across the Golden Horn near Taksim Square. We walked most of it, so I got to see Galata Bridge close to sunset.

Istanbul, Here I Come!

May2

This picture says it all, doesn’t it? Mystery, beauty, ancient civilizations…a meeting of Europe and Asia. (Continental crossings seem to be the theme of this trip.) Oh yes, and don’t forget the hordes of tourists. You may notice a lot of my pictures are angled up at the blue, blue sky. There’s a reason for this beyond aesthetics!

I flew Turkish Airlines from Berlin and was amazed to find that they serve real, even tasty, food. After my koftes and a decent Turkish red, I got to watch about half of The Hobbit (a slightly long choice of movie for a short flight, I know).

I had decided to splurge and go for a hotel-arranged pick-up at the airport, as I had heard that taxis in Istanbul can be a challenge. (I can definitely tell that I’ve been traveling for a while and am ready to take it easy.)

Now, I am trying to be very unstructured during my time in Turkey and not plan everything ahead. After planning for Russia, I didn’t have the time or energy to plan so far out. Unfortunately, this meant some frantic hotel searching in Riga to be able to get a centrally located, clean, relatively affordable hotel the first weekend in Istanbul. I ended up booking one night at the Terrace Guesthouse since it was recommended by Turkeytravelplanner.com and having them book me into a sister hotel two doors down for my first two nights.

So back to the airport transfer. I had to walk by that embarrassing long wall of people holding up placards twice and I still didn’t see my name. I moved to the side to figure out my next step when I was approached by someone who offered to call the hotel for me. I later found out he worked legitimately for the airport, but I didn’t know that at the time so I refused his offer and walked past that board one more time. At last! I found my name, and that same gentleman I had earlier brushed off (in all fairness, when someone approaches me with “didn’t I see you here an hour ago”, I feel they deserve a brush off) went to call my car. The driver dropped me at Terrace Guesthouse (easier than explaining the whole I’m staying two doors down thing to someone who didn’t speak much English), and I was made to feel right at home by the owner. We chatted for a bit and then he took my bag and walked me to the hotel I was staying at my first two nights.

Apparently this hotel switching is pretty common, as the woman in front of me checking in struck up a conversation about it. Apparently she needed to book an extra night because her travel companion had hit travel delays. Their bad luck was my good luck though – since she was solo, we decided to hang out and walk around Istanbul for a bit.

We had fun, trying to get to Galata Bridge but going left instead of right down Divan Yolu. But losing oneself is a great way to explore a city.

Above: Me in front of the Blue Mosque

Below: A pretty mosque on Divan Yolu

Blue Mosque illuni

More Fun in Berlin

May1

My second morning in Berlin, I returned to the Holocaust Memorial to see the Information Center (museum) located underneath. It’s very well done, definitely not appropriate for young children, and had me sobbing by the room where they exhibited diary entries and letters from people who died in the Holocaust, including children. I had to go through the rest of the museum fairly quickly after that.

I returned to my new friend’s apartment to pack up and meet my friend from graduate school. Transit went smoothly, I got to meet her baby, and we ate delicious doner in a park for lunch. We then had a lovely relaxed afternoon walk in the park, and I headed out to a play. It was a play written and performed by Greek-Germans/German-Greeks called Telemachus: Should I Stay or Should I Go? and discussed the thoughts of one young Greek German who had moved back to Greece but couldn’t find a job and was debating a return to Germany. Several different actors told their stories about coming to Germany, and there were clips of people on the street giving their opinions on what the protagonist should do. Overall quite good, though it dragged a little bit in parts and the supratitles in English sometimes left out entire chunks of dialog. And just the experience of attending an experimental theater in Berlin was worthwhile!

The next day was all about seeing the remains of the Wall. First came the museum at Checkpoint Charlie. (The checkpoint is so called because it was the third checkpoint – Charlie is for C – beyond which you left the American zone for East Berlin.) The museum is great, detailing the history leading up to the Wall and then giving information about the various escape attempts (including one family who made a homemade hot air balloon to successfully escape and a man who made a mini submarine that he used as a motor to propel himself and that got him a job offer once he escaped!)

Then in the afternoon, we went to Bernauerstrasse to walk the Berlin Wall History Mile. While the Wall is no longer there except for a small section at the start (or, for us, end) of the mile, there are colored bricks showing where it was, plaques detailing escape attempts, successes, and deaths, and a lot of interesting info posts. Most interesting to me was seeing the small section of Wall that was set up to include the inner and outer wall along with a guard tower in the death strip. I found it helpful to visualize what it was like.

History continued the next day. In the morning, I took a Berlin Underworld tour to see the one remaining bunker from WWII. It was fascinating, and the guide was passionate and knowledgeable about her work. There was one room painted with phosphorescent paint which in the war apparently stayed bright enough to read a newspaper by for several hours when the power went out. We also heard about how the air would slowly run out in a shelter crowded with three times the number of people who were slated to be there. The moms would use candles at three different levels to see when the flame would go out, at which point they would move the kids from the floor to their laps, then to their shoulders.

A single person sized bunker (not the one we went in):

We decided to take advantage of the great weather and spend the afternoon outside at the East Side Gallery, a stretch of Wall covered in paintings. First, though, we had some great schnitzel (a difficult feat requiring the ability to make the breading crisp and the meat tender, and not the other way around).

Walking along the Gallery:

We then headed to an Ampelmann store, a store selling things like magnets in the shape of the Berlin stop and go pedestrian cross sign men. Trust me, these little walk signals are special! I definitely needed magnets for my collection.

A few more Berlin sights on my last night (second picture is the Dom, apologies German friends if this is misspelled).

trails untrod

Satisfying wanderlust one day at a time

Monthly Archives: May 2013

Troy: From Moscow via Troy to Sirince

Topless Towers of Ilium

I Think I’m Finally (Almost) A Real Backpacker

Last Day in Istanbul…for Awhile

In the Harem

Exploring Istanbul

Istanbul, Here I Come!

More Fun in Berlin