Cappadocia, Land of Beautiful Horses

We concluded our trip with a short but spectacular 3-day jaunt through the region of Cappadocia -- an area with an highly unusual natural landscape!



The wheels on the bus go round and round...
One of the best ways to travel through Turkey (if you choose not to fly) is by bus. In contrast to countries like Austria, it is actually more direct, faster and cheaper to travel by bus than by train in Turkey. Consequently, there is a thriving business for bus companies who provide transportation throughout the country. It's about 11 hours from Istanbul to Cappadocia on the night bus, which makes for a long and uncomfortable night if you have any difficulty sleeping on buses, but every few hours the bus stops for a bathroom and leg-stretching (or smoking, if that's your thing) break. To make your journey more pleasant, there is a steward who comes around (only once) to offer you drinks and Turkish soap operas (which are strangely compelling, even if you don't understand what they're saying!) playing on the TVs mounted to the ceiling. It's actually quite a nice way to travel, as the buses are new and modern and because you can reason with yourself that the mild discomfort of an 11-hour bus ride is worth the money you're saving on accommodation for the night. Oh, and I should also mention that when you book your ticket on the bus, they make sure that you are booked next to someone of the same gender -- there is no mixing of men and women as seatmates on the nightbus. (N.b.: Naturally, the booking agents do this to the best of their ability. On the night bus back from Cappadocia to Istanbul I was sitting next to an American woman who, on her night bus into Cappadocia, had been seated next to a guy. However, it's a small world for tourists, and this guy she was seated next to was a tourist I'd met in Cappadocia as well...unfortunately for the booking agent, his name was of Indian origin and ended in an "a," thus the assumption on paper that he was female.)

"What's the deal with [Cappadocia]?"

The biggest draw for visiting Cappadocia is the landscape. That, mixed with a dash of ancient and modern history, makes for quite an interesting destination.

The Lay of the Land

Cappadocia generally refers to the Nevşehir Province in central Turkey, though officially it is simply an area with no official boundaries. Generally understood to be a triangle formed by the towns of Avanos in the north, Nevşehir in the west and Ürgüp in the east, Cappadocia means "Land of Beautiful Horses" in either the ancient Hittite or the ancient Persian language, depending on your source. Settled first by Neolithic cultures and later by the Hittites, Persians, Greeks and Romans, and finally the Ottomans, Cappadocia has a rich blend of cultural history.

The defining feature of Cappadocia is its landscape. The entire area (roughly 250 miles wide and 120 miles top to bottom) is littered with unique rock formations, caves and gorges and is ringed by the ancient volcanoes that shaped the area. The most famous of these natural rock formations is the signature Cappadocian fairy chimney, a somewhat phallic column with a large round bit of rock balancing on top.

Formed over eons of time and erosion, the basic geological breakdown of these UNESCO World Heritage Site formations looks something like this:
First, way back in the day, the volcanoes ruled the land. They sent out a bottom layer of hard lava, which forms the geological base for these formations.
But as the saying goes, what goes up, must come down. So then, after the volcanoes erupted and the lava flowed, the volcanic ash, called tuff, rained down on the base layer of lava, forming a thick second layer of rock.
Finally, a tougher upper layer of basalt settled on the mix, providing the perfect geological conditions for some freaky erosion.
Over time, cracks and fissures developed in the upper layer of basalt. This allowed the rain, wind, and other elements to get to the softer layer of tuff underneath and do their dirty work. The basalt on top formed a protective shield for the softer tuff directly beneath it, but the rest of the tuff -- not directly protected by an upper layer of basalt -- was eroded away over time and exposure to the elements, leaving a rock formation topped by the tough basalt cap supported by a conical tuff column standing firm on a bed of lava. And this is the fairy chimney as we know it today.

Fairy chimneys

Because many of the rocks and cliffs in the area are also made of this not-so-tough tuff, the early Christians were able to carve out hundreds of cave churches and shelters where they escaped persecution. Even several multi-level underground cities were carved out, providing protection and shelter until Christianity became a recognized and accepted religion. Although the underground cities are now just empty shells, you can see what remains of the original frescoes in many of the cave churches.

Living Like the Locals

Traditionally, many residents of Cappadocian regions also lived in hollowed-out cave houses -- some on cliff faces, some at the base of fairy chimneys, and some into the sides of the mountains. Although a few people still live in such houses today, most residents live in what we consider "normal" houses. However, the thrill of living in a cave is still alive and well for the tourists who come and visit, and the hotels and hostels in the area -- especially in the village of Göreme where we stayed -- seem to be almost exclusively cave rooms. As one might expect, our cave room in the hostel was a bit chilly and damp, but well worth the experience.

A typical Cappadocian cave home

How to See Cappadocia in a Mere 3 Days

Because we were pressed for time, we only had three days to see this rather large region. Wanting to optimize what little time we had, we decided to explore the town of Göreme where we were staying on the first day, and then take two all-day tours (a North Tour and a South Tour) advertised at the hostel on the following two days. It was clear by the end of the first day that we easily could have stayed much, much longer in Cappadocia, so we really milked the time we had for all it was worth. I'm convinced we got the most out of our mere 3 days as was possible for two car-less, hapless tourists.

The Göreme Open Air Museum

The Göreme Open Air Museum is a classic but fitting first stop in Cappadocia. Located only a short walk or shuttle ride from the center of town, the museum is an outdoor complex of rock-cut churches and monastic spaces dating from the 10th to 12th centuries. You'll have to pay an entrance fee of about 15 lira to get in, but once you're inside you have access to a bunch of classic Cappadocian rock churches that are conveniently all in one place. The frescoes here are in remarkable shape, and the art history dork inside me really dug the fact that you can see both iconic and iconoclastic frescoes side-by-side. (I later found out that this is typical of many Cappadocian cave churches and monastic complexes, not just the ones in Göreme.)

Frescoes in the Göreme Open Air Museum

Even for an art historian (yeah, yeah, I use this term loosely), all of the churches and frescoes began to look the same after a while. However, the vantage point from the Open Air Museum provided an excellent view of the countryside, and after we left, we decided to walk through the rock formations and explore some trails before heading back into town.

Göreme Open Air Museum

Hiking and Biking Through Cappadocia

There are any number of hiking trails and biking routes through Cappadocia. If we'd had more time in the region, I would have wanted to go out exploring. As it was, we spent the morning of our second day exploring the nearby paths, romping through the hills, and exploring the rock formations and rock caves we encountered. It was like a giant playground for adults, and I could have easily spent all day out there without getting bored.

One of the many paths to explore around Göreme

Üçhisar Castle

Üçhisar Castle is a fortress carved into the highest peak in Cappadocia. People actually lived in the castle until the 1950s, when erosion became so bad that it was dangerous for people to remain. Today it reminds the modern visitor of a human ant farm carved into the face of the cliff.

The atypical castle at Üçhisar

Onyx Production

Cappadocia is also a rich source of onyx, which I learned is not just the rich black stone seen in jewelry today. Onyx is actually a type of quartz that ranges in color from white to black, and in Cappadocia it has been quaried, carved and polished for centuries. We went to an artisan center and watched a demonstration -- shamelessly aimed at getting tourists to the gift shop, but packed with interesting information nonetheless -- where they showed us the entire process of cutting, shaping and polishing the stone. Starting with a rough chunk of onyx, the demonstrator shaped it into the form of an egg on a pedestal before finally polishing the egg shape of a translucent shine. At the end of the demonstration, they asked if anyone knew the meaning of the word "Cappadocia"...and that person who answered just happened to get the onyx egg as a prize.

Lookey here! I guess she won the onyx egg!

Fairy Chimneys in Ürgüp, Paşabag / Monks Valley, Imagination Valley, and Pigeon Valley

Really, the names say it all. In Cappadocia there are any number of spectacular valleys with rock formations and hiking trails, each one slightly more psychadelic than the rest. Since fairy chimneys can range in size and shape, no two valleys really look the same. Many have described the landscape as something like a moonscape or an alien planet. In this case, I'll just let some of the pictures speak for themselves.

Fairy chimneys in Monks Valley. Some of these are remarkable because they have multiple basalt heads.

Pottery in Avanos

At the north end of Cappadocia lies the sleepy town of Avanos. There's really not much going for it, except for the fact that, well, they've been producing pottery for thousands and thousands of years. In fact, it was the Hittites who first started collecting silt from the nearby Red River to produce their signature red clay, and the same type of pottery is still being produced in Avanos today.

The Red River, aptly named for its red silt, is the longest river in Turkey. For millenia now, the local Avanos potters have gone down to the river to collect the red silt and then let it ferment for two weeks into a workable clay. This soft red clay is then thrown on a kick wheel the same way it was when the Hittites were around.

At the pottery center, we watched a young man of no more than 20 years old give a demonstration on pottery throwing, starting with a raw chunk of clay and ending with a beautifully thrown vessel. Our tour guide narrated the whole process in detail, and when the young potter was finished and removed the pot from the wheel, the guide said, "Now that you've seen how easy that was, who'd like to give this a try?" As soon as he posed the question, I knew that I really, really wanted to try throwing a pot. I've never used a pottery wheel in my life, but the idea of making my own vessel in the same way as the Hittites was irresistable. However, I'd already won the onyx egg, so I didn't want to appear overeager and steal somebody else's chance to participate.
To my surprise, the room stayed silent. No one said a thing. And after I looked around the room to see how other people were reacting, my eyes fell on the guide and we made eye contact. "You want to try?" he asked.
"Who? Me?" I asked, looking around at the people seated next to me.
But he clearly meant me, so I went up to the front (quite happy on the inside) and donned some giant puffy pants and footies caked with dried clay.
Taking a seat behind the wheel, I started to kick it rather awkwardly, but I just couldn't work up enough speed. So the potter came up beside me and kicked the wheel as I placed my hands on the clay, not having a clue what what supposed to happen. It quickly became clear that I didn't even know where to start, so he showed me how to dig my thumbs into the clay and bring up the sides to form a bowl. It was so much harder than he made it look, and I noticed that every little movement threw off the shape of my bowl, making it hopelessly asymmetrical. In the end, my wonky bowl looked nothing like the potter's, but I was proud of my very minor accomplishment. But what a unique experience it was to throw traditional pottery in Avanos!

A comparison of my attempt, on the left, and the potter's vessel, on the right.

Cavuşin Old Village

A quick stop, but interesting nonetheless, is the Cavuşin Old Village, a town carved entirely out of a cliff face. It's the kind of thing you expect to see in an Indiana Jones movie.

Once this was a thriving village.

Derinkuyu Underground City

An underground city is also something you'd expect to see out of an Indiana Jones movie, right? Derinkuyu is the largest of Cappadocia's underground cities, weighing in at an impressive 10 levels and diving as deep as 85 meters below the surface. The preliminary passages and levels were built by ancient peoples, but the city didn't become the underground metropolis that it is known as today until the early Christians expanded it to escape Roman persecution. (Are we noticing a trend here? The early Christians did not have it good in this area!) Equipped with chapels, kitchens, tombs, ventilation shafts, and even stables, the city could accomodate thousands of people at its peak. However, all of this was not accessible from the outside -- the original entrances were not from tunnels to the surface but rather from private houses on the land above. Such underground cities were not permanently inhabited, but rather only in emergency situations; the entrances could be sealed by large stones, and the extensive storerooms below could hold enough food for both people and livestock. Today, only 10% of Derinkuyu is open to the public, and not even all of it has been excavated. There are several other similar cities in the region, but Derinkuyu remains the largest and most popular for tourists.

A short, narrow passageway in the Derinkuyu underground city.

Ilhara Valley

For a nominal fee, visitors can also enter the Ilhara Valley and take a walk through the 10-mile long gorge carved into the volcanic rock by the river. Along the valley are more stone churches, walking trails, and now small restaurants for visitors who need a little pick-me-up after a long day of sightseeing. The nearby Mount Erciyes is probably responsible for much of that volcanic rock, but it hasn't erupted for over 2000 years.

The Ilhara Valley gorge

A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Finally, who can leave Cappadocia without a salute to George Lucas' very own planet of Tatooine? Yep, that's right -- filmed right here against the curious backdrop of the Cappadocian rock formations, this is the home to our dear friends, the Sand People.

Look familiar? This is the home of the Sand People.

More Turkish Potpourri and Food Basics

Turkish Potpourri -- Double Jeopardy Round

There are just a few more miscellaneous things worth mentioning about Turkey. Let's start with a classic:

Haggling

As previously mentioned in the Do's and Don'ts of traveling in Turkey, you should never pay full price for anything in the bazaars...and even in many shops, the price is often negotiable. For someone such as myself coming from a fixed-price culture, this can be a very uncomfortable experience.

Negotiating a price -- or haggling -- requires one to be direct, assertive and persistent...or, in other words, something that we're taught from a young age in Anglo-American culture is impolite. This direct confrontation can often feel like a test of wills, a verbal showdown between you and the seller. For someone unaccustomed to such practices, it really takes some willpower to suppress these feelings and get down and dirty in the negotiations. Unfortnately, as a tourist, you have a few natural disadvantages: you don't speak the language, you probably have more money to burn than the locals, and you're probably uncomfortable with the situation from the get-go. And the seller is going to capitalize on this and on that nagging feeling in the back of your head saying, "Just accept the price and be done with it. It's still cheaper than you'd get it back home, anyway."

But the skilled haggler knows that to successfully parry the asking price, you need a subtle blend of stubborness and meekness. You have to let the seller think that he has the upper hand while working him over to get him down to the price you predetermined for yourself before even starting with the negociations. I say all of this not as an experienced haggler, but as one who has watched a master at work. My travel buddy drew on her experience with price negotiation in Chinese culture to really pull off some gutsy yet successful transactions. Eventually I stopped trying to haggle myself and just sent her to do my dirty work for me!

My first attempt at negociating price was in the Grand Bazaar. I found a pair of silver earrings for 43 YTL (about $28), and as soon as I expressed interest the shop owner told me that -- since he could tell I was a serious customer -- he'd let me have them for 30 YTL (about $19). Unfortunately, having worked in a jewelry store for 5 years, I know the real price of silver. I realize that I can no longer buy jewelry for slightly above cost, but I still have a hard time coming to terms with retail prices. This first shop owner was unwilling to go lower in price, so I moved on. Eventually I found the same pair of earrings at another stand for the asking price of 30 YTL. I decided I wouldn't pay more than 17 YTL (about $11) and set to work. I used all my best haggling skills, starting low and letting the shop assistant give me the runaround about him being only a poor student himself who needs to eat, an argument I easily returned (being young and looking younger has its advantages in these situations). When we finally got to my ultimatum of 17 YTL or nothing, he agreed to ask his boss if he could lower the price. Of course his boss said no, so I said I'd walk. They then offered me the earrings for 18 YTL, which I politely turned down, saying it was simply too much and I couldn't go above 17 YTL. In the end I got my earrings for the 17 YTL, still more than they were worth, but a respectable enough price for an English-speaking tourist.

But the best negociation by far happened in Cappadocia in the town of Göreme. The friend I was traveling with set out to buy herself enough jewelry to last her for the next several years, and as we went from shop to shop, she managed to buy 14 different pieces of jewelry between 3 different shops for an impressive total of 112 YTL (about $71). Finally, we stopped in an antique store to look around.

The shop assistant was a very friendly young woman who immediately greeted us when we came in the door and made some pleasant chit chat. Then I noticed a copy of The Old Man and the Sea out on the counter, and I asked her if she was reading that book. It turns out she was teaching herself English through this book and a dictionary, and for the next 45 minutes we chatted about books and jewelry and everything else as we browsed and sipped the apple tea she offered us. After my friend decided on 4 more pieces of jewelry and negotiated another great price, I found a pendant that I really liked. The more I considered the pendant, the longer my friend had to continue looking around the shop; so by the time I'd decided to get it, she'd already found 2 more pieces she wanted and had begun haggling again. This time around, however, we were both having difficulty getting the price down. As the girl translated our offers to her father, the owner of the shop, he started to raise his original price instead of lower it! Seeing that we were going nowhere, I counter-offered as a last resort, "Ok, how about this: my friend gets those rings for 32 YTL and I get this pendant and the chain for 15 YTL, and how about I also send you a book in English?" My friend and I watched the shop assistant's short and rapid discussion with her father in suspenseful anticipation. After a few moments, he nodded. The transaction was approved -- and this time, a negotiation and a barter!

After we'd paid up and gotten a mailing address, the father invited us to another cup of tea. We stayed in the shop a little longer, just hanging out with the two of them and chatting. After this negotiation, the father gradually warmed up to us, and after serving us tea, he disappeared into the back of the shop. As his daughter translated, she explained to us that he had a very valuable gold and ruby ring that had belonged to his father, which was too valuable to keep out for everyone to see. He brought out the ring just to show us his family treasure, so that we could admire it; this was no sales pitch -- rather, it was an honor to be welcomed and invited in. We left the shop over an hour after we arrived, exchanging email addresses with the girl and having made yet another Turkish friend. Although all of this blossomed out of a business transaction, this was another one of those genuine experiences of small town Turkish hospitality.

Haggling for scarves

The Evil Eye

I was surprised to learn that the belief in the Evil Eye is not a mere superstition in Turkey, but a belief that is alive and thriving. Since I always saw the charm against the Evil Eye in the context of souvenir vendors and shops aimed at tourists, I'd simply assumed that it was one of the cultural cliches meant to boost sales of something "typically Turkish," much like a beer stein from Munich or a boomerang from Australia.

However, I had more than one Turkish person tell me how important these charms against the Evil Eye actually are. (And perhaps I should also clarify that none of these people were selling Evil Eye charms!) A man in Cappadocia explained to me that this belief of the power of the Evil Eye has been deeply engrained in Turkish culture for the past 1000 years. Many people, he told me, wear 2-3 small Evil Eye charms hidden away in their pockets or sewn into their clothes in order to protect themselves from the malintentioned thoughts and words of others. He'd had at least one on him at all times since childhood and pulled one out of his blazer pocket to show me. His charm was only about an inch in diameter, and as I fingered it and examined the blue glass, he told me that when you discover a broken charm, that's when you know that someone has wished you harm. You should then get a new one to continue protecting yourself against the ill will of others. His testimonial was sincere, as he had already discovered several broken charms in his lifetime.

A charm set into the sidewalk to protect against the Evil Eye

On the Road:

It's interesting to compare how people drive in different countries. Still, the most harrowing experiences in a vehicle I've had were in Romania, where I'm convinced any driver could be a stunt driver.

I didn't do any driving myself in Turkey, but I was the passenger a few times. My ride from the airport to the hostel was a bit frightening, with the driver exceeding double the speed limit within the city limits. All I could do was clasp my hands in my lap and pray I made it to the hostel in one piece.

Country driving proved far different. In Cappadocia, the drivers didn't seem to be drunk with speed, but this is where the concept of lanes got a bit fuzzy. Lanes, or staying in one's lane, were a mere formality in the countryside unless oncoming traffic was an immediate likelihood. Some of the country roads were in such bad condition, however, that it would have been impossible to stay in the lane even if you wanted to. When I could tear my eyes away from the road -- because somehow as a passenger I still think I have more control if I keep my own eyes on the road -- I saw clips of life as though seen through a documentary lens: goat herders in the fields, women sitting around the roadside in traditional clothes, farmers working in the fields, and families piled onto the tractor chugging along the road.

On the road approaching an ancient volcano in Cappadocia

A Monumental First:

One of the reasons I have The Gift of Travel, i.e., an immunity to jetlag, is because I cannot sleep in any sort of moving object. Planes, trains, cars, you name it -- the best I can hope for is a heavy rest. This is actually quite practical when crossing oceans because I'm so tired by the time I go to bed at the local time of my destination that I get a whole night's sleep and wake up perfectly adjusted to local time in the morning. However, my return flight from Turkey marked a major first for me: I slept on the plane.

I left Cappadocia Sunday night on the overnight bus to Istanbul. I arrived 11 hours later on Monday morning stiff, sore, and dead tired from a sleepless night. Despite the 2-hour nap I took at the hostel, I remained tired throughout the day and went to bed Monday night at about 9:30 pm. However, I had to catch the 3 am shuttle bus to the airport for my 6:30 am flight, so I got only a few short hours of rest before having to leave. By the time I boarded the plane, I was so tired that I couldn't even keep my eyes open -- it was a kind of fatigue I've never felt in my life. After settling into my seat, I crossed my legs and closed my eyes and waited for liftoff. It seemed that it was taking the plane an awfully long time to get going, and I figured we must be delayed on the runway. When I finally took the effort to open my eyes, I realized that we were already at cruising altitude! Somehow I'd actually fallen asleep and slept through the takeoff, which hasn't happened before or since.

And finally, I bring you... Turkish Food

One of best things about travel is experiencing the local foods. We had some really excellent dishes of roast meats, kebabs, and all of the typically Turkish foods, often from places filled with locals. But rather than go into detail about all the different meals we had, I'm just going to share with you the staples of our trip -- the regular, every day foods that we came to depend on.

Turkish Bread

Oh yes, the Turkish bread. It's big, it's fluffy, and you can eat disturbing amounts of it without becoming as full as you'd think.

Every morning, the hostel would provide us with a breakfast of bread and various spreads and vegetables to put on the bread. Any sandwich ordered for later would be put on a giant half-loaf, which at first glance looked impossibly large to consume, but which went down in one sitting every time. This bread was a staple of our diet every day in Turkey.

Turkish Tea

Turkey is very much a tea culture -- everyone drinks the tea for every occassion. For breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, for dessert, for entertaining, for hospitality, for boredom....for everything. It's very common for someone to offer you a tea, which will usually either be a strong black tea with sugar or a sweet apple tea (with sugar). The Pigeon Guy even admitted to drinking 22-25 cups a day! Tea is always served in a special Turkish tea cup and saucer.

Turkish tea: çay (pronounced "chai")

Turkish Coffee

Very strong. Very black. Rivals any Italian espresso I've ever had.

I only had two cups of Turkish coffee while I was there, but that was enough. Even a coffee at 3 pm kept me up way past midnight.

Turkish coffee with "toast"

Turkish Delight and Baklava

I've never been much of a fan of Turkish Delight. I think the first time I tried it was only because I'd read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I wanted to know what could have enticed Edmund so strongly. Unfortunately that first experience left me wondering what Edmund saw in the treat, so I wanted to give the real Turkish Turkish delight a shot. It was all over the markets and the bazaars, so I gave it another taste...and now I know that I'm just not a Turkish delight person.

Baklava was also everywhere, and I have to say that I've now had the best baklava in Turkey. Yummmm.

Mounds of baklava and Turkish delight in a storefront window

Manti, or Turkish Ravioli

One day at the hostel, the proprietor decided to cook us a meal of Manti, or what is basically a Turkish ravioli. Like ravioli, manti is a pasta with a meat filling, and it is served with a yogurt/chili/garlic/butter sauce. I never would have thought of putting yogurt on pasta, but it was amazing. I've since adopted this meal as my own -- with store-bought ravioli as a reasonable manti substitute, I can easily make my own yogurt sauce. It's quick, easy, and now my flatmate has picked it up and even makes it for herself! A quick Google search can provide you with any number of Manti recipes.

Manti

...Next time, the final post on Turkey: Cappadocia!

"I'll take Turkish Potpourri for $500, Alex."

There are a bunch of noteworthy things about my trip to Turkey that don't fit into any particular category such as Sightseeing, People, or Food. ("Wait--Food?" you ask. ...That's right, there's more! You still have yet to hear about the food or the wonders of Cappadocia. But I digress.) Thus, I've decided to put my miscellaneous experiences into the category of:

Turkish Potpourri


Rebecca Horts:

I arrived in Istanbul shortly after 11 pm. By the time I got through the line to purchase my entry visa, and then through the line for passport control, it was well after midnight. I'd pre-arranged an airport pickup with the hostel, so when I stepped through customs and into the arrivals hall, I spotted my cab driver waiting for me with a sign labeled "Rebecca Horts." Not only did it amuse me that I was one of the people on the signs, but the creative spelling of my name was pretty amusing as well. (Though not as amusing as this classic booking from my OZ 08 trip through Australia last year.)

The Call to Prayer:

I first heard a call to prayer on a fieldtrip to the Richmond Mosque in my 9th grade world history class. We'd spent a whole semester learning about Islam, and this was our practical application. I remember that the trip made such an impression on me at the time--as a 14-year-old WASP from the 'burbs I'd never had any interactions with Muslims--and for years afterwards I appreciated that trip and our Q&A session with the imam after the Friday prayer service for broadening my horizons beyond everyday Chesterfield County. That being said, I was 14 years old and had never heard a call to prayer. And I won't pretend that my first reaction wasn't to suppress a giggle at the weird foreign sounds of the chant. But fortunately I managed to stay composed, and by the end of the call to prayer I wondered how I could have even wanted to laugh.

The second time I heard a call to prayer was in Istanbul.

Just as the church bells in Austria chime at regular intervals 3-5 times a day (depending on the day), the call to prayer rings out through the city 5 times a day. Even my earplugs weren't enough to mute the 5 am call to prayer, a much earlier alarm than its 7 am churchbell counterpart in Austria. When it's time for a call to prayer in Istanbul, all the different mosques send out a live transmission on loudspeakers secured on the minarets, and pretty soon you're surrounded by a round of calls to prayer. At first it was a little strange, just because it is such a different noise than what I'm used to--it was a regular reminder that I was a guest in a country whose culture is far different from any other country I've experienced; however, gone was the 9th grade propensity to giggle. I came to enjoy the calls to prayer and found them melodic and interesting, especially when we found ourselves in a particularly interesting part of the city when it happened, like the video below.





The Turkish Flag Challenge:

It didn't take us long to realize that there is a Turkish flag from nearly every vantage point in Istanbul. It is omnipresent. (...And you thought Americans were patriotic...)

When we realized just how ubiquitous the flag really is, we decided to initiate a challenge: the Turkish Flag Challenge.

Participants: 2 or more players
Equipment: A Turkish flag and a buzzword
Preparation: As a group, determine a mutual buzzword (for example: "Strudel"). Any player may initiate the Turkish Flag Challenge at any time.
Rules: When out and about in Istanbul, any player can call out the buzzword (ex: "Strudel!") at any time. The other players must stop in their spot and search for a Turkish flag within eyesight. The first player to point out the Turkish flag wins that round.
Winners: There are only winners, never losers.


Türkçe konuşur musunuz? *

Before I left for Turkey, a few friends had given me some helpful phrases in Turkish, such as: "Hello;" "Thank you;" "How much?"; and "I want to get off the minibus!" But I always try to pick up as much of a foreign language as I can while I'm in the country, so I made it a point to constantly ask friends, the hostel proprietor, and pretty much anyone else I was dealing with how to say things in Turkish.

But it was hard, man. Turkish is tough. It was really difficult for me to distinguish the different sounds, let alone the different words. Once I had a better understanding of how to pronounce written Turkish, it made it a little easier to order things. And it was the little victories--the baby steps--that made it so rewarding. Sometimes it helped to use pneumonic devices; for example, the Turkish word for "thank you" is Teşekkür ederim, which sounds very similar to "tea sugar dream." (N.b.: Similarly, some visitors in Graz have found the German word for "excuse me"--Entschuldigung--to sound like a mumbled "I'm chewing gum.")

First I ordered, "Three teas, please," at a teahouse when my companions had left the table. I was able to throw in the numbers 1-3 in any setting, actually...but mostly where drinks were involved. When haggling, I could even use a sad-looking, "No, too much." But my crowning moment in Turkish was after my oil massage in the Turkish baths: I was able to whip out a confident, "Thank you. Good. Super." ...I mean, what more can you really say about a good massage? Finally, I went to meet a friend in Istanbul on my last afternoon in town. I was alone and took the tram to her stop. When I got off, I felt a tap on the shoulder, and I turned around to see a Turkish bottle blond who immediately said, "Pardon..." and then a bunch of Turkish I didn't understand. This was it--this was my moment. My moment to use a real sentence and say, "Sorry, I don't understand," or "Sorry, I don't speak Turkish." But when the words came out, it was a very English sentence and I'd lost my chance to use a real Turkish sentence in a real-life situation forever. But I was flattered by being taken for Turkish.

*Click on the link to hear the phrase "Do you speak Turkish?" in Turkish.

I Scream, You Scream:

We all scream for Dondurma!

I am a huge fan of ice cream. Forget chocolate, just tell me where the ice cream is. In Rome, I had the gelato at least once a day. In Graz, I can hardly get out of town without visiting one of the ice cream shops placed tantilizingly on every street worth walking on. And in Turkey...well they have ice cream too. And I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

I first became suspicious of the Turkish ice cream when I went to give my order and the ice cream man pulled out a long-handled metal paddle. Now that's odd. And then when he put my two scoops on the cone...something wasn't quite right. They seemed to glisten unnaturally, and although mine was the first to be served, it hadn't started dripping down the sides of the cone by the time my two friends got theirs. And then we all tasted it.

It was cold. Now's that's familiar, I'm feeling it. But wait! It's...it's...chewy?! Yes, Turkish ice cream is downright chewy! It's got the consistency of a marshmallow turned into ice cream, which is an odd sensation indeed. The Turkish consider this type of ice cream "normal;"our stuff--like gelato, soft serve, and what you and I consider normal ice cream--isn't real ice cream from the Turkish perpective. And after more investigation, I was happy to find out that my first impressions of this Turkish ice cream were right on: the special features about dondurma are its texture (chewy!) and its resistance to melting. Very weird, but very cool. If you ever find yourself in Turkey, this experience should not be missed.



Squatty Potties:

I am so glad I was forewarned about the Turkish toilets. So glad.

As I mentioned before, being in a new country with a new culture brings new experiences. Such as squatty potties. Those of you who have spent time in Asia are probably laughing at me right now, and rightly so. But I am a spoiled, modern Westerner who values her clean, porcelain toilet bowls very much.

I was only able to avoid the inevitable for one day. Then, on my second day in Istanbul, I just had to go. The good news is, there's any number of public restrooms all throughout the city. In fact, just find a mosque (which is pretty much at every turn) and you've found yourself a restroom too. The bad news is, they are almost all squatty potties. Oh, and the other bad news is, you have to pay to use them.

The funny thing is, in places like Vienna, I will rather hold it in that pay for a public restroom...either that, or I spend way too much time searching for the nearest McDonald's, which is universally gratis. However, in Turkey one has no such luck. Sometimes you luck out when paying the bathroom attendant the 50 kuruş to 1 lira (30¢ - 60¢) "entrance fee" and you'll also get some toilet paper as part of the service. (Although I use the term toilet paper loosely: this could mean anything from a napkin to a couple sheets of actual toilet paper.) This is why the well-informed traveller carries travel tissues at all times. The actual device one uses to complete one's business is basically a glorified hole in the ground. A porcelain hole with ridges on either side to provide traction for your shoes, but a hole nonetheless. In the corner of your stall is a waste bin to throw in the used paper/napkin/whatever-resourceful-thing-you-find-in-your-purse-to-do-the-job, and in the other corner is a spigot and a small plastic container, for what I can only assume is rinsing off a sticky load. Ironically, although you hardly ever find toilet paper in a public restroom, I found that--without fail--there was always soap.

The first time I had to use one of these, I was terrified. I am not a go-in-the-woods kind of gal. Women just aren't designed for this kind of maneuver, and I think I was jusifiably concerned over the outcome. But let me tell you--I nailed it. A perfect 10 on the first try. And by the end of the trip, it was no biggie. So...anyone ready for a long hiking trip in the woods?



Street dogs--and cats:

Lots of stray cats and dogs roam the streets of Istanbul. I was quite surprised by the number of stray cats--something I've not seen in other countries--and pretty impressed at the docile and non-agressive nature of the dogs. They just kind of went around and did their own thing. (Compared to the Romanian strays, the Turkish variety belong in a petting zoo.)

This cat had somehow turned a bluish-green...pretty funny, actually.

Women and the Workplace:

It took me a while to notice it. Almost a week, actually. But then it occurred to me: you don't see women working in Turkey. Not in the shops, the markets, the restaurants, or the info offices for the tourists. In fact, the entire time I was there, I only saw three women at work: one heavily-armed policewoman for Obama's visit in Istanbul, one reporter for said Head of State's visit, and one shop assistant in Cappadocia. That said, it should also be noted that people tend to work really long hours. The hostel proprietor was basically working 24/7, the guy behind the counter of the coffee shop at 7 am was still there at 9 pm, and the shopkeepers seemed to work at their shops every single day.

It didn't take this reporter long to spot the foreigners and ask for an interview on the day of Obama's visit.

...Ok, still with me? Good. I think that's enough grab-bag for today. Next up: more potpourri and then--oh man, my stomach is growling already--the food!

Someone Worth Meeting

One of the most interesting things about all of my travels these past months has been meeting some of the most interesting people along the way. Aside from seeing new places and experiencing new cultures, there's really something to be said for opening up a little and interacting with those around you. People have the most fascinating stories.

Sometimes you are lucky enough to live in a place like New York City where you bump into all sorts of intriguing people all the time. One of my favorite things about living in New York was learning what people did for a living--often you'd meet someone with a job you never could have even dreamed up. Not to mention that, as a city full of domestic and international transplants, everyone has a personal how-I-got-here, how-I-came-here, or who-I-was-before story.

I find that travelling opens you up to the same kind of thing, but on a broader basis. Over the past several months I've met quite a few people whose stories just floor me. Some of them have had life experiences I can't even begin to imagine. Some of them were kind people who've helped me along the way. Some of them are so inspirational that I want to fictionalize them into my next novel.

So today's next installment of the Turkey sequence is about the people we met along the way. Each interesting in their own way, and each somehow moving us along. (n.b.: Nor is this the last installment of people I've met in my travels. A few more notables from more recent travels will appear in a future post.)

The Cyclist

Our first day in the hostel, I started a conversation with a quiet looking man in the common room just as we were about to head off to bed. It was immediately apparent from the lilt in his voice that he was an Irishman passing through Istanbul. When we asked the usual questions about where he was from and what he was doing, we got the most unusual answer: he was cycling around the world. Okay, I'm just going to let that sink in a bit...

Yes, he was cycling around the world. Very few people have done such a thing, but his goal is to cross the globe on bicyle in the next two years. As we met him, he'd just cycled his way down from Ireland and through Europe into Turkey, and he was currently planning his way through Turkey into Iran and further on to Uzbekistan. In that area of the world he had to apply for entry and exit visas and time his arrivals and departures exactly, which doesn't leave much room for unplanned obstacles underway. Eventually he'll make it through all those countries ending with -stan and all the way across China before hitting an ocean and having to hop over to the next continent. As we spoke with him, he was just updating his blog.

President Obama

We also happened to time our trip to Turkey quite well with Obama's own visit on the last leg of his G-20 talks in Europe. He was pretty much omnipresent for a few days, from billboards to news shows, to the word on the street. Having wrapped up most of his business in Ankara, his trip to Istanbul was to include some sightseeing downtown at some of the major sites, such as the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and a few other places in the historic district of Sultanahmet. Consequently, the city decided not just to shut down these sites, but pretty much the whole of Sultanahmet itself--including public transportation in and out. Nearby businesses, schools, and even the university closed for the day, and the streets were lined with a large and heavily-armed police force.

In response to all this hubub, we encountered a demonstration on the pedestrian shopping street of Istiklal, and as my travel buddy went closer to film the protest, we--clearly foreigners--were approached by reporters. Our Turkish friend was interviewed first, but we were told to stay put as soon as our nationality became known, as the reporter really wanted to get the American opinion on the matter. Many of the Turkish people I'd talked to felt pretty good about President Obama in general and his visit to Turkey in particular, but the country was still a little wary in general of Obama for referring to the Turkish killing of Armenians in WWI as "genocide," for the U.S.' tendency to side with Israel, and for our involvement in Iraq/Afghanistan (Iraq being one of Turkey's border countries).

When it was my turn to be interviewed, the reporter asked me a series of questions about how long I'd been in Istanbul, where I'm from and what I do there, what I thought about the protests, and how I felt as an American in Turkey since politics there have become rather anti-American. I did my best to answer her questions, but it really didn't matter...when the article came out, they had strung all of my answers together and printed them out of context, such that I came off sounding like an ignorant American and where I was quoted saying things I'd never actually said.

The next day, we made a conscious decision to avoid the Obama craziness and go to the Asian side of the city. We left our Sultanahmet hostel as they were preparing to close off the streets, passing a massive police force and throngs of reporters setting up for the visit. As it happened, the friend I was travelling with got interviewed by the local news station, and we didn't actually make it out of the European side of the city before Obama came through: we ended up seeing his motorcade around noon as it raced into Sultanahmet and again later that afternoon from the ferry as it crossed over the bridge we had just passed under.

So although we didn't actually see President Obama personally, we saw his motorcade. This was exciting enough for me and stirred up a surprising amount of patriotism, as it was the first time I have acutally been in the same country as Obama since he's been president.

Obama's motorcade: He could have been in this very heavily-protected SUV!!

A Friend of a Friend

One of the best things about travel is of course meeting up with your friends from around the world, right? Although I didn't personally have any friends in Turkey at the time of my visit, I knew several people who'd either visited or lived there before I went. One friend got me in contact with one of her Turkish friends in Istanbul, and this friend turned out to be such a gem to our trip. Not only did she agree to meet us and show us around, but she took us to some of the local places, introduced us to some of the sights and the food, and generously donated her time, energy, food, money, and language as she shared the city with us. The more locals we met, the more really great hospitality and generosity we experienced--it seemed quite a welcoming culture, and we were privileged to be the recipients. We came away from it having taken our friend's friends for our own.

The Proprietor

The proprietor of the hostel where we stayed was an incredible man. I arrived in Istanbul after midnight and took a pre-arranged taxi pick-up to the hostel. From the moment I arrived, the proprietor greeted me warmly, and that was just the beginning.

Ali was all-knowing and could gladly and willingly answer any question about Istanbul, Turkey, the Turkish language, or pretty much anything else that we posed to him. And we asked him a lot of questions during our stay. He was helpful and funny and had the incredible ability to deal with every type of person who walked in the door.

I've never met a better person than Ali when it comes to sizing someone up and dealing with them accordingly. As soon as he met a new visitor to the hostel, he seemed to know exactly what kind of person they were and exactly how to deal with them. His skills would be the utter envy of customer service representatives everywhere, or anyone who deals with the public for that matter. He first impressed me when, after our first night in the hostel, a Finnish girl in the room next door complained about our "loud" talking the following morning on her way out to the airport. As Ali related this incident to us at breakfast, I was expecting a reprimand and an appeal to be quieter; instead he went on to tell us how he'd defended us to the Finnish girl, explaining to her that we were just seeing each other for the first time in years and were probably catching up late into the night. From this moment on, Ali won me over, and I watched in awe as he put the rowdy British boys in their places with a genious and effective combination of humor and shame, dealt with the highly irritable man who kept complaining about how he couldn't trust the Turkish, and every other sort of person to cross his path. By the time we left for Cappadocia, he said goodbye with a tight hug and told us quite sincerely how he'd enjoyed having us there and would miss our smiles when we were gone.

Not only could Ali deal with any kind of person in exactly the way suitable to their type, but he also had the gift of making someone feel welcome and comfortable. For me, this was in very tangible ways. When I arrived back in Istanbul from Cappadocia--alone--before 8 am on a Monday morning after a sleepless 11-hour overnight bus ride, I had to ring the bell twice before he answered the door. He'd been sleeping at the office since they were short-staffed and I'd awaken him from only two hours of sleep that night. I assured him that I was in the same boat, as I'd not been able to sleep on the night bus, and announced my intention to take a nap as soon as my room was ready; however, the hostel was full and he told me I'd have to wait until after 11 am until the bed was emptied and made ready. As I settled down in his office at the public Internet/computers to wait it out, he did the unthinkable: he offered me a nap on his couch, promising to shut the door and keep guests out and only to come in himself to answer the phone. I've never been more grateful for anything in my life than I was in that moment.

When I left Turkey, it was another genuine goodbye and a sincere request to stay in touch...and we've both since followed through.

The Pigeon Guy

In Cappadocia, we visited the Göreme Open Air Museum, a complex of cave dwellings and cave churches typical of the area. Up near one of the caves, there was a flock of pigeons hanging out near a ledge, and my travel buddy went over to feed the birds some of her leftover bread from breakfast. As she was doing so, a man in the Open Air Museum uniform came out of the nearest cave entrance and told her to stop and wait there. We both thought she was in trouble, but the man returned momentarily with a handful of birdseed which he deposited into her palm and then showed her how to feed the birds. I was watching from a short distance with great amusement when the man announced that these pigeons were special pigeons. Yes, Cappadocian pigeons are no ordinary pigeons--they can roll. At first, I didn't understand him. But he made a rolling motion with his hands and repeated again that these pigeons could roll. We clearly didn't understand what he was telling us, because he then stood and told us to watch. Then, very slowly, he approached the pigeons and herded them off the ledge. As they took flight, they rose vertically, their wings making an unusually loud clapping noise; then, one of the pigeons flipped! Then another! As these pigeons rose vertically in the air, they did backflips while in flight! We were so amused by these birds that I think we in turn amused the museum employee, and he invited us into his office--the nearest cave--for a cup of tea. Tea is a very central part of Turkish hospitality, so we joined him and his colleague in the cave for tea and conversation. The man who invited us in spoke some English, but his coworker spoke only a few words here and there. Somehow we carried on a very basic conversation with a lot of repetition and gesturing and the few Turkish words we knew, but ultimately we all made ourselves understood. We stayed for two cups of Turkish tea (which I'll describe at a later time) and then left to go visit the rest of the museum. But this was the first time that someone had invited us in for tea for no reason at all--not because they knew us and not because they were trying to sell us something, but simply to be nice, to extend some hospitality, and for the sake of our company.

And finally, stay tuned...

Next up: Miscellaneous things about Turkey you've probably never considered. Oh boy!

A Letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,

I am ashamed. I am a terrible blogger, or rather, blogger correspondent. I have so many interesting things to tell you but I've let the blog fall silent for way too long.

By now I should have finished telling you all about Turkey. After that, there was a pretty nifty trip to England and Wales I could have caught you up on. Not to mention the most recent developments with my immediate plans for the summer, involving Serbia, Malta and more of Austria. I could have already reflected on the end of my two years as a TA in Austria. I could have reflected on the past two years, period. I could tell you why Graz is wonderful in the summertime, and I could tell you how--after a four-year absence from the sport--I've just picked up biking again. Heck, I could even tell you about the book club I've helped establish and the writing group I've joined.

All of this, I'd tell you, has been put by the wayside in favor of finishing my NaNoWriMo novel from November. I could feed you all sorts of excuses about how I'm spending my current stage of unemployment trying to finish the first draft and how novel-writing doesn't leave much time for blog-writing.

But I won't. It's just too much to tell you. It's too daunting.

Instead I'll just promise you that you will hear from me. Soon, even. I'm going to get right on it. Because I actually thrive on your comments. Knowing that you read my posts and actually tend to comment on them makes me feel like we're actually keeping in touch. And that's important. I won't kid you--after two years here I still really enjoy it, but I miss you guys a lot. So I'm going to make an attempt at keeping up this one-sided conversation more frequently.

My apologies, and see you on another update soon.

Yours truly,
Rebecca

How to be a Shameless Tourist in Istanbul

It's been quite a while since I've written anything, but I promised there would be more on Turkey. So here's the next installment...finally!

Tourist Attractions in Istanbul

Although we had many insider tips, we still ended up seeing all of the typical sights in Istanbul (...I mean, how can you not?...), plus a few more.

The Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cisterns, Topkapi Palace and several other attractions are all located in the old historical Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. It's pretty much the starting point for any basic sightseeing, and many of the city's reasonably-priced hostels and not-so-reasonably-priced hotels are located here. Our hostel was a mere 4-minute walk from the back of Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace, which also meant that everything to see here was within walking distance.


Our first stop in Istanbul was the Hagia Sophia. This was a structure I vaguely remembered from 9th grade history class, but whose medalions and soaring architecture had stuck in my head since I was forced to memorize about eight different images of it in Art History 101. Orginally constructed as a cathedral under Emperor Justinian in 532-537 AD, it was the epitome of Byzantine architecture for...well...let's just say, for a heck of a long time. It also remained the largest cathedral in the world for a whopping 1000 years -- that is, until 1453, when Mehmed II conquered Constantinople. This marked the end of the Byzantine Empire and the begin of the Ottoman Empire, and our good buddy Mehmed II converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. But you can't get rid of an epitome of architecture so easily, no sir! True to form, the Hagia Sophia continued to be a model for later Ottoman mosques, including the Blue Mosque, which you'll find right across the street.

Thus, it was a natural second stop to visit the Blue Mosque, or the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, directly across the street from the Hagia Sophia and separated from it by a well-kept garden. The Blue Mosque was built a bit after Mehmed II's time, between 1609 and 1616 by none other than one Sultan Ahmed I. The Blue Mosque is one of the largest mosques (and it is also the national mosque of Turkey), being so named for the heaps of blue tiles in the interior. There are something like 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles on the inside, and like the Hagia Sophia, one gets the impression of soaring gradeur when standing on the inside and looking up. The Blue Mosque clearly draws architectural inspiration from its predecessor, the Hagia Sophia, and thus pulls off a grand marriage of Byzantine and Ottoman architecture. (And yes, I said a "grand marriage"!) Visitors to the mosque -- or any mosque -- must remove their shoes, and women must cover their heads. Since it was the first mosque we visited, I was particularly struck by the non-stop blend of patterns, from the carpet to the tiles to the ceiling decorations; it was a beautiful, busy aesthetic and was something I kept marveling at in every other mosque we visited. Unlike the Hagia Sophia, which is now a museum, the Blue Mosque is still a functioning mosque.




To any visitor to Istanbul, I would also highly recommend Topkapi Palace. The first day we visited Topkapi, we didn't allow ourselves enough time to see it all, but perhaps the fact that we were willing to spend the 20 lira entrance fee to come back again can testify to its rightful place as a must-see attraction in Istanbul. Visitors pay outside and enter the palace grounds through a gate that is extremely reminiscent of the blue-and-white animated palace at the into to any Disney movie, so you already know that you're off to a good start. Inside is the palace complex, the main residence of the Ottoman sultans from 1465 (when Sultan Ahmed II commissioned himself a palace as the first Ottoman emperor) to 1853 (when Sultan Abdul Mecid I moved the official residence to Istanbul's other palace -- the newer, western-style Dolmabahce Palace), the modern-day visitor can see any number of imperial exhibitions. It's a good idea to check the display board by the ticket office to see which exhibitions are currently closed (unfortunately the kitchen was closed for our visit) or open. It's a full day's work to see the treasury, the stables, the apartments and chambers, and -- perhaps most intriguingly -- the imperial Harem. Although you'll pay a second, nearly equal admission price to see the Harem, it is well worth it. Not only can you learn the history of the harem (not at all glamorous), but you can see some of the most finely ornamented chambers in the palace. Topkapi is probably an all day affair, but it's a sight I wouldn't leave out.

All of that opulence made us feel rich as sultans, so what better natural outlet for our bulging purses than a visit to The Grand Bazaar or the Spice Bazaar (also call the Egyptian Bazaar)! The Grand Bazaar was nothing like the large flea market I had somehow envisioned -- rather, it's one of the largest covered markets in the world. There are over 1000 shops stuffed into countless corridors, some of which (to my surprise) even have glass-windowed storefronts. The merchants at the bazaars will call out to you as you pass to buy their jewelry, scarves, carpets, pottery and spices. Of course you'd be a fool to pay full price for anything, but there's only so much haggling you can get away with as a tourist.

Istanbul has the unique distinction of being a city divided between two continents. All of the tourist attractions are on the European side, but the Asian side offers a more authentic look at the city free from the throngs of travelers. The Bosphorus acts as the straight between Thrace (the European part of Turkey/Istanbul) and Anatolia (the Asian part), connecting the Black Sea in the north to the Sea of Marmara in the south (which, in turn, connects to the Aegean and by extension to the Mediterranean). The ferry runs back and forth and up and down the river, so we took it over to Üsküdar for a quick visit to Asia and then further on up to Eyüp (on the European side again) where we saw some more out-of-the-way sights.




If you find yourself back near the Hagia Sophia/Blue Mosque area with nothing to do, you may want to look someplace you'd least expect for a great attraction: underground at the Basilica Cisterns. You'll see the ticket office at road level, then as you decend into the cisterns you'll find another of Justinian's great accomplishments of the 6th century: a massive cathedral-sized cistern capable of holding 2,800,000 cubic feet of water. A boardwalk leads the visitor through the arcaded structure, and that same feeling of size and grandeur returns.




One of our accidental discoveries was the old City Wall. We were actually trying to go to a museum that happened to be closed (on a Wednesday?!) and ended up exploring the area instead. The old city wall still runs around the city in certain places, and remains open to the public. Although it would be a major liability in America, in Istanbul you can scramble up the steep and narrow ziggurat-like steps of the wall to the lookout station. This gave us a great and FREE view of the city, and eliminated the need to go up into the more touristy Galata Tower.




After all of this sightseeing, you'll want to wash the grit of the city off with a nice deep clean. Fortunately, Istanbul offers any number of Turkish baths designed with this very purpose in mind. We visited the Cemberlitas baths, the oldest, most touristy, and therefore most expensive baths in the city. All that being said, it was well worth it, and I wouldn't have done it any other way. Far from the classical pipe dream that Ingres depicted of the Turkish baths, the Cemberlitas was built in 1584 by the sultan's wife, for the purpose of bringing in a little extra revenue. Today visitors can come and experience something most adults haven't experienced in decades -- being bathed by someone else. Separated into men's and women's chambers, most guests enter nude or mostly nude into the large circular sauna room. In the middle of the room centered under a dome is a heated marble slab where you can stretch out and wait until it is your turn to be bathed. We got a package for a "bath," soap massage, and an oil massage...and it was well worth the splurge! I can't remember the last time I felt such a deep clean, and the best part of it is that you can hang out in the sauna or in the little pools surrounding the sauna as long as you like. But make sure you plan your trip to the baths for the end of the day -- it will take every last ounce of remaining energy out of you, and they only thing you'll be capable of doing afterwards is eating a big greasy kebab.



...So now that you've had a taste of the major sights in Istanbul, you can stay tuned for a taste of another kind...next update will be on Turkish food. Yummy!

Going East

The second semester of school is by far the best in Austria. There are so many holidays and school breaks that it seems we are hardly ever in school. Even as I now write, I am enjoying a very nice 5-day weekend in Graz. (N.b.: Today, May 1, is Tag der Arbeit, or the Austrian Labor Day. No school!)

Since I take every opportunity I can get to travel, I decided to go to Turkey for my Easter break. A friend of mine from New York was coming to visit, and so we decided to meet in Istanbul and then travel on to Cappadocia. We were in Turkey together for a week and a half, but it only took me several days to realize that Istanbul was my new favorite European city and that I loved Turkey.

I shouldn't tell you all about my trip because it would be another novella. So instead I've decided to cover the trip over several posts (like my farm experience last summer), highlighting just certain aspects of our travels and our experiences. I'll treat the trip topically, and if you want to know more, please just email me and I'd be happy to bombard you with all of the minute details you can handle!

Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.

Why Turkey? The reason is quite simple, really: it's cheaper than the rest of Europe and, from what we'd heard, very interesting. One of our main considerations when planning where to travel was the cost. We considered places like Poland and other Eastern Europe destinations, but I'd already heard a bit about Turkey from other friends who had been there and thought it would be great to experience a completely different, non-Western travel destination for once. Until now, I'd only ever traveled in Europe and Australia, and never in a non-Western, non-(traditionally-)Christian culture. Last year I'd even made a list of places I'd like to visit while I'm still in Europe, and Turkey still hadn't been checked off. My travel buddy immediately agreed, and we started researching our trip.

How does a self-professed "anti-planner" plan a trip to a destination you should really know a bit about before you go?

I hate planning. Anything. I hate planning parties, I hate planning events, and I even hate planning trips. My travel M.O. is to arrive on the scene and then check it out from there. I might read up a bit before I go so that I know what I should see when I get there, but I rarely have an itinerary until I'm on the scene. But Turkey, being so culturally different from any place I'd visited before, was worth a little travel prep.

My travel buddy and I decided to research Istanbul and Cappadocia on our own and then come together with our combined knowledge and plan the trip from there. So I spent a couple days on the internet, looking up articles and such, but this wasn't really the part that interested me. The part that interested me was the suggestions, tips, and advice I solicited from several of my friends who had either lived in or traveled to Turkey.

I got in touch with about 5 different friends who had been to Turkey for various lengths of time and collected their advice. I got tips on what to see, what to eat, how to get around, and--most interestingly--how to act while in Turkey. So for today's excerpt of my Turkish experience, I'll start with one of the most interesting bundles of information I got before the trip:



The Do's and Don't's of Traveling in Turkey and How I Followed Them...or Didn't!

1. You shouldn't make eye contact or chat with men as you're walking down the street, on public transportation, etc., as this can be seen as a come on.
Um, as we learned, pretty much *everything* in Turkey can be seen as a come on! But putting that aside, I have to admit that this piece of advice was pretty hard to follow. You don't realize just how much eye contact you make with people as an American until you're deliberately trying not to make eye contact. I have certainly toned down the eye contact since living in Austria, since people don't really do that here either, but in Turkey it was so much more difficult! Especially because people watching in Turkey was so much more interesting, and it's hard to look at someone without really looking at them. I did notice that any accidental eye contact with men was immediately returned with a smile or a wink or a pick-up line, rather than a simple break in eye contact like here. It wasn't until my last day in Istanbul when I was traveling by myself before going back to Austria that I really mastered this. I put on my city face and was finally able to walk the streets undisturbed by looking like I knew exactly where I was going and and mentally blurring out the faces of any men I passed. But getting to this point was hard work.
It should also be noted that we were two obviously non-Turkish girls walking around (one Caucasian and one Asian) and so that's bound to draw attention anyway. But we never felt really uncomfortable, and the attention we got didn't really seem like more than we'd get in other large cities.

2. It's not a good idea to speak English loudly or laugh in public, as this draws a lot of attention.
Me, not laugh in public? Yes, another challenge! There were enough tourists in Istanbul and Cappadocia that we didn't have to draw any extra attention to ourselves. And as an American living in Austria, I've already taught myself how to be quiet in public so as to blend in and not communicate "I am supporting the stereotype that American tourists are loud [and therefore obnoxious]" to those around me. But no matter how loudly or softly we spoke, we also noticed that the Turkish men had the uncanny ability to pick up on any phrase we uttered in passing and turn it into a pick-up line. ("Oh, hold on a sec--I dropped something." "Hello! Hello, lady! You dropped my heart!" Or: "Those British guys in the hostel were sooo loud, all night long!" "[singing] Youuu. Shook me alll night looong!") Finally, we decided it would make a good game to say something outrageous and see how our admirers could work with it. Best comeback gets a prize. ("And then my finger fell off!"...they could totally work with that material!)

3. Don't go outside with wet hair.
Some of you may recall my early posts about my arrival in Austria and some of the cultural differences I mentioned...including not to go outside with wet hair! Apparently it's the same thing in Turkey. Unfortunately, I don't have a travel hairdryer, so this meant that I could try my hardest to towel dry my hair but that ultimately I was, indeed, breaking this rule and going out with wet hair. As far as I could tell, there weren't any negative consequences. However, once we were walking down the street when my hair was completely dry, and a man called from a storefront, "How were the Turkish baths?" My travel buddy turned to me and asked, "How did he know we went to the Turkish baths last night?!" And as far as we could figure, it was my hair gel giving me the "wet hair" look. Oops.

4. Don't wear anything tight or low-cut, don't wear shorts or skirts above the knee, and don't wear sleeveless tops. It's also best to wear pants or long shirts that disguise/cover your butt.
One of my biggest questions before packing for Turkey was how I should dress. Although 99.8% of Turkish people are Muslim, it is a secular country (where, incidentally, headscarves are not allowed at universities or some government buildings) and you'll see the Turkish women wearing everything from conservative Islamic dress to far-from-conservative "Western" dress. As a foreigner though, it's best to be sensitive to the culture and dress modestly. The weather was nice and cool the whole time we were there, so we were able to dress in layers. Although none of my pants hid the face that I am a woman and therefore have certain curves, I didn't feel like that was ever a problem where I was. As far as we could tell, we never got oggled, and anything worth staring at was always covered. Fortunately we weren't there in the hot summer months when covering up more may have been somewhat hot.

5. Don't take layers of clothes off in public.
The most I took off in public was a jacket, so this is finally one rule we were able to keep!

6. Don't chew gum in public (especially blowing bubbles).
I forgot to ask why this piece of advice was here, but--like most of the others--we broke this one too. It was only after we were walking down the street chewing gum that I realized we were not supposed to do exactly that. And my friend had a habit of blowing bubbles. Oops.

7. If someone (especially a man) brings up the topic of U.S. foreign policy or politics in general, it's a good idea to avoid an inevitably heated discussion and politely change the topic.
Since our visit coincided with President Obama's visit to Turkey, this piece of advice was impossible to keep. Not only were both of us interviewed by the press (me for the English-language newspaper and my friend for the local news) about his visit to Turkey, but shopkeepers and hostel employees sometimes wanted to discuss Obama and/or U.S. foreign policy. I found that, for the most part, this was absolutely alright. One shopkeeper in Cappadocia even praised Obama and his politics (saying, sensitively, that he wouldn't even bother to address what things were like a mere 100 days ago with Bush), and told me that most Turkish people appreciated his visit. I only had one Turkish man tell me how bad U.S. foreign policy is, but I was just a bystander in the conversation, and he kept apologizing, saying, "I know where you're from. I'm sorry. But...."



8. Don't agree to pay full price for anything in the bazaars.
I'm sure we got ripped off enough as it was, but we were successfully able to negociate prices, usually to about 60% or so of the asking price. Which, for tourists, I've been told is reasonable. When we had the luxury of having Turkish friends with us, they did the haggling for us and we were able to buy our goods with much more confidence that we weren't getting horrendously ripped off!


...So, suffice to say that we broke plenty of rules and, at some point or other, went against pretty much most of the advice that was given to us. Fortunately we didn't have any problems...and now we know better for next time, right?