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House of Mary
We first arrived in Turkey via a cruise ship at Kusadasi,
which is the port for Ephesus, one of the greatest ruined cities in the western
world. The House of Virgin Mary is nearby and the excavation at Ephesus is ongoing.
Ephesus was a Greek and later Roman city that became the chief port on the Aegean
and important in the spread of Christianity.
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| Turkish Folk Dancers |
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| At Ephesus |
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Dolmabahce Mosque
We disembarked from our cruise in Istanbul, and started with
a boat cruise up the Bosphorus Straits. I heard the call to prayer over the
loud speakers and I expected everyone to stop and pray. Surprisingly, nothing
stopped, no one prayed, everything just continued as normal. I was soon to
discover that Turkey was about to overturn my perception of Muslims. To put it
in terms you can relate to, Turks are the left wing, commies (in other words, Democrats)
of the Muslim world. This all started in 1923 with the formation of the Turkish
Republic and their new leader Ataturk. He moved the country away from religious
laws to establish a secular state. Turks smoke, drink, have nudity on TV - no
wonder they revere Ataturk! The call to prayer is considered a reminder that
when it is convenient for them, they should consider praying. If you have never
heard the call to pray, consider yourself lucky. Imagine someone with a bad
cold trying to yodel “La-ilaha-illa-Allah” for five minutes over a hundred
loudspeakers. Lying in bed at 5 in the
morning, I found this call to prayer very effective; I prayed it would end so I
could get back to sleep.
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| Hagia Sophia |
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| Palace Band |
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| Blue Mosque |
We did visit many mosques and museums. We heard Hagia
Sophia was not to be missed, but we like the Blue Mosque better. Of course many
of the mosques were once Christian churches, but all pictures and statues were
removed, covered or destroyed. This Islamic iconoclasm also affected most of
the churches we later visited in Cappadocia. Hagia Sophia was built in 360 AD,
and remained the world’s largest Christian church until it was converted into a
mosque in the fifteenth century. It has been a museum since 1935. After 5 days
in Istanbul we had visited all the major tourist attractions and more than
enough mosques. The congestion and bustle of a city with more than 14 million
people was wearing us down, so we welcomed our departure to Cappadocia.
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| Blue Mosque |
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| Blue Mosque |
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| Spice bazaar |
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| Spice Bazaar |
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Our Hotel Room
Cappadocia was a different world. Fairy chimneys dominated
the landscape. We stayed at the Cave Suite Hotel, with our room inside a fairy
chimney. The fairy chimneys have been used for centuries as free, easy to
excavate housing and for churches and monasteries. The chimneys are composed of
volcanic ash with a hard cap stone to slow erosion. Persecution of Christians
forced the population underground starting in the 6th century. So
far 36 underground cities have been found. We explored two of them, going eight
levels down. The most popular activity in Cappadocia is to ride a hot air balloon
over the unusual landscape. We had to wait several days for the winds to calm,
but we finally got our chance and it was magical.
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| Selime Monastery |
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| Local Village |
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| Getting Started |
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| Up, Up and Away |
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| Safe Landing |
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Ataturk Mausoleum
Not so magical was Ankara, the capital of Turkey. I think we
were the first tourists to visit the city. We did visit a couple of interesting
museums and the Ataturk Mausoleum, but we were ready to leave after two days.
We needed three flights to get us to Santorini. It was a hectic day where we
nearly missed our connecting flights, but we made it back to Greece.
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| Where Einstein got his milk |
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