Hello Again Everybody--Just Got Back From Turkey & Bulgaria

[VoodooDali]

Some travel tidbits from the trip...
(Written 6/23/2002)
Recovering from Jetlag Hell in Sofia, Bulgaria
We crashed right after the email we sent last night and slept about 12 hours straight. We are in a dorm room with 4 other people, and I suspect that my boyfriend kept them up part of the night with his very flagrant snoring...hehehe. This morning we got up and went to church at the Alexander Nevski Memorial Church. Enormous orthodox church with a giant dome with Christ the Pantokrator looking down at you. Nice Day of Judgement painting on the wall to scare you just before you leave. Very atmospheric with incredible choir and a priest older than the pope who I believe may have been the actual St. Nicholas, since he had a long white beard and long white eyebrows. No pews, parishioners are expected to stand. Frequently see worshipers go up to the icons and cross themselves, kneel, then kiss the icon. A lot of older women brought roses, and I understood why after going to the Museum of Icons beneath the church--Virgin Mary, the Unfading Rose is big here. So are St. George (the dragonslayer) and St. Dimitar--warrior saints. Walked over past the old Communist Party building--the Bulgarians took the Red Star off the top and finally burned out the communists with torches in 1992. You can see the blackened stones in back of the building still. Took a second look at the 4th century Sveti Georgi rotunda--it's made out of brick. Hard to believe that brick could last for 1700 years. Then we succumbed to the heat and have been hanging out the hostel the rest of the afternoon. We are going shopping for sandwich meat soon, and then will be getting on the Sofia-Istanbul Express. Talk to you from Istanbul.

(Written 6/26/2002)
We have always depended on the kindness of strangers...
Took the train from Sofia Bulgaria to Istanbul. Upon arriving at the Turkish border at 3 AM, we went through immigration and they would not accept US dollars or Bulgarian leva to pay the downright hostile visa fee of 45 USD (only Americans pay this high a fee--most enter for free.) We had made friends with a Turkish guy on the train and he ran around trying to get people to change our money to lira. No one would. We asked for help from other Americans on the train--no help there (typicaL). Finally our friend begged every police officer and the last one he asked had a heart and drove my boyfriend on a crazy ride over dark and swimming pool-sized potholed dirt road to an ATM machine. My boyfriend made it back. We paid and then found out we had to go to another office for our passport stamp. They let us cut in the line and then we ran to the train which was taking off! My boyfriend threw his backpack on the train and jumped in but I was still running with a heavy pack and the train was speeding up. I managed to throw the backpack on, but the train is going faster and faster. I am making a heroic effort to keep up. People were yelling and the train screeched to a halt. Unbelievable--seemed like a movie. I still think I would have made it...

Istanbul Rocks! (seen this graffiti in bars here--its true) First day here went to the Topkapi Palace. The Harem section was fascinating but there really is no way to describe it adequately. Next day we went to the Aya Sofia church-mosque-museum. Really spectacular building with impossible architecture built in 500ish AD by emperor Justinian. Taken over by Ottomans who turned it into a mosque and covered up all the beautiful mosaics and hacked off every cross in the place. Ataturk turned it into a museum for everyone. They are in the process of uncovering the mosaics. Saw some old graffiti on the walls, including Viking graffiti--something like "Olaf was here". We watched the South Korea-Germany semi-final football game afterwards, and were rooting for Korea since Germany kept the US team out of the semi-final (cheaters). But Germany won... This morning we went to the Sunken Cistern which Justinian also built in 500 AD. Just spectacular, enormous, beautiful Greek columns throughout that no one would ever see! Haunting Medusa heads... The Turks are great--everyone is super friendly. What surprised me most is how funny they all are--I would rate them right up there with the Irish in terms of sense of humor. We go to the Aegean coast today. The train leaves at 5:30. Beforehand we are going to watch the Turkey vs Brazil semi-final of the World Cup. As you can imagine, everyone here is very excited, and they have cheered us on the street when they see us because we are both wearýng our Turkiye World Cup t-shirts! Go Turkey!

(Written 6/30/2002)
Let me ask you one question...

Techniques of the Turkish Carpet Salesman
...Let me ask you one question... ...Where are you from?... ...I have a cousin/brother/etc/ there... ...Sit down and have some tea with me... ...I just want to talk and practice my English... ...I don't really care about selling carpets... What follows is a 3 hour discussion of their life and their problems, including the 22 hour workdays, only making two hundred dollars a month, having to send money to the 50 thousand poor relatives in eastern Turkey, the problems of the Kurds (they all claim to be Kurdish), selling you some small inexpensive item so that they can size up your wallet when you pull out the cash, then selling you whatever they think they can get out of you. We bought a small bag for my boyfriend and a large shawl (which is actually very beautiful).

Belly Dancing
Forgot to mention before that back in Istanbul, we went to a belly dancing show. The belly dancer picked my boyfriend out of the audience to dance with her. She peeled off his shirt and threw it at me. He then demonstrated his extraordinary belly dancing ability with his extraordinarily large belly. I'm sure this is just exactly the image that all the tourists wanted to leave Istanbul with!
Ephesus
When we left Istanbul we took a train to Denizli. The train was really great and the beds were very soft. I wanted to move in there forever. Beautiful mountainous landscape, full moon in the sky going by your window as you lay in bed! We then went to Selcuk, a town near the ruins of Ephesus. Some of you might be familiar with the name from the gospel of St. Paul--letter to Ephesians (that's them!) The ruins are really spectacular, especially the 4 story library of Celsus, which once contained 12,000 scrolls until the Goths sacked the place. The whole ancient city is basically intact, although many of the pillars have fallen down. We liked the footprint sign etched into the stone road that basically said: this way to the Brothel. Took a cool picture of my boyfriend orating in the amphitheater which was able to hold 25,000 people. The only downside was that Ephesus is extremely hot. I can only compare it to Texas.
Kusadasi
We then went to the Aegean coastal city of Kusadasi. Best hotel room ever with balcony on 4th floor looking right out over the bay with a sunset setting behind a castle on an island in front of us. You could also see the Greek island of Samos in the distance.
Bus ride from hell (un-air-conditioned) to Fethiye
Fethiye is on the mediterranean coast. We decided to go down here after enduring more heat that we could imagine. As I'm sitting here at the computer, I"m on the roof terrace overlooking the harbor of Fethiye filled with yachts and rolling mountains behind the harbor. It is incredibly hot though, sorta like Galveston. Today we are going to the ruins of Olimpos and the Chimaera and staying in treehouses in Olimpos. We should be there a couple of days before heading back to Istanbul.
World Cup
When we were leaving Istanbul, everyone had the longest faces you've ever seen after Turkey lost. However, yesterday they were driving around honking and waving their flags in celebration of beating Korea to win 3rd place. Today is the World Cup final and we will be watching it in OLimpos. I don't know who to root for--if we root for Brazil, will the Turks be pissed at us? But I'm still mad at Germany for beating Team USA by cheating.
Another Strange Parade
We saw a little parade here in Fethiye yesterday. The leader was an 11 year old or so boy dressed in a white prince's outfit. Followed by a band and a bunch of cars. He was celebrating his circumcision. (my boyfriend says OUCH) Bye bye (Gule Gule)

[VoodooDali]

More travel tidbits

Olimpos
After Fethiye we took another bus ride from hell to Olimpos, 6 hours away. We went to the bus station and asked if there were any air conditioned buses (after the Kusadasi-Fethiye experience) and the guy said, "Sure...just wait here for one hour." We paid for our ticket in advance (a mistake) and when the bus came, it was clearly another un-air conditioned one. I was furious. On the limited time frame, it really sucked up some of the trip, since when we finally arrived I had a heat headache. Olimpos was brilliant. We stayed up in a treehouse, and it was sort of like being at camp. The price of $8 each included breakfast and dinner. For dinner, they rang a bell and you lined up for your food. We felt like kids again. To go to the beach, you walked through ancient Roman ruins. I liked the fact that they were in the forest, and largely unexcavated. It reminded me of Tikal in Guatemala. The beach was a pristine cove. When you swim in the Mediterranean, you really float! No need to tread water or anything, you just float!!! I loved it so much. Don't know why that is...extra salt in the water? We stayed there a couple of days. My boyfriend is tan. I turned red then white again, as usual (too much celtic genes).
Istanbul again
Finally, my boyfriend got to go to the Covered Bazaar and shop. He bought some flutes and a drum. We met up with a group of French guys we had originally met in Bulgaria--they were a lot of fun. Most of them were from Strasbourg in Alsace-Lorraine. I asked them about visiting Paris--whether it would be better to speak to people in English or my very bad French--they said to use the bad French, and the Parisians would be nicer. Things were really hopping in Istanbul, and we were sorry to leave.
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
What a special little place. It's a very quaint old city, all cobblestoned with a Roman amphitheater in the center that is still in use. We loved all the old wooden houses and the lack of carpet salesmen. Favorite moment was the Old Organ Grinder. Wish we'd spent more time there.
Sofia Again
Not too thrilled to be back on the straw mattresses. The place was packed. On the way there, we saw so many abandoned factories and an unfinished nuclear power plant. The bulgarians are really nice, but all complaining about lack of jobs.
One more tidbit
Everyone we met, europeans and Turks alike, made a special mention of the fact that they despise George Bush--we told them we didn't vote for the idiot. He is not making any friends for us in either the islamic world or the european one.

still jetlagged it feels like midnight to me now, and we keep waking up at 3:30 AM every night

How is everyone at SYM? I will try to insert pictures as soon as I've uploaded them.

Voo

[Kameleon]

Hiya! Welcome back! Now I'll go back and read that...something to do

[fable]

What great posts! Wish I'd done as much when we got back from Budapest, last year. Btw, my wife and I went to Sofia and Plovdiv about nine years ago, and loved 'em both. The Nevsky Cathedral was wooooonderful. Do they still have the large, crowded pizza parlor on one of the streets facing Nevsky? It was the only decent pizza we could find at the time in the country. The students loved it. Sort of a sacred and secular combination walking from Nevsky to have this incredibly gooey, cholesterol-enriched stuff; I guess it was a distant taste of what the late Byzantine Empire must have been like.

How long did you stay in Sofia? And welcome back!

[VoodooDali]

Thanks Fable. Not long in Bulgaria--it was unfortunately mainly a means to an end (Turkey). Plane tix on LOT are cheap though and I would like to go and tour Eastern Europe next time around. 2 days Sofia, 1 day Plovdiv.

[Kameleon]

Great diary - I wish I had the discipline to write that much on holiday Really made me feel like I was there - almost compensation for my not getting a holiday this summer Glad you had such a good time.

[fable]

Originally posted by VoodooDali
Thanks Fable. Not long in Bulgaria--it was unfortunately mainly a means to an end (Turkey). Plane tix on LOT are cheap though and I would like to go and tour Eastern Europe next time around. 2 days Sofia, 1 day Plovdiv.

Plovdiv was great, with its ancient Roman walls and "college town" feel. It was much more liberal and less doctrinaire than stodgy Sofia, even after the Reds lost power to the Blues. Very picturesque town, too: lots of winding, cobblestone streets. The mayor when we were there was a local anti-Communist shepherd, who had been fighting the old aparachik bosses when they were still in power to prevent them from erecting homes higher and larger than the old town supposedly allowed. Oddly enough, he garnered sufficient support to win.

[Tamerlane]

Hmmm, now you make me want to visit those places.

Like the others said however great posts.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Hey, welcome back Mama VooD.

[Eerhardt]

Hey, welcome back, Voo. Great diary; I'd love to see the pictures.

[Beldin]

Welcome back, VooDoo Mama.... !

Nice diary.....but I kinda miss the "Still not king" - part ....


No worries,

Beldin

[Maharlika]

Welcome back, Mama!

Nice to have you back and great narration of events. Of course, I'm sure you must have left off some "other details"...

[Mr Sleep]

Welcome back, sounds like you had a blast.