Black Sea Region

At the end of April, CIEE took us on a trip to a couple of towns in the Black Sea region, most famously Trabzon. This whole region had a very different feel than the other places I've been to in Turkey. Istanbul is busy and cosmopolitan; Ankara is quiet and modern; Diyarbakir is arid and "Arab"; Antalya is touristy and laid-back. And this region is different from all that. The towns themselves have their own slightly tourist, slightly bustley edge, but for me what is much more salient is the lush, quiet nature that dominates the area, in some cases even the towns.

The first day of the trip we toured around Trabzon, visiting mosques, churches, and bazaars. We also went to see the Sumela Monastery, one of the most famous sites in Turkey. It's literally built into a cliffside, way up high. It's gorgeous from every angle, seen from the valley below and from the buildings within. Although to get there was another story. Usually there are minibuses that take tourists up the cliff to see it, but for some reason that wasn't included in the itinerary so we got to really appreciate height of the building and grade of the cliff by walking up to the monastery. I'm not sure I would've made it if I hadn't been singing Disney songs with Susannah and Conor all the way. I even stripped down to a tank top, something I rarely do in this conservative country. But it was incredible (the monastery, not the tank top). The inside was covered in beautiful, colorful frescoes. Infuriatingly, they have been vandalized by visitors of all different language-backgrounds, political affiliations, and relationship statuses. Here's the view out from the vantage point of the monastery:

This is the inside (you can't really see the frescoes at this distance):

After this we took the bus into deep valleys covered in rivers and bright green trees. It was so beautiful. Also, much of the ground was covered in a funny little shrub that I found out was tea. This area, particularly Rize, is famous for its production of tea. We even got to go to one of the factories, and try some of their delicious tea.

We spent some time in one of the villages here. We walked up the slopes, between tea fields and dense clouds, seeing gorgeous views whenever the fog parted. We also split up into groups to have lunch with some of the villagers. This was one of the most incredible meals I've ever had. Everything on the table was fresh and derived from somewhere nearby, "all natural", as we say in California. And there was SO MUCH. There was:

• çoban salatası (shepherd's salad: a Turkish standard: tomatoes and cucumbers)
• chicken and potato stew
• ballı kaymak (=honey with cream butter. This is one of my favorite Turkish dishes anyway, but this one blew my mind. The honey, harvested from the backyard, was totally bitter, and the cream butter was so fresh. And of course, it was eaten on fresh bread.)
• muhlama (cheese with corn starch... wait for it... fried in butter. You have no idea.)
• thought we had enough carbs and saturated fats? Our hosts didn't. There was dessert: sütlaç (Turkish rice pudding, also translates as "most delicious thing you've ever eaten". Always amazing. Never this amazing. Every once in a while I have a transcendental gustatory experience, and this was one of those times.)

Here's the muhlama mid-cooked:

Here's the view out the window of the home where we were served the feast:

After eating, we sat and chatted a bit with the family. Then ol' papa Turk took out a bagpipe and played a little. Although he wasn't very good, it was exciting for me to see.

Our last day we took a short hike in the mountains, had a picnic, and then went to some hot springs nearby. The area was really beautiful, of course. The hot springs were in a building and all, so it didn't really seem any different than a regular hamam, except way hotter. Regardless it was quite relaxing. Besides us there was a large group of Turkish women there, who started singing at one point. I was all about it :)

Misha!!!

In April my brother came to see me!! It was so nice to see him and have a little whiff of home in the middle of the semester. It also ended up being a great opportunity for me to explore the historical part of the city a bit more. Misha had a lot of jet lag so I ended up just walking around on my own in the afternoons, stopping to chat with the hassling merchants, getting a lot of free tea, practicing my Turkish,....

The weekend started off rather inauspiciously, actually. The hostel we had intended to stay at was somehow overbooked, so we got shifted to a hostel next-door. They, however, were also booked so instead of staying in one of the normal rooms we stayed in the apartment of some of the staff. It felt really uncomfortable, especially since the front door didn't lock. We could lock our own room, though, so it wasn't so insecure. It mostly just felt uncomfortable to be kicking some people out of their own space and staying in someone else's home. The last couple nights room opened up in the regular hostel so we got to move.

With my brother we went to the mosaic museum and the archeological museum, my first trip to the latter. There were some really amazing Egyptian and other tombs. And some real mummies as well.

My brother and I also went to a hamam (Turkish bath). I've been to hamams before but never with the full traditional treatment. It was definitely full treatment. First we were asked to undress and wear only a cloth. Then we waited in the main hamam area which was really warm. There's a big flat heated stone in the middle that you lie on. This was already super relaxing. Then the friendly woman who had been at the reception area took me into a separate room. She and I were both wearing only our underwear, no bras, and no cloth. Then she scrubbed me down. All of me. She scrubbed parts of me I didn't know existed. As she scrubbed she excitedly showed me the gray dead skin of whose presence she was relieving me. This whole process was followed by a soap "massage", which is pretty self-explanatory. After my hygiene had been thus assisted I re-wrapped myself up and returned to the main hamam area to rinse off more and wash my hair. I met my brother there, who had just had the same experience. The slightly stunned expression on his face pretty accurately reflected my own feelings. Afterward my brother got an oil massage and I changed and had some more tea while waiting for him. The feeling I had at this point was delicious; incredibly clean and relaxed.

The next day we tried for a second time to visit Dolmabahce Palace, which historically had served as a residence not only to the Ottoman Dynasty but also to Ataturk himself. Ironically, considering the fact that he took down the Empire, this was the place where he died. At the moment he passed all the clocks in the building were stopped and the bed where he had suffered until the last moment is still guarded.

However, it seems it was fated for us not to see neither the clocks nor the bed nor the palace's excessive ornateness; tourist season having started, the line to get in was almost two hours long. So instead we decided to hop on a boat to one of the Prince's Islands, in the Aegean. It was a long ferry ride, but the island was beautiful. The weather was sunny and warm. On these islands cars are prohibited so everyone moves around on bikes and horse-drawn carriages. Yep. We walked around for a while, had lunch, and for dessert got some lokma (basically honey-soaked donut holes). Since I had never been there before and didn't get a chance to prepare, we didn't really know what to see or do but just walking around was lovely.

Our last day together my brother actually came to campus with me and sat in on a couple of my classes. It was nice to share it with him, but it was a long commute. The following day I made the trip again and he went to join an organized tour that would travel throughout Turkey and then on to Greece.

Spring Break!

For spring break, I went with a group on a tour of south western Turkey. The group included Ethan, Fiona, Emma, Nicole, and Andrew from the US, Zehra and Angel from Singapore, and Barlas from Turkey. As with fall break last semester, this was such a fantastic group of people and the best part really was hanging out with them, which is saying something cause the rest of the trip was incredible as well.

I missed a day at Pergamum and met up with the group in Selçuk, near Izmir, where we saw Ephesus. This was an ancient Greek city that later became Roman. This place is old. Like, really old. We're talking centuries B.C. What's so amazing is how good it looks despite its age. What's left is really beautiful, columns, capitals, mosaics, facades.... It was really stunning how well preserved it is.

This one's for you, Therese:

This is the facade to the library (?), probably my favorite part:

Here's the amphitheater:

Also, in Selçuk we were lured into a rug shop that had really beautiful works. The owner of course was pretty eager that we get something, but seemed content with just showing us his wares since all that is expensive. Here was one of my favorites:

In the hotel in Selçuk there weren't many other guests besides us, but at breakfast a couple boys our age were at the next table. I couldn't tell what language they were speaking and I was dying of curiosity. Every once in a while it would sound like Spanish, which really threw me off cause that's one I should recognize. Finally I asked them and it turned out they were BASQUE!!!!! And they were SPEAKING BASQUE!!!!!!!!! I was excited beyond expression. I basked in their Basqueness. I've never met Basque people my age, and certainly not people who had grown up learning the language. I floated for the rest of the day.

After Selçuk we took a bus to Pamukkale. This is one of the places that I remember my mom talking about since I was very young, so it was really really special for me to be able to actually go and see it. And, of course, it was mind-blowing. Pamukkale has two really cool things: a necropolis (think fancy Roman graveyard) and huge hill of calcium bicarbonate. There are pools in the hill that fill up with water that varies from warm to cool. Here's us walking up:

And here's a view of the necropolis:

We ran around and climbed on the tombs for a bit :).

Next we went to Aphrodisias, an ancient Greek city in honor of the goddess Aphrodite. The ruins here were amazing as well. Here's part of Aphrodite's Temple:

There were a whole bunch of other sites as well, including a massive stadium incredibly intact. It was so cool to sit on the seats and imagine who was sitting in that exact spot thousands of years ago and what they were watching. We enacted gladiator fights and olympic games in the field :D

Next we went to Fethiye. As usual, I didn't know anything about this place before going and was more than pleasantly stunned. Here wasn't so much about ancient ruins as it was about gorgeous nature. We took a hike starting off at a ghost town that had belonged to Greek Turks who were forced to emigrate to Greece during the Population Exchange of 1923:

The rest of the hike over the mountain and to the Mediterranean Sea was gorgeous. The vegetation made me feel like I was back in California (a lot of pines and warm weather :D), but then cresting the hill the sea appeared in colors I've only ever associated with the tropics. It's really hard to tell in these photos cause Blogger seems to post them rather washed out, but you get the idea:

Here we picnicked on the beach and swam, despite the fact that by this point the sunny weather had turned gray and slightly chilly. I also ran into a couple of my friends from Oxy!! I had seen them briefly in Istanbul before heading south, but hadn't realized that they were going to the same place. That was really really nice.

The next day we took a hike into Butterfly Valley. Usually, people get here by boat, since the valley is lined by vertical (actually, though) cliffs that even cut off the beach. Instead, we decided to take the vertical-cliff route. Asking locals how to get there or for advice, most of them advised not to try this hike, to the extent that two of our group opted out. The rest of us were game, though. Amazingly, Angel even climbed down in cute flats since none of us had realized we would need to bring serious hiking boots on the trip. It was definitely difficult. There were many sections that were so steep, ropes had been tied along them, without which I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been possible. Also, the rocks at these places were slippery in the humid climate. But it really wasn't as difficult as I, at least, was afraid, and a couple in our group were experienced hikers so it was all good. Ultimately, it was incredibly rewarding and definitely a good bonding experience. And of course the valley itself was beautiful. At the bottom we first headed to the back of the valley where there was a waterfall, which of course we climbed. Then we had a picnic on the beach and headed back up, at which point it was raining :P So glad I go to the gym every once in a while.

Our next destination was Olympos. The hostel where we stayed while here was really neat, super hippy. It's actually referred to as the tree-houses, even though only the "princess suite" is in an actual tree. There was a fire pit in the middle of the camp with Ottoman-style cushioned seating areas around. The surrounding nature was beautiful, including a creek that passed right next to the property. Actually, the highlight of this part of the trip was probably just sitting in this area at night, playing the guitar and singing along to songs on the computer. Sort of technologically advanced hippies. Something we did do while here was go to the Chimera. This is a hill where natural gas leaks at various points and burns. Apparently ancient people interpreted the fires as a monster with a lion's body, a snake's tail, and a goat's head (chimera). We only saw it during the day, but it was still pretty cool. Here's Ethan dancing at one of the fires:

Our last stop was Antalya, a town famous for its warm beaches. At this point we were all pretty exhausted, so we took it pretty easy. We walked through the big bazaar, bought some cheap knock-off goods, ate some delicious lahmacun (bread with minced meat on top),.... We also spur of the moment took a boat tour (Emma and Fiona):

Angel and Zehra are good friends with a Koc student who lives in Antalya, so she took us out to dinner on our last night. It was really a delicious, semi-fancy dinner. Afterwards Angel Zehra and I went out clubbing :DD

The next day we had a little bit of trouble with the bus service home, but figured it out eventually and spent the following 8 or 9 hours traveling. Fortunately, Turks take bus travel seriously. It was comfortable, we could charge our iPods, and we were constantly served cookies and refreshments. We came home really tired, but it was a fantastic trip :D

Eskişehir

Maybe a month ago, CIEE took us on a trip to Eskişehir, a college town in between Istanbul and Ankara. Honestly, it was kind of a random place to take us, but CIEE is usually able to make things interesting against all odds.

We started things off with a lecture on urban planning in one of the town's three universities. The lecture itself wasn't particularly interesting , but it was neat to see how the new plans were being applied to the town. For instance, there's a small river running through and the town has built a whole bunch of lovely bridges along it, also adding peripheral green-space and gondolas. We took a boat ride along here at one point:

We hung out for a while on campus and then had a folk dance lesson. Of course, I was all about it while everyone else seemed quite unenthusiastic. A couple of my friends flat out refused to participate. But there was live music and exactly the style I love so I had a grand old time. Outside there was a small political demonstration related to education reforms that also included some traditional music.

Next, we went to a couple museums. First was a glass works museum that was really interesting even though it didn't really have to do with particularly Turkish artistic traditions. Then we went to a museum of meerschaum, a special white stone that is particularly abundant in the Eskişehir area. It's extremely porous and therefore very light. It's often used to make pipes and, I just read on Wikipedia, apparently changes color when used to smoke! In fact, the museum mostly consisted of pipes, amazingly and imaginatively carved into all kinds of designs. Never have I so desired a nicotine addiction:

After this we went to a cartoon museum. I had never been to one before and it was really fun. Most of the cartoons were biting and political, but there were some cute and sweet ones as well:

Also on this trip we went to a museum of the Republic (consisting almost exclusively of photographs of Atatürk) and a car museum. The car museum was quite built up, our guide telling us beforehand how Turkey had hoped to begin car manufacture, but the grand plan had unfortunately failed. The museum consisted of... the only car Turkey had ever been able to produce. One car. And when they brought it to the capital to be driven by the president at the time, they forgot to put gas in so it didn't even work :P

We had a great meal while we were there. I don't really know what it was, but it was something like bread soaked in meaty, creamy tomato sauce. I know it sounds kind of weird but it was DELICIOUS. And followed by chocolate pudding ;)

Before heading back home, we spent some time in Kent Park, which can pretty accurately be described as Fairyland. There was a castle and a pirate ship, a mini Noah's arc and big dinosaurs. It was great. I didn't do much running around there though because Tim and I were immersed in a profound conversation about the nature of consciousness:

From there we took the bus back home. A group of us got off early in order to go to Taksim, where we went to a karaoke bar and a Latin club!!! :DDD Here's a view from the bus home: