Greetings –

Dined last night at a wonderful waterfront restaurant in the Keilici (old town) near where we are staying — Arma — quite good — For appetizers we had a local fish in honey that was fantastic (sashimi cut so thin it was like paper) and also an octopus sashimi. We strolled back to the hotel in the total quiet of this picture-perfect old section of town that is probably about 10 square blocks (totally oblivious that just 200 meters away is a huge, bustling real working city with a million people that seems to function 24/7 and that feels a bit like a combination of the Lower East Side of NY about 40 years ago and miles of strip malls).

This morning we headed out of our little paradise and drove down the coast (south) stopping from time to time to admire the absolute beauty of the sea and beaches as well as the cliffs and mountains that surround them. We stopped at Phaselis (sp?)– which is situated on three small bays, protected within a  national park. In Roman times this was a thriving port town. Today the bays, ruined limestone aqueduct, a great amphitheater whose stage is framed by snow capped mountains are clearly the remnants of once-prosperous Phaselis.

We walked through the site from one bay to the next.. and then headed out to Chimera and Olimpos. En route, we stopped at a tiny little roadside, family-owned “café”… a sort of wooden platform with about 5 tables totally open. No menu, only one dish is served (Turkish pancakes) and two kinds of juices that are constantly being squeezed fresh (pomegranate and orange). Mom sat on the floor cross-legged and rolled the pancakes – one at a time; son pressed the oranges and pomegranates; daughter-in-law filled the pancakes with just a little spinach and feta and rolled them up — kind of like a very thin quesadilla.  The setting was wonderful — for those of you from California, think Nepenthe before they started getting totally yuppie and charging $20 for a hamburger.

We left (after paying $7 for two pancakes and two really large and wonderful juices) and traversed dirt roads and even drove through a washed out road with water several inches deep in an effort to reach Olimpos.. only to hit a total dead end with a washed out road. We did get to the village of Olimpos and the tree house pensions (which seemed to wreak of hippiedom) Someone had built a foot bridge, but we decided to avoid this, and instead just meandered back through some small towns, eventually finding our way back to Keilici and the Tuvana Hotel (which was truly a miracle).

Dinner tonight in one of the small restaurants in the old town and then we prepare for New Years tomorrow, and a very very early (7 am) departure from Antalya to Istanbul and Istanbul to London on January 1. Dinner in London (Jan 1) and a morning flight to SFO on January 2 —

Will try to send one last note tomorrow or when we hit London. If not, have a happy, healthy, peaceful new year — See you back in the US —

Fern

Day 13 –Mike succumbs to very clever salesman and buys a carpet!

Drove from Urgup to Konya – pretty uneventful; most of the drive two lanes in each direction; light rain on and off. (Glad we didn’t have this weather when we were based in Kapodokya).

Arrived in Konya (city of one million) and tried to follow Google map directions … which worked fine until the very end.. and then we were suddenly in some kind of rush hour, lots of traffic circles; streets coming from every direction — and then we just  went with the traffic flow and were totally lost. After about 10 minutes meandering around without any sense of where we were and where we needed to be (we were trying to find the Hotel Rumi), we thought we’d just look for a high-rise building and find some other hotel. The only thing we knew was the the Hotel Rumi was near the Mevlana (the center of Sufidom)… Well no luck finding any other hotel, as nothing stood out.

So we decided to search for the Rumi, eventually stopping at a gas station and showing the address (on our Blackberry).. The guy explained in Turkish how to get there.. but he knew one English word – “lamp” which we figured meant traffic light… we followed what we thought we understood to be the directions and wound up on a very narrow, residential street blocked with traffic cones.. when along came a guy walking down the street who appeared to understand our plight and without any prompting, just moved the traffic cones and in we went to what was clearly a one way street going in the opposite direction.. By now we also realized this clearly was not a street with a hotel… so again we decided that we’d stop to ask for the Dedeman (a hotel chain in Turkey that we noticed in other cities and assumed was here in Konya as well.)  We made a few turns and then there lo and behold was the Rumi!..

The Rumi is small (about 40 rooms) and I think we may be the only guests.  We checked into the hotel and then checked out the city of Konya… a grungy, second world town, surrounding this shrine to Rumi and Sufiism. We’re told it’s one of the most conservative parts of Turkey. As such, 95% of the restaurants do not serve any wine or alcohol (yet we read that it has the highest percent of alcoholism in all of Turkey). About a week ago the annual Whirling Dervish Convention took place… really glad we missed that one.

We did stroll into the Mevlana Museum where I think Rumi is buried.

Kapodokya, Turkey

Greetings from an unusually balmy Anatolia region. We truly lucked out. It’s about 62 degrees here and we had expected it to be around 32. It’s sunny and gorgeous.

Today we headed south to Ilhara Valley – a 500 ft gorge created by the Melendiz River through the volcanic rock. The drive to Ilhara was longer than we expected. We’ve been using a rather abstract line drawing map provided by the hotel.. Turns out to be totally out of scale (sort of like they needed to fit all these areas on an 8.5 x 11″ piece of paper so they moved towns around to get them to fit)… Anyway, about 90 minutes after we started out, we were in the Ilhara Valley. Given that there really aren’t any tourists during this time of year, information is pretty slim (which is either problematic or exciting – depending how you look at it.. I think we like it much better this way; very few trinket shops are open; barely anyone trying to be your guide or to to sell you a carpet – indeed we are on day 12 and still no carpet!)

We read the guidebook section on the Ilhara Valley so it seems as if the typical entry point is at the south in the town of Ilhara and then you climb 400 steps down to start the hike through the valley floor along the river… About halfway (the entire hike is about 5 miles in one direction) there is a little village called Belarismi (sp?) And then you continue north to Seleme where you exit the valley floor. Since we were coming from the north, we thought we might as well just start at Seleme at the southern end and do the hike in reverse. We also figured we might not go the whole way and figured you could exit at Belarismi. The guidebook said taxis could be located at any of these three points (in order to get us back to our car which we left in Seleme)..  So off we went..

About 200 meters on our hike, we were met by Ehmet – a young Turk who hung around and followed us wherever we went.. It was clear that he knew the valley well and hustled people to be their guide. Despite the fact that we really didn’t want a “guide”… after a short time it became obvious that the “trail” was not marked and that it wasn’t a simple thing like following the river (which by the way changes drastically from a frisky, fast-moving river to a trickle of a stream and back again) – at many points you climb about 50′ or more over rocks to continue, and there are no guideposts. So Ehmet became our walking partner. I imagine that in touristy months you could go alone, because you’d just follow people in either direction. During the entire hike (2 hours) we only ran into two other tourists (from Paris), two local Turks fishing in the stream, and about four locals who were cutting branches for firewood (they lived in some of the caves in the valley). I cannot imagine doing this hike in the summer (although that is apparently when visitors come) because temperatures average over 100 degrees and the area is filled with mosquitoes.

Oh – somewhere midway on our journey the family that was gathering firewood came running up to us.. Turns out I had dropped my glasses somewhere (they were in my vest pocket) and they returned them.. I didn’t even know they were missing.

Our hike was good and tiring (good prep for Mike’s supposed trek down the Grand Canyon in May??)..  When we got to Belarisme, we climbed to see one of the many many churches built into the rocks. The one we visited was from the 11th century – some frescoes are still obvious. The monks built the churches and in later years when the Ottomans came they destroyed all evidence of Christianity and burned the churches (obviously since the structure is carved out of the rock the shell remains; they also destroyed the faces in the frescoes.)

Naturally, Ehmet had a “cousin” in Belarisme who could drive us back to Seleme to get our car.

Then we took off to drive around the valley to the southern side and at least see that end in the town of Ilhara. By the way, gas is $8 gallon!

By then it was mid afternoon and we headed to Goreme to the Hamam in the center of town. I should mention that Goreme is a world heritage site and the town is filled with caves and fairytale chimney structures interspersed with more modern (200 year old?) houses – naturally it’s filled with cafes and trinket shops as well. I imagine the town is crawling with tourists in the summer – evidenced by the fact that at least one entrepreneur named his café “The Flintstones”…

The hamam was just what the doctor ordered. It starts with some mud painted on your face.. Followed by a quick shower, followed by about 15 minutes in the sauna… then shower… then you lay on a heated marble platform .. After a few minutes the masseuse comes and scrubs you with a rough cloth.. And also splashes water all over you… Then back to the hot marble platform (in this case a very large round marble slab – maybe 20 ft in diameter – the masseuse washes you with very soapy water.. And then does a massage with the bubbly water… they also wash your hair.. Then back to the shower and then a dip in a ritual pool (which is probably a little like a mikvah??).. The hamam had two parts – one for men and one for women, although men who work at the hamam seemed to pop in from time to time in the women’s section to bring bottles of water.

OK…. we are totally clean, well exercised, and ready for dinner. We’re eating locally (in Urgup) tonight, so we can spend time packing as we head to Konya in the morning (not expecting much … doesn’t sound too exciting, but it’s a stopping off point so that we don’t have to drive 7 or 8 hours straight to Antalya.)

Take care –
Fern

Thousands and thousands of caves

Woke up to a colder, grayer, more overcast day than we’ve had in a while — making the region even eerier than it is in the sun.

Today was mostly a driving day with little short stops, in between sprinkles and mist. We visited dozens of small towns — Ortasehir, Goreme, Ayvali, Kaymakli (an underground city built for as many as 30,000 people with hundreds of rooms and chambers), and Ursehir — each with its own character.

Once we got to Kaymakli — before entering the underground cave city, — we decided to have a quick lunch — not such a simple task, since as a tourist town everything was closed as this is not tourist season — Kazymakli is not much of a town.. a bit seedy, rundown, and focused solely on getting tourists to see the underground city (which is quite an amazing structure).  Anyway, we stumbled on a large, new building (very uncharacteristic for this area and certainly for this town of just a few thousand residents) and realized that it was a hotel… so we figured having lunch there would make sense — no need to worry obsessively about water, etc. We entered the building, which was set back from the street, into a very grand lobby area, but it was completely dark. At first we thought that the hotel was closed but then as I approached the reception desk a woman came out from inside and greeted me. Still the lights stayed off. I asked about lunch and she said we could eat in the restaurant — she then proceeded to phone the restaurant staff to alert them that we were coming — just down the hall from the lobby. We entered a huge restaurant (seats for about 300 people) but it was dark too… Then a waiter appeared with menus, and about 10 minutes later as we sat in the dark, some lights were turned on. We’ve decided this is a very good eco approach to energy consumption… after all we were the only two people eating.

The waiter said he spoke English, but the conversation was really tough… We think he explained that they were only serving the snack portion of the menu, as he kept pointing to that… Then he said they had “pizola.”  Knowing that Turks have a pizza-like dish (called pide) we thought he was trying to use the English word “pizza” but not saying it correctly. He kept motioning that the dish was a circle.. so we said fine. Then he came back to tell us that they only had the chicken. So two chicken dishes it was.

From there and after the cave city (which we didn’t explore thoroughly as Mike was a bit unsure of the electricity after seeing the hookups, and was certain we’d get stuck in the lowest level of the cave city (about 8 stories below ground) without any light.. and that there could be an earthquake. Frankly, I was glad he made the call. I’m a bit claustrophobic and had other concerns. In any case, I can tell you that these civilizations that built these cave cities must have been very, very short, because I (at 5′) had to hunch over to get through the passageways. My guess is that they were about 4′ tall. I would have been a giant!

We then meandered through many more towns and valleys, climbing and winding through gorges and deep ravines and up to towns perched precipitously on hills…  We made several detours, pretty much visiting every nook and cranny of a community… many so well off the beaten path that signage just didn’t exist.

We had heard of a restaurant in Ayvali where they prepare a fixed menu each night in very traditional old-style ovens. We decided to seek it out. We found it (after a few mis-trials) up a very winding narrow stone path with hairpin turns. It looked quite cute. But it had a padlock on the door. A woman was tending chickens on the side of the building. I decided that she was probably no more than 50 years old, but was so hunched over she could pass for 80; she was very friendly and just chatted away in Turkish to us. Eventually after we had smiled nonstop for about 10 minutes she motioned for us to wait. We assumed correctly that she was going to get someone else to help us. It was the owner, or so we think. He didn’t speak any English either, but did speak German. We knew enough German to understand that the restaurant is closed in the winter — only open from March to October.

We then meandered back to Goreme (taking the long route by accident) to schedule a bath and massage at the local hammam for tomorrow. It’s an old hammam in the traditional style, except that it is co-ed. Should be interesting. (Given that it is not tourist season, my guess is that it could be just Mike and me, but who knows)

Tonight we need to study up on communal hammam etiquette. (When we lived in Finland, we learned sauna etiquette; not sure it’s the same. )

We then drove to Mustafashapa, where one guidebook had mentioned a unique restaurant where all cooking is done on the tandir in the center of the room. Initially we couldn’t find it. It’s called Old Greek House (because it is located in an old Greek house — very clever branding).. We saw a sign for Upper Greek House and figured it must be the same place and that “Upper” and “Old” could be lost in translation. We climbed uphill and came upon a totally charming house amid the rubble… and just as we pulled up, a Mercedes stopped. Turns out to be the owner. We inquired about dinner for tonight and he explained that he owns the Upper Greek House and the Old Greek House. Dinner would be at the Old Greek House. He led us there, and we said we’d be back at 8. So, that’s tonight.

As I said earlier.. it’s all about the food.

It’s about 6 miles from Urgup where we are staying. Found our way to the “Old” Greek House — at about 8 pm — quite a feat in the dark. En route we were stopped by a police road bock.. Not sure what they were doing — there were at least a dozen cops and a police van or two.. Once they realized we only spoke English and we just said Old Greek House, Mustafapasa.. they just moved the road block and let us through.  Well, once again, a very exclusive dinner at the Old Greek House (which by the way is a totally charming 300 year old building with very high vaulted ceilings and many many rooms).. just Mike and me.. no other diners. My guess is that this place is quite busy in summer months (or I certainly hope it is.) Not sure why they remain open in winter, but we were glad they did. They had a staff of four preparing and serving our meal, and I can attest to the fact that by the time dessert arrived, they were all standing at the door in the main room waiting to leave. Can’t say I blamed them. Food was good and lots of it. They served either a 5 course, or 6 course or 7 course meal. We decided to get just one 7 course meal and share.. I cannot imagine how any single person can eat that meal.

We rambled back to our little cave house..

Best —
Fern

December 25 evening and misc.

Forgot to mention that we stumbled upon a local women’s co-op in Goreme.. a hole-in-the-wall shop making wonderfully embroidered necklaces and bracelets. The woman in the shop – Muslim with head scarf – was quite friendly and we chatted (although language was a challenge)  in short sentences with small words..  Seems as if she and her sister were making these items and selling at a local market. They did well, with people liking the stuff – especially tourists, I presume – and so they taught some other women to make the items and some other items as well.. and about 3 years ago the 10 women opened the shop. They could use a bit of marketing help, and I have to admit that with each of these trips I consider the possibility of spending some time in several of these developing countries – especially in smaller villages — to provide some kind of help, but then I always fear the inevitable — some kind of commercialization and change in the product??

Anyway, tonight we headed out to dinner in Urgup to a restaurant we had read about called Ahra — supposedly they serve the best “manti”.. which we learned are very very tiny gnochi-like pasta with lamb stuffed inside, served warm on a bed of roasted tomatoes, with a tangy Greek-style yogurt on top, and a tiny splash of chili oil.

We had the address, and Urgup is quite small as you might imagine (population 17,000 — about the size of Albany, CA). It has one main street that sort of meanders and as everywhere in this region, it has lots of levels and steps going up and down streets. (Accessibility is clearly not a high priority anywhere here.)

We drove into town (having already walked back and forth from the hotel to the center a few times) and thought we knew where the place was. Well after a few failed attempts, we asked some people. First a man on the street who told us to park our car and just walk 50 meters.. well that was definitely wrong. Then we asked another guy.. standing with a group of men.. They talked about it.. and discussed it and I could see that if they did know the restaurant, they could not describe to us how to get there.. Finally, one guy said to wait (while he got his take-out “pide” — a Turkish pizza) and then he and his friend would show us the way. OK.. a plan. They had a motor bike.

We waited.. they got their pizza (to go) and we followed the motor bike (a bit reminiscent of following the cops in Urfa, but no lights flashing).

As he slowed down and pointed to a restaurant… we looked up and it was not Ahra. He left (to eat his pizza I assume) and he took us to a different restaurant probably owned by a relative.

Now we were determined to find Ahra. So we went back to our cave hotel and asked there. Again, lots of discussion. Four men at the hotel (all various workers) argued back and forth with lots of hand motions.. about what directions to give. Now I thought the restaurant must be out of town or something.. Anyway, one of them decided to draw a map (no one – not even the hotel – seems to have a map of the town).. with lots of landmarks.. Two of the guys spoke no English; the third’s English was sort of like my Spanish.. lots of words but very little in the way of verbs and grammar.  However we finally got the map to make sense with landmarks like the clock tower, a bank, the hamam, etc… And off we went — only to wind up at that same restaurant that the motorbike took us to… We rolled down the window and asked where Ahra was .. and learned that the restaurant had changed its name.. same “chief” they told us, just new name.

OK.. mission accomplished: manti was wonderful and we also shared a pistachio stuffed steak.

Take care –
More tomorrow when we explore the Ilyhara Valley and attempt to find a pottery workshop in Avanos.
Fern

Merry Christmas.
If I have the time correct, it’s Christmas morning in California and NY and Hawaii and Chicago and NY and Phoenix; and it’s already evening here in Turkey, and in some other places where this email is headed.  So Merry Merry..

There is no sign of Christmas here in Turkey … No Santas, no decorations, no singing.
We spent a wonderful day today exploring dozens of magical centuries-old communities built into the rock formations here in Urgup, Goreme, Avanos, and a several other towns nearby. The weather has been perfect. We hiked about a mile and a half — pretty steep terrain — into one of the cave areas to see one of thousands of “cave churches;” it’s really hard to describe the formations and the remains of these settlements. Maybe “lost in space?” or “mushroom villages”… They refer to them hear as “fairytale chimney villages”.. That works for me.

What’s really fantastic is seeing contemporary life going on literally next door to some of these places and/or inside them.

The Yunak Evrli Hotel is still quite amazing; seeing it in daylight was even better than night time. And our little 750 sq ft cave works just fine; getting used to all the levels.

I’m convinced that the tool that’s revolutionizing the globe is the cell phone. It’s quite funny to see them used by everyone from ages 8 to 80… in these very remote places. And of course it’s been great that Mike and I are carrying phones, so we can locate each other — which is sometimes a problem. I’m totally amazed that reception is as good as it is.. We are often separated by our wanderings.. and then a quick call.. and we at least know the other is still alive.. describing where we each are is another matter!

We’re glad we decided to stay here for four days. I gather most people just fly in for a day or overnight. There’s tons to see. Tomorrow we’re going to do the 4-mile hike in the Ilhyara Valley and also head to several more towns in the vicinity.

We’re off to dinner now to try the “manti”.. which is a specialty of this region.. described as Turkish ravioli.. but I think they are dumplings filled with lamb and yogurt.. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Ciao –

Fern

PS to Andy — Did you see us waving from the “window” of the cave in Goreme? We were trying to find you.

December 24 in Urgup, Turkey

I think I left off on the 22nd after we arrived at the Four Seasons, following our visit to Harran… in our “no-star” hotel… and the police escort story… Photos include Four Seasons… from nights of 22nd and 23rd.

So, yesterday (Dec 23)  was somewhat uneventful – a gray, but totally pleasant day – strolling Istanbul, with a brief stop at the Jewish Museum which is located in an old synagogue. The exhibit stresses the good relationship between the Jews and the Turks over many centuries and how the Turks supported many Jews during WWII — offering a haven against persecution. (Later in the day, it was interesting that when we stopped in a small shop, the  owner chatted with us a bit and revealed that he and the entire staff (all family) were Jewish and he explained his own background and that of his family.)

The days are quite short, made even more so by the fact that skies are pretty gray — so we ended our last night in Istanbul with dinner at an old restaurant somewhat far afield from where we were staying — up on the top floor (where the restaurant takes up the whole building — small building with small footprint) — 5 stories up, walking up a spiral staircase to a room with about 5 tables. It probably has a good view of the city in good weather. Won’t go into the menu, because it’s difficult to get a bad meal here.

We began Christmas Eve morning (which looked like it would be a nice sunny day — and much warmer than it had been in prior days) headed to the Istanbul Airport (now our fourth time)  By now we know the routine — plane will always be late, so just find a good place to wait… and have some reading materials available.

As we boarded the bus to the plane (to head to Kayseri) we were squooshed together with a very well-dressed Turkish couple whose English was impeccable. She was carrying a shopping bag of very well wrapped presents which she then told me were for her son in the Army (definitely the classiest gifts any soldier will receive this season). Like Finland and other countries, serving in the Turkish Army is compulsory (perhaps the great equalizer?). Turns out her son is stationed in Kayseri and they were visiting for the holidays (obviously not Muslims).

By the time we boarded the plane, we were fast friends and I learned that she had spent several childhood years in Knoxville, Tennessee. I laughed because I had detected a slight southern accent, but had been more struck by the fact that her English was flawless and had no hint of Turkish (which was, I believe the first time we encountered this)… Anyway, turns out that she and her husband also own a place in Boca Raton, Florida – where another son lives. We chatted a bit about Florida and how frequently they travel there (exchanging phone numbers – because she wanted us to have an emergency number after she realized we’d be traveling alone – without guides through to Antalya)…  After we deplaned and waited for baggage (yes we are checking bags for these small planes, especially since there are no upgrades), we chatted some more and she recalled a funny story:

She was in Boca and wanted to use the parking space belonging to a neighbor whom she didn’t know. When she saw the neighbor begin to pull out of the space, she ran to the car and blurted out “Are you’all fixin’ to leave now?” in a southern accent that she said comes to her when she’s tired… The Boca woman agreed to have her use the space, but then asked where she was from and she answered “Turkey”.. The Boca woman said “Oh — you must be from the Southern part of Turkey because of your accent!”

OK.. we rented the car, which was a kick, since once again EuropCar was not actually at the airport. But, a rep was waiting for us after we got out of the airport (it’s a very very small airport). He drove us to the office (explaining in the car how he sold carpets on the side—we tried to ignore that part of the conversation) and we signed all the papers and headed to Urgup. The drive was fairly easy — passing many of the cave dwellings , some inhabited, many abandoned — and signage good, until we got to the little village of Urgup. We asked several people and were eventually directed up the hill to Yunak Everli a cluster of 40 rooms built into an original set of 6 large cave houses and a mansion. We have a cave (with a definite 5 star rating) that is about 750 sq ft. It’s got four rooms – living room, bedroom, bathroom, and entry room. Lots of stairs and different levels — about three levels (all partial, not like three levels vertical).. The walls are white hand honed “rock”… The detailing is quite sophisticated in decor. We have one window at the front with a commanding view of lots of cave dwellings and the town (since we are up pretty high)… It’s colder than it was in Istanbul, but warmer than we imagined. They say that normally it would be about 10 degrees colder and that there would be a lot of snow.

Anyway, we’re excited to explore the area beginning tomorrow (Christmas Day). The cave dwellings go back to BC. Many of the surviving ones are from 3rd century AD – when the Christians were escaping the Romans.. then some from the 7th and 9th centuries when Christians were escaping the Arabs, and then later they attracted holy men and monks escaping the world …

There are supposed to be hundreds or thousands of cave churches here and an entire underground city. So far, our quick look shows that is similar to Gaudix in southern Spain (near Grenada) but more inhabited..

In the distance, we can see Mount Argaeus 12,800’… totally covered in snow and a gorgeous backdrop.. which erupted millions of years ago and flooded the region with a white lava which is the base of all the caves.. the lava is soft until it comes in contact with the air, making it carvable..

I’m off.. more tomorrow.

Fern

Hi All –

Wow!
Woke up in Urfa (as the Turks call Sanliurfa) and decided that although the Beyzade Konak Hotel was wanting in many ways and certainly remained in the no-star zone, it did have a little charm when the sun was shining… and that with a major facelift it could be quite nice, albeit a bit rough around the edges. We had breakfast at the hotel (included in our grand $30 price)… and then got our car from the “otopark” across the street — 24 hour service for $1… and we set off for the day – main destination: Harran.

Driving to Harran was fairly straight forward.. flat, good road, great weather. We got to the town and visited the beehive shaped mud houses (some still operational) built about 200 years ago. We also strolled through unbelievable ruins  — actually the whole country is filled with ruins that are just strewn about everywhere.. many are now part of the new infrastructure… Harran housed a major university around 300 BC, and a palace both of which were visible in parts amid piles of history laying about. Wherever you walk you got the sense you are walking in history — literally crunching it as you step on fragments everywhere.

The town (if you can call it that) is pretty sparse… As I was walking (somehow lost Mike for a while, but we later re-connected with the help of our cellphones) among sheep on the hill above the ruins of the university, I stumbled upon a middle school class of boys with their teacher on a field trip. The teacher was anxious to practice his English, so we chatted a bit and then lots of photos back and forth with the boys (who are studying English but were mostly too shy to speak to me)…

Harran is famous for its traditional ‘beehive’ adobe houses, constructed entirely without wood. The design which supposedly has been unchanged for thousand of years keeps the structure dry and makes them cool in summer and hot in winter. The “new town is actually about 2 kilometers away..

The people are ethnic Arabs… with 10-15 children in each family.. a group of which followed me around as I photographed.

From Harran we decided to drive to the Syrian border.. ok, ok, I know that everyone warned us not to stray… but it was so close (20 miles).  Pretty uneventful.. typical border.

Then driving back toward Urfa (enroute to Gazantiep where we would catch a late flight back to Istanbul for our evening of luxury) I stopped to photograph a two story building whose operations focused on drying out the skin of sheep on the rooftop (hudreds of sheep skins)… women laying them out — walking on the rooftop.) Sitting outside the building on a rug in the sun were three men and a few kids.. The men were clearly resting while the women did all the work. Men smoking and having tea.. Women working hard!

Anyway, they invited us to join them for some “chai”.. and we accepted.. So we all sat having a totally non-comprehensible conversation — them talking Turkish and we talking English… but all acting as if we understood each other… getting quite good at that… The women came down from the roof to join us, but sat on another rug just behind the men… But everyone was jovial.. there were several kids. Not sure who was with whom, and on the whole the men looked way too old to have such young children and way older than the women. By the way, the women were all rolling cigarettes and smoking too.

One thing we did understand in the conversation was that they like Obama… thumbs up… and then thumbs down for Bush. This has happened several times when people find out we are from the US (an identification we don’t use in any shops, because despite the fact that the dollar is useless, I guess we will always be considered “rich”, so prices inflate immediately — in the shops we pretend to be Finnish… since no one can speak that language, they leave us alone and all the hawkers disappear).. In one shop in Istanbul selling trinkets and Turksih candies, they had a photo of Obama from his visit to Turkey — with handwriting on the “sign” saying that this was Obama’s favorite shop..

We left our new friends after about 20 minutes of warm “conversation”… and decided to stop for a late lunch/ early dinner back in Urfa to give the place a second look… It was still dusty and grimy and noisy and more like towns in lower level developing nations of Latin America.. but it was lively and bustling. As we meandered through the town we stumbled on a decent hotel which – had we found earlier might have encouraged us to stay the additional night in Urfa.  Anyway, we ate and then headed to Gazantiep to catch the last flight back to Istanbul (and to our luxury room at the Four Seasons)… The drive was a bit intense, especially since the sun had already set; it was dark; and the pollution makes the air really thick, decreasing visibility.

But the roads are good and we got to the airport in time for the flight. Chatted with an Iraqi business man at the airport while in line, who was frustrated that airport personnel in Turkey do not speak English!

Arrived safe and sound into the lap of luxury at the Four Seasons. The hotel is built on the grounds of an old prison in the Sultanameht district of the city. It’s a bit over the top. Bathroom is probably about 200 sq feet… A bit of a jump from the Beyzadie in Urfa. A few comparisons — At Beyzadie they had slippers in the bedroom, but they had been worn by others (old leather slippers); here you get brand new terry slippers; there we had a bathroom that was about 25 sq ft, with everything taking place in that space – here we have a huge bathroom with many different “compartments;” there we had some shades on the windows, here we have electric openers for drapes and shades… but I’ll let the pictures talk for themselves when we are back.

It’s about 1 am now, I’m headed to bed. Looking forward to good weather tomorrow here in Istanbul… it’s really warming up — so much so that I’m concerned I don’t have appropriate clothing, as evrything I brought is for winter (boots, wool pants, heavy sweaters, etc.)

Hi All –
December 21 (Mike’s Birthday) –

Not even certain how to begin telling our day today… But I’m going to try to do it quickly as it’s nearly midnight and I still have to try to post my grades for ASU (somehow they didn’t post from here and I need to try again)..

We left our very sweet abode in the Sultanameht (old) district of Istanbul… right after breakfast; it looked like it might actually be a nice day, and headed to the airport to catch our 12:45 flight to Gazantiep (Antip, as the Turks call it).. We arrived with plenty of time and finally navigated the system of checking in, getting seats, going through security (they don’t seem to care about liquids), and locating the gate in the domestic terminal… Everyone tried to help us in English, but they really didn’t speak well…  we got to the gate side and decided to get a snack, when we looked at the boarding passes and realized they were for a 2:00 flight, not the 12:45 one..

No one on the gate side could deal with this, so we went back out of security to wait on a “problem traveler line”.. and were told (sort of) that the 12:45 plane wasn’t going (or it was going late) so they put us on the 2 pm flight, but no one had explained this… As it turned out both the 12:45 and the 2:00 flights left at the same time — at 3:15!!..

So we went through security again.. we were clearly not a risk.

The flight was uneventful (except hours later than anticipated and we had a two-hour drive ahead of us)…As in India, people tend to stand up as soon as the plane touches ground (sometimes sooner thatn that!) and start getting their bags and walking to the door… Mike had a chat with an elderly Turk sitting next to him, except that the Turk spoke no English and Mike’s Turkish is below zero.. Anyway, they kept laughing and the guy kept patting Mike on the back and arm.

We did meet a very nice young man who grew up in Gazantiep (a pretty nondescript working class, industrial town we soon learned) who was now living in New Haven, CT.. for the past 8 years.. coming home for two weeks to see family… he gave us his cell number, just in case we ran into any problems while in this south eastern area of Turkey where very few tourists come… Everyone that we told we were coming here was duly surprised. One Turkish guy who did speak English asked if we were spies (It’s very close to Syria… and just further east and south.. it’s near the Iraq border. We are being very careful not to wander to aimlessly…)

We landed, got our bags and headed to the car rental desk, only to find that EuropCar where we had a reservation and number was not at the airport and no one could explain where we should go.. We thought maybe it was off-site and we needed a shuttle but none could be found.. so we decided to go back to the terminal and rent with National.. Easier said than done. Once out of the airport you can only enter by going through security again.. so one more time we took off our shoes, etc. and started again, even though all we wanted was the car rental desk. Without a reservation we needed to go through the entire process of booking the car, without any language to convey type, duration, etc.  Anyway, we did it.. and off we went in our little Renault which they call Menange..

The drive was a little complicated because the directions weren’t completely obvious, but we made it to Sanlirufa with just a few wrong exits including one where we went about 5 miles and truly thought we were at the end of the earth in complete darkness.

Then the fun began… we got into town and had no idea where to find the hotel.. even with mapquest directions and GPS.. A little background.. we were never able to find or contact any hotel here in Sanliurfa — and now we know why — we did find a few on the Internet, but they did not look too appealing.. then we found one that looked acceptable.. and we couldn’t make contact.. We asked the Istanbul hotel to book it for us and they did, but they said they knew nothing about hotels there.

So we stopped twice to ask people by showing them the name and noone knew where it was.. Finally we saw a police car and we knocked on the window and asked them.. but they didn’t know either..They called someone who didn’t know … and then they went into a restaurant (with me standing outside and Mike in the car)… and someone in the restaurant explained where to go… The cops came out and motioned that we should follow their car.. complete with lights flashing the entire way.. and they literally escorted us to the hotel. There is no way we could have found it.. It took dozens of turns in streets and tiny alleys..

But lo and behold we arrived… Unfortunately the hotel is… well, not quite up to a one quarter of one star in a 5 star rating scale.. The price is certainly right.. $20 with breakfast!! All along the way, we looked at other options (and again as we walked to “dinner”).. but the other options seemed even worse..

Our room is difficult to describe.. The shower is in the bathroom just above the toilet. We have very strange window coverings. To get to the room you have to walk up two sets of stairs from outside and since it was raining the stairs were sort of muddy… I took pictures of the room, so I’ll say no more. I can only think what those cops were thinking as they led us here. (Mike was hoping we’d be able to go through red lights)

Anyway, there is a nice couple here with a young child — from Australia. He’s a mosque buff and has traveled extensively in Turkey.. Brave souls — they are staying in this hotel for 5 nights.

We, on the other hand, have decided that one night will be enough and that we can see what we need here in Sanliurfa in one full day.. We are planning to get up early.. I don’t think that will be a problem as I probably won’t sleep.. and there is a heater in the wall that when turned on sounds like what I imagine the Wright brothers first plane sounded like.. So we will head to Harran — the main reason we headed this way — to see the conical mud dwellings and some other rural indigenous structures and villages — and then we’ve rebooked ourselves back to Istanbul for tomorrow night.. and will stay at the Four Seasons!!  If we average out tonight’s rates with tomorrow night’s rate, it just comes to two expensive nights.. not two outrageously expensive nights..

And poor Mike — this was his birthday. We went to the “best” restaurant in town.. Let’s just say it won’t be on the list of great eateries in Turkey–or anywhere else in the world.

But I don’t want to totally mis-judge Sanliurfa, I’m sure seeing it in daylight will be much better. I cannot say the same for the hotel.

It’s been an adventure.. Not sorry we did it, and I think Harran will make up for it all. We catch an 8pm flight tomorrow night.. After this brief unexpected return interlude in Istanbul, we head to Kayseri and Capodocia and then drive to Konya and on to Antalya.

But hey — I’ve been able to connect wirelessly.. although I have no idea where this connection is coming from. You’d laugh if you saw this room — complete with one electric outlet and I’ve got cords all over the place.

Best —
Fern

Hi all –

Where to begin.. It was a very busy day..
First – it was warm(ish) .. About high 50s, maybe even 60 at mid-day. Balmy breezes; not really sunny, but a perfect day for walking  and traveling. No rain (although it is really pouring now (11 pm)..)

We took off in the morning for Ortakoy, a small neighborhood across  the Golden Horn from Sultanameht (where we are staying)… We  thought it would be best to take a ferry up the Bosphorous to get  there, but alas no ferries operate that way, so we took the metro (tram)  and then transferred to a city bus. Ortyakoy is a sweet little village on the water and is much like any waterside town – a bit of  honky tonk, lots of shops (that don’t sell much of anything  substantial) and weird kind of fast food restaurants (that sell huge baked potatoes with all sorts of fillings that you choose – olives, cheese, yogurt, pickles, corn, peas, sausages, beets, hummus, mushrooms, etc. and toppings like ketchup, salsa, butter, mustard, etc.) and waffles onto which you can put fresh or canned fruits,  nuts, syrups, preserved cherries, apricots, etc. nutella.. and more. Eventually we caved in and shared a potato, but limited the fillings to hummus, yogurt and corn – which the vendor thought was quite bare.

We sat at the river for a while contemplating how peaceful the area was — just 15 minutes from downtown bustling Istanbul, and then headed  back.. This time we took the tram all the way to another part of the city — Fatih, which is supposed to be a very conservative Muslim community. We walked the neighborhood for a few hours – a real working class area––pretty nondescript, and eventually went to a little park, across from a hospital and just watched the activities.  Pretty tame – parents and kids on swings and typical park  accessories. Probably the only things different from a little park  in the Bay Area were fathers smoking and moms with head scarves. (Mike and I busied ourselves with a game of scrabble on my Iphone.)

At some point, a group of young people asked us to photograph them. Lo and behold they were Turkish students who had been selected to be Fulbrighters and who had lived in the states – both in California.

The little park is close to an old Roman Aqueduct that traverses the  major road.. An interesting mix of old and new.. With the cars on grade level going  directly through the arches.. The arches looming high above and kids walking and playing on the top of the aqueduct! The city is like  that – old and new just sort of living in the same space.

From Fatih, we hopped a cab (for speed) to the funicular in the  Karakoy neighborhood. We heard the area above Karakoy (fishmarket  area where we had the great lunch yesterday) was interesting. Got  out of the cab to catch the funicular up the hill – a pretty fast  ride going at about a 10% slope – much more modern than funiculars we’ve taken in Chile and other countries. When we disembarked and  got to the street we had a big surprise – blocks and blocks of  walking streets – thousands and thousands of people just walking back and forth… It was noisy and jovial. The streets were lined with 19th century facade buildings whose first floors  were transformed into quite modern shops, with every conceivable American chain store from North Face to Starbucks, but the walking  areas were so wide and so packed that the commercial ventures were  almost backdrops and not the main attraction. Off this grand carless “boulevard” were scores of little alleys filled with cafes and shops that sold local handmade goods, and small restaurants. Music was blasting from shops and cafes, and everyone seemed to be having a  great time. Indeed, on the second floor of one great old building an event was taking place and you could see straight into the ballroom and people were doing the hora (or maybe a Turkish equivalent!!)

After spending way more time there than we had anticipated, we headed back downhill.

I chatted with several of the craftspeople on the side streets and  learned that many of the shops selling crafts were doing the work as families – mothers, daughters, sisters, etc.

After getting back to the hotel, we headed off to our last dinner in Istanbul (and a pre-birthday for Mike, especially since I had no idea where and if I’d find a good restaurant in Haran or Urfa, our next stops and where we’ll be on Monday for his real birthday.. not sure what to expect there as we were never able to connect with any hotel…

Asitane was quite a culinary experience…. The menu was created by researching the origins of the menus from various Ottoman palaces, through writings.. Apparently the recipes were secret… they got the information from writings and then attempted to recreate the food based on what was written about what things tasted like and what ingredients were in the dishes..

So — they ate pretty well in the 15th and 16th centuries.. We purposefully picked items from the oldest periods….appetizers —  cabbage rolls stuffed with spiced chestnuts; spiced bulghar with nuts; main courses: quince stuffed with spiced minced lamb with cinnamon and other stuff; lamb casserole with almonds, figs, and apricots; dessert: pomegranate and other fruits in rosewater.. Food was fantastic, but it was sad as we were the only people eating.. The restaurant is quite off the beaten path.. and it was a Sunday night. Setting was elegant, but in a weird part of town.

We’re packing up now and bidding a fond farewell to Istanbul… which is a much better city, but less exotic, than I remembered.. probably because 20 years ago it was the first Muslim country I had visited, so the sounds and the calls to prayer and the prevalence of mosques was new and different. Less so for me now.

Take care — If I have cell and Internet service in Urfa you’ll hear from us… if not.. best for the holidays
Fern