On the road (and the sea) in Turkey

Hello everyone! Where did the time go? I have much to share with you, but for now, I am sitting in the Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt awaiting my flight to Newark, NJ. I must apologize for missing the last few days of our trip. As Esther mentioned in her comments, we left Izmir and flew to Cappadocia, landing in the airport at Kaseryi. My recollection (without my notes) is that of a landscape of vineyards, pumpkin patches (grown for the seeds only) and “fairy chimneys”. Our guide told us about the eruption of Mt. Ercyes and Mt. Hasan about 10 million years ago covering the underlying plateaus with tufa (a soft stone made up of lava, ash and mud), Subsequent rain, wind and flooding shaped this tufa into a striking landscape of cone-shaped monoliths called “parabaca”. I guess the translation is “fairy chimney”. These landscape oddities have to be seen to be believed. On the way to our hotel in Urgup, we stopped along the side of the road to view a cluster up close. Marty and I took the challenge to climb among this eerie landscape and view them from all angles. Simply mystifying!

Our arrival at our Cave Hotel in Urgup was also an eye-opening experience. A hotel carved out of the landscape of tufa. No two rooms were identical. Each cluster of rooms had a very nice “terrace” for “just relaxing”. But we did not do much of that while in Cappadocia.

So this entry is just a teaser, I have more to share with you later along with some great pictures. Until my next entry…..

Blogging from the roof of the tufa-rock hotel

On this, the last day of the group portion of the trip, I want to record some thoughts and promise to go back and “fill in” some of the days we missed with the packed schedule of wonderful activities (and meals).   It has been so nice for all of us to hear from you that you have been reading this. This is my first experience with a blog, and I love the connectedness to all of you.  It will be interesting when my travel companions leave when my main conversational partners about the experience become you back in the broader Chatham community.

Tufa-rock construction

This morning Marty Carson said to me “Pinch yourself; look, listen!”  And she was right!  A couple of photos are coming along to join this post from the roof of our “cave hotel” (and no, room service is not by bats, but many of the rooms are indeed caves–dug into the soft volcanic “tufa” rock) so that you can see for yourself the picturesque and distinct beauty of this strange landscape.  Add to that that accordion music was playing in the background.  Those who took the hot air balloon trip yesterday will tell and show you more, but this is an amazing set of vistas, on this semi-arid steppe which nonetheless supports viniculture, pumpkins in proliferation, and the omnipresent eggplant.  (In fact, when we did the traditional “12 days of Christmas”–yes, we did that–reworded as “Eight days in Turkey” for our farewell dinner, the first entry was “One giant eggplant”!”).

You also have a photo of the rooftop breakfast area, and the many cats who live at the hotel (and on the streets) are so assertive that I saw one climb up about a 12 foot “tufa” wall as if it were the softest tree bark.

One of the many tufa-climbing cats

When we fly back to Istanbul today, it will be a “last afternoon” of fun and chat.  I am hoping we get to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art as well as the Hamam (traditional Turkish bath–thought about where the phrase “turkish towel” comes from?  It’s all that wonderful cotton and the great bathing traditions).  But we shall see.  I suspect the lure of pashminas and last chance to haunt the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market may have us understandably going there.  Such beautiful craftsmanship here, and a shopping environment which is not as pressured as it is in so many other countries which have markets with small competing stalls selling similar goods.

I almost wrote “developing countries” in that last paragraph, but that has been one of the interesting things about Turkey.  Surely more off the beaten tourist path Turkey shows signs of being at least in part a “developing” country, but as one of our number remarked, this hardly seems like a “developing country.”  Instead, it seems like a country with strong and living traditions, that is looking very much to the future and building the infrastructure and business to support a modern future.  I have  been in Egypt, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Oman, and this country has much of the same rich antiquity as Egypt, but little of the plastic modernity of the Gulf region.  It is most decidedly not a Arabic nation, but one with people with quite varied appearance from blondes with green eyes to lovely angular dark faces.  I am so excited a class of Chatham writers are coming here and I can’t wait to read what their observations are.

Tomorrow begins my return to academic relationship building.  I will visit Robert College, probably the most selective prep school in all of Turkey.  Once I had Robert College students in my Hamilton classes and they were among the best students I ever taught.  Also, I will go to Bogazici University where Orhan Pamuk studied and meet with the Rector (who leaves the next day for St. Louis–this is a very Americanized faculty), and in the afternoon to Yeditepe University where we will meet with an Ottoman food historian and the gastronomy department.  Later in the week, I will meet with Fulbright and the Consulate’s educational advisors to give them hands full of  Chatham info “sticks”.

Still trying for more meetings, but had very good meetings in Ankara, and will be satisfied if some of these pan out to be “live” for future connections.  There is great interest in our writers coming because they are interested deeply in American culture and English language studies.  Also, Ankara University is interested in finding a partner to do advanced nursing studies in English.  This is a wonderful place and building these links could significantly advance the educational environment for our students and faculty.

Oh–and wasps?  There are traps all around the dining area, but foolish me, I thought that’s where wasps went.  Until one lighted–in a vulnerable posterior spot on me in the midst of an engaged conversation with a Canadian couple.  Ah, well, maybe the hamam will help… Kind regards to everyone–

Esther

Another beautiful day in Turkey! After breakfast, we boarded our air-conditioned van for a 2-hr excursion which ended at the site of the Temple of Apollo (Artemis’ twin). What a magnificent sight! I am truly unable to describe the amazing architecture seen at this site. The intricate details in the columns of this open-air temple were exquisite. There were the remains of carvings of Artemis, Apollo, Leto (mom) and Zeus (dad). Even Medusa appeared to be having a “good-hair” day, with her snakes intact. After lots of picture taking by the group, we traveled through an enclosed walkway that opened into an inner courtyard. The remnants of a fountain house which framed the “Oracle Spring” could be seen. Our guide told us that the Oracles would dip their robes into the Spring and would receive “visions”. I hiked up a massive number of steps just to get a picture down into the Courtyard. I also have a picture of me at the top of the steps flanked by two columns with the clear azure blue sky in the background . The comparison is striking! This Temple was never completed because they ran out of money (sound familiar) and was subsequently destroyed in an earthquake (they probably didn’t have insurance to rebuild). But I am thankful that I was able to experience this walk through history, touching IT, absorbing IT! So far, this travel experience has been absolutely wonderful and tomorrow it’s off to Cappadocia, where a hot-air balloon ride awaits!

Dr. Lynette Charity

Lynette’s very apt description of the Temple of Apollo needs no enhancement, so I will just say that its vastness seemed appropriate to its function as the home of an oracle. Upon leaving Didyma, the location of the Temple of Apollo, we drove along the Aegean coast past miles of fields filled with white puffs of cotton ready to be picked. Groves of olive trees were also a common sight. Our route took us south of Izmir to a national park which was home to a small restaurant known for delicious seafood. We enjoyed a lunch of olive, tomato, pepper salad and sea bass, grilled and served whole with its head on. For dessert there were large bowls of fresh figs. We ate in a pavillion right on the beach and accompanied by a colony of ducks who were very happy to join us for a bit of bread. Instigators Esther and Lynette got most of us to take off our shoes and socks, rolls up our pants and go wading in the surf – great fun! After lunch we climbed back on our bus where our very patient leader, Jale Robertson, gave us another history lesson. On the way back to Izmir we stopped at a small village whose inhabitants were originally Greek; after one of the many conflicts (I am still pretty confused about who fought whom for what and when – not surprising when you consider that it all started about 6,000 BC – one group after another conquering and being conquered) the Greeks moved out and the Turks moved in. Anyway the village is tiny,but sustains a thriving market where one can buy clothing, nuts, spices, produce, toys, shoes, jewelry, table linens. Tourists and locals alike seem to shop there. We are so impressed at the friendly, kind way of the Turks. Everyone has been so nice to us.
Another lovely day learning and enjoying!

Marty Carson

Hello everyone! It’s 11:02 p.m. here in Izmir, Turkey (formerly Smyrna). What a busy day it was today. After a jam-packed 2nd day in Istanbul visiting the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Grand Bazaar and learning about carpet making, we retired quite late only to leave at 7 a.m. today for the airport. Our destination: Ephesus! But before going there we visited a museum which held many of the artifacts that have been recovered from the site.

As a physician, one in particular caught my eye. It was a statue of the god, Priapos. The word “priapism” comes from his name. I will allow you to gather more information on your own and I’m sure you will find it “interesting” reading. We stopped in a lovely village (away from the tourists) to have lunch. In Kirazli, we were treated to a feast of Turkish delights. Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, grape leaves stuffed with rice, yogurt and a dessert to die for! Some of us tried a local wine which was quite tasty (I had two glasses). After lunch we headed to Ephesus. Arriving there around 4 p.m., there were only a few other visitors present. We were told that from the time of today’s opening to the time we arrived, 12,000 visitors had viewed the ruins!

A highlight of our tour was being able to visit the Terrace Houses, presently under restoration. These homes were believed to belong to the wealthiest Ephesians in the 2nd century CE. Beautiful examples of mosaics and frescoes were present. These homes had running hot/cold water, a sewage system and were heated from beneath the floors. Our tour culminated in a trek to an amphitheater where we sat for a while trying to take in the enormity of all that we had seen today. Following a 2-hr drive back to Izmir, checking in to our Hilton Hotel, we scattered to the comfort of our rooms to prepare for tomorrow.

Basilica Cistern – We went to this remarkable antiquity – a huge underground vault that supplied part of Istanbul with water during Roman times. The water came from aqueducts and filled this vast area (about the size of a football field) to a depth of around 2 feet. The Basilica Cistern has been restored and opened to the public. The significant architectural elements are underground. You can enter by going into a structure that looks like a very ornate subway entrance; then you descend a set of stairs and see this vast underground cavern punctuated by enormous columns that support the roof, and you feel more as if you might be in some sort of cathedral or mosque than in a place whose sole purpose is to supply water to part of a city. The columns were brought from various areas all over Asia Minor, so represent several different styles and decoration. Two huge heads of Medusa appears at one end, submerged in the water; one on its side, the other upside-down. It is believed that when something is turned upside-down in the water, the evil drains out of it.

We left there in amazement only to be further amazed by the Hagia Sophia; it started its life as a church, became a mosque and is now a museum. Many areas have been restored and show its life as a church of the Byzantine era. Partially restored, Intricate mosaics depicting various scene of Christian theology can be viewed. After the Ottomans conquered Constantinople the church became a mosque and was endowed with minarets. Many elements of its Muslim like have been restored as well. The most significant architectural feature is its enormous dome and its four smaller supporting domes. Its design and construction was an engineering feat unequaled in its time and for many centuries to come.

We had a delicious lunch of Turkish specialties at the Pudding Shop and then continued on to the Grand Bazaar where everyone enjoyed a brief shopping spree – exotic spices, jewelry, scarves. Next stop – The Turkish carpet dealer. A friend of our wonderful guide Jale Robertson talked to us about Turkish carpets, their history, significance and how they are made; then he and his helpers showed us as many rugs as we wanted to see – with great patience.

Back to our hotel very tired and ready for a rest.

Today was the “official” start of our tour of Istanbul, Turkey. After a wonderful breakfast, our group boarded a van that took us to Topkapi Palace, once the home of Suleyman the Magnificent. It is in the heart of the Sultanahmet District. In 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror chose this location which overlooks the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn for his “Command Center”. Ottoman sultans used this palace until mid-19th century. The highlights of our tour included visits to “The Harem”, “The circumcision room”, and the “The Baghdad Pavilion” (built to celebrate the conquest of Bagdad by Sultan Murat IV). The Hall of Holy Relics had a queue that stretched almost back to the entrance by the time we arrived there. Within its walls, there is a collection of some of the most significant holy items of the Muslim Faith, brought to Istanbul in the 16th Century.

I truly enjoyed learning the massive history of this city through our guide and observing the throngs of visitors that lined every aspect of this palace that was opened to the public. The architecture, the history, the wonderful views of the Bosphorus stimulated my senses. I hope to return someday because this is not a place that you can fully appreciate in a few hours. Once we left the Palace it was off to lunch and a wonderful cruise on the Bosphorus. Anyone interested in a nice “fix-me-up” second home for 120 million?! And once I figure out how to do it, I have some great pictures.

The site of our wonderful four-hour meal!

It is late, so I am going to give only the outlines of an extraordinary day and ask for a little help on the homefront posting photos later.

Today started (as we waited for our final three group members to arrive) as some of us visited Cigdem Simavi, whom we were connected with through Mitch Crites, one of our guides on a trip to Mughal Garden remains in India a few years back..She has started the Foundation for Fine Arts and Cultural Heritage, working to preserve both traditional crafts like women’s embroidery, but also to support contemporary artists. the collection in her home was extraordinary, with a Degas dancer in the living room set against the Bosphorous in the background. Andy Warhol was in abundance in her collection. She has started many interesting projects, including a private college and secondary school operated by her family, which I hope to visit before I leave. With her strong urging we went to a costume museum show that had many of the spectacular “oya” (?) embroidery/tatting type of work which incorporates horsehair and was used to edge and make elegant fine garments historically. It is that work, along with contemporary art and artists she is working to promote.

We took a ferry across the Bosphorous, to the “Asian” side, and went to a true event: lunch at CIYA, operated by Musa Dagdeviren’s in Kadikoy. There is far too much to report about this to tell it all tonight, and I want the other attendees to also remark, but this was a delicious provocative event! Musa, who does not speak English, and is wife communicate through a translator and their actions great commitment to ideas that we might identify with Slow Foods and sustainability. His approach is nonetheless fresh and uncliched, with challenges to the developing orthodoxies that portend a new rigidity on the order of what Ihave heard described about the “Fair Trade” labeling of coffee products, etc., in Central America. I hope that is enough to tantalize you to read more as we tell you more about what he does/believes. The food–forget the theory for the moment–was some of the best I have ever had with none of the greasiness/heaviness that I often associate with food served in Greek restaurants, the closest cuisine I have experienced in restaurants. Beginning with a huge array of mezze (appetizers), we moved right through desserts consisting of things such as preserved and sweetened pumpkin, olives, walnuts as well as more customary dishes of sweet cheese with pastry, or pastry around ground pistachios and sweetened cream made of buffalo milk. Musa has bought a farm outside of Istanbul and is producing not only food for the restaurants, but also partnerships with his neighbors to make cheeses the traditional way using milk from their goats. he is very committed to food anthropology and in a new quarterly journal he and his wife, a former journalist, produce (sadly for us, in Turkish–with gorgeous photographs , and clever sketches) he offers 7 “lost” traditional recipes each time that he has researched by talking and cooking with women in the villages, as he also gives them a cooking lesson from his reportoire in turn. If this were not enough, the meal ended with a chocolate cake, banana decorated, and sparklers for Marty Carson for whom this was a special birthday. There are wonderful opportunities for us to connect with Musa, and I hope our faculty and students who are traveling this spring will be able to get to the restaurant.

Hello, Everyone, from Istanbul, Turkey! It is Saturday night and I have been in Turkey since Wednesday evening. I was in Ankara, the capitol city, and only arrived in Istanbul today, where I have met other members of the group. So far, Marty Carson and Lynette Charity, Gail and Dick Brown, Sibby McCrady, and Mary Kay Poppenberg have arrived and more of us are due tomorrow. Three of just just returned from a surprising Saturday evening strolling on Istiklal. We are staying in Taksim, at the Central Palace Hotel, in what is a lively part of the City. Tonight certainly proved that with great numbers of young people out strolling, live music (erhu, oud, the former sounding almost Appalachian), the usual mechanical toy vendors, and a wonderful friendly spirit on the street. There are very few “covered” women, and more jeans I think than you might even see in NYC. All the usual suspects–Adidas, Starbucks, Nike, MAC–are around, but also ice cream vendors wearing fezzes and doing “magic” tossing cones into the air, twirling them, and so forth. Istanbul is decidedly not just another major homogenized world city.

I went to Ankara first for two days to try to 1) find a partner institution to facilitate study abroad and joint programs, and 2) to get “on the list” of places the Turkish government wants to send their students with scholarships for graduate work. We shall see if the connections, which were greatly facilitate by US State Department and Fulbright, pan out, but I am hopeful. I will sign out for now, just telling you this is a grand trip and one I am happy that others will also experience as the MFA program and Chatham Abroad head to Turkey later this year.

I am going to ask my travel companions to also write in this space. I hope you can enjoy the trip with us! Lynette Charity is taking photos that will show even better than our words what a remarkable place this is. I hope we can get some State Department commentary to explain to us what the vote on the constitutional amendment meant last weekend about the future preservation of the seeming balance between religion and secularism in this vibrant country. Our remarkable guide Jale Robertson is a Turk, and holds advanced degrees in political science can also cast light. We will share what we learn as we learn it. Hope you have a great Sunday.

As part of the 2010-2011 Global Focus Year of Turkey, Chatham University President Esther L. Barazzone, Ph.D. joins alumni and friends on a tour of Istanbul, Ephesus, & Cappadocia from September 18-27.

During her travels Dr. Barazzone will keep an online journal of her thoughts and experiences in this dynamic country.