I left Marmaris and made my way back up the coast towards Istanbul with a few stops along the way. My first was to the ancient Roman ruins of Miletus set in a valley surrounded by cotton fields. This site is enormous covering dozens of square miles with only a fraction of it unearthed. Driving and walking into the place one is on top of most of the city. The main site here is a large Amphitheater. Seems like all the ancient cities have a theater of some sort. I wonder what type of shows where played here? Who spoke to the people? What about? Why did people gather here? What class of people where in attendance? All sorts of questions flood the mind in amazement at such construction thousands of years old and yet I can see the same basic structure that we have today in modern day stadiums.
About 10 miles away across the valley is the Greek ruin city of Priene, set on a mountain side cliff. Built slightly before Miletus they overlapped in history by several hundred years, something I find fascinating. While both are built of stone there is a definite difference in the architectural style of columns and structures. I could spent weeks in Turkey visiting the hundreds of different sites. I feel free and can play like a child letting my imagination go with how life must have been.
My last night along the coast is spent in Kusadasi, a very modern hip western town with very little tourist wise to see. I picked it based on location for me to make it back to Istanbul. While here I had the great fortune of making new friends with Scott and Amanda, a couple from Austin, TX on an around the world journey as well. Only they are 4 months ahead of me and started in South East Asia. What great fun to share stories and exchange information on what and where to go with like minding people. If anyone’s interested there photo blog is www.amandaandscott.us
Ah back in Istanbul for a couple days to hit all the tourist sites. I make it to the Blue Mosque and watch as worshipers ritually wash their feet before entering for prayer. I roam through the Ayasofia, another mosque, and am amazed that in most places in the world one of the top tourist sites are places of worship. It’s incredible to me how ornate these buildings are and how much money must have been spent to build such lavish structures for the purpose of worshiping a higher power. In one sense it seems like a waste. Did the individuals, kings, pharaohs, emperors etc have egos so big they had a need to build one bigger or better than the last? Or is there some other meaningful reason to use such vast resources on these structures.
The Istanbul Museum of Antiquities is a collection of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian artifacts. It’s a much neater cleaner layout than the museum in Cairo, however the artifacts are just as amazing. Camera’s allowed and I’m elated to be able to capture pictures of such amazing craftsmanship. As I stare at a mummy of some Pharaoh, I wonder, if they had known several thousands years after passing they would become tourist attractions, have their grave sites invaded, stripped, and put on display for the public, would they have went to so great extent to preserve themselves? Would they have planned such ornate tombs?
I’m ashamed to admit I got hustled while walking around town and partially fell for it. In a crowd a kid with a shoe shine kit was walking in front of me when a shoe brush fell off the stand he was carrying with a clunk. I picked it up caught up to him and handed it back. He seemed grateful bowing in thanks and offered to buff my shoes for free. Not caring about getting my shoes buffed he insisted and I relented as it’s his way of saying thanks. One shoe into it he’s giving me a story about his mother in the hospital and I roll my eyes thinking this ain’t gonna be free. Sure enough when he’s finished with the sloppy quick job, he demands 8 lira (5 bucks). I’m incensed, this dirty little bastard begged me saying it’s free and now he wants money. I offer him a lira (75 cents) and he gets mad it ain’t enough. Pissed I toss the coin at him and walk off thinking he said it was free, so really I shouldn’t have given him anything. But hey I’ve got spiffy shiny waterproofed shoes. Later in the day roaming in a completely different section of town I discover how I got hoodwinked. Another guy with a shoe shine kit cuts in front of me and wouldn’t you know, with a small shake the brush falls off the kit and drops in front of me. The instant realization the falling brush was rigged to play on peoples helpful spirit, brings an enormous grin and laughter as I realize I fell for the little stinkers setup. He probably does this several hundred times a day and does pretty well with it. Wised up to it, I step on the guys brush and stroll past. It doesn’t take this guy long to turn around and notice I’ve blown past and he yells something, I’m sure some sort of insult. I walk ahead pull over and wait strategically to watch this guy play his trick. A second guy from a distance starts waiving his hands yelling in my direction as the guy with the shoe kit takes off in the other direction blatantly aware I’m on to their sham. I’m shocked he had a lookout and decide I’ll get the heck outta here. I wish I’d picked up the brush and thrown it over the bridge I was crossing. I wonder what kind of response that would have gotten. Probably better I don’t know.
My time in Turkey is drawing to a close. This is a wonderfully modern country on the outside with a mass amount of things to do and see for a tourist. As long as one doesn’t have to deal with the bureaucracy of government it’s an amazing place. I think in general it is a looked over destination by most American’s. In-spite of the shoe shine scam, the people here are very friendly, helpful, and genuinely polite. One will notice when riding a bus, subway, or tram if a women boards and there are no seats men will immediately stand and offer their seat to the lady. A gesture not seen elsewhere in the world. So simple yet it exemplifies the average quality of people in this land.
The Turkey pictures are posted as well as several videos from my time here. Also, I’ve went back through all the pictures and geo-coded them. Meaning if when on a picture page if you click on the slide show it will open a window of pictures where if you select a picture a Google map will show where it was taken. They are not coded to the exact location but rather to a general area. Ie the picture was someplace in “Tampa” etc. I hope this gives everyone an idea where I’ve been.
And now I’m off to the airport to catch my flight to Nairobi, for an African safari of a lifetime…
