The Newest Conundrum

Much to the chagrin of some of my closest family and friends, I have never been one to do anything simple. For college, I flew across the country to attend a school that I'd never even visited. I studied in Northern Ireland for a year, leaving a week after the 9/11 attacks. 

I also enjoy doing things that aren't the common activities. Yes, Israel is interesting, but Morocco is interesting AND exotic. Who wants to go hiking in the Grand Canyon when you can go hiking in Cappadocia, Turkey?  (Ok, some people would rather do those things, and that's wonderful. But I'm not normal...)

Add to all of this my personal fascination with ancient religion and traditions, and well, there are limited places that I have interest in. 

After my previous trip to Western Turkey, including just Istanbul and Cappadocia, I've felt myself wondering what's next for me. Morocco is on the top of my list, but I was extremely tired of the harassment I received from the men in Istanbul, and I've heard it's much worse in Morocco. I've also been considering Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, but I feel like there's plenty of time left in my life to go there.

The Middle East is a mess. I know it is. And people keep telling me to wait until it settles down. But here's what I think. It's not going to settle down. Not in my life time while I have the money and freedom to go (aka no family, kids, etc). And also there's the high probability that a lot of the sites I want to visit won't even exist in a few years. Militants and wars have destroyed Millennial-old archaeological sites in Iraq. 

I'd been considering Iran for a while. I know that more and more people are going from the West, especially from Great Britain. I've been particularly interested in Persia since College, and to actually go there would be a dream. However, I've recently come to learn about something even older than anything found anywhere else in the World. The site is called Gobekli Tepe and it is in Eastern Turkey. I'll talk more about the site in later posts, but add it to all of the Hittite sites and other historical sites, my stomach is all a-flutter about it. AND, there are a couple of tour companies that do trips specifically for people like me.

Obviously there is much research to do, but I'm afraid my family and friends may just have to have some patience with me. I'm fully aware of what's happening with ISIL in Syria and I am watching carefully and talking to friends and others in Turkey about the situation. I'm not buying a ticket yet, but I am looking into it.  

However, I'm also still eyeing Budapest/Vienna/Prague as a very excellent backup visit.  Or maybe I'll just save my money and time off and wait another year.  Maybe you can help me figure it out? But please don't assume I'm just going to go deposit myself in the center of a dangerous situation. Ok? Ok.

Adjustments

I am restless.  

I hadn't really seriously considered what would happen when I returned home. I had general plans that involved getting a cat, doing online dating again, and joining the church. Interestingly I no longer am sure that I want to do any of those things. It has been much harder than I expected to rejoin normal life.  As I told my colleague  it's strange to have left Portland feeling 100% satisfied with my life, only to return and not be so sure anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy, I'm just left wondering, what else is there? What are the other possibilities for my life? It's disconcerting because it's more comfortable to be feeling 100% satisfied. I've worked incredibly hard to get the life I have. I finally have a job that I love, a home that brings me comfort, and an amazing group of friends who bring me joy. Yet there's some piece of me that wants to uproot all of that, to challenge myself and what my life could be. 

As the days move on, I find myself relaxing back into daily life a little bit more, but I'm also hoping to hold onto the adventurous side of myself that had been in dormition for the last few years. I want to take some leaps of faith, challenge myself, and just see what happens. 

Also, I want to save money for another trip. Next time... Morocco? Thailand? Peru?

Here are some things I miss about Turkey:

-Turkish Tea

-Fresh fruit and nuts everywhere, not just at the farmers market once a week

Things I don't miss about Turkey:

-Getting hit on every second by all of the merchants

-Dodging traffic

Things I love about being home:

-My friends and family

-My bath tub

Here's to new adventures, at home and abroad.

Finale...or is it?

Thanks for your patience everyone. Immediately after arriving home to Portland, my family arrived and we drove to N. California for my Grandmother's Memorial service. There wasn't much time to myself, and I was pretty focused on being with family. But I'm back in Portland and hopefully I still remember what it was I was going to write about in my final blog!

My final day in Cappadocia was probably the most exhausting simply because by then I hadn't had more than 5 or 6 hours per night of sleep for the previous 3 nights.  Plus, we did a ton more walking. Cappadocia is a large place, and most people take buses to get from site to site, but we walked because we were awesome, or crazy.  We started at the Goreme Open Air Museum, which honestly was way too touristy for my interest, especially since I'd seen so many cave churches the day before minus all the crowds.  But of course, there was some great scenery regardless.

I make excellent scenery, no?

Seriously.  Amazing. 

The highlight of the day was walking up to the Uchisar Castle. It's about 6 km from where we were staying, but we got picked up by a group of French guys who gave us a ride for maybe the final 2 km (thank God). We explored Uchisar for a while, the castle was used by the Byzantine Army in the 15th and 16th century as a lookout for the coming Ottomans.  

Uchisar Castle from below.

After the castle, I was pretty wiped out and decided it was a good time to stop for some Turkish Tea (my favorite). There were some dark clouds rolling in, but I really wasn't too worried about them.  It was fortune that we waited for them instead of trying to beat them on our way back to Goreme, because let me tell you, we wouldn't have survived. The wind came out of nowhere and then there were buckets of rain and hail. It all lasted about 30 minutes, during which we were able to take cover in the cafe. The poor workers literally had to hang from the rafters of the awning to keep it from flying away!

Brave souls. 

The next morning I flew back to Istanbul for my final day. I spent the majority of the day resting, picking up last minute souvenirs  and finally I met my friend Kelly for a delightful afternoon of cheese and tea.  I could not have asked for a more perfect way to end the vacation, and the best part is that she and I started scheming a trip together. We're thinking Morocco...so stay tuned.

Cappadocia Part 2

After the magical balloon ride, a nap was in order before being picked up by our private tour guide provided by Honeycomb Tours. I can not recommend them enough, they paired us with a tour guide who tailored the day to our specific needs and interests.  In Turkey, to be a tour guide, you have to have a 4 year degree specifically geared towards tourism, which is brilliant because you can ask them questions about anything from history and culture to geography.  We learned a lot about how the landscape was formed through the centuries of volcanoes leaving layers of various ash and magma on top of one another.  He explained how the rock is different colors based on the different minerals found in sediment and how the rock has changed with erosion over time.

We went to the underground city of Kaymakli, the second largest of the underground cities in Cappadocia. Some estimate that up to 50,000 people lived in the city for up to 1 year at a time, but I personally think this is agressive.  Most likely, a couple of thousand at most lived there for 2-3 weeks, just enough time to hide from the Ottomans as they passed through on their way to Istanbul.  I didn't get a ton of pictures in the city, there wasn't much to take pictures of actually...

Living area, each family would sleep in one of those holes in the walls.  

As we got to a lower level, we could feel a cool breeze which was being supplied from the air shaft, allowing people to breathe underground.  They're still not certain about how smoke left the complex, but some of it was absorbed by the rock.

Next we went to Sobessos, a Roman-Byzantium city that was discovered just about 15 years ago. They are still in the process of exploring the site, it's been a slow process, but what we did see what pretty impressive.  The city is from the 4th century CE.

Remains of the Roman bath

Tile floor of the city's church

We also went to the village of Mustafapasha (once called Sinassos in Greek).  The town was primarily a Greek village until after World War I when all Christians (who happened to mostly been Greek) were forced to return to Greece and likewise all Turks (Muslims) in Greece were forced to move to Turkey.  So now the town is inhabited by Turkish people, but you can see the old Greek buildings, many of which are left empty still. 

Old Greek Church

Because of my interest in religion (which the tour guide was also very excited about), we went to a couple of old cave churches with some particularly spectacular frescoes. 

13th century (?) Jesus descending to hello to save those who are stuck there while stepping on Hades, he's such a jerk like that.

Difficult to see in the picture, but here we have an example of an older mural (darker on the right) from the 4th century covered by a newer one (on the left) from the 13th or 14th century.  

Finally, on the way back to Goreme, we stopped a pigeon valley, aptly named...

It was a great day over all, although extremely exhausting. I would definitely recommend a private tour the way we did it, just simply because you end up seeing things that you might not have seen on your own! Plus, you get the history lesson along with it!

Part 3 and the final installment of Cappadocia to come...

Patience and Understanding

Something happened on this trip that I did not expect nor want to happen, yet it is what I will remember and cherish the most from this mini journey. As this is a public blog, I will not share many of the details, but if you have ever seen the movie "Before Sunset," then you may understand. But as I tell you of the adventures I had in Cappadoccia, know that they are flavored and enhanced by this chance encounter and I am great full for what this encounter has done for my soul. 

I arrived in Goreme, Cappadoccia on Friday and met up with two of the friends I had met in Istanbul. One had not intended on meeting me there, but she had left her passport behind and asked me to bring it to her. The other decided to meet me in Goreme after traveling along the Black Sea. Along the way, we met others, and eventually, there were six of us trekking through the red and rose valleys. The plan was to go to a viewpoint to watch the sunset, and as we ascended, we were constantly rewarded with more and more impressive views. Additionally, along the path we came upon hundreds of years old churches, carved into the rock caves. At one point, we were delighted to come upon a remote cafe where we could buy water, fruits, and nuts, all grown right there around the valley. We were treated to Turkish Tea and conversation with a man who spoke not a word of English, but still managed to portray himself through gestures and hospitality. After a rest, we continued up to the view point. In normal circumstances, this hike alone would have been enough for me, but the rest of the group wanted to go higher to the top plateau. Sensing my hesitation and fear (up is fine, it is down that I dread), my new friends were encouraging and supportive. That coupled with the endorphins I felt just from the views, I put my brave hat on and endured. It was incredibly worth it. I have pictures, see below, but they really can not do justice to what we actually saw from the top where we saw the sun set over the colored valleys.

Me on the hike up.

Just one of our views from almost the top.

Spectacular.

It was dark as we hiked back down, fortunately we had one lamp with us. When I thought I couldn't continue, we came upon another cave church and suddenly I was inspired again. One of my companions said, "your reaction to this cave is almost better than the cave itself!"

Jesus making the sign of the Trinity with his hand.

As we left the canyon and walked the country road back to Goreme, I followed my friends silently, watching nothing but the night skies. Even in the small city of Portland, it is rare to see so many stars so clearly.

I was so incredibly tired and yet more satisfied than I could have imagined over the course of those 8 hours of exploring. 

See next blog for the continued story in Capadoccia,

Oh the People You Meet

A Physics Professor from New York, a Mechanical Engineer from Toronto, a Midwife from Adelaide Australia, a student from Bristol UK, a CPA from Los Angeles, another student from Portland Maine. Some of these people I will forget, some will forget me. But for a brief moment we share time and space as well as meals and experiences.

If I get nothing else from this trip, I will have this.

Dizzying

Last night, on a whim, I went with two of my new friends to the Hodjpasha Dance Theater to see the Mevlevi Sema ceremony (aka Whirling Dervishes).  Unfortunately, pictures (and clapping, as it turns out) are not allowed, so I don't have anything to show you.  The ceremony is part of Unesco's Intangible Heritage of Humanity, it is an 800 year old tradition representing the mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to perfection. 

The dance was held in a 500 year old bath house (hamam), the ceremony starts with 4 men playing a Kodum (drum), Danun (strings), Ney (flute), and Tanbur (guitar of some sort).  Later, three men join who are the chanters, singing words from the Quran among other things. 

The Dervishes themselves spend a majority of the 45 minute ceremony spinning to the music with one hand up toward God and one facing down to represent the people. This means "from God we receive, to man we give; we keep nothing to ourselves."

I'm really not sure how they spend so much time spinning without falling over. They don't even use tracking like a ballet dancer would. By the end, you could see the sweat falling from their faces. The dance represents a journey towards nonexistence or Unity with God.

It is, in essence, a meditation much  like that of the Buddhists, just a dizzy one...

Today I will go back to the Cultural Arts Center and maybe take another class. I also need to buy a bigger suitcase (haha), but other than that I will take it easy. I have to catch a taxi at 5 am tomorrow to get to the airport for my flight to Cappadoccia!