by Pamela Fassett
I’m forced to think it’s morning even though my watch reads 2:15 a.m. and I’ve only had about three hours of sleep. We’re due to land in London’s Heathrow Airport in about 45 minutes. London is just a stopover this trip. My final destination today is Istanbul, Turkey. I never thought in a million years that I would be visiting the Middle East! Although my official reason for this trip is to visit Jason during his deployment to Turkey, I really just needed an excuse to travel. After all, he’ll only be in Turkey for three months, which is hardly that long. But I haven’t been abroad in six years. Far too long! Going to Turkey is a great opportunity because few Americans go there. Turkey is not a hostile country, but because it is in the Middle East, it inherits the reputation of its neighbors: Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Armenia. I didn’t know much about Turkey until I started doing some research soon after Jason left for his military deployment there. Turkey is chock-full of historical sites and mythical ruins. For example, according to the Bible, Noah’s Arc is said to have rested at the top of Mount Ararat, which is the largest mountain in Turkey. Euphesus, in northwestern Turkey, is said to be the last home of the Virgin Mary. Troy, the famed city of Helen and the giant Trojan horse, is also in Turkey. I won’t get to visit all these places, but to know that they still exist in this day and age is exciting. Nighttime After lunch and some shopping in Heathrow airport, we boarded our plane to Istanbul. Now I’m starting to get really excited because I’m surrounded by a lot of Turks, some of whom are speaking Turkish. Just a few minutes ago, a man in the aisle next to me was jerking back in forth in his seat muttering Islamic prayers. What I’m most excited about is to hear the calls to prayer from the mosque minarets. That to me is the epitome of this exciting country I’m about to visit. I’ve only ever heard it in movies. Another man sitting next to me is getting a quick Turkish language lesson from the Turkish man sitting next to him. The non-Turkish guy has a laptop and just typed tesekkür ederim in a large font. That means thank you. I know that from my feeble attempt to learn some Turkish for this trip. Jason told me to pronounce it "Tisha Coor in the day room." I also learned how to say lütfen (please), merhaba (hello), and allaha ismarladik (goodbye). I’m planning on being a very polite tourist. At 10:05 p.m., we landed at Attaturk Airport in Istanbul. I was absolutely terrified coming off the plane. Everything seemed so incredibly strange and unfriendly, and my travel companions, Lydia and Melinda, didn’t know anything more than I did about getting through Turkish customs. However, I was prepared with my $40 in American dollars to pay for a Turkish visa, which I read about on the Internet. Only Americans need to have a visa it seems. I guess the perception is that we are all rich. So for $40, I got an unsightly sticker to put in my passport. I tried my Turkish niceties on the customs officer, such as a hearty "merhaba," but he didn’t seem impressed and barely spoke. That made me even more nervous. The exchange booth at the airport was open, so I decided to change about $50 for cab fare. I received literally millions of Turkish Lira, or TL, in exchange. We wandered outside and quickly became fresh meat for the waiting cab drivers. Our cab driver barely spoke English and seemed to hate us right off the bat. As soon as we tried to settle a price for our cab fare, he thought we were being stingy. Then, when we told him we were heading to the Hyatt Regency (a 5-star hotel), he rolled his eyes and seemed to add us to his all-time cheapo list. He did warm up about halfway through our trip, however, and started pointing out important sites, such as the mosques and shopping districts. I was sweating bullets the whole cab ride because a) I was in the front seat and he was driving like a maniac, and b) because I was tasked with getting the money together. The negotiated fare was about $16. I decided on about $20 in a combination of American and Turkish money. Even though you’re not supposed to tip taxi drivers, I wanted to get us off his cheapo list. I learned how to convert money fast. Basically, one dollar is 500,000 TL.
All three of us took showers and then hit the sack. Tomorrow is going to be a long day!
As predicted, today was a whirlwind of a day! Sightseeing, shopping, and speed-walking until 4 p.m. There were a lot of elderly Americans on our tour, and I have no idea how they kept up. Right now, I’m sitting next to the pool in our hotel, the design of which reminds me of Roman baths. There is no one in the pool of course because for one, it’s 7 p.m., and two, it’s November. It’s nice to relax and recap the day writing in my journal. Mosques
Another renamed mosque is the Blue Mosque (picture), which is known to the Turks as Sultanahmet, named after the sultan who built it. Our tour guide told us that the Blue Mosque was built years after Aya Sofya, and the intention was to make it the best mosque in Istanbul. As legend has it, the sultan who built the Blue Mosque told the architect that he wanted it made of pure gold. Since gold is very expensive, the architect thought of a clever way to save money. Instead of building four minarets (the tall, slender structures that surround a mosque) like Aya Sofya, he built six minarets. Since the Turkish word for the number six (altin) is similar to the word for gold (altum), he told the sultan that he just misunderstood him! In the Blue Mosque, we were required to take our shoes off, but plastic bags were supplied so that we could carry them. Real Muslims leave their shoes outside or place them on low benches that surround the perimeter of the prayer area inside. The floor of the mosque is completely covered with carpeting, and must be kept completely clean so that during prayers, a Muslim can press his or her face to the floor and kiss it. Designs on the carpeting designate hundreds of squares that are big enough for one person to kneel in; so, each person has their own prayer space. Men and women pray separately; women usually pray at the back of the mosque. I’m told that this is more of a custom than a religious edict. We were also told not to take photographs of people praying. We did some more foot tours, seeing the Hippodrome, which I never quite figured out what I was supposed to be looking at. I think there used to be a Hippodrome there centuries ago, but now a busy street has taken its place. Why advertise something that’s not there anymore? That was my question, but the tour guide was too far ahead of me, smoking a cigarette. But we did see the Egyptian obelisk (picture), which is over 3,500 years old and was imported from Egypt during Constantine I’s rule. Our tour guide told us that in those days, every city had to have a obelisk in order to be considered "great." Bazaars and Markets The last stop of the tour was the Grand Bazaar (picture), the world’s first mall! The bazaar has a myriad of indoor shops where you can buy Turkish rugs, gold jewelry, shoes, clothing and numerous other items. All the shopkeepers, who usually stand right outside their shops, want to know where you’re from. Sometimes, they invite you in for some apple tea. It’s a great way to meet locals if you can stand the heavy sales pitch. I was mistaken for an Italian tourist a few times, when I was greeted with "buon giorno!" Later, as I was picking out CDs, an Australian couple asked me if I was from Istanbul. When I told them I was American, they were shocked. "You have that exotic, European look," the wife said. "We thought you were Turkish." Maybe it was the black dress and black jacket I had on, which I thought made me look like an Italian widow. We chatted for awhile, and they told me that they had recently been to Syria, which I thought was pretty brave of them, but they told me that it was a wonderful place. We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant in the middle of the bazaar. We were a little apprehensive about what to order because we were all afraid of getting "the big D," which is pretty much inevitable when you are traveling, but we wanted to avoid it nonetheless. We ordered grilled vegetables, rice, and some chicken, and all shared. It was delicious. I loved everything except for a strip of jalepeño I ate by mistake because I thought it was a regular green pepper.
Hundreds of local Turks were bustling about down this narrow cobblestone path surrounded on both sides by local shops. We had to duck people carrying crates of bread, passing trucks (one came within inches of my foot), people on bikes, and food carts. It was chaotic, but exciting at the same time. So this was the real Istanbul, at least a glimmer of it. We made a dozen or so left and right turns, which we all tried to mentally imprint in our brains so that we could find our way back. Eventually we found the spice market. Inside there were dozens of vendors selling all kinds of spices, breads, nuts, candies, teas, and just about anything you could imagine. I bought some Turkish Delights (small jelly candies) and some loose apple tea. All the vendors spoke English so it was easy to get the quantity I wanted. Incidentally, I heard my first call to prayer coming from one of the mosques on the way back. A man’s voice, singing prayers in Arabic, echoed through the streets. When I got back to the hotel, I was exhausted to say the least. I managed to send my mom an email from the computers the hotel had in their business room. That was interesting. The keyboard had a few unusual letters but for the most part, everything was the same. The Turkish alphabet, once similar to the Greek alphabet, was changed in 1928 to the Latin alphabet, like ours.
Right now I’m on a Turkish airplane flying to Adana, which is in southern Turkey, to see Jason. The flight time is only one hour and 15 minutes. Jason is supposed to be waiting for us at the gate, or at least, at the front of the airport. He told me that there are armed guards in the front of airports who don’t let you in unless you are flying. Morning Last night, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and never went back to sleep. I was wide awake and so were my travel companions, Lydia and Melinda. We watched a little TV and then tried again to sleep. Lydia was the only successful one. As soon as it was light, Melinda and I got up and started getting dressed. Today we had breakfast in our hotel. I ordered hashbrowns with a poached egg and spinach. I received two mini "Egg McMuffin" looking items, but they were delicious and filling nonetheless.
Back to this morning....Since we had some time before our flight, we decided to walk to the Bosphorous River, which seemed pretty close from our hotel window. The leisurely walk soon became treacherous as we came to a busy intersection we had to cross without a light. As we stood there contemplating what to do, a taxi cab pulled over to our rescue. We were all prepared to politely turn him down, but he was so charming and harmless looking. He was in his 70s at least, and told us that, in his retirement, it was a hobby of his to take tourists around the city for free. We decided to take him up on his offer as long as he turned off his meter. He agreed. What a wonderful choice we made because he turned out to be an excellent guide. Adventures with Fehmi
Since the tower is circular, so is the balcony. We had to duck under a bunch of scaffolding, and the guardrail was about waist high, which was disconcerting to say the least. Once I caught a glimpse of the views of the city, I lost all sense of mortality. I got some great photos of the city skyline.
Afternoon To board our airplane to Adana, we first had to walk outside the airport and board a bus. The bus took us directly to our airplane. Before walking up the stairs to the airplane door, we had to point out our luggage from a large collection of bags on the ground. I found mine quickly and signaled to one of the baggage handlers to put it on the plane. Although it seemed like a strange procedure for such a large plane, at least I knew for sure that my luggage was on the same plane as me. Evening Our flight landed right on time. As we walked in the airport to get our bags, I could see Jason waiting outside. I walked up to the glass doors and waved to him. Just as he said, there were armed guards standing outside, and he wasn’t allowed in. We quickly got our bags and headed for Adana via taxi. It was near dusk, and the city was extremely smoky. Jason said it’s often like that due to pollution and construction dust. We arrived at the Turkish Air Base, which is actually in a smaller town called Incirlik. After clearing our paperwork with Turkish guards, we were given gate passes and drove to our barracks on the base. I was a little unnerved to walk by a guard with a machine gun pointed at us, but he gave us a big smile and said hello in English. Jason told me that the base is often a target for Kurdish terrorists, so they have to be really cautious. Just months earlier, he said, Turkish guards shot and killed a Kurdish rebel on the runway; he was trying to blow up a Turkish fighter plane.
After eating, we stopped in some of the shops. Jason told me that some people call The Alley "rip-off alley" because the shopkeepers take advantage of the convenience of being so close to the base and the impulse buying of young Americans with spending money. I bought a sterling silver Egyptian cartouche necklace for only $8 and a gold one for a mere $35. It seemed like a good deal to me. I had seen the same cartouches in a catalog months earlier, $60 for a silver one and $275 for gold.
Early this morning, Jason had to get up for work. I kissed him goodbye around 5:30 a.m. It was weird to think that his day at work consisted of flying over Iraq, patrolling the No-Fly Zone. I sometimes forget that he’s in Turkey for a reason. I called Melinda early to see if her and her husband, Chuck, as well as Lydia were interested in going into Adana for the day. We left the base around 10 a.m. We decided to skip taking a taxi and took a dolmus (pronounced dolmoosh) instead since it’s so much cheaper and definitely more interesting, I later learned. A dolmus is a small bus, which operates like a shared taxi in a way. You get on, pass your money up to the driver, and tell him when you want to get off. But it makes regular stops anyway. Within about 15 minutes, the dolmus broke down. We all filed off and stood on the side of the road until we quickly noticed another dolmus stopped nearby. Before the four of us could head over there, it started pulling away. I quickly ran after it and banged the back of it really hard twice. I guess I had seen that stunt in a movie or something, because it worked. We got on and headed into town.
We were all hungry and decided to eat at a chicken doner kepap shop in the center of town near a small mosque. That’s all the restaurant served was chicken doner kepaps. We sat down and ate, then had the waiter take a picture of us before leaving. Chuck later told us that it was a men-only shop. I didn’t remember anyone giving us the evil eye. Speaking of which, the evil eye is highly feared in Turkey. The symbol of the turquoise blue eye with a white pupil can be found everywhere in Turkey, even the dolmus driver had a sticker of it on his dashboard. It’s supposed to ward off the evil eye and bring good luck.We walked to Carpet Palace (their web site), which is a family-owned Turkish rug shop. Chuck knew some of the people who worked there. The owner has about five sons who all speak excellent English. One of them volunteered to be our guide for the day. At one point, our young guide motioned to my glasses and asked me if my eyes were broken. Apparently, eye glasses are not very common in Turkey, almost unheard of. We went to some of the food markets. While walking down one of the alleys, I stepped over a stream of blood. I followed it to see where it was coming from and saw a crate filled with skinless lamb heads for sale. The rest of the carcasses were hanging in the shop. I bought a few souvenirs while shopping in a covered bazaar and sat down momentarily to enjoy a cup of Turkish chai, or tea, which is served by what I call "tea boys," who run around selling hot tea to the shop owners and sometimes customers. I’d become so smitten with Turkish tea that I decided to buy some loose from a vendor. Unlike Istanbul, this vendor did not speak any English. Also, all the measurements were in metrics! He showed me some weights, so I pointed to the smallest one that read "1." Before I knew it, he was shoveling what seemed like tons of black tea into a small trash bag! I ended up buying a full kilo of tea. I was too embarrassed to tell him it was too much. It didn’t cost very much though. We returned to Carpet Palace, and Melinda, Chuck, and Lydia went upstairs to look at carpets. I sat outside and had a nice conversation with a British man who lived in Adana as well as some of the other sons whose father owned the shop. Later, I walked alone down to the mosque to take more pictures and passed a group of Turkish schoolgirls in plaid uniforms on the way. They all squealed "Hello!" and then as they walked past me, finished with "Bye, Bye!" and waved. I guess with my camera dangling, I did look like a tourist. But how did they know I was English-speaking? Maybe that Australian couple was wrong about my "European" look. When I returned to Incirlik, Jason was back from work, and we went to dinner and had a few drinks at an American hangout. We decided to make it an early evening because tomorrow we are leaving for a weekend trip to Cappadocia.
Morning Right now I’m sitting on a tour bus, next to Jason, on the way to Cappadocia. The trip to Cappadocia was organized by MWR, the recreation wing of the armed services. Most of the people on the trip are young enlisted Navy personnel. Just as you would expect a military trip to start, we had to meet the buses at the crack of dawn. The weather was also damp and rainy, but the seventy-five or so people who were on the trip with us seemed in good spirits because everyone was standing around the buses chatting loudly. We boarded two buses and began the long drive to the region of Cappadocia. Nothing much to report. The weather is miserable, obstructing our view of the surrounding mountains. Our tour guide is a Turkish man named Raki. That is his nickname of course; he told us his real name is too hard for people to remember. Raki is the national drink of Turkey, an anise-flavored (like licorice) strong spirit that is similar to the Greek drink ouzo. Raki the tour guide was full of interesting information about Turkey, so he made the ho-hum bus ride a little more bearable. He promised to shut up after about 20 minutes, however, because he sensed that some people wanted to sleep. I think he was right. Our first stop was a rest stop about two hours out of town. I decided to buy my first simit. I first eyed these round, bagel-like items with sesame seeds on top in Istanbul, when I was trying not to get run over by the carts that carried them. I approached the little simit stand where two young Turkish boys were working. I asked one how much in English, and they both chuckled. When I gave one of them a puzzled look, he explained by making a circular motion with his finger around his face, saying, "turkçe." I remembered from my vast Turkish vocabulary of about eight words that turkçe meant Turkish. He was telling me that I looked Turkish and he was surprised to hear me speak English. I said "tesekkür ederim" and smiled; after all, it was a compliment. Turkish people are usually very attractive. The simit was delicious but didn’t taste like a bagel at all. It was mildly sweet and had the crumbly texture of a scone. Our first stop was the Valley of Goreme. Here, we explored the ancient churches that were carved into the rock. We walked through a dozen or so; some were tiny, enough to fit only a handful of people, and some were larger, maybe squeezing twenty or so people. They seemed more like caves than churches, and people actually used to live in similar dwellings, hiding from persecutors or invaders. There were frescoes on the wall of all of the churches, and I learned from the tour guide that the churches are identified that way. For example, the church with the fresco of Jesus holding an apple is known as the apple church. It was interesting to hear how early Christians were afraid to paint pictures of people, even those from the bible. They usually just stuck to symbols, such as the cross. Later, paintings of Jesus and other biblical figures became more acceptable. Evening We arrived at our hotel around 5 p.m., and I was happy to learn that Jason and I had our own room. It was huge: a living room, bedroom, and king-size bathroom as well as a balcony. We took a quick nap and headed down for a buffet-style dinner a few hours later.
Then came the obligatory and highly anticipated female belly dancer. She strutted out wearing a bright blue costume, with a matching blue veil covering her face. She was very suggestive and coy, and the guys in my group were drooling. She handpicked several of them and had them line up in the middle of the dance floor. She first made them all take off their shirts to expose their belly buttons. Then she made them follow her lead in doing some basic belly dancing moves. Each of them got the chance to do a little solo choosing their favorite move. It was hysterical to watch.
This morning, we dined again buffet style, but didn’t get down there until around noon. We shared the dining hall with the Turkish soccer team this time. They all wore the same uniforms and ate a ton of food. Our first stop was a pottery factory. We witnessed some of the people who worked there create some pottery from scratch. A volunteer from our group got to experience the old-fashioned spinning wheel and created a nice vase with a huge hole in the bottom. They never said it was easy, and everyone cheered her anyway. We then went to the town of Zelve to see the Fairy Chimneys, which are strange rock formations. We were allowed about 20 minutes to explore them, not nearly enough time. I got some great pictures and even worked up a sweat, climbing and wandering through the huge rocks.
With all this shopping, we ended up having to skip the most important aspect of the trip: the underground cities. Raki blamed it on our request to sleep in today, but we could have definitely done without all the shops. The Incirlik Air Base has a strict curfew of 11 p.m. No one is allowed in after that time. We had to head home. We got back late. Tomorrow, we are hiring a taxi driver and a guide to take us to "Castle by the Sea," which is in the city of Mersin on the Mediterranean coast. Melinda and Chuck went on Saturday and told us that they would make arrangements for us with the guys from Carpet Palace.
Jason and I took a cab to Adana and stopped at Carpet Palace to meet up with our tour guides. Umut, one of the many sons of the store’s owner, was going to be our guide for the day since our driver, Nahir, did not speak any English. Umut is only sixteen, but he speaks excellent English and is very bright and easy-going. We got into the cab and were told by Umut that the drive would only take about an hour. Two and a half hours later, we arrived in Mersin. I guess we took the back roads instead! Umut was really up on his tourguide-speak and pointed out many interesting things to us along the way, such as the city of Tarsus where St. Paul is from. Our driver, Nahir, was very affable and excited to be on the trip with us. He told us, through Umut’s translations, that he was actually Kurdish, not Turkish, and he hoped we didn’t mind his Kurdish music blasting while he drove. Umut chastised Nahir later in the day to learn English; Nahir spoke to us so frequently that Umut was starting to run out of steam translating so much. The first thing we did upon arrival was to walk on the beach. We seemed to be the only tourists in town, but after all, it is November. The sun was shining bright, and the temperature was about 70 degrees. Mersin reminds me of Miami; there are lots of resorts, palm trees, and beautiful sandy beaches. The difference between Mersin and Miami is that in Mersin you can find ancient Roman ruins.
The water was crystal clear and about four or five feet deep. We reached the island within 10 minutes. I had to walk on some slimy rocks to get on shore, but it was nice to feel the cool water. The island and castle were completely deserted. Not a single person was around. Jason had been to this area a few weeks earlier on another MWR trip and said that he had to pay to get on the island. But that was on a weekend. Today was Monday. We climbed all over the ruins of the castle, and I was amazed at how unsafe some of the structures were. It was nice not to have any restrictions on where to go and what to climb on, but we had to hoist ourselves up some pretty precarious walls. The view from the top of one of the towers was spectacular. I could have stayed there all day, but we had more to see in Mersin, and the November sun sets sooner than in the summer so we had to hurry it along. We lunched at the cafe and then headed to what the tourists call "Heaven and Hell." Jason had already been there, and intrigued by his description of it, I couldn’t wait to experience it myself. Nahir got a little lost on the way, however, and stopped to ask someone for directions. When the person noticed me and Jason in the car, obvious tourists, he suggested we visit an underground cave too. No one in our car had heard of the cave, but we decided to check it out anyway. We had to walk down a steep spiral staircase to reach the bottom, and the air was very cool. Different colored spotlights illuminated the walls, which were slick with condensation. Everywhere we looked were stalagmites and stalactites in numerous colors. I was awestruck. I had been in a cave in Utah but most of the precious rock formations were stolen over the years. This cave had everything intact. The floor was very slippery and there was no guardrail for most of the path. We were following a young Turkish couple and their children. The young wife wore a black dress and a black veil covering everything but her face. She seemed as giddy with excitement as her children. We all reached the spiral staircase at the same time, and when we reached the top, the young wife smiled at me and rolled her eyes in exhaustion. We were all so out of breath. The cave turned out to be a slice of serendipity. By the time we reached Heaven and Hell, the sun was starting to go down. Also, Nahir, a heavy smoker, was starting to look a little exhausted from all the walking, but he found spurts of energy to keep up with us. The decent to Heaven and Hell was a winding stone path in the open air. Trees and bushes were everywhere. It took about 15 minutes to reach the mouth of cave. There was a small stone church without a roof nearby. This whole valley was considered to be the heaven part—luscious green trees and chirping birds. The cave, and the long decent to the bottom, was considered hell. I had had enough spelunking for the day and deciding to skip the dark slippery decent to the bottom. The guys decided to give it a try, so I stayed behind and checked out the abandoned church. Not long later, Nahir emerged in need of a cigarette and a good rest. He tried to talk to me a few times but it was nearly impossible with the language barrier. So we just sat relaxing and listening to the birds chirping, which seemed unusually loud. I thought for a moment that it was a heavenly sign. Maybe it was. By the time we got back to the car, each of us was exhausted. I bought a few postcards and stopped at a restroom before our long journey back to Adana. Both Umut and Nahir insisted that we stop at Carpet Palace before driving us back to the base. I thought for sure that they were going to use the opportunity to sell us carpets. Now I feel guilty for being so cynical. Umut took us upstairs to meet his other brothers and his father. They served us tea and we all sat on folding chairs in a circle, smoking Marlboro’s and shooting the breeze. No mention was made of carpets. I asked Umut to tell me about the beads he carried in his hands. All day long I noticed him playing with them, whipping them back and forth between each finger. He told me that they were "play beads" and handed them to me after demonstrating his skill. I decided that I wanted a pair to play with too when I was bored. I later learned that they were actually Muslim prayer beads. We got home from our trip a little later than expected so Jason had to call his boss, who is also Lydia’s husband, to let him know that he arrived home safely. Exhausted, we went to bed immediately.
Though I had been to Adana a few days earlier, I never got to see the big mosque there and the museum. I talked Jason into visiting them both. The dolmus dropped us off right in front of the Sabanci Mosque (pictures). Since the mosque is newly built, there were piles of construction materials everywhere. As we got closer to the mosque, I had a feeling that a "mass" was going on. I had read in my guidebook that if you are not a Muslim, you should not enter a mosque during this time. As I was explaining this to Jason, a Turkish man walked up to us and without speaking, seemed to direct us where to go. I don’t know if he was completely mute or if he just didn’t speak English but he never uttered a syllable. Anyway, I wanted to know if a mass was going on, so I put my hands together to indicate praying and pointed to the mosque. He shook his head yes, so I assumed that he was telling us that it was OK to go in. I later realized that he probably thought I was telling him I wanted to pray in the mosque.He lead us to the front steps and handed us plastic bags to put our shoes in. I then put my scarf on my head. As we entered the mosque, he lead me to a closet and picked out a bright orange long-sleeved blouse for me to put on to cover my bare arms. He then left us. Jason and I walked to the back of the mosque. I kneeled on the carpet, listening to the prayers as Jason stood nearby. I felt like an imposter and that any minute an alarm was going to sound. Jason looked very uncomfortable as well. Just then, an older Turkish woman started talking to me in Turkish. She seemed puzzled by something. I told her I didn’t speak Turkish and she apologized and walked away. Was I in the wrong spot? Was I offending her somehow? I decided that I had had enough. I was becoming paranoid and was sweating profusely. I grabbed Jason, and we practically sprinted for the exit. Our friendly guide saw us and looked shocked that we were leaving so soon; he then met up with us and escorting us to the door. I was so impatient to "escape" that when I couldn’t find him to return the borrowed blouse, I ended up throwing it onto a stack of plastic bags. Jason was right, we should have asked one of the Carpet Palace guys to escort us. Umut did mention to me yesterday that he could get us up in one of the minarets. After that debacle, we decided to go to the Adana Archeological Museum (I almost felt like we needed to hide out). The museum was empty and no one was behind the ticket booth. After wandering around, we found a man in a suit who looked like he worked there. He didn’t speak English but he lead us to one of the exhibit rooms and turned on the lights for us. As we left each room, he turned on the lights to the next room. I noticed a few other tourists later on, so I didn’t feel so bad. Outside, we toured a lot of ancient Roman ruins, such as columns, tombs, and statues (pictures). At first I thought it was strange that these ancient artifacts would be exposed to the elements. But after all, they had survived thousands of years in the elements before someone decided to put them in a museum. After we left the museum, I realized that, in my haste, I had left my sunglasses in my plastic shoe bag at the mosque. Jason flat out refused to go back, and I decided it wasn’t worth it either. I bought a simit from a street vendor , and we hopped a dolmus and headed back to Incirlik.The rest of the day we spent shopping in Incirlik. I bought more than my suitcase could possibly hold, including a large wooden jewelry box, a small rug, and some puzzle boxes. Jason said that he could take the stuff home with him. I also picked up a set of prayer/play beads to play with on the long flights home. We left Adana that evening, bound for Istanbul.
Since we had a 12-hour layover, Lydia booked us for one more night at the Hyatt. We spent the night relaxing in the hotel’s spa. Melinda and I had a sauna, and then lounged around in our oversized bathrobes gawking at Turkish magazines for about an hour. I never did have a Turkish bath, but after it was described to me, I wasn't all that interested anyway. You are basically drenched in soap suds, practically naked, and then someone takes a Brillo-like sponge to your entire body. After that, they knead you like dough. Michael Palin, of the BBC travel series Pole to Pole, described that part as "a friendly steamroller." Morning came, and unfortunately, it was time to leave Turkey. All in all, I had a wonderful trip. I was so impressed with Turkey---the people, the food, the culture---that I vowed to come back here someday. I only scratched the surface of all that there is to see in this fascinating country. Allaha ismarladik, Turkey! ###
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Our hotel is beautiful. I’ve never stayed at a 5-star hotel before.
Everyone who works here speaks excellent English (which I found out later is a requirement
to work at a 5 star) and is very helpful. Our room is on the third floor and has a nice
view of the pool. The Hyatt is in what’s considered the business district of
Istanbul. It’s very expensive, about $350 a night, but Lydia’s sister works for
Hyatt and got us a big discount. 
We left our hotel at 8:30 this morning to take a guided tour of
two mosques, a Turkish museum, and the Hippodrome. The first mosque, Aya Sofya, was once a
church, then a mosque, and now a museum. You can tell by looking at the frescos how the
different religions—paganism, Greek Orthodox, and Islam—have left their mark on
this fifth century church. It’s called St. Sofia by tourists because it’s easier
to remember that way, but actually there was no St. Sofia. Aya Sofya means "church of
wisdom." Being a big James Bond fan, I remembered that a scene from From Russia
with Love was filmed in this mosque. 
After the tour was over, we asked our guide to point us the right way to the
Egyptian Spice Market, which I had read in my guidebook was within walking distance from
the Grand Bazaar. "You don’t want to go the short way," he told us,
"because it’s not safe." "Take that way," he said, while pointing
to nothing in particular. So, we just started walking. It wasn’t long before we
realized that we had taken the short, wrong way.
The cab driver’s name was Fehmi Reel. The best place he took us was the
Galata Tower. We climbed up spiral staircases to get to the top. From the windows you
could see the whole city! We saw construction men out on the balcony, so we hesitated to
actually go out there until we were prodded by the hostess (there’s a restaurant up
there too).
Fehmi also took us to Ataturk’s Palace. Ataturk is the
George Washington of Turkey, who died in 1938. I ran with Lydia to the front gate, while
Melinda and Fehmi stood by the taxi to take a picture of us. We didn’t realize it at
first, but an armed guard was watching us and left his post with his machine gun pointed
towards us. We realized this when we were waiting for Melinda to snap the picture and
Fehmi was shouting to the guard. The guard shouted something back, and Fehmi looked more
at ease. Melinda took the picture, and we ran back to the cab. Fehmi later explained that
the Palace is a prime target for bombs. Later, we asked Fehmi to drive us to the airport.
We gave him a big tip and thanked him for his generosity.
Adana is probably the closest I’ll ever come to experiencing
the "real" Turkey. The best way I can describe it is "raw." I was
awestruck and a little culture-shocked. The city center was bustling. Cars were speeding
by, pedestrians were all around and walking in the streets. Just about everyone looked
like a local. We seemed to be the only tourists. Some women wore scarves on their heads,
mostly the older women. I saw some younger women wearing tight jeans. There were no
crosswalks, so it was cross at your own risk.
After dinner, Raki took some of us to an underground disco. Like
some of the churches we had seen during the day, this disco was built out of the same rock
and was partly underground. The room was circular, with a dance floor in the middle. Our
table was filled with wine, Raki, and beer as well as some nuts. Not long after we got
there, the music started, and it was non-stop entertainment the whole night. Turkish folk
dancers, both men and women, did story-telling dances and also threw knives and did some
balancing acts.
After she finished, we saw some more folk dancing, and then the
male belly dancer came out. He never removed his veil and started out spinning like a
whirling dervish for about five minutes. I don’t know how he didn’t get dizzy.
He ended up having a similar routine as the female belly dancer and proceeded to pick some
women from the audience to participate. Although he didn’t handpick me, one of the
organizers of the trip grabbed me and shoved me out there. I was nervous, of course, but I
had a great time. Believe it or not, he expected all of us to take off our shirts to
expose our belly buttons too. I had to fight him not to pull up my shirt! I did a couple
of shimmy moves as best I could, but fully clothed.
Next, we stopped at the Turasan winery and did some wine tasting and
purchasing. Then, on to a carpet shop for some demonstrations in carpet weaving and
lessons in the different type of carpets (silk, cotton, wool, etc.) and the differences in
price. Nobody bought any carpets, however.
While I stopped in the only open cafe on the beach to get a soda,
the guys decided to play a game of volleyball. I wandered around barefoot in the sand and
took a few photos of the nearby castles (
The four of us headed down to the water and negotiated with the paddle boat
renter, who was there with his young daughter. Surprisingly, he asked me if I would take a
picture of him and her. I was lucky enough to get in the paddle boat before we pushed off.
Nahir had some trouble getting on and nearly drowned his cell phone, which was in his back
pocket. He quickly handed it to me along with his wallet, and I put them in my purse for
safe keeping. Umut was laughing extra hard so I asked him why. He told me that Nahir had
lost his previous cell phone the same way. Once settled, we took turns paddling to the
Castle on the Sea, located on a small island.