feldmanlarry

In 2007 the largest poll ever conducted, with over 100 million votes, came up the New 7 Wonders of the World. It was an unscientific poll and people could vote as many times as they wanted. There were 20 finalists plus the Pyramids of Egypt, which were removed from the polling and given an honorary status as the only remaining one of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world. I’ve been to two of these new 7 wonders before — Chichen Itza (3 times), the Coliseum in Rome (a long time ago), and the Taj Mahal (when I was 5, there’s a whole story to that, which I will tell another time). I’m planning to go to the Taj Mahal again and the Great Wall of China on my upcoming trip.  I’ve also been to 5 of the 13 that didn’t make it to the final 7 — Stonehendge (over xmas of 2010), the Acropolis (on this trip), Hagia Sophia (on this trip), the Eiffel Tower (in 2002 and other times), and the Statue of Liberty (a few times). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Seven_Wonders_of_the_World for info about the contest. I’m not sure I would have made the effort to go to Petra if it hadn’t won one of the spots.

The 7 are:

Chichen Itza, Mexico

Christ the Redeemer, Brazil

Colosseum, Italy

Great Wall of China, China

Machu Picchu, Peru

Petra, Jordan

Taj Mahal, India

Margaret and Keith on their way down the Pyramid at Chichen Itza in 2002, one of the wonders of the world (their climbing is not one of the wonders, the pyramid is the wonder. If I had climbed it that would be a wonder)

The overwhelming lesson of these wonders and of many of the other sites I’ve been to on this trip is the genius of the ancients. There’s a feeling in many people that what is modern is best. We know how to build better than they did in the past, we have the best technology, the best food, the best of everything. If it’s old it’s out of date and worthless except maybe to people who like to go to museums. Certainly there is some truth to that point of view. We do have the most advanced technology, whether it’s made life better is another question. I’d rather travel by airplane in a day than by a sailing ship over several months (if it gets there at all). Yet clearly the people who built these 20 finalists and the hundreds of other amazing places in ancient times did it without electricity or any other modern technology. I disagree with those who say creatures from outer space built those monuments. I think it’s a sign that we cannot imagine the extent of their genius, but who knows.

In any case, I’m in awe of the ancients and Petra was astonishing. When I see pictures of it, it’s just not like what it was like to be there.

The title of this day was “I wonder how you describe …” and I’ve been writing for too long, so here goes.

I got the first daylight view from my balcony. It was definitely low season and with the problems in neighboring Egypt the hotel was quiet. They gave me one of the best rooms with a great view in a massive balcony shared with 2 other rooms that seemed to be unoccupied.

View from my balcony in Petra

View of my balcony. The view the other way was better.

The driver left Khalid and me off at the entrance to Petra. Khalid told me a bit of the history as we began the four mile walk through the site. It would take a while to get to the most famous monument called the Treasury. Petra was built from the 1^st century BCE to the 1^st Century CE by the Nabateans. Most of the monuments were tombs but some were temples and theaters. 80% is still not excavated, which is an amazing thought since there is so much there. The name of their god was Dushara, who looked like the mountains themselves and appears in many places.

One of the many monuments to the god Dushara

One of the amazing structures carved from the stone in Petra

Time travelers from the past

Trying to steal the spear. I never did find out what era they were dressed in.

Why they tolerate idiots like me I’m not sure. I think it has something to do with money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancient water viaduct (left), one of many beautiful rock formations (right)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real police, not like the last set of pictures, I didn’t try to take their weapons (left); once again – wow (right)

I was impressed by how well organized the site is. It’s patrolled well by the police. There are few unauthorized vendors. A couple of times I saw someone just sitting on a stool and Khalid said their job is to clean up after the horses. The whole place is very clean.

One of the few monuments with protection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock formation that looks like a fish (left), same formation looks like an elephant from a different angle (right)

Ancient Greek writing

In the following picture, Khalid explained that a priest would stand where he is. Two merchants about to enter a contract would each stand in one of the chambers. The priest would hold their hands as he is doing in the picture and seal the contract. All three of them were facing a stone figure of the god Dushara.

Khalid demonstrating how the ancient priests sealed contracts

After another curve in the trail, the Treasury sprang into view. They used this for the “Temple of Doom” in the Indiana Jones movie. This is by far the most famous part of Petra.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first views of the Treasury, used as the Temple of Doom in Indiana Jones

How long would it take to carve this out of a giant piece of rock? How would you feel if you carved too much and they had to start over again at a new location? How did they find the artists, architects, engineers, builders, and driving forces to see it finished over the many years it took? Why couldn’t we build something like this today?

Not sure if he was actually a guard or just a ceremonial one. He was insistent that I either sell him my iPhone or we at least try to find him a good price on one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking inside the Treasury

The Treasury is not really a Treasury but a memorial tomb and a temple for a King, going back to the end of the first century BCE. People thought it must be filled with treasures because of its beauty.

Two cats not impressed by the Treasury that is  just a few feet away

I saw the camels right in front of the Treasury and had two conflicting thoughts. One is it doesn’t get much better than riding a camel in front of one of the wonders of the world. The other thought was that if I fell on my bad shoulder it would probably be the end of my trip. You can see what my choice was.

Looking a little worried

So comfortable now that I was ready to take the camel all the way back to the US

 

Put your hand down

Do the camel and I look at little bit alike?

I felt sad to leave the Treasury but there was a lot more to see. I’ll never forget my camel ride.

My last look of the Treasury

As we were going through the four mile walk, every so often someone would try to sell coins. Khalid has done a lot of research on these coins and has collected over 600 of them. He would spell out the word “f-a-k-e” if he thought the person could understand English but not spell it. Then when the person below showed a coin, Khalid said I should buy it. He felt it was from the Nabateans and about 2000 years old. Khalid bargained for me and gave me a price of 15 Jordanian Pounds or somewhere around $25. Khalid felt this was a reasonable price. He threw in two Roman coins, which Khalid said are valuable but not at the same level as the Nabatean coin.  Of course, I know nothing about this but felt it would be a good gift for Keith. I found someone on the web who was able to identify the coins and said they’re not incredibly rare but I got a good price and they are worthy to keep as a momento.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coin seller (left) and the most unusual coin of Aretas IV and Shaquilath (right)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two sides of the 3 coins I purchased from the seller. The top coin is of Rabbel II and Gamilath, the middle coin is of Aretas IV and Shaquilath and on the bottom is a Roman coin of Constantius II.

The way Khalid dealt with this Bedouin woman selling necklaces showed his classiness. He knew I would not be interested in buying one of her necklaces but he made it seem to her that I might be interested. He knew that she would not be willing to have a picture of her and me unless I was interested in buying something. Her son was selling pieces of rock and Khalid bought one for 1 Jordanian pound (about $1.50) then returned the rock to the pile when they weren’t looking. This was basically done to pay for the picture but in a way that was not insulting to her.

He really appreciated the 14 year old girl in the picture on the right. She knew the important words like 1 pound for a series of postcards in many languages and seemed very personable. Even though I had bought a series of post cards, he bought one for me just to support her.

Bedouin woman and her son, worried that my wife would be jealous (left) and 14 year old girl selling postcards (right)

Outside (left) and inside (right) of one of the many Nabatean tombs

There were Bedouins living in the caves / tombs up to the 1980’s when they were removed in a deal that they would run all the concessions. The government  built them a town nearby. The negotiations took many years but they now control the souvenir shops, the camels, horses, donkeys, and the restaurants. There are strict restrictions on where the camels are allowed and how many. For example only two camels are allowed where I rode them at the Treasury. I wonder if the Bedouins are happy with this deal since it gives some of them steady income or if they hate me and everyone like me for stealing their land. My guess is that most of them hate people like me.

Petra is really two amazing sites combined in one package. It would be an amazing site if there were no rock buildings sculpted by humans. The strange formations with the even stranger colors, impacted by different light conditions make for a wonderful experience. When you combine the rocks with one of the most amazing human creations in the world, you can see why it was declared one of the seven human-made wonders of the world. Here are a bunch of pictures.

Rock formations, both natural and sculpted 2000 years ago by the Nabateans

 

There was a Greco-Roman styled amphitheater like others I had seen except that this one was built out of one piece of rock. Apparently it held 6,000 people. Imagine you’re a Nabatean in the first century looking at a piece of rock and thinking I’ll just carve this rock up into “an auditorium with a semicircular orchestra and an ascending horseshoe-shaped seating area with vertical stairways divided into three levels by horizontal passageways.” (from the notes at Petra) The stage wall was added by the Romans to shield the orchestra and as a theatrical backdrop.

First century amphitheater carved out of one piece of rock

Tombs near the amphitheater

View from the above tombs

I find it hard to believe 80% of Petra is not yet excavated. Here’s a piece of a sculpture just lying on the ground.

I had to buy something from this Bedouin below. He has a stunning appearance. I told him if he came to America there would be women flocking to him. His head dress, the bead on his beard, his hair, and his face are striking. Somehow the t-shirt should be totally out of place but it works.

Striking Bedouin vendor

After lunch at 2 PM Khalid asked me if I wanted to take a donkey up to the top of a mountain to see another famous sculpture called the Monastery. After that we would need to walk back down the more than 600 steps to get back to where we were. Apparently, some tourists have fallen off the donkeys going down and he did not think it was safe.

Whether I took the trip to the Monastery or not, I had to decide how to get back. One option was to walk the four miles we had just came from but this time it would be uphill. The other option was to take a donkey from that spot up the steep hill to the Bedouin village where Raed would pick us up.

My Spanish buddies Rosana and Paloma had walked the whole way yesterday. They climbed the 600 steps up, then took the same treacherous route down, then walked the 4 miles uphill back to the entrance. They had warned me that it was ridiculously tiring. Khalid gave me a few minutes to think about what I wanted to do — climb up to see the Monestary or not and make the other decision about taking the donkey or walking back. After a while I realized I was overwhelmed. I had seen the Treasury and so many other memorable formations that I punted. It was time to go back and nap.

My donkey keeper was a 15-year old named Ahmad. My guide’s donkey keeper was named Rashid. Most importantly, my donkey’s name was Shakira. I never found out if Shakira got her name from the great singer or if it’s a native name. Ahmad said he had just come from school. Our destination was the Bedouin village that was created in the 1980’s after they moved the Bedouins from Petra.

It was a pretty steep climb and I was much more comfortable with the camel. The donkey felt less secure than the massive camel. I’m smiling in the pictures but Khalid had to tell me to relax since he could sense I was tensing up. I was able to relax somewhat after a while. I was certainly glad that the donkey was carrying me up this hill though. Raed, our driver was waiting for us at the top and I had a seamless transition from the ancient mode of transport of the donkey to the automobile.

Ahmad holding my donkey named Shakira. Rashid holding the donkey for my guide.

Seamless transition from the donkey to the car. Maybe you can guess why I didn’t take any pictures on the way up.

Saying goodbye to Ahmad, Rashid, and Shakira

It was a little nerve racking, especially at first but I’m glad to have done it. It was another memorable experience. I asked Khalid if we could drive around the Bedouin town but he said it would be dangerous. They wouldn’t appreciate people snooping around their town. It was OK to take a donkey up there with one of their guides but not to drive around. I very much respected that. I did take pictures discretely as we were driving the direct route out of town back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bedouin town views

I’m really glad to have included Jordan in my itinerary, partly for seeing Amman, Mt. Nebo, and the amazing map but mostly for Petra. It is deserving of its wonder of the world status. I’m very glad not to have canceled when there were minor demonstrations after the events in Egypt and Tunisia.

Nap time.

I was finishing my week in Israel with a farewell to my guide Birte, who has been a wonderful companion. But before that, I had to have my last taste of salad for breakfast. Hopefully, it will be my last salad for breakfast for a long time. I really enjoyed my time in Israel and learned quite a bit about history and about myself. I’m writing this in March, a few weeks later but fortunately I have some good notes I took that day.

I’d like to put in a plug for a TV show called “An Idiot Abroad” with Ricky Gervais, who created the TV show The Office in England and in the US. He takes his sidekick to the 7 man-made wonders of the world and subjects him to situations that are designed for the sidekick to hate. One of the shows is about Israel and Jordan, since Petra is one of the seven wonders, which I saw on Day 18. He saw some of the same things I saw and had some similar opinions to mine, which I should be embarrassed about. For example, he felt the wall dividing Bethlehem under PLO control from Israel was more significant that the church at Bethlehem where Jesus was born.  The series also has shows about the Taj Mahal and Great Wall that I’ll be seeing in a few weeks, in addition to the Pyramids, which got cancelled from my trip for obvious reasons. Please check out this show though, I really enjoyed it. It’s on the Science Channel (part of the Discovery channels).

Hopefully the last time I see salad for breakfast

Passing by the 300 meters (990 feet) below sea level sign just before crossing into Jordan (left). Sheep in Jordan (right)

I gave Birte her well-deserved tip and said goodbye as she left me off at the Israel / Jordan border. The bridge is called the Allenby Bridge by Israel and the King Hussein Bridge by the Jordanians and still another name by the Palestinians. I read the Wikipedia entry under Allenby Bridge and it’s very confusing about who is allowed to use this border and under what conditions. Apparently if Palestinians want to fly out of Israel they must use this crossing and then go to Amman, Jordan.

My experience at the border was a little embarrassing. I had what they called VIP service and was whisked through all the multitudes of lines. A young Israeli woman dressed like an airline server walked very quickly to the front of long lines and kept making sure I was following her. I was too embarrassed to look at the other people who were facing these very long waits while I was pushed to the very front. I wish I’d counted but there must have been 8 different lines.

In maybe 10 minutes I was done in what I’m estimating would have been at least an hour probably much more. A minivan picked me up and a Jordanian driver took me across the bridge to another border station. I then realized that all those lines were just to leave Israel, not to enter Jordan.

I was a little stressed since I hadn’t seen my passport or bags in a while but I had faith that this was the process and that I should enjoy my privileged status. Just like flying Business Class, I was ostentatiously extravagandized. On the Jordanian side they had me sit in a comfortable lounge and I drank coffee and watched the celebrations from Cairo over Mubarek leaving on TV while someone else was dealing with everything.

My guide came around 9:30 and told me he wasn’t supposed to pick me up until 10. Everything went so quickly. My guide is a really nice guy, Khalid, and I also had a driver named Raed, as opposed to Israel where Birte did her own driving. Raed also speaks good English and also has a great demeanor. We had a Samsung 4-door car, which was not as fancy as the minivan I had gotten used to but was quite comfortable. I had never heard of a Samsung car before. I felt like it was going to be a very good two days, which it was.

After a while, I asked Khalid about the politics, being sure to reinforce my brash obnoxious American status. Khalid is very passionate about his country and feels that Jordan is a very stable country in a sea of confusion. There had been some demonstrations recently as part of the whole Middle Eastern crisis but they were very minor. The King had replaced the government early on.

Khalid believed that Jordan has a free press and freedom of speech. The lower house of the parliament is elected but the prime minister is appointed by the Prince. The upper house is also appointed by the Prince. If the lower house doesn’t approve the Prime Minister’s program, they can have him removed. The members of parliament are mostly elected based on their regional links and not by party.

I asked him what Jordanians think of the US. His responded that a typical Jordanian will very much appreciate American culture, its democracy and the concept of America in general. What they don’t like is their sense that America is on the side of Israel and not helping Palestinians. Impressive that the literacy rate in Jordan is 99.5%.

Khalid had lived in Chicago for 2 years and the best job he could get was gas station attendant in a rough neighborhood. In Jordan, he’s a well-respected tour guide for a top company. The American dream has worked for millions but not for everyone. However, probably having experienced the US for two years was a big plus in getting the job he has now.

As we drove through a village with its open-air markets, flamboyant signs, and different kinds of clothing, I got a strong rush of joy. At first I thought it might be a sugar rush but that wasn’t it. I realized that I fundamentally really love visiting the developing world, maybe even more than visiting in the West. Not that I’m ready to move but there it really felt good. My brother, Dick, and his wife Beth know exactly what I’m talking about. They’ve lived in Africa and Nicaraugua and have gone to the Yucatan Peninsula frequently. It’s in their blood as it is in mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love being in the third, “developing” world!

Our first stop was Mt. Nebo where Moses viewed the Promised Land, died, and was buried. Supposedly Jeremiah hid the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant here. A recent book “Temple at the Center of Time” by David Flynn claims there is evidence the Ark is here. (Wikipedia) I didn’t see it.The view was great, Jericho was visible but it was a little hazy to see Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Bizarre picture with my reflection taking the picture at Mt. Nebo of a quote from Deuteronomy 34:1-8 “Then Moses went up from the lowlands of Moab to Mount Nebo, …”

Moses and I had the same view from the top of Mt. Nebo. He didn’t have the sign to figure out what he was seeing though.

Pope John Paul II was here in 2000 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. The church was constructed in the 4th century to commemorate Moses’ death and was discovered in 1933. Some great mosaics on the floor.

Mosaic floor from the church at Mt. Nebo

I’ve had a love of maps since I was 4 years old. My parents had me navigating our way through Europe at that age. I absolutely loved the mosaic map at Madaba from the sixth century. It has so much of the Middle East, with beautiful detail of the important monuments. Most of it is intact and a part of it is just covered with a rug over pews in the church. It almost seemed they should rope it off totally but I loved being that close to something that magnificent. Apparently there was a mistake that the Nile goes off the wrong way but almost all of this vast area was correct. It has even been used to locate some modern excavations, according to Wikipedia. Not bad for people 1500 years ago! Even though I promised not to buy any more stuff, I had to get a small paper replica, which I will treasure.

My Guide Khalid and the most amazing map of all time, a mosaic of the whole Middle East, finished by the year 570

Jerusalem from the map (Wikipedia)

The river near the top of my picture here is the Jordan River with the Dead Sea on the right

Reproduction like the one I bought that does not give a good sense of what it’s like

It was disturbing that they let idiots like me get this close to this treasure. That’s my shoe on the bottom of the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Street scenes in Jordan. Like I said, I love the feel of developing countries.

I won’t bore you with details but the rebellion in Egypt made a mess of a chunk of my plans. The Egyptian people forgot to sk me if it was OK. I would have asked them to wait a few weeks. I was supposed to stay one night in Amman and one night in Petra but instead plans were changed to spend two nights in Petra. Khalid didn’t like that I wasn’t planning to see Amman. He didn’t like that I would get the impression that Jordan is all villages, shepherds, and ancient monuments. But, since the hotel in Petra had been paid for two nights it would have cost $300 to change it.

He came up with a plan that we would make a detour to Amman right away on this day before going to Petra, for $50. This seemed reasonable and I really did want to see Amman. I had been told that there isn’t much to see in Amman but, of course, I’m used to Indiana, PA standards and actually there was a lot to see.

I enjoyed seeing the old city in the East and the very modern part in the West. The Roman theater is from 161 AD and was very well preserved. The movie theaters in Indiana, PA might not last as long.

Roman Theater in Amman built in the second century. I’m waiting for the gladiators.

We then went up to the top of the city where there is an archaeological museum. The story Khalid told me is as follows. King David’s troops seized Amman (then called Philadelphia) and Solomon was born at the spot where the archaeological museum is today. David slept with a married woman and then asked the woman who her husband was. She said it was Uriah the Hittite so David told them to let Uriah have a vacation from being a soldier to go home and sleep with his wife. This would legitimize the baby. Uriah refused to sleep with her and just slept on the threshold of the house. He couldn’t enjoy himself while his comrades in arms were fighting. David asked that Uriah be given a difficult mission, as Uriah wanted, and Uriah died in the mission. The son was born and became Solomon.

Temple of Hercules at the Citadel Hill in Amman

 

Bronze Age Cave from about 2250 BCE

View of Amman from the Archaeological Museum

I do not have a picture of the next very memorable incident. As we were driving around, there was a massive building ahead that Khalid identified as the US Embassy. I had my camera in hand so I took a picture. Just as I finished, Raed and Khalid told me very loudly that pictures are not allowed. It was too late. The Jordanian Police pulled us over and Khalid jumped out to explain that I didn’t know the rules. They were angry and asked to see my camera. They deleted the picture and finally let us go. I think they figured out I wasn’t taking pictures for my terrorist cell. It was a little scary though.

We went to an interesting place for lunch. It was definitely set up for tourists. I offered to pay for Khalid and Raed’s lunches but they told me that their lunches would be much less costly than mine, even though they ate in the same restaurant. They sat nearby and I had way too much food. I couldn’t resisiting ordering chicken wings as one of many appetizers that came, which weren’t bad but not up to the Buffalo Anchor Bar’s wings.

Amman Chicken Wings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tea server at lunch (left), home made bread at the restaurant (right)

We had a three hour car ride to Petra, which was the reason for going to Jordan in the first place. It was mostly a four-lane road. Sorry I didn’t count the pieces of sand we passed but it would have taken a few hundred life times. The sand was quite beautiful though. The drought in Jordan was so bad that they were in the middle of a multi-year project to create a water pipeline from the south to Amman.

 

Pipeline waiting to be assembled to bring water to Amman

The hotel I stayed at in Petra was called the Petra Panorama and had perhaps the most amazing layout I’ve ever seen. It’s terraced over a hill. The lobby is on the 14th floor and there’s an elevator to the 11th floor only. To get to the 1st through 10th floors, you have to walk a hallway on the 11th floor to get to another set of elevators. My room was on the 11th floor and shared a massive balcony with two other rooms. The view was spectacular.

Petra Panorama Hotel (from a postcard). My room was on the 11th floor at the bottom of the white building on the top of the picture.

I went to the lobby to work on my blog since that was the only place that had internet. I could use my cell phone data plan for internet but my computer had to rely on the hotel wifi, which was slow, expensive, and intermittent. I shouldn’t complain since I was in a very far reaching area of the world. I could access Facebook on my cell phone but I got a message that the URL was blocked when I tried to get to Facebook on my computer using the hotel wifi. Khalid’s daughter spends a lot of time on Facebook as do all of her friends so this is an unusual occurrence according to Khalid. I’m not sure if this denial was based on recent events on the Middle East or for some other reason.

 

Screen shot of access to Facebook being blocked from the hotel in Petra

I went to the bar to moisten the dryness from all the sand (not really, I just wanted a beer) and ended up hanging out some with two women named Paloma and Rosana from Madrid, who were traveling on their own. They were very wonderful people to talk with and share stories (nothing to worry about, Margaret). They work for the largest telecom company in Spain to protect its logo and other visual displays. I sensed that they just loved travelling and fulfilling their adventurous spirits. It’s great to see people who instead of just hanging out at home are going to out of the way places and having dinner with people like me. I shouldn’t put down hanging out at home. I’m doing it now and it feels great. I heard from them after I got back and they are planning to go sometime to Asia and are jealous of my upcoming trip. So, “Hi, Rosana and Paloma, it was great talking with you, keep up your adventures and maybe we’ll meet somewhere like Antarctica sometime.”

 

Yesterday was an intense day, filled with walking to many of the most important sites of Istanbul. Today felt more relaxed. Even though we did get to famous tourist sites, we also got to see Erdinc’s home area and it felt good to be cruising through the streets of Istanbul again, even though I did enjoy walking all day yesterday.

We started at the Basilica Cistern, which was originally built underneath a basilica and is one of hundreds of ancient cisterns in Istanbul. The water reserve was built in the 6^th century. The water came from 19 kilometers (11 miles) away and the columns are 9 meters (30 feet) high). This strange mixture of columns from a basilica in a reservoir was made even stranger and more beautiful by the lighting they gave it.

Basilica Cistern, combination of a church and water reservoir

I loved the statues of Medusa in the Basilica Cistern. Her hair is filled with snakes and she is supposed to be able to turn anyone who looked at her into stone. She was therefore used to protect buildings. Apparently the effect was so strong though that they put her upside down or sideways and at the bottom of columns. Quite an amazing effect. It worked. I would definitely not mess with Medusa or any building she was protecting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medusa with her hair of snakes, protecting the building but so scary that they put her upside down (left) and sideways (right) and at the bootom of the columns

The Basilica Cistern is such an eerie and beautiful location that it makes sense that it  was used in the James Bond film From Russia With Love in 1963 and the 2009 film The International.

Our next stop was the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, which again I thought would be a bit tedious but turned out to be really wonderful. The best part for me built on a family story. In the 1950’s my family was traveling around the world and we stopped at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Iraq. We unfortunately “took” some pieces of the gardens and my mother and sister made this mosaic using those pieces. There were similar Babylonian mosaics in this museum.

Mosaic made by my sister and mother using pieces from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Babylonian mosaic from the Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Over and over it became clear to me how wonderful it was to have a guide. Erdinc pointed out that the most famous piece in this museum was the actual Treaty of Kadesh from the 1200’s BCE. This treaty is considered so important in world history that a copy is in the UN headquarters. The Hittites and Egyptians both claimed victory after a nasty 4-day battle in modern Syria. After a while, they decided to have a peace treaty since they were both being threatened by other enemies and could not afford to fight each other. The Egyptian version says the Hittites came seeking peace while the Hittite version says the Egyptians were seeking peace. I like the idea that each side saved face while saving the lives of soldiers. It’s called the earliest known parity peace treaty as opposed to peace treaties signed when one side is victorious.

Kadesh Treaty — from 1200’s BCE, the oldest known parity peace treaty

A little math break. My picture didn’t come out good but they had a list of ancient Mesopotamian weight units. One “Talent” was about 30 kilograms (66 pounds), one “Shekel” was about 180 grains or about 8 grams, and 1 “Mina” was about 500 grams.

The most famous version of the Code of Hammurabi is in the Louvre in Paris but there is a copy in this museum too, from 1750 BCE (not our 1750, the other one). The code has 282 laws, from the seemingly fair such as “If anyone opens his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water floods his neighbor’s field, he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss” to the amazingly unfair “If a man strikes a pregnant woman, thereby causing her to miscarry and die, the assailant’s daughter shall be put to death.” The code is considered the first constitution and includes the concepts of presumption of innocence and the need for evidence in trials. (Wikipedia)

There were also a bunch of other ancient texts. I wish I knew the actual text of what was written.

 

Code of Hammurabi (1790 BCE, left), Oldest Love Poem (2037-2029 BCE, right)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Verdict About Murder (2112-2004 BCE, left), A Juridical Decision Considering the Breaking of an Engagement (2035 BCE, right)

There were several rooms of Greek sculptures and tombs.

A little young for this kind of thing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can I take him home with me? (left), My very old friend, the Emperor Marcus Aurleius (161-180 AD)

Alexander the Great on Horseback on the far left

I spent a long time looking at the tessellations of Islamic Art, repeating the same geometric shape (hexagons, trapezoids, and triangles) that has been modified.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Islamic art from hexagons, triangles, and squares

I had mentioned to Erdinc at the beginning of the day that our itinerary did not include crossing from the European side of Istanbul to the Asian side. Of course, the whole idea of there being two separate continents called Asia and Europe is suspect to begin with, at least from a physical point of view. Clearly North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica look like separate continents on a map, yet Asia and Europe physically just flow from one to the other. There certainly are cultural difference between the two continents but the differences between all the different cultures of Asia are masive too. However, they have chosen the Straits of Bosphorus that divides Istanbul to be part of the line between the two continents.

Erdinc made a great suggestion to go and see his town within the city limits of Istanbul on the Asian side, which turned out to be a highlight for me.

 

Approaching the bridge to Asia

 

Looking to the Sea of Marmara from the bridge across the continents

 

The European side from the Asian side

Erdinc took me to one of his favorite eating places far away from where tourists would typically go.

Lunch

A synagogue

I relly enjoyed walking around Erdinc’s area of Istanbul, called Cengelkoy. He said Cengel means “hook” and its named for the sharp hook-like turn of the Bosphorus that it clings next to. I’ll just show some street scenes and some fishermen from Cengelkoy. Then I’ll show how I got “burned.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scenes from Erdinc’s home town in Istanbul, called Cengelkoy

He introduced me to his barber as we walked by and I joked that I could use a haircut. Next thing I know I’m in his chair getting the most thorough hair cut I’ve ever had. Not only did the barber cut what’s left of the hair on my head but he trimmed my eyebrows, my ear hair, nose hair, and all around my throat. What he did next would have scared me if I’d had time to realize what was happening. He lit a match and starting waving it around my ear.

“That’s not for me is it?”

“I’ll confess to anything, just go no further”

I told him what he wanted and he let me go.

I really enjoyed my time with the barber and in Cengelkoy. Erdinc did feel there is a different atmosphere in the Asian side of the city. He feels it’s more down to earth, cheaper to live, and less touristy. I hope to be able to figure out extensions to trips like this in the future.

 

We then went back to the European side to the Galata Tower, buit by the Genoese in 1348. It’s 67 meters (220 feet) high and has great views of the city.

Galata Tower from 1348

View from Galata Tower

The Neve Shalom Synagogue had been bombed in 1986, 1996, and 2003 and is supposedly well protected now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neve Shalom Synagoge

The Roman Aqueduct

The Grand Bazaar is like a massive covered city of shops and I wrote about it also on my Day 23 blog. Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scenes from the Grand Bazaar

We finished the day with carpet making and carpet sales demonstrations. I was fascinated with the carpet weaving and told them the story of how computer programming has its roots in weaving.Although I couldn’t remember the full story, I have since looked it up in Wikipedia. Joseph Jacquard created a mechanical loom in 1801 that is known as the first machine to use punched cards to control a sequence of operations.”The ability to change the pattern of the loom’s weave by simply changing cards was an important conceptual precursor to the development of computer programming.” (Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carpet weaving demo

Larvae from the silk making process

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had no chance of making a sale with me. As they pointed out, making these carpets took somewhere around a year’s worth of work and of course, cost a lot of money. I couldn’t see buying something like this and stepping on it or putting it on a wall. I don’t get spending that much money for something to walk on. The seller clearly knew his stuff and went way beyond me. I was glad to have seen it though. It would not have been right to go to Turkey without seeing carpets. My favorite part was when the workers would carry a heavy carpet and loudly slap it down so it unravelled just right.

I went back to the hotel and packed up for the trip the next day to Greece.

 

I’m writing this on March 4, over two weeks later. I have good notes of where we went and all my pictures, so hopefully I’ll be able to get the flavor of what happened. I remember looking at this day’s itinerary and being a bit worried. As I wrote in an early blog, I don’t have a great feeling about museums. I like to move through them quickly and don’t like to spend time reading long descriptions while standing for a long time. As it turned out, I had nothing to fear, what I saw this day was spectacular and very memorable. Just yesterday, I was at a doctor who instead of talking about my health went on and on about how much he loves Istanbul (of course, I started the conversation about travels, it’s not his fault).

Breakfast had a couple of highlights, one was the view from the restaurant, which was on the top floor with big windows and an open air area. The other was meeting a couple from Japan. He’s a judge and she’s a lawyer. They met while she was arguing a case in his court and were on their honeymoon. I would have liked to talk with them more, they were really friendly and I would have loved to hear more about the Japanese legal system.

Condiments and toppings from breakfast, glad I didn’t try them all

View from the breakfast room, Bosphorus on top, mosques on bottom

Japanese honeymooners, met while she was arguing cases in his courtroom

I was a little worried since we were not having the driver today. Many of the main attractions of Istanbul were within walking distance of the hotel.

 

Our first walk was to the Islamic Art Museum. Since the Moslem religion does not allow depictions of faces, they have come up with beautiful patterns in their architecture and art. The calligraphy is beautiful also.

My hotel bill or a page from the Koran done in 1760

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Koran from 1580 (left)

I spent a long time looking at one carpet, in the Lotto style. I had a long conversation in French with a guy from Quebec who was traveling all over the world. I got him to take the picture on the left, since Erdinc had left me to explore the museum on my own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loto carpet

I’m going to desrcribe what’s going on in my terms then I’ll type up here the description from the museum. The whole carpet is divided into squares. In each square there are repeating octagons. If you put octagons together, you get holes between them so they put diamond shapes to fill those holes. They modified the pattern by putting plant shapes in straight lines to the point where it gets hard to see the original octagons. The same pattern is repeated many times.

In Lotto carpets, the surface is divided into small squares. Each square contains an octagon, and diamonds are placed in the spaces in between. While the octagon and diamond scheme is preserved, plant motifs are geometricized. The composition formed by connecting whole and half palmettes and symmetrically placed pairs of rumi leaves by thin branches covers the whole surface like a web, upon the principle of infinite repetition. With the addition of plant motifs to the composition, it is seen that octangonal motifs somewhat dissipate.”

 

Diamond in the bottom center separates octagons in a Lotto carpet. The octagons have been “geometrized” by abstract plant shapes.

The best way to appreciate museums for me  is to find something that attracts me and spend time with it, rather than try to get it all like I did with these carpets. Lotto carpets are named after the Italian artist Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556). Here’s an example of a painting with a carpet in this style from Lodovico Carracci in 1590. The painting is called “Two Chess Players” and is located at the Gemalde Galerie in Berlin.

1590 painting with a Lotto carpet

We then moved out to the cold and saw the Egyptian Obelisk in the hippodrome. I also saw the similar obelisk at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. There’s a third one somewhere. Here’s the info from Wikipedia. “The Obelisk of Theodosius is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Tutmoses III re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople (in the modern city of Istanbul, Turkey) by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me in front of the Obelisk (left), and with the top not cut (uncircumcised?) in a picture from Wikipedia (right)

 

There’s little to say about the Blue Mosque, except that the pictures give no real sense of how beautiful it is. There’s a good reason why it’s called the blue mosque, you definitely feel the blue all around you.

 

Blue Mosque, picture from Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The amazing Blue Mosque, nothing left to say

Erdinc then took me to a pottery studio where the artist below created a piece of pottery from scratch in just a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pottery demonstration

I’ve been taken to many places on this trip where the “opportunity” to buy things were clearly made available. When we moved into our house in 2002, we decorated the house and have had no interest in redecorating since then. My sister will often shuffle things around and she’s always buying new items. Neither Margaret or I really care enough about it to bother. We both feel our house looks fine.

Strangely enough though, I found a piece at this studio that really intrigued me. It was a tessellation of hexagons, with five evil eyes in each hexagon. It’s based on a Hittite design going back 4000 years and can be used as a wine carafe which is easy to clean (although I’m not sure I would ever actually put wine in it). The sun god is represented by the hole in the middle and maybe came around the time that the Hittite’s invented the wheel. It was made by the master potter of this studio. The evil eye apparently is very important in Turkish culture, not to cause evil to others but to protect us from evil.

Here’s the description that the company (İSTANBUL FIRÇA) sent me. I’ve edited it to correct spelling and grammatical errors.

“Dear Larry,

I just want to leave information about your Hittite wine carafe.

4000 years ago the Hittite civilization had lived in Anatolia. They worshipped many gods and the sun god was one of the most important. They created a wine carafe for dedicating their sun god. The pitcher consists of four parts. The center of the pitcher looks like the shape of the sun.

Our family design was created by our Great Grandmother. Basically it has tulips, carnations, and roses designed with evil eyes on quartz/ceramic pottery. But sometimes the artists use their special imagination like your tesselation style pitcher made by Mustafa Mersin.”

The piece of pottery I bought

It was ridiculously expensive — 3100 Turkish Lira plus 200 Lira for shipping ($1965+125). As you have figured out, I ended up buying it. Here’s how the bargaining went the next day (after I had time to think about it and run it by Margaret). Margaret felt I should go ahead if I really wanted to, it was hard for her to get excited about it after only seeing a picture.

Them — 3300 Lira ($2090), everything from here includes the $125 shipping

Them — 2600 TL ($1650)

After I thought about it, I thought I would be willing to pay 2100TL ($1330) so I offered 1600TL ($1015) with the idea that the midpoint of 1600 and 2600 is 2100.

After I offered 1600, he went on a long description of how wonderful the piece was and what a good deal 2600 was.

Here was where I did the one smart part of my bargaining. I worked at a computer store in the early 1980’s when we were the only ones to have the rights to sell the first IBM PC. It was the only computer that used MS-DOS rather than Apple’s OS or the now ancient CP/M. I went to a 2-day sales training session and one thing I learned then that is so important in sales and in teaching is to know when to shut up. In sales, when you ask someone if they want to buy something, you really should take the uncomfortable silence and wait for their answer. If you start talking, they will often feel off the hook and say no. I also believe that it’s easy in teaching to talk for a full class period. It’s much harder and usually much more effective to create a learning situation where you shut up and have students working and / or thinking.

Back to my negotiations, he was hoping I would go up from 1600 before he went down from 2600. My silence got him to counteroffer 2300 ($1460). He went down 300 (from 2600 to 2300) so I matched him and went with 1900 ($1205), up an equivalent 300 from 1600.

He went down only 50 to 2250 ($1425) and I made the mistake of going up 200 instead of matching his 50. I had just offered my final goal of 2100 ($1330) too early in the process. He maybe felt sorry for me and went down 100 to 2150 ($1365). I split the difference and thought we had a deal at 2125 ($1345). Just to make his superiority known, he offered 2128 ($1350) and we shook hands.

When I mentioned what I paid to Erdinc, he said 2000 is a good deal, which is less than what I paid. Possibly I could have offered 100 TL and gotten it for half the price I paid, who knows. I do know that I’m not good at negotiating and don’t enjoy it. My father was an amazing expert at it and considered it one of his favorite sports. Our family lore includes a story that he was having so much fun negotiating in Egypt in the 1950’s that he barely made the boat by seconds.

My $1350 piece of pottery in action. Hopefully the evil eyes will keep me from buying too much stuff in the future.

Even after the trauma of negotiating and spending that much money, I’m glad to have done it. It’s the only real piece I bought the whole trip and I do love the tessellations, the evil eyes, the sun god theme, and the wine carafe. It will be an excellent memory.

The Topkapi Palace took a while to go through. All the stories you imagine about a sultan’s palace with his harem and large indoor baths were real here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gate of Topkapi Palace with logo of sultans (left), model of the Palace (right)

 

Entrance to the Harem, in case you know any women (or Eunuchs) looking for a job

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scenes from inside the Topkapi Palace

Views of the Bosphorus from the Topkapi Palace

Next was the Hagia Sofia or St. Sophia, probably the best known monument in Istanbul and even more famous than the Blue Mosque. It was a church and headquarters of the Orthodox church 360 until 1453 (except for a brief time when it was a Catholic church during the Crusades). Then from 1453 to 1931 it was a mosque. After Turkey became a secular state, they turned it into the museum it is now. It was a bizarre feeling to see Christian icons from over a thousand years ago, rediscovered fairly recently, in what looks very much like a mosque.

According to Wikipedia, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have “changed the history of architecture.” It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520.

I’m glad I don’t have to make this decision. “Because of its long history as both a church and a mosque, a particular challenge arises in the restoration process. The Christian iconographic mosaics are being gradually uncovered. However, in order to do so, important historic Islamic art would have to be destroyed. Restorers have attempted to maintain a balance between both Christian and Islamic cultures. In particular, much controversy rests upon whether the Islamic calligraphy on the dome of the cathedral should be removed, in order to permit the underlying Pantocrator mosaic of Christ as Master of the World, to be exhibited (assuming the mosaic still exists).” (Wikipedia)

 

The Hagia Sophia from the outside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hagia Sophia from the inside, the dome is 56.6 meters (186 feet) high and has a diameter of 31.87 meters (105 feet). Would it be a good place for ice hockey?

The lights almost look like water lilies from the upper gallery

Stunning ancient Christian icons

One of the Seraphin from the Hagia Sofia discovered 6 months ago, representing one of the 4 evangelists (either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John)

This was really almost too much to see in one day. It was fun walking through the streets of Istanbul, even though it was relatively cold. I would have liked my winter jacket but I had plenty of layers.

 

My guide, Erdinc, and an Istanbul street scene

 

 

I don’t even remember what made me suddenly think today whether I’ll be a fundamentally different person when I return from this trip. The human mind is amazing in the way it jumps from thought to thought with sometimes no rational link between the thoughts. Maybe there is a link but it all happens so quickly that we don’t have time to figure it out. Maybe most people don’t care, maybe you don’t care while reading this and are hoping I’ll just get on with it.

As I was saying, will I be fundamentally different when I return from this trip? If you remove the word “fundamentally” the answer is obviously yes. We change in tiny increments every moment. I think I’m close to thinking through some answers to “who am I?” Israel really helped out by giving me some experiences related to my half-Jewishness. The sense of alienation I’ve felt all my life has come clearer to me. What it means in my life and whether I should do something about it have not come yet. I’ve seen a great deal of varieties in how to live that I hadn’t seen before. I don’t know the answer to the question yet. I still have another 4-week trip to Korea, India, and China coming up.

I love Cyprus. As I said before, it seems to be just a fundamentally healthy country. It’s filled with wonderful history, it’s a fascinating mix of Greek and English culture, and it has great weather and beaches. Its biggest problem is the complex problem of the Turkish controlled north and the independent Greek-speaking independent country in the south. Some complain about the many wealthy Russian immigrants who have brought some wealth to the country but have maybe had the stronger negative impact of increasing prices.

I hadn’t planned to come back here but after almost changing my plans, I checked and found out that if I’m not on the flight tomorrow from Cyprus to Athens, they will cancel my whole trip home. I really do want to go home. It was not a hardship for me to go back to Cyprus though. I only had this one day but it was a wonderful day.

George’s brother-in-law Christos picked me up at the airport last night and again at 10:30 AM today to go on a sightseeing trip. Although I have so much to see in Cyprus, the most obvious glaring hole from what I missed on my previous visit was the city of Paphos.

Looking out at the Mediterranean from my hotel balcony.

Our first stop was a return visit for me to the rock that is reputed to be the birthplace of Aphrodite (Petra Tou Romiou). Last time it was dusk and I fell at the water’s edge. I attributed it to my hidden desire to meet Aphrodite. Now I’m sure Aphrodite and I have something going on. I didn’t fall this time but I did fail to get out of the way from a wave and got my shoes soaked.

My second encounter with Aphrodite

We headed to Paphos and saw some wonderful sites. Parts of the Paphos Castle go back to the Crusaders in 1222.

My taxi driver / tour guide / new friend Christos. His son is studying flute at IUP.

They had areas in the Paphos castle called oubliettes (from the French word for “to forget”) for long-term prisoners. Make sure you don’t bring any liquids through airport security or you could end up in one of these.

 

Fish caught in the Paphos harbor

The archaeological museum turned out to be open air ruins rather than pieces inside a building. I liked this more. The House of Dionysos is from the 2^nd century and discovered in 1962.

If you double click on this, you should be able to read it.

Here is one of the mosaic floors, with Dionysus, Icarus (who flew too close to the sun), and I’m not sure who the one is on the right. My nephew Nick will know. The mosaic was too big for one picture so it’s split into these three. The full mosaic is below from a sign, not the real thing.

The full mosaic, from a sign.

Mosaic from the Archaeological Museum at Paphos

Hoping I was taller than the columns

Lot of drama in these mosaics

Disturbing that some of the mosaics are out where idiots like me can almost step on them

There was an area called the “Tombs of the Kings” which apparently was not for kings but wealthy people from the Greek and Roman eras.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomb of the Kings — nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there

Thought I might take it home but was not sure it would fit in my suitcase.

Christos invited me to join his wife and family for lunch, along with Irene and George’s family. I offered to have their oldest son, who goes to IUP come over for dinner the week after I get back when Keith is in Indiana for spring break. We Skyped to IUP and probably woke him up. I had a wonderful meal, the first home cooked meal since Mickey cooked in Tel Aviv. I only had a brief discussion with Christos’ wife Christina about the mathematics of music theory, which she teaches along with piano and guitar. I said goodbye to Irene and George, this time for real, at least for a while.

Irene and George and their kids on the left. Their in-laws, Christos, Christina, and their kids on the right. Nice picture.

Christos got me back to the Four Seasons 15 minutes or so before my appointment with an old friend of maybe my oldest friend, Michael B. Thereza is a professor at an English-speaking university in Cyprus and is a fascinatingly multi-faceted person. Near the end of our approximately 3-hour conversation, we imagined that we probably met in the 1970’s. The event was Michael B.’s beautiful multimedia infrared photography show in Ithaca, NY. It was something that we both remembered from a relatively long ago era from which most events are long forgotten. She teaches courses for international students who are going on travel study programs among other things. Her specialty is Ancient Chinese and Japanese Art. As someone who does not believe in reincarnation, I was challenged by her telling me about her feeling that she knew more than anyone should have known about this art when she first learned about it in a Cornell course. Her professor didn’t believe that she could be that good without having studied it previously. Our conversation was filled with sharing selected highlights and favorite thoughts from our lives. I knew that someone who was important to Michael B. would be someone to immediately be totally open with. She reciprocated and I felt like we had known each other for years not minutes.

Thereza and me

Before she headed out to Nicosia for a wedding, the Headmaster of the school I taught at who I consider to be a new friend came with her daughter to deliver the pen pal letters from the Cyprus students responding to Katie B.’s students in Indiana, PA. One of the packages was open and I read some.

The Headmaster Nick and his daughter (one of the pen pals in the 5th grade class I taught), giving me the pen pal letter replies

Here are some quotes from 5^th graders.

“In Limassol we have a fish restaurant called M1. Mr. Sodiris, the owner is also a fisherman and he serves only fresh fish of the day. If you ever come to Cyprus, I will take you there to eat. I hope you like to eat fish too.”

“Yes, you are right. We don’t get lots of snow as we have lots of sunshine and it’s never below 14 degrees!!! But in the mountains there is some snow but not for long. Cyprus is a small island with lots of history. We have nice food like haloumi cheese and souvlaki (small pieces of meat with spices on a grill), my favorite food is pizza and I love grilled haloumi cheese in pitta bread. In the summer it is really hot around 40 degrees so the schools clse at the end of June until September so most of fthe time I spend at the beach with my mum and dad. The other half of the summer I go to Russia and spend time with my grandparents which is a nice change as the weather is different.”

“Winters are not very cold but summers are extremely hot. The temperatures reach up to 40 celsius so lots of people walk about topless. Most tourists spend time visiting the famous sites like the old castles and archaeological sites so should you ever visit me, I will show them to you, In winter, most of us go to the Troodes Mountains to sleigh and to ski. Do you know I am only 3 days older than you are!”

“I have not read Percy Jackson and the Olympians but I’m sure they are good books to read. Have you read any books by Roald Dahl? My best book is the Twits. It’s really funny.”

“I come from a family of four. My mum is a teacher and my dad is a doctor. I play basketball and swim throughout the year. I also play guitar. I don’t play much on-line games because I get lots of homework although sometimes I play vice city. On the weekends, I spend lots of time with my cousins when I play loads of play station games.”

Like I said, “I love Cyprus”

After ordering one more beer, I wasted time in my ridiculously extravagant hotel room and thought about how nice it would be to go to bed early since I had a 6:20 AM departure tomorrow for the airport, then a full day in Athens. I also thought that it would be an even better idea to actually go to bed rather than thinking about how good it would be to go to bed. You can see where this is going and unfortunately, it’s not going to bed early.

About 6:05 AM, I had some conflicting feelings.

On the negative side:

• I was behind schedule to finish packing and would have to rush to check out in time to meet Christos at 6:20 for the drive to the airport
• My stomach didn’t feel great
• My shoulder didn’t feel great
• It hurt to be awake after only 4-5 hours of sleep
• I wouldn’t be able to have any coffee or food until after the 40 minute drive to the airport, checking in, and going through security and passport control in Larnaca, Cyprus
• I had a 1 hour 40 minute flight with its stresses
• The burden of being away for 3.5 weeks was getting to me

On the positive side:

• When I got to the airport, I’d have plenty of coffee, free internet, and food in the Business Class lounge
• There would be a massive breakfast and plenty of coffee on the plane
• I could nap later in the day
• In a few hours, I’d be climbing the Acropolis to see the Parthenon
• I’d be home in 2-3 days

I realized that this balanced to about 90% positive and 10% negative.

In conclusion – “Stop whining, you lucky SOB!”

Last view of Cyprus, I’ll miss it (left). Thanks to iPhoto’s GPS, this is Crete (right)

 

When I mentioned to Michael V., who lives one block from us in Indiana, PA that I would be in Athens, he recommended that I use his favorite taxi driver in Athens. Michael is of Greek ancestry and visits Greece a lot. I had called the taxi driver, Tolis, a couple of months ago and got his email. We had made various arrangements partly with suggestions from Michael.

A quick shout out to Michael V. Tolis was a great find and made my two days in Athens much better. THANKS!

Tolis was there with my name on a sign as soon as I cleared passport control in Athens. I had been warned in Cyprus that there is almost always some kind of strike or big demonstration going on in Athens and sure enough there was a mass transit stoppage planned for Monday (tomorrow) from 11-3. This impacted the travel plans. I definitely would go out of town tomorrow when the stoppage is going on rather than today. If there was a problem with seeing the Acropolis and the Parthenon on Monday, I would be heartbroken. It was crucial to see the Parthenon first thing. Since it was too early to check in to the hotel, Tolis left me off at the foot of the Parthenon and he waited in his taxi for me.

Greece has been trying to repatriate some of the Parthenon relics that were taken by the British and now stored in the British Museum. Greece had been criticized for not having a big enough museum to display what they wanted. So now they built a much bigger museum. The most interesting feature to me was that when they discovered an archaeological site below the building, they put in glass floors. I’m not sure why they put these annoying dots on the glass. Maybe it keeps people from thinking they are magically flying above the ground or something stupid like that.

Standing on top of a working archaeological site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only part without the glass and dots. I wonder which ancient era the table and chairs come from (I’m guessing the 1970’s), right.

The museum was very spacious and the pieces were high up with plenty of room to see each piece. There was so much to see that I quickly got overwhelmed. Instead of really enjoying the experience I got eager to go and see the Parthenon. I did get everywhere in the museum but only a few times did I just stand and stare for a while. Maybe this had to do with the fact I didn’t have a guide telling me which pieces were the big deal. I hadn’t realized before this how much my guides had helped with focusing my attention on a few pieces that were especially important.

 

The museum had a no camera rule, probably because of the danger of flash on the relics. Other museums allowed cameras but no flash. Probably they didn’t trust people to turn off their flashes. Margaret criticizes me for deciding on my own which rules to follow and which to break, without knowing the reason for the rules. It felt right for me to actually obey this rule though.

New Acropolis Museum from the top of the Acropolis

I’m pretty sure “Acropolis” means something like high city. It certainly involved some elevation change. I rediscovered the effect of gravity on one’s energy. Fortunately, the effort was many times more than worth it.

Later I discovered that I was sweating so much from the climb that my passport got a little wet. Fortunately, there’s no real damage. I need to get a plastic passport cover, although it will be annoying given the number of times you have to show your passport. The passport is used instead of airline tickets, they just scan it to bring the flight up. I needed it multiple times for each flight and repeatedly at border crossings and a few times inside Israel. Every hotel makes a copy of the front page. I usually never put in anywhere except my front pocket or a couple of times in the hotel room safe.

What a thrill to be at one of the man made wonders of the world. It is as impressive as you would think it is.

Athens First National Bank (also known as one of the seven wonders of the world)

I promise never to take a picture again with the front camera, sorry for posting this

Other views of the Parthenon, truly wonderful to be there

The Erechtheion, another amazing building on the Acropolis

The Propylaea, still another building on the Acropolis. I’m trying to get a guy I recruited to take my picture to get the whole column rather than taking the picture so low. It didn’t work.

I asked Tolis about getting lunch at a place where he would go rather than at a tourist place. He took me to his favorite taverna in the area of Athens he lives in called Pagrati.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tolis outside his favorite tavern, called Tzimes, or Jimmy’s (Demetri’s), left.

Grilled pork, tatziki, and grilled peppers (right).

As we were finishing, we ran into his best friends who had just been hanging out with his sons and wife. He told me the next day that they found me “cute and nice.” I loved being called cute. I wonder if that’ll be the last time anyone ever calls me that. I have a memory of being called cute when I was very young and asking my parents what it meant. I remember them taking a long time to explain it and I still didn’t get it until they used it in other situations. Why I would remember that is beyond me.

Tolis’ friends who called me cute

Tolis’ wife is Turkish I guess makes it official that a theme of my trip is the relationship between Turkey and Greece. That relationship is at the heart of modern Cyprus. The comparison between Istanbul (where I had been that morning) and Athens to me was significant. To Tolis, there wasn’t that much of a difference. I’m not sure if it was the difference between the Muslim culture of Istanbul and the Greek Orthodox one or the feeling of being in the two big very Asian feeling markets (Spice Market and Grand Bazaar) that made Istanbul feel less European than Athens.

His wife is still a Turkish citizen and owns property in Heybeliada, one of Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara, just outside Istanbul. She would have to sell her property if she became a Greek citizen. Their kids are Greek citizens but if they serve in the Greek army, they could also become Turkish citizens without having to join the Turkish army. It was good to see one of these classic hatreds being overcome in a healthy way. His wife makes a living giving private Turkish lessons.

After lunch, I was ready to go to the hotel and relax a bit. At check-in I accepted their offer for a room with a view of the Acropolis for 19 euros beyond the 105 euros I was already paying. This turned out to be an excellent choice. Not only did I have a stunning view of the Acropolis from my balcony but the Parthenon stared at me while lying down in bed.

View of Parthenon from my balcony (left), from my bed (right)

 

After an extended nap, I got up to go to the corner of Mitropolos and Aolo where two of the most interesting areas meet called the Plaka and Monasteraki. I had no idea which area I was in but I just kept walking around. There seemed to be very few tourists out, mostly Greeks in their 20’s. I went into a bar that was really hopping, people dancing on the tables, live music, people singing along. I clearly didn’t fit with that crowd and wasn’t in the mood to try. Someone could have made a good film at this place about the mating rituals of the local species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monasteraki and / or Plaka, not sure which.

I had no idea where I was, but just kept on walking. My goal was to keep going until I had almost had enough, then start looking for a taxi. Before that happened, I had to stop for a gyro or souflaki, not sure what the difference is. A couple of servers at the place I found kept leaving the place with food and coming back in a few minutes. I saw them outside when leaving and they were bringing food from this cheap take out place to the fancy restaurants in the area, probably for twice the price.

 

The cook and a server at the souvlaki take out place in the Monasteraki or Plaka

It wasn’t bad finding a taxi and I went to sleep looking at the Parthenon. Another intense day.

 

I’m sitting in my hotel room looking at the Parthenon reliving in my mind what I think is the perfect Greek moment I had a couple of hours ago.

Tolis, my taxi driver friend who I met through Michael V. in Indiana took me to Sounio to see the Temple of Poseidon. I was blown away by the beauty of the temple and the beauty of the location. We went to a restaurant just below the temple. My moment was when Tolis was filling me wonderful stories from Greek Mythology while eating Moussaka and looking at the Temple of Poseidon. I hope a snapshot of that moment stays with me for a long time, I’m sure it will.

Tolis relating the Greek mythology of the Temple of Poseidon (left), while I eat moussaka with Greek coffee (right)

 

 

I offered to buy him lunch but he said this is not the time of day (1 PM) when he would eat. He said he would maybe have a snack around now then eat at 5 or so. I told him I often eat at 5 but then I realized it’s lunch he has at 5, then dinner at 10 or so after the children go to bed. Strangely enough this almost matches 2 of the 3 meals I would have when not teaching. I would have a meal at noon or so when I get up, then have dinner at 5 with Margaret (same time as Tolis), then a snack around 10 PM to midnight (same again as Tolis). Margaret and I share 2 meals too — the noon meal and the 5 PM one.

 

Backtracking now to 10 AM, Tolis picked me up in his taxi and we drove out of Athens through some very wealthy suburbs. I had to do my usual touching the water and this time didn’t fall or get my shoes soaked. Maybe I really do have something for Aphrodite. When I told that story to Tolis, he simply responded that many people throughout history have had a thing for Aphrodite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beaches along the road from Athens to the Temple of Poseidon at Sounio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first view of the Temple of Poseidon from the road (left), view before the climb (right)

It’s becoming hard for me to concentrate on this because as we speak, the sky over the Parthenon from where I’m sitting keeps changing every minute. This is the first time I really wished I had a heavy duty multi-faceted camera along with the knowledge of how to fully use it.

 

Amazing sky over the Parthenon from my hotel room while I’m trying to write about what happened earlier

Getting back to my story. As I said earlier, not only is the Temple magnificent, but so is the setting. It’s located at the very tip of the Greek Peninsula and the views are great. Of course, the Ancient Greeks did not choose its location by chance.

 

That top picture almost looks perfect, like from a post card. The other two have something in the way that makes them far from perfect.

 

View from the Temple of the end point of the Greek peninsula

A story Tolis told me is as follows. There was a competition between the gods Athena and Poseidon for naming the city of Athens. Athena offered olive trees and Poseidon horses for war. They chose Athena’s olive trees over the horses. They named the city Athens after Athena but dedicated this temple at Sonio to Poseidon as a consolation prize.

Another story Tolis told me is as follows. Thiseas was sent to Mineas to be sacrificed but instead he killed the Minotaur (half bull, half man). He was supposed to change his sail from black to white if he killed the minotaur and was not killed. He forgot to change the sail to white because he had partied too much. His father, Aegeas, saw that the sail had not changed to white when Mineas was returning and Aegeas threw himself into the sea in grief.

Tolis’ 8-year old son, Thodoris, told his father to be sure that Tolis told me this story. Thodoris loves Greek mythology. I wrote the following email through his mother’s email.

Dear Thodoris,

I want to thank you for getting your father to tell me the story of Thiseas and Aegeas when we were at Sounio. It made my trip much better to hear this story while having lunch near the Temple. I hope you keep your interest in the Ancient Greek stories for the rest of your life. I very much enjoyed my time with your father. He is a wonderful man and from how he described your mother and brother, I’m sure they are quite wonderful also. Maybe next time I come to Greece I will be able to meet you.

 

 

More views of the Mediterranean from the Temple of Poseidon at Sounio

 

Our last stop was at Panathinaiko Stadium, which was used for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and was the finish line for the Marathon atthe 2004 Athens Olympics. It was remade out of marble in 329 BCE then enlarged and renovated by Herodes Atticus in 140 AD to a seated capacity of 50,000. Other renovations followed including for the 1896 games. They have had rare concerts there like Bob Dylan and “Big Wheel Keeps On Turnin'” Tina Turner. It’s in the area of Athens that Tolis’ lives in and he plays soccer once a week in the grounds behind the stadium.

 

Panathinaiko, the Ancient Olympic Stadium

From the 2004 Olympics (Wikipedia)

 

View of the Parthenon from the Olympic Stadium

 

Many people had told me that Athens usually has some kind of protest that disrupts daily life. We did indeed have a transit strike today, which was a good reason to be out of town. When we came back, Tolis talked of taking me somewhere but the traffic was bad due to the strike and I was also burnt out.

 

I was really impressed with Tolis. He’s a great father and a fun and warm person. I very much enjoyed my time with him. It was great to have someone that I could trust and knew where to go in these places. His charges were quite reasonable. If you or someone you know is planning to go to Athens, please contact me and I’ll give you his contact info.

My plan was to go out again later to the Plaka or Monasteraki areas where I was last night. Now I’m feeling like today was such a great ending to my trip (besides the little detail of 22 hours to get home tomorrow, starting at 6 AM), that I’ll just stay here and post this even though the day is not done.  I’m sure you’ve had the experience of feeling that something is done and that there’s no need to do anything else. My brain is filled.

Am I becoming a morning person? I went to bed last night around 9-10 PM, planning to oversleep like I did a couple of nights ago. I didn’t have to be anywhere until noon for the first time in a very long time. However, I woke up at 8:30, same as the other days in Istanbul. This is almost normal sleeping times. Will I start doing that when I get home? Of course, 8:30 AM local time is the same as 1:30 AM back home. Maybe I’ll sleep the equivalent times where 10 PM here is 3 PM at home and 8:30 AM is 1:30 AM. That would be almost a 12 hour switch for me.

After breakfast, I planned to go to the ATM to get exactly the money I’d need to give a good tip to Erdinc and the driver and then go back to work on my blog. While I was out, I decided to take the 5 minute walk to the Grand Bazaar. On the way there, an obnoxious guy trying to get me to look at his carpets accosted me. He showed me business cards from Americans who he had harassed in the past and just as I was getting ready to go, I saw George Bieger’s IUP card in the mix. I’ve been on doctoral committees with George. He helped me with info about Egypt since he went there just before the problems there. I was so startled by this that I went into his carpet store just to find out more about his contact with George and ended up sitting through another (but much shorter) carpet presentation. It’s all your fault, George.

Not sure that the Turkish slogan here for McDonalds would work well in the US  — “Efsane Tatlar, Sahane Fiyatlar.” I think it means “Go to one of the amazing local restaurants right around here instead of eating this crap.I’d go nuts trying to get the angles right on the street bricks near the Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar is so massive that within a few minutes I had no clue where I was. I decided to just enjoy the sights and worry about how to get out later. Eventually I saw a map and located the gate I came in at but the map had no “you are here” so I asked a friendly shopkeeper. It would have been fun to be found years later with all my money gone, still trying to find my way out of the Grand Bazaar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Distracting way to display jeans (right) and I’m not sure who the audience is for the dolls (left)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You see many people delivering food and tea to shopkeepers (left). More colorful than the lights section of Lowe’s (right)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typical covered street scene from the Grand bazaar (left). Atypical toilet (only one I’ve seen in this style on the trip), right

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The map I used to get out of the Grand Bazaar. My Gate was #1 of 21 (on the bottom right corner of the map and the picture on the right)

 

Maybe my last freshly squeezed pomegranate juice for a while. I think I’ve had one every day for the last 12 days. It’s kept me healthy. Does Giant Eagle sell it back home, (unfortunately not freshly squeezed)?

 

Erdinc called around noon and asked if I wanted to hang out for a while before the driver came at 1. I almost said no but fortunately my more adventurous instincts cut in. He took me to a tiny hole in the wall that was a restaurant for Grand Bazaar shopkeepers and rarely sees tourists. He said there’s normally a line to get in but the Friday noon prayers were blaring over the loudspeakers and many people were praying. I guess my “prayer” not to have to stand in line was met by real prayers.

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The restaurant for shopkeepers (left) and the alley we took to get from the restaurant (right)

He then took me to another place for shopkeepers that specialized in desserts and coffee. I finally had a food that I really didn’t like. It was a sweet dish made out of chicken breast. It looked like yogurt but had a tough and sticky consistency that made it hard to cut into. I don’t think the concept of sweet sticky chicken breast bothered me but the taste and consistency did. I got the name from Tolis in Greece later, it’s called Tavuk Gogsu. From Wikipedia — “white chicken breast meat is softened by boiling and separated the meat fibers into very fine threads. The meat is mixed with milk, sugar, cracked rice and/or other thickeners, and often some sort flavoring such as cinnamon. The result is a thick pudding.” I agreed with Erdinc that even when you don’t like a food it’s an experience to try it. I won’t soon forget it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disgusting dessert of sweetened gelled chicken breast (left). My driver — as always impeccably dressed, impeccably on time, impeccably parked in the perfect spot.

The three of us headed to the airport. Erdinc came into the airport with me even though he had to go through the security. This is part of his job but seems unnecessary. I met two interesting Pakistani guys in the Business Class lounge. The older guy was the factory owner and they were on their monthly trip for their denim jean business. They told me how they felt Pakistan gets an undeserved bad image because of the fighting in the Western part near Afghanistan. He said Karachi, where they are, is just a normal Asian city. We exchanged business cards and I now know where to get my jeans manufactured. They seemed like fun-loving guys.

The lunch on the plane from Istanbul to Athens was fava beans salad with a greek dressing, cheeses, and Greek pastry with several fruits and vegetables on the side, along with a Heineken. Then came the main course of veal and rice. All this in a one-hour flight. I only had one hour to change planes for the flight from Athens to Larnaca, Cyprus. The meal on that flight was grilled eggplant salad with tomatoes, perch fillet with tomato sauce on a bed of spinach and potatoes, and two cheeses with another Heineken. Then they came with desert of a delicious shortbread cookie with custard on top along with a piece of baklava and coffee. This was after a lunch at the Grand Bazaar and breakfast. Of course, I couldn’t eat it all. When I got to Larnaca, I was not hungry.

The Business Class seats on this plane had the same 3 seats as Coach but the middle one has an extra table on it so that no one can sit there. There was also a lot of extra leg room. The guy who sat in my row was an interesting mix. He:

• Grew up in Yugoslavia until it broke up and his part is now Serbia
• Moved to Cyprus 20 years ago
• Is a bank manager in Minsk, Belarus (former Soviet republic)
• Works for a Swiss bank.

I got  a chance to speak some Russian with him.

His 8-year old son:

• Speaks Serbian at home
• Plays with kids in Greek
• Goes to an English-language school

Very different life from people who have always lived and worked in the same place.

It was nice to see my name on a card as soon as I got through Cyprus customs. George’s brother Christos has a taxi service and besides taking me on the 40 minute drive from Larnaca to Limassol, he’ll be taking me on a 3-4 hour trip to Paphos Saturday, then taking me again to the airport Sunday. My first act in Cyprus was to try to get in the van on the wrong side. I’d forgotten about driving on the left.

One amazing thing for me is that his son goes to IUP, following in his uncle’s footsteps. He’s a flute major and really likes it at IUP. His brother might be going there next year too. I can’t tell you (I guess I am telling you) how much Irene and George like IUP and Indiana, PA. I’m going to try to get their son to come to our house in Indiana, maybe sometime when Keith is home.

 

I’m splurging even more than usual and staying at the 4 Seasons in Limassol. I have a room with a large balcony looking over the Mediterranean. I got decent internet for the first time in weeks but only wired so I could only use my laptop, not my iPhone or iPod and it costs 25 euros or $33 per day. My 100 MB data plan that I’m using for my iPhone in the other countries doesn’t apply in Cyprus so it costs $10 for 1 MB, which is ridiculous.

I had a nice iChat with Margaret. In the last day or two, it’s occurred to me more than usual that being home is a wonderful thing. I don’t want to cut my trip short but when I get home in 4 days, it will feel very good.

This is one of the few posts that I’m writing on the day it happened and it’s now 2:42 AM. So much for reforming myself into going to bed at normal hours. I’m leaving the balcony door open a crack so I can hear the waves.

Erdinc picked me up at 10 AM, which was a welcome relief from 6:30 AM yesterday. I love the slick Mercedes van with the smooth and classy driver (can something be slick, smooth, and classy all at once?). We drove to the pier to catch a 10:30 cruise along the Bosphorus. As Erdinc pointed out the reason for Istanbul’s size (about 12.5 million) and crucial importance in world history can be summarized by the real estate slogan “location, location, location”. The narrow passageway called the Bosphorus ultimately connects the Mediterranean with Russia, Romaina, Bulgaria, Georgia, and the Ukraine. To get to Istanbul from Italy you pass through Athens and the Adriatic Sea, then to the Sea of Marmara, which meets the Bosphorus at Istanbul.

Istanbul is where the annoying “A” is on the map. Athens is on the bottom in the center and you can see Rome on the left. The Crimean peninsula and the Ukraine are north of Istanbul on the other side of the Black Sea.

Leaving the Old Town area of Istanbul.

The seagull ate the tower just after I took the picture.

While we were on the boat, Erdinc gave me the quick overview of the very complicated Istanbul history. Before being called Istanbul, it was called Constantinople, after Constantine the Great. Here is a list of who has been in control.

 

• Greeks, 7th century BCE to 5th century BCE
• Persians, for 50 years in the 5th century BCE
• Greeks again, 5th century BCE to 2nd century BCE
• Romans, 2nd century BCE to 3rd century CE
• Byzantine Empire, 325 CE to 1453
• Ottoman Empire, 1453 to 1923
• Turkey, 1923 to today

Each of these groups left a very strong impact on today’s Istanbul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dolmabahce palace (top) and the Ortakoy mosque (bottom), beautiful buildings from just a couple of days ago in Turkish historical terms (mid-19th century)

 

They consider the Western part of Istanbul to be in Europe and the Eastern side to be in Asia. The dividing line is the Bosphorus that we were on. There are two bridges that cross the continents here.

 

 

The European side of the bridge

 

The Asian side of the bridge

 

Too cold for a swim

 

 

Servers brought foods from some of the towns after a stop of the boat. The town of Kanlica was famous for its yogurt. Not a fan of plain yogurt but I had to try it and it was good with a little sugar.

 

Restaurants on the Bosphorus

As soon as we got off the boat our driver was right there with the Mercedes van to whisk us away back to Istanbul through the crowded streets of the towns we had had passed on the boat, with a few stops on the way.

The boat we had been on in the front and the Black Sea gate in the back (the end of the Bosphorus)

The Rumeli fortress was built by the sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in four months only and is directly opposite another fort. They were built in 1452 in preparation for the final attack on Constantinople, which led to the downfall of the Christian Byzantine Empire by the Moslem Ottoman Empire. The fortress is located at the narrowest section of the Bosphorus Strait (about 600 meters – 1970 feet). Erdinc said that they put a chain between the two forts to stop ships and then shot at them from both sides.

The Rumeli Fortress from the boat

Erdinc said he would go with me to the top of the wall but he warned me that it was dangerous, then really discouraged me. He was absolutely right. It was a cold, rainy day and the stone walkways were quite slippery. My shoulder is still bad from the surgery last year and if I fell it might have been the end of my trip and maybe led to the cancellation of my upcoming trip to Korea, China, and India.

 

 

Fortress walls

 

Erdinc at the fortress theater

We had an amazing lunch on the waterfront, with appetizers, salad, sardines from the Black Sea, and Bluefish from the Bosphorus. I ate too much but it was worth it.

View from the restaurant

After we got back to Istanbul, we went to a series of attractions. Our driver weaved his way through traffic, found a place to let us off right where we wanted to go, and was waiting for us with a warm car as soon as we were ready. I mentioned to Erdinc that I had been to Israel and he added on to the tour a trip to the Jewish Museum. Apparently the Jewish community created this museum and the overwhelming message was that Turkey had treated its Jews well. For Jews the year 1492 is not remembered for “Columbus sailed the ocean blue” but as the year Spain kicked them out of the country. Many ended up in Turkey. There are 20,000 Jews still here, which is about 20,000 more than in most other Islamic countries. He said there used to be many more but he feels they voluntarily left for Israel or the US or other countries, not that they felt oppression. I’m including a bunch of pictures that state this. You have to look for the English part of each sign. You might need to double click on the picture to be able to read it.

 

I hate it when people send a mass email and say in the header something like “please delete if not interested”. It seems like we could figure that out on our own. I bring that up because I’m going to do something similar. If these displays from the Jewish Museum don’t interest you, just go ahead to the next part. You didn’t need me to say that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then were driven to a restaurant that had the best baclava in Istanbul according to Erdinc.

Turkish coffee and the best baklava in town

We then went to another of Erdinc’s amazing coterie of buddies. This time it was a friend that he hung out with whom when he was in London. He and his brother are the third generation that own a relatively large spice business. This is just their showroom and a small part of the overall business. I had a “meaning of life” conversation with the brother on the left below and he gave me some cold press almond oil and natural bath soap as a present. Great guy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the real highlights of Istanbul to me was the Spice Market. The building itself is beautiful architecturally, look at the ceiling and the floor. It used to be just for spice but now you can get almost anything there. I hope that Wal-Mart never comes to Istanbul and if it does, that people will continue to go to the Spice Market and places like this instead. Wal-Mart has killed off many of the local retailers and a great deal of the uniqueness of individual towns. While I’m at it, I’m shocked to see Starbucks here. Why anyone would go to a drab Starbucks in Indiana, PA over our handful of unique coffee shops is beyond me. Why anyone would go to Starbucks in Istanbul with hundreds of beautiful coffee shops is               (that empty space was supposed to stand for “beyond words”, but I’ve ruined it with these words right here).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful floor and ceiling of the Spice Market

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scenes from the real all-purpose market (not Wal-Mart)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give me this day my daily pomegranite juice (left). Turkish Viagra (right)

Not sure why the shop is recommended by Obama

We also went to a mosque but since I’ve forgotten which one it was, I’ll include it in the next day’s blog after I ask Erdinc. After they left me off at the hotel, I realized how tired and sleepy I was. I grazed my email and thought about writing the blog, then had a nice Chat on Apple iChat with Margaret. The hotel brought me a complimentary fruit basket and two beers. I suspect Erdinc had something to do with this. I decided to take a brief nap before going out to eat around 8. Next I knew it was 10:30 and I gave some not very serious thought to getting up. In no time it was 9 AM and time to get ready for the next day. The banana I had from the fruit basket turned out to be my dinner.

I can’t tell you how good it felt to oversleep. I had been undersleeping for close to 3 weeks. My ecosystem requires an occasional oversleep and it had been too long. Now I’m hopefully OK for my remaining 2 full days in Istanbul, 2 days in Cyprus, 2 days in Athens, and one long day home, at last.

 

Today is the day I was supposed to be in Cairo but due to the incredible political events that began the day I left, had to be cancelled. Much as I enjoy thinking about planning trips, I am incredibly sick of making plans, changing, and rechanging them. You would be very bored to hear the full story. I had made plans to skip returning to Cyprus, which got changed when I made the “easy switch” only to discover that if I don’t return to Cyprus, I’ll lose my whole trip back. So my itinerary is Cyprus to Israel to Jordan to Istanbul to Cyprus (changing planes in Athens) to Athens, then home changing planes in Munich and Philadelphia. This will be on the final exam.

I’m starting to worry about my blog. I’m way behind. Fortunately, I just got the most difficult day done (Day 15 in Jerusalem) and maybe I can get caught up one day at a time.

I left at 6:30 AM with Raed the driver and Khalid my guide from the truly amazing carved rock city of Petra, Jordan to the Amman airport. I gave them what I thought was a very good tip, then added a little more. They truly deserved it. They had a representative of the tour company there to assist me in the airport, which turned out to be not needed. I was in the business class check in, which had comfortable seats while they went through my documents. I was with him for about 5 minutes.

It was nice being in the business class lounge at Amman. For the first time since Frankfurt, I had free fast internet that could be used on multiple devices. I saw that the flight to Cairo I was planning to take was cancelled.

The meal on board was very good, shrimp with cream cheese for appetizer, salad, French cheese, a Jordanian Lamb dish, and a fig pastry for desert. They had small screens with movies and music. I started watching the movie “The Social Network” but got sleepy and also didn’t like that it was edited for content.

We flew right over Cyprus and I could clearly see Limassol where I had spent a week and would be back to at the end of this week.

On arrival at Istanbul, fortunately I saw a line for getting a visa. If I had skipped this, I would have had to wait twice in the long line coming up. I asked about getting in the VIP line but Royal Jordanian didn’t have a pass for me so I got in the line with hundreds of others for a change.

Some Russian women were yelling at people including me telling us to push forward further even though there was no place to push. Later on they had pushed themselves in front of others. Quite obnoxious.

I had a interesting conversation with a Palestinian woman in Muslim gear who was in Turkey for a flood management conference. She gave a totally different perspective on the Palestine experience from my Israeli guide. She  said she’s not old enough to go to the mosques in the Old City of Jerusalem. She seemed to be in her 20’s so I didn’t understand when she said the age requirement is 48. She said that’s how old they feel you need to be to be no longer a potential terrorist. So all of those under 48, realize that you could be a terrorist, while if you’re over 48 you’re safe.

I texted my guide to let him know bout the long wait. I had noticed that they had the wrong arrival time for me on the tour info. He got to the airport an hour early at noon, my flight was supposed to get in at 2:20 but was a little late. We finally met up at 3.

My guide’s name is Erdinc (pronounced Erdinch) Canberk and is a young looking 41. He has a masters in Economics from the London School of Economics and has been a tour guide since 1991. He just came back from a 3 day trip to Budapest. His English is excellent and he’s going to be an excellent companion. I’ll have him and a driver to myself for the next few days. We have a Mercedes minivan with the seats turned to create a living room feel, with a small refrigerator. Nice.

The schedule had a day of rest but we stopped at a fish market and I was very happy to see I could get a freshly squeezed pomegranite juice like I had every day in Israel.

A fish market in Istanbul

The hotel is just off a very busy pedestrian / tram only street with many shops and restaurants. I’m going to enjoy this a lot. I went out to eat and couldn’t resist buying a pistachio bachlava at a bakery along with water bottles. Erdinc warned me to be sure not to drink the water. It’s now 1 AM and I’ve been working on the blog for several hours so it’s time for bed.