Central and Northern Turkey

In the 2 weeks I have seen many things. The battlefields of Gallipoli, with ferocious fighting that left bullets fused with each other in mid-flight, and hundreds of thousands of people dying in trenches separated only by the width of a road. I've visited the great ruins of Ephesus, with the magnificent buildings carefully restored. Nearby is the church of the Virgin Mary, and I made a short hike up to the church on a Sunday with many pilgrims praying and worshiping. Then on into central Turkey and to Pammukkale, with bright-white calcium flats overflowing with warm water, in which thousands of Russian and Kazakh tourists seemed determined to swim in. Continuing my penetration into central Turkey I reached Cappadocia, with the unique rock formations, forged by an earthquake and running water. Then finally north towards the black sea, exchanging the baking desert heat for a humid and temperate climate, and visiting Safranbolu, staying in a hostel that was 350 years old.

There are a number of reasons for the 2-week gap in updating this blog. I had an extended stay in Cappadocia; almost a week. Having suddenly received some potential job offers for after my travels, I was compelled to stay and look for jobs on the internet, as well as attend some skype interviews. Luckily I had brought a smart shirt for just an occasion; it didn't matter that I was wearing shorts and flip-flops underneath since this was not something you could see on the webcam. It was a pleasant place to stay while looking for work. Free wifi, a pool to dip in when the afternoon heat got too much, fresh local fruit, and all for less than my rent alone used to be in the UK.


Cappadocia


People lived in the rocks of Cappadocia, and built churches like this.

Prior to Cappadocia I had stopped off in Pammukkale, which was memorable for more than just the calcium deposits cascading down the mountain: the heat. It was hot. Very hot. Walking barefoot through the calcium pools, the burning sun beating down from above, the blinding white calcium beneath, the warm water running over my feet, the hot wind blowing across me. Taking photos was impossible; it was too bright. Point, click, hope for the best. Shutter speeds of 1/1500 still bright. Squinting through my sunglasses trying to not slip in the ankle-deep water. I returned later in the evening. The crowds were gone; the night was cool and it was dark except for the occasional calcium deposits lit in the coloured lights being cast on them. I enjoyed this far more...


Calcium despoits shaped by the water


And by night...

Heading north from Cappadocia towards the black sea, the climate changed noticeably. There is a line of mountains near the black sea, which serve to trap the moisture from the sea. Crossing ravines and travelling through tunnels, you emerge in a temperate climate. So temperate in fact, it was raining most of the time I was in Safranbolu. This old ottoman town is a UNESCO site, with building preserved from many hundreds of years ago. Walking through the streets, I came across an elderly Turk who had spent half his life in Germany, giving us a common language. He explained a lot to me about the area, and about the rising unemployment since the region was over-reliant on the nearby factory for work. Tourism is of course also a major employer in the town, but like many places in Turkey, although the main streets are full of the standard tourist stalls, get off the main road and you find normal life still ongoing, with farmers and people, like my new friend, who were retired.


The century-old ottoman houses of Safranbolu

North of Safranbolu is Amasra, a "pictureque town on the Black sea coast". Getting there proved impossible though; upon reaching the large town prior to Amasra, I asked the bus driver how to get there. "Problem", he replied, pointing to the road descending into the murkey overflowing river. Problem indeed. My hopes of seeing the black sea vanished in a brown river.


Problem

After this I have some time in Ankara, before, returning to Istanbul and then flying to the UK for a week. My destination after this is still undecided. I would like to go south through to Egypt, but the heat will be worse than that in Pamukkale. If I have time, I'd like to go after August when it's cooler. Until then though, I'm still considering the options...

Istanbul

The train to Turkey

The train to Istanbul was new and comfortable, although the only way to get any food was to ask the Turkish conductor for a sandwich, whereby he'd go into an unused cabin, warm a piece of bread up on a stove, cut it open and put one slice of cheese in, and ask for 2 euro. My cabin-mate for the journey was a Turk; an editor of a political magazine; and between the cheese sandwich and the wine and nuts my kind cabin-mate shared, dinner was reasonable.

Crossing the border involved being woken at 4am: "passports! Passports!" the train attendant was shouting. All the foreigners descended the train and out across the tracks to the customs office, where we stood around in the mild morning air, in the silence and darkness of this station in the countryside. We were called in one-by-one to pay the entrance fee. They prefer to have the payment in foreign currency, but having spent 2 euro on my cheese sandwich, I didn't have enough for the 10 Euro fee. "Ummm, 35 lira" says the guard. I dont know what exchange rate he was using, but in any case, after about an hour at the border, we continued onwards to Istanbul.


Stopped at the border


Even here you can get Duty free...


The final stop is still on the European side of Istanbul, so it was after a short ferry journey that I finally set foot in Asia, 9 days after having left London.

Istanbul

One of the first things I noticed in Istanbul was the people; although there is some variation, compared to Greeks they are generally darker, in terms of skin, hair and eye colour. And being a Muslim country, mosques can be found everywhere; indeed, just near to my host's house there are 3, all calling at the same time at the time to pray; it's quite loud, although by the end of my time here I'd stopped noticing it so much. The most famous mosque in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque, and it was the first I entered (in my life). Compared to the cold hard inside of churches, Mosques are carpeted, and have wide open spaces for people to sit, kneel, and/or pray. After the chaos, noise, heat and bustle of the city outside, they provide a calm, quiet and welcome respite.


The large famous Blue Mosque


Praying inside the calm of a mosque

I quickly tired of following the tourist trail like a sheep, and I was very lucky that my host took me round some of the lesser-known pats of the city, pointing out little details, churches and areas, including on more than one occasion the locations of past bomb-blasts and subsequent renovations. Of all my time in Istanbul, this little tour, and all the mosques, were my favourite parts. That and the food. Turkish tea and Baklava are reasons enough to come to Turkey...


Turkish tea

Leaving Istanbul

Unfortunately I am leaving Istanbul without collecting a key document: my Iranian visa. Recent developments have led to the UK foreign office advising against "all but essential" travel to Iran. This has two results: it worries family members, and it invalidates my insurance. So it is now highly unlikely that I am going.

This is very disappointing. Of all the countries I will travel through, it is Iran that I was most interested in. What you see on TV is only the worst of what Iran has to offer as a country. Through the Iranians I've met; the books I've read; the travellers I've spoken to; the research I've done - there is a lot more to the country than most people are aware. The kindness and hospitality of ordinary Iranians is something I came across again and again in my research. The amount of history there; much of it pre-dating western events; is immense, and much is preserved. The rogue element within the country; the government; is not bothered by the average tourist, unless you're a reporter or there deliberately to cause trouble.

So not being able to go to Iran raises the question of where to go. Do I push through to Georgia and Armenia as planned, and then fly over to India? Or continue my overland theme down through Syria and Jordan to Egypt? Or take a ferry across the black sea to the Ukraine, and up to Russia? Or, after making my brief visit to the UK in a few weeks, do I make a new journey in a different direction? There is much to consider.

But while I think about that, I will push on South, continuing the semi-circle route around the Aegean sea...