Travel notes 2021

18 kms, April 8, 2011, In this Chapter, the Traveler will finally end his 17 Chapter Journey through West Asia... and hopefully piece things together and draw some conclusions on all that he has seen and experienced in this often misunderstood part of the world. Just 10 kilometers after exiting Istanbul city/province, the Traveler reaches another city: Corlu, a city that has nearly tripled in size in the last 25 years. With some 300 factories around it, Corlu is an industrial boomtown, drawing folks from the less developed parts of Turkey by the tens of thousands—as well as Muslims and Roma fleeing persecution in Bulgaria and Kosovo. The Traveler is still able to see the final remnants of the city that once was: the last quaint, farm-style whitewashed houses surrounded by mass built apartment buildings. Sometimes there will be just one old house left standing... a family putting up one last resistance to having their house bulldozed and replaced with a 15 story building. The Travele...

Day 18: The Old Ottoman Capital 23.3 kms, April 4, 2011 Today is a significant day. Not only is the Edirne Chapter coming to an end, but the long Journey through West Asia is ending as well. Tomorrow he will cross the border into Bulgaria... and into a very different world. While crossing the Bosphorus is officially the entrance to Europe, from the Traveler's perspective, Europe starts at the Bulgarian border. That's where he expects to see a major change in culture and sphere of influence. He does some town hopping along the way... stopping to play music for some well dressed schoolboys in Lilleburgaz... admiring an ancient bridge in Babaeski... In Havsa, as in all other towns, there is a statue of Ataturk, except this one shows him standing on top of the globe. Seems a bit contradictory. Ataturk did not show any aspirations for global conquest... he wanted just a strong country that is capable of defending itself. Finally the Traveler reaches Edirne. Edirne was once t...