Travel notes 2021

  35.2 kms, Sept 1, 2010 The Traveler has crossed Turkey. Right up ahead is the Bosphorus Strait, a narrow seaway that separates Asia from Europe. But the Traveler knows that his exploration of Turkey is far from over. There is much more to see in this country than just the Black Sea coast. So for this next Chapter the Traveler will head deep in land... and encounter what will be his most fascinating discovery on the entire planet. The Anatolian Plateau The landscape quickly changes as you head inland from the coast. Gone are the dense forests of Mt Uludag, and the highway continues on to the drier open fields of the Anatolian Plateau. Kestel is a quiet little town... Inegol is a midsize city where the Traveler manages to get lost and goes in circles. As most Turkish and towns, they have few distinctive features or historic character. Up the road, though, is a city the Traveler is looking forward to seeing. Eskishehir is the largest city of his trip through Turkey so far, su...

  10.8 kms, Sept 2, 2010 The Traveler continues on, deeper into the Anatolian Plateau. He buys a ticket to Hamadiye which looks like a sizable town on the map, but it turns out to be a sleepy farm village, forgotten by time. Here, instead of modern cinder block buildings and streets lined with shops bursting with goods for sale, he walks along silent dirt streets lined with whitewashed mud brick windowless houses with traditional red tiled roofs. It reminds the Traveler of traditional villages in Latin America or Morocco from his childhood. In some places there people really try to preserve that timeless feel. Here in Turkey, though, he bets the reason this village still feels traditional is, well, because it's poor and there isn't much economic activity. People just don't have money or interest in demolishing their old houses and building new ones. It isn't so much out of love for history. The Traveler finds a quiet spot by a small forest to strum his guitar a ...

  17.6 kms, Sept 3, 2010 Next day the Traveler continues on, and is pleasantly surprised to see more glimpses of “Old Turkey” the deeper he gets into the country. Bolvadin has cheery narrow alleys shaded by grapevines overhead... next, Cay (literally “Tea”) is snuggled against the wooded hills. Here you find more traditional homes of mud brick, some with the typical Ottoman half timber enclosed balconies jutting out. Many houses are in pretty sad shape, but they still do give a glimpse of the Turkey that used to be... And then... a very pleasant surprise. Aksehir at first looks like another generic town, until you reach the center. All about are statues, statues with a specific theme: Nasreddin Hodja. Hodja, the Traveler finds out, is Turkey's most beloved storyteller... and throughout the world. His stories have been told and retold from Spain to China for the last 800 years. In fact, multiple countries: Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan etc like to claim that Hodja at their own...

  34.3 kms, Sept 4, 2010 The next morning the Traveler wakes up feeling refreshed and ready to experience this full size Turkish city. There are no scattering of quirky sculptures and fountains like Eskishehir... much of the city still has a generic “could be anywhere in Turkey” feel. But this city does have an important must-see attraction: the museum of Melvana. If Hodja is Turkey's most beloved storyteller, than Melvana, or Rumi as he is commonly known is Turkey's most beloved poet—even though he was actually Persian, born either in modern day Afghanistan or Tajikistan. Like Hodja, Rumi's poems spread throughout the world and contain messages that transcend time and culture. He wrote mostly in Persian, but also in Arabic, Turkish and Greek. To this day his poems can be heard in recitations, music compositions, workshops and many translations around the world. The Traveler approaches this walled compound. This was where, after Rumi's death, an order of Sufi my...

16.5 kms, Sept 11, 2006 The Traveler's Journey continues along the coast, to one of the Turkey's greatest archaeological sites: Ephesus.. finally finishing his loop of Turkey in the suburbs of Istanbul once again. Turkey is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world, however, it has been quite rare that the Traveler has encountered a tourist along the way. Almost all tourists, it seems, clump together in certain areas. The west coast of Turkey is one of them. The bus passes large, all inclusive resorts along the coast. He gets off in Kusadasi, where crowds of cruise ship folk wander the streets of what otherwise would feel like a cozy old city... pausing for a drink at an “English Pub” or “Italian Pizzeria” catering to their foreign tastes... But even the crowds of tourist cannot spoil the Traveler's next stop. Efes, is the site of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, and Turkey has pulled no stops in restoring this amazing site. As the Traveler follows the wind...

15.3 kms, Sept 9, 2006 When the Traveler approaches Bursa, he immediately knows that he is no in Turkey's hyper-industrialized Northwest. Not one, but two car factories stretch out on both sides of the highway. The Traveler still decides to walk to the city itself, which can be seen on the mountainside up ahead. He gets tired of following the highway, so he opts for a side road... which takes him through a village... along a canal...past a city dump and through some farmland... and still no city! Finally as dusk settles, he reaches a rather grimy neighborhood which part of Bursa proper. Here he hears the hum of machinery everywhere. Everywhere he looks he sees small factories and workshops behind rusty metal and weathered wooden doors. Sometimes he can peer into the dim interior to see big cutting machines, or piles of jeans or other items. The Traveler is curious. This is obviously a modern, industrialized city. And yet the sleek, multi-national factories have not replaced th...