=========================================================
Sent on Oct. 11, 2004 from Girne, Cyprus.
1. NIGHT BUS ALEPPO TO TURKEY. I had reserved the 3rd day
for relaxatıon, but sınce I can be ımpulsıve too, at 3 am I
decıded I had enough of Aleppo and packed and caught a
taxı for the Krnak statıon very near the hostel. I found a
bus that was leavıng at 4am. I got on ıt and sınce ıt was
empty I thought we would be delayed. Indeed we left wıth 5
people onboard, 3 helpıng the drıver. An hour later I got
my fınal exıt stamp from Syrıa and my reentry to
Turkey--1st tıme ın Istanbul, valıd for multıple entrıes
over 3 months. We spent an hour at Turkısh customs, whıle
they searched every luggage of 3 busses. At 8am I was ın
Hatay (or Antakya), the most southerly Turkısh cıty on the
maınland. The transıtıon from Syrıa to Turkey was lıke
from Mexıco to USA. Everythıng looked nıce and crısp ın
the latter, ınclludıng the very nıce travel busgar
(statıon).
2. HATAY, TURKEY. Wıthın an hour of arrıval, I sıgned up
for the 3:45pm bus to the Medıterranean town of Tasucu and
the ferry to Cyprus. To pass the tıme I went to the
world-famous museum of Roman mosaıcs, busts, sculpture,
coıns, at thıs ancıent sıte of Antioch. Hatay ıs
surrounded by rugged very scenıc hılls and mountaıns. At
the foot of one ıs the St. Peter,s church. I took a cıty
bus to there, walked around a bıt, took some photos, and
came back.
3. CYPRUS. The bus left us about 1/2 km from the ferry
statıon ın the mıddle of nowhere ın the dark. Most
passengers were Turkısh men goıng to Cyprus to fınd work.
A tractor came and pıcked the luggage. Of all the ferrıes
I took around the world, I have never seen anythıng as
prımıtıve. The ferry boot was ancıent; ıt departed 3 hours
late for the 6-hour journey. We arrıved at 9am. Thıs was
even more prımıtıve. The ferry docked some 1/2 km from the
statıon and lıke sheep people began walkıng that dıstance
carryıng theır heavy loads. I refused and jumped on the
tractor brought ın for heavy boxes, etc. beıng shıpped.
After long lınes for passport, I offıcıally entered Cyprus.
By the way, although thıs ıs supposed to be Turkey, ıt ıs
not. I got an exıt stamp for Turkey before ferry; I got a
separate entry to Cyprus. There are no tourıst offıces at
the arrıval scene. I got hotel Atlantıs for 40 dollars a
nıght. The fıshıng vıllage and the waterfront part of the
vıllage Gırne ıs one of the most scenıc and ıdyllic I have
ever seen. BUT unless you go on an organızed tour, skıp
Cyprus. Also know that thıs place ıs one of the most
expensıve I have ever vısıted. I hope to return to
maınland wıth the 2-hour fast ferry at 9:30am.
* See the separate Cyprus report with tips also about Rhodes
Island.
=========================================================
Sent on Oct. 14, 2004 from an Internet place near the hotel
Guzel Paris in Van.
First, the Turkish keyboard here has ı (i without dot) for
i, the real i elsewhere; I dont know how thus false i shows
on English screen. If you see a weird i (no dot) read it
as i. If I change the keyboard to English, then some other
characters are misplaced and I dont know where to find
them.
PATH in TURKEY so far (all by bus, unless otherwise
stated). DAY 1: Hatay, Iskenderun, Adana, Mersin, Tasucu;
DAY 2: Ferry to Cyprus; DAY 3: Cyprus ferry to
Tasucu-Mersin-Adana, Gaziantep, Urfa (gateway to Mt. Nemrut
historical site); DAY 4: east to Diyarbakır (very rocky
soil), Bitlis (steep mountains, hairpin turns), Tatvan, Van
(at the largest lake in Turkey, eastern-most city near
Iran, very rugged, mountainous); DAY 5 (Oct.14): Hakari
(southeastern most city in Turkey, close to border with
Iran and Iraq, situated in the mountains, 3 hours south
from Van, 3 hours back, American base)
Next: DAY 6 (Oct.15): North to Dogubeyazıt (near Armenian
border and Mt. Ararat); DAY 7 (Oct.16): west to Agrı,
northeast to Kars (at the Armenian border); DAY 8 (Oct.
17): Kars, north to Artvin (near Coruh River, spectacular
scenery), west to Yusufeli, east back to Kars; DAY 9 (Oct.
18): Train Kars west to Ankara (end of eastern Anatolia);
DAY 10 (Oct.19): Ankara east to Eskisehir east to Bursa
(popular ski resort); DAY 11 (Oct. 20): Bursa south to
Afyon, south to Mediterranean city of Antalya; DAY 12 (Oct
21): west to Marmaris (popular resort with castle at the
Aegean & Mediterranean corner, gateway to Greek Island of
Rhodes); DAY 13 (Oct. 22): A day,s excursion to Rhodes; Day
14 (Oct. 23): In Marmaris; DAY 15 (Oct. 24): Marmaris north
along the Aegean coast to Canakkale (Dardanelles passage);
DAY 16 (Oct. 25) north into European Turkey, city of Edirne
to see the most famous creation of Ottoman architect Sinan,
the Selimiye Mosque; DAY 17 (Oct. 26): east to Istanbul . .
. flight to Miami...vote for Kerry.
I wıll revisit Cyprus in another report, giving clues as to
how to bypass the chaos of arrival there, for truly the
fishing village of Girne is the coziest, most scenic,
sedate and idyllic, even poetic, place I have ever seen for
a similar scene in Greece, Italy, Malta, Phuket (Thailand),
anywhere ... As with Palmyra and Krak des Chevaliers it is
truly a honeymoon spot. Add also the Al Rabie Hostel in
Damascus, the cafe Wild Jordan in Amman, several spots in
Lebanon, and rugged mountain scenes coming to Van to the
highlights of this trip SO FAR.
============================================================
Sent on Oct. 15, 2004 from an Internet place near the hotel
Kervansaray in Kars.
I am typing this at an Internet cafe in Kars, near the
Armenian border, a few hours from the shores of the Eastern
Black Sea. I had not counted on Ramadan starting during my
trip in Turkey. It did today on Oct.15. Eastern Turkey is
more religious and conservative. Everyone is fasting. I
tested the waters by casually lighting a cigarette on the
main street, but except for a few odd looks, no one
interfered. Still I rather be in the more cosmopolitan
Western Turkey at this time. And suddenly the weather is
not as nice as it has been continuously for a month. I
left Van in sunshine; arrived in Dogubeyazit in fog and
mist, slight drizzle, and chilly weather. Now in Kars, the
weather is is a bit warmer but things dont feel cozy. I
decided I have my fill of Eastern Turkey, that it is time
to get west. I have a sleeper train ticket to Ankara
tomorrow morning, a 2-day ride.
I had not elaborated on the places I have been so far. Here
are some points about travel in the Mideast in general, in
Turkey in particular.
0. TIPS. There are ATM machines even in small town in
Turkey. You and your things are relatively safe in the
Mideast. People will be on the lookout for your stuff, for
you. By all means, bring along anti-diarrhea, nasal
decongestant, cold, and headache pills, a roll of toilet
paper. Buses in Mideast are much more frequent going to
every direction. Large buses generally leave from bus
stations called OTOGAR. Minibuses to various parts may
leave from a different location in the city, often from
different minibus location depending on the destination.
Always ask someone for help. They will.
Traveling in Turkey on your own is possible but I am not
sure I should recommend this. Unlike Syria, taxis are a
ripoff in Turkey, charging exorbitant rates for short
distances, like from the bus station to a hotel say within
a mile. Dont be surprised that you are asked to pay 4-6
Dollars. In Syria this would be 1 Dollar. The difference
adds up real fast if you are on a multi-city tour like I
am, or you want to use taxis frequently. And the buses too
are not cheap compared to Syria, Morocco, etc. A few years
back, travel books claimed Turkey a relatively cheap place
to take a vacation. While Turkey is not Japan or Western
Europe in cost, it is NOT a cheap place. I would suggest
it is about 3 to 4 times more expensive than Syria or
Morocco, for example. It is true that there is much more
of everything in Turkey. Perhaps a package deal with say
pachatours.com or gate1travel may be the way you should go
to Turkey, as some sites are off the beaten track and
getting there, or coming back, is not always easy. There
are organized tours that cover every region of Turkey.
Having said this, here are my suggestions for self-travel
at each of the destinations I have covered so far.
1. HATAY/ANTAKYA. This is an attractive town surrounded by
rugged hills. At the otogar, buses leave for every part of
Turkey. If you want to go to Cyprus, there is a bus at
3:45p, ask for it. As I did while waiting for that bus,
you should visit the world-famous museum of Roman mosaics,
etc. there. The museum is about 200 yards from
the otogar. At the exit from the gar, turn left for the
museum, or cross the street and wait for the blue city bus
No. 1, then get off at the museum. St. Peters Church is
further away. At the exit from the museum, look to
your right for the red Bufe (shop sign about 150 yards
away. The bus stop is right behind the Bufe. To get there
you will cross the Asi River that divides Hatay. Catch bus
No. 15 or 19, ask someone where you should get off. Follow
the street to the hills when you exit. You can see the
church in the distance, at the foot of a rugged cliff. I
liked the location more than the church. Get back by bus No. 1
from across the street where you got off the bus. It
will take you to the otogar. While waiting for the bus to
Cyprus, I met a French couple. We enjoyed an hour of warm
chat until their bus departed for Aleppo. I gave them some
hintsts about Palmyra and Krak des Chevaliers. They were
very interesteded in my tour starting from Jordan. They said
this is how they wanted to do it too. I gave the info
about how they can contact the Al-Jezeera tour company.
2. TO SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY: GAZIANTEP, URFA. The bus ride
reversed the road thru Mersinn and Adana and headed for
the city of Gaziantepp, famous for its own kebab, then to
the city of Urfa. There was nothing particularly
interesting about this stretch and it got dark after about
7 pm. The OTOGARS in Hatay, Mersinn, Adana, and Gaziantep
had been nice, as neat as the ones in Australiaa or
Switzerland. NOT so in Urfa and later. They got earthier
the further east we reached.
There is nothing quaint in Urfa. However, it is one of 3
gateways to the Mt. NEMRUT historical site about 100 km
to the north. This is the burial site of the
Commagen King Antiochus I, who broke away from
the Seleucids after Alexander the Greats death, the site
strewn with colossal (several meters tall) heads of kings.
Although earthquakes have toppled the heads, with careful
observation they can be matched to the torsos.
I checked into one of the recommended hotels in Urfa, the
DOGU (East) Hotel, the other IPEK (Silk) Hotel across the
street from it, for 6 Dollars a night. At this time of the
year, tours to the Nemrut site can be arranged by
an English-speaking teacher and owner of the HARRAN
Tour, right across the street from the Dogu Hotel
email: ozcan_aslan_teacher@hotmaıl.com
I skipped the rest of the tour destinations and paid him
$50 Dollars to take me to the site.
3. TO SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY: DIYARBAKIR, BITLIS, TATVAN, VAN.
Buses from Urfa to Van leave at nightt for night travel.
Since I came to these parts also to see the landscape,
I decided to take a bus first to the city of Diyarbakir,
because I was told there are more frequent buses from
there, to continue east to Van during daylight, at least
in part. The one unique feature of the 3-hour distance to
Diyarbakir was in that the ground looked like (borrowing
the term from similar landscape in Death Valley in USA)
Devil's Gulf Course, the rockiest soil I have ever seen.
So much so that farmers had piled huge mounds of the rocks
at various locations to clear patches of land for
cultivation.
From Diyarbakir to Bitlis the terrain became more
mountainous, eventually with hairpin turns, the roads in
some parts collapsed. At one spot, a truck carrying 3
layers of big sheep had overturned. The carcasses of 40 of
them blocked the road, the surviving sheep, some with
broken legs, grazing along the hillsides. After an hour
of waiting, we continued to Bitlis and then to Tatvan, the
latter at the western shore of lake Van, still some 70 km
from the city of Van on the eastern edge of the lake, the
road connecting the two along the southern edge of the
lake. This was not a level road. We continued on winding
roads and climbed a particularly steep mountain to finally
reach Van at about 9 pm.
Instead of going (taxi) to the recommended ASUR Hotel (or
the cheaper IPEK Hotel) in Van, I followed a Turkish
salesman to the GUZEL (PRETTY) PARIS HOTEL near the BES (5)
Yol (ROADS) intersection in the city for 12 Dollars (same
as Asur, Ipek at 3 Dollars) a night, breakfast too. Facing
the hotel, to the left there was a grilled meat restaurant
where I ate, and an Internet cafe a few steps to the left
of the hotel entry, which I used the next morning, after my
excursion to the lake in a minibus for 2.25 Dollars. The
pier is several km from the city center and the road passes
about a km from the road leading to the lake shore. I
walked this distance keeping the Van Castle in view to my
left. There was not much in this curiously desolate
introduction to the lake, except the beautiful snow-capped
mountains framing the lake on the left.
4. WELCOME TO TURKISH KURDISTAN. The entire area (about)
east of Adana is inhabited by Turkish Kurds. As in Miami,
many of the locals are bilingual, some tri-lingual, Arabic
included. There are frequent gendarme station in these
parts and ID check at spots. My American passport became
an item of interest especially at this time of the year
with no tourists around. And because this is a relatively
remote area of Turkey, there are no regular bus service.
All transport is in dilapidated minibuses leaving from
different parts near Bes Yol intersection in Van, depending
on the destination.
I found the minibuses leaving for the city of Hakari,
jumped on one and arrived there 2.5 hours later, took a
look around the mountainous setup, saw nothing unique, and
took back the next minibus, which turned out to be the same
that brought me there.
5. NORTH TO DOGUBEYAZIT. I took another minibus from Van
to my next destination: Dogubeyazit, to visit the ISHAK
PASA PALACE and Mt. Ararat where the Biblical NOAH
purportedly shouted "Land Ho." The road passes thru Turkish
high plan's with rugged mountains and rocky hillsides
adorning the landscape. Pretty but not spectacular until
we came close to Dogubeyazit where the landscape turned
really angry with steep climbs and drops, rugged volcanic
rock pilings, hillsides and cliff faces of different
colors... and then Dogubeyazit.
Because of the weather I did not go to Mt. Ararat the
next day, but took a photo of it from a roadside station.
But I did hire a jeep to Ishak Pasa Palace, on a hill,
surrounded by precipitous cliffs on 3 sides, blending on
one edge to endless conical hills of different colors. I
took photos from all choice locations, except one which
would put the endless hills as the background to the
palace. To achieve the latter, I had to climb up 200
meters up a steep hill, pass thru a narrow gap in the
rocks, to get my shot, but the weather had already allowed
me all it could. I said thank you and left without the
latter.
Rather than taking one of the 2 recommended hotels (Hotel
SARUHAN and Hotel ERZURUM) in Dogubeyazit, a Turkish frontier
town of sorts, I checked in instead into the better
situated ISHAKPASA Hotel. Of all places, here I met 3
other loner/travelers: a Russian (Gurgen), a German
(Andreas), and a Japanese (Masa). We chatted till midnight
in the quaint lobby surrounded by backgammon sounds,
Turkish TV, and several locals enjoying company, also
curious about us. This was nice socializing.
6. NORTH TO KARS. I found a dilapidated minibus to the
town of Igdir, from there a better minibus to Kars, driving
thru Turkish steppes much like the endless steppes of
Mongolia a few months earlier. After several inspection
stops, we arrived at the desolate bus station in the middle
of nowhere 8km out of town. I made a mistake of hiring a
taxi, rather than hijacking a car. The bandit robbed me of
10 Dollars, but for that I insisted he stop at the train
station for my ticket to Ankara, and at 3 different hotels
to check them out. The recommended Hotel TEMEL wanted 18
Dollars and I did not like its dead location. Instead I
chose the also recommended Hotel KERVANSARAY (CARAVAN
PALACE/Inn) for 6 Dollars, with my bath--looks like
it--included. The Internet cafe where I am typing this is
about 20 meters to its right, facing the hotel, the also
recommended pide (pizza) house SALON SEAM PIKNIK also near
it. I found a student who took me to the famed ANI
(ARMENIAN) RUINS 35km from here, 30 minutes of inspection
included. Now I am off to Salon Sema for a nice cheese
pide. Next report will come from Western Turkey.
===========================================================
Sent on Oct. 21, 2004 from an Internet place next to the
Bergama Restaurant in the Closed Bazaar at the waterfront
in Marmaris.
Hey guys, this may be the nicest 45-day tour I have ever
taken. The weather was like in Miami, always bright blue.
That I kept myself constantly on the go is also a reason.
Add to it places that could compete with paradise. I am
typing this in Marmaris, at the corner of Turkey where the
Aegean Sea meets the Mediterranean. I rate it 10. Late
this afternoon I returned from Rhodes Isl., another 10
spot. Tomorrow I am taking a boat cruise of the Turtle
Beach, Caunos and Dalyan areas, one with sea of grass like
in the Everglades, the other with tombs carved on a huge
cliff, all reached along shorelines that no other shoreline
can compete. My last report was from Kars; let,s catch up.
1. KARS west TO ANKARA = 28 hours by train for 35 Dollars,
private sleeper cabin. First for all Turks on my list, bır
cuma gunu hastayım dıye ıse gıtmeyın, onun yerıne Kars,a
ucun, cumartesı sabahı 7 veya 9,dakı trende bır yataklı
alıp, yola cıkın, pazar aksamı tekrar evdesınız. Manzara
sahane, hele Erzurum ve Sıvas arası, ve Ankara,ya gelırken.
Gordugum en guzel yerlerden bırı dıyebılırım. Eskısehıre
kadar ucret 53 mılyon, fakat yemeklı vagon cok pahalı.
Translating the message above, I said that the Turks in
Turkey should call a sick leave on a Friday, instead fly to
the city of Kars, get a sleeper ticket on the 7 or 9 am
train Saturday morn back to Istanbul, be there by Sunday
night, that the scenery especially between the cities of
Erzurum and Sıvas, and just before Ankara, etc. are
wonderful, all for about 35 Dollars (to the city of
Eskısehır), but that the restaurant on-board is much too
expensive.
2. ANKARA. Is a pretty city. It does not have the
Bosporus, but it has all else a vibrant city should have.
Its natives are European/American in appearance. As in
most Europe, residential and commercial areas, almost all
well-designed/fashioned quaint stores, are mixed. You can
buy just about anything, even specialty items, within any 3
or so blocks. I stayed with friends for 3 days.
3. ANKARA SOUTHWEST THRU AFYON, DENIZLI, MUGLA TO
MARMARIS. Most buses leave at about midnight and arrive in
the morn. Since I also wanted to see the countryside to
the south, I took the 9:30am Pamukkale bus and arrived in
Marmaris in the eve. The landscape was more fertile than
the arid and mountainous Eastern Turkey. The scenery
became progressively prettier as we reached south. In the
city of Afyon I admired the steep cliffs and hills. On top
of the steepest single rock there is the castle of Afyon.
One wonders how anyone could have carried the material up
that sharp rock to build the castle. Further south the
city of Denizli is framed by even sharper mountains, the
landscape getting progressively more mountainous as we
reached further south to the city of Mugla. Then the last
55 km to Marmaris is a continuous drop.
* See the separate Marmaris report with tips about Marmaris,
Dalyan, Caunos, and Bodrum.
===========================================================
Sent on Oct. 27, 2004 from my friend Nafi's computer in
Istanbul.
* Took bus from Bodrum to Bursa.
1. BURSA. Bursa is one of the oldest and (with 1.2 million
people) one of the most populous cites in Turkey. The bus
ride from Bodrum at 10 am took some 10 hours with various
stops, also in the city of Balıkesır. The bus terminal
(otogar) is some 20 km outside the city. City Bus 38—NOT
90A as some travel books state—go to the center of the city
at HEYKEL (statue), which refers to the statue of Kemal
Ataturk on a horse in front of the old city hall. In fact,
reviewing some travel books which cite the addresses of
this and that in the city, WITHOUT relational reference,
thus giving the impression that they have copied the info
from some other travel book, here is Bursa in a nutshell.
The city bus 38 wrongly left me in front of the expensive
Kervansaray Hotel in town. I passed the hotel to the
corner and asked people the way to the Heykel. They said
cross the street and continue in the same direction thru
the small pedestrian street uphill. I did by good luck
found myself in the middle of the old town, crowded with
people, shoppers, peddlers, the place especially animated
due to the Ramadan. I was told year after year, right
after people break their daily fasting during Ramadan they
all come here to celebrate the Ramadan day after day for a
month. I continued on that small uphill street until I
reached a large mosque. It turned out the mosque that had
brought me to Bursa: the ULU CAMI (Mosque), right at the
corner of the Ataturk Street, the main strip in old Bursa.
Using the ULU Mosque and Ataturk St. as the reference,
standing at the corner on the Street with your back to the
mosque, everything referred in the travel book is to your
LEFT. First comes a park-like space next to the mosque
used for festivities then the interesting town hall on the
same side about 30 meters, then the famous eatery in Bursa,
20 meters later KEBAPCI ISKENDER, that has been serving the
best kebabs in Bursa since 1867, 30 meters later the
GULLUOGLU Sweets Cafeteria with the best baklava and sweets
in the world, this right across the Ataturk Statue
(Heykel), then the large Inonu St. To the left and
downhill with the recommended SARAY Hotel to the left right
after turning left at the corner. (I strongly UNrecommend
that Hotel and suggest instead the (more expensive) hotel
on the smaller street to the left about 50 meters before
the Inonu St. At least that one is more sanitary than the
Saray (Palace) dump.) Aside from the Ulu Cami, there is
also the YESIL (Green) TURBE (Temple) and Mosque worth
visiting. It is about 1 km away from the Heykel, so I
suggest you take a taxi or a bus to that location. The
famous ULU DAG (Mountain) ski resort is visible from the
bus terminal.
I stayed near the Ulu Mosque till midnight, enjoying the
festive ambiance and took a taxi to the Ye(sh)il in the
morning. Then done with Bursa, I took Bus 38 back to the
terminal and was immediately grabbed by a bus line hawker
to the Truva bus line to my next destination: Canakkale
which is a gateway also to the ruins at Troy, and the ANZAC
Memorial near Gallipoli the latter across the passage. I
had already visited all the historical sites and many cites
of Western Turkey via a 14-day Pachatours.com in 2002,
including the town of Canakkale, Gallipoli, Troy and Anzac
Memorial. The agent at the Truva bus-lıne desk asked me
where I wanted to go after Canakkale. When I told him
Edirne (to see Selimiye Mosque only), he said that a faster
way would be to take the ferry at a place right across from
Gallipoli, about an hour before Canakkale. So he put me in
that bus. The ferry came at 2pm, and we crossed the
passage in about 30 minutes, arriving in Gallipoli. The
road to Edirne passes thru a place called KESHAN, where it
parts in the direction north to Edirne and east to
Istanbul. Just then I received on my cell phone a message
from my friend in Istanbul that due to a meeting he had to
attend, I should come to Istanbul that night. So I said
bye to the bus to Edirne and switched over to a bus to
Istanbul and arrived at 9:30pm.
I arrived late last night and was picked up by his son from
the bus terminal in HAREM, 45 minutes closer to my friend
than the huge Istanbul main otogar in BAYRAMPASHA I will
leave for the Ataturk airport tonight for my flight to
Miami (via Amsterdam) at 6am tomorrow morning. Upon
return, I will be busy for about a month adjusting to new
circumstances, if the sale of my condo goes thru. If so,
my new address will be Sirman Celayir, Somewhere, Planet
Earth. That is, I intend to be nomadic for the foreseeable
future, possibly residing in Hawaii, Japan, and/or Europe,
though I still have unfinished travel plans to East Africa,
the Amazon, Central and Latin America before relocating.
So the address I gave is appropriate. If you need to
contact me, use my email address.
2. TURKEY, GEOGRAPHY, OTHER. A bit of background info about
Turkey seems appropriate. Turkey is slightly larger than
Texas. It is surrounded on 3 sides by water, the Black Sea
to the north, the Aegean Sea to the west, and the
Mediterranean to the south. It is generally a mountainous
country adorned with scenic valleys, meadows, lakes, rivers
and creeks, orchards, grasslands, woodlands, and patches of
cultivated land. The tallest mountain, Mt. Ararat, is
about as tall as the Rockies in Colorado, but the mountain
chain itself is smaller. Thus, the landscape is more like
Pennsylvania and West Virginia than Colorado. But because
Turkey is largely a semi-arid country, the scenery
resembles more the very pretty mountainous region in
southern Oregon and northern California, as along
Interstate 5, or the Coast Mountains and canyon lands of
California. The most fertile areas are in the western part.
The mountains are partly covered by trees in those parts,
generally of spruce variety. However, the trees in Turkey
are rarely of the size (or variety) of those found in
Pennsylvania or West Virginia. They are generally 10 to 20
feet tall, even the poplars that adorn the meadows. Fruit
orchards and pale-green olive trees dot the hillsides and
flatlands near towns and villages.
This being one of the oldest continuously inhabited places
on earth, the country is rich in historical heritage, from
2nd millennium BC Hittites, to Greek, Persian, Byzantıen,
Roman, Selchuk, and Ottoman, as well as Muslim, Jewish,
and Christian influences. Once upon a time, the Turks
established one of the largest and most enduring (600
years) empires in history that reached its peak at the time
of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566). Turkey has never
been conquered. Under Kemal Ataturk, arguably the greatest
general and statesman of the 20th century, modern Turkey is
now a secular country that changed its entire alphabet from
Arabic to Latin. Now in 2004 the country is celebrating its
80th Anniversary of nationhood, and it may soon become a
member of the European Union. As to be expected from so
many disparate influences, the Turkish character is
difficult to define. Suffice it to say for the visitor is
that the Turks are some of the warmest, most helpful and
hospitable people on earth.
3. CRITICISM. Some things have not improved in Turkey. As
in Arab countries, India, etc., there are too many flies;
males, generally of uneducated variety, still spit on the
streets; there is always a dingy look to streets and public
places; one has always the feeling that the quoted price
for something is an on-the-spot invented and exaggerated
price (perhaps because it is often so, like the cup of
coffee I had in the dingy cafeteria on the dingy ferry
crossing the Dardanelles to Gallipoli, for which the man
asked me nearly 2 Dollars. So the place was void of other
customers); dubious sanitation, like using the same
ages-old filthy wet cloth to wipe tables; the squat
toilets, etc . . . The newspapers are still sensationalist
with exaggerated or even false claims, like the one
headline I read: Cure for cancer found; the news columns
still push the views of their authors as fact. Small
wonder then that even educated Turks now blame the USA for
their new right-leaning Islamic administration. It became
apparent to me from my travels that the world view of the
USA improves immensely when the USA is under a democratic
administration. Feelings against the USA have been at a
low point under the Bush administration, in Jordan, Syria,
Lebanon, and Turkey. Indeed, they are now so pessimistic
that they can not imagine how things can improve under a
possible Kerry administration. Many suggested that the
entire world should be allowed to vote in American
presidential elections, since their own welfare, and that
of their nations, depends on the outcome too.
4. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN TURKEY would be the envy of
Americans. Even from small cites, there are busses to
every other city in the country, several per day. The
busses of are of the latest vintage of Mercedes and Volvo
equipped with all creature comfort. Where the otogars are
distant from the city center, smaller service busses take
people to their destinations. Minibuses server between
smaller villages. People can share rides to the same
destination by taking a DOLMUS taxi, and thus avoid
expensive taxis. The otogars even in smaller cites are of
monstrous size. For example, I counted 154 departure gates
in the otogar in Bursa, not counting the minibus and Dolmus
stations adjacent to the otogar. The one in Istanbul (one
of several due to the size of Istanbul that can easily
swallow Los Angeles and Jacksonville together) is more like
a large air terminal. Because travel with busses is
relatively cheap and absolutely safe at all hours and
everywhere, even for women, bus travel is a popular pastime
in Turkey. Add to them the trains and ferries, public
transportation in Turkey may be the most complete I have
seen in more than 100 countries I have visited. Gendarmes
at stations make sure there is no horseplay, drunken or
other dubious behavior. They are there also for security
against terrorism. The otogars are generally open all
night, even at smaller towns, and shops and cafes and
restaurants cater to people at all hours. However, there
are bottlenecks sometimes. For example, the DANISMA
(Information) counter at the otogar in Bursa, instead of
being centrally located, is at the furthest hidden corner
in the huge building, near the EMANET (Storage) room.
5. EPILOG. I spent Dollar 2,800 for this 44-day tour,
including everything, almost exactly Dollar 700 for the 19
days I spent in Turkey, drafting my tour on-the-go. This is
almost unbelievable in that no one could have done this
cheaper or as nicely. (Even my friend Nafi, who used to be
a traveling salesman here, admitted he could NOT have done
the same as cheaply.) For this, I covered the country
almost border to border diagonally from Hakari to (almost)
Edirne, plus the other diagonal from Kars to Marmaris, plus
3/4 the distance horizontally from Kars to Ankara, hitting
all the places I wanted, when I wanted, staying as long as
I wanted. To compare, the SENTUR Agency had an ad for a
10-day Southeastern Turkey tour for 590 Million (Dollar
360), which increased to 623 Million when I tried to book
it, which increased to 940 Million (Dollar 630) with Dollar
250 Single Supplement. I did the entire country for just
100 Dollars more, in 20, NOT just 10 days. Of course I did
not stay at 5-star hotels, but so what? However, I am still
not sure if I would recommend Turkey for self-travel,
except for the most experienced travelers.
Sirman