The main purpose of my travels was to attend the International Judy Garland Club meeting in Yorkshire, but my wanderlust led me through Istanbul, Sweden and Devon.
The BA flight from Washington DC routed me through Heathrow airport. While waiting at the check in for flight to Istanbul, four large men, in light brown suits suddenly materialized from no where. Two of them had cropped military hair and were large, muscles bulge from well tailor suits. Another an older man, obviously the interrogator and the fourth, turned and smiled at me. "I'm checking you out," I said. "We are cops - Special Branch," he replied. "Thought so," I said and we chatted a while about the situation in Syria. They were checking all planes to and from Istanbul looking for young would be terrorists. I was slightly disappointed, I'd had vision of sitting next to a young misguided terrorist and upon finding out his mission, reporting him to a air hostess.
I had forgotten how chatty and friendly the check in girls were in the UK in comparison to the American girls who always seem stressed and and very serious. The flight was full of tourist and business people, seems a lot going on between London and Turkey.
Because of my RA I take advantage of the wheel chairs supplied at airports and have never had such an fast exciting ride through Istanbul airport. They deposited me with a large number of other people in a bunch outside the barracks. The Italian girl, who had been my companion on the plane showed me how the ATMs worked. Then a group of us were escorted at top speed out of the airport to awaiting taxis. I had a large mini bus to myself. It was mid afternoon and I enjoyed the ride from airport to the city. The city has a population of 14 million covering 2,063 square miles and most people seem to live in large apartment blocks.
There were three lanes plus a fourth for entering and exiting in one direction and the same in the other direction. In the middle between these four lanes on both sides were a corridor for trams and buses going each way. Every half a mile or so an overpass allowed pedestrians to get from one side or the other. I saw no police cars, everyone seemed to police themselves.
As most of the places I wanted to visit were in the old town, this is where the taxi took me, through narrow winding roads, up and down hills. Finally the taxi driver found the Arcadia Blue Hotel and I was greeted by a friendly desk clerk and helpful porter, who brought me adapters for my ipad and iphone. No charge, they were extremely kind, so different from the clerks at the Manchester hotel. I had been told by friends about how kind the Turkish people were and found this so. When buying trinkets at a stall the vendor will give the guide a bottle of water; one is offered a cup of coffee or tea when in a shop browsing.
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| I really wanted this |
Next morning I made my way to the 8th Floor restaurant for breakfast-everything you could possibly imagine to eat and the view was magnificent overlooking the Blue Mosque. Hasan Birdal from the Turkland Travel Agency had made arrangements for my tours and so at 9 am Melek Kocacay arrived to show me over the old town.
She held my arm and looked after me kindly for the next two days. First we saw the Egyptian Obelisk, Serpentine Column, Fountain of Wilhelm II and passed the long line waiting to get in and entered the Blue Mosque with the six minarets. All the guides seem to know each other and let Melek take me ahead of the long lines from passengers from the many cruise ships which were in town, which was kind.
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| Inside the Blue Mosque |
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| Hasan |
Melek and I went to Hasan's office and we had lunch across the road at a local restaurant.
In the afternoon we took off for a Bosporus Cruise through the straits which divides Europe from Asia. Much trade uses this wide strait which connects the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea and I saw Russian tug boats chugging along carrying cargo. The houses were magnificent, many with boats moored alongside. It is said there are some very wealthy people living in these areas. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor used to stay in houses here in the 1930s.
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| Bosporus Cruise |
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| Melek |
My friend, Jack Wood, put me in contact with some friends he had in Istanbul. Jack has friends all over the world. So in the evening the desk clerk and Melmet Oguz discussed where I should be dropped off. Many of the street are so small that they do not allow cars. Melmet and his beautiful blonde wife from Lithuania found me at the edge of a particular street and we found our way to a fish restaurant which had been recommended to them. This place was on the roof and the only indication was a small plaque on the wall outside! On the way they showed me the underground train station which had been built in 1875, 2nd after the London system. Such a charming couple. Melmet had his own business tutoring students and adults in languages to foreigners, specializing in German.
The next day Melek collected me and we toured the Hagia Sophia Museum built during the reign of Emperor Theodosius. This building was originally a church and when the Muslims took over they did not destroy it but just plastered over the paintings and made it into a mosque. Later the plaster was removed and the building became a museum.
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| Hagia Sophia museum with famous cat |
Turkey has a long history seemingly established in 660 BC, although there are Neolithic remains. Constantinople was established in 330AD as the great capital of the Roman Empire, which lasted until 1453 when the Muslims arrived. The city had gone into decline and the Sultan Mehmet II invited Jews, Christians and Muslims to return. He built the Grand Bazaar and Topkapi Palace. It is in a strategic position for the Silk Road for trade and Bosporus Straits.
In 1923 Mustafu Kemal Ataturk was elected 1st President and founded the Republic of Turkey. He came from a military background. He established a secular nation state and built new schools and put in equal civil and political rights for women. Our next adventure was to see the Topaki Palace and I think I loved these buildings most of all.
We were not allowed to take photographs but I did manage to buy a leaflet, be it in Turkish to see the lovely mosaic walls. We visited the harems and was surprised to learn that these poor young women never saw the light of day. They were kept in their rooms and only occasion allowed outside to see the sun light. The Archaeology Museum was next on the agenda. Must be one of the largest in the world, one would need a month to only see half of it. I could have gone to the Grand Bazaar but I had heard that the Whirling Dervishes were performing and as I had read about them, felt I could not leave without seeing them. Again I need the help of the desk clerk to make sure the taxi drops me near the theatre where the Dervishes are performing. This is quite exciting. I walk down this narrow street crowded with shops and restaurants waving a leaflet, saying, "Where is this?" Mevlevi (est. 1273) is the mystical dimension of Islam known as Sufism. There is no photographs or applause. The choir performs first, comprised of flutists, drummers, chanters and then the five Dervishes come out and start whirling. In 2005 the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony was proclaimed as a part of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. I noticed that there were no women with head scarfs in the audience so can only assume, we were all non Muslin tourists.
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I asked people about their attitude toward religion and uniformly the response seemed to be casual, rather similar to the British attitude. The local women did not seem to wear head scarfs. Interestingly, my guide was able to tell at a glance which country the Muslin tourists came from by their scarfs and the way they wore them.
The anthropologist in me is always curious about the ethnic background of a people. I have traveled all over the middle east and noticed that in most countries the population have a specific "look" the result of having the gene pool isolated for a long period of time. In Turkey this does not apply. This centrally situated country has been invaded or conquered so many times by so many different types of ethically different people, there is no specific "look" of the population. Many people could pass for Polish, German or any other Europeans and certainly many look as if they are Greek. This makes sense if we look at their history. I think this melting pot background has led them to be very tolerant of others and acceptance of their neighbors. They are situated in a very volatile part of the world and have to careful to respect the countries which border them.
Finally it was time to leave, I could have spent two weeks in this city. I will come back.
The taxi driver kindly came into the airport with me to find the area for handicapped. Every country handles this differently. In Istanbul they have two enclosures with comfortable seats for the elderly or handicapped with a special check-in clerk. And one is NOT expected to tip. None of the "hour" or so of lining up that I usually have to go through at Sacramento airport. When it is time for boarding, young men and women wearing sports-type uniforms-aged 25 arrive with electric wheel chairs and everyone races through the airport as if it is a game, which of course it is to them.
Off to Stockholm and Inger and family.
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| Blue Mosque at sunset |
