Greece and Turkey

Friday the 25th - I left work for Logan Airport with my backpack and ran into Ashley H. at the check-in area for my flight. I then flew to Heathrow, where I ran into one of my coworkers and his girlfriend, who were apparently headed off to Italy after being on my flight. Had a delicious English breakfast with a glass of claret and just felt generally very British. After a few hours wait, I left for Athens.

Saturday the 26th - Arrived at the airport for Athens, which is actually located a few miles outside Athens in a town called Spata(Yes, I know.... THIS... IS.... SPATA!). I then took the bus into Athens, through a countryside filled with some olive orchards, some vineyards, and a whole lot of advertising and big box stores. I wandered around the ancient part of Athens(Syntagma) for awhile, mostly seeing the national gardens and a few ancient temples from the distance. It took a couple tries to find a place to stay, but I eventually ran across this delightful little hostel/pension/backpacker-den called John's Place. I went to a random taverna(smallish Greek restaurant) and had some moussaka. There was a lengthy battle of wills as I tried to figure out whether I was supposed to ask for the bill or whether they were supposed to bring it. Needless to say, I lost and went to bed.

Sunday the 27th - Woke up early, went to the airport, and flew to Rhodes. Rhodes is an amazing combination of a tourist trap, medieval fortress-city, and tropical island. This was unfortunately Orthodox Easter, so a lot of stuff was closed. Also, it was raining. I explored the Old Town for a while, got rather cold, got lunch, got a room at a random motel in the boring modern city around the castle, and collapsed from jet lag before I could eat dinner proper.

Monday the 28th - Woke up and checked out. I spent a lot more time exploring the Old Town, which was a lot more open and a lot less rainy. I found a room for myself and Tom B. at this awesome pension with a courtyard somewhere in the maze of streets, and went and did some more exploring. I took a trip up the hill to check out the ancient Greek acropolis, which had a few temple columns, a stadium, and a restored theater. When I wandered back down into the Old Town to have a pine-resin ice cream cone, I was approached by a female real estate salesperson, who halfheartedly tried to convince me that she was flirting with me. Her fellow real estate agent, who may or may not have been her father, was even more emphatic that she liked me. After escaping from that surreal situation, I hung out a cafe and had some apple pie until Tom's ferry was scheduled to arrive.

When he got in at 6, we went on a whirlwind tour of the Old Town and then headed back up to the acropolis at sunset. Upon seeing a woman jogging around the stadium, I triehd to catch up. Despite my best efforts, her head start proved insurmountable and the assembled crowd demanded my immediate execution. After that, Tom and I bouldered around on the temple a bit and then headed back down for dinner. We went to a taverna that was owned by quite possibly the nicest man I have ever met. Another group of tourists there had apparently been coming for thirty years, so Tom and I have an appointment for April 28, 2038. They also had these adorable cats that went absolutely crazy fighting each other.

Tuesday the 29th - After yet another delightful breakfast on the courtyard terrace, Tom and I frantically tried to figure out ferry schedules. We finally discovered a complicated itinerary for the remainder of Greece, but were saddened to learn that we couldn't make it to the island of Skyros, which features a community of exiled Greek Communists and radioactive hot springs. We kicked around the medieval city a lot more. I had some jumbo shrimp for lunch. At 5, we embarked on a large car ferry for the island of Patmos. There was one dude who really blew his top at the crew -- he must have been screaming for at least half an hour. We finally arrived at midnight, when the son of the pension owner was extremely kind and picked us up.

Wednesday the 30th - We slept in a little bit, got breakfast, and headed off to see the the island. Patmos is famous for two of its monasteries - the Monastery of the Apocalypse, and the Monastery of St. John. We took an old trail up to the island peak to visit them both. The Monastery of the Apocalypse is at the place where St. John the Divine hid in a cave and wrote the Book of Revelation. Our presence there did not trigger any sort of eschaton, and no zombies were observed. In fact, it wasn't much more than a church with a cave. By contrast, the Monastery of St. John is a really blinged-out church without a cave. Since I wanted to go running, Tom and I split up there. I was going to try to follow the road to the western coast, but opted instead to take a trail towards the shoreline. It petered out less than halfway there, and I had some excitement with thorns, rocks, barbed wire, etc. before I rejoined the road at the western shore. I ended up running back up by the Monastery of St. John and back into town to meet Tom, who had the keys.

After waiting for a little back at the pension, I saw him walking up the road to the ancient Greek acropolis. Joining him, we found a bunch of goats and one extremely bouncy dog, but couldn't quite figure out how we were supposed to get to the acropolis. While I was showering back at the pension, Tom struck up a conversation(and an undying friendship) with the owner, Fokas. After I had performed my ablutions, he gave each of us a traditional icon and insisted that we listen to an Orthodox service on the radio with him. He went on to tell us about how he kept on trying to contact a former guest whom he'd befriended, and how he tried to call him nearly every day. At this point, Tom was understandably a bit freaked out, since he'd given Fokas his address and phone number. After tactfully easing our way out of the situation without mentioning that we were both agnostic, Tom and I then hared off in pursuit of lunch, Greek coffee(not recommended), and a hydrofoil ride to Samos. The ride there was fairly uneventful except for our epic struggle against the passenger in the next seat, who was determined to eliminate our view through strategic placement of the blinds. She didn't have the endurance to resist sleep, so victory was ours. Once in Pythagorio on Samos, we checked in, ate dinner, and went to sleep.

Thursday the 1st (of May!) - After we ate some ham and cheese pies for breakfast, Tom wanted to investigate the possibility of renting a scooter. After talking to the owner, we decided to go for broke and rented a Suzuki Samurai to drive around the island. After swimming at a beach on the northern coast, we drove up to a mountain village for lunch. A crowd of people celebrating May Day gave us each a flower. The vegetation on the drive up was amazingly verdant, which was a big change from the more prevalent Mediterranean dry climate. The taverna that we ate at makes their own wine from the Muscat grape, with the demi-sec rose being especially delicious. After lunch, we decided to head back to Pythagorio. We took a wrong turn that led us to a village with exactly one one-way road through it, followed by some interesting driving down farm roads, almost followed by some serious off-roading. We eventually discovered my original error in navigation, and barely made it back before dark.

Friday the 2nd - Since we were planning to leave Samos in the afternoon, we mostly puttered around a few of the ancient sites in Pythagorio. The highlight was the Efpalinio Tunnel, which was around a kilometer long. It was built around 500 B.C. to move water under a mountain. When they were building it, they apparently started from both sides and met in the middle. We then headed off to the airport to catch our flight to Athens, which was delayed. Since we got in fairly late and the number of tourists was very high for the weekend, finding a place to stay was pretty tough. We ended up paying for a fairly expensive suite with a balcony, and ate dinner at a very pushy and touristy restaurant.

Saturday the 3rd - We got up early so we'd be able to get up to the Acropolis before the crowds. I really liked walking through the Propylaea(The entrance gateway to the Acropolis), since I got to actually see various details of the stonework that had been abstract points in my classical archaeology class. That theme carried through to the two temples on the Acropolis -- the Parthenon and the Erectheion. Even though the Parthenon is definitely a much more stately and perfect building, I wasn't really surprised by very much about it. I'm sure if I'd been there with a Classics professor, I would have noticed some cool details that I didn't already know about. The Erectheion was a lot more interesting to me, since it's a fairly weird temple to start with. Actually seeing its architectural schizophrenia and oddball beauty in person was very interesting.

After it got really crowded up there, we headed down to the Agora. That was a real blast, since it mostly consisted of wandering around and randomly seeing stuff that I'd learned about or written papers on. It's funny to think that one of the places where democracy started was basically an overbuilt shopping mall. Tom and I then raced around and saw the Roman Agora(with a sweet hexagonal marble tower -- watch out Hexacuba!) and the Olympeion. We were frustrated in our effort to see the archaeological museum(it was closed), but did have the pleasure of observing a nearby street full of drug users and thugs. It really looked like a caricature of inner city blight. We found a hostel to stay at, ate dinner at a restaurant right below the Acropolis, and went to sleep on our slightly smelly beds.

Sunday the 4th - I woke up hella early and walked to the bus station for the airport. Since I only had a 50 euro note, the ticket booth clerk demanded that I also pay for the four people in line behind me. Since I was sleep-deprived, desperate to prove my financial solvency, and I like to show people up by being the better man, I agreed. Needless to say, they all repaid me as soon as we got on the bus. It's still a weird cultural thing that making change is viewed as such a hassle. The worst part is that the ATMs automatically give out €50 notes, so you have to use them somewhere. I eventually made it to the airport and left for Istanbul.

Public transit in Turkey was almost as fun -- I almost got lost, and a whole crowd of Turks looked very disapprovingly at me as I changed from my shoes to sandals in the airport. My general impression of Istanbul was that most everyone was trying to rip me off, and that they didn't necessarily feel like they had to be friendly about it. Athens was sort of like that, but seemed a little more friendly. On the plus side, the fashions in Turkey were a little less ridiculous. I made it to the hostel where I was supposed to meet George, and then got lunch during some rainshowers. I then embarked on a whirlwind tour of the Agia Sophia, the Islamic art museum, and the palace mosaics museum. The Agia Sophia was pretty darn pretty -- lots of awesome mosaics, sweet looking marble, and a generally impressive design. They were repairing the roof, so there was a ton of scaffolding set up in the center. It made me think a bit about human capabilities, and how we try to build our way into heaven. The palace mosaics had a lot of cool mythical beasts and suchlike. I then went back to the hostel to meet George, after which we got some tea, dinner, and sleep.

Monday the 5th - After waking up, we procured pastries and signed up for a hamam (traditional Turkish bath) for the evening. We then moved quickly to the Topkapi palace, where the sultan used to live. George decided to get one of the electronic audio guides to the place. I personally think the large plastic box and the wires gave him a rather Darth Vader-esque look. At Tom's advice, we decide to wait in line to see the first tour of the Harem. It was very blinged out, with some interesting details. Contrary to popular fant'sy, it was much more of a family living quarters than a bordello. We then toured some other areas with very intricate tilework, and checked out the Treasury, which basically had gold- and jewel-encrusted everything (e.g. http://www.flickr.com/photos/elvedon/230095120/in/set-72157594260650468/ ). We then left for the Grand Bazaar.

Here's the thing about the Grand Bazaar -- it's absolutely huge, but yet most shops are practically identical. You have the ones that sell counterfeit clothing, the ones selling Turkish souvenirs(Turkish Delight! Apple Tea!), the ones selling leathers and furs, the carpet shops, etc.. and it just goes on and on for miles. It's utterly amazing and yet strangely homogenized. George helped me haggle for a quite dandy pocketwatch, and the shop owner didn't seem to be gloating about having ripped me off. We then had a few cups of tea and headed back towards Sultanahmet(the old quarter of Istanbul where we were staying). We popped into the Blue Mosque quickly(it's huge, it's pretty, and you know all about Google Image Search) and then had tea overlooking Bosporus. We then headed back to the hostel to catch the pre-arranged taxi to the hamam, or so we thought...

After waiting for a bit, we had a conversation with the attendant that went something like this:

Him: "I am afraid that you will not be able to take a taxi. It is because of the Gypsies."
Us: "The Gypsies?"
Him: "Yes. They are having a festival in the streets, with much dancing and singing. The taxi cannot go through."
Us: "Uhhh....."

We ended up getting spectacularly lost as we tried to find our way there on foot. Needless to say, we saw no gypsies whatsoever. What the hamam did have was fat old Turkish dudes. The process of being bathed in a Hamam goes like this:

1. Go to your cubby and change out of your clothes and into a towel.
2. Walk into the main bathing chamber and splash some water on yourself quickly.
3. Hang out in the sauna for a bit.
4. Come back out and sit down. Wait with bated breath.
5. An old Turkish dude scrubs you and splashes you.
6. Go lie down on a stone tablet thing.
7. Have water thrown at you.
8. The fat old Turkish dude gives you a deep tissue massage. If your name starts with "Geo" and ends with "dle," you cry out in pain since any form of stretching has become painful to you.
9. (Optionally) The old dude punches you in the back. You then stand back up and have the right to return the punch.
10. More splashing, sauna, etc.
11. They take your original towel away and wrap 4 additional ones all over your bod.
12. You sit down awkwardly on a couch in the waiting room and get into staring contests with the habituees
13. You put your clothes on and leave.

We then had a couple overpriced beers. Since we were leaving the next morning, I bought half a kilo of pistachio baklava for breakfast. Also had pudding for dessert.

Tuesday the 6th - Left early for our flight to Fethiye. After numerous delays and misadventures, we somehow make it there. Tuesdays are market days, so we immediately bought some strawberries and bread as we searched for a place to stay. We eventually found a nice hostel and dumped our stuff there. We wanted to get to the nearby beach town of Oludeniz, so we got some essential supplies at the market: a watermelon, swimming trunks, and a knockoff Lacoste beach towel. We took the dolmus (van that travels between smaller towns) to Oludeniz, and basically read on the beach while working on our sunburns. I gloried in the hedonistic and non-predatory environment, and got very slightly tipsy. A lot of people paraglide around Oludeniz, so there's a certain surreal element of feeling like you're in the middle of a military operation whenever you're by the beach. I carried the watermelon back to the hostel with us.

Wednesday the 7th - Even more of the same. In the morning we got some bus tickets for Thursday, and then kicked back at the beach. One highlight was drinking beer in beanbag chairs on the beach. It was mainly just some quality relaxation time. That night, we opened the watermelon by bashing it on a curb at the hostel. Having carried it around for a day and a half, it was definitely long overdue.

Thursday the 8th - We spent most of the morning and early afternoon on buses. There was a nice thunderstorm in the mountains we drove over, but not too much else of note. We finally arrived in Selcuk, the town closest to the ruins of Ephesus. We checked in at the Australian/New Zealand Hostel, which was a nice place to stay and hang out. We managed to see the Temple of Artemis(Once one of the wonders of the world, now just a single column) and the archaeological museum. We had a nice quiet dinner in a restaurant with a courtyard, and then went to possibly the best shop in the world: the Ovali Patisserie Cafe. They have pudding. They have pastries. They have pastries with pudding inside. We probably ate half of their pudding. We then went back to the hostel, where we hung out with two female backpackers and one of the hostel workers and sort of learned backgammon. Since I was playing the native worker, who played backgammon like a mother tongue, I lost handily. We then hung out at the "Pink Bistro Cafe" (actually a bar) with the backpackeresses, and had a laughter-filled evening.

Friday the 9th - Our first destination was the Basilica of St. John, which is a large ruined church. Since a lot of the walls were slightly taller than a person, it would make either a great location for either a monster movie or a huge game of hide-and-go-seek. We then borrowed bikes from the hostel and biked out to Ephesus, which was about 3km outside Selcuk. At the gates, George again opted for the Darth Vader audio guide box. Our first stop when we got inside was a path through various Christian ruins. There were these huge fennel plants everywhere, which was sort of surreal. Also, old guys kept on approaching us to tell us about the history and to try to sell us "ancient coins." We ended up taking a path that led around to one of the old avenues, complete with a bunch of columns and fountain sites and such. We discovered at its junction with the main path that it was apparently off-limits to tourists. The ancient amphitheater was right next to there and also very very huge. When the floor of the theater emptied out, I went and did the YMCA and Macarena. A few other people followed my lead after I finished.

We managed to see the Treasury of Celsus just before a human wave of tourists arrived. It is definitely one extremely ornate building... pretty much every single bit of stone on it is carved exquisitely. The good news from it is that enough money can indeed make people remember you forever, as long as you spend it on the right stuff. We also saw the Terrace Houses, which were very elaborate Roman condos. They were all very beautiful, but they lacked the sense of timeless coherence with reason and perfection that you get from the Parthenon. We went outside to see the rest of the stuff, and I promptly got something stuck in my eye for the better part of an hour. George and I then biked back to the hostel and went to get dinner.

Just as we were finishing up, a car hit a dog in the street right across from us. Since it looked like no one was making sure that it got helped or put down, George started asking to various bystanders. One man in particular was very responsive, since apparently his cat had been hit by a car the year before. After telling us a little more about his cat, he invited us to come meet his cat in his shop. The cat and her two kittens were definitely very cute, with white fur, differently colored eyes, and an oddball swimmer's physique ( http://www.vancat.org/ has more on the breed). He told us some more about how they come from near Lake Van, a heavily Kurdish area in southeast Turkey, near Mt. Ararat where some people claim that Noah's Ark landed. We both chorused, "Noah's Ark?" In reply, he motioned towards a kilim (traditional story rug) depicting Noah's Ark. He then segued that into a full on carpet sale spiel. However, we couldn't come to mutually beneficial terms and parted amicably. I think we got more pudding at this point, but am not quite sure.

Saturday the 10th - This was mostly boring travel stuff. The hostel owner drove me to the airport in Izmir, I flew to Istanbul, I flew to London, I flew home.