At the Gates of the Orient
Istanbul, Turkey, May 1
I'm still in Europe geographically, if not culturally or (so far at least) politically.
I left Bucharest for Varna, on the Black sea, three days ago (April 28). The distance is small on the map, but extensive border formalities add a lot of time to the trip, and I didn't even get into Bulgaria until around noon. The town where I changed trains, Ruse, was pretty depressing overall--it seemed clear that the importance of the Romania/Bulgaria border crossing has declined since Romania's economy has become more oriented to western Europe. The underground pedestrian mall next to the main train station in Ruse was over 90% empty.
Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which I haven't used since 1998, but I'd been practicing a bit and it came back quickly. In both Romania and Bulgaria, any business open 24 hours is referred to as "non-stop," so there are non-stop liquor stores, car washes, and convenience stores. "non" in Cyrillic is "HOH", which always looked funny to me.
In the little time I had to look around Varna, I saw the Black Sea and some of the Roman ruins. Almost all of my trip so far, except for parts of Hungary and Romania, has been within the bounds of the Roman Empire, which seems almost unbelievable.
For the trip to Istanbul (April 29), the bus was more direct, cheaper, and faster. Unfortunately, I found out that you don't actually catch the bus to Istanbul from the bus station where you can buy the ticket, but rather go to a travel agency office about a half-mile away. Fortunately, I had arrived early enough that I had time for the walk. The bus proved to have about equal numbers of Turks and Romanians, many of the Turks returning from Germany. I talked to a couple of them, one of whom was a serious Ali McGraw fan. Unfortunately, I am not very familiar with her work other than Love Story.
About halfway through the movie ("Phone Booth" with Colin Ferrell, dubbed into Turkish under a title I was told translated as "Don't Hang Up"), the bus started making a loud rattling noise, and after about 10 minutes they pulled over and took out the tool boxes. This was not a good feeling, but I may as well get used to it since it's unlikely to be the last time. We were on our way again in 20 minutes.
The stops on both sides of the Turkish/Bulgarian border also took about 2 hours total. Immediately on entering Turkey, I saw the first of what was to prove to be many statues of Kemal Ataturk, this one with his maxim "How Proud I Am to Call Myself a Turk". Several of Ataturk's sayings are all over the place in Turkey--other popular ones are "Turk, Be Proud, Work Hard, Have Confidence" and "Peace at Home, Peace in the World." I'm no fan of cults of personality, but Ataturk's real achievements give him more right to this kind of adulation than most dictators who've claimed it.
We spent the last hour into Istanbul in heavy traffic, and I got to my hotel pretty late. Yesterday (April 30) I went to most of the main sights in Istanbul:
Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi palace. Hundreds of pages have been written on each, far too few of which pages I have read. I liked them all, and even the scaffolding inside Hagia Sophia for restoration couldn't detract from the majesty of that massive interior space. I can't even imagine what kind of impression it must have made hundreds of years ago.
At the Blue Mosque (as at other working mosques) visitors must remove their shoes. Shoe theft at mosques is an ongoing, if minor, problem in the Muslim world, but at the Blue Mosque they give visitors a plastic bag to carry their shoes, which seems like an elegant solution. Next to the mosque there's a tomb with some Muslim relics that are still venerated by visitors, including a supposed piece of the Prophet's beard encased in crystal.
The treasury at Topkapi has more relics, including an ornate case alleged to contain a mantle worn by Muhammad. In the room with the relics there is a Muslim cleric on duty reading from the Koran, even though the atmosphere is otherwise secular (and visitors keep their shoes on). In other display rooms there are some amazing gems and other presents to the Sultans. There's also the ornate cradle used when the Sultan's sons were formally presented as infants. I thought it odd that the cradle was extremely shallow, with railings only an inch or so high at most. But I guess it didn't matter since there must have been 15 or 20 attendants around, all of whom knew they'd suffer severe consequences if the kid fell.
The views from the Topkapi palace are also incredible, showing the whole skyline of Istanbul and a long way up the Golden Horn. I still wouldn't want to spend my whole life inside, as Ottoman princes had to do, but if you're going to be stuck in one building it's a better choice than most.
I didn't go to the Grand Bazaar yesterday since it's closed Sundays. I'll be there this morning before I catch my bus to Ankara.
I'm still in Europe geographically, if not culturally or (so far at least) politically.
I left Bucharest for Varna, on the Black sea, three days ago (April 28). The distance is small on the map, but extensive border formalities add a lot of time to the trip, and I didn't even get into Bulgaria until around noon. The town where I changed trains, Ruse, was pretty depressing overall--it seemed clear that the importance of the Romania/Bulgaria border crossing has declined since Romania's economy has become more oriented to western Europe. The underground pedestrian mall next to the main train station in Ruse was over 90% empty.
Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which I haven't used since 1998, but I'd been practicing a bit and it came back quickly. In both Romania and Bulgaria, any business open 24 hours is referred to as "non-stop," so there are non-stop liquor stores, car washes, and convenience stores. "non" in Cyrillic is "HOH", which always looked funny to me.
In the little time I had to look around Varna, I saw the Black Sea and some of the Roman ruins. Almost all of my trip so far, except for parts of Hungary and Romania, has been within the bounds of the Roman Empire, which seems almost unbelievable.
For the trip to Istanbul (April 29), the bus was more direct, cheaper, and faster. Unfortunately, I found out that you don't actually catch the bus to Istanbul from the bus station where you can buy the ticket, but rather go to a travel agency office about a half-mile away. Fortunately, I had arrived early enough that I had time for the walk. The bus proved to have about equal numbers of Turks and Romanians, many of the Turks returning from Germany. I talked to a couple of them, one of whom was a serious Ali McGraw fan. Unfortunately, I am not very familiar with her work other than Love Story.
About halfway through the movie ("Phone Booth" with Colin Ferrell, dubbed into Turkish under a title I was told translated as "Don't Hang Up"), the bus started making a loud rattling noise, and after about 10 minutes they pulled over and took out the tool boxes. This was not a good feeling, but I may as well get used to it since it's unlikely to be the last time. We were on our way again in 20 minutes.
The stops on both sides of the Turkish/Bulgarian border also took about 2 hours total. Immediately on entering Turkey, I saw the first of what was to prove to be many statues of Kemal Ataturk, this one with his maxim "How Proud I Am to Call Myself a Turk". Several of Ataturk's sayings are all over the place in Turkey--other popular ones are "Turk, Be Proud, Work Hard, Have Confidence" and "Peace at Home, Peace in the World." I'm no fan of cults of personality, but Ataturk's real achievements give him more right to this kind of adulation than most dictators who've claimed it.
We spent the last hour into Istanbul in heavy traffic, and I got to my hotel pretty late. Yesterday (April 30) I went to most of the main sights in Istanbul:
Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi palace. Hundreds of pages have been written on each, far too few of which pages I have read. I liked them all, and even the scaffolding inside Hagia Sophia for restoration couldn't detract from the majesty of that massive interior space. I can't even imagine what kind of impression it must have made hundreds of years ago.
At the Blue Mosque (as at other working mosques) visitors must remove their shoes. Shoe theft at mosques is an ongoing, if minor, problem in the Muslim world, but at the Blue Mosque they give visitors a plastic bag to carry their shoes, which seems like an elegant solution. Next to the mosque there's a tomb with some Muslim relics that are still venerated by visitors, including a supposed piece of the Prophet's beard encased in crystal.
The treasury at Topkapi has more relics, including an ornate case alleged to contain a mantle worn by Muhammad. In the room with the relics there is a Muslim cleric on duty reading from the Koran, even though the atmosphere is otherwise secular (and visitors keep their shoes on). In other display rooms there are some amazing gems and other presents to the Sultans. There's also the ornate cradle used when the Sultan's sons were formally presented as infants. I thought it odd that the cradle was extremely shallow, with railings only an inch or so high at most. But I guess it didn't matter since there must have been 15 or 20 attendants around, all of whom knew they'd suffer severe consequences if the kid fell.
The views from the Topkapi palace are also incredible, showing the whole skyline of Istanbul and a long way up the Golden Horn. I still wouldn't want to spend my whole life inside, as Ottoman princes had to do, but if you're going to be stuck in one building it's a better choice than most.
I didn't go to the Grand Bazaar yesterday since it's closed Sundays. I'll be there this morning before I catch my bus to Ankara.
posted by jeros | 4:42 PM
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