Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Day 9 - Ani (May 1, 2009)

May 1st is known as Worker's Day in Turkey. It has traditionally been the holiday that supporters of communism would take to the streets and protest on. Other protests are often led on this day as well. For this reason, I was slightly sad about not being in Istanbul on May 1st. If I were, I totally would have gone down to Taksim to check things out. It turns out that the protests this year were much milder and safer than in years past. In several cities in the southeast, there were pro-Kurdish protests as well. We had actually decided to go from south to north on our trip because we did not want to be in southeastern Turkey on May 1st. Kars was incredibly quiet.

The big trip we had planned in Kars was a half trip to Ani. Ani is an amazing place to see and was once the capital of the old Armenian empire. Today it sits right on the border of Turkey and Armenia. Due to political issues between the two countries, there are certain places you cannot access because the guards on the Armenian side may think you are trying to spy in their country or get too close to the border. You can see the guard towers on both sides, which I thought was pretty neat.

We drove up to the entrance and our driver gave us some information about the history of the Armenian civilization, the Armenian genocide and what happened afterward. It was a nice little talk. Then he told us a bit about Ani, which was the capital city of Armenia.

We walked around the place, which featured Armenian churches, the walls, and pretty much all aspects of Armenian life. The site was very large. It was amazing to see everything...even though they were in ruins. I wish I could convey it in words...but I really can't. It was sad to see the disrepair of the site though. It is trapped within a military zone in Turkey. There are some parts that one is not permitted to access because it is too close to the Armenian border, which is a river in a canyon below the city.

We returned to Kars and found a bus to Trabzon, our next destination. Unfortunately, there was no direct bus so we had to settle for a connection in Erzurum, Turkey's highest and coldest city. After a short wait there...it was on to the Black Sea and the coastal city of Trabzon!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Day 8 - Kars (April 30, 2009)

The journey to Kars was actually pretty uneventful. We arrived in Kars and the weather was sunny. We had been very lucky on our trip thus far. There had been no rain.

After we left the otogar, the taxi driver told us that there was no bus service into town. Of course taxi drivers have an awful reputation and I did not believe him for a second. He was incredibly pushy about it, which ticked me off. I finally went inside and asked a security guard in broken Turkish if there was a bus. When they said no and we resigned to taking a taxi, we purposely ignored the guy who had been pushy and went with another driver. I simply cannot stand it when taxi drivers try to push me around. It makes me want to punch them in the face.

So we took the taxi to a hotel called Tembel. The original one was not open, so we stayed at Tembel 2 for a somewhat reduced price. The living situation of the hotel was not especially nice, but it was good enough. When we checked in the guy found out we were Americans. The general reaction from everyone so far was that they loved Obama. This guy was different. First he started asking how I could vote for Obama because I was white and he is black. I couldn't really explain to him that it wasn't like that. Then he started ranting and yelling. I assumed from the tone of his voice that he did not like Obama. Then he used the word "Erministan," which means Armenia in Turkish. I gathered that he probably was displeased with Obama's position on the whole Armenian genocide question.

The issue in Kars is a prominent one because it is only about 45 minutes by car from the river separating Turkey and Armenia. In fact, Kars used to be Armenian and there is still a small presence of Turkish Armenians living there today. In 1993, in protest of Armenia capturing a region of Azerbaijan in their war, Turkey closed the border. Since that time it has remained closed. Although some people dislike Armenians because of the genocide issue, others in Kars want the border to be opened because it could bring about new economic activity and growth to the area.

Kars is also interesting because it used to be Russian. In fact, it was not ceded to the Ottoman Empire until 1918. For this reason, many of the people there were actually of Russian decent. The mixture of cultures gave it a different atmosphere from other places in Turkey.

We settled into our new accommodations and took a brief rest. It began to rain outside for the first time on our trip and we were a bit tired. We ventured out with Em's guidebook and looked for Kars Citadel and the Church of the Apostles. When we stopped and asked, Em told me later that the guy we asked was only speaking to me and addressing me. She felt they were slightly sexist. I am not sure if that was actually the case, but it was something to think about.

We approached the Church of the Apostles. This church had been converted into a Russian Orthodox church under Russian rule and back to a mosque when the Turks took over again. It was clearly closed and there did not seem to be a way to get inside. A few feet away, a Turkish man was standing and also admiring the church. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit. They seemed to be doing some sort of restoration on the area around the church, so naturally we thought he worked as a construction worker.
We approached him and asked if he knew if and when the church would be opened. He said that he did not know and was admiring the church on his break. He introduced himself as Cemil. We learned that instead was working with an oil company (on the new pipeline from the Caucuses into Turkey) and was admiring the church himself.

Cemil began a conversation with us and one of the first questions he asked me was what my religion was. I was taken a little off guard. I lied to him and told him that I was not very religious, despite the fact that I self-identify with Judaism. I had learned early during my time in Turkey that telling people I am Jewish is not in my best interest. I asked him the same question, half expecting the cliché Sunni Islam answer.

Before he answered me, he looked around to ensure no one was within earshot and proclaimed that he was an Alevi. An Alevi!? I became very excited. I had just been reading about them in my Turkish politics class. Alevis are a particular sect of Shiite Islam that had been persecuted in recent Turkish history. It was a stroke of luck that I not only met an Alevi that was willing to speak about their beliefs, but that I met one that knew English! I began asking him questions about his life and more specific questions about how Alevism differed from other sects of Islam. His father was the dede, making him the future leader of his family's congregation near Istanbul.

Our conversation led to a lunch invitation, which I gladly accepted. We decided that going to lunch with Cemil would be much more interesting and exciting than seeing another fortress (we had already seen 4 or 5 on the trip). He did not have anything to eat but we talked for a while. We talked about all sorts of things: Turkey, Turkish-American relations, American foreign policy, American politics, our trip, etc. He invited us to come with him to see Posof, a small border town, but unfortunately we were unable to do so. Afterwards, I told him about my project on Alevis for Turkish politics and of the requirement that I had to do an interview with a Turkish person in English and asked if I could come visit him in his home in Kocaeli. He said he would be happy to help me out and invited me to come see a live cem evi, which is their ceremony. He did graciously pay for his meal...but I felt especially bad for this because he didn't even eat. I told him I did not want him to pay. He told me that if I did not let him pay that he would refuse my interview and I would be unwelcome in his home in Istanbul...that was enough to shut me up.

After we had spent the better part of the afternoon talking with Cemil, we decided to return to the hotel. After 8 days of travel we were all very tired and needed a day to kind of chill out.

So we went back to the room to hang out. Earlier a younger Turkish guy who was staying alone had asked us if we wanted to go to the market with him. We respectfully declined as we had planned to go sightseeing in Kars. He knocked on our door that evening bearing food and coca cola. So he came in and we hung out for a while. It was kind of awkward because he did not know any English and we were stuck communicating through the English-Turkish dictionary. It always seems weird to me how guys like this guy and the guy from the hotel in Van are so interested in speaking with us despite the language issues. If the situation were reversed, I don't think I would spend that long trying to understand someone who did not speak the language in my country. I guess that's one of the many differences between Turks and Americans. So our first day in Kars ended up being very productive for me (as I made a vital contact for my project) and pretty low key overall.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Day 7 - Dogubeyazit (April 29, 2009)

We made our way downstairs for breakfast at the hotel and ended up sitting with the guy we met the previous night while locked out of our room. He had driven up from Hakkari (province that borders Iraq) and had to drive back there that day.

After breakfast, we had tea with Bayram again. He gave us a CD of pictures and a brochure so that we would not forget him. He also gave us his son's number and said we should call him when we got back to Istanbul. After tea, Bayram took us to the roof of the hotel to show us where his brother's company was and to show us the view. Additionally, he made our bus reservation for us to Dogubeyazit and suggested a good hotel for us to find. I am sure they receive kickbacks from each other for recommending it (he was pretty adamant about us making sure to drop his name), but I was ok to stay at a hotel that was in the same price range as this one. Also, he did do us a favor by not charging us when we wanted to check into the room at 5am and sleep after our bus ride all night from Diyarbakir. I know in the US they definitely would have charged us. He also told the domus driver to stop at the Muradiye falls (a place I really wanted to see even though I did not tell Bayram I had wanted to see it). He had mentioned that it was important to take care of his guests and that he knew we would enjoy stopping to see the falls (as they are famous in Eastern Turkey). I was very happy about this!

Speaking of the bus ride (which was pretty much a dolmus in this case), I do not know how or why I always am able to do this, but I always seem to find an interesting person to talk to in Turkey...even if I can't speak the language!

The van we rode in was quite small. I suppose the route between Van and Dogubeyazit isn't that popular. As a result, only two people could sit in a row together. Because I was traveling with two girls, it seemed natural that they should sit together so one of them would not be forced to sit next to a sketchy character. This meant I was the third wheel out and that I would be sitting next to a stranger.

It just so happens that my stranger was a very nice guy. I had another opportunity to practice my Turkish skills. It turns out that this guy was actually an Iranian nation from Tebriz. He spoke Turkish and Persian. The Turkish-English dictionary got a lot of work during this bus ride. :) He was in Istanbul selling fabric and took a flight to Van and then a bus from Van to Dogubeyazit (where an Iranian border crossing exists). From there he would head home. I think one of the coolest parts of this conversation was that he actually let me see his passport. It was green with the Arabic script on it. The most interesting part was on the passport where it said, "Holders of this passport are forbidden from entering the occupied lands of Palestine." So basically, Iran has forbidden their citizens from going to Israel. He got to look at my passport too. I even showed him the Israeli stamp, which surprised him! Another cool thing he did was teach me the Persian alphabet. I have it written down with me still (I should really study that thing so I can learn to read Persian/Arabic). He didnt seem to mind showing me all of the letters and writing their sounds in latin script next to it. When we stopped at a gas station, he picked up a bag of potato chips, which he shared with me for the rest of the way. Apparently the sharing culture I discussed in previous blog entries also extends to Iran. We Americans should really get on board with this!

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. It consisted mostly of me trying to converse with the guy on the bus and flipping back and forth through the English-Turkish dictionary. I was pretty excited because in order to get to Dogubeyazit, we had to go over some highlands that involved seeing snow. Those of you that know me well know just how excited I get about the snow! :)

We arrived in Dogubeyazit in the early afternoon. We found the hotel that Bayram recommended to us and decided that the price was good enough for us to stay there. From our room, we had a beautiful view of Mt. Ararat. As soon as we got to the hotel, I realized that I stupidly left my camera in the van and prayed that it was still there. I basically had a miniature freak out. Luckily for me (and for all of you who are enjoying my pictures), it came back safe and sound. The driver of the van brought it back as soon as I had made it to the place to pick up my camera.

Upon putting our stuff down in the hotel, we moved on to see the Ishak Paşa palace. Earlier when we went to Mardin, I described Emily's obsession with getting to see the Saffron Monastery. Well as obsessed as she was with that, I was equally obsessed with seeing this place. When we realized we had an extra day on our trip to spend, I begged and pleaded for Sonya and Emily to let me take a detour to this place. I am not sure what my fascination was with this place. Truthfully, I had seen it in some post cards and travel books advertising Eastern Turkey and I fell in love with the pictures. I was determined to see it for myself. That is the main reason why I wanted to see it so badly. The added bonus was of course that it was at the foot of Mt. Ararat and right on the Azerbaijani/Iranian border. :)

We spoke to a taxi cab driver and he agreed to take us to Ishak Paşa Sarayi (Ishak Paşa Palace) and wait for us while we toured the place. The ride to the palace was a three mile drive that took us on a main 4 lane road with lights in the center. The road had a yellow sign labelled Iran, indicating that it was the road to Iran. More interestingly, that 4 lane main thoroughfare was actually the ancient silk road. I imagined hundreds of people on caravans coming through this place, bringing spices and silk from the far east on their way to Istanbul and Europe. What a cool road!

We entered the complex and it was absolutely incredible. Construction began on the palace in 1685. It was considered the second administrative palace only to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The guidebook said it was very important to art history and probably the best example of a Turkic palace during the time period it was built (1600-1800). The palace itself was built over a hill, allowing an observer to see all of Doğubeyazit below.

The palace itself contained a beautiful courtyard on the main floor, a harem, kitchen, dungeon, and mosque inside. There was a second floor which was unfortunately blocked off from touring. The complex itself was massive.

Despite the large complex, we unexpectedly ran into Jessica, Perri, and other members of the Duke study abroad program. Although I had asked Jessica where her program was taking her on spring break, she had said she didn't know. Apparently, their program had them doing our trip, but reverse. They started in Trabzon and went to Kars and then they were going to Van. We exchanged some stories about the trip. Jessica told us that she was miserable and wanted out because she didn't know the other kids and felt like kind of an outsider. Any student that had registered for Boğaziçi through the Duke program was required to go on this trip. We told her we would call her that night to hang out...but we never did.

The reason we never did is far more interesting. Two younger guys were speaking to Sonya and I walked up and said hello. These two guys were Metin and Saffet. Metin seemed to be in his early 30s while Saffet to be close to our age. They took an interest in us and began asking us about our trip, where had been, why we were in Turkey, etc. They then invited us to have a tea with them, which we accepted. We told the taxi driver that we would know longer need his services, but he made us pay 2/3 of the price. We lied to him and said we had decided to walk back...but I think he knew we were really finding another ride. Oh well.

Before we went to tea, Metin and Saffet told us they knew a cool place to get a great view of Ishak Paşa.We rode the van further up the mountain that grew behind the palace. Then we exited the van and were lead up the pathway to a beautiful rocky outcropping. The ledge was very narrow, allowing only one person at a time. The view was breathtaking (see pictures). It provided the perfect postcard picture for the palace. All I could say was "this is THE picture." Of course THE picture turned into several...but what can ya do?

After gazing at the scenery, we climbed back down and got back into their van. They drove us to the town and we met a third friend of theirs, a Kurdish carpet dealer. I thought to myself...wow this is just as bad as the guys in Istanbul. In Istanbul, carpet dealers try to lure you into their shop and spend 45 minutes turning their store inside out to sell you a carpet. It is often a bad situation because you want to see the carpets but the whole ordeal takes up a lot of time. After two or three of these episodes, you have basically wasted a good day of sightseeing. I made a comment to Metin, indicating that I understood what was going on, but he claimed that it was not like that. Either way, one cup of tea became two which became three. I thought to myself, while we're here, we might as well see what they've got right?

These carpets were slightly different than the ones you would find in Istanbul because they were made by Kurds instead of Turks. The concept was the same but the designs were slightly different. They were neat. Another significant difference was the price. A beautiful silk carpet, which I wanted very badly was only 300TL ($200). The same carpet in Istanbul would probably have cost 1000 TL. I remembered what Uncle Barry said to me before I left. "If you see anything cool. Buy it." So that's exactly what I did. After finding a reasonably priced carpet, I began to haggle the price down. It was originally 120 TL. I explained that I was a studnt and didn't have a lot of money (you have to give these salesmen the same spiel every time). Eventually, I got him to agree to sell me 2 carpets for 80 TL a piece. I decided to keep one for myself and to give one to Uncle Barry and Aunt Leslie since Barry had done so much to help me with my Air France debacle. The least I could do was get him a nice souvenir! Sonya and Em both ended up buying one too. Metin and Saffet claimed that we should not feel pressured to buy and that they did not bring us to the carpet place to sell us a carpet. The guy who sold us the carpet invited us to join him for dinner that evening.

While talking to Metin and Saffet, they told us that there was a hot spring in Diyadin (a small town about 45 minutes away from Doğubeyazit. Upon seeing our interest, they offered to take us there so we could enjoy it. I was ecstatic! I had never been to a hot spring before and had always wanted to go to one. In fact, I had been reading about the springs near Bursa and was hoping to have the opportunity to visit those while I was in Turkey.

They took us back to our hotel and we got a change of clothes and put our newly acquired carpets away. They did ask as a small favor for us to help them fill up his gas tank in his van. We were a bit surprised because generally Turkish people do not ask us for anything in return when they are hospitable. Truthfully, the van was not that nice and they probably did not have a lot of money. They weren't poor by Turkish standards, but probably not rich either. I didn't mind giving them money since they were showing us around and being very nice to us. Basically, we were paying for our own personalized tour of the area, which was fine by me! The older guy confessed to us that he was actually a mountain guide for Mt. Ararat and said that if we ever wanted to climb it with him, we could let him now and we could come along with a group he was leading. He said we would only have to pay for the equipment and nothing else...which was incredibly nice of him. I seriously considered taking him up on the offer. Climbing Ararat would be amazing! Perhaps one day I will...

We made our way away from town. None of us knew how far the place was. I don't know about the others, but after 30 minutes or so of driving, I was a little concerned. The fact that we had trusted several people on this trip so far and not been in danger had not escaped my notice. I wondered how many more times we could test fate before something bad happened. Luckily, we didn't test it enough as my slight apprehension turned out to be for nothing.

We drove through the town of Diyadin and made our way towards the springs. The landscape became much more rocky. Once upon a time, this area had been very geologically active. After another 5 or so minutes of driving, we came to a group of small buildings. In two or three different places near it, water was flowing out of the ground. As it met the cool, evening air, steam was given off of the openings. The water felt nice on cold hands. The opening and the area where the water was flowing had turned white. The minerals in the water had calcified on the rock. Additionally, the entire area smelled of sulfur. Our new friends obviously knew the attendant and told us that we could have one of the family rooms for an hour in a few minutes.

In the meantime we took a walk around the place, admiring the geological feature. It was actually a pretty cool thing. The sun was setting and it was quite cold outside. It couldnt have been more than 40 or 45 degrees.

Finally, we went inside the room. It was a pool the size of a small swimming pool. A white pipe from the geological feature siphoned water into the pool. The spring itself was scalding! Way above what I would have considered comfortable to swim in. When I hung my feet in the water, they felt like they were on fire! The room with the pool had no ceiling, allowing us to observe the starlit night. Although the facilities weren't exactly luxury accommodations, the atmosphere was nice.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, everyone had jumped in and began soaking in the spring except me. I was still lying shirtless on the side of the pool. Metin and Saffet began making funny of me, telling me that I should be able to do it if two girls can. As I slowly tried to submerge myself into the water, I would quickly jump out because it was so hot. So the first 40 minutes or so of us being there consisted of me alternating between getting cold outside of the pool, partially submerging my body until it felt like it was on fire (all of about 30 seconds) and repeating the process. After the 45 minute mark, I was able to swim a bit before jumping out in the same fashion. After about an hour and a half, we had had enough and got dressed and got back in the car towards Doğubeyazit.

The conversation in the car was especially interesting for me. Because these guys were Kurdish, I began asking them questions about their voting behavior and the DTP. I was curious if they voted for AKP, if they liked them, why they voted for the DTP, etc. I wish I had understood the issue more at the time. I think I could have asked more insightful and interesting questions...but at this point in my Turkish experience, I was still trying to learn about it. It turns out that they both vote for DTP simply because it is Kurdish. They knew very little about how the DTP stood on certain issues and whether they supported those stances (this could also be because they werent able to express themselves in English but I find this unlikely because I found their English to be quite good...especially by Eastern standards!).

We went back to town and made our way to the restaurant where we would meet the carpet dealer from the afternoon. We had a lovely meal (some sort of kebab if I remember correctly...but then again...weren't all of my meals?). After our meal, they invited us to dance. The dance was the exact same one we did in Urfa, so we all already knew the drill. It was a fun time and I think everyone enjoyed ourselves. It's always nice to make new friends.

I did notice when our new friend wanted to pay the bill, his wallet contained dollars and euros in addition to Turkish lira. He told us that all proceeds from the carpet sales went to a home for Kurdish women (I think he was trying to tell us it was for a good cause). However, the different foreign currencies in his wallet made me a bit skeptical. He did pay for our dinner though which was cool. So after only 1 day, we had hit the highlights of Doğubeyazit!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Day 6 - Van (April 28, 2009)

We woke up on our second day in Van. Elif got on the bus that morning and headed to her family's house near Kars. It was just me, Em, and Sonya. For the first time, we were without Elif to help us with Turkish.

We tried to ask the hotel staff how to get to the Hoşap Castle. We took Em's guidebook out and showed it to them and pointed. Unfortunately, no one at the desk could speak enough English (or even do enough pointing) to help us! They told us to wait and fetched Bayram (this was in fact THE Bayram of the Hotel Bayram). The owner of the hotel was a very gifted man who could speak several languages including English, Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, Russian, and Italian. Additionally, he could speak backwards! He even demonstrated it for us! I imagine the language skills were good for business. We were able to explain to him what we were looking for and he was able to help us. However, as Turkish and Kurdish custom dictates, we were obligated to sit with him in his office for some tea. He was actually very interesting to speak to. He told us about his son in Istanbul and asked us about who we are and what were studying.

Armed with Em's guidebook, we continued our adventure. We knew this was going to be interesting without Elif to help us.

We took a dolmuş southeast of Van to a place called Hoşap Castle. The castle was built in 1643 by a local Kurdish chieftain. Apparently, the chieftain was so pleased with the castle that he chopped off both of the builder's hands so that it would be impossible for him to build another castle like this one. Unfortunately, we arrived out of season and only got to see the castle from the outside. During summer, one can go inside and see the thousands of rooms that used to exist. We climbed to the top of the hill and took some neat pictures.

We then walked around the base of the hill and had the opportunity to see some of the village life. The children looked at us strangely. I imagine they are not used to seeing many foreigners...especially at this time of the year. We walked back to the main part of the village, which consisted of only 4 buildings of business and began waiting for a dolmuş to come.

I spoke to a guy and told him that we were waiting for a dolmuş and he said he would help us. Apparently, the dolmuş service is less frequent on that particular road out of the high season. A few minutes later the guy beckoned for us to follow him to a car.

The car was much nicer than any of the cars we had seen around the area. I don't remember the make or the model, but it seemed like an acura or something similar. It was very normal for an American car, but in eastern Turkey less than 30 miles from the Iranian border, it was downright strange. Furthermore, the two guys were wearing suits...also strange. We reluctantly entered the car and began talking to them. It turns out that they were both Kurdish who had just entered the country in their car from Iran! Apparently, one guy was an Iranian Kurd and the other was an Iraqi Kurd. We weren't sure what to talk about with the limited Turkish we had (luckily for us they both spoke Turkish) but we tried. The bulk of the car ride was spent using what little Turkish we knew (with the help of our handy-dandy Turkish-English dictionary) to teach us some words in Kurdish. They loved the fact that we made a concerted effort to speak in Kurdish! When we would try to say things they would smile. They took us all the way to çavuştepe, which is where we were trying to go next. It was right on their way. When they dropped us off, not only would they not take any money, they tried to pay for our museum tickets too! We explained to them that we had Muze Karts and that it wasn't necessary. We then hugged them and said "zor spas" (Thank you very much) in Kurdish and left them.

çavuştepe was once the site of a major palace in ancient Urartia. Although not much of it is left now, there was still quite a bit to see. There were two fortress ruins. In the open ruins you could see sort of what the different rooms were for. Luckily, when we arrived we were the only ones there. The caretaker of the place happened to be an expert in ancient Urartia and spoke some English. He had been to Los Angeles on conventions about the ancient civilization. He gave us a personal tour telling us all about the ruins and what each place was used for. It was really fantastic. The most amazing part was that this guy had actually taught himself how to cuniform (the type of writing used by many ancient civlizations including the Urartians). He translated some of the inscriptions on the base of the ruins for us. Of course the tour ended, as all tours end, in a place where something can be sold. In this case, they happened to be hand-carved things out of stone. In addition to studying ancient Urartia, our tour guide was an expert at hand-making things out of solid stone. Uncle Barry advised me before I went to Turkey that if I ever saw anything really cool that I should just buy it. This was the first instance in which I saw something truly cool enough to buy. So I did!

We were able to find a dolmuş back into town by flagging one down pretty easily. We then began walking around Van, looking for the dolmuş station (we had to go to a different one) to go to the university in Van (I can't remember the name of it). The reason we wanted to go here was because we wanted to see the famous Van cats. The city of Van is famous for its white cats because they have two different eye colors: one blue and one brown. Unfortunately, because they were so rare, people began taking them in as pets and they cannot be found on the streets anymore. The only place is the Kedi evi, which literally means cat house on this university.

On our way to find the dolmuş, we ran into our Iraqi Kurdish friend who had taken us to çavuştepe! We were very surprised to see him again because Van is not exactly a small town with a population of over 300,000 people. He broke conversation with the person he was speaking to and lead us to the dolmuş that we needed to take. He even paid for all of our transit to the kedi evi and would not take no for an answer.

After a bit of a walk to where the dolmuş dropped us off, we finally made it to the kedi evi. Interestingly, the thing was a two story house that was completely inhabited by the cats. The fence surrounding it was tall, but I think I could have climbed it. I would have done so if it weren't for the security cameras installed all around the place. These people really take their cats seriously! Unfortunately, the house was closed and the cats were far enough away from the fence that they were difficult to see. Close to the house, however, was the college's school of veterinary medicine.

We went into the building to ask if anyone perhaps could open the kedi evi for us to see. Unfortunately, no one could. As a result of this adventure, we did make a new friend. Cihan was a student at the veterinary school who had just gotten off of class for the day. He offered to take us back to Van and show us Van Caslte (one of the last big things we would have a chance to see and one of the biggest things on my list).

Cihan took us to the castle and began showing us around. A little kid, who could only speak Turkish wanted to give us a tour and charge for it. We said no, but he was persistent and began giving the tour anyway. Cihan translated for us so that we could have information about the old castle. It was built on a massive rock, allowing us to see all of Van, the surrounding mountains, and beautiful view of Lake Van. After we climbed around the castle, we saw an old abandoned minaret. We got the chance to climb to the top, which was really cool for me because in most mosques you are not permitted to do so. It was old and ruined, but provided the best view possible. Cihan rewarded the young kid for his persistence and gave him some money. As soon as he offered the boy money, we told him that we could give it instead. The kid understood and seemed to think that this was a good idea for both Cihan and us to give him money. Cihan refused to let us though.

He then invited us to his home. We went and met his two roommates. They turned the TV to the only English channel they had (with Turkish subtitles) for us to watch. They offered us food but we weren't too hungry. We did end up playing batak (a Turkish card game taught to me by Umut and Altug). Cihan could not believe I knew how to play it! He was so surprised. I showed Em and Sonya my hand so they could learn how to play. However, they had a fourth friend come over and that friend ended up teaching Em and Sonya how to play another card game. After Cihan and I won in batak (yes we are awesome), we went to a cafe to play backgammon (I had boasted to him that I was pretty decent after playing so much with Umut). Unfortunately, I still got my ass kicked...but at least it was fun for everyone else to watch! All in all it was a lot of fun and it was neat to be hanging out with Turkish college students again (after we had been travelling for almost a week). It was certainly a nice change of pace for the trip.

Upon returning to our hotel room, we discovered that we could not open the door. No matter how hard we tried, there was a problem with the door. The person from across the way heard us trying to open the door. At first he tried to help, but it was a lost cause. We eventually had to call and ask the hotel staff to help us, which took them a while too because they basically had to unscrew the entire doorknob for us to get in our room. In the meantime the other guy was curious about us and invited us into his room. With the little Turkish we knew, talking to him was like playing a game of charades. We would use our hands for the words we didn't know. Sonya and Em got mad at me because he was saying how good my Turkish was and how theirs wasn't that good. It was actually kind of funny to see Em get worked up about it...but I love her to death.

Finally, after a long and exhausting day we were able to go back to our room and go to sleep.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Day 5 – Van (April 27, 2009)

As I mentioned previously, our trip to Van required us to change once again in Diyarbakir. The transit from Mardin to Van only confirmed that we had made the right decision not to spend time in Diyarbakir. Unfortunately, the dolmuş we took did not go to the main bus terminal in Diyarbakir. Instead, it arrived at another, smaller, dolmuş stop about 10 minutes driving from the bus terminal. Just as before, there were many small, parentless children (much like India as I described before). Furthermore, we did not arrive there until around sunset. We asked how to get to the main bus terminal and a guy offered to help us.

His voice was raspy and he seemed a bit sketchy. I felt very uncomfortable with the situation, but because I could not speak Turkish it was completely out of my hands. He took us to a taxi and we got in (the guy was sitting in the front with the 4 of us crammed in the back seat). The taxi took us through the streets of Diyarbakir in the dark. There was eerie sense about the place and I did not like it. When we arrived at the bus terminal, the guy we paid. The guy taking us did not offer to help pay for his portion or anything. So basically, this guy took advantage of us as tourists and got himself a free taxi ride. The taxi also charged us more than we originally understood we would be charged. I was pissed and felt like we had been screwed, but at the same time I was happy to be safely inside the bus terminal. We ate dinner and waited for our 9pm bus direct to Van (the bus ride to Van is supposed to take 7 hours through the mountains so it was an overnight bus).

The roads across the mountains were incredibly bad. They were basically all dirt and gravel and the bus could not go much faster than about 10 MPH. Furthermore, once we got up into the really high elevations, there was still blotches of snow on the ground, requiring the bus to be especially careful. These mountains were also dangerous because they are known as hiding places for the PKK. In fact, at 2AM Elif noticed some Turkish soldiers walking along the side of the road and into the woods. The next morning, we had heard word that a large PKK bust had taken place the previous evening in the mountains to the west of Van. So basically, we witnessed the bust as it was happening, which is kinda ridiculous!

The next morning we arrived in Van at a very early 4am. We found the Bayram Hotel very close to where the bus let us off and decided to set up camp there for fairly cheap. Once we checked into our rooms, we decided it would be a good idea to take a little nap (one is awfully tired after a long bus ride). The plan was to sleep until 8 or so so we had the full day to really enjoy Van. However, we ended up sleeping until 10 instead. Oops? Actually, Sonya and I woke up before Emily and Elif and we made our way down to the local museum in Van which featured several exhibits on the Urartians. Unfortunately, not all of the descriptions were in English but what can ya do?

After getting up, we went to a traditional Van breakfast. Van is famous for its breakfast which consisted of several types of cheese, bread, cucumbers and tomatoes (like any Turkish breakfast), butter, eggs, sausage, various types of jelly, home made honey, olives, and of course Turkish tea. It was delicious! :) (See pictures)

After our late breakfast, we decided to make our way towards Akdamar Island, a famous island situated in the southern portion of Lake Van. To get there, we had to take a dolmuş to the southern part of the lake (Van is on the eastern side). One interesting fact about the dolmuşes in Turkey is that they perform many functions. In addition to just carrying passengers, they can also carry newspapers, mail, and other sorts of items that need to be delivered. All of these things of course come at a price, and the driver maximizes his profit. Well, on our way to the ferry, we stopped in a small town and picked up some passengers. These passengers happened to be three live chicken! What's more...they took the chickens and held them upside down to paralyze them and tied them together so there was no cage! It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. The drive just took them and tossed them into the back of the Van in front of us like it was nothing! They just sat on the floor board (see pictures)!

So after our little joyride we made it to the ferry and waited along the shoreline to be taken to Akdamar. Surprisingly, we met a guy who was there to visit Akdamar with his girlfriend. The surprising part was that he knew English and I struck a conversation with him in English. He asked if we knew the story of Akdamar Island and we did not, so he told us. The short version is that a woman was living on the island and in love with this man and so after her husband would sleep, he would swim to the island and meet her (with her shining a light to guide him). One day the king found out and turned off the light, allowing him to drown in the water. As a result she also killed herself out of grief. This is not exact but it goes something like that. We also got some general info about the area and where we could go. Elif particularly appreciated me getting this info because she was beyond tired of translating.

We spent the better part of the afternoon enjoying the island. In the center of the island was a beautiful abandoned Armenian church built before the year 1000. The outside has depictions from Adam and Eve carved on it. It was beautiful. The real treat in my opinion was the scenery of the island itself. Because the island is in the higher altitudes of the mountains in Eastern Turkey, spring was in full swing by the end of April. The temperature was in the upper 60s and flowers were blooming. Additionally, surrounding the lake were picturesque snow covered mountains. The island itself had a couple of rock faces, giving it a bit of varied geography. Covering the island was green grass. I would rank this place in the top 5 most beautiful places I have ever seen. Whats more, it was not crowded at all, making it absolutely perfect! Please see the pictures on the right to get a fuller appreciation of what I am saying about this.

After spending part of the afternoon at the lake we made our way back to Van. Unfortunately, the dolmus we wanted to take was waiting too long. He kept waiting for more people and we told him we wanted to go (we had been waiting for an hour). When a large bus on the way to Van passed by, we flagged it down and they took us to Van for a small fee of 5 TL (same price as the dolmus). The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around Van. There was some really neat shops there. This is where I bought the kacak cay (illegal tea)! :) We also walked around in these shops under the street and I took a picture of this advertisement where they showed a woman with a red headscarf on and red panties. I though the display together was ironic. Maybe guys get excited if there is a matching headscarf to go with the panties? I also thought putting them on the same manikin had to go against some kind of Islamic law. Oh well.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Day 4 - Mardin (April 26, 2009)

At around 9am we found a bus and began our trip to Mardin. We got on a large bus heading further east. We ended up sitting across the aisle from this Turkish guy in his mid 30s. He looked curiously at us for a while and then (as always with Turkish people) his curiosity got the best of him. To my surprise, he was able to speak a little in English and we had a very limited conversation (as he knew about as much English as I did Turkish at the time).

Elif watched this interaction but didn't say anything. I am not sure if she was just tired or amused or a combination. When we found out he was a school teacher, her interest was sufficiently peeked and she decided to join in the conversation. This was especially interesting for her because she is majoring in educational psychology at Boğaziçi. In her classes, they talked about teaching conditions in the east, but rarely does anyone get a chance to have the classroom materials come alive like that. It was really neat for her.

She also told me if I had any questions that she would be happy to translate for me if I wanted. This lead to a slight altercation between us because I was hoping for a more literal translation than what she was giving me. We ended up getting into a really big fight and not talking for that day or much during our time together in Van. It was really a shame. Being together on a trip like that for too long tends to take its effect on people. I was curious about the GAP Project (Southeastern Anatolia Project). The project is an interesting yet slightly controversial project spearheaded by the Turkish government to develop the Southeastern region. The teacher had an overall positive view of it, which was interesting to see.

We made our ways up the hills and finally into Mardin (after passing the quote etched into the side of the mountain that said "Happy is the man who can call himself a Turk." Nothing like a little Turkish nationalism in the middle of Kurdistan! The landscape between Urfa and Mardin was very pretty. Elif said it had reminded her a lot of Wyoming. There were many fields, few trees and an occasional small mountain. It's funny that she has seen more of my country than I have and I have seen more of her country than she has.

Upon leaving the small bus area, we deposited our bags with the bus company and we went to tour the Saffron Monastery (Deyrülzafarân Manastırı). Emily had been obsessing about this place since pretty much the beginning of the trip, so she was very happy that we had finally made it. The Saffron Monastery is an important religious place for the Syrian Orthodox Church. What I thought was neat is that the official language is still Aramaic there. All of the people associated with the monastery speak it and all of the signs posted were in Aramaic and of course Turkish. Luckily, our tour guide did know some English, but he would always speak in Turkish first. Our explanations were shorter and so we were probably not getting the whole picture. We did, however, get to go to the 2nd level (most others were not allowed) and we saw the living quarters of where guests can say. If you are Syrian orthodox, they will house you for free on your travels! I look Syrian Orthodox, right? ;)

The other big attraction of this site is that from the courtyard you can see into Syria. The city of Mardin is quite close to the Syrian border (only a few miles) and it is situated on a large hill (some might even consider it a small mountain) overlooking vast plains. I was surprised by how flat the land was (after all the mountains we had seen). I imagine that some of the landscape we saw would be similar to looking over the Great Plains from the rolling hills before Rocky Mountains (but I don't know this for sure because I have never been to the Rockies). Anyways...it was cool.

After we toured the monastery, we took a taxi cab back to Mardin. We spent the rest of the time walking along the hill and investigating interesting sites, which included another Syrian church (where we were offered some homemade wine) and a mosque. I don't remember many of the other sites. Truthfully, I was not all that impressed with Mardin. It was pretty but it was not my favorite stop on the trip. In all fairness, I will say I was in a sour mood after I exchanged words with Elif and my bad mood may have influenced my perceptions of the city. Perhaps one day I will get the opportunity to go back and give it another chance. It was a very pretty place.

That evening we got in a dolmuş and began our trip to Van via Diyarbakir.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Day 3 – Şanlıurfa (April 25, 2009)

We woke up not too early and not too late (and I think I even woke up before our hosts did). We sat in the kitchen and talked with them after they woke up. I asked about their family, and he explained to me that they were all family and all related. If I spoke more Turkish, I probably could have gotten a lot more out of that conversation. At around noon they wanted to take us to breakfast. They told us they would put our things in the otogar for us so that we could pick them up later. At this point we felt a little awkward because one of the Kurdish guys was interested in one of the girls in our group and we thought he might have been a bit disappointed because he didn’t get what he wanted (also we think one reason they were so nice to us may have been because he was interested in her). For whatever reason, it seemed like it was time for us to go before we overstayed our welcome. They took us into town but could not find a parking place at the breakfast place they wanted. Because they didn’t try so hard, it was an indication to me that our time with them finished. When we left the car, we thanked them profusely.

We walked in the market and found a random traditional kebab place to eat. At lunch we were discussing the previous night, still trying to let it all sink in. We were a bit relieved to be on our own though. We at least got to make our own decisions again about what we could do and what we could see.

After eating, we headed down to find the Balıklı Göl, which literally translates as “Fishy Lake.” We first stopped off at a local salesman and each bought traditional Kurdish and Arabic headscarves. After we took pictures with our souvenirs, we made our way down to the lake. The lake, set inside a mosque is known for the copious amounts of carp in its waters. It is also famous biblically. Abraham was against the authority of King Nemrut and the King decided to throw him into the fire to show everybody that he was stronger and must be obeyed. But on the day of execution, when Abraham was thrown from the castle, the fire turned into water and the woods burning turned into fish. It also happened to be a very pretty lake, with a nice park around it (probably once upon a time serving as some desert oasis). Around the lake, there were also plenty of shops to buy souvenirs, but they were a bit expensive. The girl of course went shopping while I watched.

After the lake, we walked a short distance to Urfa Kale. This was an ancient fortress that used to defend Urfa on its highest point in the city. We climbed to the top to see it and enjoyed some amazing views of the city. Not too much of the fortress was preserved (no doubt it was built and destroyed many times in the city’s long history). To descend from the fortress, instead of going the way you came, we went down an ancient tunnel built in the rock by former inhabitants of Urfa. It was a small and narrow tunnel, probably making it easy for inhabitants to sneak down but very difficult for attackers to come up into the fortress.

We were unsure of where we were going to go, but then decided we wanted to see Harran. Harran is a place about 30 miles (45km) south of Urfa. The town is known as a tourist attraction for its large fortress that was built there and its mud that are still occupied by the locals to this day. After we had just decided our plan of action, Elif’s phone rang and it was our friends from last night (specifically the second in command leader himself). He asked us what we had done in Urfa and what our plans were for the rest of the day. We told him that we were going to go to the bus station and take a dolmuş to Harran.

He then said that the dolmuş would take too long and it would be difficult and then said that he was sending his personal driver to come pick us up. Wow! I guess we had not worn out our welcome just yet. So his driver picks us up and takes us to his office where we sit with him and have tea. Afterwards, we squeeze into the back of his car and we are taken the 45 minute drive this city. Once we get there, he pays our admission ticket. The driver walks around the site with us while the second in command guy sits in the car and waits for us. The fortress was really neat and there were two stories. One thing I really love about Turkey (as mentioned previously) is that you can climb around on the ruins. Overall it was a pretty impressive structure. We also met a high schooler who was giving tours and took our contact information because he wanted to practice his English. I never heard from him, but maybe one day I will. Who knows?

After we finished touring around Harran, we got back into the car and drove towards the otogar. Our friends said they wanted to take us out to dinner to a place that was a bit out of the way (about two hours outside of Urfa). When we got to the bus station, they didn’t tell us where we were going or what we were doing exactly. They just kind of told us to go from one car to the other. We left their other car and got into a black SUV with tinted windows. It was literally just like the mafia in the movies! Once in the car, they started driving ridiculously fast. At first I thought it was awesome because I could say that I had never gone that fast in a car before. However, when they were going about 230km/h (143 mph), it was a bit too fast even for me! When I asked if they should slow down in case they got pulled over by the police, the leader turned around and looked at me and said, “Biz polisiz” (or something like that), which literally translates to “we are the police.” At that time I fully understood and appreciated the situation we were in. These guys could do anything they wanted and nothing would happen. They could kill us, drag our bodies out into the wilderness in Turkey and no one would ever find us. In some ways it was a very scary thought! Luckily, these guys were pretty harmless and the range of their activities pretty much involved doing anything they wanted much like a teenager with no rules would.

As we drove in the car, we began learning things that were interesting and frightening. For example, the guy driving us was not allowed to leave the country due to a pending court case. We also discovered that he had hit someone recently in his car. Other fun facts included that the government gives these people guns to keep order. I think they spoke more freely about these things than normal because we were foreigners. I wished so badly at this point that I could speak Turkish so I could fully understand what they were saying. Instead, I had to rely on what Elif was able to translate (she couldn’t translate everything because of the speed of the conversation).

After about an hour to an hour and a half (should have been easily 2 or 3 hours), we arrived at the restaurant they wanted to which they wanted to take us. The restaurant was serving us a 4 course meal with appetizer, salad, main entrée, and desert. They offered alcohol but after I understood exactly the kinds of danger I could be in if these guys decided they didn’t like us anymore, I decided to decline respectfully. The meal was absolutely phenomenal though! The appetizer was a melted cheese type dish that melted in my mouth. The main entrée was quite unique. It was a hashish kebab (as in the same stuff people smoke). However, the amount in food is so diluted that it would be impossible to eat enough to feel anything. It was a really delicious kebab though and it melted in my mouth. For dessert we had an assortment of different fruits.

After our meal, we drove back to the leader’s office (at the same breakneck speeds as before). This time I was much more worried because these guys had had alcohol to drink! We sat and drank tea and talked a bit more. At this time, he actually apologized to Elif for putting her in an uncomfortable position (privately he apologized to her). We understood that even though these guys have to do some very not nice things that break just about every law, deep down they had good hearts and they were legitimately just trying to show us a good time and some hospitality while we were in Southeastern Turkey. They offered me a coke and whiskey but I told them I didn’t want it. The other guy said I only didn’t drink because Elif told me not to, but I legitimately don’t like the drink. Also, I didn’t really want to drink with them after all I had learned! I didn’t think it would be safe. We had a nice talk and then they took us back to our hotel (we decided that after the first night we didn’t want to stay with them again). They warned us that the Southeast was not always a safe place and that we shouldn’t be so trusting next time. Then, they told the hotel owner that we were his friends and they should take special care of us. Then we said goodbye. The next morning in the otogar we saw Mustafa as we were leaving and said our goodbyes to him as well (he didn’t come with us to dinner the night before). We did not use their bus company to travel to Mardin because we had felt they had given us enough hospitality and did not want them to pay for our bus ticket as well (because they almost certainly would have done so). So ends our crazy times in Urfa.

Day 2 – Şanlıurfa (April 24, 2009)

Our second day was originally planned to be in Urfa. However, we (and by we I mean I) did not actually anticipate how long it would take to travel between cities in our tour of the Southeast. One neat thing about Eastern Turkey and Turkey in general is that the bus trips themselves are always interesting for one reason or another.
We left relatively early on a bus out of Malatya (around 10am). We discovered that there was no direct bus to Urfa. The only way for us to get there would be to take a bus from Malatya to Diyarbakir. From Diyarbakir we would have to transfer to Urfa. The bus ride to Diyarbakir was absolutely beautiful. The high Anatolian plains quickly gave way to lush green mountain side. I took quite a few pictures outside the bus window as evidenced by my photo album on the right. Elif and I sat together on the bus and Em and Sonya sat together. Elif continued her efforts to try to get me to learn Turkish. Keep in mind that after two months with a worthless class that did not help at all my Turkish was less than stellar. On our first minibus to Diyarbakir we had a very nice guy serving us on the bus. He had darker skin like most people in the East. Since I had only seen one Kurdish person in my life (the driver the day before), I was still fascinated by the whole Kurdish issue. Elif told me that the guy serving us was probably Kurdish. We talked about it for the first bit of the bus ride and didn’t interact with him much.

When we was giving us a drink, Elif finally decided to ask him. He said he was not Kurdish and seemed a bit offended that we had asked (in Turkish of course). Elif then explained to him that I was learning Turkish and that he should practice with me if he wanted to help out. He was very excited about it and more than willing to help out. So with dictionary in hand (and Elif’s help) we slowly had a conversation. It was very very basic but it was great practice for me. We passed through his hometown which was between Elazığ and Diyarbakir.

In Elazığ, we stopped for lunch. Elif, Sonya, and Em stayed near the bus to have some simit as a snack. I was a bit more hungry and went across the parking lot in search of a kebab. I found these guys selling Adana kebab for a relatively cheap price. They asked where I was from and we were talking briefly about stuff (very briefly considering my Turkish skills). One of the guys told me that he was a Christian and that he had to keep it quiet (I think he only told me because he thought I was Christian since I am from America). The kebab was delicious. Elif had noticed I wandered off and came over to find me and began talking with the guys. She said they spoke about food but of course I didn’t catch what she was saying.
One thing I learned very quickly on this trip is that Turkish people are innately curious. Outside of Istanbul and the west coast, they are not too used to seeing foreigners. As a result, they will stare at you for a while and eventually start talking to you, generally asking some of the same questions every time but I don’t mind (except for when I am tired). If you have to interact with them for some business transaction, curiosity almost always gets the best of them. It is good for me though because sometimes I am shy about talking to people at first. If they weren’t so curious, I would never have been able to practice my Turkish so much! Elif said it was good for her too because most Turkish people aren’t so curious about other Turks and so she would not have been able to talk to as many Turkish people it weren’t for us. That made me feel good. At least I was useful for something on the trip! 

On the bus ride to Diyarbakir my Turkish lessons continued. Elif said it was really funny because when he would teach me a word and I would repeat it, it would be in the Eastern accent. I don’t know too much about the Eastern accent. I only know that instead of saying “biliyorum” or “anliyorum” they say “biliyim” or “anliyim.” Also, every k sound sounds more like the ch in Hebrew or German (because they have this sound in Kurdish, which most of them speak). I was able to pick up these nuances on our trip, but that was about it.

When we arrived in Diyarbakir, our van was basically attacked by little children. It was absolutely nuts! It reminded me of one of those movies about India where the same thing happens. We were going to stay in Diyarbakir for a day after our trip to Marden, but seeing the children and the seedy people at the otogar (bus terminal), we were a bit skeptical about this. Also, our day of travel that we spent to Urfa (unplanned) necessitated us cutting a destination from our trip. After a short wait, we were on the dolmuş headed to Urfa. The landscape was quite different in this part of Turkey (surprising since we were backtracking south of the same route we took into Diyarbakir). Instead of high mountains, there were flat plans (as flat as possible). There were also no trees. Even though I had never seen the Great Plains in the United States, I imagine that this is what they probably looked like. Elif confirmed it for me and said it did (she took a road trip from Wyoming to St. Louis). I wondered if tornados happened here, but no one knew. We did get to see the sun set over the plains, which was beautiful. Another funny thing we saw on this ride was the gas station mosque at our rest stop. I definitely took a picture in front of it, which got me some funny looks from other Turks.

We were talking about how we did not know where we would stay (and it was getting dark). A man sitting behind us overheard that we did not know where we would stay (Elif was asking someone about a hotel or something). He said he had some friends with an empty apartment in Urfa and suggested that maybe we could stay there. His friends said no. The guy working on the bus overheard what was going on and said that if we needed a place, he might be able to help us.

When we exited the bus, he helped us put our stuff into his car. He introduced himself to the rest of us as Mustafa. Another man was driving the car (whose name I forgot). It turns out the man driving was actually the owner of the bus company and also named Mustafa. Elif was talking about kebabs with them the whole time and said she “only came for the kebabs.” (Urfa is famous for them!). As a result, they took us to a kebab place. After sitting down, they order everyone ayran, a special liquid yogurt drink that is special to Turkey. Most Americans don’t like ayran, but it blends well with Turkish food (especially spicy Turkish food) and it definitely grows on you. This ayran was particularly delicious because it was homemade (my favorite kind). For dinner, our new friends ordered us a huge kebab plate mixed with every single type of kebab offered in the restaurant (karışık kebab). The plate included eggplant kebabs, urfa kebabs (a lamb kebab), beef kebab, chicken kebab, and lahmacun (Turkish pizza). Accompanying the large tray were wraps that could be used to make dürüms out of the meat. The meal was quite delicious (one of the better ones we had on our trip). Mustafa’s friend did not come inside, but Mustafa sat with us and Elif translated so that we could speak with him. Mustafa for some reason took a liking to me and started making fun of me for eating so much (we had gone the whole day without eating!). He referred to me as an “Arab” because apparently Arabs have a reputation for eating too much. At the end of the meal, we tried to pay but the waiter would not take our money and said that it had already been taken care of. Either Mustafa or his friend had taken care of the bill while we were eating. It was incredibly nice of them and one of my first tastes of Turkish hospitality (even though it was Kurdish hospitality in this case).

The next part of my story will sound incredibly unbelievable, but I promise it is all true. I have especially consulted with Elif during this part of the story to make sure that all of the facts are correct.

Following dinner, Mustafa asked us if we wanted to see some traditional Turkish entertainment. Not often having an opportunity to see real Turkish entertainment in the countryside, we readily agreed. They took us to a place where live music was being played. There was a singer, keyboard and a drum set. However, instead of a guitarist, an instrument called the saas was being used. The saas is similar to a guitar in appearance, but the sound is quite different. As a result the music was a fushion of rocklike music and traditional sounding Turkish music. It was really interesting.

Upon entering the place, we joined Mustafa’s friends. Mustafa asked if we wanted anything to drink. I ended up having a beer. We sat for about 30 minutes or so when they told us they wanted to go upstairs and took us up with them. The room was away from the music and much quieter, allowing for us to talk. We of course brought our drinks with us. The room itself was a traditional Turkish sitting room. There were no chairs. Instead, pillows were the perimeter of the room and a low table. My description doesn’t quite do it justice and you should definitely look at my pictures in the Urfa album if you are interested.

Upon sitting and speaking with these guys we learned something very interesting. The man that we met at the entertainment place was indeed the second in command of a very famous Kurdish clan from Urfa. For those of you that do not know, Kurdish people (especially in Eastern Turkey) still rely very much on clan relationships. The leader of the clan acts much like the chief in an Indian tribe (but they don’t like in tents or anything like that). This includes making major decisions on behalf of the people. In Turkey, the clans are stronger. For example, if the clan leader votes for a certain political party, all the members of the clan must vote for the same party or politician. This makes the clan leader very powerful and often very rich. Without knowing it, we ended up in the same room with one of the most powerful people in Urfa. In fact, because of the fighting between Turks and Kurds, the police force in Urfa during the 1990’s was completely ineffective. As a result, the government gives weapons and other support to this particular clan in order to maintain order and peace in Urfa. It has worked. A side effect (as we late found out ) was that these clan leaders had virtually unlimited power in their actions. This was both really neat and a bit scary. On one hand, they were living like kings and could give us anything we wanted, but on the other hand if we made them angry, they could drive us somewhere, kill us, and no one would ever be the wiser.

After sitting a bit, there was another room in another place that these guys preferred more and they took us there instead. When we walked in, the table had fresh fruit on it. I ended up sitting between Em and Mustafa. There was another table, which was ordered to be removed because they didn’t like the way it looked. Then, another of the Kurdish guys came, bringing alcohol. They explained that the place at which we were was a bit traditional and that normally alcohol is not served or permitted. However, because of the special status of these guys, we could have alcohol. They brought bottles of Efes and Raki (a special licorice drink that tastes much like Greek ouzo). I don’t particularly like Efes, but I felt compelled to drink it, as I feared it might be insulting to our hosts. We continued to sit, talk, and eat fruit for about 20 minutes. True to Turkish hospitality, Mustafa not only had his arm around me, he was hand feeding me fruit! Elif said he liked me…maybe a bit too much. She claims that he is my sugardaddy (I would like to emphasize that these were her words…not mine). It was strange to me that a man was hand feeding me fruit, but after having 2 beers these types of things seem more normal than they should.
After we waited about 20 minutes, a keyboard player, drums player, saas player, singer, and another performer (I can’t remember what he played) came to the room in which we were sitting. The group begins to perform traditional Kurdish and Turkish music for us. It was a very private performance considering there were 8 of us and 5 performers! We found out that our new friends, specifically the one in charge, had called up this guy (with whom I am now facebook friends) and told him to finish performing at his other performance venue so that he could come perform privately for us! After enjoying the sounds of Turkish music, they invited us to dance. We formed a circle, joined hands and did a traditional four-step Turkish dance (I did a similar dance in Doğubeyazıt and observed a similar one at a wedding in Yusufeli). It was interesting to learn and a lot of fun (I think the alcohol I had drank at this point helped with the normal problem of inhibition that I would normally have to dancing). We all had a really good time.

After we danced, the Kurdish guys wanted to hear an “American” song. I was picked to be the lucky one to sing. I had NO idea what to sing. I declined and they were a bit pushy (but in a playful and not aggressive sort of way). So I gave in and said I would sing something. I still had no clue what to sing. Then it hit me. These guys don’t speak a word of English. I could just make something up as long as it has a melody and no one would ever be the wiser! They would think it’s a legit American song! So the saas player began to play a chord realization (lucky for me I had endured the pain of aural skills and could figure out the chords and craft a melody – see it did come to use somewhere in my life!). I then began to make up a song to random words. I sang something like, “We started out in Istanbul today. We went to Sanliurfa today!” and then I had some verses. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it ended up being completely ridiculous and funny. Actually, because they didn’t understand, they asked Elif if I was making fun of them in English. I thought it was strange that they would ask that, but Elif said it was probably because that is what they would do if they were in our position.

So the night continued like that. After a while, these guys decided that they were hungry and ordered çığ köfte, a Turkish food that is made of raw meat and “cooked” by the addition of spices. It happens to be one of my favorite dishes and special to Urfa. The Urfa çığ köfte was much spicier than the same thing back in Istanbul. This was particularly remarkable to me because they did not merely want to buy çığ köfte that had already been prepared. Instead, they wanted the dish freshly made. For those of you who don’t know, this is not an easy dish to make and involves some manual labor as it is mixed by hand in a large metal container. Our Kurdish friends called someone and specially asked them to make it for them from scratch at 2:30am! Ridiculous!

Following the end of the night (at about 3am), we were all very tired and made our way back to Mustafa’s home (he was sharing it with the guy who drove us from the bus station). Each of us slept in two rooms. Sonya and Em slept in the living room and I slept with Elif in a bedroom (2 separate beds of course). The room we slept in was the room of a little girl and Elif and I wondered about where she might have been and what her life must be like. Then, we went to sleep. We later found out that for our night with these guys, they spent 1,200 Lira on us (about $800). That’s crazy!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Day 1 – Malatya (April 23, 2009)

As always with traveling, our day started in Istanbul at a very early 4:00am. Luckily, I had had the good sense to pack the night before, but because I am a huge procrastinator (as most of you know) that good sense didn’t kick in until about midnight. So I awoke getting a grand total of about two hours of sleep. By 4:30 I was out the door and we had called a taxi to come pick us up to the airport. We met Emily and Sonya at the Superdorm and waited 10 minutes for Sonya (who had just gotten up when we called to tell her the taxi cab was ready). The most hysterical realization (the girls thought it was more funny than I did) by everyone was that despite the fact I was traveling with three girls, I was carrying the most stuff. I argued that it was because I did not have a smaller duffle bag, but the girls just laughed about it.

After a relatively cheap taxi ride (50 TL for all of us) we made it to the airport. At 5am, its pretty incredible just how few people there are on the road. Would you believe that we made it from Hisarüstü to the airport in 20 minutes! For Istanbul, that is incredible! The airport is about twice as far as Taksim and in normal traffic it takes about 45 minutes to get to Taksim square! That is how incredible it was! After a bit of trouble with Emily and Sonya’s tickets, we were all checked in and ready to go for our 6:50am flight to Malatya.

The flight across the Marmara Sea and Central Anatolia took about 1 and a half hours. Elif was surprisingly awake (we sat near each other) and decided that 7am was a good time for a Turkish lesson. She was making me practice by only speaking in Turkish and only letting me respond in Turkish. Let me point out that at this time, my Turkish was downright awful. I could barely string two sentences together…so as you can imagine it was a slow and tedious process. It was impressive to me that Elif had the patience for it at 7AM. It was good for me to practice so I thank her for that.

As the plane descended on Malatya, we could immediately tell that we were in a different world. Kilometers of concrete in Istanbul were replaced with high fields. The mountains towards the end of our flight were all snow-covered (which as you can imagine excited me very much) and the fields were a sort of brownish color. We were descending right into the middle of the Central Anatolian plains.

Because I was the one with the biggest bag, I was also the only one of the four of us who checked their bag. The girls went to the bathroom and waited outside while I retrieved my things. As I was waiting for my bag, a Turkish man and I started conversing. His family was from Malatya (he had flown home to celebrate the holiday with them) but he worked in Istanbul. I told him that I was a student and told him about the plans for our trip. He was very enthusiastic and wanted to show us around Malatya. Unfortunately, we did not have much time in Malatya (only 1 day) and I had to respectfully decline his offer. He gave me his number anyway and told me that it would make him very happy if I called him. I never did.

We excited the airport and took the bus to the city center, not knowing exactly what we would do. We arrived at the main square and found a very large statue of Ismet Inönü, the second President of Turkey and a close friend of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Being the political science nerd that I am, I got very excited and took a picture in front of the statue. Unfortunately, an annoying kid would not stop asking for money and wouldn’t even get out of my picture, so he ended up being in it as well.
After taking the pictures, we found our way to the tourist office and were greeted by a man who looked like he had come straight out of San Francisco in the 1960’s. He had long grayish hair down to his shoulders and a mustache. He introduced himself as “Kemal from Malatya” and told us that he was the person who worked in the tourism office in Malatya. Surprisingly, he spoke decent English. He explained that it was because he had spent a number of years working with tourists in Sultanahmet. He was very friendly (maybe even a bit too friendly towards Spnya – telling her that she should live with him for a month or two for free and teach him English). We explained to him that the main reason we had come to Malatya was that we wanted to see Mt. Nemrut. He said that he would be able to help us with that and explained that because of the length of the drive and the cold weather that it would be best if we did not start our journey to Nemrut until at least 12 or 1pm. In the meantime, he suggested that we leave our luggage with him and walk around Malatya (he even suggested where we should go).

We took his suggestions and first made our way to the metal markets. Whole there was nothing too special or touristic about it, it was neat to get a small glimpse into Turkish village life. The metal making was done with traditional tools (not the use of machines) and they made everything from hot water heaters to pots to cauldrons. Anything that could be made of medal was being made by these guys. Also interesting was the fact that there were very few young people in these shops. They were mostly men of forty or older. This indicated to me that it might be a dying art here in Turkey and that it wouldn’t be around much longer. Its really a shame if that is the case because it was neat to see these guys in action. There is no way you could ever see anything like this in the United States.

After a walk around the metal market as it was called, we walked to the bazaar of Malatya. In this place they were mostly selling the commodity for which Malatya is most known. Malatya is very famous for kayısı (apricots). In the first store, the owner let us try apricot lokum (Turkish delight) and it was absolutely delicious. I enjoyed it so much that I bought some for a snack on our trip. We then walked up through the market and found a poster of Barack Obama in front of apricots. Being Americans, we were both surprised and amused! The reason for the poster was because when Obama visited Turkey, he talked about Turkey solving their debt deficit through exporting fruits such as apricots. Because Malatya is the apricot capital of Turkey, they interpreted the speech as indirectly referencing them. This of course led to the Obama poster that we all found so comical. The store owner behind the Obama poster beckoned us to come into his shop and try the many different apricot products he possessed. In this shop there was everything from apricot soap to chocolate covered apricots to different kinds of apricot candies to apricot döner. Anything you can imagine that could be made out of apricots, this guy had. The best part was that he let us try it all for free. We were so full after eating in the store that we didn’t even need lunch! It was fantastic! Of course the girls bought some apricot products for themselves.

Other than the apricot and metal bazaars there really isn’t all that much to do in Malatya so we headed back to the tourist office and met Kemal. He had a driver waiting to take us to Mt. Nemrut for 50 TL per person (which is actually fairly cheap to rent your own driver for the kind of trip we were doing). So we get into the car and we are off on our way to Nemrut Dağı. The three girls sat in the back together and I sat up front. In Turkey, especially if you don’t know the driver, it is always customary for the man to sit in the front because it is possible to get a man who will harass a lady in the front seat by grabbing her leg or something. I have never seen it happen, but I would rather follow the norm just in case. It was also cool for me because I got a bird’s eye view of our surroundings and our ride through the countryside.

The road began in the relatively flat high plains. We soon made our way into the tall mountains south of Malatya. When we were planning our trip to the East, we had briefly flirted with the idea of renting a car to see more places and drive to places like Nemrut for much cheaper. As soon as we began our ascent to Nemrut, which totaled about 3 hours one way, it became clear that renting a car would have been a very bad idea. The road to Nemrut was quite confusing and not very well marked. There were several points where we made turns that only someone who had travelled this route many times would have known to make. Even with a map it would have been difficult. Secondly, the road conditions were very poor. Many times we were driving around very steep cliffs on dirt roads. It was definitely not a road for the novice driver.

We stopped in a small place about an hour into the drive to have some lunch. It was a bit expensive, but it was delicious. I guess the expense is the premium we pay for the convenience of a good meal in the middle of nowhere. The scenery was also really neat including small waterfall close by and mountains all around. Elif sent me to our drive to ask in Turkish if he would like to join us. He respectfully declined, but it made him smile. We continued and stopped at a small convenience store for a bathroom break. The bathrooms were Eastern style toilets (my first of many experiences with them) and it was not very clean.

The driver was very interesting as well. Living in Istanbul I was of course mildly aware of the Kurdish issue in Turkey. However, I had never seen a Kurd before. Our driver was Kurdish and I had many questions. Unfortunately, he spoke very little English. Elif had a lengthy conversation with him. I am not sure about the contents of it. She said she learned some really interesting stuff and would tell us later. Unfortunately, she forgot a lot of what he said (which is totally understandable in a conversation over the course of three hours).

As we approached the summit of Mt. Nemrut, we began to see snow. At first it was in small patches, but as we got closer, it was very high around us. The road contained many sharp turns as we progressed up the last bit of road before the end. Finally our three hour journey came to an end at the Güneş Hotel. At the hotel, cars cannot go any further. From this point we had to walk 3km to the stop with the last little bit in deep snow (the first two-thirds had been bulldozed).

Finally, after what seemed like a full day of travelling we reached the summit of Nemrut. I was very glad we made this trip. For those of you who don’t know about it, Nemrut is like the Turkish version of our Mt. Rushmore. Large stone heads were carved out of rock. Due to earthquakes they had fallen and are dismembered from their heads. King Antiochus, a megalomaniac of an independent kingdom that signed a non-aggression pact with Rome had these statues built. He was the king of an independent kingdom. He believed himself immortal and god-like and therefore built his own statue with those of the Gods. Also on the top of Nemrut Dağı is a large burial mound that is believed to be the final resting place of King Antiochus. The entire area was really neat and definitely worth the three hour trip. The heads and bodies looked like they were carved out of pure stone. The way in which the stones were assembled was pretty fascinating to me. I was definitely happy we made the trip to the mountain.

Because it was mid spring, the mountain summit was still very cold. It was much colder than I had anticipated. We were lucky even to get to go to Nemrut because some years during the time we went the mountain is still closed due to winter weather.

Since we had made the trek all the way up to the top, I really wanted to stay for sunset. However, the weather got very cold very fast. I was freezing in my jeans and long-sleeved shirt. I had not brought a jacket, thinking it wouldn’t be that cold. Elif and Em decided they had had enough of the cold after exploring the summit and began their decent. I told them I wanted to watch the sunset but because it was so cold, they told me that they would wait at the car for me. Sonya decided to stay with me.

A tour group came and ruined the peaceful scenery with loud talking. It was so cold that we saw one man wearing what seemed to be a makeshift pink headscarf! It was very funny! I can’t make fun of him too much though because they spoke to us and did offer us a glass of wine while we were waiting for the sun to set. We also met a group of students from Ankara, but because we didn’t write down each other’s names, we never heard from them again.

The sunset was a bit disappointing because it was cloudy. I was stubborn and wanted to see it any way. On a clear day I think it would have been REALLY awesome. Oh well.
Sonya and I hiked down to the car and we began our journey back to Malatya. We were all exhausted after waking up so early in the morning to fly to Malatya. The road leading down was dark and dangerous. Apparently, our driver told Elif that he was driving slow because if he drives too fast, it makes him more tired. As a result, Elif tried to keep conversation up and ask questions for 3 hours while everyone else slept. It sucked for her because I know she was really tired too. She did not get to sleep in the car like everyone else.

Three hours late, we arrived at our hotel (recommended and set up for us by Kemal while we were on our day trip, which was really nice of him. We ended up with a 4 bed room and a not so nice bathroom. Kemal was there waiting for us to make arrangements. He really seemed to like us and as Turkish culture dictates, h e wanted to have a çay with us (it is a Turkish tradition to have çay with guests and its rude for a guest to refuse). However, when he saw how exhausted we were, he decided not to push it. We went upstairs and I fell asleep almost immediately. A great start to a great trip.

Ilkbahar Tatil (Spring Break) in Eastern Turkey

I have been itching to write this series of blog entries ever since my trip ended in early May. However, due to the constraints of finals and more traveling, it was not until now that I could start writing this series of blogs. Before telling you about my trip, I want to make a few general observations and reflections before the trip.
My desire to take a trip to the east came from flipping through other people’s guidebooks and seeing cool pictures. I thought to myself that it would be really neat to see these places. I was completely unaware of many realities about the east. As I prepared for my trip, I asked Turkish friends and people I respect here about their thoughts of this trip. The reaction I received by almost everyone was that I was crazy and that I should not go to the east. According to them, it would be much better and safer to see the beautiful places in the Mediterranean and Aegean Region. In fact, I had several friends who chose this option instead.

Many of you may be unaware of this, but there are huge regional disparities and differences in Turkey. In general the east is populated by Kurdish people and tends to be more conservative. During the conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK, dolmuşes were stopped and everyone inside was executed by the terrorists. This had not happened for a number of years, but certainly there was something to be concerned about. The east is also considered in general to be more conservative, clinging to the traditional Islamic norms that are reminiscent of the Middle East more than Turkey.

After consulting a friend, he told me I should ask one of my professors about what traveling to the east was like and if it was safe so that I could get a good gauge of things. I took his advice and consulted my Political Economy professor, the department head of the political science department. I respected her and felt that perhaps she could give me the best guidance. I explained to her that I was going on this trip with three girls (2 Americans and 1 Turkish girl) and asked if it would be okay or what potential dangers I could face. She proceeded to tell me that it might be difficult for us to stay in the same hotel room. In Eastern Turkey, due to their conservative nature, she thought they would even go far as to ask us for a marriage license when we were booking our rooms. She strongly felt that I should bring another guy so that we could share a room and keep the girls from being embarrassed by how the hotel staff might treat them in the East. I discussed this option with the girls and told them what I found out, but because we already had four people, we thought it might be too much to bring another person. Furthermore, despite the fact that I had a Turkish girl with me, she said that I might need to bring a Turkish guy to make arrangements. She said that because Elif is a girl, they might not listen to her due to the belief the prevailing sexist beliefs in that part of the country. She also explained that most people go to the East on a tour from Cappadocia or something and that it might be easier and safer to do it that way.

On another side note, while discussing these different issues with her and others, I found at that there is a prevailing belief in the Western part of Turkey that the East is rugged, undeveloped, and unsafe. Furthermore, it seemed to me that they considered the people in the Eastern part of Turkey to be very conservative (so much so that it might cause problems for us on our trip). Interestingly, all of the people that I spoke to that gave me these warnings and felt so strongly about us not going to the East had NEVER been. These were the main things I knew about Eastern Turkey beforehand and you should consider these ideas and how they changed as you read my Spring Break account.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Sunday, April 19th

Sadly, on Sunday I had to say goodbye to Germany. When we woke up, Brenton’s parents had gone to church. Upon returning, they had 4 chocolate Milka candy bars! One of the many things Germany is famous for is of course its chocolate. It was awesome that his parents bought some to give to me. They also had another of my favorites for breakfast on Sunday…lox! Oh my goodness you cannot imagine how happy I was to have them! Then, when I told them I couldn’t find them easily in Turkey (there are some specialty expensive places that have them) they gave me more. When I told them it was too much, they said, “No, no. We can have these any time but you can’t so you should eat them now.” It was very sweet of them.

Afterwards, we made our way to the airport and I said my goodbyes and thanked them for a lovely weekend in Germany. Upon boarding the plane, I ended up sitting next to this Turkish woman who was about 9 years older than me who spoke only German and Turkish. Armed with my dictionary, we slowly made conversation in Turkish. At the end she gave me her email address and occasionally we still talk. She was in Germany because her boyfriend is living there and she works at a hotel in Istanbul as a receptionist. For me it was particularly exciting because it was the first time (albeit slowly and painfully) that I had a conversation in Turkish that involved more than just “Merhaba” (Hello) and “Nasilsin?” (How are you?).

One thing I did not get to do that I desperately wanted to while I was in Germany was go to a beer garden. Brenton was kind enough to inform me that on the way home from the airport in Germany, he and his parents stopped off at a beer garden for the afternoon. Oh well…maybe next time. All in all it was a lovely trip and I was very glad I ventured out of Turkey for the weekend (and I was able to renew my visa…score!)

Saturday, April 18

One really neat thing about Brenton’s family is that his dad’s company pays for all of their gas. So basically, they can drive anywhere they want for free. On Saturday, his dad did not have work, so he asked Brenton and me where we wanted to go. We could choose between Frankfurt, Saarbrucken, eastern France, or Luxembourg (or pretty much anywhere else within reasonable driving distance, which by the way is basically half of Europe). We decided to go to Luxembourg (which is the name of both its capital city and the country). First, Brenton needed to get a haircut, so he got up early and headed to the barber. When I woke up, Brenton’s mom was awake but his dad was not. She decided to take me to the local pastry shop to get an assortment of German pastries to try for breakfast (awesome!). Ironically, Brenton had the same idea when he came home from his haircut. As a result, we had a ridiculous plateful of pastries! It was pretty incredible! (See picture)

Following breakfast, Brenton’s dad got up and we started our trip towards Luxembourg. Unfortunately, the weather was not good. It was raining and not too warm. It also prevented Brenton’s dad from displaying the true awesomeness of the autobon (not exactly a good idea to go as fast as the car will allow when it’s raining).

After a 2 hour drive we cross the border and arrive in Luxembourg. The lax borders in the EU are very interesting. The only way I even knew that we had crossed into Luxembourg was that the exit signs on the autobon changed from “Ausgang” to “Sortie.” Besides that and a road sign, there was virtually no other indicator to inform us that we had entered a new country.

We drove into the city and found a place to park. We then started walking. We did not have a tourist map or anything, but decided we would feel our way around and have fun exploring in the process. While this can be a fun way to explore a city because it lets you get off the beaten path a bit, it is less fun when it is raining outside (as we soon found out). We first were looking for the famous caves of Luxembourg, a UNESCO world heritage site. Instead we found a park in a sort of small ravine with a river at the bottom. We knew the caves were supposed to be near that place, but could not find them. The park was very green and pretty. On a sunny day it would be the perfect place to relax for a few hours.

Then we found the Notre Dame Cathedral (not the famous one in Paris). We entered inside and walked around the church. It was very large and beautiful. There many stain glass windows, just like any large church in Europe. As Brenton and I were walking around, we noticed a confession booth displayed along the wall and had a glorious idea! Wouldn’t it be fun to get a picture of me confessing to Brenton? (The booth was open so you could see both the confessor and person confessing). We needed a third person to take the picture. Unfortunately, Brenton’s dad refused to take the picture on principle. He said something about it being disrespectful to the church or something. Well, then I thought about asking someone else, but didn’t have the guts to do it. I tried to get my camera to take the picture automatically, but since it was a relatively new camera, I was not sure how it worked. It didn’t work the first time. Just as we were about to try again, this angry Luxembourgish church worker walks up to me and starts saying something to me in German. I then say, I am sorry sir I don’t understand German. He then says in English, “this is a church, NOT a playground.” Hmm…oops. Of course Brenton and I were giggling about it like little schoolchildren when we left and as we were walking around.

While still walking in the rain, we looked across the river and noticed some 19th Century French style buildings. We decided that there must be something interesting in that direction and decided to start walking. As we were walking, we began to get hungry and started to look for a place to eat. All around Europe, there are many Turkish restaurants opened by Turks who immigrate to Europe. Ironically, these places charge twice the price for the same food you find in Istanbul. However, these places are also the cheapest game in town. Because I was coming from Turkey (and it was my first time leaving the country since I came), my one dietary requirement was no Turkish food! Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Turkish food very much. The problem is that its always the same. I need variety. Once I explained this to a Turkish person and they said, “what are you talking about! We have tons of variety! We have the Adana Kebab and the Urfa Kebab and the şiş kebab!” Sorry Charlie but to me a kebab is still a kebab.

Anyway, we discovered very quickly that Luxembourg was a very expensive city. We were having difficulty finding anything for less than 8 euros (except for the Turkish food of course). As we were searching for the food, of course it began to rain harder. Furthermore, after about 1:30 or 2:00, Luxembourg, like many other places in Europe closes for a “siesta.” Thus, finding an open restaurant became increasingly more difficult.

Finally, we found a bar that was serving sandwiches for a modest 5 Euro. We were so starved and wet by this time that I don’t think it would have mattered. They were also serving Die Kirchburg, the Luxembourgish local beer (which we of course partook in). The sandwich was some kind of delicious meat and cheese melt. I enjoyed it, although I don’t think it was traditional Luxembourgish food (if there even is such a thing). Interestingly, the menu at this place was in German. In some places, the menu is in German, in others French. Luxembourgish (the Language)is actually a mixture of French and German. Usually, the people in this area know both languages according to our waitress. As a strange coincidence of circumstances, our waitress did not know French or German, but instead knew English! (By the way, Brenton is fluent in German so having him around helped us considerably).
Also, the direction of the “cool looking buildings” that we thought would lead us in the direction of all the sites to see turned out to be in completely the OPPOSITE direction of where everything was. Our waitress sent us in the right direction and we were a 20 minute walk away from all of the historical sites/touristy things to see. Well…at least it was a fun walk?

We found our way back and easily found the center square. We saw another beautiful church. Following the church, we saw the Palace of the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and the old city. Both places were neat to see. At the old city, we finally found the caves for which we had been looking. Unfortunately, the claves had closed thirty minutes before we got there. Damn. After getting a bit hungry, we walked back to McDonalds and got some French fries. The menu was in French, but luckily for me all of the employees spoke English. After McDonalds we walked around the square a bit more and then headed back to the car. By the way, the car was parked right in front of the Luxembourg synagogue, which looked beautiful. Unfortunately, because it was Saturday, we could only look from the outside and not go inside. Oh well. All in all it was a lovely trip to Luxembourg and it was neat for me to see a new place in Europe.

After the two hour car ride back home, I wanted to thank Brenton for his hospitality by taking him out to dinner. He asked whether I wanted to go to the German place or the American place (because Ramstein is located in Landstuhl, there are lots of Americans living there). Of course I chose the German place. I can see Americans any time I want when I go back to the States. So we sat down and I had a delicious weinerschnitzel (I needed a last hurrah before going back to Turkey). This one happened to have mushrooms over it with cheese melted on top. There was also some type of special pasta under it (Brenton knows the name of it, but I do not). I also had another type of German beer.

Following dinner, Brenton and I decided to check out the local bar of Landstuhl. He tells me that he often comes on Friday and Saturday nights, not to get drunk, but because he always comes away with a good story. The bar is full of military personnel who are off-duty for the evening. It was mostly men because there are mostly men in the military, but a few women frequented the place as well. Brenton explained to me that many of the men are horny and desperate and so it is particularly funny to watch their behavior with the girls. He was of course right, making it an entertaining evening.

We were approached by two guys that had American dollars in their wallet and knew very little English (but could speak German). They were supposedly Russian. Brenton told me to keep an eye on my wallet because it was strange that they were carrying American dollars. Then they wanted us to buy them a drink out of “friendship.” We of course declined. They were sketchy. Later in the evening one of the military girls was dancing on chairs and there were other sorts of stuff like that going on. We hung out there, mostly observing until around 3am, at which time we came home and went to sleep.