Turkey is Incredible.

06/26/2012

Turkey is so incredibly different from anywhere I have been before. I found every crack in the sidewalk, every corner turned, and every face absolutely fascinating. We arrived kind of early in the morning (to Kusadasi) and so we wandered through the maze-like streets of the Grand Bazaar when nothing was opening and it was quite magical. It was a similar sensation to walking through a dark alley at night, but it was early morning so the stray cats were about but not frightening, and there were some shifty characters, but they were only in need of a coffee not a killing. The reason why I say it is similar is because it's sort of the same kind of fear you have when walking through a place you've never been before, it's kind of thrilling. As most of you know I'm not really a thrill seeker, but take me through any foreign city before 7 am and I'll love you forever.

We had a fantastic guide, Tamer (not pronounced like a lion tamer, but tah-mer), who was very nice, but also very quick. Some of us had trouble keeping up with him. We first went to the archaeological museum to look at all of the sculptures which have been preserved from the ancient site of Ephesus. Some of these sculptures were really beautiful, and I was almost sad to see them separated from the ruins, but at the same time I cannot imagine what the elements would do to them if they lived outside forever.

After visiting the museum we went to the ancient site of Ephesus (which they have found artifacts for dating back to the 14th and 13th centuries BC). Not only was Turkey hot, but it was also incredibly humid. This made for probably the most uncomfortable visit to a ruin site for us all. I felt that the ruins were just as interesting to look at as the ones we saw in Athens the day before. It was interesting to see what they have already uncovered and restored and what they are currently in the process of restoring. There was one part of the ruin site where there must have been millions of tiny fragments of a fresco, and they are trying to put it together. More jigsaw puzzles, right?

The most beautiful building was the Library of Celsus, which used to hold scrolls and other writings. (Not pictured here). It was also the coolest place to stand. They have a huge Odeon in Ephesus where they used to hold rock concerts, but because the fans were disrespectful to the site, they have closed it down from that type of entertainment. They are in the process of restoring it, and then they plan to hold classical concerts there.

Kittens Fighting

After that we went to a restaurant in the countryside that is owned by this family. There are two ways to eat there. You can order off the menu, or you can eat whatever you want at the buffet. We chose the buffet. We ate every Turkish dish imaginable. The food was excellent. The quality was fantastic and the flavors were so beautiful, and for a buffet the presentation was reasonable. I couldn't even begin to describe to you some of the delicious things we ate, but it was quite fantastic. They had a cookbook (thank goodness) and so we bought a copy because.. the food was really that good. I also tried Turkish tea which was EXTREMELY strong and bitter. It was almost like drinking coffee.

One of my goals in Turkey was to visit the Tuesday produce market, and so I asked Tamer if he would take us there. All of the fruits and vegetables and spices were beautiful, and the way you taste things in Turkey is nothing like the way you taste things in the United States. When we were interested in apricots, they gave us whole apricots to try, not just a sliver. We bought some fresh and some dried apricots. I wanted to buy spices, but I forgot to make a list before I left of what I might need. They let you try spices as well. It was such a beautiful experience. I love markets, especially food markets, because you see the most interesting people there, and also you see people who are just living their daily lives there, and that's a really wonderful thing to see.

Afterwards we went back to the Grand Bazaar to find a whole different scene from the one we saw earlier in the morning. Everyone was out and about, and boy are they pushy about sales there. They'll say anything to you to get you to walk into their store and buy something. I bought two bowls (for my roommates) and I did the best bargaining job I could, but I'm not very good at it. I convinced my parents to buy pillowcases (Which are really kind of cool so I'm glad they went for it).

All in all I think I'd really love to explore more of Turkey, and of Asia in general. I feel so lucky to have seen as much of the world as I have in the "few" years I've been alive, but I'm aching to see more. I wish we had included Istanbul in our itinerary because I feel as though that would have been a magnificent experience as well.

As many of you know I don't really ever drink enough to get drunk, but on this night I was probably about as drunk as I've ever been (maybe not including that one time in London, or those two times in Oakland) but about the same. Thankfully, my dad was having it too. We had lots of laughs together being drunk, but for me it was strange because (being on a ship) I couldn't tell if I was super drunk and everything was moving, or if the ship was just naturally rocking back and forth.

But maybe I should get drunk a little more often, because I turned $10 into $54 at the casino!