Odyssey Update 5 - Turkey & Greece

markenvoyage Wyświetlono: 74 razy 2006-04-29 14:30:25

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Inspired by Fileas Fogg, I've maintained my hectic pace through Turkey and Greece, changing cities every day or two and often sleeping on trains, busses or boats so that I can see more during my precious days. Other travelers sometimes shake their heads when they hear my itinerary, but their objectives may be different. For me, this is not really a vacation. I am applying as much energy and effort as this rare opportunity deserves. Nor am I trying to see everything as though this were my last trip. I am developing a clear idea of where I would like to return and spend more time, and what I'm glad to have seen once. I do plan to slow down when I get to Italy where there is so much to see - but that’s for the next edition.
Inspired by Fileas Fogg, I've maintained my hectic pace through Turkey and Greece, changing cities every day or two and often sleeping on trains, busses or boats so that I can see more during my precious days. Other travelers sometimes shake their heads when they hear my itinerary, but their objectives may be different. For me, this is not really a vacation. I am applying as much energy and effort as this rare opportunity deserves. Nor am I trying to see everything as though this were my last trip. I am developing a clear idea of where I would like to return and spend more time, and what I'm glad to have seen once. I do plan to slow down when I get to Italy where there is so much to see - but that’s for the next edition.

ISTANBUL (A.K.A. CONSTANTINOPLE, BYZANTIUM)
This city seems to strike just the right balances: fairly clean yet colourful, exotic yet friendly, ancient yet cosmopolitan. And few if any cities have a more interesting place historically or geographically. Straddling Asia and Europe and strategically controlling sea traffic between Black Sea and the Mediterranean, it thrived culturally and economically as the capital of successive empires while
the West slipped into medieval mediocrity.

One of Istanbul’s most impressive buildings (photos) is the AD 537 Aya Sophia Basilica. It’s ingenious dome proved to be slightly too ambitious, falling in an earthquake only 20 years later. There is no truth to the rumour that the fatal flaw was in trying to make the stone roof retractable. Emperor Justinian had a new and improved dome installed (at great public expense) a few years later and this has passed the test of time, although it’s definitely not retractable and I wonder if the citizens are still paying for it after 1500 years.

I was pleased at how well I adapted to the warm climate during the first half of my trip. On my first morning in Istanbul, I left the hostel dressed in my usual T-shirt, light trekking pants and sandals (my running shoes became toxic waste after my first week in Vietnam). But the temperature was not 42C like my first day in Cairo, nor a refreshing 32C, not even a chilly 22C. It was 12 degrees and what a shock! At least I was glad to justify lugging my warm clothes for 2 months through the tropics.

CAPPADOCIA (I DIG YOUR APPARMENT - JUST GIVE ME A SHOVEL)
What a weird and wonderful place this is, with fantastic gnome-capped houses carved out of obscene rock formations. It’s a cave-lover’s subterranean paradise, if such a thing is possible. I spent a couple days hiking around the town of Goreme where even the hotel and hostel rooms are in caves (photos galore).

These badlands were the cradle of Christianity in the first few centuries AD, a time when Christians were used as lion food back in Rome. This is where St. Paul established the first Christian communities among the Hittites and where St.

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