Istanbul

Blue Mosque Tiles

Fantastic, is a good description for Istanbul, there are many others; some say it is like a beautiful woman, you will want to return again and again.  We have been to see all the usual places in the guidebooks, The  Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Tokapi Palace and the Basilica Cistern to mention a few.  We visited The Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya in the right order, the mosque first.  It was very good and the blue Iznik tiles are incredible, it was built in the early 17C supposedly to outdo the nearby Aya Sofya in grandeur and when we went in it took your breath away.

The Blue Mosque

The next day we went to the Aya Sofya.  It was built by Emperor Justinian and completed in 537AD, as the ’first’ church in Christendom, it had other names - Sancta Sophia in Latin and Hagia Sofia in Greek.  As you pass through the Outer Narthex, made from narrow Byzantine bricks, into the marble Inner Narthex you begin to get an idea of what is to follow, but no amount of preparation can prepare you, the sight of the massive dome rising above you is awesome and I do not use that word lightly.  We stood and stared, and then the realisation that this building was built 1,500 years ago, makes me, even now, almost speechless.  Entering the building after completion, Justinian exclaimed, ‘Glory to God that I have been judged worthy of such work. Oh Solomon! I have outdone you’. What more can I say?

Aya Sofya

Contemplation

Contemplation

The two bazaars, Spice and Grand, were great to see as well, Meg nearly married a carpet salesman and we had a lesson in the qualities of saffron from a guy in the Spice Bazaar.  The smells and sights in both places linger in the memory, fabrics, clothes, food, çay sellers rushing about with their trays, carpets, belly dancing costumes, all come to mind as I think about it.

Spice Bazaar

The Basilica Cistern was great as well, it is an underground water storage area built by the Byzantines, mostly from ‘found’ items.  You go down some steps into the cistern, 140m long by 70m wide, with 336 columns 9 m in circumference, supporting the arched roof bays.  When full it held 100,000 tonnes of water!  Now the water is only about 30cm deep, but here are some pretty big carp living in it. 

The Basilica Cistern

The Topkapi Palace reminded me of the forbidden Palace in Beijing, the same opulence against a large city peopled with mostly poor citizens. 

The list could go on and on but we have had limited time here.  We have been Couch Surfing with Alex and whilst we have been here he has had six other surfers, John from the USA, two Italians Roberto and Irene who are researching a book about the Armenian diaspora, and recently an addition from Argentina, Cecelia who has been travelling first in Africa now Europe.  The morning and evening discussions round the table have been enlightening.

Medusa Head Column Base Basilica Cistern

                                               

Cappadocia

Ballon over the Museum

Weird, could be one description of Cappadocia, strange is too light a word, very interesting is also a good one.  We were dumped by the bus in the central square of Göreme at 5am, dark and heavens above, cold, well cool compared to what be had been used to.  The only movement in the town were two or three stray dogs hanging about for want of anything else to do, almost as if they were waiting for the bus themselves.  It was too early to go to the pansion to get rid of our bags, so it was dig deep and find some warm clothes and wait.  My nose led me to a café/bakery at 6am so we had çay and some strange pastry.  As it got light the hot air balloons started to rise up from behind the houses, maybe 20 or more big balloons, and when the flames were going it lit up the inside of the balloon.

Church Art

Megan in White Valley

First we tried the open air museum, it was so crowded we left as you couldn’t get to see anything, the tours were taking up all the space and when you tried to get past them the guides objected, so we left and walked around the valleys ourselves.  This was much more interesting as we found examples of small churches and habitation in the rocks, which made the discovery more personal.  In fact you can’t miss them, all around dwellings have been carved into the ‘fairy chimneys’ as they call them.  All but a very few abandoned as they are deemed unsafe by the authorities.

1st Tea Man

Hassan

There are some enterprising tea houses in the most unusual places, the first we got passed as he was occupied by three Spanish cyclists, however, we were caught on the way back to share a cup of çay (free we thought) with two American ladies.  We had an interesting conversation with them and then decided to buy some of his dried fruit as a ‘thank you’ half a kilo of mixed 10TL, plus 2TL for the tea!  We were hooked and played like two flounders.  The second at the top of a long valley walk, he had loads of ‘clients’, ‘How much’ we asked, 1TL was the answer, ok we said.  Hassan the tea man was fabo, 3 of languages we heard whilst there.  He has a pet turtle living up a tree, sshh he said to Meg he is asleep, bet it’s a tortoise Megan said, turtles live in water, so up the short ladder she climbs and there in a nook is a stone tortoise, one more snagged!

No Giggling!

Moving About

New Storage Box for Pinecones

Leaving Dikencik behind us, we are on another overnight bus, to Göreme in Cappadocia.  I think back to our time with Ayse and Cengiz and wonder what we will remember most about our time there.  The pine trees set in the hills and the wind sighing through them, the clear blue skies and the Bee Eaters trilling in the mornings and of course the company of new friends, who again we leave behind, with promises to try and return.

Briggete and Megan Scrabble Challenge

We’ll miss the animals; dogs, Rita and Pasha.  The cats, especially ‘Mummy Cat’ and her new litter, although for me, of all the cats, it’s ‘Himself’, a young male cat, one of four, of about four or five months old.  He is brave, caught snakes, but he will have to leave when at about 1 year old he will challenge the big white male and be driven off into the forest.  Such is life for the semi feral cats of the forest.  

'Himself' and Chris (I'm wearing the hat)

Then there are the chickens, although their number is minus one since we arrived.  A young cockerel was trying to gain the upper hand (or beak) and the older cock was having none of, it he made his life a misery so Megan and I beheaded him and put him in the pot, Coq au Vin, lovely.  The chicken’s queen was Megan, you should have seen them following her, but they have a new queen now, Brigitte Mol from Australia, another friend to visit down under next year. 

The Killing Ground

Chicken awaiting preparation

Everyone says we must visit Cappadocia before leaving Turkey, so that is where we are off to, then Istanbul, Safranbolu and Ankara.  Cappadocia is the region where the rock formations are like fairy towers, people have carved out houses and cities in them.  Sounds interesting, we shall find out soon, if you look it up on the net you will see what we mean.

It seems we cannot get away from celebrations, there was another wedding last weekend, friends of Ayse and Cengiz (they actually introduced the couple).   We helped with the preparations and during the Saturday evening party.

Pine Clad Hills

So once again with sadness and excitement we move on. 

Dikencik 2

New Born

Twenty two hours on a bus; scorpion stings, infected lower leg from insect bites, are run of the mill for hardened travellers like ourselves, but five kittens being born in the middle of the night is enough to soften the hardiest of travellers.  Midwife Megan sprang into action, rescuing the two firstborn from roll of loft insulation, then looking on as the rest emerged.  The hard worker didn’t need anything, Megan and I needed a cup of tea!  Megan demanded I donate a tee-shirt for the new arrivals to make them comfy which I gladly did.  The infected lower leg was treated with painful injections of antibiotics just in time; otherwise I would have to have had it amputated.  Well, I would have eventually, if antibiotics hadn’t been invented or, is it discovered, what the heck I had them anyway.

One week old

It is very beautiful here, the pine clad hills all around, and in the mornings we can hear and see above the pines, Bee Eaters flying around, trilling away.  We are in a smallish clearing in the forest, Ayse and Cengiz have two houses, three if you count the old farm cottage where we sleep, one of the houses sleeps ten and is rented out, a group of Russians had it when we arrived.  Their home also has rooms to rent like a B & B; there is also swimming pool for which I am the current pool boy – first job in the mornings.  We do a variety of jobs, cleaning, tidying, and helping to serve meals.  We also have ‘projects’ Meg is creating decorations for an upcoming wedding; I have made various things including a recycling area.

Recycle

Meg and the chickens

Time is a strange commodity for us, with no fixed weekends and we take time off when we can.  Our present Helpx day is quiet long but that is compensated for, for example our hosts paid for a day boat trip around the islands near Fethiye;  lots of swimming in the sea and a lunch thrown in, we had a great day.  Our hosts are very nice and it is peaceful here, time seems to stand still and rush by at the same time.  It seems like we have been away for ever but at the same time, no time at all and nearly five months have gone by!

We stay in Turkey for three weeks after we leave here and we have booked flights to … no that will have to wait for another Blog, bye.

View from Dikencik