I'm sitting here Sunday night with a glass of wine fighting off the twinges of depression coming over me. Tomorrow I have to return back to school, teaching and all the craziness that comes with it. I have to teach an entire week, something I have not done for two whole months! With our snow days, Christmas, New Years, and the most recent two week semester break, there is little for me to be complaining about. Especially after the spectacular two week trip I just had with my aunt.
My aunt flew in Sunday, January 27. I picked her up and brought her to my place where she unpacked her huge stash of goodies for me. Among the gifts were a huge collection of DVDs (thanks family for the donations!), two pounds of cheddar cheese, wrapping paper, chocolate chips, and cake mixes. I then took Mary for her first introduction to Turkish cuisine, Takanık. The following are more specifics on the trip.
Day 1: The first morning we took off for Cappadocia. First destination: cave hotel! On the way there, Mary and I, feeling the beginning-of-the-trip excitement decided to make a detour to find this old mosque (the name Alaeddin Mosque intrigued us). We roamed around hopelessly for a while in this small town in Niğde without ever finding it, luckily only a partial foretelling of what is to come (there will be many wrong turns on this trip, but this is the only sight we could not find). We then turned to Göreme and headed to our cave. As if to make up for our missing mosque, another sight appeared to us along the route, the Kaymaklı Underground City. The history of this sight I am leaving to my aunt. I have bolded the especially important parts:
"These caves were discovered not that long ago. Hieroglyphics and Byzantine notes from the inhabitants of the caves explained their purpose. The Hittites and early Christians and others used the caves for hiding from enemies. The local rock is easy to carve. This cave is 8 stories deep and very large. We visited only 5 of the stories and a small fraction of the total cave space. Most of the cave was closed off due to instability. The initial room was an animal shelter. Holes were dug in the rock for water containers and food bins. There was a chapel area with a baptismal fountain near the top of the cave. People moved into the caves when they felt threatened by attackers. At times there were 3000 people in these caves. The rich lived at the higher level. Their roofs were higher and the rooms housed fewer people. Middle class lived at the next level, with the lower class below them. The lower class rooms were larger but with smaller storage areas. It was felt the lower class rooms housed more people per room. There were cuts in the rooms for communicating between levels or passing food/wine between levels/rooms. The grated covering was for dumping sewage. The people slept on the floor, using cut out areas in the wall for storage. Water was drawn from a cistern at the bottom of a long vertical chamber. At one point we could see where the rope holding the bucket cut into the wall of the chamber. These chambers were also used by sentry scouts to warn the inhabitants of dangers. One of the rooms was for pressing wine. You could see the large tub housing the grapes with a small slot at the bottom leading to another area, this would capture the crushed grape juice. It was ingenious. Waste and grape pulp was disposed of down holes in the corners of certain rooms. The smells in these caves must have been strong."
Day 2: The next day we awoke to a snowy wonderland, as well as a guide and driver ready to take us on a Cappadocian adventure. Luckily our first adventure occurred lower in elevation, the Ihlara Gorge, where it was no longer snowing. The gorge was beautiful, about a 4 kilometer walk, with cave chapels along the way. Although some of the chapels were badly graffitied and destroyed, the beautiful frescoes still were visible, depicting the life of Christ and local saints. The art changed throughout the chapels, showing that this artwork from monks and religious wanderers occurred over a vast time period. We then did a little shopping at a local stone jeweler and pottery store. Mary made a purchase at the first, I got a pair of Hittite style goblets at the second. We then headed to the Göreme Open Air Museum, an intriguing landscape of monk and nun apartments and more, better preserved cave chapels. These chapels had detailed paintings of the important Bible scenes. At the time in which these were created, few people could read. The depictions, therefore, were an important way of teaching illiterate Christians the Bible. Before heading back to bed, we stopped by the main office to drink çay (tea), eat lokum (Turkish delight), and chat with the owner and his friends.
Now Istanbul is much more international and feels much more Western. Once you get into the country, things quickly change. There are a vast number of positives. Turks happy to help you, share food, drinks, whatever they have. Life slows down. Noticeable too are the fewer women on the street. Men tend the businesses. Those men not working seem to be hanging with their friends who are working. It can only be assumed, from this, that the house must be the woman's domain. That being said, every night at our hotel, the owner was in his office with his male friends, chatting, drinking tea, taking frequent smoke breaks outside. Every time we come in, they eagerly wave us in. All the men are happy to listen to our days, give advice and help. This is what we found over and over.
Day 3: We left early this day from Cappadocia northward towards Amasya. Along the way, we stopped at some ancient Hittite ruins. Once again, I am going to use the great summary from my Aunt Mary to describe these ancient people.
"Three thousand years ago the Hittites rivaled the Egyptians as a great power. Prior to the 19th century the only mention or knowledge of the Hittites was from the Old Testament mentioning a tribe that lived in Palestine; King David married Bathsheba widow of Uriah the Hittite and from Egyptians hieroglyphs; Ramses II and the king of the Kheta (Hittites) had a mutual defense treaty and Ramses II married the Hittite kin's daughter to cement the treaty. This words of this treaty are displayed on the UN walls. In 1834 Charles Texier, a Frenchman, discovered Bogazkale the ruins of extraordinary rock palaces and monumental rock sculptures. In 1906 a German excavation discovered thousands of cuneiform tablets that were deciphered in 1940s. Once deciphered the full history of the Hittite kingdom was understood. The Hittites ruled Anatolia from the 19th to the 13th century BC. The first evidence of permanent human occupation on the Bogazkale site dates about to 2500 BC. The first settlers were a very advanced bronze age people called the Hatti. The whole Anatolia plain was known as 'The Land of Hatti'. In the middle of the 17th century BC the lands of Hatti were conquered by a war-like people from southern Europe. These people came to be know as the Hittites. It was an advanced civilization with a body of 200 laws covering every crime they could imagine. The only capital offenses were defiance of the state, rape and sexual intercourse with animals. They were skilled in making bronze artifacts, jewelry and pottery. They used silver bars or rings for currency.
One interesting Hittite account tells of Mursilis I who penetrated into Mesopotamia as far as the walls of Babylon. Finding its defenses unprepared, he entered the city and killed the king. Suddenly Mursilis and his simple highlanders were masters of this great center of civilization amid its pomp and luxury. Feeling out of place they soon withdrew back to familiar territory."
We first reached Yazılıkaya, an ancient Hittite Temple. This open air temple had reliefs of gods and goddesses carved into the surrounding rock. I found the dress of them very interesting since it was a clue at how these people dressed so long ago. The men wore long cloaks or kilts and women wore long trailing robes. Their shoes were upturned, giving them the look of a Joker on a deck of cards. Women had braided hair.
A little further down the road, we stopped at Hattuşa, the capital of the Hittite nation. I have now been in Turkey long enough to have visited a good number of ancient ruined cities. The chosen location always intrigues me. Why did these people so long ago decide to build their city here? Most of the time, this sight is chosen for defensive reasons, although sometimes that is bypassed for strategic trading locations. Hattuşa was clearly chosen for defensive reasons, not surprising since the Hittites were known as a warlike people. Valleys surrounded the city, giving it a good view over the surrounding landscape. A huge wall surrounded the entire city, protecting the occupants. A long tunnel led out of the city, giving the soldiers an additional advantage if under seige. They would sneak out of the gates and surprise their intruders from behind, putting them under a two-pronged attack.
The stone foundations of homes, stores, and temples were still visible. Huge clay pots, remarkably well-preserved, still stood in houses. At one time, these held oil or water. We drove around the city, stopping at different ruins and gates along the wall.
Alacahöyük was the last Hittite ruin was stopped at. There was a little museum displaying some of the clay pots, metalwork, and coins of the area. The actual ruins were less impressive than Hattuşa except for the sphinx gate. My aunt and I each had different thoughts on how these people in Central Anatolia knew about lions. My thought was that the Hittites clearly had contact with the Egyptians. Both were powerful nations during the same time period. The etchings at the first temple showing the body profiles of their gods reminded me of the Egyptian etchings I had seen exactly a year ago on that visit. My aunt thought that clearly the lions once roamed this land. It turned out that both of us were in fact right. The Egyptians regarded the Hittites as barbarians and waged war with them from 1300-1200 BC. The now extinct Asiatic lion roamed these lands, and some Hittites kept them captive in pits. I think that in the end, I must concede to my aunt that more likely this reason, and not my theory of the connection to the Egyptians, resulted in the creation of these statues.
We then headed to Amasya, a picturesque village on the Yeşil Irmak (Green River). Beautiful konaks (mansions) lined the river. In the rock overlooking the river, a castle and ancient Pontic king tombs are visible. This Pontic kingdom was founded in the 3rd century BC. The kingdom survived for more than 2 centuries of turbulent history before being crushed by Julius Caesar in 47 BC. We stayed at a 150 year old Konak and spent the night and morning walking along the picturesque shores of the river.
Day 4: Today was supposed to be an uneventful day. We left Amasya for Trabzon looking at a 6 hour drive. On our way out of the town, we passed a little fruit stand selling apples and other produce. We decided to stop and spent a delightful 20 minutes talking to the elderly couple (well, more like gesturing and speaking in my broken Turkish) as the wife brought us cup after cup of çay and husband kept throwing more and more fruit in the bag. They ended up selling our bulging bag of fruit for only 2 lira, refusing to take any more. On leaving, Mary gave the lady one of her scarves from Chinatown in San Francisco. The look on that lady's face was priceless.
We continued on and headed into the hills. As we rose, we started hitting snow, then deep fog. Hell, it wasn't fog, but a cloud we were in. Driving slowed down to a crawl, with the crazy Turks of course flying recklessly around me. We eventually escaped the cloud, but the snow continued and we slowly continued, choosing to drive very carefully rather than pull over and put on the chains. We passed several small villages which looked beautiful blanketed in the thick snow. We refused to stop in fear of getting stuck. As soon as the snow cleared up, we pulled over for a bathroom and food. We found this little köfte (meatball) restaurant. The workers (of course, all male), swept us in and made us feel at home. Before we knew it, we had köfte and vegetables on the grill in front of us. Everything was so delicious. The freshness of everything was undoubtedly so. When they opened their meat locker, the leg of that cow was still hanging in there.
We then got back into the car and left the mountains and descended to the Black Sea coast. The weather was drizzly, but mild for January. We got into Trabzon about 5pm. Traffic was insane and drivers were even more so. We spent an hour touring Trabzon unintentionally. I am guessing we would still be lost in Trabzon if it weren't for our angel Aziz who, when was asked for instructions, volunteered to jump in our car and take us there. We were so desperate this seemed like a grand idea. After a bold, but necessary u-turn in heavy traffic by Mary ("don't worry, it's Trabzon, everyone does it" says Aziz), we quickly got there. We unloaded the car, parked it with no plans to return to it soon, and went to our room for a glass of wine to celebrate our survival.
Day 5: We set off that morning eager to try out the public transportation. We hopped on the dolmuş (a mix between a taxi and bus, it has a route, but will drop off or pick up people anywhere along that route, for a fare depending on the distance, usually about 2 TL) and took it to the Aya Sofia (Holy Wisdom). Again, I leave Mary to the history.
"The Haghia Sophia (Aya Sofia is the Turkish way to write it) was built in the 1200s by the exiled Byzantine Emperor. Constantinople was captured by the Venetians during the 4th Crusade. They trashed the city, took away many of the treasures and provided no benefits. Meanwhile the Emperor and others fled to Trabzon where they created an Empire for themselves until they returned to Constantinople about 70 years later to re-take control of the Byzantine Empire. The Haghia Sophia stands on a terrace overlooking the Black Sea."
During the first world war, the Russians overtook Trabzon and used the church for storage. Today, it has been restored and made into a museum. The murals were stunning. Like the churches of Cappadocia, all the important stories of the Bible were depicted. Additionally, saints and important people of the area were painted onto the interior.
We then headed to Trabzon's Bazaar for some shopping before heading to Ataturk's Villa. Throughout the day, we met many Turks who went out of their way to help us out. One kind girl even stayed on the bus past her stop to make sure we got off at the right spot. The Turkish hospitality really was amazing.
Some of the places we have gone to have been much more conservative than Istanbul (I know, no surprise there). In some areas, bars have been nonexistent. In others, like Tokat, there were some bars but they were completely closed in with no windows or visibility to the outside, as if the city wanted to hide that such things do happen there. Trabzon was not so conservative, but we did encounter something we have not seen elsewhere. At the entry, there were two separate areas. One was men only, the other was for men and women. This means they actually had two different drinking areas. It doesn't make sense to me. Of my male friends, I would say most go to bars so they can see women...
Day 6: We took off early from Trabzon and headed into the hills and snow to the Sumela Monastery. Again, here is the history from my aunt.
"Legend has it that two monks, Barnabus and Sophronicus set out to find an icon of the Virgin Mary painted by St. Luke. They tracked it down and built a shrine around it at Sumela. Unfortunately there is no evidence to support the story. The monastery has been at the site since the 10th century at least. It was during the time of the Emperor Comneni's exile to Trabzon that Sumela rose to prominence thanks to a generous influx of money from the Emperor. Alexis III had the monastery rebuilt in 1360 and exempted it from taxes as well as granting it extensive estates. Alexis was crowned Emperor here in 1349. The Ottoman Empire maintained the privileged position of Sumela. In 1923 the last monks were evacuated as part of the Greek and Turkish population exchange. Since then it was neglected until the recent renovations. Nothing of the early building structure is evident."
We parked at the bottom of the hill and trudged through the snow uphill towards the monastery. It was a beautiful walk with beautiful snow covered mountains all around us. After about 30 minutes of hiking, the monastery finally came into sight. It looked spectacular above, sitting there protected from the snow in the cave. We continued to the top and walked around the monastery. The most notable building there was the chapel, again with beautiful paintings. The surrounding view was spectacular.
We then went back to our car and were not yet ready to start the journey back. We headed northeast along the Black Sea (at this point we are getting somewhat close to Georgia so the coast is changing). We went to Rize, known for being the producer of the massive amounts of Turkish tea that is consumed here. We went up to the tea institute, located up in the hills of Rize. The view around us was spectacular, with field after field of tea sloping down to the Black Sea. Someone from the institute took us around, giving us a tour in Turkish, a major test to my language ability. We saw the tea up close, right now in a relatively young state. They were harvested around November so the tea we did see was pretty young. Bees must be important to the process because they had hives nearby.
We then loaded back into the car and started heading back to Cappadocia. We watched the sun set over the Black Sea and pulled over at a seaside hotel for the night.
Day 7: We awoke to the sunset over the Black Sea from our hotel room. It was spectacular. We packed up and headed to Tokat, not far from Amasya where we stayed on our way out. We took the same route through the mountains and were happy to see a very different scene. The snow had melted and the trip was much quicker. We got into Tokat fairly early in the afternoon. We spent most of our time there in their Han, which was at one time a stop for traders along the Silk Road. Shops are still in operation here, selling their crafts. Pots for Turkish coffee, cups, and other metal ware were being sold. The town is known for its cloth with manually stamped bold pattens. We stopped at several places that had these fabrics. We also found a lady who was actually making these stamps, which looked like a very intricate and difficult task. We had an early night so we could leave early for our flight out the next day.
We returned to Istanbul for another week of sight seeing. The list included Rumeli Hısar, Dolmabahçe, Galata Tower, Topkapı, Aya Sofia, Basilica Cistern, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, and Chora Church. Highlights included the find of the best honey and kaymak (clotted cream) in Istanbul, the trip to the Turkish bath, and delicious meal of fish and rakı. It was very sad to see this come to an end. Hence the slightly depressed state I am in now. But this sadness only comes from the fact that something great was there. We had a wonderful time. It was hard to say goodbye to Aunt Mary after such a great trip.
My aunt flew in Sunday, January 27. I picked her up and brought her to my place where she unpacked her huge stash of goodies for me. Among the gifts were a huge collection of DVDs (thanks family for the donations!), two pounds of cheddar cheese, wrapping paper, chocolate chips, and cake mixes. I then took Mary for her first introduction to Turkish cuisine, Takanık. The following are more specifics on the trip.
Day 1: The first morning we took off for Cappadocia. First destination: cave hotel! On the way there, Mary and I, feeling the beginning-of-the-trip excitement decided to make a detour to find this old mosque (the name Alaeddin Mosque intrigued us). We roamed around hopelessly for a while in this small town in Niğde without ever finding it, luckily only a partial foretelling of what is to come (there will be many wrong turns on this trip, but this is the only sight we could not find). We then turned to Göreme and headed to our cave. As if to make up for our missing mosque, another sight appeared to us along the route, the Kaymaklı Underground City. The history of this sight I am leaving to my aunt. I have bolded the especially important parts:
"These caves were discovered not that long ago. Hieroglyphics and Byzantine notes from the inhabitants of the caves explained their purpose. The Hittites and early Christians and others used the caves for hiding from enemies. The local rock is easy to carve. This cave is 8 stories deep and very large. We visited only 5 of the stories and a small fraction of the total cave space. Most of the cave was closed off due to instability. The initial room was an animal shelter. Holes were dug in the rock for water containers and food bins. There was a chapel area with a baptismal fountain near the top of the cave. People moved into the caves when they felt threatened by attackers. At times there were 3000 people in these caves. The rich lived at the higher level. Their roofs were higher and the rooms housed fewer people. Middle class lived at the next level, with the lower class below them. The lower class rooms were larger but with smaller storage areas. It was felt the lower class rooms housed more people per room. There were cuts in the rooms for communicating between levels or passing food/wine between levels/rooms. The grated covering was for dumping sewage. The people slept on the floor, using cut out areas in the wall for storage. Water was drawn from a cistern at the bottom of a long vertical chamber. At one point we could see where the rope holding the bucket cut into the wall of the chamber. These chambers were also used by sentry scouts to warn the inhabitants of dangers. One of the rooms was for pressing wine. You could see the large tub housing the grapes with a small slot at the bottom leading to another area, this would capture the crushed grape juice. It was ingenious. Waste and grape pulp was disposed of down holes in the corners of certain rooms. The smells in these caves must have been strong."
Day 2: The next day we awoke to a snowy wonderland, as well as a guide and driver ready to take us on a Cappadocian adventure. Luckily our first adventure occurred lower in elevation, the Ihlara Gorge, where it was no longer snowing. The gorge was beautiful, about a 4 kilometer walk, with cave chapels along the way. Although some of the chapels were badly graffitied and destroyed, the beautiful frescoes still were visible, depicting the life of Christ and local saints. The art changed throughout the chapels, showing that this artwork from monks and religious wanderers occurred over a vast time period. We then did a little shopping at a local stone jeweler and pottery store. Mary made a purchase at the first, I got a pair of Hittite style goblets at the second. We then headed to the Göreme Open Air Museum, an intriguing landscape of monk and nun apartments and more, better preserved cave chapels. These chapels had detailed paintings of the important Bible scenes. At the time in which these were created, few people could read. The depictions, therefore, were an important way of teaching illiterate Christians the Bible. Before heading back to bed, we stopped by the main office to drink çay (tea), eat lokum (Turkish delight), and chat with the owner and his friends.
Now Istanbul is much more international and feels much more Western. Once you get into the country, things quickly change. There are a vast number of positives. Turks happy to help you, share food, drinks, whatever they have. Life slows down. Noticeable too are the fewer women on the street. Men tend the businesses. Those men not working seem to be hanging with their friends who are working. It can only be assumed, from this, that the house must be the woman's domain. That being said, every night at our hotel, the owner was in his office with his male friends, chatting, drinking tea, taking frequent smoke breaks outside. Every time we come in, they eagerly wave us in. All the men are happy to listen to our days, give advice and help. This is what we found over and over.
Day 3: We left early this day from Cappadocia northward towards Amasya. Along the way, we stopped at some ancient Hittite ruins. Once again, I am going to use the great summary from my Aunt Mary to describe these ancient people.
"Three thousand years ago the Hittites rivaled the Egyptians as a great power. Prior to the 19th century the only mention or knowledge of the Hittites was from the Old Testament mentioning a tribe that lived in Palestine; King David married Bathsheba widow of Uriah the Hittite and from Egyptians hieroglyphs; Ramses II and the king of the Kheta (Hittites) had a mutual defense treaty and Ramses II married the Hittite kin's daughter to cement the treaty. This words of this treaty are displayed on the UN walls. In 1834 Charles Texier, a Frenchman, discovered Bogazkale the ruins of extraordinary rock palaces and monumental rock sculptures. In 1906 a German excavation discovered thousands of cuneiform tablets that were deciphered in 1940s. Once deciphered the full history of the Hittite kingdom was understood. The Hittites ruled Anatolia from the 19th to the 13th century BC. The first evidence of permanent human occupation on the Bogazkale site dates about to 2500 BC. The first settlers were a very advanced bronze age people called the Hatti. The whole Anatolia plain was known as 'The Land of Hatti'. In the middle of the 17th century BC the lands of Hatti were conquered by a war-like people from southern Europe. These people came to be know as the Hittites. It was an advanced civilization with a body of 200 laws covering every crime they could imagine. The only capital offenses were defiance of the state, rape and sexual intercourse with animals. They were skilled in making bronze artifacts, jewelry and pottery. They used silver bars or rings for currency.
One interesting Hittite account tells of Mursilis I who penetrated into Mesopotamia as far as the walls of Babylon. Finding its defenses unprepared, he entered the city and killed the king. Suddenly Mursilis and his simple highlanders were masters of this great center of civilization amid its pomp and luxury. Feeling out of place they soon withdrew back to familiar territory."
We first reached Yazılıkaya, an ancient Hittite Temple. This open air temple had reliefs of gods and goddesses carved into the surrounding rock. I found the dress of them very interesting since it was a clue at how these people dressed so long ago. The men wore long cloaks or kilts and women wore long trailing robes. Their shoes were upturned, giving them the look of a Joker on a deck of cards. Women had braided hair.
A little further down the road, we stopped at Hattuşa, the capital of the Hittite nation. I have now been in Turkey long enough to have visited a good number of ancient ruined cities. The chosen location always intrigues me. Why did these people so long ago decide to build their city here? Most of the time, this sight is chosen for defensive reasons, although sometimes that is bypassed for strategic trading locations. Hattuşa was clearly chosen for defensive reasons, not surprising since the Hittites were known as a warlike people. Valleys surrounded the city, giving it a good view over the surrounding landscape. A huge wall surrounded the entire city, protecting the occupants. A long tunnel led out of the city, giving the soldiers an additional advantage if under seige. They would sneak out of the gates and surprise their intruders from behind, putting them under a two-pronged attack.
The stone foundations of homes, stores, and temples were still visible. Huge clay pots, remarkably well-preserved, still stood in houses. At one time, these held oil or water. We drove around the city, stopping at different ruins and gates along the wall.
Alacahöyük was the last Hittite ruin was stopped at. There was a little museum displaying some of the clay pots, metalwork, and coins of the area. The actual ruins were less impressive than Hattuşa except for the sphinx gate. My aunt and I each had different thoughts on how these people in Central Anatolia knew about lions. My thought was that the Hittites clearly had contact with the Egyptians. Both were powerful nations during the same time period. The etchings at the first temple showing the body profiles of their gods reminded me of the Egyptian etchings I had seen exactly a year ago on that visit. My aunt thought that clearly the lions once roamed this land. It turned out that both of us were in fact right. The Egyptians regarded the Hittites as barbarians and waged war with them from 1300-1200 BC. The now extinct Asiatic lion roamed these lands, and some Hittites kept them captive in pits. I think that in the end, I must concede to my aunt that more likely this reason, and not my theory of the connection to the Egyptians, resulted in the creation of these statues.
We then headed to Amasya, a picturesque village on the Yeşil Irmak (Green River). Beautiful konaks (mansions) lined the river. In the rock overlooking the river, a castle and ancient Pontic king tombs are visible. This Pontic kingdom was founded in the 3rd century BC. The kingdom survived for more than 2 centuries of turbulent history before being crushed by Julius Caesar in 47 BC. We stayed at a 150 year old Konak and spent the night and morning walking along the picturesque shores of the river.
Day 4: Today was supposed to be an uneventful day. We left Amasya for Trabzon looking at a 6 hour drive. On our way out of the town, we passed a little fruit stand selling apples and other produce. We decided to stop and spent a delightful 20 minutes talking to the elderly couple (well, more like gesturing and speaking in my broken Turkish) as the wife brought us cup after cup of çay and husband kept throwing more and more fruit in the bag. They ended up selling our bulging bag of fruit for only 2 lira, refusing to take any more. On leaving, Mary gave the lady one of her scarves from Chinatown in San Francisco. The look on that lady's face was priceless.
We continued on and headed into the hills. As we rose, we started hitting snow, then deep fog. Hell, it wasn't fog, but a cloud we were in. Driving slowed down to a crawl, with the crazy Turks of course flying recklessly around me. We eventually escaped the cloud, but the snow continued and we slowly continued, choosing to drive very carefully rather than pull over and put on the chains. We passed several small villages which looked beautiful blanketed in the thick snow. We refused to stop in fear of getting stuck. As soon as the snow cleared up, we pulled over for a bathroom and food. We found this little köfte (meatball) restaurant. The workers (of course, all male), swept us in and made us feel at home. Before we knew it, we had köfte and vegetables on the grill in front of us. Everything was so delicious. The freshness of everything was undoubtedly so. When they opened their meat locker, the leg of that cow was still hanging in there.
We then got back into the car and left the mountains and descended to the Black Sea coast. The weather was drizzly, but mild for January. We got into Trabzon about 5pm. Traffic was insane and drivers were even more so. We spent an hour touring Trabzon unintentionally. I am guessing we would still be lost in Trabzon if it weren't for our angel Aziz who, when was asked for instructions, volunteered to jump in our car and take us there. We were so desperate this seemed like a grand idea. After a bold, but necessary u-turn in heavy traffic by Mary ("don't worry, it's Trabzon, everyone does it" says Aziz), we quickly got there. We unloaded the car, parked it with no plans to return to it soon, and went to our room for a glass of wine to celebrate our survival.
Day 5: We set off that morning eager to try out the public transportation. We hopped on the dolmuş (a mix between a taxi and bus, it has a route, but will drop off or pick up people anywhere along that route, for a fare depending on the distance, usually about 2 TL) and took it to the Aya Sofia (Holy Wisdom). Again, I leave Mary to the history.
"The Haghia Sophia (Aya Sofia is the Turkish way to write it) was built in the 1200s by the exiled Byzantine Emperor. Constantinople was captured by the Venetians during the 4th Crusade. They trashed the city, took away many of the treasures and provided no benefits. Meanwhile the Emperor and others fled to Trabzon where they created an Empire for themselves until they returned to Constantinople about 70 years later to re-take control of the Byzantine Empire. The Haghia Sophia stands on a terrace overlooking the Black Sea."
During the first world war, the Russians overtook Trabzon and used the church for storage. Today, it has been restored and made into a museum. The murals were stunning. Like the churches of Cappadocia, all the important stories of the Bible were depicted. Additionally, saints and important people of the area were painted onto the interior.
We then headed to Trabzon's Bazaar for some shopping before heading to Ataturk's Villa. Throughout the day, we met many Turks who went out of their way to help us out. One kind girl even stayed on the bus past her stop to make sure we got off at the right spot. The Turkish hospitality really was amazing.
Some of the places we have gone to have been much more conservative than Istanbul (I know, no surprise there). In some areas, bars have been nonexistent. In others, like Tokat, there were some bars but they were completely closed in with no windows or visibility to the outside, as if the city wanted to hide that such things do happen there. Trabzon was not so conservative, but we did encounter something we have not seen elsewhere. At the entry, there were two separate areas. One was men only, the other was for men and women. This means they actually had two different drinking areas. It doesn't make sense to me. Of my male friends, I would say most go to bars so they can see women...
Day 6: We took off early from Trabzon and headed into the hills and snow to the Sumela Monastery. Again, here is the history from my aunt.
"Legend has it that two monks, Barnabus and Sophronicus set out to find an icon of the Virgin Mary painted by St. Luke. They tracked it down and built a shrine around it at Sumela. Unfortunately there is no evidence to support the story. The monastery has been at the site since the 10th century at least. It was during the time of the Emperor Comneni's exile to Trabzon that Sumela rose to prominence thanks to a generous influx of money from the Emperor. Alexis III had the monastery rebuilt in 1360 and exempted it from taxes as well as granting it extensive estates. Alexis was crowned Emperor here in 1349. The Ottoman Empire maintained the privileged position of Sumela. In 1923 the last monks were evacuated as part of the Greek and Turkish population exchange. Since then it was neglected until the recent renovations. Nothing of the early building structure is evident."
We parked at the bottom of the hill and trudged through the snow uphill towards the monastery. It was a beautiful walk with beautiful snow covered mountains all around us. After about 30 minutes of hiking, the monastery finally came into sight. It looked spectacular above, sitting there protected from the snow in the cave. We continued to the top and walked around the monastery. The most notable building there was the chapel, again with beautiful paintings. The surrounding view was spectacular.
We then went back to our car and were not yet ready to start the journey back. We headed northeast along the Black Sea (at this point we are getting somewhat close to Georgia so the coast is changing). We went to Rize, known for being the producer of the massive amounts of Turkish tea that is consumed here. We went up to the tea institute, located up in the hills of Rize. The view around us was spectacular, with field after field of tea sloping down to the Black Sea. Someone from the institute took us around, giving us a tour in Turkish, a major test to my language ability. We saw the tea up close, right now in a relatively young state. They were harvested around November so the tea we did see was pretty young. Bees must be important to the process because they had hives nearby.
We then loaded back into the car and started heading back to Cappadocia. We watched the sun set over the Black Sea and pulled over at a seaside hotel for the night.
Day 7: We awoke to the sunset over the Black Sea from our hotel room. It was spectacular. We packed up and headed to Tokat, not far from Amasya where we stayed on our way out. We took the same route through the mountains and were happy to see a very different scene. The snow had melted and the trip was much quicker. We got into Tokat fairly early in the afternoon. We spent most of our time there in their Han, which was at one time a stop for traders along the Silk Road. Shops are still in operation here, selling their crafts. Pots for Turkish coffee, cups, and other metal ware were being sold. The town is known for its cloth with manually stamped bold pattens. We stopped at several places that had these fabrics. We also found a lady who was actually making these stamps, which looked like a very intricate and difficult task. We had an early night so we could leave early for our flight out the next day.
We returned to Istanbul for another week of sight seeing. The list included Rumeli Hısar, Dolmabahçe, Galata Tower, Topkapı, Aya Sofia, Basilica Cistern, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, and Chora Church. Highlights included the find of the best honey and kaymak (clotted cream) in Istanbul, the trip to the Turkish bath, and delicious meal of fish and rakı. It was very sad to see this come to an end. Hence the slightly depressed state I am in now. But this sadness only comes from the fact that something great was there. We had a wonderful time. It was hard to say goodbye to Aunt Mary after such a great trip.
