Countries/Continents, Greece, History, Travel Generally, Weather/Climate

Rolling In Rhodes

October 31, 2021 Vaya con Gringos Leave a comment

Oct. 31, 2021:

Dear Readers:

It’s really Jan. 2, 2022, but I’m starting off the new year by completing posts for trips we took last year. We’ll see h ow long this New Year’s resolution lasts. The key for you is to know that the date on these posts is the date we visited each destination; and we are no longer there.

Jim and I docked in the harbor of Rhodes, Greece, on the morning of Oct. 31, 2021. However, the weather was really miserable that day, with rain and thunderstorms predicted all day.

We were originally scheduled to visit the ancient remains of the Lighthouse of Rhodes, but decided to pass on a full day of staring out a rain-soaked bus window. Rhodes was probably best known for having built a huge brass statue of the god, Helios, to commemorate the victory over another warring Greek city-state. The statue was over 100 feet tall when it was constructed in 280 BC, and it was called the Colossus of Rhodes, since it was the largest statue in the ancient world. Sadly, though, an earthquake destroyed it in 226 BC. It was partially reconstructed during the Roman Empire, but today, no statue remains.

Instead of touring, during a brief break in the rain, Jim and I walked into the medieval walled city of Rhodes. Following periods of Greek, Roman and Byzantine rules, Rhodes came under the influence of the Genoese. One of the most famous periods of Rhodian history belonged to the Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Knights of St. John. Today, the medieval city center is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Jim and I walked around the medieval city center (quickly), and then sprinted back to the ship as the torrential rains began again. The town looked charming, and is obviously still a popular tourist destination. But further explorations will have to wait for more hospitable weather.

This pattern stone work is called the Rhodes style

Remains of the Temple of Aphrodite circa third century BECAUSE.

Architecture, Art, Countries/Continents, Geology, History, Other cultures, Religious beliefs/practices, Travel Generally, Turkey

Epic Ephesus

October 30, 2021 Vaya con Gringos Leave a comment

Oct. 30, 2021:

Oct. 30, 2021:

Jim and I visited Ephesus twice on this trip, so I have opted to combine the visits from October 30 and Nov. 8, 2021. The second visit was with an archeologist, Çenghis Íçten, who had worked on the excavation, and was affiliated with the Ephesus Museum, where many of the most noteworthy objects from the excavations are located. In fact, our second visit began with a visit to the Ephesus Museum. I have struggled to figure out how to organize this material coherently, and have settled on interspersing photos of the museum pieces with commentary about the various parts of the historical site.

Jim and I were both very excited when we sailed into the Turkish port of Kusadasi because we were to visit the ancient ruins of Ephesus, a city of legend and myth over multiple civilizations. After leaving the port with our local guide, we arrived at the archeological site of Ephesus, which is about a half hour drive from Kusadasi. Many archeologists consider Ephesus the best-preserved ancient site in the world.

There has been human habitation in Ephesus since the Neolithic period, in about 6,000 B.C. At that time, Ephesus was located on the coast, but centuries of deforestation and silting filled up the harbor, so that the site is now about two kilometers away from the sea. Civilization was at its peak in Ephesus from about the 4th century BC to the 4th century AD.

In fact, over the centuries, the city of Ephesus has had at least six different locations within its geographical area, which a very large, and stitched over as far as the modern city of Selçuk. The excavations of the site have uncovered Neolithic, Hittite/Bronze Age, Greek, Roman, early Christian, Byzantine, and Ottoman artifacts. In about 150 years of excavations, only about 12% of the site has been excavated. During the Hittite period, it became a major trading center, and during the Greek Hellenistic period, it was a major city-state. Androkles, son of the Athenian king, Kodros, is considered one of the founders of Ephesus. In the 5^thcentury BC, a great Temple of Artemis was built in Ephesus, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and had over 100 marble columns.

The last remaining column of the Temple of Artemis/Diana. The remaining ones reside in the British Museum.

replica of the Temple of Artemis/Diana in the Ephesus Museum

Ephesus was ruled for a time by the Persians, but was then came back under Greek rule during the reign of Alexander the Great, and it continued under the rule of his general, Lysismachos. The city came under Roman rule in 133 BC, and Emperor Augustus made it the capital of the province of Asia.

The city was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 17 AD, but the Roman emperor, Tiberius, had it rebuilt from the ground up. After Jesus was crucified, Paul came to Ephesus, and preached in the agora. The Ephesians allowed a Christian church to be built here, and both St. John and Mary came to Ephesus, and died there. John’s remains are buried in the Church of St. John.

Both Emperors Hadrian and Trajan are honored in tributary buildings in Ephesus, and Antony and Cleopatra strolled along the Harbor Road which leads from the former port up to the Great Theater. St. John’s remains are buried at the site where the Church of St. John is located. Three more major earthquakes struck Ephesus in the 4^th century AD, and although the city was rebuilt, it caused the silting up of the harbor. Attacks from Arabic pirates caused the entire city to shrink and withdraw to the area of the Church of St. John. The Turks entered the area from the 12^th century AD, and the city again expanded. It remained under Ottoman Rule until the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923.

However, the earliest excavations of the site began with a British engineer named J.T. Wood in 1869 under the auspices of the British Museum. Subsequently, archeologists from the Austrian Archeological Institute gained permission from first the sultan and then the state of Turkey to continue excavations. Predictably, many of the noteworthy finds remain in the British Museum and the Austrian Archeological Institute. However, in the last fifty years or so, Turkish archeologists have worked jointly with the Austrians, and many of the more significant recent finds are located in the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk about a five minute drive away.

One of our guides gave us a helpful way to contextualize our excursion. In ancient Greek and Roman times, the Acropolis (upper city) was the part of town where all the important civic and state functions were performed. A necropolis, by contrast was the “lower town” (really low, in some cases) because that was where town residents were buried. Greeks and Romans primarily buried their dead in sarcophagi, but they also occasionally cremated their dead, and stored the remains in stone boxes.

One of dozens of sarcophagi at the Ephesus Museum

Çenghis Íçten, next to the sarcophagus of the Muses

We entered from the “top gate”, which led us into the part of the city which was dedicated to its government functions during Roman times. The first area we saw were the Varius baths (public baths for all citizens of the city), which is right next to the Prytaneion, where the holy flame of the city burned continuously. During the excavation of this part of the site, two statues to Artemis were found, which are now displayed in the nearby Museum of Ephesus.

Statues of Artemis found near Prytaneion

There is an Odeon next door to the Prytaneion. An Odeon is a covered theatre. The cover in this case would have been made of leather. This Odeon is believed to have also functioned as a Bouleuterion (a meeting place of the council of elders). In front of the Odeon were the remains of the Basilica Stoa, which once had three colonnaded arcades intended to foster exchanges. The Basilica looked out onto the state agora.

The Odeon is in the background behind the columns

As you walk along Domitian Street (where the doctors and apothecaries were located), you see the remains of the Temple of Domitian right in front of the Pollio Fountain. Water was brought to Ephesus in a series of aqueducts, and then piped into buildings. There were also multiple public fountains. Many of them were just dedicated to the benefactors who had them built for the public good. However, there were three major edifices which doubled as fountains and temples to emperors of Rome. Probably the main one of these is the Trajan Fountain, but the other two main examples are the fountains of Laecanius Bassus and Pollio. There are whole exhibits dedicated to these three fountains in the Ephesus Museum, which is where most of the sculptures found in the excavations reside. Immediately to the right of the Domitian Temple and Pollio Fountain is the Memmius Monument.

Remains of the Temple of Domitian with the remains of the Pollio Fountain behind.

Statue of Domitian from temple which once stood 30 feet tall.

Statuary from the Fountain of Laecanius Bassius , and a drawing showing the fountain would have looked.

Front of Memmius Monument along Domitian street

Then you enter onto the main shopping boulevard of ancient Ephesus, Kouretes Street, through the Herakles (Hercules) gate.

Front of one of the pillars of the Herakles gate

Relief of Nike from Triangular arch over the Herakles gate

The remains of the Fountain of Trajan are on the right side of the street. Notice his foot resting on the sphere which is Earth. The Greeks figured out the Earth was round centuries before the concept was widely accepted after Magellan proved it in his sailings in the 1500s.

Statue of Dionysos from the Trajan Fountain

Remains of statue of Trajan and drawing of what his temple looked like.

Statue of Artemis or a nymph from Trajan Fountain

Fountain of Trajan. All that remains of his statue here has foot resting on a sphere, which was the Earth.

Next to Trajan’s Fountain were the Scholastikia Baths, which were only used by the wealthy and important people in town. In Roman times, public bathrooms were where men did their business while discussing world affairs. The baths and the houses had running hot and cold water. Sewage was washed away by piping which ran underground to the center of Kouretes street and was carried down to the harbor from there.

Communal latrine where “business” was done.

On the left side is where the wealthy peoples’ housing in the city was built. At street level are the remains of numerous shops, which had elaborate mosaic floors.

Original excavations of the Terrace Houses from 1967

Phase 1 of the Terrace Houses excavation, with little shops in front

Mosaic floor from the colonnaded walkway

The Terrace Houses were just across the street from The Temple of Hadrian. The arch over the entrance to the temple is considered one of the iconic symbols of Ephesus, with Tyka on the arch, and Amazons on the pediment.

The houses were built in multiple levels behind and above the shops as the hill sloped up and away from Kouretes Street. They were “peristyle” houses built around a central courtyard which was open to the sky. Although the houses were quite simple on the outside (and didn’t even have windows), they were luxurious on the inside, with each having a minimum 8 rooms. Typically, the houses were two stories high, and two houses were built on each terrace, one on the left and one on the right. A narrow pathway thus served as the side entrance to each home. This building block concept is called an Insula.

The Terrace houses have been excavated in two main efforts. The first excavations in this area took place in the 1960s and 70s, without the benefit of modern archeological practices. Therefore, many of them are crumbling into even greater ruins than they were in before they found.

The second modern phase of excavation has been undertaken jointly by Turkish and Austrian archeologists in a painstaking and protected fashion. Although there is a separate charge for entry into these excavations, all visitors should definitely include a view of these wonderful relics in their visit!

Map of the Insula with six homes in the Terrace Houses excavation, phase II.

The biggest room was the dining room, as it was the important center of life within the home. The interior walls were covered with a veneer of carved marble, and the archeologists have been working for decades to put it back together, piece by piece. The large, curved ceiling belonged to what was called a basilica, which simply meant a meeting place in Roman (pre-Christian) times. It is hard to say what the most intriguing part of these excavations is, but I was blown away by how advanced the building systems were, from running water and waste systems, to whole house ventilation! There was even underfloor heating. The floor mosaics were some of the prettiest I have ever seen!

Piping system which brought hot steam up from beneath the house to heat the rooms.

Reconstruction of the dining room, where marble shards are fitted back together, piece by piece.

Ivory frieze found in House 2; it took ten years to restore.

This brass statue from the 6th century BC was found in one of the Terrace houses from the second century AD.

This bust of Marcus Aurelius was found outside during the excavation of the Terrace Houses.

Storage pots for wine and olive oil below the floors

Typical peristyle area where the house was entered. The rooms ringed around it.

Frescoed walls were common from the 2-4th century AD.

As you come out of the Terrace Houses, you are right in front of the Library of Celsus. It was the third largest in world. Interestingly, the tunnel right in front of the library led to a brothel. The two gates to the right side are the gates of Mazaeus and Mithridates, two former slaves of Emperor Augustus, who freed them. They moved to Ephesus, and became wealthy merchants, so they built the gates in honor of Augustus. The library was said to have held 12,000 scrolls, and the building is situated so light came in from the east in the reading room.

The tunnel which took customers stealthily under the street to the brothel. “Honey; I’m just going to the library to check out a few scrolls.”

Details from one of the arches over the library entrance

We walked through the gates and entered the area of the commercial agora. This is where Paul made his lecture to the Ephesians (“There is only one god”). This riled up the silversmiths who were selling “fake images of gods because God has no shape”. The silversmiths mostly made statuettes of the patron god of Ephesus, Artemis/Diana. That speech is what became Chapter 19 in Acts in the Bible. The silversmiths rioted, shouting “great is our goddess, Diana” in 54 AD. The riot led to Paul being imprisoned in the harbor lighthouse for three months for ruining the business of the silversmiths. The image on the hill is where the church of John is located, and where his remains are buried.

As you look up to the right, there is a giant theater, which could seat 25,000 people. It was the largest in the western world. Today, it is the best restored Greco Roman theater in the world, and in modern times, world class musical acts like Elton John and Andrea Bocelli performed concerts here because of the near perfect acoustics.

In Roman times, Ephesus was the largest and busiest port in the Roman world. Harbor Street runs in front of the theater, and in ancient times, it ended at the harbor of Ephesus. However, in addition to silting up, a huge earthquake 2,000 years ago destroyed the harbor and much of the city of Ephesus.

This concluded our tours of Ephesus, and we returned to Kusadasi. In both cases, we had lovely sail aways. Here are some sunset pics to reward your patience.

Countries/Continents, Geography, Greece, Logistics, Religious beliefs/practices, Travel Generally

Alighting on Lesbos

October 29, 2021 Vaya con Gringos 1 Comment

Oct. 29, 2021:

We left Cappadoćia, Turkey on the morning of Oct. 27^thto return to Istanbul, but Cappadoćia had one more gift for us in parting; a dawn view of the hot air balloons floating over our hotel.

Upon return to Istanbul, we said our goodbyes to OZ, and checked into the Intercontinental Hotel, located on Taksim Square.

We awoke the morning of October 28^th, and made our way to our floating home for the next two weeks, the Regent Seven Seas Splendor. This beautiful ship had just launched last year when COVID shut down the cruise industry. The Splendor had just completed two of its inaugural season sailings at that time, and we had been scheduled to sail on her in September of 2020. I guess you know how that went.

Fast forward to September of 2021, and the Splendor relaunched as the first ship in Regent’s fleet to sail post-COVID. Jim and I have been fortunate enough to sail on her sister ship, the Explorer, and we were quite eager to find out what improvements had been made. We spent most of the afternoon exploring the ship, and found much to like. We had a lovely sail away from Istanbul into the Sea of Marmara.

The morning of October 29, 2021, we docked in the town of Mytilini, Greece, on the island of Lesbos, right off the coast of Turkey. In fact, we could see this island from Assos, Turkey, when we were there last week. Lesbos is probably most well-known as the birthplace of the Greek philosopher, Plato, although the island was also home to the Greek poet, Sappho. In fact, there is a statue of Sappho right in the middle of town as we came in. She lived about 600 B.C., and her writings were very influential, even as she was exiled from Athens for being too radical. In fact, she was considered to be the “10th Muse” (there were nine legendary Greek goddesses), even though she was a mortal. She was the only mortal woman minted on a coin in ancient times.

Map of the island of Lesbos. Mytilini is on the lower right (east) side

Our activities for the day include visits to a couple of Greek Orthodox churches, and a short walking tour of the town of Ayassos. We drove a short distance out of town to the first of the two churches we would visit, and our guide provided some commentary about Greece generally. For example, Greece has 2500 islands, but only about 165 islands are inhabited. It has about 16,400 kilometers of coastline. However, at this point, her comments took on a decidedly pro-Greek (anti-Turkish slant), when she told us that Greece was celebrating its 200th anniversary of their independence from Turkey. Apparently, 200 years was not enough time to let hard feelings go, and in her opinion, all the islands in the Aegean should belong to Greece, and Istanbul (which she called Constantinople) should, too! Fortunately, about that time, we arrived at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Archangels.

Weirdly, this jet fighter replica is in the front gardens of the Church of the Archangels, and it is pointed right at the coast of Turkey. ???!

Greek Orthodox Basilica of the Archangels

Our guide did give us some useful information to orient us to the Greek Orthodox religious tradition. For example, in a Greek Orthodox Church, when you are facing the altar, in center of the alter, Jesus is always to the right of cross, and St. John the Baptist, to the right of Jesus. To the left is Mary, and to the left of her is the saint for whom that church is named. In this case, there is a picture of the Archangels, so this church is the church of the Archangels.

Although this church was not particularly old, the sun through the stained glass painted it with some lovely colors.

Exactly as explained–Jesus in the center, John the Baptist to the right, Mary to the left, and the archangels to the left of her.

Then we drove to the small town of Ayassos, which was intended to show us a glimpse of life in the Greek countryside. We wandered through the charming streets (there were two), and learned that the Greek greeting for good day is “Kalimera!” We ended up at the Ayassos Orthodox church, the Church of Mary of the Ascension, which was built in 1815. Candidly, there was not a lot to see here. Following some time to take a coffee in town, we drove back to the ship.

Stick with us, Readers, for tomorrow we arrive back at the mainland of Turkey, where we will visit the legendary ruins of Ephesus.

Architecture, Art, Countries/Continents, Education, Geology, History, Local Customs, Other cultures, Religious beliefs/practices, Travel Generally, Turkey

Cruising Over Cappadocía

October 26, 2021 Vaya con Gringos Leave a comment

October 26, 2021:

Our day started well before dawn when we were picked up for our balloon ride over Cappadoćia. It is a crazy scene each morning the weather permits as about 200 balloon teams race to get their balloons into the air before the sun rises. We were grateful to have had a fabulous pilot from Royal Balloons, who not only got her balloon into the air long before most of the scrum, but also delicately floated us up and down among the fairy chimneys. Words cannot really describe how magical this experience is!

After eating breakfast back at our hotel, we had a full day of experiences. We started by driving around Uçhisar at some of the cliff houses and the local farmers market. Then our scheduled itinerary took over.

We started with a visit to a really high-class carpet weaving collective. I liked how informative the presentation was, and we even got to try weaving a few stitches ourselves. We also learned all about how silk is harvested, which was fascinating. Then it was time to see all the beautiful (and expensive) carpets on display. Both Jim and I agreed that this is a beautiful art form, but even with the tastefully firm sales job, we did not leave with a carpet in our possession.

Soaking the cocoons to loosen the silk for spinning

The proper way to enjoy the fineness of the weaving is to walk on it barefooted.

The Cappadoćia area is known for two main art forms. Because winters are long, people need crafts to keep themselves busy. Therefore, in this area, men make ceramics, and women make woolen rugs (called kilims). Both of these art forms are now state-supported, and classes are offered, which helps some women become financially independent. However, having spent a long time in the carpet collective, we passed on the opportunity to see the pottery collective.

Instead, we headed back to the Göreme Open Air Museum. After the advent of Christianity, persecuted Christians learned that they could hide from the Romans in caves in this area. Cappadocia became something of a Christian refuge. It kept that purpose when Arab raiders came in the 7^th Century AD. Cappadocia produced three saints from the area: Saint Basil, the Great from Caesarea; Basil’s younger brother, Saint Gregory of Nyssa; and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. Saint Basil the Great was the son of devout parents, and received his higher education in Constantinople and Athens, but renounced a promising career to become a monk. impressed by the aesthetic life, he settled as a hermit in Cappadocia where he was joined by Gregory of Nazianzus. This established Cappadocia as a religious center, and many churches and monasteries were carved into the tufa stones. In its heyday, there were over 600 churches built into the hillsides of Cappadocia. The monasteries of Cappadocia were abandoned after the arrival of the Turks during the Ottoman Empire, and later occupied by the local people. Some of the Christian population continued to live in Cappadocia until the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923.

In Göreme, we visited several of the restored former churches and monasteries, including the Dark Church, the Chapel of St. Catherine, the Chapel of St. George and St. Theodore, the Chapel of St Barbara, and the Chapel of St. Basil. For those who are not that interested in churches, Cappadoćia offers multiple other vacation activities. In addition to hiking on the trails among the fairy chimneys, you can also opt to tour on four-wheel drive “buggies” or horseback ride among the rock spires. In the winter, there is even a ski resort within an easy drive for a day trip.

The monks’ dining room and wine storage area

But lest you think that we might be done by now, perish the thought, dear Readers! For no visit to Cappadoćia is complete without a visit to one of the underground cities. In our case, we visited the Underground City of Özkonak, which is just north of the town of Avanos. There are some subterranean complexes which are deeper and more built out, but they also involve much tighter tunnels, and steeper climbs. For our purposes, Özknonak was just fine!

We returned to the Museum Hotel, and enjoyed watching the dusk fall over Cappadocía. This week in Turkey has seemed to fly by, and we realize we have just scratched the surface. However, stay with us, dear Readers, for tomorrow we return to Istanbul, and then board our ship, The Regent Seven Seas Splendor, for a tour of Greece and a little more Turkey.

Travel Generally

Contemplating Cappadoćia

October 25, 2021 Vaya con Gringos 1 Comment

Oct. 25, 2021:

We left Izmir the morning of October 25, 2021, to spend a couple of days in Cappadoćia (Kapadokya in Turkish). This area in the center of Turkey has become very popular to tourists from all over the globe, as witnessed by their photos on Instagram and Pinterest. Probably the main lure to the area is the eerie geologic forms called “fairy chimneys” and the opportunity to take a balloon ride over them at dawn. Jim and I had long been fascinated by this area, but there turned out to be more than just geology to draw you to the place.

The main attractions in the Cappadocia area can be found in the triangle between Avanos in the north , Uchisar to west and Ürgup to the east.

The Cappadocía area is in central Turkey, and is roughly found in a triangular area between the big city of Kayseri and smaller town of Nevasehir. The terrain was formed by a series of volcanic explosions which laid down first thick carpets of ash, and then belched basaltic rock on top of those layers. Centuries of wind and water erosion led to a unique landscape with pinnacles of soft tufa stone capped with harder rock tops.

Cappadocia formed the lower land of the Hittite kingdom, but that kingdom was under attack from the Persian empire further to the east. Persian traders established several trading centers along the Silk Road in Cappadocia between 1750 and 1200 BC. As noted in earlier posts, after the Hittite Empire splintered in about 1200 AD, the western parts of Turkey and the areas along the southwest coast became Greek city-states, while the eastern parts of Turkey remained under the control of first the Assyrians and then the Persians. Alexander the Great was only partially successful in pushing them out of the eastern part of the modern-day Turkey, and the Cappadocia region actually stayed under the influence of the Persians. Cappadocia was such a powerful trading center that the Persians made it a satrapy (province), through which passed the famous Royal Road from Sardis to Susa. Cappadocia avoided submitting to Alexander the Great, and after 190 BC, Cappadocia was ruled by a native dynasty. The rulers of that dynasty became friendly to Rome, and in 17 AD, Cappadocia became a Roman province. The Romans consolidated Cappadocia with the province of Galatea. Cappadocia was under Roman rule from the first century AD through the fourth century A.D., followed by Byzantine, Seljuk, Ottoman, and Turkish (Ottoman) rule. All of this is a very long-winded way of explaining that historically, many different cultural influences were in play in Cappadocia.

Fairly early on, the native peoples of Cappadocia learned that all that tufa stone was easy to carve, and that it made great housing. Moreover, in a world in which warring factions were always passing through and marauding, the cave dwellings provided a great way to hide from those armies. Christianity came early to Cappadocia. Saint Paul passed through in the fourth century A.D.

Upon landing in Kayseri, we drove southwest towards the town of Ürgüp, where we stopped for lunch. Actually, our very first stop was a the Terasan winery, so we could stock up on wine for our stay, and also to have something to drink at lunch. Wine has been cultivated in the Cappadoćia area since about 3000 B.C. (far pre-dating the birth of Mohammed), and wine consumption is still a regular part of everyday life here. Then we went to a simple restaurant called Cappadoćia Restaurant, belonging to a very nice man named Mehmet. We had a traditional, but very tasty lunch of traditional Turkish classics, and shared a bottle of our Terasan wine.

Mehmet’s restaurant-we highly recommend it!

Roughly translated, Cappadoćia means the land of the beautiful horses

Uçhisar-the Museum hotel looks out over the valley from the lower right third of this photo.

Thus fortified, we drove to our hotel in the small town of Uçhisar, which may be the best hotel in the area (the Museum Hotel). It is one of the “cave hotels” carved out of the palisade of tufa rock it inhabits. The hotel really was a museum, and multiple historical exhibits with pieces dating back thousands of years. After dropping our bags, we were ready to explore.

The Museum Hotel

We went to the town of Göreme, which is best known for all its cave churches. There is an open air museum there, and the area is filled with the “fairy chimneys”. Sadly, the museum had closed early that day, but we still wandered through the area, and then hiked up into the hills to get some amazing views of the geologic formations. I apologize in advance for all these pictures of rocks, but we really found the landscape enchanting!

Then our local driver and Oz took us up on top of a mesa overlooking the valley with all the fairy chimneys. I prefer the term, “manly forest”, but others call it the “valley of love”! You decide! We toasted the sunset, and then headed back to our hotel for an early dinner.

The dining room of Lilia-the restaurant at the Museum Hotel

Architecture, Art, Countries/Continents, Food, Geography, History, Local Customs, Other cultures, Religious beliefs/practices, Travel Generally, Turkey

Turkey: In the Steps of the Ancient Greeks and Romans

October 24, 2021 Vaya con Gringos Leave a comment

October 24, 2021:

Jim and I watched the sun rise over the Aegean on Oct. 24, 2021, from our hotel room at Manici Kasri high on the hills of Yesilyurt (Mount Ida). We started the day with a short walk around the tiny town.

One of the outside patios at Manici Kasri-we ate breakfast out here

Some of the other buildings at Manici Kasri

Then we drove straight to the west coast of the Çanakkale district to visit the ancient town of Assos on the Aegean coast. The town began about 1000 BC, but its strategic location rapidly made Assos a thriving center of Greek civilization. Directly across from the coast is the tiny island of Lesbos, where Greek philosopher Plato was born. One of Plato’s most prolific students, Aristotle, took up residence here after splitting from Plato and forming his own school of philosophy called the Lyceum. When Assyrian King Darius pushed westward in his invasion of Byzantium, and took Assos, Aristotle fled to Macedonia to the protection of King Philip II, and end up tutoring King Philip’s son, Alexander (the Great). St. Paul, the Apostle, and Luke, the Evangelist, also visited here between 53-57 AD. This is what we love about Turkey; even tiny seemingly obscure little towns are home to incredible troves of ancient history!

Assos today is a tiny farming community which does a brisk business in tourist trinkets. We had to hire a local with a very small car to get us up the narrow cobblestoned paths to the antiquities area above the current homes of the residents. Even some of those homes are built with stones from the Acropolis. Again, below is a shortened time-line to set the historical table. The entrance to the ancient city is still marked by two huge columns. We walked over and saw the remains of the Acropolis and the temple of Athena built in ~530 BC. There were also the remains of a theater running steeply down the seaward cliffs of Assos towards the water. In Byzantine times, a new fortification wall was built, and a castle enclosed the area. Cisterns were also built to serve the castle which were used until the 1950s.

Farmer backing his tractor down the street because there wasn’t anywhere wide enough to turn around

Remains of the towers in Assos from the 4th Century AD

Remains of the castle and columns from the temple of Athena; the old Acropolis of Assos.

Year	Period/Era	Event
1200 BC	Greek and Assyrian	Hittite empire splintered; dozens of independent kingdoms formed in the west and along the southern coast of Turkey: Lydians, Lycians, Phyrgians (under King Meidas). Assyrians (from Mesopotamia in today’s Iraq) annexed eastern Anatolia, Greeks colonized the western coast and called it Ionia.
1000 BC	Greek	Assos stays in the Ionian portion of Greece Turkey’s southwest coast, and starts construction.
800s BC	Greek	Major construction begins in Pergamum.
500-700 BC	Greek and Assyrian	Byzantium (Istanbul) founded by Greek named Byzas. On southern coast in Assos, in the kingdom of Ionia, Temple of Athena and Theater of Assos built.
334 BC	Greek/Hellenistic	Alexander the Great also crossed the Bosphorus and pushed the Persians out of all of modern-day Turkey.
323 BC	Greek/Hellenistic	Alexander died, and Anatolia was divided among Alexander’s four main lieutenants. Most of them died without heirs, and Turkey began looking to Rome for protection.
~300 BC	Roman/Hellenistic	Rome takes over Anatolia making it the province of Asia. Temple of Athena constructed at Pergamum.
288-133 BC	Roman/Hellenistic	Pergamum Kingdom grows and peaks under Attalid Dynasty. Pergamum Altar constructed.
220-159 BC	Roman/Hellenistic	Library of Pergamum built. Second largest in the world.
83 BC-30 BC	Roman	Life of Marc Antony; one of Julius Caesars’ generals, and then one of Augustus’ generals and a member of the Triumvirate. Gifted the contents of the Library of Pergamum to Cleopatra to add to the Library of Alexandria.
63 BC-14 AD	Roman	Rule of the first Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus (fka Gaius Octavius).
1 AD		Jesus born
73 AD	Roman	Under Emperor Vespasian, Byzantium became an important Roman center.
98-117 AD	Roman	Emperor Trajan; undertook and extensive building and reconstruction period at Pergamum, including building a new Roman city at the base of the mount.
117-138 AD		Emperor Hadrian; built massive temples (including the Trajaneum), a stadium, theater, forum, and amphitheater in Pergamum, and raised the status to metropolis, which elevated it above Smyrna and Ephesus. Asclepion was expanded from a temple to health to a huge healing center.
200 AD	Roman	Septimus Severus fortified Byzantium with even stronger walls.
300 AD	Roman	Emperor Constantine moves capital of Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium, and renames it “Nova Roma”, but everyone just called it the city of Constantine-Constantinople. He started making Constantinople the greatest city on earth.
323 AD	Roman	Constantine converts to Christianity, and declares Christianity is the official religion of the Roman Empire.
379-395 AD	Roman	Emperor Theodosius is last emperor to rule a united Roman Empire.
By 400 AD	Byzantine Empire	Eastern part of Roman Empire splits off and becomes Byzantine Empire. Assos gains five towers and a castle.

Following our visit to Assos, we drove further to the south along the coast, and stopped for lunch in a small town called Dikili close to Izmir. Dikili is a popular seaside resort town for Turkish people, but much more low-key that places like Bodrum. Oz had spent a lot of time in this town as he was growing up, and still had good connections here. We stopped at a fish market, and purchased some fresh seafood to have prepared for lunch. Everything we selected had been freshly caught that morning. We walked a couple of doors down the block and went to a great restaurant called Ayazma. The proprietors were only too glad to take our fresh fish and prepare it to Oz’s specifications. What followed was a seafood feast! For the first course, we of course, had a mezes offering. We were introduced to the hard liquor of Turkey (raki) by a sneaky means. Raki is close to Grecian ouzo in that both are hard liquors flavored with anise seed. We were given fermented turnip juice to sip first. Suffice it to say that I wanted the scratch my tongue clean after drinking that, so the raki was almost a pleasant cleanser. Many Turkish people like to pair raki with seafood which is called balik. For more observant Muslim restaurants, you may need to order the raki by code, asking to be served “Nescafe”. But usually, you have to have been vetted by the restaurant staff by eating there at least once before ordering the Nescafe.

Look at how clear the water is; no wonder the seafood is great!

We had a second course of seafood, which featured grilled octopus, sauteed shrimps in olive oil and spicy peppers (a great bread dipping sauce) and mussels prepared with rice balls in the shell. After the turnip juice shot, all of these paired surprisingly well with the raki.

Then it was time for the fish! Oz had ordered some sea bass and sea bream because of its milder flavor, but also some of the fresh blue fish, and some red mullets. The seabass, sea bream and blue fish were all grilled, while the red mullet was lightly battered and fried. All were very good and went well with a crisp local white wine. Don’t ask me what we had for dessert because I can’t remember!

After lunch, we drove to the southeast for about an hour to the ancient town of Pergamum (or Bergama, as it is called today). During the Hellenistic Period, it became the capital of the kingdom of Pergamum, which evolved into a very important trading center in the Hellenistic world. The earliest building remnants date to the 7^th and 8^th centuries BC, but remains of Bronze Age tools have been found on the site. Pergamum is one of the seven cities of Revelation listed in the New Testament.

Following King Darius’ assault on the Turkey, Pergamum was under the control of the Persians for nearly 100 years. However, the area was restored to Greek rule under Alexander the Great (circa 330s BC), but after his death, became part of the Roman Empire. The city of Pergamum really began about the third century BC. A great kingdom, the Attalid Dynasty, came into being from 281-133 BC, and their aim was to create a second Athens in Pergamum, although their alliance was to Rome. During the reign of one of its rulers, Pergamum reached a total population of about 200,000 people, and became a cultural center rivaled only by Alexandria and Antioch. The great library of Pergamum was built between 220-159 BC, and according to the writings of Plutarch, housed over 200,000 volumes. The Library of Pergamum was one of three great libraries of world: Alexandria, Ephesus and Pergamum. Marc Antony gifted the contents of the library to Cleopatra to add to the Library of Alexandria, leaving Ephesus as the second great library in the world. Sadly, the Library of Alexandria later burned to the ground.

In the first and second centuries AD, Emperors Trajan and Hadrian completed huge building projects in Pergamum, and raised its status. The Asceplion was expanded into a major medical center, and the greatest ancient physician/philosopher after Hippocrates, Galen, was born and trained in Pergamum.

After the third century AD, Pergamum’s power and prestige fell, and the city contracted. It fell to raiding Arabs in the sixth century AD. After our fish fiesta, we arrived late in the afternoon in Pergamum, but we had the site almost all to ourselves.

As you drive through the modern town of Bergama, you have a great view of Pergamum up on the hillside. There are also the remains of an Egyptian temple dedicated to the Egyptian god, Serapus.

We entered the ancient acropolis of Pergamum through the palisades, which were built and rebuilt over the centuries. The layer at the top, the original fortifications and rebuilt walls date from the from 7-8th c AD. From there, we walked up the ramp from the Citadel Gate, and looked to the west towards the Temple of Athena. Right behind the Temple of Athena are the ruins of the great Library of Pergamum. Our walks then meandered past the Temple in tribute to Emperor Trajan. Scattered around the site are also many ruins of several different tributes to the gods, but this site was heavily looted by German archeologists in the late 19^th century, who created an entire Pergamum Museum in Berlin. In fact, the whole Zeus temple is there, along with numerous other artifacts, including most of the statues from the site.

Map of the Acropolis of Pergamum; the red dot at the space marked “7” is the Citadel Gate

Looking up into the Acropolis from the Citadel Gate

Looking west towards the Temple of Athena across the Agora.

From our vantage point next to Trajan and Athena’s temples, we could look down the hillside at the steepest theatre ever built in the Roman world. It was very impressive, and there were the remains of a temple to Dionysus at the bottom.

Looking up at the ruins of the Library of Pergamum from the Temple of Athena

Jim with what remains of the state of Trajan

On our way out, we walked through the tunnels and saw the remnants of the amphitheater. While theaters were common in the Roman world, there were few amphitheaters. Of course, the most famous is probably the Colosseum in Rome, but this was very significant in its day.

Finally, as we were leaving, we had a view towards the ruins of Asclepion. Asceplio was the Greek god of health, but Hadrian built a temple and medical center here, which offered all sorts of advanced medical technologies, and offered relaxation techniques, spa therapies, and other therapies we wouldl consider very “New Age” today.

We left Pergamum and drove to the seaside city of Izmir (which was called Smyrna in ancient times. Sadly, we didn’t have a chance to explore this vibrant city, because we are flying to Cappadoćia tomorrow. However, we stayed in a very modern and comfortable hotel called the Swisshôtel, and enjoyed their blazing fast Internet connection.

Architecture, Countries/Continents, Geography, History, Local Customs, Other cultures, Religious beliefs/practices, Travel Generally, Turkey

Turkey: Modern and Ancient

October 23, 2021 Vaya con Gringos Leave a comment

Oct 23, 2021:

We left Istanbul on the morning of October 23, 2021, with two prime objectives in mind: to visit the battlefields and memorials to all the soldiers who fought and died in the Gallipoli campaign of World War I, and to visit the ancient city of Troy. That’s right, dear Readers, Troy, of ancient Greek times, is actually located in Turkey! We drove to the west of Istanbul down into the Gallipoli peninsula, where the Aegean Sea is on the west and the Dardanelles Strait is on the east. In ancient times, the Dardanelles was also known as the Hellespont. It has always had huge strategic interest because it connects the Aegean Sea with Sea of Marmara, across which is Istanbul located on the Bosporus. The Bosporus connects directly to the Black Sea. Europe is on the Western side, and Asian is on the east. In the fifth century BC, Persian king Xerxes built a bridge across the Dardanelles by lashing together over three hundred warships to allow his soldiers to pass and invade Greece. Not quite a hundred years later, Alexander the Great used the same trick to get his troops across in the other direction to conquer the Persian troops. Mythology had the ancient Greek, Lysander, swimming across the Dardanelles (Hellespont) nightly to visit his forbidden love, the priestess, Hero. The story ended tragically when a storm came up one night and drowned Lysander.

During World War I, the British, with their partners in the Entente counties (mainly France) sought to neutralize Turkey’s support of Germany by taking Istanbul. Their battle plan called for the British Navy to take the Dardanelles, and secure it so British, and French troops, supported in huge numbers by British Commonwealth soldiers from Australia and New Zealand (the “ANZAC forces”) could march up the peninsula and help take Istanbul.

The Straits of Dardanelles and the landing beaches for the Gallipoli Campaign

The British Admiral in charge of the sea campaign was Winston Churchill, and the naval campaign failed badly in early 1915. Nonetheless, the Entente forces decided to move forward with the Gallipoli campaign. However, the failure of the sea assault had robbed the British and French forces of the element of surprise, and the Turkish forces were reinforced with men and munitions from Germany. To make matters worse, the British and ANZAC forces drifted about two miles too far north from their intended landing site, and ended up landing their forces in a completely hostile area with steep box canyons guarded by Turkish forces on top.

The terrain the ANZAC and British forces had to scale in the dark to attack

The summit looking down on invading Entente forces

The trenches at the tops of the hills where the Turkish soldiers were dug in.

The terrain the Entente forces had to cross

The campaign lasted from Feb. 1915-Jan. 1916, and it was a complete bloodbath for both sides, and the Entente forces lost badly. There were over 250,000 casualties (dead and wounded) on each side. Jim has seen the D-Day beaches in Normandy, and was shocked by how much worse these conditions were for the Entente forces. Although Turkey’s support of Germany helped hasten the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish victory in Gallipoli is still a matter of significant pride to the Turkish people, as they prevailed over significantly better trained and equipped foes.

Oz showed us first the beach where the ANZAC forces were supposed to land, and you could see how an attack from the relatively flat land in that area probably could have succeeded. Then he took us into the area where the attack actually took place, and it was clearly the site of a suicide campaign.

Where the ANZAC troops we supposed to disembark.

The whole hilltop is covered with memorial grove after memorial grove of fallen soldiers. Each side buried over 56,000 soldiers from this campaign. After the war, the first President of Turkey, Muhammed Kemal Ataturk, who had led the Turkish forces during the Gallipoli campaign, wrote a moving letter to each of families of the fallen British, Australian, and New Zealand forces, pledging to watch over the burial grounds of the fallen, and to treat them as brothers with their Turkish counterparts. We thought it was one of the most graceful acts he could have committed. Today, each and every graveyard is well maintained and treated with respect. We were moved. If you are interested in learning more, there is a good book by Patrick Kindross, called “Ataturk: Birth of a Nation”.

Reproduction of the letter written by Ataturk to the families of the fallen.

Statue of a Turkish soldier carrying an ANZAC soldier to care.

Hundreds of Turkish people coming to pay their respects

The main commemorative monument to the Turkish soldiers

One of many graveyards for the Turkish soldiers lost.

Statue commemorating Ataturk. He took a bullet in his pocket watch carried in his chest which saved his life.

We crossed the Dardanelles by ferry to the city of Çanakkale to get to our second objective of the day; a visit to the ancient city of Troy, which used to sit on the Dardanelles. To help understand what we were seeing, here is a condensed version of the timeline:

Year	Period/Era	Event
3,000-2500 BC		Troy-the earliest construction of the fortress city began-a small fortress enclosed by a huge wall, with small houses built of stone and brick. Then, it was all consumed by fires.
2500-2200 BC		Troy II re-constructed-it had a slightly larger footprint, with bigger houses and more massive walls. Had silver, gold and copper.
2200-1800 BC		Troy III, IV, and V – the fortress was preserved and maintained.
2000 BC	Greek and Assyrian	Anatolia (Asia Minor part of Turkey) settled by Hittites (Indo-European people)
1800-1275 BC		Troy VI-greatly expanded footprint of city and built much more impressive walls and gates. Destroyed by earthquake.
1275-1240 BC	Greek	Troy VIIa-probably the time of the Trojan war with Sparta of Homer’s Illiad (Homer said the 10 year war ended in 1284 BC with the fall of Troy). The fortress city already had a sewage system. Athens in the same period did not.
~ 13th century (1200s) BC	Greek and Assyrian	Hittite empire splintered; dozens of independent kingdoms formed in the west and along the southern coast of Turkey: Lydians, Lycians,and Phyrgians. Assyrians (from Mesopotamia in today’s Iraq) annexed eastern Anatolia, Greeks colonized the western coast and called it Ionia. See photo of ancient map.
800 BC	Greek	Homer writes the Illiad and the Odyssey
660 BC	Greek and Assyrian	Byzantium (Istanbul) founded by Greek named Byzas. Built a city-state on the hilltop in what is today’s old town. Grew from influences of both east and west, and grew from trading.
490 BC	Assyrian	Persian emperor, Darius, fended off Greek attacks by crossing the Bosphorus.
334 BC	Greek/Hellenistic	Alexander the Great also crossed the Bosphorus and pushed the Persians out of all of modern-day Turkey.

The ancient city of Troy lies in what used to be the ancient kingdom of Troas on the map below. It was of strategic importance because it used to lay directly on the Dardanelles. In its earliest iteration, Troy existed during the Bronze Age.

This map shows how modern day Turkey would have looked in the time of Troy. The kingdom of Troy was called Troas.

According to Greek mythology, the king of Troy, Priam, had a son, Paris, who was exiled to live on Mount Ida and be raised by shepherd. Some time later, when there was a wedding among the gods, the goddess of discord, Eris, who was not invited to the wedding, and created an apple which she tossed among the other goddesses as being marked for “the fairest of them all”. Sound familiar, Disney fans?! Zeus decided that Paris, who was uncorrupted, should be appointed to judge the beauty contest among the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite. Aphrodite won by promising Paris that if he picked her, he would get a prize of the most beautiful woman in the world. Legend had it that Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris stole Helen away, and brought her to the fortress of his father, King Priam, in Troy. This started the ten years’ war between Sparta and Troy which ended with Troy being breached by Spartan soldiers who entered the city through the “gift” of the Trojan horse, and the kingdom of Troy falling. If you’re curious, ancient Sparta was located in in the southwestern part of Greece, in the city now known as Sparti.

Fast forwarding to modern times, after many false starts, a German named Heinrich Schliemann finally found the remains of the ancient city of Troy about 30 kilometers southeast of Çanakkale in 1871. Schliemann and his colleague, Frank Calvert, found the ruins of a city with at least ten distinct historical phases, as they performed extensive excavations of the site.

The stages of Troy

The ancient foundation walls were added onto numerous times during the phases of Troy, but the base layer showed an amazing grasp of engineering principles.

In the very earliest phases, Troy looked out over a part of the Dardanelles Straits. By the time of Troy VI, the Straits were about 8 km. away. Today, the Straits are about 30 km. away.

Bonus! We found this cute little owl hiding in a rock wall.

Good illustration of the various layers of Troy

Truthfully, the excavations were a hatchet-job, as Schliemann was not a trained archeologist, but they did make numerous discoveries, and actually confirmed that Troy existed in history, as well as in legend. What they confirmed was that the Troy of Homer’s Iliad existed in the 1200s BC. Homer wrote the Iliad in the 700s BC, and he wrote that the final fateful battle in the siege of Troy took place 1284 BC. Rather than the careful sifting of progressive layers on antiquity which archeologists use today, Schliemann merely dug a trench nearly 50 feet deep across the site. In so doing, he undoubtedly destroyed countless artifacts, but he was able to confirm the ten distinct periods of Troy. However, because of his haphazard excavation of the site, the layout of the site which is open to visitors jumps back and forth in time. Nonetheless, it is a miracle to behold.

Temple of Athena built in 1st century BC

Remains of Megaron Houses built between 2600-2200 BC

Megaron house interior-started with rock and then evolved to brick-making

Cross-section showing the various levels of Troy

Ramp from Troy II period coming up from sea shore

As the sun set, we drove up into the hills, and stayed in a very cool country hotel called Manici Kasri, located in the tiny village of Yesílyurt, which is roughly where Mount Ida was supposed to have been in historical times. Our driver managed to navigate the tiny cobblestoned roads to get us to the hotel. Inside, we found a cluster of related buildings, including our room, located in a tower on a hillside. Jim and I enjoyed a lovely multiple-course Turkish meal on the patio outside, and vowed to explore some more in the morning when it was light.

Art, Countries/Continents, Food, Geography, History, Local Customs, Other cultures, Religious beliefs/practices, Travel Generally, Turkey

Istanbul; Installment II

October 22, 2021 Vaya con Gringos Leave a comment

Oct. 22, 2021:

On the morning of Oct. 22, 2021, we returned to the Old City of Istanbul with the all-knowing Oz, our tour guide here. But first, an unplanned stop in the Galata neighborhood for some of the best views in the city. Like Rome, Istanbul is built on seven hilltops, and the Galata neighborhood and tower sits atop one of them. We went to the top of the tower where you have a 360-degree view. From our perch, we could see the red brick building, which is the monastery and residence of Greek Orthodox Patriarch. Looking back towards our hotel, we can see the Byzantine period munitions factory with five domed roofs- Tophani means cannonball.

Looking over the Golden Horn and to the Bosporus on the left

Our first official agenda item of the day was a visit was to the Mosque of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, who ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1520-1566. The entire complex, called Süleymaniya, consists of a huge mosque; the mausoleums of Süleyman and his beloved wife, Roxelana; the burial building for Sinan,; a madrassa (a theological school); and a grand public fountain. The complex was designed by the great architect, Sinan, and built from 1550-1556.

Sinan built over 500 buildings, and started life as a Christian slave. However, he became a favorite of Süleyman, which is how his remains came to buried in the same complex occupied by the sultan and his favorite wife. For such a huge mosque building, the interior design of the mosque is somewhat understated, with arches decorated in pinks and other pastel shades of stone.

From the Mosque, we walked out to the front façade facing onto the Bosporus and the Golden Hoen. It is particularly picturesque as a series of domed buildings surround the mosque complex down towards the water. Then we visited the mausoleums of Süleyman and Roxelana. Interestingly, outside the mausoleums, there is a graveyard. We learned that you could tell the social status/occupation of the occupant of each grave by looking at the adornment on the top of each grave marker.

Facade of the mosque facing the Golden Horn

Looking out on the Bosporus and the Golden Horn

The headstones with turbans were those of holy men the lawyers have the flat-topped caps.

From the Mosque complex, we walked into a courtyard of booksellers called the Sahaflar Book Market on our way to the Grand Bazaar, the biggest souq in the world. Thank goodness we had Oz to guide us through it because it is really intimidating to the uninitiated. I had told Oz ahead of time the couple of items I was interested in looking at, and he also had shopkeepers who had unique products he thought we should see. Most of those was true antiquities, and there was no pressure to buy; he just wanted us to see these items. For example, one of his friends had a collection of ancient jewelry. One piece was a necklace from the Etruscan period, and we recognized the same motifs we had seen in Italian museums. Another guy had an awesome collection of historical household goods, some dating back to the Ottoman period.

Bezarit Mosque, but we weren’t allowed to go in.

One of the many entrances to the Grand Bazaar

One of the countless halls inside the Grand Bazaar

The store where I bought some pashmina shawls

Portrait of a husband with a look of total panic in his eyes.

As we left the Grand Bazaar, just outside was another famous mosque, the Sultan Osman Mosque (which was the one filmed in the James Bond movie, “Skyfall”). Photos in hand, we walked over to the 500 year-old hostel/hotel buildings called the Caravanserai. They were constructed to provide shelter for the men and animals trading along the Silk Road. It made sense to have this kind of lodging right next to the Grand Bazaar. Today, most of the stalls which used to sleep animals and men have been converted into shops.

The Ottomans established such lodging establishments in most of the main trading cities along the Silk Road. There are the remains of another one in Sarajevo, but the remains are not nearly so well preserved as this one.

The Caravanserai is the brick three story building.

Caravanserai entrance, built so it could be defended.

People slept in the top rooms; animals on the ground floor

I also wanted to see the Spice Market, which is housed in a separate building in the same area. By this time, I thought Jim was going to erupt, but at the shop we visited, he was given a seat, and tea was brought for all of us in the Turkish tradition. I bought my spices quickly, and had them vacuum sealed for travel. I also bought some dried pomegranate and mulberry tea mixes, which were delicious.

Inside the Spice Market, a vendor making diner kebaps

The Spice Market also sells candied and dried fruits and nuts

And the baklava pastries looked amazing!

This is the stall where I bought my spices

Outside the Spice Market, there were also stalls selling flowers, and bulbs for planting, including tulips!

Although it doesn’t look like fall, there were these stands all over Istanbul selling roasted corn and chestnuts.

Finally, it was time for lunch, and Oz took us to a terrific restaurant, Hamdi Restaurant, which has been around forever right next to the Spice Market. hamdi.com.tr The food was outstanding. I’d like to show you pictures, but Jim and I and Oz gobbled it up so quickly that I failed to take any pictures. We told you; we are the worst food bloggers in the world. However, Jim did memorialize the meal with one photo of the terrific dessert we enjoyed, which was a warm form of a baklava, folded into kind of a crepe shape, with cheese and pistachios in a honey/syrup.

We also enjoyed some great Turkish wines selected by Oz. It came as somewhat of a surprise to Jim and me to learn that Turkey has a widespread wine industry, but they have been making wines here for over 3,000 years.

But as full as we were, there was more to see and experience in our afternoon. We went first to Dolmabahçe palace, which was built from 1844-1853 AD by Sultan Abdülmecet I. This palace was designed in a completely Western style, and was intended to show that the sultan was a European monarch in the modern style. It didn’t stop commentators of the time from referring to the Ottoman Empire as the “Sick Man of Europe”, and the royal family was finally exiled in 1922 when Turkey became a modern republic. We only visited the administrative wing (selamlik section) of the palace, but the whole palace is somewhat of a mish-mash of styles. The palace was used as both the seat of government and the sultan’s home, so we got to see both state rooms and the sultan’s private quarters. By this point in time, Turkey had lost much of its empire, and its fortunes were far less vast. The palace cost a fortune, and the Turkish state had to borrow money to finish it. Some standouts that we saw included some magnificent chandeliers in crystal and Murano glass, and some huge hand-woven Turkish carpets.

The main ceremonial entrance to the palace

Possibly the highlight of the day still awaited us; a cruise on the Bosporus! We were picked up from the waterfront in front of the Four Seasons on what can only be described as a luxury yacht. Once aboard, we wasted no time ordering a bottle of Turkish white wine from the Izmir area, and goggling at all the fabulous homes along the Straits. We motored up to the second bridge above our hotel crossing the Bosporus from Europe into Asia Minor. It was really amazing how many restaurants, nightclubs and hotels dot the coastline on both sides. What’s also noteworthy is how many mosques are built right on the coastline, often right next to bars and restaurants. On the Asian side of Bosporus is the new grand mosque and absolutely gobsmacking presidential palace built by the current president of Turkey for a cost of billions of dollars. It is even more curious when you consider that the capital of Turkey is in Ankara, which is several hundred miles away. Up near the second bridge, there are the remains of two great fortresses on either side of the Strait intended to protect Istanbul from raiders coming down the Strait from the Black Sea. There are similar fortresses along the coastline from Istanbul south to the Sea of Marmara, which helps explain why Istanbul was such a hard capital to breach. As the sun set, we watched the local fisherman catching bluefish, a local delicacy. We all agreed it was the perfect end to a second day in Istanbul!

The first bridge across the Bosporus. Only in Istanbul could mosques take up such valuable real estate!

The mosque built to service the new presidential palace.

The new presidential palace and enclave.

Lookout tower for one of the Bosporus forts

Architecture, Art, Countries/Continents, Food, Geography, History, Local Customs, Other cultures, Religious beliefs/practices, Travel Generally, Turkey

Intriguing Istanbul

October 21, 2021 Vaya con Gringos Leave a comment

Oct. 21, 2021:

If a place can be represented perfectly by its predominant art form, the place is Istanbul, and the art form is the weaving of intricate silk carpets. On October 20^th, 2021, Jim and I arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, at the new airport which is only about 2-3 years old. For this trip, we arranged with Abercrombie and Kent (“A&K”) to do a custom itinerary (which they call a “Tailor-Made Journey”). They arranged all our accommodations, internal travel, airport transfers, museum and site entry fees, and they supplied a private guide for this week-long exploration. We were met at the airport by our A&K representative, and then transferred to the Four Seasons Istanbul, which is situated right on the waterfront of the Bosporus Strait. Enroute, we learned a little about Turkey. There are 80 million inhabitants in Turkey, and 16 million of them live in Istanbul. On our drive in, we could see that Istanbul is a frenetic modern city, and we were excited to explore it. At the hotel, we met our guide for the next week, Oguz “Oz” Kaya, it looks like we’ll really learn a lot from him.

Views of the Bosporus from the Four Seasons

Oz and our driver picked us up on the morning of Oct. 21, 2021, and we launched into a whirlwind of learning about Istanbul and all things Turkish. We passed the Dolmabahçe Palace, which was built in the 19th Century in a western style to show the world how modern Turkey had become. Oz used that tidbit to segue into the topic of Kemal Ataturk, who is considered the father of the modern Turkish state because after the sultanship of Turkey fell in the aftermath of World War I, Ataturk helped establish the Turkish constitution (which stated that Turkey would henceforth become a secular government despite their majority Muslim citizenship), and Ataturk became its first president. During his time as President, he resided at the Dolmabahçe Palace.

Oz had the driver stop in the middle of the Galata Bridge, which crosses over the fabled Golden Horn into the old central area of Istanbul. From the center of the bridge, we looked directly at the Suleimaniya mosque and burial grounds, and several other notable sights in the old city. In the Galata neighborhood on the other side of the bridge, there is a tower (Galata Tower) which provides some of the best views in Istanbul. The Galata area was outside the old city walls, and was traditionally a melting pot neighborhood, which today is very popular.

Looking across the Golden Horn at the Galata neighborhood and Galata Tower

Suleymaniya Mosque views from Galata Bridge

We drove into the old town, and from Oz’s running commentary, it immediately became clear that I needed a crash refresher course in not only Turkish history, but also Greek, Roman, Hittite, Byzantine, and Assyrian history. And that doesn’t even take into account the histories of the major world religions!

Here is an abbreviated timeline so you can keep track:

Year	Period/Era	Event
10,000 BC		Görbekli Tepe-oldest megalithic ritual structure in the world built by nomads in southeastern Turkey
7500 BC		Çatalhöyük-one of world’s oldest “cities” established in southeast Turkey
6,000 BC	Neolithic	Istanbul founded
3,000-2500 BC		Troy-earliest construction of fortress city began-a small fortress enclosed by a huge wall, with small houses built of stone and brick.
1275-1240	Greek	Troy VIIa-probably the time of the Trojan war with Sparta described in Homer’s Illiad (Homer said the 10 year war ended in 1284 BC with the fall of Troy).
2000 BC	Greek and Assyrian	Anatolia (Asia Minor part of Turkey) settled by Hittites (Indo-European people)
1200 BC	Greek and Assyrian	Hittite empire splintered; dozens of independent kingdoms formed in the west and along the southern coast of Turkey: Lydians, Lycians, Phyrgians (under King Meidas), and Assyrians (from Mesopotamia in today’s Iraq) annexed eastern Anatolia; Greeks colonized the western coast and called it Ionia.
660 BC	Greek and Assyrian	Byzantium (Istanbul) founded by a Greek named Byzas. He built a city-state on the hilltop in what is today’s old town. Grew from influences of both east and west, and grew from trading.
490 BC	Assyrian	Persian emperor, Darius, fended off Greek attacks by crossing the Bosphorus.
334 BC	Greek/Hellenistic	Alexander the Great also crossed the Bosphorus and pushed the Persian out of all of modern-day Turkey. Hippodrome built, and Greek language and culture introduced.
323 BC	Greek/Hellenistic	Alexander died, and Anatolia was divided among Alexander’s four main lieutenants. Most of them died without heirs, and Turkey began looking to Rome for protection.
~300 BC	Roman	Rome takes over Anatolia making it the province of Asia.
1 AD		Jesus born
73 AD	Roman	Under Emperor Vespasian, Byzantium became an important Roman center.
200 AD	Roman	Septimus Severus fortified Byzantium with even stronger walls.
300 AD	Roman	Emperor Constantine moves capital of Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium, and renames it “Nova Roma”, but everyone just called it the city of Constantine-Constantinople. He started making Constantinople the greatest city on earth.
323 AD	Roman	Constantine converts to Christianity, and declares Christianity is the official religion of the Roman Empire.
379-395 AD	Roman	Emperor Theodosius is last emperor to rule a united Roman Empire.
By 400 AD	Byzantine Empire	Eastern part of Roman Empire splits off, and becomes Byzantine Empire.
500-1000 AD	Byzantine Empire	Constantinople is the center of a peaceful, prosperous and highly cultured society encompassing Turkey, Greece, Palestine and Egypt. They spoke Greek and were Orthodox Christians. For these 500 years, the Byzantine Empire was a beacon of light, while Europe trudged through the Dark Ages.
527-565 AD	Byzantine Empire	Emperor Justinian expanded territory to reclaim some of lost Roman territory, established a code of law which became the basis for many other European countries’ legal systems, and built the Basilica Cistern and the Hagia Sofia.
570-632 AD		Prophet Mohammed born in Mecca. He believed he was born in a world of decadence and sought a new way. Every year, he would retire to a cave for a month to meditate. When he was 40, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him in the cave and told him that God had chosen Muhammed to be God’s prophet. Over the next 21 years, Muhammed received a series of revelations from God. Muhammed’s followers wrote down these revelations and they became the book called the Quran. Muhammed did not invent a new religion; rather he invited people to return to the religion of Abraham, submitting to one God. Islam, in Arabic, means “to surrender”-to submit to God’s will. The word “Muslim” means a person who submits to God’s will in all things.
1074 AD	Byzantine	The “Great Schism” between the Orthodox Christian Church and the Catholic church. The patriarch of the Orthodox church resided in Constantinople.
1000-1453 AD	Byzantine	Decline of the Byzantine Empire; it became just the Anatolian section of Turkey and Greece.
1037-1243 AD	Seljuk Turks	Seljuk Turks (Muslims from the east) invade most of Turkey, and establish it as a Muslim region. Only Christian Constantinople and their protectorates in Greece held out. Highly cultured society; period of great poet and mystic, Rumi. The precursor of the Ottoman period was started under the rule of Osman I (1258-1326), who held a small Anatolian principality which eventually grew into the Ottoman Empire
1250-1453 AD	Mostly Muslim	50 years of Christian rule under Latin Empire (Italians) and then Byzantines regained control. Mongols raided in 1243 and sent the Seljuks fleeing. Islamic Mongols gained control westward.
1453 AD	Ottoman Empire	Seige of Constantinople by Ottomans results in Ottoman victory when Orthodox clergy decided they would rather be ruled by Ottomans than Roman Catholics.
1453-1750 AD	Ottoman Empire	Beginning with the new ruler, Mehmet II, “The Conqueror”, Constantinople became the capital of his Islamic Empire. Enlightened ruler who spoke six languages and fostered art and science. He began a long period of religious tolerance in the Ottoman Empire. The Christian church of Hagia Sofia became a mosque, and all pictures of Jesus and his apostles were removed.
1520-1566	Ottoman Empire	Reign of Süleyman, the Magnificent. Peak of the Ottoman Empire, when it stretched from Austria to the Middle East, and south to North Africa. One third of the population of Europe lived within its boundaries. And Istanbul was the largest and most prosperous city int the world. Under his reign (along with his favorite wife, Roxelana, and his personal architect, Mimar Sinan), they beautified the city and made it the world’s preeminent capital. Topkapi Palace and the grand Süleymaniya Mosque were built during this period.
~1600s AD	Ottoman Empire	Reign of Ahmet I; Blue Mosque built.
1590-1651 AD	Ottoman Empire	Reign of Kösem, favored wife of Ahmet I, who ruled the Empire through her underage sultan son.
1750-1918 AD	Ottoman Empire	This period was marked by the decline and failure of the Ottoman Empire. The period was marked by incompetent rulers, palace intrigue, lavish spending, and rampant corruption. By the mid-19^th century, there was a reform movement in Turkey led by the “Young Turks”. Although the sultan allowed a parliament to be formed in 1876, it was not enough to overcome the rot. The Ottoman Empire became known as the “Sick Man of Europe”, and World War I dealt the death blow to the Empire.
1914-1918 AD	Ottoman Empire	The Turks sided with Germany. Despite some valiant battles (most notably, the Battle of Gallipoli about 150 miles southwest of Istanbul on a peninsula off the Dardanelles Straits), the Turks found themselves on the losing side. During the war, Turkey also oversaw the forcible relocation of 1,000,000 Armenians. It is still debated whether such actions were collateral damage of war or ethnic cleansing of this majority Christian population. At the end of the war, former Ottoman lands became carved up into independent nations like Iraq, Syria, Israel, Armenia and Egypt. What was left over became Turkey.
1881-1938	Modern Turkey	Life of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, father of the modern Turkish state. After leading a brilliant campaign which defeated the British and ANZAC forces at the Battle of Gallipoli, he became a stateman who led the newly formed Republic of Turkey into its post-sultanic future. In 1923, the modern secular republic of Turkey was established.

Credit for these historical facts go to Rick Steves’ book, Istanbul, and Šerif Yenen’s book, Turkish Odyssey.

Our first stop in the old city was at the Basilica Cistern (also known as the Serifiya Cistern) designed at the order of Emperor Justinian in the period of the Byzantine Empire in the 6^th century AD. The cistern was an important project because not only would it store water to protect the city in the event of siege, but it also provided running water to the inhabitants of Constantinople.

Oz told us that the Byzantines were known as the “great fixer uppers”, because they just incorporated existing building components into their new construction projects. To prove it, he showed us an old town building which clearly had used columns from several different architectural periods. In this case, this 5^thCentury AD building was Byzantine, but the columns were Roman.

Our next stop was at the Sokulli Mosque, designed by Mimar Sinan, the legendary architect to three Ottoman sultans: Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. He lived for about 100 years (from ~1488-1588 AD) and designed over 500 buildings, so his mark is all over Istanbul. This mosque is not counted as one of Sinan’s major accomplishments, but you can still appreciate the grace and peace of his designs.

We wound our way further into the old city and walked out into a huge space which used to be the race course of the Hippodrome. Alexander the Great had the Hippodrome built in the early 4^thcentury BC (during the Hellenistic Period), and it was 350 meters long and used for chariot races.

Subsequently, multiple other legendary buildings were constructed on its footprint, including the Hagia Sofia, the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent and the Blue Mosque.

In the center of the huge park on the grounds of what used to be the Hippodrome are several notable statues/art works. There is a Greek statue in the center, which originally depicted a coiled snake with three heads built to commemorate the Greek victory over Persia in a battle in 479 BC. It was made from all the metal of the fallen soldiers melted from the battlefield. The statue stood for about 800 years at the Oracle of Delphi. Constantine had it moved to Constantinople and erected it at the site of the Hippodrome.

We also saw a monument called the Walled Obelisk which was once covered in gilded bronze. There was also an Egyptian obelisk from 3600 BC, which was brought to the Hippodrome in the 10th Century AD. The Blue Mosque behind it is being restored, so we did not visit it. But we did stop at the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum housed in the former palace of Ibrahim Pasa.

The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, formerly the Palace of Ibrahim Pasha

Some of the ancient Turkish rugs collected in the museum

Many of these rugs are of the Ushak style, which is very intricate. From their very large style, you could tell they were used in mosques in the main worship areas.

A rug depicting the Bosporus Strait and the Golden Horn.

Us with Oz with the Blue Mosque in the background.

However, our next stop was at the Hagia Sophia at end of Hippodrome. The Hagia Sophia was built in 537 AD, about 200 years after Constantine converted the Roman Empire to Christianity. It was built to be the main Catholic Cathedral in Constantinople on the site of an original church built in the 4^thCentury AD. In the beginning, a painting of Jesus was in the center of the central dome, and the church was illuminated by 5000 candles.

During the Ottoman Empire, the church was converted into a mosque, and nearly all the Christian iconography was replaced by Islamic calligraphy verses. However, there is still a mosaic depicting Emperors Constantine and Justinian with Mary. Interestingly, when Turkey became a modern state in 1923, the building was converted to use as a museum because Turkey was officially a secular state. But just two years ago, the current President of Turkey, Erdogan decreed it would once more be a mosque. Whatever its use, it remains a breathtaking architectural feat, and the great architect Sinan based many of his designs on this earlier marvel.

Oz used our time while sitting on the carpet in the prayer area to give us a little bit of background on the faith of Islam. In every Mosque, there are eight calligraphic plaques depicting the calligraphic symbols for Mohammed’s successors. About 98% of Turkey’s citizens identify as Muslim, the decision about whether and how much to practice the faith is left to individual choices, and protected by the Turkish Constitution. Oz did tell us that with the current government, religious observances have become more noticeable, although most of Turkey remains very moderate in their religious views. Turkey does have a long record of religious tolerance, and in fact, the Patriarchy of the Greek Orthodox Church is still located in Istanbul.

This is a pretty simplified explanation, but there are five basic tenets of Islam: 1. Testimony that there is one true God (shehadet), and that Mohammed was his prophet; 2. Prayer to God (namaz) five times a day with a recitation of the opening chapter of the Quran; 3. Charity (zekat) to the less fortunate by those who can afford it; 4. Fasting during the month of Ramadan (oruç) to follow in the path of Mohammed while he sought enlightenment; and 5. Making a pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) once in your lifetime to pay respects to the birth of Mohammed and to visit the place where Abraham built the Kaaba. The two main Muslim denominations are the Shia Muslims, who believe Ali should have been Mohammed’s successor, while Sunni Muslims believe Abubakr should have been the successor. Turkey Muslims are mostly Sunni, with some Anatolian Shias, but Oz told us that they act more like more like Christians, and are not as conservative as Shia Muslims in other parts of world.

There are numerous places in the city where you can see mosques, churches and synagogues in close proximity to one another. Still, with the minarets of over 1500 mosques dotting the skyline of Istanbul, it seemed very exotic to us. Nonetheless, we always felt very comfortable in all our dealings with the Turkish people, who were unfailingly polite and welcoming! In fact, we urge all to visit this fascinating city!

By this time, jet-lagged as we were, it was time to eat some lunch and revive our spirits. There’s a really good restaurant called Konyali, right outside the Hagia Sophia, which overlooks the Bosporous. It has been operating in this spot since 1897, and offers really good traditional Turkish cuisine. One of the things we learned quickly was that meals are a really serious thing to the Turkish people, and the food tends to come in waves, starting with a wide variety of little dishes called mezes. This particular restaurant does not serve alcohol, but most of the restaurants we later visited did, including multiple varieties of Turkish wine. Today, though, it was good we didn’t have anything alcoholic with lunch. Instead, Jim tried the local version of a “soda” which means some type of fruit juice mixed with sparkling water. It was delicious, as was everything we ate.

After our late lunch concluded, we had one more objective to explore for the day: visiting Topkapi Palace. After Sultan Mehmet II retook Constantinople in 1453 and began the Ottoman Empire, he built a grandiose palace for himself right next to the Hagia Sophia. He built upon the existing city walls fortified by the Byzantines. The Palace was very strategically located, as it overlooks the Bospororus down to the Sea of Mamara, and across the Golden Horn. In the early days, it was more of a fortress than a palace, but over the decades, it became a sprawling work of art. The tile work (a style called Iznik) throughout the palace is breathtaking. Many of the tiles are decorated with a tulip motif. The tulip was developed in Turkey and exported to the Netherlands. The Ottoman Empire produced 37 sultans, and some of them are buried at the Hagia Sophia next door. We came in through the Salutation Gate, and wandered through some of the exterior courtyards. The views from these were amazing!

Credit to Rick Steves “Istanbul with Cappadocia and Ephesus”

Views Across the Golden Horn at Galata Tower

One of the first areas we visited was the circumcision pavilion. In Turkish tradish, young boys are not circumcised until about age 6-8. There is a special ceremonial cloak for this and a grand pavilion, but I couldn’t help but think American boys have it better.

We wandered into the harem area of the palace. In Ottoman culture, the Harem means a private family place. It was guarded by black eunuchs and very fortified. The ladies of the harem were mostly slaves, and often highly valuable members of the royal household, but slaves nonetheless. The harem area was built about 100 years after the palace, beginning in the 1570s. The harem area consisted of not only the sleeping areas, but private baths, leisure rooms, and gardens. We also viewed the sultans’ private areas, which included even more luxurious accommodations. However, they also featured private prisons for their brothers who might challenge their rule.

The private room for the Queen Mother and the Sultan to meet

The building housing the Sultan’s favorite concubines

We also took a spin through the kitchens, which fed about 5000 people daily. About 1750 cooks worked in the kitchens and the size of the cooking pots alone was incredible, not to mention to endless rows of chimneys to vent all those cooking fires!

There is also a small museum of holy relics. Interestingly, it not only contains relics of Mohammed and Abraham, but also some relics of John the Baptist which were previously housed in the Hagia Sophia when it was a Christian house of worship. They were respectfully displayed here.

No visit to a palace would be complete without viewing some princely booty, so Oz took us into the Treasury building where we got to view the fabled Topkapi dagger. It was bejeweled with some eye-popping emeralds.

We left the palace as dusk was beginning to fall. Then we drove back through some mind-boggling traffic to get back to the hotel. Jim and I enjoyed dinner on the patio overlooking the Bosporus. Stay tuned, because we haven’t even scratched the surface of Istanbul!

The Spanish musical group playing on the patio

Architecture, Countries/Continents, Food, France, History, Travel Generally, Wine/Vineyards

Getting to Know Bordeaux Better

October 3, 2021 Vaya con Gringos 5 Comments

October 3, 2021:

On October 3^rd, our morning started with a panoramic tour around Bordeaux. Luckily for us, it was a bus tour, because it was pouring rain. Suffice it to say, none of the pictures I took showed anything but rainy windows on the bus. Nonetheless, it was a good introduction to this charming city, and gave Jim and me some good ideas for areas we wanted to explore on foot later.

The main event for that morning’s excursion was a visit to la Cité du Vin, Bordeaux’s huge museum dedicated to winemaking all over the world. The building itself is very unique as it kind of looks like a huge, glass covered boot. We saw it on the cruise into town yesterday and wondered what was housed by its odd shape. In reality, the structure is supposed to represent the shape of an ancient wine bag (who knew?!).

I think the museum has a total of five storeys, and was very interesting. Everyone who visits the museum is issued an audio device, which can be used independently to trigger descriptions of various exhibits and to que video presentations to begin through Bluetooth connections. Pleasantly, unlike many French museums which only label exhibits in French, the audio devices came in a variety of languages including English. The first area we ventured into was devoted to exhibits about winemaking all over the world. For each country you “visited”, you could listen to short talks from noted experts in that region’s wine industry (and again, the talks were translated into English). Some examples of the speakers included vineyard owners, great winemakers, and world-class sommeliers. In this part of the museum, there were also some good videos about the Bordeaux wine-growing region specifically, and some wooden models of the Grand Cru chateaux.

Various countries in the World of Wine area

Replicas of the great Chateaux of Bordeaux

On another floor of the museum, there was a great exhibit about all the aromas present in wines. You could sample those aromas yourself by puffing a little atomizer for each scent. Another exhibit demonstrated all the colors to be found in different varietals of grapes. Jim and I really enjoyed wandering around all these exhibits for a couple of hours. Then our tickets included a glass of wine to sample at the wine bar near the top of the museum. You could pick among fourteen different wines from all over the world, and the selection changes frequently. From the wine bar, you could look out over the city, including the huge moving bridge under which we sailed yesterday. Sadly, it was still raining, but the views were still pretty incredible. Right next to the museum is a huge food hall, les Halles de Bacalan. As we returned to the bus, Jim and I peeked inside, and it looked pretty amazing.

The whole center section of this bridge lifts up to allow really big ships to pass.

Jay: This photo of saucisson is for you!

We returned to the ship for lunch, and finally our patience was rewarded when the rain finally stopped. From the ship, it was very easy for us to walk directly into the old part of town (the Vieux Bordeaux), to go see some of the sights we passed in the rain this morning.

Our first stop was at the Place de la Bourse, which were designed by famed architect to King Louis XIV, Jacques Gabriel. These 18^th Century buildings replaced the old medieval city walls in an attempt to open up the heart of the city to the River Garonne running beside it. In the 21^st Century, the city decided to remove all but a handful of the old warehouses which ran along the river to create a riverside park running most of the length of the city center. As part of that project, a huge reflecting pool was constructed which perfectly reflects the 18^th Century buildings in the Place de la Bourse. The reflecting pool is called Miroir d’Eau (mirror of water), and the conditions were perfect when we walked up to it.

We then walked into the old city through one of the only two remaining medieval gates, the Porte Cailhau. Just about a block in, there was a relief map of the center city cast in bronze. It was a helpful way to get oriented. We walked first to see St. Andrews Cathedral with its glorious medieval architecture. Right across the square on which it is located is the Hotel de Ville (the city hall of Bordeaux).

Cathedral St. André, begun in the 11th Century.

Because it is Sunday, most of the shops in town are closed, although there were a few chain-type shops along Catherine Streeet, which is the longest pedestrian shopping street in France. We did stop at a bakery selling the iconic sweet of Bordeaux, caneles. These wicked little treats originated several centuries ago, when the winemakers were using a huge amount of egg whites to clarify their wines, leaving the problem of too many egg yolks left over. Legend has it that a group of nuns started collecting the yolks, and making them into these sweet cakes using the yolks, butter, run, and spices and sugar, all of which was in good supply because of the amount of trading Bordeaux did with the New World.

This shop sells the canelés in three sizes.

Thus fortified, Jim and walked further down St. Catherine street to the Palais Royale, Bordeaux’s beautiful Belle Epoch opera house, which sits on a plaza called the “golden triangle”. We located the wine shop recommended by this morning’s tour guide, L’Intendant Grands Vins de Bordeaux. Of course, it was closed, but we planned to return tomorrow to buy some Bordeaux wines to take home.

We finished our walk by strolling down the Allees de Tourny to pass the winged statue called Triumph of the Republic. We returned to the ship to escape the return of the rain. Tomorrow we venture back out into the wine country of Bordeaux.

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Monthly Archives: October 2021

Rolling In Rhodes

Epic Ephesus

Alighting on Lesbos

Cruising Over Cappadocía

Contemplating Cappadoćia

Turkey: In the Steps of the Ancient Greeks and Romans

Turkey: Modern and Ancient

Istanbul; Installment II

Intriguing Istanbul

Getting to Know Bordeaux Better

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