Turkey is awesome. Especially awesome to see it with a couple of Columbia buddies of mine who have set up shop as journos in Istanbul — one at the Turkish Daily News and one at the Associated Press.
Quick recap before I hit the sack (I leave Paris in about 12 hours for DC and then onto Oakland).
- Turkey is a European country trapped in a Middle Eastern country’s body — or at least it wants to be. Most obvious sign of pro-EU? The blue space on the left side of their license plates, awaiting the EU stars.
- The presence of Islam is felt with increasing intensity as one travels eastward. In other words, Istanbul is very cosmopolitan, and very touristy.
- The Turks I met are incredibly generous and kind people. My travelmate, Rebekah, and I got to stay in a regional town outside Anakara in the middle of Cappadocia with the uncle (Hajji Souleyman) of a guy (Adnan) who is a co-worker of another guy (Engin) who is best friends with another guy (Abdullah Antepli, Muslim chaplain at Weslyan University) who works with my aunt, Heidi Hadsell. That would never happen in this country. Amazing.
- Nine hour overnight train on a sleeper car from Istanbul to Ankara is 22 YTL (= $16). Well worth it. Rumor on the street is that the national train line will be shut down in the next year or two.
- Ramadan (called “Ramazan” in Iran/Turkey for some odd reason) is the time of gifts as well. During the trip I acquired a small Isfahani handcrafted box from an Iranian merchant in the Istanbul grand bazaar, two pairs of socks, a small towel, a new buttoned-up shirt, a small wooden plaque that says “Allah” in Arabic, a book about Nursi Islam in Turkish and two in English, another book about Islam in English, homemade molasses, and a few kilos of fresh grapes. Of course not to mention free food/lodging.
- Ankara is the LA of Turkey. Big, spread out, and boring. We stopped there for a few hours en route back from Cappadocia to check out the Ataturk mausoleum, which was disappointing.
- Fun fact about Ataturk: he was an atheist drunk who died of liver failure.
- Turkey is also a democracy trapped in a Soviet imagery body. Ataturk is on every piece of money and his picture is everywhere. And if that doesn’t convince you, go check out the logo of the Turkish National Railways.
- Turkish County Fair is awesome. All it’s missing is funnel cake. (More on this later.)
