May 20, 2012 - Travel to Konya

On the road at 8:15. Our first stop was a guided tour of the ancient underground city of Kaymakli. These cities were carved out of the relatively soft tufa rock. The main reason for the existence of these cities was to provide refuge from the invading armies. Up to 5000 people could live here. We were able to crouch through narrow tunnels to experience living quarters, granneries, stables, wine cellers, and wells! We went 4 stories beneath the ground. It was amazing! Then we visited the picturesque village of Guzelyurt...the birthplace of...

Apr 22, 2012 - Kusadasi, Turkey

Since my last entry, we have managed to make our way back to the incredibly beautiful Mediterranean. Antalya was the first day we did not have to get on the bus and off the bus. We spent two nights there and had one whole day to call our own. The day was relaxing and offered the opportunity for shopping and chatting with locals in the old town area. Our hotel was situated in front of miles of beach, pleasantly vacant, because this is still April. Very little sand at the beach however (seems like most of it blew at us in the windstorm the...

Apr 18, 2012 - Windstorms, Sultanhani and Rumi

I was so tempted to by pottery this morning! Beautiful, decorated, pragmatic or ornamental every piece called my name. I did however manage to resist but only because i have bought pottery in other countries before and carried it all the way home to rarely use it. So I satisfied my desire by taking pictures. Pottery is so amazing because the artistic nature is expressed through form as well as color, pattern, practicality and sometimes novelty. And I really love the Turkish patterns. There is a very Arabic flow to the design. The colors are...

Apr 18, 2012 - A Stormy Day in Turkey

We started off this morning to very strong winds. It really didn't have a great impact initiatlly as we only travelled about 20 minutes before we arrived at the pottery studio in Avanos. We had an opportunity to watch the masters at work making lovely pieces some of them worth thousands of dollars. They really were beautiful pieces. I was not as lucky today and although I didn't buy carpets, I did buy a couple of small pieces of pottery (from the cheap room). Being practical I am bringing home Turkish wine glasses! Well not that practical...

Nov 2, 2011 - Konya

One of the evenings while we were in Cappadocia we attended a service of the Whirling Dervishes, They are an order of the Moslems started back in the 13th century AC. The founder, Celaleddin Rumi, believed that music and dance represented a means to induce a state of universal love and offered a way to liberate the individual from the anxiety and pain of daily life. Picture taking was not allowed. When we headed west from Cappadocia after stopping at a Caravanserais, a hostelries for the protection of merchants traveling caravan routes on...

Oct 18, 2011 - Konya

Today was another long day. We left Cappadocia early, stopping in the small village of Guzelyurt to vist a mosque and meet with the imam (Muslim counterpart to a minister or rabbi). Tour members asked him questions about Islam, the separation of mosque and state and a variety of other topics. One woman asked him what he would like Americans to know about the Islamic faith, he answered "tell people about what you saw in Turkey, so they will know that we are just like people anywhere". There is this air of "Islam-hysteria" today in the U.S.,...

Oct 7, 2011 - Urgup to Beysehir

Up early this morning, packed, had breakfast and ready to leave at 7.30. We had a great time last night at the Turkish Nights, not Turkish Delights as I wrote yesterday. I was a little bit dubious about how authentic the dancing would be. We were served a glass of vodka and sour cherry juice on arrival...it was delicious and I decided far too dangerous to drink all night. Food, drinks and the floor show were included in the price so it could have been tempting. I also tried a glass of raki, a local drink made from all the left over grape...

Oct 3, 2011 - The Forty Rules of Love

I enjoyed the book, but I have mixed feelings about the protagonist. I was happy she found love. I agree with the author that a life without love is hardly worth living. But didn't like how she went about it, or her hypocrisy. She had an emotional affair and she seemed horrified when her husband called her out on it. Furthermore, she tried to justify her actions by throwing his affairs back at him. As if that makes, her behavior any better. What I liked about the novel was the story within Ella's story. I enjoyed the story of Rumi and...

Sep 18, 2011 - Traveling to Konya

On our way through Turkey, we travelled by bus to an industrial town called Konya, one of the more conservative cities we visited. On the way, we visited a village mosque and had an opportunity to speak with the Imam, a young man who is very modern and projects the current face of Islamic Turkey. We also had a chance to visit an intact caravansarai (a protective outpost on the Silk Road for caravan traffic) these outposts were located one day's travel apart from each other. Caravan travellers could stop for the night for free and be...

Apr 17, 2011 - Sultanhani - Zirve - Antalya

The group are given souvenir hoodies, with ANZAC Gallipoli 2011 on them. They are white, which isn’t the best colour choice for travel. We won’t be able to take them with us when we leave Turkey, there just isn’t the room and they won’t stay clean for long either. The larger sizes don’t fit well either, but they will still be very useful if it is cold at ANZAC cove. We head along an old silk road towards Antalya on the Aegean coast. In Sultanhani we visit a caravanserai (serai means castle). These were built all along the road, placed...

Apr 10, 2011 - Ucagiz to Konya

This was the day of our long bus trip from the south west coast to the centre of the country. It was a 10 hour journey which started with leaving Ucagiz at 8.00am. We left this morning after our usual wake up calls from the roosters and the call to prayer. The sun was shining and it was a very nice temperature. The drive to Antalya took 3.5 hours in a small bus (dolmus). At our first “comfort” stop, Ken, a member of our group came back to the bus with dirt on his jacket. He relayed his adventure: getting trapped in a Turkish toilet! Once...

Apr 8, 2010 - Day 8 Antalya to Konya

Day 8 - Antalya to Konya Aydin had reminded us the day before that our next overnight was in Konya, a more conservative town, so I made sure to wear a long-sleeve shirt and long pants, and wear a scarf to cover my head when required. He also said that it might rain, and since we were moving away from the tropic-like coastal area and through the mountains, it was definitely going to be cooler. We were back on our usual schedule - wake up by 6:30 am, bags out and breakfast by 7:00 am, and leave the hotel at 8:00 am. Our first stop of the day...