Turkish Delight!

Europe collides with Asia where the modern West clashes with the traditions of the East in the land of kababs, hamams, and muslim culture!  I almost skipped Turkey because of the desire to rendezvous with some friends during their trip to Israel... the prospect of exploring the Holy Land with friends from home sounded great but it would have cut my time short in Greece and forced me to skip Turkey all together. When their schedule changed, the impact on my timeframe didn't make sense, and, Turkey was back on my list of destinations!

After a little bit of convincing (sweet talking) I was able to have my scheduled flight from Athens to Tel Aviv redirected to Istanbul and landed into another completely foreign world and the biggest culture shock to-date; I certainly was not in Kansas anymore!

After a couple days of walking the city streets, seeing the sights (The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cisterns, etc.), and partaking in some local cultural practices (i.e., Hamam - traditional Turkish Bath) I found my bearings in this predominately Muslim world and sketched out a gameplan to head to some of the more natural wonders in the south of the country. A good first homebase for exploring what the south of the country had to offer was the city of Fethiye and I set off on a 12 hour overnight bus...

The plan as to spend a few days around the town and then arranging to board a Gulet (traditional Turkish sail boat) and sail along the coast of the Turkish Riviera for several days. Unfortunately, as they say... 'life is what happens when you are busy making other plans'... and the last Gulet of the season had sailed the day before my arrival! Darn. I was still in Fethiye and happy to be out of the city. I concluded to proceed with my jaunt along the coast overland after spending a few days as planned around the area.

A few days turned into another night and another night and before you knew it I ended up staying for a week! I became friends with the staff and the few other guests staying at V-Go Hostel and enjoyed the amazing food prepared by the cook (Ramazon), trekking amongst the ruins (abandoned City of Kayakoy) in the mountains near by, taking a day cruise to the "12 islands" off the coast, exploring the tombs carved into the rock face of the mountain above, and getting absorbed in an Islamic community.

Sometime between my 3rd and 4th day I was given a turkish name by Ramazon ("Menten"), ate in the back with the rest of the staff and offered an invitation to sail as part of the crew on a sail boat down the coast to attend a Turkish wedding! It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up and one of those times when you realize that plans aren't always all they are cracked up to be :) Along with some other guests, we boarded the magnificent yacht and motored down the coast. Our small group consisted of Silvia from Spain, Hannah & Rory, Paul, and Maddy/Angus/Amy/Elyse all from Australia along with the boat crew of Captain Orhan, the joke loving Amat, and quiet vodka drinking Murat.

Paul and I had the pleasure of assisting with making lunch dowwn in the gally during a particularly topsy turby portion of the voyage and somehow survived boiling water and cutting vegetables while getting tossed to and fro. We set anchor for the night in a beautiful cove and awoke the next morning for a quick dip in the majesty of the Mediterranean. By the time we reached the town for the wedding festivities we had all bonded as friends and were sad to leave the confines of your home on the water. Arriving on land though we were greeted as honored guests and got (what felt like) the turkish version of the "red carpet treatment" complete with food and smiles!

Wedding are a big deal in Turkey and it is customary to invite the whole town (traditionally by delivering, of all things, a pair of socks to each household!). The wedding festivities included a feast complete with tons of amazing food dishes, a pre-ceremony party where the men and women separate to drink and dance at their own respective parties, as much Raki (Turkish Spirit that tastes like licorice and is about 50% alcohol) as you could drink, a bon fire, crazy music, and fireworks. They also have a tradition of firing off rounds from their revolvers into the night sky while dancing drunk around the bon fire... that was an experience that you don't soon forget!  I had arrived to Fethiye as a guest and left as part of the family :)

Parting ways with the V-Go crew (Orhan, Sinan and Sesar), Rory & Hannah and Paul and I traveled together to the beach and the treehouses of Olympos! As if time in Turkey couldn't get any better we were suddenly in another amazing landscape set amongst ancient Roman ruins, staying at a place offering some of the best meals I've had, and enjoying each others company as we spent a couple lazy days recovering from all the wedding fun. Now the off-season, we enjoyed evenings sitting around the campfire and talking with the few other guests with Mt. Olympos (from where the Olympic games gain their name) looming in the distance... including the familiar faces of a Canadian family. But, where did I see them before? We got to talking and I realized I had read their blog (http://4intheworld.blogspot.com/) about their Around the World Trip several months before! It got even stranger when they told me they had also read mine! How ironic.

A couple days later and who comes strolling don the path? Three Aussie girls I was bunked up with during my time weeks before in Athens! You realize just howw small the world is when, of all the places one could be, and times they could be there, you rendezvous with others in such a way!  Turkey was simply, as the name of the local sweet is called, a DELIGHT! 

I was no longer in the western world... and it was time to dive even deeper into the East... to the land of the Pharaohs and meeting up with another fellow world vagabond.  Ancient Egypt as next...