Another Taste Of Turkey

I just spent  a couple of weeks travelling through the beautiful and diverse republic of Turkey, which is the gateway between Asia and Europe. In fact, the major city of Istanbul straddles both continents, with the Bosphorus Strait linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and, from days of yore, the historical Silk and Spice Roads leading to the city. What makes Turkey so unique and fascinating isn’t just the landscape but also the people and their political positioning, which separates it from so many other countries in this region.

With many European countries meddling in Middle East affairs during the Colonial era, the then ruling Ottoman Empire aligned itself with Germany, as they had been relatively uninvolved in such interference. Of course this meant affiliation during World War One and was the final straw in the demise of the then governing Ottoman Empire. Modern Turkey was a result of the overthrow of the Ottomans by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who brought a steady stream of modern secularism and “westernization” to the country. This included the unification of education, the discontinuation of religious and other titles, the closure of Islamic courts and the replacement of Islamic canon law with a secular civil code modeled after Switzerland. There was also recognition of the equality between the sexes and the granting of full political rights to women in 1934. Language reform adopted the new Turkish alphabet derived from the Latin alphabet like our own.  There were also dress laws and the wearing of a fez was outlawed, meant to further step away from the Ottoman influences.

Not to bore you with too much history but it just gives you an idea of what it’s like to travel through a country that is Islamic but secular. There were minarets everywhere and you heard the call to prayer 5 times a day, except Fridays, sometimes with mosques so close together that several Imams could be heard at the same time. In fact,  there is a song like character to the call and sometimes I felt there was a bit of competition going on as to who had the better voice. Interestingly, we walked by many mosques during prayer and though there were people inside, a good many Turks were hanging out in the street shops and parks, smoking and drinking tea. Apparently, only about 25% of Turks attend mosques regularly though there are people who appear outwardly conservative, with women in head scarves and such attire.  One thing for sure is that it seems like every male Turk smokes and I even saw very young teens puffing away and drinking thick Turkish coffee. 

My friend, Tom, and I have our first look at the Mediterrnean in Antalya

We had these great "pancakes" made on an open fire griddle

Crab fishermen came by our boat and sold us some Blue Crab when we were in Dalyan

Steamed fresh Blue Crab was awesome

The Lycian burial chambers are for their kings and queens dating back to the period between the 2nd to 4th century

Roman tombs from the ancient city of Hieroplois, which is near Pamukkale

Pamukkale means "Cotton Castle, and you can see why, thanks to the calcium carbonate deposits

We had a private viewing of the Sufi Mevlevi ceremony with these whirling Dervish

Thick and strong Turkish coffee prepared in a heated sand pit

Better have only one!

Lots of Turkish men play "Okey" and I was given some tea and invited to sit in on this game, though I only watched.