A retrospective...

Christine:

Well, we're in Brunei now, having a lovely time with our friends, Adam and Monica. I'll write more about that in a few days, but I thought I would do a little reminiscing about our last two and a half weeks in the Middle East & Turkey. Our posts were always rushed as we were paying for our computer time, but now I have lots of time to write.

Our trip through Turkey, Syria and Jordan was hot and dirty and difficult. The language barrier was always challenging. The toilets in public places were usually the squatting kind, which are kind of disgusting and difficult to manage, especially when your digestive system starts to act up on you!

But our overall impression is one of wonder and fascination at the things we saw, and gratefulness at the friendliness of the people. With very few exceptions, everyone in these countries were friendly and helpful, often going out of there way to help us find something or some place, and explaining local customs and culture. We never once felt in danger (actually, we more unsafe in London!) and although at times we felt helpless trying to make ourselves understood, we always managed in the end.

We had some unique experiences;

• driving around western Turkey on roads ranging from straight and smooth to dirt (but which are all indicated on the map as primary roads)



• staying in a hotel in Kutahaya that was designed for Turks and had it's own hot-tub fed by the mineral hot springs

eating at a sea-side restaurant in Akcakoca watching an electrical storm over the Black Sea

• wandering centries-old souks in Aleppo


• posing for pictures with four teenage Syrian boys, none of whom spoke any English beyond "Hello"


• sitting in a Damascus clothing shop having tea with the shopkeepers and joking around with them in broken English
  
• having a traditional Syrian meal in a restaurant in Old Damascus and being entertained by a Whirling Dervish and a traditional folk singer


• riding in a car across the Syria/Jordan border with a Syrian and two Georgians


• having tea with a Bedouin in the magical surroundings of Petra


• seeing the place where Jesus was baptised

We've learned a lot about the world, different cultures and mistaken perceptions, and we've learned a lot about ourselves and each other along the way. Ultimately, isn't that what life is all about - constantly learning?

Jordan

Christine:

Well, we're just getting ready to leave Jordan after a whirlwind tour!

Yesterday we got up early and drove down to Petra, about a 3 hour drive. We found a hotel first and then went to the site. It is absolutely enormous (250 sq km) and one of the most amazing things either of us had ever seen. We were blown away by the amazing facades carved into the bizarrely coloured, almost living, rock. Inside the facades, which were largely tombs, the rooms were carved symetrically and square. We went up a very long stairway that led to the top of the wadi, or valley. On the way, we stopped to rest and were invited by a lovely old Bedouin man to join him for tea. We chatted a bit with him, and listened to the silence of the rock. We were definitely off the main tourist route at that point. It was fantastic. It's really hard to put into words to describe how incredible the whole site is - you just have to experience it.

We stayed that night in Petra and the next morning headed out early for some other sites. Our first stop was Al Karak, another Crusader castle. It wasn't as well preserved as Crac des Chevalier, or as impressive defensively as the citadel at Aleppo, but was impressive none-the-less. From Al Karak, we drove out to the Dead Sea and drove up along the coast. It was a lovely deep blue at the bottom end, where we started, but became lighter as we drove up. There was no place to stop and go in it, however, unless you wanted to pay for the privilege or go on a major hike down to it. Just north of the Dead Sea was a fairly new excavation, which is a series of churches all built on the same site, belived to be the site where Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan. We were able to see the river and even dangle our feet in it. It was quite moving for me to see this important place - the foundation of my faith. We even got some water from the river! After that, it was a race into Amman to try to get to the Jordan Archeological Museum, where the Dead Sea scrolls are kept, but we didn't make it. It closes early on Fridays due to it being the Muslim holy day. We went to another Popeye's for supper, and then wandered around the site of the citadel and several temples, on the top of a hill in downtown Amman. We finished off the evening with a cup of tea in an outdoor cafe.

Our flight leaves for Bangkok at 3:30 am, so we need to check in by 1:30. We are currently at the Holiday Inn, where we are dropping off the rental car and they will take us to the airport at some point. Until then (for the next 4 hours), we will just clean up and relax a bit, either here at the hotel, or at the airport. No point in getting a hotel for just a few hours!

Barry:

Well, what can I say crossing the river Jordan into Amman a city with all the charm and sophisticaion of a tramps toilet, well sorry Christine told me that I must be nice its not that bad its just a bit of a shock after Syria. Driving here is mostly by touch the hire car looked like the pevious hirer had been round the car with a hammer.

But enough of that rubbish, there are no words in my poor and limited voabulary that would do justice to Petra, so I will say nothing but this, before you die you must go and look upon it.

In a few hours we leave for Bangkok, just a quick stop over and then hopefully, thankfully a rest.

Syria to Jordan

Christine:

Hello, just arrived in Amman, Jordan today via shared taxi from Damascus. Amman is a relatively modern city - first "American-style" fast food joints we've seen since a Macdonalds and a couple of Burger Kings in Turkey. We went to Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits this afternoon for our meal - we were craving western-style food. For those who don't know, Popeye's is an American chain that Barry's family raves about. It was really quite good!

After we last posted, we went down to St. Ananias' Church, which was very cool, and then wandered all over the Old City looking for St. Paul's Church, which we found eventually. After that, we dragged our weary carcasses back to the hotel and rested.

Our last day in Damascus was fantastic. We went to Stratic's office and chatted with Shaza, the Administrator, and Said, the General Manager, and then the Stratic driver, John, took us up to the Caission hill that Damascus is at the foot of and we got a lovely view of the city - very spread out and flat. He then dropped us off at a handicrafts souk, which we wandered around. It was lovely, but expensive. We bimbled around on our way to the Old City again, and I ended up getting a beautiful Punjabi-style tunic and pants suit. We went back to the Old City and wandered around the souks a bit more, and stumbled upon a great little restaurant when we were looking for a place to have tea. It was called Narcissus Palace, and was in a restored 18th century Ottoman house's courtyard. It was so great - all black and white stone that is popular from that period, with a fountain in the middle and plants. We had a snack and some tea and spent quite a bit of time there. Then we wandered around until we found our way out of the Old City and back to the hotel. We were getting ready to go out to dinner with Said later than night, when I suddenly discovered my debit card had disappeared! We looked everywhere and even went back to the restaurant (a lovely, kind man in the Old City helped us find it again!) but it was nowhere, so I spent some time on the phone cancelling it! At least Barry still has his. John and Said picked us up at 8 and Said took us to a great restaurant in the Old City called Neutron. As we walked in, a Whirling Dervish dancer was starting his dance. It was so cool, but I got nauseous just watching him spin and spin and spin. Said ordered everything for us and it was all wonderful. It was all very Syrian, with a Syrian liquer similar to Greek ouzo (but nicer). We were there almost 4 hours! What a lovely end to our time in Damascus!

This morning, John picked us up and brought us to the shared taxi place and we loaded our stuff into a car. Then we had to wait an hour until we got another two passengers to fill up the car. The two passengers were two ladies from Georgia! So, there we were, trundling down the highway from Damascus in a car driven by a Syrian who speaks only Arabic, a Canadian and an Englishman who speak only English, and two Georgian ladies who speak Georgian, some Arabic and a few words of English!! But, we all made it through the border ok and into Amman. It's so hot here!! We checked into our hotel, went and picked up the car and then went for Popeyes!

Tomorrow, we leave early in the morning for Petra, and we'll stay there tomorrow night. Then the next day we will drive back, stoppping at Kerack, the Archeological Museum in Amman and then up to Kerash, and enormous Roman city in ruins (similar to Palmyra). Then we fly at 3:30 am to Bangkok!

Barry:

I am very sorry to say goodbye to Damascus and Syria; I will miss it all very much and we shall have to come back. All is well generally, just that someone has replaced my sphicter with a garden hose sprinkler - oh what joy - A SYRIAN SQUAT TOILET!! At least they put a hose and a yard broom in there, so its swings and roundabouts really, but you get some funny looks when you leave the bathroom soaking wet from head to foot and join your friends back at the table.
The trip down to Amman was fine. I was the only person in the taxi that spoke actual English, the rest were Arab, Canadian or Georgian; as usual I talked to myself most of the way down. Well at least we are here and its Petra and stuff (historical) tomorrow.

Syria

Christine:

We are currently in Damascus, arriving here last night from Aleppo. A driver, Gaston, who is also a tour guide (and a good one!) picked us up in Aleppo and drove us down the Damascus, taking us to some things along the way. First we stopped in Hama, where there are some enormous waterwheels. Apparently, the Arabs have been using them for centuries to move water into aquaducts for irrigation. They are so clever, these Arabs!!

Then we went to Crac des Chevalier (this is the correct spelling, I found out!). It was fanstatic! Its set the break in the mountain range between Lebanon and Syria, called Homs Pass and was built to control the pass. It is extremely well preserved and amazingly huge, with an outer defensive wall, then a moat, and then the main part of the castle. All this perched up on a mountain. It was sacked once, but it must have been difficult!!

After that, Gaston drove us to Ma'aloula, the last place left in the world that still speaks Aramaic, the language of Jesus and that time period. The inhabitants still all speak it to each other, but they also speak Arabic. There are several churches and all services and masses are held in Aramaic. It was very cool.

After that, it was Damascus and a lovely hotel near the city centre. We were there fairly early so we could have a bit of 'downtime'.

The next morning (this morning) a lovely man from Stratic, John, picked us up and took us round the Great Umayyad Mosque, one of the major Islamic mosques worldwide. It was previously a Christian church, and before that a series of pagan temples from different time periods (Jupiter during the Roman times, Athena during the Greek times and Hadad during Semitic times). There is a huge tomb there, reportedly the tomb of St. John the Baptist. He is revered as a prophet in the Qu'uran (Koran). There were two separate prayer halls, one for the Shia'a Muslims and one for the Sunni Muslims. I had to put on a special robe covering my head and whole body (but not my face) and Barry had to put on a skirt, because he was wearing shorts! It was very funny!

We went to the lovely Azem Palace in the middle of the souks, built in the mid-1700s, and then wandered through the souks a bit. And that brings us to where we presently are - in an internet cafe between the souks and the Christian quarter. We are heading to the Christian quarter to go to Ananias' house, which is now a church, and to St. Paul's church, which is purportedly where he was smuggled out of the city over the wall after he had been preaching about Jesus in the streets of Damascus (click here for the bible reference to the above two people).

Barry:

Crac de Chevalier bla bla bla another big crusader fort with a large steep zig zag entrance, secrect passages, inner and outer moats, but wait evidently Carrak in Jordan has the best ever preseved crusader fort/castle/citadel so onwards, ever onwards, I guess I have become a crac addict.

Damascus is a wonderful city were the local government provide a wonderful service for the local taxi companies, first they paint them bright yellow then they snap off the indicator stalk and finally remove the accelerator pedal and fit an on and off switch in its place. As a matter of course the horn is used to accompany any movement of the taxi and is leant on when stationary. Oh by the way nice city, religous stuff, old town etc.

Turkey to Aleppo

Christine:

We arrived in Aleppo, Syria very tired but in good spirits. When we finally got to the train station in Istanbul, we discovered that the train wasn't running that day - they said was broken. So, we made our way to the bus station and got tickets for a coach all the way to Antakya. It was a 14 hour trip and the worst bit of the road was right in the middle of the night, so I only ended up with one hour of sleep. Barry managed 2 or 3 hours. The coach was actually quite comfortable and modern - we were served beverages and given a snack. There was a movie (in Turkish of course!). We befriended a lovely guy from Oman on the trip - he was helping us by translating the driver and steward's announcements and questions. We told him what we were doing and he chatted to the driver and found out that the same bus company had a minibus going to Aleppo that morning, just when we were getting in. It would be cheaper and easier than trying to get a share taxi. When the bus arrived, he helped us communicate with getting the ticket for the next bus, getting our money changed to Syrian pounds, and letting us know what was all going on. He was an answer to prayer (along with the bus leaving Istanbul at the right time for us to catch it and the bus going to Aleppo at the right time for us). The Aleppo bus didn't actually leave until 9:30 am, but they needed our passports when we got in at 7:30 am so they could put them on the manifest which they then faxed to the Syrian border post so they could pre-vet everyone. Anyway, after all that, we made Aleppo.

We got a room at the Baron Hotel, and it is better than I expected! It is fairly shabby and run down, but in a gentile sort of way. Think shabby chic. We are loving it's little idiosyncracies. We hit the city after freshening up - went through the souk and up to the Citadel in the city, which is an amazing fortress that the Crusaders were never able to take. The souk was like stepping back in time - narrow cobbled passageways, there was no electricity so people were using candlelight or battery-operated LED lights, sacks of nuts and dried fruit, meat hanging on hooks, women gliding around in full-length dresses and headcoverings, Arabic swirling around our heads.

It is a very cool city - noisy and dirty and busy and hot - but the people are wonderful and we are enjoying it. Tomorrow the car will pick us up and take us to Damascus via Krac de Chevalier. Apparently, my friends in Damascus from Stratic have arranged a whole itinerary for us for the next 3 days!

Barry:

The wheels on the bus go round and round and round and round ---- for 14 hours if you don't include the waiting about in coach stations, border posts etc. Hang on, my writing has gone black! Syria is a must do destination; the people are great and we have had a lot of fun so far. The citadel there at Aleppo is truly amazing for a manmade object - the cisterns underneath are enough to amaze let alone the citadel above which is an absolute warren of passages and minor fortifications with covering fields of fire. It is easy to see why it never fell even to the Crusaders.
We are staying in the Baron Hotel, shabby colonial granduer, drinking in the same bar as TE Lawrence and Agatha Christie (they are not residence currently), G&T in the lounge bar my good man, if you will.

And for Alice and Phil (ops room) move the pins down from turkey about 700 miles to Aleppo and tomorrow Damascus.

Miss you all

Istanbul

Christine:

We made Istanbul a few days ago and have been having a fantastic time here! We drove the car in and were only to happy to relinquish it after 6 days of insane Turkish drivers. The road into Istanbul and in Istanbul was the worst!!!

We're in a great little pensıon (hotel) in Sutanamhet, which is the very old part of Istanbul. Also the most touristy, but we try to avoid that as much as we can. We went to the covered bazaar (market) yesterday, apparently the largest in the world. It was so much fun chatting and haggling with the traders. It quite regulated so they can't get to aggressive! Then we headed to Topkapı Palace, the headquarters of the Ottoman Empire, via the backstreets, which was a fascinating peek into Istanbul culture.

Topkapi was fabulous! Very large and sprawling, it sort of reminded me of Hampton Court Palace in England, only more 'eastern'. I went into the harem (there was an additional charge so Barry didn't come in), which was very cool, and we wandered around for 2 hours. They had a number of Muslim relics there, just like the Catholic churches in Italy, even purportedly John the Baptist's forearm and skull!! It was all very interesting, if not a bit wierd for a non-liturgical Christian like me!!

Altogether, Istanbul is a brilliant city and I would highly recommend it!!

Barry isn't posting on this one - he's finishing the packing as we have to head to the train station shortly. We are using multi-mode transport for the next two days - taxi to the ferry, ferry to the train station, train to Adana (arriving tomorrow morning), coach (bus) to Anatakya, and shared taxi over the border to Aleppo in Syria. It's somewhat epic, but we're together so we'll be fine!

Backcountry Turkey

Barry:

And it really is the back country, we travelled through villages that you would not believe how Turkey thinks it is ready to enter the EU! Don't get me wrong, the country is very beautiful and the people are so friendly but the EU would spoil it beyond belief.

We went to the ruins at Ephesus, a one and a half kilometer walk through the most amzing Byzantine/Roman ruins. When we reached the end there was a large hose running, making a cascade of water about 8 feet hıgh; after standing under this for a few minutes I was soaked but when we had walked back the one and a half kilometers I was bone dry.

In Katahaya, the home of hot springs and travertines, there was even a hot spring bath in the hotel room, we made good use of it as the journeys between locations has been long and very hot. But tonight on the Black Sea coast in the town of Akcakoca there is a storm of epic proportions that we have been told will last tonight and the weather will be fine tomorrow.

Christine:

Barry's last comment about the storm was prophetic - the power just went off and I thought I'd have to finish this tomorrow!! But it came back on after a few minutes, so here I am!

For those of you actually following our progress, here's the update. We left Ayvalik and headed inland a bit to Bergama, on a lovely road through a national park. In Bergama, besides a lot of Turkish carpet shops, there was the ruins of Pergamon, a huge ancient city about the same time period as Ephesus. We wandered around the ruins there and then went to a weaver's co-op where we learned about making carpets and the different types. Of course, they wanted to sell us a carpet, but we decided that should wait until we actually have an income before we start buying things like that!! We went on to stay at a hotel on the road to Selçuk (I can't remember the name of the town, it was very forgettable!), which is the closest town to Ephesus. The next morning we went on to Ephesus and Barry has updated you on that. We will post some more photos when we have more time. But, suffice it to say, it was fabulous! I loved seeing where so many events in the Bible took place!

From there, we drove to Katahaya, which has hot springs, although its neighbour, Pamukkle, is more famous for them as it also has some ancient ruins there. Katahaya was so lovely because it wasn't as used to foreign tourists as Pamukkle, it's where the Turkish tourists come instead of Pamukkle. The people were lovely and so friendly and the town was quite pretty.

After that, we went to Kütahya, which has been known for its ceramics since Ottoman times. Its a lovely city and we found a great hotel right on the city center square. We arrived fairly early so it gave us some downtime to nap and chill. Sleep has been difficult at times with everyone being up a good part of the night due to Ramadan (the Muslims fast all day and eat after sundown and before sunup and the call to prayer rings out at least once every night, followed by some fellow with a big drum wakıng everyone up so they can make sure to eat before sunrıse!).

Today we went from Kütahya to Akcakoca on the Black Sea. We stopped at a market in an ancient town on the way and saw cabbages bigger than a man's head! We had supper at a wonderful seafood restaurant right on the water and watched the lightning on the water.

We are having a fantastic trip. Turkey is a wonderful country and we fully plan to come back someday to get to Capadoccıa and visit my friends in Ankara. The traffic is crazy, the country is curiously undeveloped in some ways, but so great in so many others.