Around the World in 300 Days
11th Oct 2006Transylvania to Turkey Ahoy! I write for the last time in Europe, after a brief jaunt to Asia Minor and now back in Istanbul, Thrace, on the eve of my departure to india the former Jewel of the old British Empire. So I thought it would be fitting to add another update before I begin the last leg of my journey around the world, it sure does not seem like seven plus months have gone by though. Leaving Belgrade to another capitol beginning with B, I arrived in Bucharest Romania in the wee hours of the morning before finding some accommodation. Bucharest is a city that has enough to keep you interested for a few days, but not exactly the highlight of Romania. The rain that had followed me for the previous 2 weeks continued, but that didn`t stop me from exploring the city and visiting the token state ethnographic museum. The old communist projects loom large in the city such as the grand Peoples Palace (one hugggge building), a failed Champs Elyse repeat as well as an Arc de Triumf. Romania is also apparently considered a francophone country so I had the joy of being in town during the annual meeting of all French speaking nations of the world, to which I was most obviously thrilled but after a few days decided to head north into Transylvania even though the best Doner Kebab of my life occurred in the Romanian capitol. I took the train to the central city of Brasov in the heart of fabled Transylvania where I based myself for the reminder of the week. Upon arrival I fought with a Gypsy women after catching her hand in my pocket going for my wallet. I stopped her with my one free hand but in the process inadvertently cracked her on the noggin with my elbow. She started screaming to everyone on the bus that I hit her and cursed a blue streak until she got off at the next stop and unveiled a series of crude gestures in my direction with a big grin on her face knowing she got caught and nothing happened. That was however, the only blemish on the town as it had a superb town square surrounded by my favorite Baroque facades in every direction, lovely hiking in the nearby foothills, delicious fornetti pastries that cost 25 Bani a piece (6 us cents) and not to mention the close proximity to everything that is Vlad Tempes better known to us as Dracula. I visited the nearby fortress town of Brasniov as well as Bran castle, which inspired the fabled tale of the Count, on a gloomy, misty and foreboding day that seemed very fitting. I also took a local "cattle car" train further north to Sigohsora where Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) was born as I went wandering through the medieval town and eating yet another Kebab in a mountainside graveyard. The really go crazy with the Dracula theme on the tourists, but Transylvania was a very interesting place and the Dracula pizza was perhaps one of the best pies I have ever had. All the train rides through the Carpathian mountains were stunning and the euro a day lift tickets left me licking my lips for the upcoming winter. I returned to Brasov for one more day and then Caught the long (23 hour) train ride To Istanbul via Bucharest and the land of the Bulgars as my time in Europe quickly comes to an end. I shared a sleeper car with a gaggle of Romanians on their way to a death metal concert, but all I could hear further down the car was the sweet serenade of a trashy New Jersey couple who could not stop swearing, dropping "in America we...." and trashing the local countryside. On my travels I end up defending America so much from the ridiculously skewed views many of the United States (all from TV), but then these folk fit the European stereotypes of America so well that I just have to change the subject to stereotypes of the French. Its like Joe always said, there are only two kinds of people in this world I hate, those that are inconsiderate of other people’s culture and the French. Anyways before I knew it the Sea of Marmara presented herself in front of me and I was passing through the old city walls into the heart of Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul. I dropped my pack in the Sultanhmet quarter of the city only a stones throw away from the Blue Mosque and Haya Sofia. These two mosques (Haya Sofia a church/mosque and now museum) are absolutely huge and two of the most impressive examples of architecture I have seen in my 24, wait 25, years. Wandering the Grand Bazaar`s and hammam`s and mosques of this gigantic city took up a good chunk of my time and the city is such a collision of east and west, as its geographical position would demonstrate, that there was much to soak in and much different from the rest of Europe. Also on the scene are lots of scam artists trying to lure you into their restaurants for a drink that suddenly ends up being 60 dollars for you and for the Latvian prostitutes sitting next to you as the huge guys between you and the door collect the bill. I avoided this mishap but not all the people I have met have been so lucky. I also decided to take in a Turkish bath and thankfully the Turks at this establishment wore towels and not simply birthday suits as was the case in Azerbaijan. Though quite the cultural experience, it was a bit unnerving to have the hand of a sixty year old Turk creeping up your inner thigh during the massage portion of the bath. I was also a little alarmed when another Turk just whipped off my towel to redress me in new Pestemal but when in Rome... (whatever that means). I emerged feeling perhaps a little dirty on the inside, though physically very clean on the outside after being pushed into a marble floor and having a layer of skin peeled off of me by an oven mitt made of what felt like iron wool. This was followed by a 2 hour bus/tram journey to a castle that closed by the time I arrived. One mistake that I must get over is attempting to get food after the sun goes down. Ramadan is now upon us and thus the locals must fast until the sun goes down, which means incredibly long lines for food, oh well lessen learned. Istanbul is a little dirty, crowded but definitely has a je ne sais quoi that has made my extended stay here quite enjoyable. My stay in Istanbul was a bit longer than planned due to the fact that I arrived after the Indian Consulate closed on Friday and then that Gandhi decided to have his birthday the following Monday, allowing a five day weekend. It didn’t help to find Monday night that I needed a letter of good standing from the American consulate located an hour from the Sultanhmet quarter to present to the Indian Consul before 11 am in hopes of giving him 70 US for a tourist visa. The American consul was like a fortress perched atop a hill, the Indian consul was a 7th floor apartment with the Consulate (the only employee) throwing out or accepting applicants immediately. I was already in the process of being thrown out, but was saved when I presented my letter. Now I see the folly of purchasing non flexible cheap plane tickets as 2 weeks is not nearly enough to get a taste of the country especially since I missed out on the infamous cliffs of Gallipoli that Mel Gibson taught us all about oh so well. Instead of sticking around to see if my visa cleared a bought a bus ticket for the Aegean coast. A 15 hour bus ride brought me to the town of Fehtiye where I enjoyed some ancient roman ruins (as they are in every town on the Turkish coast) before jumping on a blue cruise the next day to make the four day voyage east to Olympus. the boat left with a motley crew of Canadians Aussies and Americans and we stopped in lovely places such as butterfly valley, blue lagoon (just like the Brooke Shields movie, except no Brooke Shields) and saint Nicholas Island where Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) once lived on an island now covered with Byzantine ruins. The next few days were a real test of character, strength and determination as we traveled throughout the Turkish coast swimming, soaking up the sun and exploring quaint Turkish villages covered in goats, 2000 year old Lycean sarcophagi and sunken cities beneath the Mediterranean. Somehow with piss and vinegar, I survived the horrendous ordeal, sarcasm just in case this doesn`t translate to email form. On this fateful voyage I also turned the quarter century milestone and was pleasantly surprised when the Turks produced a tasty birthday cake and enough Turkish Raki to kill a small to medium sized family of goats for the occasion. I disembarked at Olympus and stayed in a tree house in a rocky valley that included the ruins of a very well maintained Lycean City slowly being overrun by the forest. The next stop was the village of Goreme in the heart of Cappadoica only 11 hours to the north east. I arrived early in the morning and soon discovered that I had to be in Istanbul the following day as my good friends at the Indian Consul informed me I had been granted a visa, but allowed only the window of 5-5:30 to pick up my passport the following day, gotta love government bureaucracy. This however would not ruin my 16 hours in quite possibly Turkey`s most amazing natural setting. The entire valley is formed by crazy rock formations that are a sight to behold unto themselves, but due to the soft nature of the rock the early Christian communities around the time of St. Paul carved entire cities into these rocks. Communal dining halls, family sized dwellings and churches covered in beautiful frescoes cover the entire surreal lunar landscape and made for an amazing (albeit short) day in Cappadocia. I hiked all around in the dust and heat but around every corner was a castle, slot canyons and even love valley aptly named as all the rocks within take on a very phallic formation. One other plus for Cappadocia was the lack of stray cats and the friendliest stray dogs I have ever met. Sadly I had to leave and the long bus back to Istanbul separated me from one of my favorite places on the European leg of this trip, though this was technically in Asia, and before a knew it I was on the ferry back to European Turkey to pick up my passport and grab the next jet plane to Bombay. Hope everyone is enjoying the fantastic month that is October and you will next here from me somewhere in India, maybe Rajasthan. Hope all is well at home and that I will here from you very shortly. Safe Travels! Cheers. BOb
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