Monday June 30th, 2008

I’ve just returned from Turkey, and having had a wonderful and educational experience would love to share it with you. My friends and I decided to travel around southeastern Turkey because of our slight time constraint. I didn’t know quite what to expect of Turkey. All I knew was that the people spoke Turkish and continue to have strong national pride in both their country and former first president Atatürk. What I soon realized was how much culture and language sharing went on in the past between Turkey and Arab countries and continues until now. Many of the food traditions are very similar, especially the sweets (baklava), constant drinking of tea, and of course the Kebabs. Another similarity is their hospitality. All in all, the Turkish people are wonderful. Despite the occasional word or two that the Turkish and Arabic languages have in common, it was very hard to communicate. Luckily my roommate Will knew a bit of Turkish from his time teaching English there. He was our interpreter throughout the trip. When we first arrived in Antakya, I remember feeling relieved when some of the hotel workers would speak Arabic. It was pretty cool that Arabic could be our common language for a change instead of English.

As I said, Antakya was our first stop. Formally known as Antioch, Antakya is a beautiful small city set in a valley. The mountains surrounding the city are dotted with houses with red-tiled rooftops and is also the place where the ancient and well-preserved “St. Peter’s Cave” is located, carved into one of the mountainsides. Unfortunately when we arrived, there had been a rock fall earlier and the cave was closed to visitors. Men were working on the cliffs above it in order to prevent further damage. All I got were a few pictures to at least give an idea of what the area surrounding the cave looks like. Take a look at the Flickr site for those pictures. After the disappointment of not seeing the cave we went to the Mediterranean coast and swam for a while to cool off. The sand was unbelievably hot and the weather was a bit unbearable. Consequently we didn’t stay long and headed back to Antakya proper to take cool showers and wash the salt off us. We stayed one more night watching the Turkey-Germany semi-finals game in which Turkey lost and decided to head off to another city the next day.

Gaziantep was our next stop. It is one of Turkey’s largest cities and is known for its pistachios and baklava. The rumors were correct, delicious. The city also has a bit of a European feel. The night we arrived we had a couple drinks near the city’s citadel and met some young Turkish men who invited us to sit, drink beer, and eat pistachios with them. They didn’t speak much English. However, I soon realized that soccer (football) is a universal language, and one of the guys knew just enough English to communicate that he loved the Liverpool soccer team. I think I can summarize the extent of the evening’s conversation into four words, “I Love You Liverpool.”

The next city was east of Gaziantep, and it was called Saniurfa (or Urfa for short). We arrived at night and just walked around a bit. We wandered into what we found out was the city’s claim to fame. It was a beautiful and enormous garden surrounded by ancient mosques and the city’s citadel, but the most famous place was one of the mosques situated along a fish pond. It was especially beautiful at night with the yellowish-orange lights shining on it. They call it Ibrahim’s pond (or Abraham’s pond), and it is said to be one of the pagan areas that Abraham traveled to in order to cleanse and speak truth after his encounter with the one true God. Harran, one of the cities Abraham lived, is actually only 30 miles from Urfa (the place we were). We went back the garden the next day to see what we missed the night before. I had the chance to sit in a mosque and observe a typical Muslim service. It was a very tranquil and reverent time and I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience it.

That night we headed back west to the Euphrates River where there is a small quiet village. This would be our last night in Turkey, and it was definitely worth it. The river had recently been subjected to Turkey’s construction of the Atatürk Dam, which caused the water level to rise significantly. In fact the government evacuated the entire lower portion of the city and relocated it a couple miles from the city center. Needless to say, the river completely covered this portion of the city. It was a bit spooky. There was one mosque that was right at a point where the water covered only the bottom of it. So the mosque cannot function any more, but it still attracts locals and visitors like myself who walk in and around it for viewing pleasure.

That evening we made our way back to Syria, but it turned out to be a longer journey than we expected. We made it to Syria fine, but we had quite an experience at the border trying to get back in. I had anticipated problems but did not know how it would all play out.

The Syrian government requests that its visitors obtain visas from their home country prior to traveling to Syria. I did so however my visa expired upon leaving the country a second time, so I needed another one. When this situation occurs, and in my case, the person must wait at the border while the Syrian officials there send faxes back and forth to higher officials in Damascus requesting approval for visa issuance. This process takes anywhere between 1 to 8 hours depending on the person and the mood of the Syrian officials handling the situation. My case took around four hours, but the experience was something I’ll remember forever. We were taken to the boss’s office and my situation was discussed. During the discussion tea was offered to us to which we gladly accepted. After this they brought us to another room with beds and chairs to relax while we waited. After a couple hours, the border officials brought out a delicious meal and cold water, and we ate together. (I’m sorry fellow Americans, but this would never happen at American border-crossing stations for non-American visitors under suspicion). The men were extremely sweet and continually asked if we needed anything. Once I was cleared I bought my visa and we were off to Damascus. It was a very pleasant experience to say the least.

My next course starts in a couple days and will last one more month. I look forward to being home with you all, but will surely enjoy the rest of my time here.

Much love,
Jon