Turkish Delight!

Turkish Delight

By Mary Jo

In April and May of this year, we took a marvelous cruise from Italy to Istanbul.  I've written three blogs already:

The first was our time in Northern Italy, staying at a grand hotel on the legendary Lake Maggiore, and enjoying the all time best, warm-hearted wine tasting:

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/05/italian-lakes.html    

Next was cruising down the Eastern Adriatic and visiting several amazingly beautiful and hospitable countries. (That's Kotor, Montenegro on the right.)

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/05/adriatic-shores.html 

Next was Greece, mother of so much Western European culture, where we saw several splendid islands as well as notable mainland sites:

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/06/greek-highlights.html 

 

Turkey

Now finally I can tell you about the last leg of our journey, Turkey, a country where East meets West, a crossroads of history.  Our first stop was in Kudasi, which is near the ancient city of Ephesus.  We had an excellent guide who spoke of Turkey's history and how it became a secular state, very different from the Islamic Arab states. 

We visited several fascinating sites--far more than I can cover well!  We saw the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, and the Ephesus Archeological Museum, a treasure house of ancient artifacts, built after a ban on exporting antiquities was enacted because the British Museum was hoovering up too much of Turkey's past. 

But it doesn't speak well of me that what I remember best on this excursion was our visit to a Turkish carpet store a five minute walk from the ship.  We saw a demonstration of rug making and were offered a variety of lovely drinks, including hot Turkish apple tea, which was amazing.  I admired the elegant glasses and took seconds when offered.  <G>

But the real purpose of the visit was for people who wanted to buy Turkish carpets to shop in a place presumably approved by the Viking cruise line as being honest and easy to deal with. Certainly our host, Sam, was charming and showed us many wonderful carpets. One of his assistants was able to toss a small one into the air where it spun around several times before landing gracefully on the floor. Sam said he hired the guy from a pizza shop, <G> I only wish I'd acted quickly enough to shot a short video of the carpet toss! 

Traditional hand made carpets are a very important part of the culture and the economy in this part of the world.  The really cool part is if you buy one, the price includes tax-free shipping to your doorstep. The same was true when we visited Egypt many years ago.  Win/win for both the carpet creators and the buyers.  I fell totally in love with the unusual, brilliantly covered carpet on the left. 

Troy

Tales of the Trojan War are most famously told in Homer's Iliad, so naturally that was a must see!  The Trojan horse, which enabled the Greeks to sneak soldiers into the walled city of Troy so they could open the gates and let in Greek troops, who destroyed the city. Naturally the picture above is not of the original Trojan horse; we were told that it has to be replaced ever few years. But it's quite a sight, isn't it? 

Archeologically, the sprawling site has nine major layers of ancient city built there.  Here's  an article describing the various Troys.  I'm not enough of an archeology buff to fully appreciate all the many, many stone ruins but it was pretty interesting. Especially the horse. <G> 

Istanbul

Istanbul is one of the world's great cities, with the western part in Europe and the eastern part in Asia.  We sailed under the gorgeous Bosphorus suspension bridge, a mile long and literally a bridge between continents.

I'm pretty sure that the gorgeous building above is the famous Hagia Sophia, "Holy Wisdom" originally a Christian cathedral and now a mosque. I did some research on Istanbul for my romantic adventure novel, Once a Scoundrel because the city was the site of the grand action finale of the story. 

My research revealed that there were hundreds of cisterns under the city, including one under Hagia Sophia. These cisterns became very important to my characters!  I didn't have a chance to visit any, but Istanbul simply has way too much to see.

But it was time to go home.  We were lucky enough to get a direct flight from Istanbul to Dulles Airport in Washington on the most excellent Turkish Airlines. And when we got to Dulles, it took us THREE HOURS to get through the airport so we could head for home. Travel in 2022! 

Have you ever been to Turkey?  Would you like to visit there? If so, tell us about it! 

Mary Jo, who wanted to show a picture of the lines at Dulles Airport, but Typepad would only show it upside down, alas.  So here's another picture from Istanbul.  Plus I just added the picture of Hagia Sophia above, which I'd written about but forgot to actually post! Sorry.

 

Comments

[Marilyn Forsyth]

Istanbul, in fact all of Turkey, remains one of my most memorable holidays. I had a 'thing' for Troy as a teenager that I never really outgrew, and it was so wonderful to visit it on my 50th birthday. I even got to talk to the archeologist who was working on the site. Such a thrill! Thanks for the memory, Mary Jo.

[Mary M.]

One of the best things I've been gifted by the chance to travel is reliving my experiences with others who have been to the same places. I've climbed the stairs of that Trojan horse (or perhaps its predecessor?), been to Troy (surprisingly more modest than its history, been to Hagia Sophia (and the Blue Mosque—my favorite), sat for tea and sales talk in a rug shop (and, yes, had one similar to your fave above shipped home), and for a topper attended an Istanbul cooking class where my classmates were a pair of lovely ladies from Germany (and I learned to char and peel an eggplant, btw). My favorite memory is still the dawn balloon ride over Cappadocia, but it's all good. Thanks, Mary Jo, for the chance to revisit my "Turkish Delight."

[Kareni]

Thank you for a wonderful post, Mary Jo, about a place I've never visited. I must admit that I was waiting for Turkish Delight to make an appearance!

[Annette N]

Thanks for the terrific post as well as the pictures. It is quite evident that you saw some wonderful places.

Hope everyone is well.

[Karin]

Turkey is right at the top of my bucket list. You didn't mention the food, but I hear it's the best! I do love going to Turkish restaurants in the States. We also have lots of Middle Eastern grocers in New Jersey, so I'll be on the lookout for that apple tea.

[Andrea Penrose]

Thank you for this latest chapter of the Mother of All Trips. What a fabulous and fascinating part of the world! (I loved the action set in Istanbul in Once A Scoundrel! May the gorgeous carpet inspire more stories set in that part of the world! (hint, hint.)

[Mary Jo Putney]

Marilyn, what a marvelous birthday experience! The archeologist was the cherry on the sundae. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Mary M, what a great, GREAT visit you had! I'd have loved to go to Cappadocia and had one of those balloon rides, but having done the Italian Lakes extension, doing Cappadocia would have been just too long away from home. I'm glad you could enjoy it for me!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Kareni, I was yearning to write this blog before I forgot too much, but there were too many other things I had to talk about in earlier blogs. Turkey was a high note to end on.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Annette, I'm so glad you enjoyed the post. The Mayhem Consultant and I are just born tourists. *G* We're fine, and I hope you are also.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Karin, you're right about Turkish food--I love it, and Mideastern food in general. As for the apple tea, when returned home I went to Amazon and found that Turkish apple tea is very much a thing. I bought two types, and liked this one best: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z88M94W/ It's almost as good as the one I had in Kudasi.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Andrea, I don't know if the carpet is offering inspiration, but I love looking at it and the cats love snoozing on it!

[Melanie Friedman]

Mary Jo,

My Turkish Obsession started with watching one of their Dizi's (Dramas) and is still going strong. I've actually started learning the language and I think their language is more romantic than the French. I am Serbian, and I am sure I have some Turkish blood in me, as Serbia was under the Turkish rule for five centuries! I've never been there and would love to visit, especially Istanbul!

Now I'm off to read the blog about your Crna Gora (Black Field) or as everyone in the world is calling it Montenegro trip.

Thanks for sharing your travels with us :) I truly am enjoying reading about them!

[Karin]

Thanks, I love finding new teas.

[Vicki L]

The apple tea sounds delicious.....anything apple is delicious. I'm not surprised they have apple tea. Apples originated in that part of the world.

I love your travel blogs. I always learn so much. Those tidbits of history....

[Mary Jo Putney]

Karin, this tea was quite nice--sweet but not too
sweet, and very apple-y. (But the one in Kudasi was even better! Maybe it was because were were in Turkey.)

[Mary Jo Putney]

Melanie, I'm so glad you're enjoying my blogs. They offer only a small taste of these wonderful places, but better a small bite that nothing! Yes, if you're Serbian, it's almost certain that you have Turkish blood. Maybe it's time for Ancestry.com!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Vicki--I have a packrat mind, so I love the tidbits. Plus, the subjects are far too large to cover comprehensively, so fun bits do help capture the flavor.

[Laynis]

I would so love to go to Turkey! Your cruise sounds like a dream trip. So many interesting places.

[Jeanne Behnke]

I'd love to visit Turkey sometime. My parents visited there twice and really loved it. They brought a turkish doll home for me which sits on a pile of some of my keeper books. Someday.....

[Mary Jo Putney]

Laynis, it was a fabulous itinerary. Very much a matter of "Sign us up!" when we saw it. But there was a long (covid, of course) delay before we could actually do the journey.

[Mary Jo Putney]

And there the Turkish doll sits, whispering "Come visit my homeland!" I hope you have the opportunity.