Out of Asia
Winter came to Turkey, rain and grey in the North, crisp freezing cold and dry in the center. We spent a few days in the countries lakes region, walking and cycling. As we are planning to fly to Egypt out of Athens we decided to head back north and east to Bursa which was the original capital of the Ottoman empire. Bursa is built on the slopes of one of Turkeys highest mountains and has many old mosques and loads of hot springs which feed its many bath houses. The city center has plenty of character by Turkish standards and we enjoyed a couple of days there. We went to a real whirling dervish ceremony (we were the only tourists), sipped Sahlap (a drink made using wild orchids) in an old caravaneserie and managed to hire the most luxurious private room in an old Bathhouse for half price by being dumbstruck foreigners. In short, lived it up Ottoman style.From Bursa it was a small matter of 5 hours on the bus to Istanbul and then a further 10 to Plovdiv in Bulgaria. On reflection Turkey is interesting country and incredibly dichotomous. We encountered and got to know the super rich in Istanbul, businessmen and socialites and nomadic shepherds in the hills. Some Turkish will try to cheat you or generally treat you with disdain, others show suprising kindness. Their religion preaches purity yet the young men feel free to leer at and cat call western women in the street and talk openly of their love of 'Russian girls'. Our friends in Ankara (aspiring bureaucrats) took us to an Mozart Opera while on the street the idea of union with Europe is rejected. Many of the people openly display patriotic pride that tends to jingoism but you get the sense that this pride is fragile and hides a deep uncertainty. Perhaps this uncertainty stems from a Europeanized bureaucracy and army that at once promotes Nationalist sentiments whilst rejecting Turkish culture, the only culture the majority of the people understand.
We arrived in Plovdiv in the early hours. Without guide book or any idea where we were going. The only thing we were armed with was one word (probably mispronounced) starigrad - old town. We wandered around the bus station repeating this word to bemused locals like a broken record with tourettes until someone pointed us in the right direction. The contrast with Turkey was immediate, far more old buildings, albeit often neglected, and the architecture gave the immediate feeling of being in Europe. People smiling, laughing, kissing in the street, all unusual sights in Turkey, made an immediate impression. When we eventually found the old town (a trail of bemused locals in our wake) we wandered around until someone stuck their head out of a window several stories up and asked if we were looking for a hostel. Why Yes!
Bulgaria has been really enjoyable so far, its old towns are still not dominated by tourists, (this might just be the time of year) and the food is so much better than in Turkey. We looked around a few old castles and many churches. In the summer it must be great here. The place does have large number of estate agents with English signs which reflects the foreign invasion going on, land being cheap as there are few jobs and the population is quickly shrinking as the young move west and those who stay cannot afford many kids. Another country that will probably change dramatically in the next few years. They join the EU Jan 15th.
Thats it for now, we're planning to fly to Egypt on the 27th so not long now!
posted by justplainnigel @ 2:24 AM
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