In no particular order, I present the higlights from our Turkey 2008 trip:
History
We saw some really, really old stuff on this trip. I saw a statue (the one in the picture) of a man who was a contemporary of Daniel (the lions' den guy), and a rod that may have been around in Abrahamic times. It's hard for my mind to really understand how long ago that was, but I tried.One of my favourite parts of the trip was visiting the ruins of Ephesus. It was very cool to walk through buildings and down streets that were once inhabited and used by people who lived in the time of Jesus (and even before). Many of the impressive sites (like the library and many columns) were reconstructed and had new concrete parts added to make them fit together just right, but this didn't take away from the experience for me. I'm constantly amazed by the architectural feats created before modern technology. As we walked up the gradual incline to the upper level of the Hagia Sophia, Darren and I marveled at how each piece of building material had to be carried up. Amazing.
Cats
Everywhere we went in Turkey we ran into cats. We started to call them by name such as Street cat, Market cat, Gold shop cat, Ruins cat, Palace cat, Ancient amphitheatre cat, Welcome cat (sitting outside our hotel door). Darren says he's going to make an entire photo album on facebook dedicated to Turkish cats. Usually we just looked at them and took their pictures, but by the end of the trip I started to make friends with the cats that talked to me.Reuniting with Old Friends
After spending a week alone in Istanbul, Darren and I met up with friends of mine in the airport. Back in the 90s, Hannah-Lee and I worked at summer camp together and became good friends. I was actually one of her bridesmaids eleven years ago. Over the years we've both lived in various places (as diverse as Singapore, Chile, and Turkey) and it wasn't until facebook that we found each other again. Darren had never met Hannah-Lee or her husband Eric, but liked them instantly. It was so nice to get a small glimpse into their lives in Ankara. We saw where they live and work, and met some of their friends and colleagues.
H-L & Eric were so hospitable and generous. They included us in their Christmas celebrations, bringing us to a Christmas Day brunch with their friends and even taking us out to a wonderful Turkish restaurant on Christmas Eve after traveling for over a day to get home from Singapore. I was glad to see how much they love living in Turkey, despite the difficulties that come with living in a foreign land. It was also wonderful to catch up with what has been going on over the years and hear about their possible future plans.
Meeting New Friends
There's often a kind of natural bond between expatriates. We have something in common with each other (the drive to leave our comfortable lives to seek adventure and purpose in another country) that our family and friends at home don't always understand. We met a number of interesting people living in Turkey, and while we didn't get much time to talk, we enjoyed hearing parts of their stories and sharing parts of ours.
We also had the opportunity to have some conversations with Turks. Restaurant servers enjoyed talking to us, since business was slow in the winter. A random man on the street brought us up to a roof where Darren got some gorgeous pictures of Istanbul and told us all about the area (before taking us to his cousin's carpet shop!) One of the employees at the pension we stayed at in Selcuk (near Ephesus) spent hours talking to us about Turkish history, previous guests and his life and family. From my experience, I can confirm the warmth and friendliness of Turkish people.
Culture
Many people (expats in Qatar) say that Qatar has no culture. While I don't completely agree with this, I have a better understanding of where these people are coming from now. While in Turkey we felt like we were truly in a foreign land. In fact, Darren said to me as we ate at a small canteen-like restaurant filled with Turkish men, where we weren't exactly sure what we had ordered until it came, "This is very surreal." This kind of experience seems like it would be much more prevalent in other foreign countries than in our foreign country.While in Turkey, both Darren and I drank a lot of tea. Darren doesn't usually like hot drinks, but he did very well 'swallowing' Turkish tea, and he even acquired a real liking for apple tea! I personally enjoyed the ritual cup of tea at the end of a meal, even if it was so strong it required two cubes of sugar in the itty bitty tea cups.
Food
We have about 6 Turkish restaurants within walking distance from our apartment. Most of them are just shwarma shops (doner, I guess I should say), but at least one of them has a decent selection of delicious and inexpensive Turkish dishes. But getting the real stuff in the homeland was wonderful. Darren and I each tried new and delicious dishes that we can't get here. I must say, I'm glad we were there in winter because Turkish food is very dense and hardy (hearty?)- good for cold, rainy or snowy days.
Photography
Before we moved to Qatar, we bought a fairly good digital SLR camera. I'm always encouraging Darren to take pictures with it, but he's often reluctant, not wanting to "babysit the camera" while we're out. But this trip he took the camera everywhere we went and got some really nice shots. He also got to try out some of the features of the camera. I like that he's developing this side of his creativity, and I also like having the pictures. I'm the kind of person who likes to have her photo taken, so it works out well.Relaxation
This trip was very relaxed and low-key. We saw a lot of cool things, and had many wonderful experiences, but we didn't feel rushed at all. Because of the cold weather, most days we spent about 5 hours outside sightseeing, and then we'd return to our hotel room to warm up and rest. Darren would blog, I would read...it was lovely. We found a good balance between seeing the sights and resting.
Snow
As our plane was descending in Ankara, Darren pointed out the window and said to me "Look." I gasped. Snow! I had resigned myself to not see snow for a good while when we decided to move to the Middle East and visit Canada only in the summer. But it was so nice to have a few days when we could hear the crunch of snow beneath our feet. I think the world looks so beautiful covered in white. It was a very nice treat. (I certainly haven't missed it since being back in Doha, though!)Christmas
This was our first Christmas away from our families. We both called home and talked to our parents and siblings, but we didn't see anyone in person. Darren was rather concerned about spending Christmas alone, so I'm so glad we were able to be with our friends (new and old) for both Christmas eve and day. Hannah-Lee even had a Christmas tree and nativity scene set up so it really felt like Christmas.
There's so much more...
If you're interested in a more detailed description of our time away, I invite you to check out Darren's very thorough (and entertaining) recounting of our trip. It starts here.
As delightful as our vacation was, I must say it's good to be home. Sleeping in my own bed, showering in my own bathroom, snuggling with my hubby on my own couch...these things can't be beat. But Turkey came close.
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