All This Is That

Poem: Just beneath the topsoil

Collonaded ruins wait
Hidden beneath the topsoil
For the next generation

Of archaeologists and historians
To begin excavation anew.
Cream colored Ionic columns

Shattered friezes, and statues
Lie quietly in repose
As someone back at the University

Matches Part 1324A to 1324B
And come up with a cornerstone
To act as a plinth

For the first earthquake fractured column
And the reconstruction begins.
If time and grants allow,

They may later get to the fragementary
Fingertips, hands, noses, ears, and penises,
And reconstruct the statues for us.
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Friday, July 04, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: archaeology, Hellas, Jack brummet poem

Painting: The Temple of Aphrodite

By. . .Jack Brummet on Friday, July 04, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Afrodesia, Temple of Aphrodite

Happy Birthday, America, more or less

By. . .Jack Brummet on Friday, July 04, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: 4th of July, Hellas, Rhodes, United States of America

Datca, Turkey to Rhodes, Greece

The Isle of Rhodes


This morning we sailed from Datca, Turkey to the Island of Rhodes in Greece. It was a one hour boat ride across the sea.

This very minute I am sitting with Keelin at the cafe our hotel owner has outside the hotel. We are talking to him about the ruins of Greece...and he is expressing his anger and sadness that Turkey is not still part of Greece ("the part, not the east...that's the Kurds and others.").

I just asked him if other Greeks feel the same way. "No. Many are much more angry about this."


The castle of the Knights of Malta in Rhodes

It's nice to be back in Greece, after 26 years. Rhodes itself seems very European and Cosmopolitan, compared to mich of Turkey at least. In fact, Keelin and I are celebrating our return this afternoon (it's 5:30) with a glass of Retsina in the garden of our hotel. We were half our age when we came here last( a pre-honeymoon of sorts).

One thing that has definitely changed in Turkey is the money and the prices. When we were here in 1982, it was very very cheap. The currency was then based on the Greek drachma. They now use the Euro, and you can just imagine how the dollar is faring against the Euro. (a Euro is now worth about $1.60). More sticker shock. Since we got up at five AM, I spent much of the afternoon napping, and recovering from a touch of what you might call the Sultan's Revenge).

In case you're wondering about the Colossus of Rhodes (one of the "seven wonders of the world")...don't bother. Yes, this is where one of those seventh wonders was, but it no longer exists. It was destroyed in an earthquake fifty-four years after it was built. (According to the Wikipedia: "Media reports in 1989 initially suggested that large stones found on the seabed off the coast of Rhodes might have been the remains of the Colossus; however this theory was later shown to be without merit.

Another theory published in an article in 2008 by Ursula Vedder suggests that the Colossus was never in the port, but rather on a hill named Monte Smith, which overlooks the port area. The temple on top of Monte Smith has traditionally thought to have been devoted to Apollo, but according to Vedder, it would have been a Helios sanctuary. The enormous stone foundations at the temple site, the function of which is not definitively known by modern scholars, are proposed by Vedder to have been the supporting platform of the Colossus."
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Friday, July 04, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Greece, Hellas, Rhodes, Turkey to Greece

Mareymane - The Virgin Mary’s House???

click to enlarge and read the story behind Mary's house

As you know by now, most ruins, sites, and museums charge around 10 YTL (or, as I call them yurtles), or, $8 USD for admission, and sometimes an additional $8 USD or $2 or $4, for a special extra admission (like the incredible dwelling excavations at Ephesus). And likewise, the admission to visit the Virgin Mary’s last purported domicile, outside of the town of Selcuk was a stiff ten yurtles.

The place was packed with Catholic faithful (the Pope also visited recently), kneeling and making the sign of the cross. It was a small stone house, and entirely unremarkable. The evidence, as you will see from the informational sign, was shaky at best. After four minutes, you’ve seen everything there is to see.

Mareymane is where St. John the Evangelist brought Mary to care for her. On the cross, Jesus requested his favorite disciple to care for her. It was in this part of Asia Minor that John was charged with establishing churches and spreading the gospel of his friend and savior.

By. . .Jack Brummet on Thursday, July 03, 2008 2 comments Links    

Labels: John The Baptist, Mareymane, The Vigin Mary

The Food In Turkey ( a very subjective take)

Turkish breakfast




The Turks claims this is one of the six countries in the world that is food self-sufficient. They grow everything they eat and drink. At least that’s what they claim. I’m not so sure about the Coca Cola (or the just as good and half the price Turka Cola). I don’t know who the other five countries are, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one is Mexico.

On the whole, Turkish food is serviceable. I’ve never had bad food here, but then again, I’ve never had great food. In general the quality level doesn’t vary much. And there are roughly 12 dishes that you see everywhere, and they rarely have many local or creative twists.

The number one snack food on the street is grilled corn, which somehow came here from the new world and became a local favorite. Istanbul in particular has hundreds of grilled corn carts, but I saw it in most other cities as well. You also see carts selling incredible tasting almonds and pistachios.

The soups, both lentil-based and tomato based ones are very subtly spiced (usually no or little garlic and almost never spicy). They are almost always good. There is also a nice vermicelli soup in a tomato base, with oregano and mint.

Fresh squeezed orange juice is everywhere, and it’s cheap ($1 or $2 USD)and great. They also have excellent cherry, apricot, peach, and pomegranate juices.


Lahmacun, a respectable Turkish version of pizza

You see lime trees everywhere, and I’ve seen them in vegetable stalls a few times, but they are mostly ignored in favor of lemons. However, the most common form of lemon is bottled lemon juice, which is like bottled lemon juice everywhere…that is, pathetic. I think my time in Mexico has left me far preferring lime to lemon. Additionally, the fresh lemons never seem vibrant here, but always seem a little tired, like the peppers.

Mezes – Usually cold starters that include spreads, dolmades, and other nibbles. They are almost strictly vegetarian, and would be a good option for our veggie pals, and most of it would even work for more extreme vegan-Taliban.

You would have to work extremely hard here to maintain a gluten-free diet. The salads and soups would probably be safe, as would sis kebap. You could eat the pilaf, but sometimes, they have broken pieces of vermicelli in it, which would not work for celiacs. There are a lot of fruits and vegetables and meats, so you could piece something together, but it would not be easy.


Rice Pilaf. This is a much beloved food, but, alas, I find it pretty subpar and almost always far too oily. Of course, I have much the same complaint about restaurant risotto, and restaurant paella too.

Pizza. They have their own take on pizza (pide) — one comes with cheese, and the other with minced lamb, with a few other variations. The crusts are baked in a wood fired oven, and are excellent. You get a small pizza (enough for one person) for around $2.75 US.

Tea, or Çay (pr: chai). The number one beverage. Çay is served in delicate, small fluted glasses, usually with a couple lumps of sugar and a tiny spoon on the saucer. It’s very good tea. They also serve (but don’t drink themselves) a very tasty apple tea. One turk told me he drinks dozens of glasses of Çay a day.

Turkish Coffee – Is a suspension of water, coffee grounds and sugar. I used to drink it many years ago, at Greek restaurants, but I don’t have the heart for it anymore. When you finish, there is about an inch of sludge in the demitasse cup. People will read your fortune in it, like they do in tea leaves in the western world. Some places have espresso, which I’ve avoided. I don’t think I’ve seen a Starbucks here. I’ve been making do with one cup of the ubiquitous and execrable Nescafe, and am almost decaffeinated. Now I just have to quit drinking Turka Cola light.

Sis kebap, or Shish Kabob. Usually lamb. It is never bad, and is often very good. The marinated lamb (or chicken) is cooked over charcoal, and often served with eggplant, roasted tomatoes, and other vegetables.

Doner – Like the Gyro often served in America, but better because they don't put too much meat on. Lamb or chicken is cooked on a vertical rotisserie and as the meat chars a carver slices off thin slices for your sandwich. It is served on something like a Pita (Pide), but much better, with usually tomatoes, a little onion (never enough) and a touch of sauce (tomato or yoghurt based). These are great, ubiquitous, cheap, and pretty clean (e.g. very little oil).

Yoghurt – Yoghurt here is great, and comes in many varieties. In fact, at the grocery store, the yoghurt choices are mind-bending. The yoghurt section is an emormous aisle and very little distinguishes the dozens of varieties to the non-Turkish reader. So far our random selections have all been good.

Turkish Breakfast – This meal often gets you through from 9 AM to 6 PM. The basics include some fruit (apricots, or oranges); sometimes a feta-like cheese, and another local mild cheese; at least two kinds of olives—oil cured black ones, or brine-cured green olives; baskets of the good and ubiquitous French bread; cherry and strawberry jams; margarine or butter; Çay (Tea) or Nescafe (powdered instant coffee with milk); often an omelet or a boiled egg; and sometimes yoghurt. Breakfast was always good. A bagel like bread was often served too, almost always with sesame seeds baked into the crust. It is my favorite bread.

Shepherd’s salad – usually tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, parsley and olive oil. They give you wedges of lemon to season it, salt and pepper, and bread. Honestly, it’s kind of a feeble Greek Salad a/k/a Choriotiki…

Eggs – Eggs are very similar to those in Mexico…extremely fresh, with bright orange yolks. They come ten to a carton. A dozen is not a frame of reference here.

Drink – Some of the local wines are very good. Interestingly, alcohol is taxed at the grocery store at 18%. Efes Pilsner, a local brew is very good. Three or four other beers are available: Carling, Miller High Life, and two more local beers. Raki, an anisette beverage is fiery, and pretty good if you have just one or two. Foreign liquor goes for $40 to $80 a bottle, but locally made vodka (votka), gin, and raki is reasonable. The local version of diet Coke is very good (Turka Cola) and half the price of the American stuff.


Wines made in this region are reasonable (10-15 USD), and pretty good, but you also see really mediocre wines from elsewhere, like Yellowtail from Australia, selling for $40. A bottle of French wine we buy in the US for around $15 goes for $60. In short, stick with the local wines, liquors, and beers, or just drink Çay.

The local "French" bread is very good, and they serve it at breakfast, lunch and dinner. It goes for an incredibly cheap seventy-five cents at the bakery...still warm.

The two times we’ve had a kitchen in an apartment, I have gone to the grocery store and cooked dinners (like I do in Mexico). Shopping in a Turkish grocery store is like being on drugs …you aren’t even sure what about half the goods are and the labels and pictures don’t often tell you what is inside. A package of Oregano may have a picture of a monkey and it is ground more like we grind thyme (when you can even see the packet’s contents). As always, vegetables are the easiest to buy, since they’re not packaged. I can tell when they are ripe, old, expensive, etc. Meat is tricky—the cuts are far different than ours, although they treat chicken exactly the same as we do. I could usually tell what I was looking for by the texture. Cheese was a total crap shoot—we locked onto one we liked and stuck with that.


Fruit was like fruit anywhere, and the best here seem to be cherries and apricots and oranges, and, of course, watermelons, which Turks love. Every day you see dozens of trucks hauling in watermelon and a large percentage of people you see on the street are carrying one home. It is a frequent desert.

They love baked potatoes here. The potatoes are basically Russets, and they serve them with all sorts of toppings. Yoghurt, of course, and various dips and spreads, and chicken, and olives, and salt and pepper.

Although most of the vegetables are excellent, the peppers are always a bit tired. And don’t try to buy just one banana or head of garlic! You take the whole stalk, or nothing, and if you break the rules, you get a good-natured scolding.

By. . .Jack Brummet on Thursday, July 03, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Turkey, Turkish food

Turkey in Ruins

By Keelin Curran
All This Is That History and Archeology Editor






Turkey is in ruins, and fully alive at the same time. I love ruins, and did not fully realize when we selected this destination for our trip exactly how much in heaven I would be here tramping around the churches, columns and caves.


A salvaged frieze from the Temple of Afrodesias


Aphrodite (aka Venus) herself, from the Afrodesia Musem of statuary, friezes, etc. Click to enlarge.

In college, one of my sidelines was Greek archeology. I even took a few semesters of Ancient Greek. On one of our earlier trips to Greece, I tracked down a just-discovered (1979) Minoan temple site destroyed by an earthquake in 18th century BC—Anemospilia—see http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/anemospilia.htm based on the xeroxed information my professor at Hunter College (whose name I don’t recall, but who was an acolyte of renowned Greek archeologist Emily Vermeule) had handed out to the class.


The gate to the Temple of Aphrodite. Click to enlarge.


A close-up of the gates. Click to enlarge.

I travelled by bus, and tramped around the hills near Iraklion to find it. It was not much—just three rooms you could imagine based on the stone foundations, but they had done sacrifices there that brought the place to life—and death--as this passage describes:


Del Brummet ponders a statue of a philosopher in the excellent Afrodesias Museum. Click to enlarge.

“The west room is, in many ways, the most interesting. . . . [t]his room was used for blood sacrifices. Uniquely in Crete, three skeletons were found in the room. Two of these people, a man and a woman, had been killed by the earthquake and resulting fire. Another male skeleton was also found in the room. This body was found lying on an altar. A knife was resting on the skeleton. The feet had been tied and it has been argued that the young man had been sacrificed and the blood drained from his body. If so, it might well have been his blood in the vessel found in the antechamber next to the skeleton. It is most likely that the normal victims of sacrifice would have been bulls, but in the face of seismic activity which threatened the whole community, it may have been considered necessary to make a human sacrifice.”


Colum Brummet emerges from the gladiator's tunnel at the vast 30,000 seat stadium at Afrodessia. Click to enlarge.

This is about as dramatic as it gets in the ruins world, but well illustrates the open-ended speculation (along with tolerance for sifting and digging) required to do this work.


The 30,000 seat stadium & gladaiatorial venue at Afrodesia.

Anyway, since that 1982 trip to Anemospilia, I haven’t been able to indulge my ruins interest until the last few weeks. The family has been most accommodating in patiently going along on trips to see Agia Sofia in Istanbul, (not a ruin, an amazing, living space from 6th C BC but still a lasagna of one culture on top of another, as ruins often are), the cave dwellings and churches of Goreme, and more recently, the ruins riot that is Ephesus, and most dreamily, the ruins of Afrodisias.

I barely know where to start in talking about these experiences. Goreme and Cappadocia were the most mysterious and humbling. These cave refuges of troglodytes and early Christians were often built at great heights above the current ground level—or far below ground. How did they get up there? How did they tolerate long seasons underground? You have a sense about how scared these people must have been, much of the time, threatened by Hittites and Romans et al. The spaces are so small. They would have known everything about each other—a contrast from our life of screens and large dwellings. And the simple, repetitive and sometimes beautiful scenes of the life of Christ in these churches give one the sense of how much reinforcement is necessary to start a religion from the ground up.


Jack in the Bouletarian theatre that served as the ruling council's meeting place as well as a theatre and performance space.

Then, Ephesus and Afrodisias. These two cities give a living sense of Roman life, in its beauty and brutality. The museum near Ephesus had a riveting exhibit on gladiator culture in ancient Rome, complete with an analysis of the wounds suffered by gladiators based on the skeletal evidence. This culture existed among the beautiful marble buildings and statues; blood and circuses and Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe. Yet you can not help but compare the artistry born of imperial ego, politics, wealth and will in these urban spaces with those we inhabit and find our world poverty-stricken in comparison.

At Afrodisias, up until the last few decades, the town of Gehre was built right on top of Afrodisias. Townspeople built there modest houses braced by the bottoms of roman columns, and crushed their grapes in roman baths. The Temple of Aphrodite, unreconstructed, was a field for their livestock. Seeing the pictures of Gehre (since moved a few kilometers, sadly, to allow the excavation) gives one the sense of how we are just the latest layer in this earth lasagna.

Okay, I will stop. Thanks to you All This Is That readers for indulging me in this Turkey travelogue. We have more ruins to go, so life is very, very good for that reason and all the others that make travel so great.
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Afrodesia, archaeology, Ephesus, Keel, ruins, Turkey

Where am I? Dacha, I think?

By. . .Jack Brummet on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 0 comments Links    

Poem: Moslems vs. Nazarenes vs. Pagans

1.
Moslem shepherds steal ınto the strange caves wıth paintıngs
And scratch the eyes out and throw stones at the heads
of figures on the frescoes.

2.
The Crusades.

3.
The Christians charge in
And carve crosses into the foreheads
Of fallen statues in the Roman ruins

Like somehow that will make up for
Whatever they did or didn't belıeve

4.
A lot of us don't belıeve this
But they were all people just like you and me.
And ın some strange way
They were just all tryıng to save each other.
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Monday, June 30, 2008 3 comments Links    

Labels: Ephesus, Jack brummet poem, Turkey

Pıgeon Valley ın the Goreme

click to zoom in on Pigeon Valley

Our last trip in the Goreme was to Pigeon Valley. The views were incredible, and the shops pathetic. I mention the shops, because this was perhaps the one time our driver stopped by a site where he might have been im cahoots with the merchants. We were, as always, stalwart ın our defenses against The Merch. The offerings were the usual, and as always iın Turkey, they were not overly aggressive. We came for the views and that's all we took away with us. Selah.

İt was a great road trıp, but in retrospect, having had a car a few days ın Selcuk and Efes, we're pretty good at operating our own tours. But our driver dıd cap it off by giving us a watermelon feast iın a meadow across from the caravanserai.

click to enlarge

Our driver was a good guy, and we all liked hıs grandson Abdullah... Anyhow, I am still a litle out of order here. . .İ have yet to write about our day ın Ankara, the plane flight to Selcuk, or even the really fascinatıng bus rıde from Ankara (thumbs up to Turkish Aır!). And I stıll need to write about Ephesus. And my essay on Turkish cuisine. And our Pensione owner ın Goreme. And, after today, our visit to St. John The Baptist's basilica, and Ephesus, of course, not to mention the fantastic Ephesus Museum.

Colum, our driver, Abdullah, and Del - click to enlarge

We didn't learn much about this valley, but there are hundreds of dwellings carved from the tufa hillsides, as well as a lot of stone and masonry houses constructed as infill (real estate name drop).

---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Monday, June 30, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Cappadocia, Goreme, Turkey

Ephesus: my favorite ruins of all time

By. . .Jack Brummet on Monday, June 30, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: archaelogy, Efes, Ephesus, excavatıons, ruins, Turkey

A vısıt to a Caravanseari

The gate to Hoca Meset Caravanserai

Yesterday (or maybe the day before?...we've since been to Ankara and Ephesus...dıd ıt even really happen iıf I couldn't get wiıred up to write about ıt?) we vısıted The Hoca Meset Caravanseri ın the Goreme. Caravanseris were a sort of hotel/way station for camel caravans that brought goods back and forth along the Aksaray Layseri highway. It had numerous spacious stalls, both open and closed, for use in the summer and winter. There were rooms for camels and rooms for the men. As hot as it is here (ın the 90's), it is hard to believe there is ever really a winter...but there is, and it gets cold...similar to the extremes of clımate in the eastern part of Washington State, or the middle-west. Interestingly, as we took the bus here, when the mountains receded iınto the distance, the landscape very closely resembled the rolling plains of the midwest, say like Iowa or Kansas. But just when I thought that more mountains would appear, or once, a gigantıc salt lake (or possibly an inland sea).

The Caravanseris looked very castle-like, and had domes, and elaborately carved gates, as well as to turrets. Although we were told they were just basic stopping places for camel trains, they were defınitely spiffıer than, say, your usual Motel 6.

Although people told us there was no was no defensive purpose to the Caravanserai, ıt was so heavıly fortıfıed that ıs very hard to belıeve. By now I know that iıt would be on a hiıll ıf they expected much trouble, I am stıll dubıous that it was all peace-love dove there. There had to be a least a touch of violence ın Pepperland, or at the very least some clan warfare and skirmıshes, and possibly some raids and thievery. It wasn't fortified for nothing.

Sleeping chambers off a central courtyard

This particular Caravanserai was built in 1231. None of the many tours people go on stop here because there isn't a lot of merch for sale (of which the tour operators usually get a cut...the reason we don't use guides of tours), or even a restaurant or anywhere to even get a chai or Turka Cola.

---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Monday, June 30, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Caravanserai

The Selime Monastery and the İlhara Gorge

OK....the internet here in our hotel is sketchy to say the least, complıcated by the Turkish keyboard, whıch ıs dıfferent enough that it took me half an hour to figure out whıch keys to hit to log in...

The İlhara Gorge

The Ilhara Gorge - The family hiked with our young friend Abdullah through the Ilhara gorge. My knee was killing me (since in remission...I thınk I torqued it ın that run of eıght mıle walkıng days up and down the steep steps and hılls of Istanbul...ıt seems good for more abuse now), so I waited for them at the end, where I wrote a poem (see: http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com/2008/06/poem-in-greme.html), drew two pictures, and drank three glasses of chai.

Claıre and Jack drinkıng chai on the creek at the end of the gorge

Inside the sanctuary

We also vısıted another church in the hills,(The Selime monastery). Yes, another cave church, but this was the most elaborate and complex of any we visited in Gorem (and we visited at least six or seven). The church itself was far more archıtectural and elaborate that the cruder ones we'd see hacked out of tufa ın the Underground City. The sanctuary was a very tall barrel vaulted structure with two domed apses on a T ın the front. The frescoes were again paınted by schooled artists, and the overall finish seemed to indicate that the people who buılt this ıntended ıt to be more permanent.

The outside of the Monastery

Claire and Abdullah ın a room ın a cave ın the monastery

---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Sunday, June 29, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Ephesus, İılhara Gorge, Selıme Monastery, Turkey

The underground city

--as usual, click all photos to enlarge--

In one of the cave kitchens, four floors beneath the earth

We went on a long tour today, hitting at least five interesting geological, historical, and religious sites. The first stop was the underground city, an enormous cave of interconnecting rooms, four stories of which are open to the public for exploration and to give us all a serious case of the willies. It was fascinating. And spooky. The underground city reaches down nine stories into the earth...a puzzling labyrinth with hundreds of tunnels connecting rooms on each level. Each floor contained dwellings and various public rooms, churches, wineries, cooking caves, and stairways leading up or down to the next level.

A room three stories down -click to enlarge

A ventilator shaft that goes down nine stories

The entire time I was in the cave, I was a little nervous about earthquakes, the possibility of an entire busload of tourists panicking and heading for the exits (the tunnels and staircases are rarely wider than two and a half feet). And then, what if the lights went out?! Without a torch, could you ever possibly escape? Well, as you see, I was a nervous nellie, because we made it out after an hour...

a staircase leading down to the next floor

More tomorrow-- my travelling partners, aka family, promise to pull up their slack and write about some of the other sites we saw and adventures we had today (like an amazing cave church in a remote mountain; a hike along the gorge, and a visit to a caravansary. Tomorrow morning, we travel via bus to Ankara (the capitol) for one night, and then fly off to I forget where for the next leg of the trip. In closing let me say that one thing I've learned on this trip is the enormous difference between a vacation and travelling...I have yet to put my feet up and read the weighty Melville tome I brought along. That will happen later in the trip. I hope!

Jack with a bouquet of wildflowers and poppies he picked for Keelin at a crater lake

---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Saturday, June 28, 2008 1 comments Links    

Labels: Ankara, Cappadocia, Goreme, The underground city

Jack's version of a ceramic mosque tile

By. . .Jack Brummet on Friday, June 27, 2008 1 comments Links    

Labels: Jack Brummet art

Poem in Göreme

A breeze carries
The scent of horses
Along the creek
________________

A band of swallows
Spins a circle
Fifty meters toward heaven
________________

The creek alongside me
Carries raindrops, tears, and snow
That may once have landed

In Johannesberg, Soho
Bucerias, Constantinople,
Athens, Ketchikan, or Saskatoon.
________________

Six ducks, looking exactly like
Their American brethren
Wait for handouts of bread

From the waiters
As each table of German, French,
And Japanese tourists

File out, refueled and ready
To restock the tour buses
And move on to the next stop.
---o0o---
Göreme, Turkey, June 27, 2008

By. . .Jack Brummet on Friday, June 27, 2008 1 comments Links    

Labels: Jack brummet poem, Poetry

A restorative Hot Springs visit in the mountains

Tomorrow, were doing something we've never done in our travels. We're taking a tour. Or rather, we're hiring a van and driver to take us on a 200 kilometer tour of some outlying areas. When Keelin--savvy negotiator she is balked at the price, our friendly local scooter renter (who we also spent the night with watching the Turkey v Germany match) offered to take us at nine o'clock tonight to a hot springs. Of course we jumped at the chance. If you've read All This Is That long, you know I am a hot water aficionado and this would be an awesome chance to soak in the geothermal waters of Turkey. Of course there are hot springs here--there have to be if you have seen the utter devastation the three volcanoes wrought as they exploded and created the fantastic tufa towers of the Goreme.






The springs were about 25 Km. and a somewhat harrowing van ride away. We passed dozens of slow moving trucks crawling up the mountain pass, and finally hit a reasonably smooth dirt and gravel road. When we arrived the place looked closed. It was. But they gladly opened it for us (opening it consisted largely of taking some Lira from us). The facility was extremely rustic in the best sense of the word.

The hot springs were piped into an Olympic sized pool, and the water was perfect, although cooler than I keep my my own backyard hot springs. It was about 100 degrees. At one end a chute funneled in water at about 130 degrees. Naturally I spent most of my time at that end of the pool. We got them to turn off the lights and we could see billions of stars--even more than you see in the heart of Montana. With zero light pollution, dark skies rule the day. You could see the stars so clearly that in spots they looked like a picture of the Milky Way, with dense star formations that almost looked like fog or clouds. We could also see satellites and shooting stars and more constellations than I have ever seen in my life. We soaked, talked, star gazed and swam for about an hour and a half.

The water was perfect, and unlike most hot springs, there was almost no sulphur smell at all. The highly mineralized (I'm pretty dubious this is actually a word) water felt great on the skin, and extremely soothing on our weary limbs after another day of tromping up and down hills in the mid-day sun.
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Thursday, June 26, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Cappadocia, hot springs

Cappadocia's Goreme Open Air Museum, Churches, and Troglodyte dwellings

A fresco of Jesus in the black church - click to enlarge


A tufa tower with many dwellings. I could not figure out how they got to the higher caves. A local said there hand and footholds and the inhabitants climbed to their homes.


The most famous sight--and justifiably so--in Turkey's Cappadocia region are the thousands of cave dwellings and at least 400 churches built into rock caves. I won't go into the history of the Saints or the story of how Christianity took a foothold here, but it is a fascinating and moving story, particularly since Turkey is now virtually 100% Moslem.

The famous open air museum at Goreme is only about a mile walk from town. It's the second open air museum I've visited (the first was the Desert Museum in Tucscon, AZ). There were a lot of German and Japanese tour groups (including some amusing ones, like a Japanese tour group that all wore matching canvas vests). But we were mostly able to shoot ahead of them, skip some churches and dwellings and circle back later.

The caves are all pretty cool, but most amazing are the painted cave-churches. Medieval orthodox Christian monks (1000-1200 AD) carved the caves from the soft volcanic tufa and decorated them with elaborate Byzantine frescoes that were clearly painted by skilled artists. Some dwellings and churches did have outsider sort of art painted by troglodytes (a/ka/ cave dwellers), but almost all of that art was decorative and non-objective...like you see in Mosques.

The troglodyte habitations in Cappadocia were probably occupied since Hittite times, but Göreme is best known for these 1000 year-old churches.

Most of the frescoes in the churches have been pretty compromised—by wind, water, weather, earthquakes, and (I learned later tonight from a local friend) shepherd boys who used the faces of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the disciples figures as rock targets. These shepherds had been taught that images in church (even infidel churches) were sinful. Despite all of that, most of theart has survived...even many faces.

The best frescoes are in the Karanlik Kilise (Dark Church), where most of the paintings have been restored (and where I could not take pictures due to restrictions on flash). I think I mentioned earlier that some of the rock towers and dwellings were shot as backgrounds in the first Star War movie. It really is another world here...like something from Mars. Or Star Wars.


Interior of a typical cave dwelling (at least typical o the ones we saw)


Tufa Towers


Frescoes in the dome of a church


Keelin and Del on the steps of a cave church


An explanation of the nunnery


A painting on the rib of a dome


A damaged fresco of Jesus--o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Thursday, June 26, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Cappacodia, frescoes, Goreme, open air museum

Germany 3, Turkey 2

OK. We lost. Don't you like the way I use we after residing here only a week? It was great. And I was really impressed with how they took the loss. The room once again chanted

Türkiye ya!
Türkiye ya!
Türkiye ya!

I'll put up some pictures from the gathering tomorrow. I had to deal with a couple hours of work things after the game, and want to part company with my trusty laptop for the night.

Jack

2:00 AM, in Cappadocia, Turkey, where there are no streetlights, or any sounds at all, and the thousands of stars across the sky look like a photograph of the Milky Way. Goodnight!
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1 comments Links    

Labels: turkey vs. germany

Some first glimpses of Cappadocia

Click images to enlarge. I'll write more tomorrow. Wow.

---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: .Cappadocia, Turkey

Futbol! Tonight in Cappadocia, we will be watching Turkey vs. Germany in the Euro League Championship

Click to enlarge the Brummet youth on the rocks

After a great & restorative dinner and some wine at our pensione, we are walking to the village to watch the Euro League Championship...Turkey vs.; Germany.
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Cappadocia, Kose Pensione, Turkey

Istanbul's Efes Pilsen One Love Festival,with Gogol Bordello by Del and Claire Brummet

Story By Del Brummet
All This Is That Contributing Music Reporter

Photographs by Claire Brummet
All This Is That Contributing Photographer


The Efes Pilsen One Love Festival was basically a small version of Seattle's Bumbershoot. Tons of hip 18-30 year 0lds were there plus, cool younger kids and older people grasping a hip life style. Keelin, our mom, was the first to become aware of this festival, and she was the one to get me and my sister to go, despite the fact that we thought it would cost 50 Turkish Lira. The bands to play at the festival were Shantel, Miss Platinum, Baba Zula, Kolektif Istanbul, and GOGOL BORDELLO!


Del relaxing between sets

Gogol Bordello was of course our first lure, but when we learned that the festival was near at hand and possible to go to we were all in. To start the long and fantastic day, we walked from our apartment to a big square, where we would supposedly get free shuttles to the concert. It turned out perfectly. We stepped onto the bus, and could already tell the day was going to be awesome. After a quick, rocky, and somewhat frightening bus ride to the concert, we stepped out into a part of Istanbul unknown to us, and followed the hipsters onto a college campus.


Partezani!

We bought our ticket at a student price of thirty lira which was awesome, and then went through two security checks (separated by gender), and finally came into the festival. It was totally cool looking, with a great lawn and beer stands perched left and right. People walked around and laid in the grass. We had stumbled on an exciting tradition of hip Turkish younguns, and we were stoked. The biggest difference between this festival and Bumbershoot (besides way less people) was that first of all there were waaaaaay more beer stands than food stands (there were four food stands) and also you could drink beer anywhere you wanted. This was a beer festival after all, sponsored by Efes Pilsen, a popular beer in Istanbul.

The first band (we are not actually sure of the name of the band) started and they were awesome, with a far different sound than music we normally hear, with occasional lyrics, and sporting a violin, electric guitar, bass, drums and a trombone. They turned out to be my favorite Turkish band of the night. After that the bands were still interesting, but not entirely notable until a band called Shantel & The Bucovina Club Orkestra appeared.




The Miller booth, where you could sing high after sucking down helium

Shantel & The Bucovina Club Orkestra wasn't notable due to talent, but more the fact that the Turkish people loved them. Their songs included such intelligible and fantastic lyrics as “Disko! Disko! Partizani!” or another classic “Parti! Parti! Partizani!” This was from what was obviously the Turks favorite song ,“Disko Partizani.” Figuring out which was the Turkish people’s favorite wasn’t too hard due to the fact that Shantel played it twice! A feat I had never seen in concert and believed only possible in part robot humans….which I would look into for this band. They weren’t incredibly good in the least bit, but people definitely loved them most of all.




Our favorite band Gogol Bordello came on last (eight hours after we arrived). They jumped on stage and started one of their usual raucous songs. The main singer had an awesome guitar that sounded like musical sword in a fight, and other than him there was a drummer, an old violinist man, an electric guitarist, a bassist, an accordionist, and two dancing women in tight pink outfits who were mildly hilarious. Their whole show was awesome. They played a few favorites, along with what sounded like new ones that I hadn’t heard. I have only seen them once before, and the biggest difference about this concert was that no one in the concert moshed, but it still ended up being fantasticalismatatic, as you can see in this maraudingly colorful and wondrous video. We went home on the same free shuttle, and back to the square, in happiness.
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 2 comments Links    

Labels: Gogol Bordello, Istanbul Turkey

Goodbye Istanbul, hello Cappadocia

Our fantastic week in Istanbul is over and this morning we fly off to Cappadocia in central Turkey, with its incredible physical features. They say it is the home of some of the most unique geology on the planet. I've heard that you see glimpses of it in the Star Wars movie.


I took the snapshot of our 'plane after we landed. It was the only 'plane at the airport!

Later note: we arrived a few hours ago after a one hour flight via the excellent Turkish Air. The caves and land forms are stunning, about which more later. Since I only slept two hours last night, I hung out for a nap while the family went on a hike to visit some caves and explore a church...
---o0o---

By. . .Jack Brummet on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 0 comments Links    

Labels: Cappadocia, Travel, Turkey

Topkapi Palace and Mohammed's tooth, hair, sword, and footprint

Topkapi Palace and the Topkapi Palace Harem are where the Ottoman Sultans ruled their empire from this Istanbul, Turkey palace from the 15-19th centuries. And the Sultans lived large, believe me, along with their hundreds of servants, political aides and bureaucrats, and if you believe the various histories, somewhere between 4 and 300 wives and concubines. The palace was constructed to be self-contained, and insulate the Sultan from the riff-raff. And they did a pretty good job. It is really a self-contained city. One example is the cooking building. There were hundreds of cooks, bakers, dessert chefs, cheese and yoghurt makers. And they all lived in the multi-domed cooking building that even had its own mosque. They cooked for hundreds people each day and up to 10,000 people during feasts.

The palace is filled with all sorts of historical artifacts and the swag and booty of the Sultans. There is a vast collection of Ming and other dynasty china, cooking utensils, jewels, and swords and daggers. There is geometric hand made tile covering nearly every surface of the many buildings...at least the ones not covered in gold leaf and stained glass windows.