Yarin Çeşme'ye gittim

I went to Çeşme yesterday, about 60 miles south of Izmir, to swim in the Aegean Sea. Toured a Ottoman fortress in Çeşme. Then took a dolmuş, mini bus, to a beach about 10 miles away. The water was wonderful and crystal clear, see photos below, I had a great time spent most of the day at the beach, but got a little sun burned, which amazingly is the first time in Turkey I have gotten sun burned.

Ege Deniz (Aegean Sea)

Ege Deniz 

Ottoman fortress

View from Ottoman fortress

 Çeşme harbor shot form fortress with the fortress in the foreground  

School, saç, and stereotypes

School:

School is going well. I know I won’t get any sympathy for saying this: but this class is really a lot of work (which is a good thing), during the week its just like been a full time student.

Saç (hair):

I got a haircut today, my hair was much to long for this weather, and it looks great. The guy spent at least 45 minutes on it, like it was in a salon, not a barbershop. And it cost 7 Tl!

Stereotypes:

First of all I should make an observation about how I talk about Izmir, Istanbul, and western Turkey; it is like someone visiting San Francisco, Napa, and Portland in the USA. Just as one should not conclude that people in San Francisco and Portland are representative of people in the rest of America, neither should one conclude Istanbul and Izmir are representative of all of Turkey. 

With that in mind, yesterday was the start of Ramazan (Ramadan) in Turkey. Ramazan is a month of fasting (during the day) and reflection, it is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, which means that it is a requirement for all Muslims, although there are exceptions for those who are unable to fast for practical reasons, like pregnant women. So what did I do on the first day of this important religious holiday? Went drinking with Ozgun and a bunch of people from Dedam (the program I am in) in Alsancak, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Izmir which is next to the sea. There were of course lots of people observing Ramazan, but there were also many who were clearly not. Later we went to a club where a rock band played Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Gun’s and Roses, and Motley Crew among other American rock n roll. Being surrounded by a bunch of Turks passionately rockin’ out to American rock n roll was a very interesting experience. I had a great time, but in the back of my mind I could not help thinking about the idea of cultural imperialism, but is it really imperialism when people enjoy it so much? 

Coffee: a dangerous and revolutionary drink. Part 2

So Sunday at the coffeehouse listening to live music I thought about something my Ottoman history professor said about the introduction of Coffeehouses in the Ottoman Empire: he argued that the coffeehouses was a revolutionary institution in the Ottoman Empire. This was because they were a place were men (sorry history is rather sexists, a women in a coffeehouse or tavern in the pre-modern world was a prostitutes or considered a fallen women) of different social classes and identities sat around drinking, coffee, tea, and beer and discuses things while playing games, listening to music, and watching puppet shows, instead of working. Moreover, the coffeehouse was a new place for men to gather, and unlike a mosque, their conversations and actives were not under the moral roof of religion, or in a home with set traditions and customs. Which was why coffeehouse were so unpopular with conservative religious authorities. On a related note, I just read a chapter in Orhan Pumuk’s historical novel My name is Red, where one of the charters sits in an 16^th century Istanbul coffeehouse fearing that it will be attacked by the followers of a conservative preacher who denounced coffeehouses as dens of iniquity.

I had long understood and agreed with this argument on an intellectually level, but it really hit me as I sat Sunday, drink tea listening to music, and looking at all of the other people, men and women (let us be thankful we were born in the modern era), sitting around talking and drinking tea and beer, not doing anything productive just chilling out. And then I though about all the cafes in Turkey, and there are tons, more than you can possible imagine, where people sit around and drink and play backgammon and cards doing nothing “productive” just hanging out. And how revolutionary this most have been at the time, and why conservatives tried to ban coffeehouse in the Ottoman Empire. They were successfully a few times, however public popularity always overruled religious concerns in the long run. So think about it, it almost seems absurd, but café culture was a major social revolution in its day, today it so ordinary that we never stop to think about it. 

Coffee: a dangerous and revolutionary drink. Part 1

When coffee first came to the Ottoman Empire, from Yemen, some of the ulama (religious scholar, judges: the religious establishment) claimed that coffee should be banned. They reasoned that coffee was an intoxicant, and since intoxicants, wine, was forbidden by the Qur’an (the Qur’an was written before humans drank coffee) so to should coffee be forbidden. However, coffee was so popular with the masses, including less conservative ulama, that the opinions of religious scholars were ignored in favor the will of the people. With the advent of coffee came another institution, the coffeehouse.  

Izmir

I spent the weekend in Izmir, Saturday I went to Konak which is on the waterfront, walked along the sea, went to the House of Ataturk (which was were he stayed when he was in Izmir). 

Sunday I went to the also went to Konak, which was not my plan, I intended to go to the Agora, but after i looked though the fence I saw that there was not much to see, so i walked through Konak Bazzar where I stopped at a cafe a heard a live band which was headlined by a guy playing an electric saz.  Here are a two famous landmarks of Konak.

Konak Mosque 

Konak Mosque

Konak clock tower

Konak clock tower

A little more on Bergama

Bergama was very nice, I saw a lot of sites and played a lot of chess. There are three main sites in Bergama. The Acropolis, the Asklepion (an ancient medical complex / “day spa”), and the Red Basilica, which as originally built as a temple for Serapis (an Egyptian God / Hellenistic god), but was later a church and a mosque. So here are some more pictures, along with captions for the images a already posted. My final thought on Bergama, should have brought better shoes.

Theater at the Asklepion

Marble columns are so classic, here is a close up.

A friendly dog at the Asklepion

Panoramics from Bergama

Acropolis  

Acropolis, with Bergama in background 

ruins at the Asklepion  

Red Basilica at night. Also the view from the hostel where I stayed! 

A few images from Bergama

Asklepion

Asklepion

Asklepion

Acropolis

Acropolis

Theater at the Acropolis

Red Basilica

 

Bergama'ya gideceğim (I am going to Bergama)

I am going to Bergama tomorrow and I am not bring my computer, so there will not be any new posts till Wednesday. I am bring my camera so hopefully there will be lots of pictures of Greek and Roman ruins on Wednesday. If you did not know Bergama is modern day Pergamon. Now that I have seen all of the stuff which was looted from Pergamon in Berlin, I can see where it came from.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Take care,

Joshua

P.S. I appreciate all of your e-mails, so don’t me shy! 

Izmir'deyim

I am in Izmir! My originally accommodation plans changed at the last moment, but it was for the better. A few days ago I found out that the dorm that I was going to stay at would be unavailable for the last two weeks that I was in Izmir, so they offered another dorm or a room in an apartment of a Graduate student. I took the room in the Apartment. I am staying with a very nice and cool guy named Ozgun, the apartment is nice and it has AC, which neither of the dorms had. And it is walking distance to my class! Plus I have someone who is not only a native speaker but a linguist to speak Turkish with every day. I am in a part of Izmir called Buca, which is not very scenic, but the food is cheap and good and it is easy to get to other parts of Izmir.  I plan to leave for Bergama tomorrow.

A rant about sterotypes

So I got to the airport absurdly early, my flight does not leave for more then two hours, the bus was faster then I thought. Moreover I think Turks do the same thing I do in America for a domestic flight: get to the airport 50 min before the flight leaves. On the plus side I got a seat on an exit row. O well, so while I am here I guess I rant about a few things.

A few stereotypes to dispense with:

The small one first: safety

I left much safer in Istanbul then I did in Paris, Madrid, and especially Brussels. And I say that as a man a few years older, wiser (maybe), and more conservative then when I traveled in the above-mentioned cities. I found people to be warm and friendly. Now if you walk down any street, which is lined with restaurants, you will be hassled by the guys trying to get you to sit down at their restaurant. However, a dismissive gesture, or a hayir or tamam (no, ok / alright) and they will leave you alone. If there is anything to be afraid of in Istanbul it is the cars, trucks and bus, who understand the laws of physics very well and expect you to get of the way, because they don’t want to stop.

The elephant in the room: Turkey is an Islamic country, therefore: no one drinks, everyone is very religious and women dress conservatively right? Saying Turkey is an Islamic country is like saying that America is a Christian country, what does that statement really mean?  Legally speaking both statements are false as both nations are constitutionally secular. If such a statement means that a majority of the people of the nation are Muslim or Christian then we can evaluate it.So a number of people said to me that I would have a hard time finding alcohol since Turkey is a Muslim country. There is certain logic to such a statement, the Qu’an forbids alcohol, therefore in Muslim county it should be hard to find. Ok, by this same reasoning it should be hard to find overweight people in America because the Bible forbids sloth. There should be few rich people as they gave their wealth to help the poor, few murders, and in America we sell our daughters into slavery and stone idolaters, yes? 

Leaving Istanbul

Yesterday was really hot, did not do much. Went to see the film Public Enemies. Reading the Turkish subtitles while hearing the film in English was both interesting and educational. I am leaving shortly for Sabiha Gökçen Airport, which if you did not know is named after the first Turkish female pilot and the worlds first female fighter pilot (that is to say she was the first women to flight a combat mission in 1937), I then fly to Izmir, check in with the university, and get my accommodations arranged. I will spend a day or two in Izmir before I go to Bergama.

Kara Deniz (Black Sea)

Yesterday I took a ferry from Eminönü, a station in Istanbul, up Bosphorus to A.kavaği which is right next to the Black Sea. At A.kavaği we hiked up to a ruined castle to see a great view of where the Bosphorus meets the Black Sea. Here are a few images:

Panoramic of the Bosphorus going into the Black Sea

Bosphorus meets the Black Sea

Bosphorus meets the Black Sea

Bosphorus with istanbul in background

Dün western tourist, bugün Turkish tourist

So yesterday I did the western tourist thing and went to the Blue mosque, Hagia Sophia, and Topkapi palace with a girl I meet from (ironically) Berlin. What is there to say about them? they are all amazing in terms of design and the materials used to build and decorate them. Topkapi was the most interesting simply because of how much there was to see. But Hagia Sophia had some interesting elements as some of the iconic from the Greek Orthodox Church remained when it was turned into a mosque, see photos below.

Today we went with hoards of Istanbul Turks to the Princes Islands, named such as they were where the Byzantine princes were exiled. about one hour by fairy. We rented bikes and rode around the biggest of the islands, the island was nice because there were no cars, although there were lots of horse carriages we had to dodge, and then we went swimming on one of the beaches. No photos from the princes Island. Meet a couple from LA, I am happy to say I have not seen any "ugly American" tourists, though I can't say the same for Italian tourists. Ate at an amazing restaurant tonight, a "gourmet" Turkish restaurant which has a daily menu and uses seasonally foods. And best of all, or almost as good as the food, was the fact that a 3 course meal plus desert and tea cost the two of us less then 40 lira which is less then $30!

Hope everyone is well.

Joshua

Hagia Sophia, note both Islamic and Christian iconics.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia, with Blue Mosque in background

Blue Mosque, does not even begin to do it justice