Ur? Ur!…
I got up on Friday, after a fine 9-hour sleep, and joined Dri and Lisa on their tour of Cappadocia. They had rented a car and driver and were touring in style – Cappadocia’s sights are spread out so this is the best way to see ‘em. We spent most of the day being hard-core tourists, and checked out:
-the Goreme Open-Air Museum (my second visit, first was with NYC Brian the day before)
-the Uchisar castle, a massive rock with the interior hollowed out and stairs leading to the top
-the Zelve Open-Air Museum
-Pigeon Valley
-and a few other spots
One superb place was called Tipikturkevi, it’s a ‘typical Turkish cave house’ not far from Goreme where our driver, Fasli, took us. The proprietor, Ismail, is a cool old guy who’s been written up in the New York Times. His place is functional with a touch of luxury, and next time I’m in the area I fully intend to relax there for a few days. He showed us around the place, which is relatively expansive – but by far the best part was just lounging on his balcony, overlooking the hills and ‘castles,’ listening to our driver play the sas, a guitarlike instrument. We drank some of Ismail’s tasty Cappadocia red wine while we listened to Fasli, who spent many years as a professional musician. He nearly blew us off the balcony with his traditional songs…yet again proving my old point that the world is full of mediocre businessmen and lawyers who are well-off and talented artists who can’t make ends meet. Something worth solving.
The fellow on the right is a mediocre businessman and mediocre musician. No talent whatsoever…
Got back to Goreme around 6 p.m. or so. Exchanged texts with Brian, who was getting ready to leave for Istanbul – he was up for having a beer so we met again at Silk Road. He’d also done an all-day local tour and had a good day of it. We said our goodbyes – although we’d just known each other for a day or so, we’d had a week’s worth of political conversations and I think our paths may once across cross, in NYC or somewhere out here.
Checked the news on my Treo – learned that former Celtics owner Harry Mangurian died. He was the owner when Larry Bird was drafted and owned the team throughout the 80s, a glorious stretch when regular millionaires were still able to own NBA franchises. Now valuations are such that you either need billionaires or group ownership. I think there are at least 3 guys who co-own the Celts today. Which reminds me, opening game was the other night (we won) and they raised the championship banner – gotta find that video and watch it.
Also had to make a follow-up phone call to Blue Cross, my health insurer, to make sure they could still use my old cancelled check for the monthly withdrawals for my new policy. This was a bit of a cliffhanger…was placed on hold for 15 minutes…good thing Skype calls to the US only cost 2 cents a minute! Finally the woman got back on the line…I was on the edge of my hotel bed…and she said it was OK. Whew – otherwise I’d have to use the last check I have with me, and spend a fair amount of loot to mail it securely to Blue Cross. I wonder why these sorts of things have to be so complicated – I would have preferred to handle the entire thing online, with no human interference.
Was a bit worn out from the day of sight-seeing, so decided to take it easy and not hoof it out to Urgup for dinner with Dri and Lisa. Anyway, had a call scheduled with my brother-in-law Dave, so just had a quick dinner and a couple beers before the call. The point of the call was to exchange thoughts on a couple business ideas of mine…Dave had some ideas too…we chatted…we’ll see what happens. On my plate: going through my entire list of contacts and brainstorming opportunities with those that seem promising. I won’t say any more than that right now…
Another reason for taking it easy that night: we were going hot-air ballooning the next morning at 6:30 a.m. Getting up that early is alien to me, particularly when it’s cold out. But I set my alarm and got up, no problem. It wasn’t like I was going to a business meeting…I was going ballooning.
While I sat on the toilet, at 5:30 a.m., I heard the muezzin calling out the prayers. Didn’t recall hearing the call so early before – then I remembered that I hadn’t been up so early in ages.
Got to the balloon staging ground, they were blowing up dozens of huge balloons, pretty nice business – all cash, about US$200 a head. Didn’t see any security around – in the States there would have been robocops all round.
Our pilot was an Aussie named Dave who was terrific – irreverent and experienced, the best combination if you ask me. On the balloon with us were a family sporting ‘Turnip Tours’ parkas, they’re a family from Minnesota with a Germanic last name that translates as ‘turnip’ in English. Aha.
Dri and I were psyched for the balloon ride. Lisa was not…but she demonstrated bravery and I think ultimately had fun. And it wasn’t like I was the king of composure and courage either – at one point we were incredibly high up, far above the other balloons (there were about 35 balloons floating around, the panorama was awesome), and I had a moment of truth. I wondered what it would be like to climb up and over the basket and ‘fly.’ Now, I’m not suicidal, and I’m generally not obsessive-compulsive, but I had a semi-strong urge to do this. My fingertips drained of blood…I forced myself to stand back from the wall of the basket…and the urge dissipated in a couple minutes. Fairly scary. I went sky-diving many years ago, and I think it’s time for another round. I’m talking about sky-diving with a parachute, of course.
Some shots from the air:
When we landed, right near a cemetery (poignant, no?) we got out and were promptly served some champagne and given certificates proving that we survived the experience. It was a bit chilly out and one of the Turnips, appropriately named Bayle, got into the minivan to warm up. Meanwhile, the vehicle meant to transport the balloon (we landed on the back of a pickup truck) had a major flat tire, and the ground crew were hard to work dealing with that. I kept drinking champagne with Dave, who has a pretty nice life – it was 8:30 a.m. and he was already done with work for the day. Nice work if you can get it.
We were driven back to our respective hotels. I crashed and awoke around noon – I think Dri and Lisa did the same. I was feeling a bit guilty about sleeping so much, even though the chilly weather deserved some of the blame. Rode my Yamaha out to a hiking path near the Goreme Open-Air Museum and went for a long walk. I was planning to walk for a couple hours, then turn back, but after an hour or so the path got surprisingly muddy and also very narrow, and I wasn’t in the mood for bushwacking and mud-wrestling, so turned back.
Got back to my hotel, burned a CD with my Turkey photos for Dri and Lisa, who were doing the same for me. Between us we had a great set of shots – I later sent one to Tufts University Magazine for our class notes. Nothing like making people who are sitting at their desks feel inadequate…
Had a goodbye dinner that night with Dri and Lisa, who were taking off for Istanbul early the next morning. Went to their hotel to pick them up – they were staying in a very nice cave hotel place called Elkep Evi Pansiyon. Walked down to Ziggy’s Café, an upscale place. Had a good bottle of Cappadocia white…and an odd yet tasty pasta dish with strips of dried beef. The owner was a woman who’d moved to Cappadocia 17 years before, back when the area was probably Turkish hippy central. She’d named the café after her deceased dog, who by the look of the image on the café door was a cool-looking creature.
It was hard to believe that Dri and Lisa were close to the end of their holiday – probably a lot harder for them to believe it than for me. We’d had a great time hanging out together. Dri showed me her iPod Touch, which Lisa had bought her. Amazing device – useful in so many ways. But I think I’ll wait for the iPhone to get beefed-up and turn into more of an iPod, then pick one of those up. The fewer gadgets, the better. I did mournfully look at my Treo, which is decidedly unsexy, but is still highly practical. Is that a good description of me as well??
The motorbike ride back to Goreme was absolutely freezing. Getting off the bike was like coming up with a brand new yoga pose…I celebrated my success by visiting a couple local bars (it was Saturday night), Flintstones Cave Bar and then Fat Boys. Both were pretty good – somewhat full, had some good chats with locals, and filled up on Efes Beer. One thing I asked the Turks about was where to go next – I was leaning towards Sanliurfa, to the southeast, near the Syrian border. This place is a regular stop in eastern Turkey, and supposedly was the birthplace of Abraham. It’s also near Mt. Nemrut, a good mountain to climb. The locals agreed that Sanliurfa would be a good place to check out…they didn’t really recommend going farther east, to Van near the Iran border, or other far east parts of the country. I suspect it’s because there have been some skirmishes with Kurdish rebels. Anyway, I should head to Jordan before mid-November, so probably won’t go much further east. And I need to ensure that I’m in a good place on November 4/5 to watch the US election coverage – I think that Ankara, the Turkish capital, is the call for that. I dashed off an email to Democrats Abroad Turkey to see if there’s any sort of ‘election party’ I can attend and watch the returns amongst like-minded socialists…
All that said, I would love to check out Georgia and Armenia some time. It’s getting cold there now, so I don’t mind giving it a miss. But these are the off-the-beaten path sorts of places I love visiting.
Have probably eaten half my meals in Goreme at the Cappadocia Kebap Center. This place has possibly the best kebaps I’ve had in Turkey. I’ve dubbed it the “Espresso’s of Turkey” – Espresso’s was the sub joint that sustained us when we were at Tufts. No cheesesteaks here in Turkey, but the kebaps are close enough.
Had the motorbike for a bit longer, and hadn’t really opened it up yet, so took it out on Sunday for a few hours. Tried to formulate a plan, but nothing really came together, so I just got on the bike and rode. Aimlessness is sometimes a good thing. After going pretty far afield I wound up in Urgup, again, and went into a modest little spot for lunch. The proprietor was a lovely guy and we talked for a while, then I wolfed down my meal of sac taka tavuk, a hot plate with chicken, rice and vegetables – the perfect meal for cold weather. Then I refueled and brought the bike back to the shop. Bye bye Yamaha 100cc…
My hotel’s wireless was working pretty well, a bit slow but good enough for doing some downloading, so bought and downloaded a bunch of episodes from ‘Heroes’ first season. The episodes, mind you, that were corrupted on the Season One DVD I’d bought months earlier in Manila. My Season 2 DVD seems fine, and I was left hanging on Season 1, so when I saw it was on iTunes I decided to plunk down the $1.99 per episode and right this wrong. Took a week of intermittent downloading (each episode is 500 megs) and watching, but eventually worked my way through Season One and now I feel caught up. Damn these TV series – I’ve gotten hooked on ‘24’ and ‘Rome’ and now ‘Heroes.’ What kind of a traveler am I?
Had to clear hard drive space for these episodes, so finally moved all my photos to my external hard drive. I just hope nothing happens to that device – it seems quite solid and probably no less so than my laptop.
Next day was considering going a ways out, to the Ilhara Valley, for a half-day hike. But going solo is prohibitively pricey – petrol in Turkey is outrageous, and I wasn’t up for spending nearly US$80 for a hike. So blew that off and instead did a hike closer in, to Uchisar and back via Pigeon Valley. That was 90 minutes each way, and I walked around Uchisar and had lunch there. Perfectly fine – perhaps less spectacular than Ilhara, but I was happy nonetheless.
The US election: funny how it seems that issues have come to the fore and pushed demographics to the rear. I’m sure that there will be plenty of racists who won’t vote for Obama come November 4th, but now it seems people are focusing on the economy and a few other things, and less on race and gender. Good – that’s the way it should be.
I was inspired and wrote an email to the Obama campaign about priorities for the next administration – which I hope and expect will be the Obama Administration, but I don’t want to jinx him. Anyway, I wrote about a few key priorities/objectives to reach for by 2016, and how to work backwards from those to lay out strategies and tactics. Very strategy consulting sort of thing. Got a nice email reply from the Obama campaign – but no job offer yet. I saved the note – if you want a copy email me and I’ll send it to you.
Caught up on back copies of The New Yorker. Terrific article about John Stuart Mill in one of them – his argument about God was that, if there is such an entity, it must be either limited in capabilities or deeply distracted by other priorities than watching over Earth. I found that pretty compelling – my philosophy, gleaned from an Indian shepherd, is that if there’s a God, it made the world then went away. Close enough.
Walked around that night after dinner – at the bus station there was a lot of noise and it turned out there was a drunken brawl there. Not something you see often in Turkey – not so much drinking here. You do see a fair amount of loud public disagreements, Turks are fairly emotional people…but this was unexpected. One of the boys smashed a window; eventually one of the two groups walked off. To be continued?…
Next day I just sat around all day downloading shows and reading New Yorkers. I hit sloth overdrive and it felt pretty good.
Thought about a strain of Americans who have showed up in some force at McCain-Palin rallies and railed against ‘Obama the Arab/Muslim.’ Incredible. These people are Christians, and they have this kind of intolerance and hate in them? Jesus Christ would be appalled by most people who claim to believe in his teachings. And Colin Powell implied as much when he endorsed Obama. Glad to see that there are still a few people with open minds and clear thinking out there.
The muezzin who call out the prayers here have huge voices. It’s not just the loudspeakers, they are talented guys. I’ll bet some of them are short guys, would be funny to go up the minaret and watch them doing the prayers…
Meanwhile, got an email reply from former colleague Pedro, turns out he is Queen Noor of Jordan’s cousin. When I read her book, ‘Leap of Faith,’ she thanked Pedro in the intro and I wondered if it was the same guy. It was. Very small planet, friends.
Read another New Yorker article, on the Lincoln Memorial. The point of the article is that those behind it, including Robert Todd Lincoln, the President’s only surviving son, intended for it to commemorate Lincoln’s saving of the Union…not his emancipation of the slaves. Interesting, and I totally believe it. At the centennial of Lincoln’s birth, in 1909, no blacks were invited to Springfield, Illinois’ centennial dinner. In 2009 it will be the bicentennial – and on May 30, 2009, the President will rededicate the Lincoln Memorial. No matter who wins the election, I hope and imagine that the Springfield bicentennial event will include black citizens – and imagine the feel in the air on May 30 if Barack Obama is President and in charge of the rededication. The symbolism would be so powerful.
Got an email from friend/fellow diver Isabel in Spain. She took the following photo – haven’t seen many better than this one. Someone knows how to take photos…
My 5 days in Goreme/Cappadocia was coming to an end. Packed up and prepared to take a bus to Sanliurfa. Had to change in Kayseri, and my Sanliurfa bus departed at midnight. Another long ride and long night. Tried a Xanax pill that Brian had given me – I guess Xanax is a muscle relaxant and anxiety reliever. Didn’t work that well – didn’t sleep much on the ride. Got to Sanliurfa at 9 a.m. feeling super-groggy. I must have looked wonderful.
Took a cab to my hotel, Hotel Bakay, a cheap yet nice place in the center city. Unpacked and walked around for a few hours, then crashed very hard. Much-needed.
Had read an article written about this area by new friend Jeff from Halifax (we’d met in Moscow). He described Sanliurfa and nearby Harran and Mt. Nemrut, and his writing had helped inspire me to come here. I was keen to see the birthplace of Abraham in Sanliurfa, and Harran, where he lived for some time with his wife Sarah. I wondered how Abraham had covered so much ground – from what I’d read over the years and very recently, he’d been born in the Sumerian/Mesopotamian city of Ur of the Chaldees, then moved to Harran, and from there traveled to the land of Canaan, and later to Mecca. Very long distances, even with a good camel (I’m not sure the Mongolian camels would have done the trick).
So I was resolved to get the story straight on Abraham, recognizing that myth was a large part of the story. It took me two days, and a trip to Harran, to realize this: Sanliurfa is actually (well, very possibly) the ancient city of Ur. The name of Sanliurfa before 1984 was simply ‘Urfa,’ with ‘Sanli’ added then as a honorific meaning ‘great.’ Apparently nearby Antep city was given the honorific ‘Gazi’ (brave) in 1973, and Urfa was feeling left out, so the government threw them a bone too. So: Ur (ancient name) à Urfa (Turkish name) à Sanliurfa. Bingo. I think part of my confusion was simply geographic – I had not realized that this part of Turkey is northern Mesopotamia, and lies between the famed Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Serves me right for getting lazy and not studying the guidebook more closely. But the guidebook doesn’t actually make this point – so I shouldn’t beat myself up too much here. I guess Lonely Planet figured that no one has heard of, or remembers the name Ur, so they don’t bother going back so far in their historical description in the guidebook.
Once I’d figured out that Sanliurfa was (possibly) the Ur, I got much more excited about being here. This place, now so innocuous, was one of the earliest great cities of the world (at one time the largest), and a place I’d heard about in religious school when I was a lad. I get keyed up by stuff like this.
NB: Iraq also claims to have the biblical city of Ur, in southern Iraq. Their site has an ancient ziggurat and other ruins, so they may have a good claim. Also, present-day Iraq is more closely aligned with ancient Sumerian geography and Mesopotamia proper. The Turkish claim is bolstered by the proximity of Sanliurfa to the settlement of Harran, mentioned in the Book of Genesis as a place where Abraham lived. Who’s right? Who knows. Maybe we have to live with the existence of two Urs. ‘Two Urs.’ Sound like a good title for a hip-hop song?
Went to the Sanliurfa Museum. Saw some statues from 9,000 BC. Yeesh. I’d seen some very old stuff in Uzbekistan, in western Turkey, etc., but this was even older and I got a good sense for what the hell people were doing and making more than 10,000 years ago. Urfa and Great, indeed.
Lots of friendly locals here. I was stopped on the street a couple times by locals who spoke English – one guy wanted to come by my hotel and show me around, but that felt a bit too close for comfort so told him my wife was there waiting for me. That got rid of him. Another seemed to want to guide me around nearby Harran, but that didn’t sound like something I needed either, so another lie got rid of him. Other locals were far less fluid in English, but friendly and without ulterior motives. There’s a resto near my local called Altin Sis which has the most inredible kebaps – one’s called sarma beyti and it’s a bunch of kebap rolls with rice, vegetables, yogurt and tomato sauce, an absolutely massive offering. The place is famous for filling your belly, and you tend to get out for under 10 lira, or US$6. Unstoppable.
Went to the Abraham birthplace cave. It’s in a section of town called Golbasi. You enter a compound, take off your shoes, and go through the door. On your right is a small prayer room/mosque, straight ahead is a small room where you can wash your hands and feet. Just past that, through a glass window, is the cave itself. Surprisingly low-key – none of the locals washing up seemed to glance at it, I guess they’ve seen it a thousand times. I waited for the room to empty then took a long look at it – a piece of history, or just an old tale?
Lots of pilgrims in this part of town – which is full of mosques, a huge ruined Roman/Byzantine/etc. castle, a few ponds/canals filled with huge fish (legend has it that if you kill one, you’ll go blind, so they’re left alone), and trees. Nice area – very peaceful. Saw three young boys sneaking a smoke behind a mosque – some things are global.
Climbed the steps to the kale (castle), good views of the area:
After spending a while around here, walked to the nearby bazaar and wandered around there too. Found a large courtyard, sat down and had a tea. This, from what I can tell of Sanliurfa, is what 90% of the locals do all day. Good for them. This part of Turkey is close to Syria and Iraq and feels very Middle Eastern – good prelude for my upcoming months in Jordan, Israel, and Egypt.
Exchanged emails with a b-school buddy at one of the (remaining) i-banks in NYC. He’s angling to get a package, that way he can keep his stock/retirement funds. If he quits they’re gone. He made the very cogent point that in b-school they don’t teach us the important things, like how to get fired or laid-off. I like how he thinks…
Had a glass of pomegranate juice, “nar suyu” in Turkish. Do we get many pomegranates in the US? I recall when I was a kid my Uncle Jerry brought some over to our house and we had huge fun eating the seeds. Pomegranate juice is popular in Turkey and it’s great stuff – a bit sour, deeply refreshing. We need more of these in the West. Biz opportunity?
Took a minibus some ways out of town to an area with a famous cave where the biblical Job supposedly lived while being tortured by the devil. He stayed in the cave seven years, as the story goes, till God provided a spring whose water cleared Job of his diseases and made him whole again. I recall that story – and it was random to be able to visit the cave where he supposedly lived. Were Abraham and Job real people? Part of me feels that they were – after all, we have solid historical proof that men like King Sargon of Akkadia lived before 2,000 B.C., King Hammurabi of Babylon a bit later, etc. So they were more or less contemporaries of Abraham and Job, according to some scholars, and very possibly the real deal. On the other hand, there’s no solid proof that I’ve heard of, and the stories surrounding them are nearly unbelievable – granted, they may simply be embellishments, but still.
Job is called in Turkish ‘Eyyup Peygamber,’ the second word meaning ‘prophet.’ Jesus is ‘Isa Peygamber,’ Moses is ‘Musa Peygamber.’ Job’s Cave is covered by a small pavilion, and you can go down the stairs into a small room and look through glass at the cave – a lot like the deal with the Abraham Cave:
Granted, these caves aren’t all that impressive. Still, it doesn’t really matter. I felt the weight of history when I was there…it’s possible that 4,000 years ago Abraham and Job were doing their thing right here in Sanliurfa.
Outside is the well where Job drank from and was cured. I recalled that there was also a Job well in Bukhara, Uzbekistan – I guess there’s a competition for sites like these. At least they’re not warring about it, not yet anyway…
Went for a run that night, first in a while. Managed to find a flat sidewalk, not easy around here. Checked emails. Had dinner, again, at Altin Sis. Cannot find a beer in this town – it’s a fairly religious and holy place. But the food is good, so at best this will be a calorie-neutral stop.
Called United Airlines on Skype and booked a flight to Amman, Jordan for November 8th. Cost me 40,000 miles, but I’ve got a lot and they start expiring in about a year, so I want to use some and push out the expiry date.
This morning I went to Harran, an hour away by minibus. This place is apparently 7-8,000 years old, is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and Abraham and Sarah lived there for a while – presumably while waiting for their sub-prime mortgage application to clear. Now it’s just ruins, with a new town surrounding it. Good short day-trip. Found a student guide at the bus station, we walked around the place for a couple hours. There’s an area with a ruined minaret and mosque…and apparently the world’s first university, founded around 3,000 B.C., once stood right there:
Do you think they had government-funded higher education, or just out-of-pocket?
The castle is still in OK shape, not particularly photogenic though. And Abraham’s house supposedly was here – not the house you see in the photo, but it was apparently around here – needless to say I’m skeptical:
How the bejesus do they have any idea about this? I can understand generations passing down knowledge, but this sounds far-fetched. Maybe if Abraham was famous in his own time, but…
Speaking of generations – bro-in-law Dave sent an email to the effect that Abraham was my great-great-great-great-great-great-etc.-grandfather. Which is an interesting thought – if a generation is 20 years, and Abraham lived around 2,000 B.C., then it’s been 200 generations between him and us. If a generation is 25 years, then just 160 generations. Doesn’t sound like that much. I’d love to figure all this out using the human genome…
My young guide also told me that Isaac, Abe’s son, lived nearby, and so did the legendary Adam and Eve. Harran does seem an ancient place, and if the Garden of Eden existed in any shape or form, it’s likely to have been somewhere around here – in present-day Turkey or Iraq, between the 2 great rivers. Food for thought.
Had tea at the Harran Cultural Home, a handicrafts and lodging house. The owner’s family sat with us – nice folks. We talked a bit about the GAP project, a huge dam project designed to tap the 2 rivers and bring water to the very dry area. Most of the work is done and there are clear benefits to the locals, who are getting into cotton farming and have clean water to drink and also electricity – but downriver neighbors Syria and Iraq are annoyed that Turkey’s grabbing so much water. And so it goes.
Syria is less than 20 km away. Look at the mound/hill here – it’s in Syria.
Too bad I can’t get a visa for Syria here in Turkey. One day, baby…
Got back to Sanliurfa. Checked out election coverage on the web – can’t wait till election day. Am really hoping for a Dem landslide – let’s send a message and show some unity. The McCain campaign is getting pretty desperate, from the look of things – coming up with the most trivial of tidbits about Obama and acting as if they’re earth-shattering deal-breakers. Enough, already. A few more days and this 2-year campaign is over…
What else? Got a call from an old friend who wants me to come back to work. He has an interesting opp in India. Might go see him in December and learn more about this. Still can’t get excited about going back to work, but I suppose the good news and big pic is that I’m still marketable and in demand 3 years after quitting. The salary we discussed, informally, sounded quite good. Hmmm…
Also had a call with a former colleague whose judgment (and intelligence) is impeccable. He thought this India gig sounded pretty good. Gave me a bit of backbone – will do a few more calls and watch the market over the next 2-3 months, then make a call. Still have my Middle Eastern travels in front of me, and I plan to follow through on those. But, as Barack Obama said when he refused to cancel the first debate against John McCain, you’ve gotta be able to do more than one thing at a time. Precisely. Over and out.
Tags: Travel
mbsloney
Leave a Reply