- Must
have gotten used to the 5 AM call to prayer - If I was
called, I didn't answer. Up at 7 - showered and
packed - wonderful breakfast with Jasper the hotel cat @
8 and off to the Internet café to e-mail
travelogue. The Internet is faster in the morning as it
only took thirty minutes to upload a letter with three
attachments.
-
- Back
to the Hotel Empress Zoe in Istanbul to take a picture of
Suleyman Buwt, the young man on duty and the maker of
very good gin and tonics. He already had my bags brought
to the lobby (good thing - coming down all those stairs
would have been difficult). Suleyman called a taxi to the
airport for me, and once again it arrived 15 seconds
later (I do not know where they live or circle but it
must be close).
-
- Trip to
the airport takes 30 minutes and costs about $15. Taxi
drivers are possessed and fear nothing - good idea not to
rent a car in Istanbul. Walk or take taxis - both could
get you killed but not as fast as driving.
-
- The
domestic airline terminal is Spartan, clean, easy to
figure out, and mostly empty. Check in is 1 hour
prior to departure for domestic flights (I am traveling
Turkish Airlines) - no lines today so check-in took all
of 2 minutes. Gate 105 for Izmir was about 100 feet from
the check-in desk. Got some Turkish lire from the ATM
machine at the airport, boarded my flight (Boeing 737
about half full) and as I write, I am about half way to
Izmir (a 50 minute flight from Istanbul). I love having a
laptop - I process my photos daily, update my records,
write my notes, and send messages - I do not know how I
would have managed without it. In 30 minutes I will be in
Izmir and rent a car for the drive to Bergama - I am
certain there will be a story.
-
- Ten
hours have passed since my last sentence. I landed
safely - I picked up my rental car - I drove to Bergama
(150 kilometers) - I found my hotel - I went to the
theatre at Pergamum - took 256 photographs (I am not
kidding) - had dinner - found a Roman theatre I was
unaware of in Bergama, the Asklepieion (I thought it was
originally a Roman health spa, but the folks in Bergama
turned it into a theatre) and watched part of a musical
performance being performed at the recently renovated
outdoor theatre (also took pictures). I also met a nice
young man who wanted to tell me the history of the
Asklepieion. He had a multi-lingual Bergama City Brochure
that had information on not only Asklepieion but on
Pergamon, and he wanted me to take it to be photocopied
so I could take it with me. I did and now I am back at my
$15 a night pension in the heart of Old
Bergama.
-
- Driving
in Turkey (this is for Betty): The highways in Turkey
are remarkably safe. The drivers are kind, respectful,
extremely courteous, and always mindful of the rules and
regulation governing road etiquette. The highways are
very well marked and my hotel in Bergama was extremely
easy to find.
-
- Now
the truth (Betty, do not read this section): Picture
me in a bright red, five-speed Fiat - air-conditioner
blazing, zipping through down-town Izmir at 85 kilometers
per hour, trying to make sense out of a system of driving
that involves no known appreciation for life or the
pursuit of aging. Picture a road system that basically
leans towards people driving on the right side of the
road but allows drivers to use their better judgment when
it comes to right-of-way. Remember, this is a land where
men shoot guns in the air when they are happy, when they
are sad, and when they are bored. The Turks have adapted
the automobile to serve much the same purpose: Car horns,
turn signals, headlights, and bullets all serve the same
function - you use them to express yourself, and the
Turkish people are a very expressive people. Picture a
land where cars, trucks, tractors, horses, and cows all
use the same roads.
- Now mind
you I am very new at this, but it seems that you find
destinations in Turkey by dead reckoning. When I picked
up my car, the Avis dealer asked where I was going. I
told him Bergama. He said, "Go toward Canakkale." When I
told him I was not going to Canakkale, he replied that
both cities were in the same direction but about 300
kilometers apart - well, I did drive towards Canakkale,
and I found Bergama, so who am I to question a working
system. Actually, (Betty, you can read this part) if you
can drive in Seattle, Chicago, or any major city, you
will have no problem driving in Turkey (Well, there is
this tractor and horse thing) but aside from unusual
vehicles on the roads and random expressions of joy,
sadness, and boredom from fellow drivers, driving in
Turkey is much like driving in Walla Walla.
-
- I
love Turkey: Everyone who I have met has been kind,
friendly and helpful (this is not sarcasm). Aydin
Sengul, the owner of the small pension in Bergama where I
am staying (The Pension Athena), not only gave me his
very best room but drove me to the ruins at Pergamum,
introduced me to his friends who work for the museum at
the site, and had them call him when I had finished my
photography so he could return to pick me up. Adin's
friends at the museum wanted me to see a new book by a
German scholar on Pergamum and took my e-mail address so
they could notify me when the English version comes out.
Children approach me every day to practice their English;
strangers will offer assistance (some are actually carpet
salesmen in disguise, but most are not), and the people
at hotels, shops, and restaurants where you are doing
business adopt you as their guest and offer you the
assistance you would expect from a family member. I am
certain I will meet less perfect strangers as my trip
progresses, but for the moment I really like the people
here.
-
- Today,
the real work began - Pergamum has been photographed.
Although I have nine theatres to go, if it started
raining tomorrow I would still consider my trip a
success. Pergamum was incredible. I do not know if my
photographs can possibly do it justice. It is like trying
to photograph the Grand Canyon - Being there is so awe
inspiring that you want to capture the experience on film
but know you will never capture the majesty of the
moment. How do you capture 2000 years of history? How do
you record the heat and the smells and the sounds at a
monumental achievement that has been slowly crumbling for
thousands of years? How do you make sense of a vista that
extends for a hundred miles? I really don't think I can,
but don't tell the folks at Whitman who granted me a
sabbatical so I could try.
-
- Tomorrow
I drive to Selcuk - pray for me.
-
- Your
driving certified, recorder of Turkish artifacts of the
theatre kind,
-
- Tom
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