Bulgaria

Bulgarian Cemetery

Leaving Istanbul, Curtis took a night train to Sofia, Bulgaria (second class sleeping crocette). The Bosporus Express is scheduled to take 12 hours, but instead it took 15 ½. Although labeled an “express” train it still stopped at every station and often between stations. Curtis shared the compartment with an Australian who had a profound stutter, but who was a very nice guy. We were asked six times to produce our passports, but entering Bulgaria it was very convenient. Curtis handed the agent his passport while lying in bed, and it was returned the same.

Hostel Mostel common room

Curtis checked into Hotel Mostel, which was very bright and cheery compared to the rest of Sofia which was drab and gray and cold and rainy. Except for the center, Sofia is infinite rows of seven story gray stucco buildings punctuated by high rise apartment blocks. Most every wall is tagged with graffiti. The suburbs have the malls and McDonalds and look more modern. Apparently Sofia was an industrial center, but the entire infrastructure is empty and rusting and falling apart. The people wear dark colors with black being the most popular followed by gray, dark brown, and navy blue. Some are smart and stylish. For the sake of fashion, women navigate the cobble stone and potholed streets in their spike heeled knee high boots. Sofians are not obese. There seemed to be casinos and sex shops on every block, which made me think of supply and demand. Bulgarians don’t have extra money for gambling and how many dildos do you need? They’re new to capitalism.

Alexander Nevsky Church in Sofia

The center of town is lively. There are many churches and historic buildings and art galleries. There are pedestrianized shopping streets and quite a few public parks. Sofia is a city of trees. They really have their shit together when it comes to coffee. There are little shops and cafés all over. You can get a decent shot of espresso to go for about 35 cents, a passable cappuccino for 90 cents. The local grog comes in half gallon bottles and at a corner shop goes for about $1.80. Apparently Sofia has a pulsing nightlife, but Curtis is too old to experience this.

Mosaic above a door at Alexander Nevsky Church in Sofia

Curtis took an old electric bus that smelled like butt cheese to the edge of town to the National History Museum. They got some old stuff there, like 6000 years old. Strangely the exhibits end at 1946. There is nothing from after that date (that’s when the communists took over). The place was empty and frigid (15 degrees C, 59 F).

Curtis caught a bus to a village called Koprivshtista. The bus took three hours to cover the 65 miles from Sofia. Bulgarian is a Slavic language and the alphabet is Cyrillic (basically completely different letters). So it is next to impossible to decipher a sign or write down an address.

Umm ...... no teeter-toter near this sign

Koprivshtista in Cyrillic looks nothing like it does on this page. Anyway the village is essentially a living museum with most of the houses preserved from about 150 years ago (Bulgaria revival style). The streets are narrow and windy and cobble stoned. It was cool and misty and the air was full of wood smoke.

Koprivshtista Village

I stayed at a guest house (a house behind someone’s house), with my own little room and a cozy little common room with a wood fire going all day. I tootled around town and hiked the hills. It’s an agricultural and wood products place where people wear rubber boots and drive horse carts. Everybody seemed to know everybody else and they all stood around chatting and smoking cigarettes. In the summer Koprivshtista is a tourists town but in late fall it was dead. In the restaurant it was me and the waitress staring at each other.

Horse cart in Koprivshtista

Beech forest preserve near Koprivshtista

I caught a bus to Plovdiv. It was a dark and gloomy 6:30 am departure. The rattle trap bus wound through narrow wooded hills. After an hour the road deteriorated to a lot of potholes which explained why the suspension was shot. We passed on to sodden fallowed pastures and the road took a turn for the worse becoming nothing but potholes. The driver wound from side to side picking the path of least destruction. It was slow painful going. The clutch was shot so the gears either slipped or dropped in with a crash bang.

Plovdiv skyline

Arriving in Plovdiv I had no idea where I was, but the driver told me to catch the number twelve bus. I struck out in the rain following the direction the driver pointed. Impossibly the number twelve pulled to the curb nearby and I hopped on. I rode into town and hopped off when it seemed like a bunch of others were getting off. I walked in circles till eventually I came to a Latin street sign that put me on my Lonely Planet map. Finally I was orientated and I trudged on till I arrived at Hikers Hostel.

Entry to Hikers Hostel in Plovdiv

Central Plovdiv is very nice considering it rained all the time I visited. It has been occupied for thousands of years. The walled hill top center has been a lookout for Thracian, Roman and Byzantine civilizations. There are many spots were some construction project started and stopped because the earth was filled with ancient ruins. In 1972 there was a landslide which exposed an 8000 seat Roman amphitheater. Hikers Hostel is located on top of a section of the city wall. The walled city is filled with Bulgarian revival style houses, many of which are museums. There is the college for fine arts and many art galleries. Many artists reside in this area. The streets are narrow and quiet. There are side passages that lead to quiet pocket parks and roman ruins. Nearby there is a new area with a long wide pedestrianized street lined with restaurants and fashion shops and cafés. I boogied around and when to some house museums and had cappuccino on the square and just wandered.

Roman circular tower ruins in a pocket park in Plovdiv

Old city wall in Plovdiv

From Plovdiv I bused to Sofia and then to Blageovgrad and finally to the village of Rila. I had no planned accommodation and a man on the bus said he rented rooms. His name is Vasko Men…… He is a music teacher and a bit of a maniac. He lives in the upstairs of a very simple place. He played piano and guitar and sang a couple of songs. His English was rough and my Bulgarian non existent.

In the morning I caught an early bus to Rila Monastery. The Monastery has been around for about a thousand years and is a World Heritage site. It is set in a narrow mountain valley along a rushing river. I looked it over and went to the church which was manned by a six foot five monk who looked like Fleetwood Mac. There were some relics that people were kissing.

Rila Monastery

I hiked up a hillside to above tree line. The forest was old beech trees and on southern exposures it was big oaks and maples, both giving away to pines. The autumn colors were at peak. I reached the open area above tree line and was greeted by a chill wind and some cows and a protective cattle dog.

Near Rila Monastery

Some incredible colored poop on the trail

Afterward I returned to Rila where I talked to a Japanese traveler named Tomo. He giggled a lot and the folks at the hut where they served coffee and drinks next to the bus station loved him. We bussed it down to Blageovgrad and had dinner at a Chinese place. We just guessed at a couple of items and it was pretty good. He caught a bus north and I got an evening train to Greece.

Tomo and the Bulgarians who adored him

Gallipoli

Departing from the bus station (otogar) in Istanbul during a fearsome rain storm, Sheri and Curtis rolled along the shore of the Sea of Marmara to the town of Eceabat on the Gallipoli Peninsula. We checked into Crowded House Hotel. The peninsula is rural and quiet. It parallels the Dardanelles which is an ocean strait that leads to Istanbul and the Black Sea and ultimately to Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, and Armenia.

This area was subject to sea borne attacks and attempted invasion by the UK and French forces during World War One. These battles are important to the identity of the folks in Australia and New Zealand (ANZACs), and it is a sort of pilgrimage point for them. Curtis spent 1981 in New Zealand so he too wanted to visit this area.

The idea in WWI was to invade the peninsula, Take over and control the Dardanelles and thus take Turkey out of the war and provide aid to Russia. On April 25 1915, 15,000 ANZAC troops landed in and around ANZAC cove (apparently it was not the right spot).

ANZAC cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula

Under constant fire they fought up steep gullied hills to about 2000 yards inland and then were repulsed back to about 1000 yards from the beach. There was terrible loss of live on all sides. Despite several attacks the situation was stalemated for nine months before the ANZACs were withdrawn. In total about one million men were involved on all sides in the attack and defense of Gallipoli, with about 500,000 casualties including 120,000 dead. It was a complete disaster for UK and France. It was a victory for Turkey, but also a disaster for them too.

ANZAC north beach landing area

Visiting the battlefield, ANZAC cove is quite small, simply a short stretch of beach. From the high ground it’s easy to see the beach and turn your head and see the short stretch to the stalemated trench area. At Lone Pine cemetery, an area the size of two football fields, on August 7 to 9, 1915, four thousand men died here. Climbing out of their trenches and attacking, suffering a counter attack, and then attacking again.

Turkish Soldier carries wounded Australian to safety

This area is extremely important to the Turkish because this is where they were able to repel world superpowers from their soil. This is also where Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk became a famous officer. He went on to rule Turkey and drag it into the modern age. His picture, statues, and quotations are everywhere in Turkey. Every business has a picture of Ataturk. Every square has a statue of him.

Ataturk Statue

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Trojan Horse in Canakale

Returning to Istanbul Sheri and Curtis checked into the Courtyard Marriott which is located by a freeway interchange. Istanbul is very modern and full of freeways and malls and factories and apartment blocks.

Pensioners sitting around a park

We went to the Beyoglu part of the city and had a fine dinner (on Sheri’s dime) of mezes and a fish platter. The vibe was busy and young and trendy, quite different from the rural areas. The seasons have changed since we arrived and sandals have been replaced by tights and knee high boots. We walked to Taksim square the whole way was packed with people like New Year ’s Eve.

Trolley to Taksim Square

We diverted down a narrow side street. It was lined on both sides with restaurants, a different one every 20 feet. Everyone was sitting outside and there wasn’t an empty seat (Sunday night).

Beyoglu Restaurant scene

We went over to the Asian side of Istanbul to check it out. The tourists and trinket shops don’t exist here. We made it back to the Sultanahmet part of town and Sheri stimulated the economy by stocking up on gifts.

Loading chicken meat onto the world's largest kebap

Turkish Delight in a sweets shop

Istanbul fish market

Turks love their chili peppers

Next day we puttered around the hotel and then went to the airport and Sheri flew off into the steel gray Istanbul sky.

Curtis shuttle bussed it to a stop at the south side of the Sultanahmet on the Sea of Marmara. With his luggage he walked along the esplanade around the east peninsula of the city to where the Bosporus starts, passing a line fisherman as he went.

Lighthouse in the Bosporus

He stopped by the train station and then went across the fantastically busy street to have a cappuccino and a bowl of chocolate pudding. After that he caught a night train to Bulgaria.

Turquoise Coast

Dishes are popular (do they have cable?)

They take their tea seriously in Istanbul

After visiting Istanbul we reluctantly checked out of our hotel and jetted down to the south coast of Turkey on the Mediterranean at Antalya. Antalya is a city of one million and on the trip in from the airport it looked a bit boring. Endless 5 story buildings and traffic. But fortunately we stayed in the old town, the kaleici, which is a walled off ancient city set around a beautiful little harbor.

We discovered that Antalya is a destination for vacationing Russians. We met a nice Russian lady who said there are flights direct from the north of Russia to Antalya. We stayed at Hadrianous Hotel which was hard to find because of the small winding streets (sokaks). The welcoming owner could speak about two words of English, and us less than two words of Turkish. He offered up some cay (tea) and we sat in the extremely pleasant garden during the heat of the day. Afterward we boogied on down to the harbor which is a gap in the travertine cliffs that is surrounded by a Roman wall and filled with wooden boats. Sheri and Curtis went out on the breakwater and hopped in the warm clear blue water for a swim in the Mediterranean.

We enjoyed a stroll around the old town and a half of a chicken dinner and an Efes Turkish beer to round out a fine day.

A sidebar about Turkish Airlines. First, when one arrives at the airport they x-ray the luggage and have a metal a detector at the entrance (doesn’t this make sense if you’re worried about airport security). Second, at check-in there are plentiful employees to check you in so instead of waiting 30 minute in line you just walk up and check in (and no annoying baggage fees). At the security point you don’t have to go through the stupid indignity of undressing. On the plane, attractive friendly young stewardess had out fresh tasty meals for free, even on the shortest flights.

After this we caught a dolmus (Turkish minibus) to the village of Kas. We stayed at Hilal Pension. Kas is set around a small harbor and on the hills around town it is littered with the carved tombs of the ancient Lycian civilization. Each tomb is carved in solid rock and the entrance looks like a small doorway and there is a small crypt inside. One tomb was a free standing “house” carved from the rock hillside. It had fine carved cornices and dovetailed joints in the rock and a fine view of the harbor. Around the corner was a Roman amphitheater with seating for a thousand and a fabulous view of some coastal islands and the Mediterranean beyond.

We joined a group for a kayak trip to Kekova Island. Our group of about ten included Americans, Indians, Indonesians Australians, some Brits, and one Turkish guide. Curtis and Norma paddled a double and Sheri a single.

The day was hot and the water was dead flat. We paddled over to a beach where there were many Byzantine ruins.

After a quick stroll we paddled to an ancient port area that had sunk down in two severe earthquakes. We paddled over some of the old walls and could peer down on to them through the crystal blue water. They feed us a buffet lunch (mezes and chicken shish kebab) and we trudged around a Crusader and Roman fortress.

Lycian Tomb

Then we paddled from a small village past a free standing Lycian tomb that was sticking out of the water. Truly a hyper photogenic setting.

Kekova Island

From Kas we boogied over to Oludeniz for a change of pace. The pension owner in Kas had some people arriving by taxi from Oludeniz, so for the price of fuel we traveled by car back to Oludeniz. The driver stopped and bought us drinks then he stopped by his in-law’s house. They had a calf that was just three hours old. We sat on chairs in the yard and head scarfed women brought sweats and buttermilk for us.

Oludeniz is a popular beach destination especially for Brits. Many prices are quoted in pounds sterling. The place was overrun with overweight middle aged people out for a good time. We checked in at Hotel Oludeniz and then strolled around town.

The place was nothing but hotels, restaurants, and trinket stops squeezed between touts hustling boat tours. We took a 15 Turkish lira boat trip out to a couple of islands, a cave, and the “butterfly valley”. From the beach the boat (Pegas Tours) looked kind of empty. Once we boarded we found that the top deck was actually filled with obese people who were lying on mats. There was enough pasty exposed blubbery flesh rolling around to make a rendering plant owner drool. Overlooking the blasting pop music we stopped and hiked up butterfly valley and trudged around the ruins of the church of St Nichols (Santa Claus Island). Unfortunately the boat driver was in a hurry and shorted our time at a stop and when we returned to the beach the boat had departed (a vile hex on Pegas). Fortunately, acting dumb, we talked our way onto another boat and returned to Oludeniz.

Next stop was at the abandoned City of Kayakoy. At one time the city was populated by Greek people. Subsequent to a treaty after a war, all the people were returned to Greece in 1923.

Abandon City of Karakoy

The town is empty. All the roofs, windows, and doors were stolen but the walls remain of two thousand houses and five churches. It is a peaceful quiet and oddly ruined place.

Rolling on we bused it over to Marmaris. At the seawall we were able to organize a private yacht (a gullet) for a three day trip along the coast.

Our Sailboat the Cezire 1

Our boat, the Cezire 1, was skippered by Kaptian Sadik and his crewman, Mr. Happy. Sadik, who is about 32 years old, was an extremely competent, detailed oriented fellow and a fine cook.

Kaptian Sadik

Mr Happy at the grill

It is hard to describe how wonderful this trip was. We motored along visiting small bays along the rugged coast. The water was clear blue and warm. There were wide mats for relaxing and napping. Our meals were fresh and delicious. We were able to hike up to a ruined church and Sheri was able to swim to her hearts to content. It was peaceful, fun, and glorious.

Sheri and her fish dinner

Pregnant Church

At the conclusion to our boat trip bid we spent a night in Marmaris then bused up to Selchuk. The bus set a high mark for service. They checked our luggage and we relaxed on the comfortable air con coach. Each seat had an individual video screen with TV and movies. A steward came round and offered coffee and a snack. Curtis went online on the free onboard wireless.

We checked into Barim Pension. Our room in an old house had built in glass cases all along one wall that housed some old artifacts.

Barim Pension in Selchuck

We taxied up to the ruins of the City of Ephesus. Ephesus was founded about 2600 years ago and apparently it was an important hub for commerce and a Roman provincial capital. At its peak about 200,000 lived there. It was quite sophisticated and the ruins spread out over a couple of square miles. Curtis liked the hand thrown clay pipes, still in place, which carried water throughout the city. Norma knew the biblical background of Paul coming to the city and proselytizing.

Sheri at Hercules Gate

One exceptional area was a complex of six houses. The complex has been enclosed and people were there restoring it. The six houses were of the fabulously rich. They had mosaic floors, frescoed and marbled walls. One house had a private basilica. They had central heat, running water, and hot baths.

Mosaic floor in terrace house

Mosaic of Medusa

Amphitheater at Ephesus

Curtis close shot

Library of Celsus

After our visit we jetted back to Istanbul and said farewell to Norma who flew off into the dark morning sky.