NOTE: This special trip to Turkey is much more than a visit to various tourist sites and a sampling of warm Turkish hospitality. We are learning so much about Turkey – particularly the Gulan movement, education, and politics. But it’s hard to find time to synthesize it and write a blog on it. The following will give you an idea as to why this is so.
At 6:30 a.m. Monday, July 11, I wake up, finish some computer work, get ready for the day, have breakfast.
Two hours later, we leave the hotel in Izmir for the airport, bound for Antalya, a city of nearly 1 million on the south coast of Turkey that is a huge tourist destination.
After a short walking tour of Antalya, we arrive at a carpet shop. We sit around the showroom; tea and other drinks are served. The owner proceeds to give a history of Turkish carpets, dating back to the Bedouins. Carpet after carpet is unfurled on the floor in front of us, as descriptions are given of the materials used, the colors, the age of each. It is an elaborate and informative sales pitch.
Several in the group inspect the carpets for possible purchase. Tina and Esau walk out happily with packages.
We drive to Duden. Yavouz, one of our guide/hosts, tells us we are about to enter heaven and he is right. At the foot of a waterfall is our outdoor restaurant, shady and cool from the water. When Yavouz talks about heaven, he is also referring to the trout that he and several others order. Another wonderful Turkish meal.
We then head to the ancient Roman Aspendos Amphitheater, built in the 2nd century. It is a soaring and beautifully preserved structure that can seat up to 20,000 people. The acoustics are genius. Tina and Susie sing a lovely rendition of “Amazing Grace,” and we hear them clearly, way at the top of the amphitheater. Enthusiastic applause comes from those in our group, as well as the handful of Turks visiting the site in the later afternoon.
Back on the bus for a four-hour drive to Konya, where the poet and mystic Rumi lived and died and where his remains are entombed. The drive is beautiful through the mountains. Near sunset, we stop at a large rest stop, have tea and snacks. I challenge Emre, a Turkish student who just finished at SMC and will enter UC Berkeley next year, to a game of foosball. He wins it, 6-4.
We arrive at the hotel in Konya at about 10 p.m. Dinner follows and I am back in the room at 11 p.m.
From 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., I upload pictures on Facebook and write a blog.
And so ends another day in Turkey.
About five hours later, I will be arising to another full day.
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