Three is certainly a good time to get an idea of what Turkey is. You can see a lot of culture and come across a lot of people. But to really appreciate fancy places like Efes, Sparta or Cappadocia one should really take some months time. Unfortunately I couldn’t spare so much time right now. However the wish to come back and travel Turkey thoroughly has arisen and is present. By then (whenever that will be) I will for sure try and travel again in the most economic but intense way: hitchhiking. It works so well in Turkey that I am tempted to say that for a Turk a raised thumb is rather an obligation than a petition to getting a lift. At this point I want to say thank you to all the truckers and privat car drivers that gave my lifts thru half of the rocky and vast country! Especially I want to mention Ramazan who made everything to get me from Mugla to Istanbul in a two day ride.
The city on the shores of the Bosphorus, Istanbul, is a metaphor. A melancholic one all together as Istanbul is some sort of the final point of my trip. Furthermore it is the junction of two continents and therefore the point where I stepped from Asia back into Europe. Besides being of particular interest for me, Istanbul poses a metaphor also for the Turkish society. Just like the city stretches out and takes part on both sides of the Bosphorus, consisting of an Asian and an European part, the actual Turkish political situation is torn between east and west, too. The question is if the “land where the sun rises “ (old greek: Anatolia) should move towards Europe or towards the Orient in the coming years?
Turkey is historically of great interest just as it is according to its actual political situation. A single city that deserves a similar judgement is Rome. A city that became an empire. Wherever I went to on this trip, I was confronted with roman relicts. Even more exciting to come to that very city by the end of the trip. After some days in the ancient “center of the might” my trip came to an end. From a sea of mosques between the Marmara and the Black Sea, to a sea of churches in a city that lies between Mediterranean and Tiber.
By the way, I could title that trip the five-sea trip if that didn’t sound so much like a boattrip. So no labelling just enjoying and reliving Middle East.
love, MIKE
