Visiting Turkey

On this trip each stop was its own WOW moment that was completely different from the last one. I’m trying to process them and sew them together into a full picture of Turkey. It’s hard though. There was intense natural beauty with gorgeous hikes and exotic rock formations. There was the sparkling turquoise Mediterranean, with boat rides and dips in the clear blue waters. There were ruins sprinkled all over to constantly remind me of the depth of history. Then there was a modern day fashionable society. The clothes stores were filled with all the NY Fashion Week trends. Bars and restaurants pulsed with life. Cafes lined every sidewalk with Turks spending lots of time sipping tea. Though in theory Islam forbids drinking alcohol, the Turkish are big wine producers and there are cold Efes, Tuborgs and Bomonti beers at almost every stop. 

Centuries of history with civilizations from as far back as 4000 BC blend into each other on a canvass that makes up Turkey today. We jumped from ancient times to the Greek and Roman empires to the Ottomans and their fall through world and regional wars to the founding of modern Turkey 99 years ago. We were in a 99% Muslim country where the early roots of Christianity played out. All I can say is I wish I had done this trip when I was young to bring all those history classes to life. I leave realizing again how interconnected everything is and that one can’t just focus on today to understand what is going on. All the layers of experience make a place and Turkey's history makes it complicated and so interesting at the same time. 

I leave wanting to know more about modern Turkey. On the surface it looks like a very well functioning place. My urban planning hat had me watching their innovations on trash and recycling collections and use of porous pavers on roads to absorb the increasing volatile weather. There were plenty of bike lanes and well paved roads and sidewalks and a great clean interconnected transit system of buses, trams and trains. The regional bus stations and highway rest stops were huge, clean and architecturally aspiring. 

Their soil looked rich. Milder temps in the valleys along the southern Mediterranean coast, with the help of lots of greenhouses, allow multiple plantings of agriculture output to fill European shelves with items like tomatoes year around. Fruit trees speckle lower elevations. Olive trees cover ever other hillside. I saw no signs of homelessness, drug addiction or obvious poverty that are so familiar on Western streets. Although Turkey has been a major crossroads for refugees from the wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, I saw no signs of refugees aside from those being absorbed into a diverse regular life. Housing is being built in huge numbers along all the hillsides. It gives the impression of a modern, growing, prosperous country on the rise. 

I realize this might be a very idealistic perspective and maybe the life under increasingly authoritarian President Erdogan might be hiding problems from plain sight. Our guide didn’t want to talk politics, but like many Turks, he is not happy about the current state of affairs and hoping for big change in the elections in the spring. I’m going to keep reading up, since my curiosity is peaked. 

All in all it was a wonderful trip, with a wonderful group of people. I had fun. I learned. I challenged myself. I countered personal held stereotypes and broadened my perspective of the world. What more could i ask for? Travel is a blessing. Travel is my happy place.