Yes, I know – the holidays were a long time ago. However, since we’re about to spend our Spring Break in Indonesia, I figured I shou
ld post some pictures and thoughts on our December trips first. I’m also assuming that Jess will eventually write a more exhaustive review, so I’ll just touch on highlights and impressions. Then eventually (I swear!) I will post some pics of and thoughts on Doha; I even spent yesterday walking around downtown taking pictures. Anyway, Turkey and Greece…
To start with we realized that the Eid al Adha holiday (and the associated week off) was only four days away, and we still had no travel plans. Like any good former airline employee Jess was not going to let an opportunity to travel pass her by, regardless of the last minute fare price. Somehow Expedia had a fantastic fare available to Istanbul, and we jumped at it. Istanbul is an incredible city, and as it straddles Asia and Europe I believe that it’s the only city in the world to be located across two continents. The heart of the city (and of course the most tourist-filled district) is Sultanahmet, where old world met new world in breathtaking fashion. The central park is ringed by some of the oldest churches and mosques in the Western world; the Hagia Sophia, a monstrous red rock cathedral-then-mosque-then-museum built by Justinian in ~320AD, faces down the Blue Mosque and its airy minarets and domes across the center fountain. But just a hundred meters downhill from the center you have a city that is (at least in my mind) the quintessential picture of a European city: cobblestoned streets filled with shops and street vendors with cafes and coffeehouses everywhere you turn. The people were incredibly friendly and warm; from the guy on the street who stopped and helped us find our hotel to the shopkeeper who invited us in for dinner and entertained us for hours, the experience was fantastic. This short little paragraph in no way does the city justice; hopefully the photos (follow the links at the bottom) will do a better job.
Then just a short week later we were off to Greece. I have fantasized about Greece since I devoured all the mythology books in the Glenmore Elementary School library. I mean, I was 23 at the time, but some of us develop reading skills at a different pace. Anyway, I made an offhand comment before I left for Qatar about how close I would be to Greece, and my suddenly world-traveling parents decided that Athens would make a lovely holiday destination. As the day drew closer we tried to ignore the fact that Athens had apparently degenerated into riots and clashes because, as one newspaper story put it best, the Greeks like to riot just to keep the police on their toes. To be honest, the only signs of riots we saw were ATMs that we had used a few days before smashed into pieces. I mean, it makes sense; instant cash machines are truly a symbol of our enslavement to totalitarian governments, or something.I really can’t describe the sights of Greece very well; it truly is something you have to see. When you climb the steps to the Acropolis and stand at the gates of the Propylae, you feel like you have ascended to heaven and are about to stand before God. But just like Istanbul, there is this incredible juxtaposition between historical treasure of the ancient world and a vibrant, pulsatingly modern city (according to spellchecker, I just made that word up). The café lifestyle is in full effect; you can sit (and smoke) for hours off of one glass of wine. The Greeks go to supper about the time I go to bed, and they have the “What, me worry?” attitude that seems to be pretty consistent with socialist countries. This was even more apparent after my parents left when Jess and I took a ferry out to Santorini for three days. Santorini is a volcanic island where only the caldera (rim of the volcano) remains after the mother of all volcanic eruptions somewhere around 1700 BC wiped out the Mycaenaen civilation. It’s a major party spot during the summer, but only the locals are there during the winter. There were times we felt like we were the only people on the island as we wandered through deserted villages dug into the sides of the volcano and built from ash. There was only one other person staying at the hotel with us, so the hotel owner treated us to an incredible spread for New Years’ Eve. After 4 bottles of champagne, two bottles of his homemade wine, and all the spanakopita and roe we could eat, we left for the club. At 1:30AM. Look, I know I’m not THAT old, but really? Homey don’t play that. Yet club we did, until five in the morning. It was an incredible time and a beautiful example of Greek hospitality and lifestyle.
All in all, my first two stays in European cities were pretty memorable. The lifestyle is so different from the American one; the city layout is made for walking and in some places has probably changed very little in a few hundred years. Cafes and shops line the streets, and mass transportation combined with tiny roads makes driving pretty undesirable. Both Jess and I loved wandering the streets with no plan or set direction. The people are very friendly to tourists and very proud to show off their country, and their attitude towards life is definitely different; there isn’t that overwhelming drive to work your life away. Again I attribute a lot of that to socialism and the fact that it’s pretty difficult to own or save anything; people spend their money on high-fashion boots and designer clothes instead of saving for houses or cars. I’m not really criticizing it; sometimes I wish I could live a little less focused on the future and a lot more focused on enjoying the moment. It’s definitely a different culture. In my memories I keep coming back to that incredible setting of a modern, bustling city set against a backdrop of beautiful and amazing ancient civilizations. It can give you a real sense of the enormity of time, especially when considering that from the start of those civilizations to the flaming and spectacular end of our own will be but a drop in the bucket.Anyway, enough of that. Here are the links. I didn’t post any pics of the Parthenon because I thought both Jess and my mom took better pics; hopefully I can post some of those as well.
Istanbul pictures
Greece pictures
