Turquoise Coast Odyssey

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Turquoise Coast Odyssey By Eileen "Sam" Owen February 1, 2001

Travel back in time on a ruin-studded exploration of Turkey across the Antatolian plateau from Cappadocia to the Aegean Sea. No other Wildland Adventure wins as much praise as our Turquoise Coast Odyssey for discovery and learning, active exploration, cross-cultural encounters, gourmet food, as well as down right fun, swimming and relaxing cruising the Aegean coast on board a traditional Turkish gulet. Travel writer and former Wildland Adventures Program Director, Sam Owen, captures the essence of time and place.

Welcome dinner at the soup kitchen

I never thought I'd miss it, the sound of the Imam chanting at 5am every day, no matter how small the town, no matter how far from the mosque I slept. Startled into half wakefulness by the wail of his prayer it was, at first, our group's daily, laughing, complaint. It became, finally, an exotic reminder of this new country we traveled in. It was a solitary moment to roll over, tug at the blankets, and quietly think about the day ahead - Byzantine ruins, Roman odeon, apple tea, goat bells, baklava, hiking through fields of thyme.

The Turquoise Coast Odyssey begins in Istanbul, a city straddling two continents. Our hotel was the Aya Sofya Pansiyonlari, a row of converted Ottoman homes on a walking street behind the former Aya Sofya Mosque. Our guide for the duration was Alper Ertubey..... bright, thoughtful, knowledgeable, fun. The welcome dinner for our group of 11 was at a former Ottoman soup kitchen, built in the mid 1500s at the Suleymanive Mosque. The food plentiful, beautifully presented, and delicious - made several of us wish we'd packed clothes with expando-waistlines. If this was any indication of the meals to come (and it was), we were in for a guilt-ridden trip! In a private room right next to us a family had gathered from several towns around Istanbul for a celebration and circumcision ceremony. The brave 9 year old who was being honored, limped by and waved while his cousins practiced their English with us.

With a specialist city guide, we spent our first day exploring the "old" city. At the Blue Mosque, Demet gave us a helpful introduction to Islam, and the history of Istanbul, from its days as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, Constantinople, to Ataturk's cosmopolitan mixture of modern office buildings, rug merchants and mosques. We walked along the Hippodrome's ancient chariot track, visited the Basilica Cistern where Pavarotti sings and water drips, and explored the Aya Sofya, first a Christian church, then a mosque, now a museum.

At Topkapi Palace we entered courtyard after courtyard with rooms dedicated to displays of pottery, porcelain, and other artifacts telling the story of Ottoman sultans and their times. Those who stayed on in Istanbul after the trip ended, returned to Topkapi, and visited other sites of Istanbul from Dolmabache Palace to the Egyptian Spice Market. Its well worth taking an extra few days in Istanbul. Later in the afternoon we boarded a commuter ferry and cruised up the Bosphorus, passing former Ottoman palaces, homes and the burbs of Istanbul. With a full and brilliant moon aimed right at us, we dined at a seafood restaurant on the Bosphorus, a tantalizing distance from the Black Sea.

Wake up call at 4:30 B.I.(Before imam). Electricity was out, (good thing we packed flash lights) but a knock on the door and an offer of two lit candles in wine bottles kept me from putting on my husband's shirt. Power restored, we headed for the airport and our flight to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. We met our bus driver, Alper II and soon were on the Anatolian plain, about 3000 feet high, with open spaces, wheat fields, melon farms and vineyards.