Turkey Journal

(Keith) The first thing that anyone visiting Turkey will realize is that you are truly welcome. The devoutly Islamic country sits nestled between Asia and Europe and is both modern and traditional. We experienced the Turkish hospitality at its best during the barbaric attack on the United States. We sat in the hotel lobby surrounded by Islamic Turks and watched in horror as the morning's events unfolded. With a background of chanted prayers from the city's mosque, our hotel owner and family shared their sympathy. The father told us that Turkey has suffered heavily from terrorism and was equally revolted by the attacks. This outpouring of sympathy continued, thus reinforcing in my mind that this is not "east vs. west" nor "clash of civilizations" nor "jihad" nor "Christianity vs Islam", but "good vs evil". Islam certainly does not advocate violence, nor should it be associated with this attack.

Throughout Turkey it has often been difficult to enjoy its deep history due to thoughts back home. But we have forced ourselves to continue and not be disrupted. We visited the ancient Roman city of Ephesus and Priene along the Aegean Sea - extremely impressive (especially Ephesus). Ephesus was the Roman capital of Asia Minor and was visited by Saint Paul where he wrote his epistle to the Ephesians. The 2000+ year old city is very well preserved and allows its visitors to get good insight into the advanced nature of this civilization. As with most Roman cities there exists a large theater (25,000 person capacity) with excellent acoustics; a large library housing 12,000 scrolls and designed to protect them from heat and humidity; paved and lighted streets, some of which were designated as "pedestrian only"; and a working underground sewer system. Its humbling to think that a civilization as advanced and vast as the Roman Empire could fall.

Although we are spending an exorbitant amount of time watching CNN or BBC, and reading The Economist and The Turkish Daily, we look forward to exploring the heart of the Ottoman Empire over the next 2 weeks.

(Lea) It is hard to write anything except about the US tragedy, the world tragedy. This is on our minds constantly. Keith has written about when we first heard the news and the Turkish sympathy as they watched with us. In my Konya journal I write more about the Turkish compassion in the wake of the tragedy. After the first few days of shock and constant watching of CNN, despite our sadness, we decided to continue our travels. These are some of my general thoughts about Turkey:

When we came to Turkey we expected to see great sights, but what were not expecting was that it would be such a modern country with beautiful scenery and wonderful hospitality. I don't know why we thought Turkey would be less modern; it was a total misconception on our part. Every city we passed and visited had modern "necessities" such as Internet cafes, Magnum ice cream bars, and stylish shops. Additionally we found travel easier and more efficient here than in almost any other country. We also did not expect the green scenery. I always envisioned Turkey with dry hot lands. So when we traveled everywhere by bus driving across hills full of forests and pine trees, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only that, both the country and cities were extremely clean - the Turkish people to take pride in their home. And though we expected Turkish hospitality, we never expected the level of their compassion. We have already said it, but these are some of the friendliest people I have met. We have been very homesick during our time here, but the Turkish people have done so much to make us feel welcome.

Check out our South Aegean Photos.

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