Bursa 2011: Istanbul, Ankara family, and a zoo

Dear friends,

Apologies for the delay in crafting the next installment of this scintillating blog. My intention was to make this a weekly thing so I'm due for another post by Monday. Fortunately, I'm going with the group to ancient Troy (did you know it's in Anatolia?) and Gallipoli, together also known as Çanakkale. Be sure to tune in then.

Anyway, last week I had a wonderful afternoon spent with my Ankara host mother and brother (Umut). It was a really special experience for me to spend time with these people who treated me so kindly two summers ago. The rendez-vous made me realize fully how much I miss them.
We had a blast being tourists together in Bursa (Umut had never been and she only many years ago). We went to all the highlights--Green tomb and mosque, Grand Mosque, covered bazaar, Tophane, drank tea 2x, etc--and Umut made good use of his multiple cameras. They came for the day by bus and high-speed rail (the only line in the country). If I have the chance I'd like to visit them in Ankara. Unfortunately, Umut is soon back to Warwick U where he's writing his MBA thesis.

Next on the agenda: Istanbul. Having spent more than 8 weeks in Turkey you'd like I'd have spent more than 12 hours there. Guess again... Last weekend I had my first crack at what is truly a magical city. A couple of friends and I sojourned to Ist for the weekend, arriving there via ferry. One of the friends split off to do his own thing but one friend (and Yale graduate; Edgar) and I stayed in the Cihangir (neighborhood) apartment of a couple he had met in Ist 2 years ago. In fact, the balcony view was unbelievable. From it one could see both the Asian and European sides of the city, the boats passing through the Bosphorous, Topkapi palace, Aysofya, Blue mosque, Galata tower, Suleimaniye, I could go on. Just unreal!

Anyway, we met up with the hosts on Friday evening but by Saturday morning they had left for their summer home on the Black Sea. I should mention that in addition to being the honorary Irish consulate general in Istanbul, the gentleman is a Yale grad, hence the Edgar connection.
Saturday morning we--what else--went to synagogue. The synagogue in question was the Şişli syn. which I believed was bombed in 1986. Fortunately, we had made an appointment beforehand, otherwise the many security guards would not have let us pass. In fact, the security and space were tight. The space was small but there were a good 70 people in attendance. Naturally, the service was radically different from what I'm used to but then again I've never been to a Sephardic syn before. Edgar tagged along too since he not only has an academic interest in Jewry but is from El Salvador and really enjoys communicating with Ladino speakers of which there were many (everyone?). Prayer was entirely in Hebrew but announcements, etc were in a mix of L and Tksh. It was an amazing experience and reaffirms my impression that the Istanbul Jewish community is doing pretty well for itself all things considered

The rest of the Istanbul trip consisted of a heck of a lot of walking which of course is a good thing in my opinion. We went almost everywhere of importance on the European side, skipping out on the really famous stuff (ayasofya, Blue, topkapi, dolmabahce etc) as I'll have at least 2 more opportunities to see them this summer. Having Edgar with me was especially helpful as he had spent a summer in Ist 2 years ago and thus knew his way around. Highlights included: Eminonu mosque, suleimaniye, Fatih mosque and turbe, Byzantine aqueduct in Fatih, Patriarchate (I joked we saw all of Constantinople in 15 minutes), eating fish on the Golden Horn, taking a $2 round-trip ferry ride to the Asian side to eat dinner, and just staring at that view from the balcony.

We returned to boring-old Bursa on Sunday evening (exaggeration but by comparison true). All in all an amazing experience, one that I fully intend to repeat later in the summer.

One more event of note, my language buddy (Turkish student friend organized by CLS), her friend, and I went to the Bursa zoo on Tuesday. I wouldn't call it world class but it is still a zoo. It took way too long for me to convince my language buddy's friend that baboons and chimpanzees are not the same thing. But hey, zoology and conservation aren't really things here although I did find a copy of National Geographic magazine Türkiye. On to the pictures...