Byzantine Churches in Thessaloniki

Many of Thessaloniki's featured tourist sites are Byzantine Churches and on my first day in the city, I came across a free pamplet called "Byzantine Churches of Thessaloniki." This was very helpful since I hadn't studied much before arriving and my friend's western oriented tour book focused more on where to get drunk than on Byzantine Churches and provided very little information about the few churches it mentioned. The intact (undoubtedly heavily restored) churches functioning as such were a refreshing change from Israel where the Byzantine layer is often destroyed as archaeologists dig through it to get to the Biblical levels and from Turkey where most of the remaining Byzantine churches serve as mosques (in Thessaloniki, many of the churches had been converted into mosques but were converted back to churches at the end of Ottoman rule). I visited nine Byzantine Churches and caught glimpses of a few others but the following were particularly memorable and illustrate different styles of Byzantine Churches:

Galerius' Rotunda of St. George (Galerius' Tomb)

The uniqueness of this church's form is due to it's having been built as a tomb and only later made into a church. The tomb was to be for the Roman ruler Galerius--who was involved in Roman leadership during the Tetrarchy that began with Diocletian and ended with Constantine.
Galerius spent a lot of time in Thessaloniki between 299 and 303 c.e. and had his palace in the city as well an arch dedicated to his having defeated the Persians around 298 c.e. These remains are archaeological highlights of Thessaloniki today. Galerius didn't die there as he seems to have planned on doing so the tomb lay empty until the Emperor Constantine ordered that the empty tomb be converted into a church dedicated to the Archangels.

This transformation from tomb to church involved the addition of a sancturary as an extention of the east bay of the rotunda (shown here protruding towards the photographer from the cylinder-shaped building). There are supports at each side of the apse which were added after an earthquake.

Later, Christians added mosaics to the building. The apse is decorated with a 9th century fresco of the Ascension. The interior of the highest drum before the dome features mosaics interspersed with now enclosed windows. This is explained as having been an architectural feature that allowed significant amount of light to illuminate the gold on the mosaics and interior of the dome.

This church was interesting for me because I have read that the octogonal churches in the Holy Land that usually mark a holy site (such as Capernaum, the original Churches of the Holy Sepulcre and original Church of the Nativity among others) are modeled after Roman emperors' tombs. In this case, it may have simply been that a monument was available and Constantine, having recently adopted Christianity, decided to put the building to use.

Hagia Sofia (Holy Wisdom)

The 5th century Hagia Sofia church was inspired by the famous church with the same name in Constantinople / Istanbul. It may be that Thessaloniki's Hagia Sofia is a copy of the church in Constantinople that was destroyed before the larger Hagia Sofia was built by Justinian in the 6th century. Still, Thessaloniki's Hagia Sofia has features that serve as reminds of the renowned Hagia Sofia. First, there is a dome in the center with supporting pilars. The marble of the Constantinople's Hagia Sofia that stands out is maroon, deep green, and deep green and the walls in Thessaloniki's version are painted in the same tones. The upper gallery of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul is painted in a dirty yellow with floral designs and Thessaloniki's exterior is a similar color. Finally, both Istanbul and Thessaloniki's Hagia Sofia churches are in a domed Basilica style.

The Saint Demetrios Church is an early Byzantine Basilica (without a dome) and also dates from teh 5th century. Although a reconstruction after having been destroyed in a fire in the 20th century, the Saint Demetrios Church is interesting for it's once standard 5 aisle form. Details such as columns and capitals from the original building and the crypt give the church a feeling of uniqueness. The crypt was part of a Roman bath-house.

These 5th century Basilicas served were designed for the processional liturgy of the early Byzantine church. Such events could involved thousands of worshippers who moved around within the building.

St. Katherine's Church & The Church of the Holy Apostles
Encountering St. Katherine's Church (pictured here) and The Church of the Holy Apostles lifted my Thessaloniki Byzantine church tour from the level of energetic intellectual curiousity to absorbed aesthetic appreciation. I first encountered The Church of the Holy Apostles when my companions had had enough and went back to the hostel to put in some time at the beach. I calculated that being done for the day would make it nearly impossible to hit all the listed Byzantine Churches so I stayed in town for an uncharacteristicly late evening.

I don't know what it is about these two churches that struck my aesthetic chord. As an observer or art, it's rare that I experience the sublime level of appreciation until after I've studied something pretty thoroughly--I reached that point with the exterior of Byzantine churches after chasing down quite a number of them and reading some brief commentaries about features from different periods. Most of my reading about things Byzantine is about emperors and diplomatic and religious issues.

Both of the churches were both built in the early 14th century, during the Palaiologan dynasty near the end of the Byzantine Empire. These are "cross-in-square" churches, which were "dominant in [late] Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture until the close of the Middle Ages ... The idea was very simple and based entirely on structural elements deeply rooted in the Byzantine tradition: that of a dome rising above four barrel vaults, arranged so as to form a Greek cross." This type of church was small and "designed ... to hold a congregation of about one hundred ... the cross-in-square church arose in a monastic milieu. A Byzantine monestary normally numbered a brotherhood of between twenty and one hundred" (Mango, Cyril. Byzantine Architecture, 178). These churches were used for more private worship involving individual prayer and the interaction between the worshipper and icons. This type of worship lead to churches having numerous small spaces including private chapels (Ousterhout, Master Builders of Byzantium, 9-10).

The structure of the two churches is similar--they have five domes with the central and corner domes being nearly the same size. The height of the relatively small domes above the roof creates room for windows with stepped arches around small windows. I think this is what makes the exterior so appealing to me. In addition, each of the churches had appealing unique features: The Church of the Holy Apostles has decorative brickwork on its exterior while the St. Katherine's Church has double and triple openings on the facade.

The interior design of the churches of this period draw praise from art commentators but I wasn't too absorbed by this, although I have been in various of Istanbul's Byzantine churches.

The Church of the Prophet Elijah

The Church of the Prophet Elijah was the surprise of my visit. I had read about Mt. Athos and the style of church that is typical there and was pleased to find that such a church was on display in Thessaloniki. Like St. Katherines and the Church of the Holy Apostles, this church was built in the later Byzantine period which featured small churches built for monastic groups.

The Church of the Prophet Elijah's compact structure shares common features of later Byzantine church design but is also an example of a unique type. The lateral apses were added in order to provide space for monastic choirs. This design is "limited to Mount Athos, where about twenty examples are preserved, and to related areas in Northern Greece and in the Balkans" (Ousterhout, 29 note 40).

Thinking about Byzantine Churches in Thessaloniki brought me an appreciation of the last period of Byzantine: the Palaiologan Dynasty (previously, my interest in Byzantine had focused on the early period when the Byzantine Empire was much stronger and when the creeds were crafted). It turns out that the Palaiologan period was the high point of Byzantine art--and is said to have influenced, or even sparked, the Italian renaissance.

Works Cited

Mango, Cyril. Byzantine Architecture. 1974. Harry N. Arams, Inc.

Ousterhout, Master Builders of Byzantium. 2007. University of Pennsylvania Museum Publication.

Imaginary Return to Bulgaria

If I were to return to Bulgaria, I would follow the same basic route I took on my recently trip: enter Bulgaria from Turkey near Edirne, then to Plovdiv and Sofia, ending in the southwestern mountains before leaving the country. This path seems to include the most interesting cities in terms of history and provides plenty of great hiking opportunities. Of course the five days we spent along this route was not enough time to experience most of what is offered so here are some notes on what I didn't do but became aware of and would seek to do if I were there again.

First, I would enter Bulgaria after spending time in Edirne, Turkey. Edirne features what Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan considered his finest work, the Selimiye Mosque. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selimiye_Mosque. There are other Ottoman mosques dating back to before the time when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul which show the progression of architectural styles leading up to the pinnacle of Sinan's work.

On the Bulgarian side of the border, I would head straight for Plovdiv (if I really had a lot of time I would also visit Stara Zagora and get to nearby mountain city of Karlovo from which more hiking is available). Many Bulgarians asked whether or not we had seen Plovdiv so it comes highly recommended. The highlight seems to be the old town, which has a 19th century appearance. There are also Roman remains and a fourth century church called the Church of St. Constantine and Elena. They nearby Bachkovo Monestary in the Rodopi Mountains seems to be thought of after Rila Monastery but Rila has been destroyed more often and rebuilt more recently so I think I would appreciate the Bachkovo Monestary more than Rila. The Bachkovo Monestary was built in 1083 by two Georgian brothers and helped preserve elements of Bulgarian culture during the 500 years of Ottoman rule over Bulgaria--the exemplary tale being that the monks, apparently on the eve of some incursion by the Turks, hid an icon of the Virgin Mary and Child in the moutains allowing its preservation and rediscovered by shephards centuries later. I didn't hear the whole story but I imagine monks hiding the venerated icon before being attacked--perhaps it was the last thing they did before being killed.

I imagine that visiting the Bachkovo Monastery would put me on a mountain with well marked trails and mountain huts such as Rila provided. I love the balance of wilderness exercise and a museum / historic city experience. The tourist interest in the monasteries seems to inspire Bulgarians to provide options of public transportation to the mountains as well as well maintained hiking trails in the area.

After Plavdov and environs, I would return to Sofia. Downtown Sofia is an affordable European capitol and there are many churches and museums I bypassed. I would also return to Mt. Vitosha for additional hiking.

I would certainly return to the Rila Mountains and spend more time there. The trails were incredibly well maintained with colored trails and enough signage to prevent the first time visitor from worrying much. While we hiked in the Rila Mountains, we didn't make it to the featured destinations. A hike starting in the outpost town of Maliovitsa and straight up the path to Mt. Maliovitsa and then to Sedemte Ezera (the Seven Lakes) and ending at Rila Monestary should be given two or three days. To get to Maliovitsa, go the Yug bus station in Sofia at 9 a.m. (only available once a day). This seems the best option as you can start hiking and at least get to the Maliovitsa mountain hut the same day. I got mixed reviews about the mountain huts (hizha) and we didn't make it to one to allow for my own observations so I would take along minimal camping gear so as to not be reliant on them.

We considered this route for our recent stay but we were dragging too much stuff along so we made Blagoevgrad our base. This was effective. Blagoevgrad is a big enough city to have things available and is right on the train and bus routes between Sofia and Thessaloniki. It is a college town and was very quiet due to summer break. It also is easy to get from Blagoevgrad to Rila Village and then Rila Monestary and Mountains. It may be best to get up to Rila Village and spend a night there as the buses from Rila Village to Rila Monestary run at 7:40 a.m.; 12:40 p.m. and 3:50 p.m. (with returns available around 6:00 p.m.). It may be cutting it close to hike from Rila Monestary to a mountain hut after taking the 12:40 p.m. bus so the 7:40 a.m. bus would make the most sense.

The manager of Pirin Apartment in Blagoevgrad told of his spending a week every September hiking in the Pirin Mountains. He prefers the Pirin Mountains to the Rila Mountains and hiking there would be a major draw inspiring my return. I'm not sure if there might be another city more convenient as a base for the Pirin excursion but Blagoevgrad is not too out of the way and if Rila and Pirin Mountains are explored on one trip, Pirin is close enough to Blagoevgrad that backtracking wouldn't be too inconvenient.

Aside from Greece, Bulgaria borders other Balkan countries and taking off from the southwest to places like Kosovo, Serbia and / or Croatia might be more appealing than a return to Greece.

For a reader who is reading this as a temptation to travel to Bulgaria, here are some practical considerations. Even with the weak dollar in 2008, everything was on the affordable side. We spent less than $10 per person per meal for abundant food at mid-range restaurants, which is remarkable compared to the typical no-less than $20 that I've encountered in western European cities. The bus rides and train rides between cities and countries were in the range of $20 to $40 dollars. There was a lot of English but we traveled most of the time with a Bulgarian friend. Spanish came in handy a few times--even in the mountains we encountered shepherds and were able to communicate due to my knowing Spanish and one of them knowing Italian.

Bulgaria

The bus ride from Istanbul to the border wasn't far and my long time friend Carolynn and I had our first extended conversation in a long time so the trip went by quickly. The border took a bit more than an hour as should be expected and then we were in Bulgaria and on the same bus towards Sofia.

The scenery had become a bit more hilly as we approached Bulgaria by bus from Istanbul and once we were on the other side of the border it was getting mountainous. On both side there were many fields of sunflowers. I had initially been attracted to Bulgaria when I heard about the Soviet encouragement of hiking as recreation and the claim of well mark trails was later confirmed. We, unfortunately, sailed through Plovdiv. People rave about it but we had only around five days and split that time between Sofia and the Rila Mountain area, including the city of Blagoevgrad.

We arrived Friday afternoon and went to a restaurant with live Bulgarian music and Bulgarian style cuisine that we enjoyed so much that we returned the next day. Saturday we hiked on the nearby Mt. Vitosha. This mountain provides a convenient escape for Sofia's residents and getting a bus ride there on Saturday morning meant competing for bus space with numerous locals. Our half day made it clear that there were many paths that could keep one exploring for many days. The first part of the hike was along a bolder covered river called "the Golden Bridges" which featured large bolders covering a stretch of the river longer than we managed to explore. We left the trail for a time and sometimes had to jump between the bolders.

We rejoined the trail and hiked along the mountain and then down to Boyana Church, which is famous for frescoes considered forerunner of the Renaissance due to their realism and emotional expressiveness. Outside, it appeared as a quaint neighborhood Byzantine church with a peaceful forest setting most of the way down Mt. Vitosha.

We spent the afternoon sightseeing in Sofia. We saw a Russian Orthodox Church, a Bulgarian Orthodox Church and then a Byzantine Basilica.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, called St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is neo-Byzantine style cross domed basilica. with a central dome and barrel vaults. Among the paintings are realistic depictions of scriptural scenes as well as saints--all of which were well laid out such that the interior didn't feel noisy despite all wall space above about 6 feet being covered with some art work. With the choir singing for the religious service it was a satisfying scene to absorb.

The Byzantine Basilica was in great condition (undoubtedly after restoration) and there was a memorial plaque to Bulgaria's King Boris III, who had refused Nazi requests regarding Bulgaria's Jewish population. I talked to my new friend George about this king and was very impressed by his courage. George explained that Boris was invited to Germany during the war and "fell ill and died." Of course, Bulgarians believe that he was poisoned--a martyr to resistence to the Holocaust. The story was inspiring and I'm hoping to soon read about this King Boris.

Sunday after church we traveled to Blagoevgrad and then to Rila Mountains where we engaged in a long hike with exceptional views and close up encounters with flocks of sheep. Wednesday morning we felt rested and refreshed as we alighted the train to Thessaloniki, taking with us memories of a brief introduction to a surprisingly fascinating country.

Boat Rides around Istanbul

After passing through Turkey my companions and I spent a number of days in Istanbul. Since my last visit, I have read about Byzantium and Byzantine monuments still existing in Istanbul so I visited a number of additional Byzantine sites and revisited many others (I have added many notes to the February 2008 blog entry on this topic). But one of my companions is a photographer in search of the scenic regardless of historic significance and he wasn't especially interested in historic monuments. He prefered to roam far beyond the walled old city that is so full of historic sites that I was content staying there. I found that there is a lot to see beyong the city walls. Much of our roaming involved walks through picturesque neighborhoods and much was by boat.

Our first scenic boat ride was from the mouth of the Golden Horn to a point beyond the old city wall at a historic and religious neighborhood. From there, we hiked through a moslem cemetary to a scenic outlook where there is a cafe and gift shop dedicated to the French author Pierre Loti. I paid the $6 for his first novel and read a little less than the first third before shelfing it for perceived lack of depth. I haven't yet encountered much of the descriptiveness of late 19th century Istanbul which make his works marketable to visiters to the city. But the view is worth the excursion.

The second excursion by boat was up the Bosphorus--much longer and more rewarding.
Along the way, there are a pair of Ottoman Castles that were used by the Ottomans to cut off supplies to the Byzantines during the seige that lead to the ultimate demise of the Byzantine Empire. The final destination is a Byzantine castle that must have played a role in controlling the strategic Bosphorus. We walked up from the village to the castle and from there caught a glimpse of the Black Sea.

I had taken ferries before to get from the European side to the Asian side but it took a friend's fresh prespective to provide me with the different angle on the city I'm becoming quite familiar with.

Konya

I felt like the stars where aligned for us when we arrived in Konya and heard that once a week there was a free whirling dervish ceremony in the order’s cultural center. We had dinner and went in search of the place. The ceremony was certainly less energetic than folk dancing concerts I have witnessed. In fact, it was relaxing enough and my bed time is early enough that if it had gone on much longer I would have probably fallen asleep. But it was interesting and reading the short explanation about it in the guide book (again, afterwards as intellectual preparation wasn’t a theme of this trip) enhanced my appreciation.

The guidebook description of The Mevlevi worship ceremony, or sema:

The dervishes dress in long white robes with full skirts that represent their shrouds. Their voluminous black cloaks symbolize their worldly tombs, their conical felt hats their tombstones.
The ceremony begins when the hafiz, a scholar who has committed the entire Quran to memory, intones a prayer for Mevlana and a verse from the Quran. A kettledrum booms out, followed by the plaintive sound of the ney (reed flute). Then the sheyh (master) bows and leads the dervishes in a circle around the hall. After three circuits, the dervishes drop their black cloaks to symbolize their deliverance from worldly attachments. Then one by one, arms folded on their breasts, they spin out onto the floor as they relinquish the earthly life to be reborn in mystical union with God. By holding their right arms up, they receive the blessings of heaven, which are communicated to earth by holding their left arms turned down. As they whirl, they form a ‘constellation’ of revolving bodies, which itself slowly rotates. They sheyh walks among them to check that each dervish is performing the ritual properly. The dance is repeated over and over again. Finally, the hafiz again chants passages from the Quran, thus sealing the mystical union with God.

The museum surrounding the tomb of the poet Rumi (whose followers created the Dervish society) was another highlight.

The mosque on a small hill in the center of town had remnants of Byzantine buildings in the doorway and reused Byzantine columns in the worship area. However, the more interesting part of the site were two tombs in front of the entrance. These were the tomb of Seljuk rulers including: Alaeddin Keykubat I, Sultan Mesut I, Kilic Arslan, Kilic Arslan IV, Rukneddin Suleyman II, and Giyaseddin Keyhusrev I, II, and III.

We met the master felt maker at his workshop. I didn’t know the first thing about felt so my basic questions led to an explanation of what fur from the sheep is initially harvested and a bit about how the process works. We saw some felt at different stages of the process but mostly admired finished and near finished products. It was clear that he was a provider of felt hats to the dervishes and he explained some of the process of making the hats. He told of how he goes to wool festivals in the U.S.A. and that he will be bringing a couple of yurt to sell during his next trip.

At the end of the day, we got on an overnight train to Istanbul. I had been exposed to a new corner of the world that was foreign enough to be full of surprises.

Urfa Style Dinner Party Anyone?

As we left Mardin, I realized that Tekin’s pattern was to feel hungry and duck into the first restaurant he encountered. It didn’t seem to matter what was on the menu or what the atmosphere was. I guess it was a fast food mentality although the restaurants were certainly not party of any chain. I read through the restaurant section of the tour book for Mardin and noticed the experience we could have had and then searched for restaurants in Urfa which was our next destination. I noticed that there was a restaurant that “occupies a wonderful old Urfa house where you dine on floor cushions in a series of rooms set around a courtyard.” I have vivid memories of eating in such a room in the home of a Druze family in the village of Majd al-Shams in the northern Golan Heights and in a restaurant in Jerusalem and would like to create such a room someday so I recommended to the companions that we go there. I also determined that paying 2 or 3 dollars more for better food would help me as I scout out dishes that I would like to learn for a chapter on Turkish food in the next edition of my next dinner party cookbook.

Finding the restaurant in Urfa required a little of extra effort but the wandering paid off in that it lead us to a CD shop that had traditional Urfa style music CDs for 4 dollars each. I bought two and sensed that the Turkish dinner parties I will throw will be done Urfa style. When we reached the restaurant, we were initially disappointed. Rather than food served nearly instantaneously in the cheap restaurants on the corner, we had to wait for food to be prepared—and this after we found that various menu items were unavailable because the main cook was not there. It may have been because it was well after normal lunch time (two in the afternoon) and he was home taking a nap. But the wait was worth it. The food was excellent and I noted the name of the dishes to later search for the recipes—Bostan and Et Sote. I took some pictures of the rooms with pads around the walls and in a niche in the wall—I imagine stick some pillows and pads in a closet and set up the room for dinner parties and then clear it our for other uses.

Back in Istanbul, it finally sunk in that one of my favorite restaurants here features Urfa’s cuisine. It is even called Halil Ibraham—Halil means friend as Abraham is known in the middle east as the friend of God—I think that’s Biblical. Anyways, Hebron is also called Al-Khalil, which makes sense since it has the Tomb of Machpaleh where Abraham was buried. The restaurant had paintings of scenes from Urfa on the walls. I then noticed that other restaurants in the area mentioned Urfa and Tekin confirmed that this little corner of the Aksaray section of the old city of Istanbul, for some reason, features a concentration of restaurants from Urfa. I returned in search of Et Sote a few more times--once to the Aksaray neighborhood when I had some time alone as well as with the group in restaurants in other sections of the city, including one featuring cuisine from Hatay, which is near Urfa in southern Turkey. There, a sojourner had et sote with mushrooms which I liked even better. If anyone wants to get a taste of it before I refine the recipes and invite you all over, http://www.turkish-cuisine.org/english/ seems to have a good collection of turkish recipes.

Second Oasis: Ihlara Valley

My second oasis was exactly what the doctor ordered. I think the doctor in this case was a psychiatrist. I used to half go crazy on long road trips and then learned that if I take hikes along the way I can manage just fine. So when I planned on a trip across Turkey and scheduled in a number of hikes. Unfortunately, the first couple of these, which were both to have happened around Lake Van, didn’t happen. By the time we left Urfa, I was in serious need of some added variety to the routine.

So I split off from Tekin and David at Belichek and took an overnight bus to Aksaray—a modern city of around 100,000 people on the west end of the Cappadocia region. It was a bit after 4:00 a.m. and I was at the new central bus station and needed to get to the new one. So I started walking the few kilometers figuring that I had plenty of time before the mini-bus would leave from the old central bus station to Ihlara Village. After a minute or two of walking someone pulled over and offered me a ride. My knowing no Turkish eliminated the possibility of a conversation with that man and another who, at the old central bus station, invited me in to a café where I couldn’t explain why I was refusing his offer of coffee or tea. I left the café after a while and happened upon a young man who spoke English and the remainder of the wait passed comfortably. After a bit of grocery shopping the mini-bus to Ihlara Village finally arrived and I was off towards my long awaited first hike in Turkey.

I arrived at the hostel at mid-morning expecting to find numerous tourists sitting around exchanging tips and making arrangements for day trips. Instead, I found the place a ghost town—perhaps all the hikers all hit the trail earlier. I read a bit and took a nap to supplement the negligible amount of sleep I caught on the bus. I awoke again around 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. and decided to get to the valley for some hiking.

I started the hike and determined that I would hike now and catch the featured cave-churches later. I walked and walked and walked along the flat riverside trail. It was scenic but I wasn’t in the mood to take many pictures. This was a break from being a tourist. When I arrived at the Selime Monestary—a point where I felt okay with turning back—I decided to take in the site. Perhaps the cone shaped hills I saw across from a village I walked through piqued my interest. I then headed back towards the valleys entrance at Ihlara Valley. At the end of the hike I looked at a few of the cave churches. The frescoes of the snake church seemed most interesting.

I returned to the hostel to find out that I was the only client of the hostel. I found that out at 10:00 p.m. after having gone to sleep at least an hour before. The manager hadn’t asked for my passport which always happens at hotels and hostels in Turkey—some registration requirement for the police—and his replacement knocked on the door dispite there obviously being no light on inside. I told the stranger that I wasn’t going to give him my passport as he could be any Joe and that I’d deal with it in the morning unless he was willing to bring the manager who I had met before. He accepted my reasoning and waking up the manager evidently wouldn’t have been as pleasant an experience as waking up a guest so he tried another tactic to keep me from sleep—he brought the cook by asking what time I wanted my free breakfast in the morning. I told him whatever I thought was going to get him out of there so I could go back to sleep but he brought the cook by and they insisted that I needed to tell him a time so he knew when the cook had to go to work. I then realized that I was the only one in the hostel and I told the cook that he could take tomorrow off as far as I’m concerned I would eat from the food I already had (I had purchased sheep yogurt, some fruit, and wheat bread in Aksaray) and GOOD NIGHT! I doubted that I had dealt with real hostel employees (the whole conversation was through the window as I refused to open the door) until the next morning.

The next day I read until Tekin and David showed up in the mid-afternoon. They had hiked the valley before arriving at the hostel so we decided to go to the nearby town of Guzilyurt where we walked around town in the evening and then visited some more cave churches the next day. By mid-morning we were on our way back to Aksaray and then off to Konya.

Two Days in the Land Between The Two Rivers

A short trip from Batman and we were at the Tigris River. The next two days would be spent in Turkey’s Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "The land between the two rivers"—the area located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). The first day we visited Hasankayf, Midyat and Mardin.

Hasankayf overlooks the Tigris River. It was apparently avery ancient city and features cave dwellings. There are Ayubbid buildings including a mosque with a stork's nest on top of the minaret (the El Rizk Mosque). The nest has been there long enough to be mentioned in the travel guide book. There was also a mosque and castle atop the hill overlooking the river. The bridge over the Tigris looks to have been quite impressive but the spans between the pillars have collapsed.

We got off the bus in Midyat and walked straight through the small town to a Syriac or Syrian Orthodox Monestary not far out of town (this was not the famed monestary which would have required a 20 minute bus ride and which we didn't make it to). Then we climbed a few stairs of a building that provided a nice view over the city. From there I took various photos of the characteristic Syrian steeples. There are 9 Syrian Orthodox churches in the town.

Mardin has a castle on top of the hill and features a view over the Turkey Syria border. We visited a few monques and madrasas, mostly from the 14th century, from an Seljuk empire—one of the successors to the main Seljuk empire. I stopped at couple of soap shops and bought a bar each of olive oil, pistacio and almond soap. That’s all they had—it seemed Mediterranean. The trip out of town took us along the Syria border. Tekin pointed out the the two countries were clearing a mine field on the border and would allow some folks to grow an organic garden there.

After dark at the end of the first day between the two rivers, we arrived in Urfa. I could tell from the size of the street that we were in a bigger city than where we had been before. The city name is known in history and until very recently as Urfa. The theme for the tourist in Urfa is Abraham as apparently he spent some time in the city. We first went to the citadel overlooking the city and then went to a monument commemorating Abraham's birth (claiming to be his birthplace) and then place spent the remainder of the day visiting mosques and the Urfa museum.

Belichek is on the Euphrates River. We arrived on a bus and I walked over from the bus stop a few minutes before sunset to take some pictures of the river. I was soon on an overnight bus to Aksaray and then to Ihlara Valley where I spent some time reading a chapter about Turkeys dam building in the region. It gave the impression that Turkeys use of the two rivers water would transform the region with irrigation allowing agriculture in the region to flourish not to mention the hydroelectric power. Turkeys use of the water would also inhibit similar development in Syria and Iraq where agriculture is also needed. My time in Mesopotamia and the benefit of my meager Arabic language skills had come to an end.

First Oasis: Batman

FIRST OASIS: BATMAN

After the descent through the Bitlis Pass, we encountered flatlands that were to continue through the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and beyond. Our first stop was the city of Batman. Tekin’s mother and sister live in this modern town and our agenda was rest. I spent much of the time putting captions on photos as I expect my memory would fade and sights would lose meaning if I didn’t get to them quickly.

We arrived at what appears to be the most recent addition to the northern end of the city and spent a day and a half secluded there before my impression of Batman as po-dunk was corrected. It turns out that Batman is quite a large oil industry boom town. Turkey produces very little of its own oil but oil exported from Iraq through Turkey is refined in Batman.

Our time in Batman was also about spending time with a wonderful family and enjoying great food. Tekin’s brother in law is a true Turk. He talked of his hunting adventures and taught us to barbaque. The dinner was incredible—lamb kabab well balanced with eggplants and hot peppers cooked directly on the coals before being peeled.

Nobody in the family speaks a English aside from Tekin but they spoke Arabic so I was able to communicate—I realized in Palestine that a little Arabic goes a long way but I didn’t realize the extent to which this would be the case in certain sections of Turkey. I continued to benefit from this through the next three cities until we left the Mesopotamia region. Unfortunately the 80-some year old aunt didn’t seem to understand that I am a novice Arabic speaker so many times she lost me. When we were able to communicate we mostly talked about family history and I floated the idea of Tekin writing down a short biography of some of his aging relatives’ fascinating life stories. Tekin liked the idea so I’ll have to follow up with him later.