Travelogue

So let's see. On day one, we arrived at the airport in Istanbul and got in a taxi. It was warm outside...

Okay, I'll go easy on the blow-by-blow. But suffice to say that 10 days in Turkey (and one unexpected bonus night in Frankfurt) is a pretty good tonic for the malaise brought on by the daily grind. As is marriage, a state of bliss that, I have been assured, at no point devolves into anything deserving of the words "daily grind."

But enough of the personal. Some observations about Turkey:

First off, the people there are tremendous. Witty, playful and friendly, always willing to go to extend themselves in order to help out strangers. Even the "aggression" of the carpet-shop salesmen and the ware-hawkers at the Grand Bazaar is for the most part benign and conducted with a self-aware wink. We depended greatly on the kindness of strangers and found it in strong supply at nearly every turn.

Secondly, the food is incredible, and far more varied than menus offered up by many better-known culinary nations. Sure, there are a million different variations on eggplant and the country is well-stocked with kebabs, but the Turks have a long list of multi-flavour recipes. It also doesn't hurt that the fruit and vegetables are fresh and tasty in a way that this particular Ontarian didn't believe was possible.

So much else to say. The weather was mostly great (dodged the deadly floods that hit the Istanbul suburbs), the Mediterranean Sea was eminently swimmable at 22 degrees Celsius and the landscapes - from the mountainous regions to the arid desert in the middle of the country to the mosque-dominated cityscape of Istanbul - were stunning. The only downside was that many areas of the Mediterranean coast were overrun with British and German tourists, such that the only Turks visible were those in service positions.

In other words, Turkey comes highly recommended from this source. 

But this source is not the Lonely Planet, so I'm moved to share another observation. Turkey, of course, has been vying for many years to gain entrance into the European Union. Some people I spoke with there said they'd never be let in for "political reasons." I'm not sure, but the dismissive way they said this led me to believe that the locals don't think these reasons are particularly valid. However, Turkey's EU troubles have to do with its denial of the Armenian genocide and the squabble with Greece over Cyprus - serious business to be sure. I don't know enough about either to come down on one side or the other, but it's a reminder that international politics look very different in the eyes of beholders from different nations. 

This should be obvious, but it's pretty easy, I realized, to wrap oneself in a myopic, North America-centred cocoon. Something to endeavour to avoid as this blog, hopefully, becomes a more regular occurrence again.

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