Day two - I can't understand a thing.
Alibey, Turkey - It was technically day one of our tour, but felt like day two. After spending 9 hours on a bus to get from Istanbul to our hotel in Ayvalik, we met again at 11 a.m. to take a tour of what I was told is an island.
I think we crossed a bridge to get there. I fell asleep, so I just remember some people on the bus waking me when everyone was getting out.
But Alibey was nice.
It's a former Greek Island that was called Cunda (pronounced Junda in Turkish) and was part of a Turkish and Greek land/population swap. For those who don't know, in 1923 the governments of Greece and Turkey agreed to swap expatriate populations. The Greeks who lived on Cunda were replaced with Turks. The Turks who lived on the Greek Island of Lesbos came to Cunda.
(I assume Lesbians came from Lesbos, though I have absolutely no knowledge of it. I'm not even going to Google it. I'm just going to run with it.)
It's pretty brilliant actually when you think about it.
Imagine two government heads sitting at a table negotiating: "Look, we don't like you people and you people don't like us. Let's just swap Islands so my people and you people can be closer to their countries mainland."
As one man on the boat explained, his grandfather lived on Lesbos and was sent over to Cunda in the swap. Then he said something about how politics is a bad thing, and I didn't have the language capabilities to explain what a great idea I thought the 1923 swap was.
Anyway, the island features a Greek Orthodox Church. I wish I could tell you the historical significance of this church, but the tour was in Turkish. As a woman told a story about the church, I realized that maybe it's not the best idea to travel with a bus full of people who speak a language other than your own.
The signifigance of this church was lost on me.
There were a few other people on the tour who spoke English, but this was day one and I hadn't met them yet.
Oh well, on to the boat tour.
We took off from the Alibey peer on a boat to cruise around the existing Greek Islands. There was some nice scenery there but the best was yet to come.
The boat tour was catered with ALL YOU CAN EAT FISH.
That was some good stuff.
I don't know what kind of fish it was but I can tell it was fried in olive oil (a very common way of serving fish here.) I ate as much as I possibly could because the more I ate, the less each piece of fish costs. In fact if I didn't eat everything in sight, I would have lost money. And then the terrorists win.
So these two events make up the majority of day one. Not really eventful, but I also knew there was much more cool stuff ahead in the tour.
After dinner at the hotel I went up to my room for a quite night and some sleep. I was exhausted from the trip over and barely slept on the bus ride over. With the exception of short naps during our trip to and from Alibey I hadn't had much sleep.
I was sitting on my bed in the hotel room reading when I started hearing music. It was so loud that the noise cut through my closed window. I looked outside, about 20 yards down the hotel's back alley, where I saw the freaking Tropicana Dance Club. A fucking outdoor dance club and it's right by my Goddamn room.
Son of a bitch.
So I sat there in my room, stewing because I couldn't go to sleep, I was too damn angry to go to sleep and the only thing on in English was "Tootsie," a stupid movie if you ask me.
I had a feeling it would be a long week.
Wanna see pictures from this, and other exciting days, get over to http://picasaweb.google.com/jamesloughrie to see the photos. I seperated the pictures from one big folder to a folder for each day so it should be a little bit easier to manage.
Coming next on LoughrieDoesTurkey: Day Three - the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen. Literally.
I think we crossed a bridge to get there. I fell asleep, so I just remember some people on the bus waking me when everyone was getting out.
But Alibey was nice.
It's a former Greek Island that was called Cunda (pronounced Junda in Turkish) and was part of a Turkish and Greek land/population swap. For those who don't know, in 1923 the governments of Greece and Turkey agreed to swap expatriate populations. The Greeks who lived on Cunda were replaced with Turks. The Turks who lived on the Greek Island of Lesbos came to Cunda.
(I assume Lesbians came from Lesbos, though I have absolutely no knowledge of it. I'm not even going to Google it. I'm just going to run with it.)
It's pretty brilliant actually when you think about it.
Imagine two government heads sitting at a table negotiating: "Look, we don't like you people and you people don't like us. Let's just swap Islands so my people and you people can be closer to their countries mainland."
As one man on the boat explained, his grandfather lived on Lesbos and was sent over to Cunda in the swap. Then he said something about how politics is a bad thing, and I didn't have the language capabilities to explain what a great idea I thought the 1923 swap was.
Anyway, the island features a Greek Orthodox Church. I wish I could tell you the historical significance of this church, but the tour was in Turkish. As a woman told a story about the church, I realized that maybe it's not the best idea to travel with a bus full of people who speak a language other than your own.
The signifigance of this church was lost on me.
There were a few other people on the tour who spoke English, but this was day one and I hadn't met them yet.
Oh well, on to the boat tour.
We took off from the Alibey peer on a boat to cruise around the existing Greek Islands. There was some nice scenery there but the best was yet to come.
The boat tour was catered with ALL YOU CAN EAT FISH.
That was some good stuff.
I don't know what kind of fish it was but I can tell it was fried in olive oil (a very common way of serving fish here.) I ate as much as I possibly could because the more I ate, the less each piece of fish costs. In fact if I didn't eat everything in sight, I would have lost money. And then the terrorists win.
So these two events make up the majority of day one. Not really eventful, but I also knew there was much more cool stuff ahead in the tour.
After dinner at the hotel I went up to my room for a quite night and some sleep. I was exhausted from the trip over and barely slept on the bus ride over. With the exception of short naps during our trip to and from Alibey I hadn't had much sleep.
I was sitting on my bed in the hotel room reading when I started hearing music. It was so loud that the noise cut through my closed window. I looked outside, about 20 yards down the hotel's back alley, where I saw the freaking Tropicana Dance Club. A fucking outdoor dance club and it's right by my Goddamn room.
Son of a bitch.
So I sat there in my room, stewing because I couldn't go to sleep, I was too damn angry to go to sleep and the only thing on in English was "Tootsie," a stupid movie if you ask me.
I had a feeling it would be a long week.
Wanna see pictures from this, and other exciting days, get over to http://picasaweb.google.com/jamesloughrie to see the photos. I seperated the pictures from one big folder to a folder for each day so it should be a little bit easier to manage.
Coming next on LoughrieDoesTurkey: Day Three - the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen. Literally.
posted by James at 4:42 PM
3 Comments:
Loughrie, I had the same thing happen to me when I was in Dublin in June, the hotel booked my room right over the god-damn nightclub, and those fuckers party till 6 a.m. that was massive fun.
Senator Ritz
If there's anything I remember from my high school history classes, it's about the island of Lesbos.
You are right in your suspicion that Lesbians come from that island. In ancient Greek history, the island was home to what was basically a girl's college that was run by a woman named Sappho. Among what I am sure were her many talents, she was a poet. I've pasted one of her poems below.
Tell me it doesn't conjure up images of hot chicks in togas lounging by a fountain feeding each other fruit.
As a sidenote, can you think of a bigger scam than a lesbian running an all girl's school? That would be like you running a day camp for beautiful women with gambling, smoking and scotch addictions.
Sefton
I have not had one word from her
Frankly I wish I were dead
When she left, she wept
a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be
endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."
I said, "Go, and be happy
but remember (you know
well) whom you leave shackled by love
"If you forget me, think
of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared
"all the violet tiaras,
braided rosebuds, dill and
crocus twined around your young neck
"myrrh poured on your head
and on soft mats girls with
all that they most wished for beside them
"while no voices chanted
choruses without ours,
no woodlot bloomed in spring without song..."
There's an easy solution to translation problems, which I think you found later: Old people.
I had the same problem in Mainz, Germany. We latched onto an American senior tour group (who tipped their guide in dollars) and followed them around the Gutenberg museum.
And if you have any doubt about the usefulness of old people, remember what Abe Simpson said:
"The last time the meteors came, we thought the sky was on fire. Naturally, we blamed the Irish. We hanged more 'n a few."
Or...
"Well, whenever I'm confused, I just check my underwear. It holds the answer to all the important questions."
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