Istanbul, not Constantinople

The fall semester ended with a whimper- I was pretty exhausted and ready for a vacation, which is pretty much par for the course as either a student or teacher. I had toyed with the idea of meeting up with my sisters to visit the pyramids in Egypt, and as the political crisis unfolded during my travels, I was pretty happy it didn't come together. Instead, I decided on Turkey: my oldest brother Tom had spent a summer there when I was eight, and I always had this image of Turkey as a place of great adventure. I'm also trying to orient myself to the Middle East, so the home of the Ottomans seemed to be a good place to check out.
I started off with a few days in Istanbul visiting some of the typical tourist places. Coming from six months in Bahrain, it was really interesting to see a place where things are, well, old: it's nice to be able to walk across the street from a Byzantine church and visit a Roman cistern (featured in From Russia with Love). I had always associated I-town with the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine empire, and had pretty much forgotten about the ancient Greeks and Romans history before that.
I headed out to Izmir (Smyrna of Diplomacy fame), about a ten hour train and ferry ride to the south. I went to visit some family friends, so I started to really see some of the differences in modern Turkey and Bahrain. After being on the losing side of WWI, Turkey underwent a period of rapid modernization and Westernization. Separation of church and state was introduced, European clothing adopted, and minorities were homogenized or expelled. Today, the head scarf for women is a hot button issue in Turkey, whereas in Bahrain it is the norm. Many Turks drink alcohol, but few Bahrainis do. It was also interesting to see a full Islamic society in operation. The guy at the hotel was Turkish, as were the waiters, taxi drivers, and most people on the street. In Bahrain, oil money means most of these service sector jobs would be done by Indian or Filipino guest workers.
Outside of Izmir, we visited the last house where the Virgin Mary lived (it was news to me that she ever left the Israel/ Palestine area), and Ephesus, an ancient Greek Ionian city. In reflecting on the current Islamic fundamentalist backlash to Western style modernization, it was interesting to see an ancient society fully accepting of homosexuality. There were even some things that are too liberal even for San Francisco: legalized and well advertised prostitution, as well as co-ed public toilets with no stalls.
I returned to Istanbul and caught up with some friends that are professional photographers. I didn't realize that Istanbul is now a major center for the arts, but I could see why. Most of the amenities of living in Europe, but a lower cost of living, better location for traveling to Asia, and a recent explosion in patronage. I have to admit, spending time with cultural creatives did make me miss San Francisco.
I finished up with a short tour of Gallipoli and Troy. I really had no idea what Gallipoli was, but the two New Zealanders on the tour with me considered it a pilgrimage. This is the WWI site where the Turks stopped an early attempt by the British to knock them out of the war. Because most of the casualties were from Australia and New Zealand, it aroused public sentiment to leave the British empire.
Troy I had wanted to see for years. While I've gotten a bit rusty since my tenth grade reading of the Cliff's Notes for the Illiad, it was still interesting. In the tradition of Indiana Jones, one of the early archaeologists just dug trenches looking for cool artifacts. While this destroyed the archaeological record, it opened up a great cross-section to visualize how the city had been built and re-built over time. Maybe I should get that documentary with Brad Pitt to round out my miseducation.