Circumcision Formal Wear Along the Silk Road

Peter
Oct 19, 2018
3 min read

We continued the second half of our Turkish tour up north towards Istanbul from where we left off in Selçuk / Ephesus. During the month remaining on our visitors visa, we toured through Izmir, Ayvalik, Bursa and Istanbul. Each was a unique city having different personalities along with somewhat different local cultures. Izmir was elegant and social, Ayvalik laid back and touristy, Bursa was conservative, and Istanbul was buzzing and vibrant.

Izmir is a large city (Turkey’s 3rd largest) and has a very attractive culture. It probably became our favorite city in Turkey. Large enough to provide every thing that anyone would want to find in terms of shops and restaurants, but small enough in the sense that the people lived in the streets and cafes. In the evening, central Izmir was alive

and buzzing with cafes and bars - full of colorful people.

The open air market and bazaar is colossal; sprawling for what seems like miles in a never ending maze of fun, tiny paths; full of juicy people watching and tiny shops. We enjoyed the fact that the city was not very "touristy"and had its own independent vibe. It was well laid out in distinct areas (Konak pier, Alsançek, Keramalti Bazaar) with each easily accessible by public transportation. For some reason, the area we stayed in within the city was 95% surrounded by wedding dress shops. We have never seen so many shops and were wondering if Izmir is the only place to buy a dress? There were also wedding shops in the bazaar as well as many shops selling formal wear for young boys to celebrate the rite of passage, the circumcision ritual.

Further north up the coast, Ayvalik, we will remember forever as a maze of steep cobbled streets. We stayed in the old town area and when heavy rain hit, the cobbled streets turned into mountain streams, complete with waterfalls. It prevented people from bing able to walk down the streets but was fascinating to watch. Ayvalik is a much smaller town and chock full of cats, to the extent that it is almost impossible to look down any street without spotting one of these furry residents. Again the strange and wonderful thing is that the cats and dogs are all completely comfortable with their human counterparts and the community in general. They all exhibit far less skittish behavior than they would do in the west. Clearly the result of them feeling less threatened. Again, cat food is left on the street, in little dishes on many corners, cafes and doorsteps. Turkish animal synergy.

Onward to Bursa which is located eastward and further inland. Here we noticed a more conservative culture and Peter was scolded by a couple of elders for wearing shorts (as we were backpacking, we had limited clothing). Traditional Muslim dress is adhered to a little more strictly here and the city vibe was more restrained than other places we visited. The silk markets were quite good and very good quality, unique items are easily found at the Koza Han market. There seemed to be less nightlife and opportunities to sit outside at family-owned cafes, but this could simply be related to the fact that we were staying at a hotel instead of an AirBnB home within a neighborhood as we typically do.

We were really looking forward to finally visiting Istanbul, but did not realize that it was as large as it is. At 14.6 million people, it is in the top 10 largest in the world, well over double that of London or New York. We could hardly sample Istanbul in the couple of weeks that we had left on our Turkish visas, but we visited all the tourist sites which are all conveniently located in the same area of the old part of town where the Ottoman Sultan's palace and buildings were located. Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, the Spice Bazaar, the Grand Bazaar, Taksim Square, museums, monuments, squares, cafes... there is plenty to see and do. It was nice to see the sites at a leisurely pace and to 'live' in our area of the city. We would not hesitate to go back and keep exploring Istanbul.

As our Turkish travels have come to an end, we are genuinely sad to leave and look forward to coming back with our boat, Chloe, and visit with the Turkish people and sites once again.

Meanwhile, back in Cherbourg Chloe is making huge progress. Her fitting out phase is well underway. We expect Chloe to be ready to 'Splash' in mid-March 2019 and will likely be sailing in the Mediterranean in late 2019-2020... hopefully heading back to Turkey again...