TURKEY

June 10th, 2002

First of all, please forgive me for not having updated the website for 3 weeks. We were on the road and had limited access to computers. But now we have lot of things to say... so get ready for a long reading.

On May 11th, we arrived in Ankara. Our friend Altay was waiting for us and quickly introduced us to his family and friends. We got to know his brother Alkim who by the way is planning a great bicycle trip in the Himalayan (even crazier than we are, he will ride on the highest road of the planet - that makes our trip look like a walk in the wood). The same evening we discovered yet another fantastic dessert: the Kunefe, a sort of warm cheese in a crusty pastry covered by an overly sweet syrup and ground pistachios... my personal favorite (I could not talk about our arrival in Ankara without mentioning that).

So after that first sweet evening, without even a day of rest, we started working the following morning. We shared the tasks. While I was taking care of embassies and visas, Ian took care of web, and Erwan and Altay organized a very tight schedule for the rest of the week. The result was expectedly the same as in Istanbul. We quickly had too many meetings and we ran left, right, and center for the remaining of the week. Ankara became a platform for the rest of the trip, we gathered a lot of background information, made contacts on our way East and decided on the road to follow. Oral traditions in town are hard to come across, so we relied on university researchers and the Ministry of Culture to show us videotapes and recordings of the oral folklore still present in Turkey. Thanks Solmas.

When we left Ankara, we noticed yet another increase of temperature... or was it that we ate too much in Ankara... anyway, the fact is that getting back on the bikes was painful. After 3 days, we reached the small town of Hacibektas, one of the most important Alevi centers of Turkey (a tolerating branch of Islam which has a very strong folkloric background tainted with shamanism). We had to find some Alevi stories. So we used our usual method: ask the local English teacher. She was great. Ebru took us around, made us meet a storyteller, found us a hotel, and introduced us to her family. In return I gave my first English class (don't laugh, I know there are lots of mistakes in the update, but my level of English was more than enough for the 12 to 15 years old kids). We talked about geography, mechanics, and stories. I even gave them homework: I turned them into tale hunters! They had to ask their parents or grandparents for one story and say it in class. Our goal is to promote storytelling after all. Why not start with the new generation? They all loved us and unanimously decided to travel the world by bicycle when they get older (by the way, this is such a dream that got us started in the first place - it could work for them too). Thank you Ebru, say "Hi" to the kids for us.

After Hacibektas, we entered the beautiful region of Cappadocia. This region comparable to no other because of the "Fairy Chimneys", sort of gigantic stone columns that were carved through time by water and wind (I estimate some can be as high as 30 meters). Walking among those stone giants really feels like being on the moon. And even more unbelievable, some fairy chimneys got transformed into houses that are still inhabited (such as in the village of Goreme)! In short, Cappadocia looks like the moon, but the houses are ones of Martians... it is quite a cosmic experience. That night, we stayed in the village of Urgup, where we met probably the most generous carpet seller on Earth (everything is possible in Turkey). Selim insisted on becoming our sponsor for a hotel room. We accepted and laughed at what would have been our worst night in the tents: it rained like hell all night! Thank you Selim for saving us! We also met the Guzelgoz family ("guzel goz" meaning "pretty eyes" in Turkish). The grandfather, Mustafa Guzelgoz, was the first one to bring books in Cappadocia and the founder of an extensive library service. He told us some great stories about the region. Then his sons and grandson put up a private concert for us. And guess where we did this? ...in their own carpet shop obviously - every other business in town being a carpet dealer.

The day we left Urgup was our last day on the bicycles. See, we had a lot of people waiting for us and we were late on schedule, so we had to catch up. Plus, my back wheel cracked, so we needed repair... OK some of you might say that these are lame excuses. But to this, I would answer that the main goal of this trip is to meet people and learn about their culture and tradition. Not to race on bicycle, having no time for meeting people. Does it feel like I am defensive? Oh well.

Anyway, we took the train to Sivas, where we had a meeting with a minstrel: Asik Zeki ("asik" meaning minstrel/singing poet). We met him in a cafe where all the local asiks are used to gather and show their art: the Asiklar. We were received there as journalists of the highest importance, every poet wanted to impress us more (they wanted us to take so many pictures that we had to refuse after a while). We spent the morning there recording and taking pictures, before Asik Zeki brought us to a very small village some 60 kilometers away from Sivas. He wanted to show us a traditional performance in a more natural surrounding. Everything was great until the end of the performance, when suddenly a police van entered the village and asked us to get back in the car and follow them to the police station. Because of the 3 feet long automatic weapons they had on their shoulders, we decided to cooperate. Back at the police station, we tried to explain what we are doing, showed them the newspaper article which talked about us and waited. Eventually, the big boss showed up and the situation changed drastically. Suddenly, everybody became very friendly (not that they weren't friendly before, but I always have trouble talking to somebody carrying a rifle), they offered us food, apologized, wished us good luck, and let us go (they even asked if they could do the tourist guides for us... remember what I told you? Everything is possible in Turkey... even nice policemen).

From Sivas, we took the train again to go to the Eastern border of Turkey, to the city of Van. The train ride was not great: 21 hours without beds in the first wagon behind the diesel locomotive. We didn't sleep very well. After almost 27 hours of travel, we got to Van. There, we met one of the most important researchers - if not the most important - in the field of Turkish folklore. Dr. Basgoz introduced us to great minstrels and made us discover what a contest of minstrels is. Two asiks sit at opposite corners of a room with their saz (sort of Turkish guitar with 4 strings) and alternatively improvise in rimes. The funniest wins the contest. Even though we could not understand, we sang and clapped hands all night.

In summary (a very, very short summary), Turkey was great. But we are now very impatient to enter Iran. Some friends are waiting for us in Tehran, and we have already some meetings arranged. We can't wait to be there.

Olivier

Tuesday May 17th, 2002.

In Istanbul, the real work on stories, tales and legends had to begin, and it did! We actually got completely overwhelmed by the quantity of people to meet. Istanbul is a wonderful city. Maybe a bit crowded, but the "crowd" itself is very nice (even the street sellers are nice and funny, and not insisting!) and there is so much to see and to do! The Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, Saint Sophie, and the Spice Market are only some of the must-sees. Istanbul is a city of contrast where old and new coexist, Occidental and Asian lifestyles mix, and ethnies intermingle. The result is an enormous melting pot, a giant mess, an ultra-capitalist megalopole where everybody has to find his own place. It is not a perfect system, but I honestly believe that it is the only one that can work there.

As soon as we settled in the youth hostel, we started working. We had to find storytellers and learn about the state of oral traditions at the doorstep of Asia. Not knowing anybody here, we had to build up a web of contacts, who could put us in touch with knowledgable people (in Istanbul as well as in Turkey). And it worked fantastically!

One of the first person we met became our magical fairy. Irep was (and still is) a journalist for a Turkish TV channel. When we called her the first time, we simply wanted some general info on Istanbul, but she had another idea in mind: make stars out of us. So she brought a TV crew along at our first meeting and we ended up on the evening TV news. This was just a start. She also introduced us to her family and friends, the craziest but among the nicest people we have met. We became acquainted with a second little fairy, Irep's sister, Zeynep. And with all of them, we could only become friends. We stayed with them, worked with them... and we laughed hours on end!

Thanks to Irep and Zeyno we interviewed two very important actors in Turkey: Ferhan Sensoy and Erol Gunayden, who both have a rich traditional background and with whom we talked about the evolution of storytelling in Turkey. And guess what? They were so nice that we became friends quickly and who knows? maybe one day they will come to Canada to tell some of their stories...

At that point our web in Istanbul was growing too fast, we could not keep up. The most important turkish newspaper contacted us for an interview (another trick from Irep), who were we to refuse? And it kept on going on and on, everyday more people. A few days before our departure, we met the friend of a friend of a friend of Zeyno: Cengis Özek, a fantastic "karagöz " player. The karagöz is a traditional turkish shadow-show. Behind a screen Cengis brought all his puppets to life. He changed his voice for each character, animated 3 puppets simultaneously and made the sound effects with his feet all at once. But even more important than the technique of karagöz is the message carried by the show. In the past karagöz was used as a social satyre, but nowadays Cengis uses it to address modern problems, such as environmental awareness... flexibility and adaptation are part of the richness of oral traditions.

When the time came to leave Istanbul, Irep and Zeyno's family had become a bit ours too. Leaving was a bit sad. Back on the road, we discovered the turkish countryside and the muslim welcome along with the traditional cup of tea. People are so nice. We always managed to explain what we do with minimal vocabulary, signs... and the newspaper article! People really did their best to communicate with us. Once in a small village, they even called the English teacher to talk to us. And even though they don't have much, they insisted on inviting us in a restaurant and hosted us. Thank you Fatih, Taner, Mursel, Ali and Mehmet.

And last but not least, the landscapes between Istanbul and Ankara... incredible. We felt like on a different planet: green valleys surrounded by rock walls of changing colors. The rock changed color more often than the cultures. From deep red to light green, coming in any kind of shape and size, the hills and mountains created an unbelievable natural environment.

In sumary, we have had 2 fantastic weeks. Let's hope the rest of Turkey will live up to our expectations.

Olivier

Istanbul, Thursday April 26th, 2002. 

I can hear it from here, you are thinking : "They are already in Istanbul?". Well... we cheated a bit for the first time. From a little town just north of Mount Athos, we took the bus to Alexandroupouli and then took the train to Istanbul. Altogether 635 km by public transportation. But let me explain: right after our departure from Mount Athos, we noticed that Erwan had a broken wheel, while Ian had serious problems with the spokes of his backwheel (consistently breaking 1 or 2 per day), and I had a very nice average of 1 flat per day; we needed a GOOD bicycle shop quite badly! The first fair-size town on our way was Alexandroupouli. We could have stopped there, but we had spent 5 days in Athos, not riding at all. We had to make up for this delay. But a lot of things happened after Thessaloniki.

On Tuesday April 17th, we left Thessaloniki and went straight east to the peninsula of Mount Athos. Two days later, we reached the town of Ouranoupouli and jumped on the ferryboat going south to the town of Daphni. We had to leave the bikes behind and we kept with us only a very light daypack. Even though Mount Athos is a peninsula, it feels morelike an island, a cut-off world. There is no road linking the monasteries to the rest of the world. One can access the peninsula solely by ferryboat doing the trip once a day. The number of visitors on the "island" of Athos is also very strictly regulated. No more than 14 non-orthodox visitors are allowed on the territory per day. Also, the visitors are men because all women are prohibitted from even approaching the shore. 

The autonomous territory of Mount Athos goes back to 972 AD. Some of the 20 monasteries still occupied nowadays were built at that time. And because the went through centuries of Latin and Turkish domination, they look like medieval castles, with solid outer walls, a single entrance and very often a high tower. Almost all the monasteries burnt down at one point in their history. But they always got rebuilt on the original plans. For example, the church always stands in the middle of the inner courtyard and is very characteristic - with high domes and its deep red color. The monasteries also stuck to a very traditional lifestyle. They are still almost self-sufficient,and some keepon functioning without electricity and central heating. 

After 2 hours of walking on a very narrow - and wet - trail, we reached our first monastery, Philotheou. Not knowing exactly what to do or how to behave properly, we walked around for a little while until we met a monk... from Montreal! Father Cosmas spoke English perfectly and turned out to be one of the kindest person we have met so far. He spent the rest of the day with us, explaining everything about the monk life, and gave us good advice on how to spend the remaining of our time in Athos. Instead of walking for hours around the peninsula, we stayed in only 2 monasteries, 2 kilometers apart. Father Cosmas became our guide, while another father (Father Yelassios) answered all our questions on orthodoxy. 

After 2 days in Philotheou and 1 day in Karakallou, our permit was over and we had to go back, but Father Cosmas made an offer we could not turn down; have the permission to stay one more day, and visit the oldest and biggest monastery with him... and by car (which otherwise would have taken us 6 hours of walking). Thanks to him, we saw things that visitors can't normally see, such as the cross that the Emperor Constantin carried when he created Constantinople. 

Also thanks to Father Cosmas, we met Father Euthimios who lives in hermitage and we had a blast! For more than 2 hours, the 5 of us didn't stop laughing. I should mention that Father Euthimios isn't exactly a conventional monk. First, he makes his own wine and distillates his own booze. Second, having almost no money, he collects and accumulates objects that people leave there when they visit him: a Harley-Davidson radio set, an electric bed, a collection of flutes he doesn't know how to play, couches covered by pink and yellow synthetic fur, etc. And all this junk becomes magical because he uses almost everything (such as the airplane seatbelt he uses as a belt to hold his soutane). In fact, everything about him was almost magical; he didn't speak English, yet I believe we understood each other very clearly. He is a free and good-natured man, completely at peace with himself and the feeling was contagious.                  

Olivier