between the lands

Amazing scenery, ancient ruins, crazy rock formations, spectacular cliffs surrounding Mediterranean islands, sacred carp, traditional music and dances, and even some very dear
friends and family from back home! Marhaba and welcome to Turkey! So now I’m going to try and tell you about all that (over 3 weeks worth) in as few words as possible.

1st stop : Urfa. We couch-surfed there with our new friend, Mahmut. He’s in the photos below with us. He showed us around his town, including a night-time cemetery tour, and the very-cool pool and canal complex that houses the sacred carp.

ANDREW SEZ: Urfa is a real holy city to some folks. They say that Abraham was thrown from a mountain above the town, and even better, many claim that Adam(and eve as a result) are from Urfa. The supposed ‘garden of Eden’ is outside of town, and I somewhat regret that we didn’t get a chance to go see it.

More impressive to me were the bakeries that Mahmut introduced us to. Neighborhood bakeries in Urfa will cook your food for you in their super hot big oven, as long as you bring it to them in a pan, and buy bread when you leave. These bakers are the most popular guys in town.

JESSICA RETURNZ:
Mahmut came with us to see Harran, the ‘beehive village,’ and also Mt Nemrut. The beehive-houses resemble some we saw in Syria, but in Harran there were more of them, and they were bigger. There’s also ruins of a huge mosque and a castle.

Mt Nemrut has huge statues that used to be set all around a temple. Not much remains of the temple, but the huge statues of Greek deities (now in large pieces, with heads mostly on the ground) are still there. From the top of the mountain, we could see the Euphrates river.

2nd : Cappadocia. This place has pretty mountains, fertile valleys, and huge spiky rock formations poking straight up out of the ground. Something to do with ancient volcanoes… And sometime in the last 2 or 3 thousand years, people dug out houses, graves, heavily-decorated painted churches, and pigeon-houses from the rocks. You can hike all thru the valleys and explore these ‘fairy chimneys’ for days and days. But we only had 2 days 

We slept at a hostel in a cave-room.

ANDREW SEZ: Don’t forget the underground cities…as if those crazy above ground pointy rock-home structures weren’t strange enough, in the same area, people built entire cities—some of them 10 stories down!—underground. One airshaft for survival, and a giant stone to block in and capture any invaders that tried to come and get them.

3rd stop—Antalya: One night of couchsurfing with Julia and Ali,

and then…Ma Dukes is in the house!!!

JESSICA RETURNZ: We are happy to have given Andrew’s sweet mom Maralyn a good reason to take a much-deserved vacation in such an exotic place, and happy she spent it with us. Near disaster was averted when the airline finally found her missing luggage – only a few hours desperately pretending not to panic! Antalya is charming with its old city walls and bustling sea-port.

4th : Next day – onward to Cirali. This may have been our most beautiful hotel and hotel setting. Our triple-occupancy cottage was nestled among gorgeous tropical plants, just a stone’s throw from the beach. And they whipped up incredible food at their little restaurant.

That night, we biked a short way to Mt Olympus, where the ‘eternal flame’(also known as ‘the chimera’) is still flaming – right out of the top of the mountain! Scientists say the fire has been fueled for thousands of years by natural gas seeping up through cracks in the rock, igniting somehow along the way. I prefer the explanation that there is a chimera-monster down there.

We got a bit lost on the way back, tho, and it was a late nite.

It was pretty hard to tear ourselves away the next morning, but we had a boat to catch!

5th stop : 4-day, 3-night boat cruise! Maralyn booked this one, and she did a great job. We loaded up onto a Turkish wooden sailboat along with 9 other lovely guests, and we all had to RELAX.

Every few hours we would stop, the crew would feed us yummies, and then we’d swim. And then we could read and sleep and lay in the sun. All the way up the coast to Fethiye.

6th : Istanbul.

The Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia (church-come-mosque-come-museum), Hammam, The Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, Dervishes (truly bizarre)….

ANDREW SEZ: Istanbul(and Turkey) really lived up to its rep as a bridge between “east’ and ‘west”-ern cultures. Its got some of the most beautiful Mosques and Muslim architecture, side by side with super modern shopping districts, and a more European street culture.

JESSICA RETURNZ: Medical anthropologist and Raki connoisseur Alayne Unterburger also flew in from Tampa to explore Turkey with us! We never would have found the upside-down head of medusa without her.

7th : Bergama. Maralyn left us behind in Istanbul, so we grabbed Alayne and took her down to check out some more of Turkey. Bergama has a great set of Roman ruins on top of a hill, a ruined brick basilica, and lots of local carpets for sale.

Alayne helped us to understand the full meaning of all the little explanatory panels in the museum. It helps to bring a scientist with you!

8th : Izmir. Back to couchsurfing. This is becoming a theme, a good one. We have stayed for free with friendly and knowledgeable local hosts in several countries now, and it is WAY superior to getting a hotel or hostel. The hotel-guy isn’t going to become your new friend, show you around, explain all the confusing local customs and language, and maybe even buy a round of drinks. Our host Galip did all this.

Izmir is a huge city, sprawling for miles along the seaside. We barely scratched the surface of our little area. There was a Bazaar, some museums, and lots of walking.

9th : Selcuk. This is the town nearest to ancient roman Efesus, an ENORMOUS temple dedicated to Artemis-Cybele (the spiced-up western turkey version of the Greek goddess), tons of ancient mosques and churches. Efesus is, to date, my favorite of the ruins we’ve seen. And I’m so glad it came along, cuz I was getting pretty tired of ruins. But this place was outta sight. The 2-story white marble façade in the photos is the old library - majorly reconstructed.

A large section of hillside homes is protected by a modern roof. The walls of these dwellings were conserved by being buried for thousands of years, so you can still see the painted frescos that adorned them. Amazing!

ANDREW SEZ: We also were lucky to be in Selcuk for their annual independence festival. Folk(and pop) music performances, good food from all over Turkey, and lots of craft makers were all in town.

Overall, it was great having my mom and Alayne traveling with us.

Although we’ve been seeing old friends(and making new ones) along the way, this was the first time we had folks living their regular lives back in the states take time out to come join us on a leg of our round the sea adventure. Chok guzel!!….and to everyone else—we invited you..but unfortunately…time..is ..running out…

JESSICA RETURNZ:
After all this time in Turkey, and traveling together with Maralyn and Alayne for a couple of weeks, we set off on our own again. Alayne headed to Capadocia, and we made off for Greece. Turkey is an amazing country. Far too big to have seen much in the short time we stayed there. I certainly hope to go back one day – there is so much more to see, and now I have friends there!

We’ll be writing more about Turkey soon—it’s a huge country, and in 3 weeks we only saw a few small bits of it. (we are in Greece now) You’ve probably heard the debate about whether turkey should be part of Europe (the EU at least) or is it really a part of Asia, or the Middle East. For my cent and a half, I’ll just say that once we crossed the Syrian border and left the south of Turkey behind, it was clear that something had changed, starting with the language.

The people were speaking Turkish, leaving the 20 or so Arabic phrases we had picked up virtually useless, and suddenly, we had left the Arab world after 5 months of immersion.

Fortunately, our last stop was one of the best. In Haleb (Aleppo to the non-Syrian), we were guests of Jamal, our favorite couchsurfing host so far (no offense to many other great hosts—you guys rocked as well). Jamal’s family treated us like we were relatives, and his mom cooked us some really great food.

We hung out with Jamal, his best friend Jamal,

…and their gang of friends, and we got to have lots of good discussions about life, politics and everything in between.

JESSICA SEZ: We also went to Aleppo’s new (and maybe Syria’s first?) waterpark. Unfortunately, we don’t have a picture, but they had a waterslide that was totally new to both of us. It shot you down a long enclosed tube, then dropped you into a giant open-top funnel, where you went round and round and then finally dropped out the bottom into a pool. Just like being flushed down a toilet!

ANDREW RETURNZ: Like Damascus, Aleppo is also a very old city with lots of history, and a huge covered market.(they say 30 kilometers worth of shops)

I’m defintely sad to be leaving the arab word, and missing many things about the culture already. To try and give yall a little taste, click here to watch a video I put together with some clips from various countries we’ve visited since March —it includes a carpet auction in Tunisia, a 1-day-old baby goat in the Moroccan Saraha, election day on the streets of Beiruit, and several views of the Mediterranean. (some of the clips were ones I wanted to post when we were in Tunisia but had no real internet access.)

If you sat through that video and are wondering about the call to prayer and why it wasn’t included, we just have to much video and Im skeptical that many people are willing to watch even the 7 minute long movie above. Coming soon is a short video “The Call”. any day now, I promise.

Looking forward, we have sketched out the next (and last) leg of our trip—and we only have about 6 weeks to go. Rome is on the horizon and the Balkans await!!

When I was growing up, the word Beirut basically meant violence and war. I didn’t even know where it was, but that’s the impression I had from somewhere. Its those kind of places (you have some impression that you don’t know where it comes from) which are some of the best to go to, so you can find out the real deal.

Well the war thing was pretty much true. The scars of war are all over Lebanon. The civil war in the 1980s and now the war last year with Israel.

We were staying with my friend Jackson (a great journalist-click here for his blog) and his so-hospitable roommates Arbi and Daniel.

JESSICA SEZ: Daniel wrote the teensy weensy Arabic script on this chopstick, and Arbi has introduced capoeira to Beirut

ANDREW RETURNZ:We were up in the mix of a mass of cool people, doing their best to keep Beiruits proud party tradition alive. Thats right, its also the party capital of the middle east. Our first night there, we were having too much fun at a house party to go to the club where BOY GEORGE was Dj’ing. Yes it would have been a great story to tell, but we’ve had to make hard choices all throughout this trip.

Unsurprisingly, politics are everywhere in Lebanon. We asked a lot of questions, and learned a lot, but left still very confused as to whats really happening there.

To boot we were there on election day so people were out in the streets and drivıng through town promotıng their particular favorite.

There are so many factions and sub factions of Sunnis, Shia, Christians, Armenians, and others playing political games and making alliances with each other that I might defer to another friend and colleague Simba, who on my last night remarked that ‘its all politricks’, and the issues that matter to real people are never addressed by any of them. That’s the view I always had back home, but I was hoping it had a little more meaning over here. Maybe, maybe not….

And of course, Hezbollah was on the scene.

For those who don’t know, they are a legal political party with elected members in the Lebanese government. They have a great deal of support from the people. They’ve got a huge camp set up in downtown Beirut, as a sit-in to protest the current government. And they have a gift shop next to the roman ruins at Baalbek in Northern Lebanon.

I spoke to a few members and got their take on things. In a tiny nutshell—they dont like the Zionist agenda, and they think the US supports it. Ask me for more details in person.

Almost forgot, aside from all the politics, Lebanon ıs a beautiful country.

Roman Ruins, beaches, mountains. We would have liked to have spent a lot longer exploring. (and cookıng at Jacksons house–weve really mıssed being able to cook our own food)

Were behind again on the pics. We spent an awesome few days in Northern Syria, and are now in Southern Turkey. Its feelin more European every day…

And back on the professıonal tip, you can click here to check out a story I just wrote for the St Petersburg Times about Burning Man, and how the festıval this year is steppıng up its environmental consciousness.
İ really wısh I was going to be there, but, again…sacrıfices must be made.

I don’t know why, but Syria always sounded like the most exotic of our planned destinations. Cradle of Civilizations, blah blah blah. Well, so far I’m not disappointed, Syria is COOL.

It had better be nice, since we waited 7 hours at the border to be admitted. In that time, we watched numerous people of other nationalities come thru, attain their visa in an hour or less, and go on their way. Hmm, is it only us who has to wait for the entire day? Oh well, the border is open 24 hours, so at least I knew they wouldn’t send us away to close up shop.

First stop: Damascus. I like this place. The alleyway to our hotel, filled with little hole-in-the-wall coffeeshops and budget hostels, reminds me of Amsterdam.

Folks were even enjoying a beer at a streetside café – something unheard of in the last 4 countries we’d visited. They always hide you away because, you know, drinking a beer is NOT a public, family-oriented activity, and you ought to be ashamed anyway!

Damascus is OOOLLLDDDDD!

There’s a huge mosque in the center of the Old Walled City, and still visible at either end are the columns and triangular pediment of the former Temple of Jupiter.

ANDREW SEZ: In The Ummyad mosque, there was a few shrines, and one had the head of John the Baptist inside it. People were getting pretty emotional..

JESSICA RETURNZ: I got scrubbed down in an old beautiful hammam, and we spent hours just walking around the souks and the Old City.

Syria is rockin the fresh juice shops, and they sell blackberry juice icees – mmmmmmm! Did I mention it’s about 115 degrees every day??

ANDREW SEZ: Cairo was the best for fresh fruit juice, while Syria has so far been a close second. The difference—Cairo juice stands have strawberry juice. Best pick here is the mixed fruit-you get a huge glass of fresh smoothie.

JESSICA RETERNZ: Look out for the taxi drivers though – we have been yelled at by more of them than not. Even if you can get him to put on the trip meter, he will invariably want more that the meter reading when you arrive at your destination. They might follow you out screaming, and one guy put up his dukes. OK, he was smiling, so that was pretend. I don’t like the taxi drama.

Spent a few days in Hama, city of 17 Ancient Norias (waterwheels). The norias are huge and quite beautiful: dark water-stained wooden wheels, turning lazily in the flow of the river. They are mounted on wooden blocks, so the wood-on-wet-wood friction creates an enormously loud groaning. Something between a squeaky hinge and a harley davidson. The water used to pour into the tops of aquaducts and go all over town, but now it mostly just sprinkles down the noria in a gorgeous spray of light. If the river wasn’t so stinky… The aquaducts are still standing in several places, and together with the norias it’s a very nice picture.

Most of Hama’s Old City is gone, lost to bombs, but a small portion remains. There we saw a right perty palace and some quaint narrow stone streets winding between a hammam and a mosque. It must have been very pretty once.

ANDREW SEZ:

I also felt like we got one step closer to Europe, as we checked out a few castles.

Some Shepards(who have been ever present, but we havent been giving due props over the past few months)

And last but not least, the beehive villages. Some folks still live in these houses..

Now we are chillin in Beiruit. Well have pictures soon. Suffice it to say it’s a fascinating city. War torn for sure, but also the party capital of the middle east. Waking up around noon to a view of the sea, and bombed out buildings…hasta pronto…

Today is August 1, which makes it ONE YEAR since we set forth from Tampa. Wow! And yes, it feels like a year. So far we’ve survived the Granada winter and we are currently sweating out the Middle East summer. There’s a couple more months to go, barring disaster we still hope to make it to Rome….

We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last 2 1/2 weeks : we revisited Cairo and met the Sinai Peninsula, saw the last little bits of Jordan, and crossed into Syria. We like to think we’re on the home stretch of this journey now – no more revisiting countries, always heading forward.

In CAIRO we met some young newspaper cartoonists, Qundeel & Makhrouf. They had some really interesting work, and sounds like great luck to be drawing for their living. Other newspapers in Cairo are starting to imitate this paper and hire cartoonists because it been so successful. It was enlightening to see their view of the world from their pen and ink drawings. Hey Guys!

SINAI is some desert shit: brown rocky desert for miles and miles, with mountains and folds of stony earth poking out everywhere. We climbed to the top of Mt Sinai (of 10 Commandments fame) timing it so we’d arrive at the summit just before dawn and see the amazing colors of the morning sun pour in over the mountains.

At the top there are lots of other folks doing the same thing, many of them pilgrims from all over the world.

There are also kittens living up there and LOTS of souvenir shacks. ‘You want CAMEL? GOOD camel!’

At the bottom you can visit St Katherine’s monastery where they supposedly keep the [descendent of the] Original Burning Bush. Sorry, No flames, no booming voice of god.

We spent a couple days beach-bumming in DAHAB. I hear this place was recently just a bunch of laid-back shanties and huts on the beach, but no more! There’s a million budget hotels and dive shops lining the beach, as well as tourist shops and restaurants, and a long concrete sidewalk snaking the shore. We rented cheap snorkeling gear and caught a glimpse of The Best Coral Reef Diving in the World, reportedly. LOTS of coral, (much of it trampled by fellow snorkelers entering and exiting the reef area) and colorful fish. Sorry, no pics of this. We even saw a couple eels and an octopus!

If you’re looking to stay in the area, however, I’d recommend searching out the next old-Dahab, somewhere with less development and more huts. Too much tourists, and prices reflected that.

ANDREW SEZ: A not so quick ferry ride from Egypt to Jordan…

JESSICA RETURNZ: Back to JORDAN.

This time in Amman we finally saw the Roman Amphitheater that (restored) sits in the middle of the city. There was a free concert in it! Jordanian families danced in front of their seats.

Then we rode up to the north and saw the Roman Ruins of JERASH. Some nice stuff here, but all these ruins are starting to look a lot alike if you ask me. Ruin-fatigue.

ANDREW SEZ: Yes, in many ways, we feel as if we have already conquered Rome.(and Carthage for that matter) Still cool, but not the same ‘wow’ effect as the first time—like many things in life.

JESSICA RETERNZ: Would have loved to stick around to see one of my favorite bands Ozomatli perform in this ancient amphitheater, but that would have required crossing the Syrian border a 2nd time, and as you will read in the next chapter, that just ain’t happening….

We don’t like to admit defeat, but we have to in this case.

Libya simply wouldn’t budge, and we could not get into the country. Without telling the entire saga, Ill include some details for the curious,(most people seem to be curious about Libya, as we were) interspersed with pictures from the magical Ksour of Tunisia for those with short attention spans.

We began our efforts to get into Libya in February. The usual way to go is with a tour agency—officially, no tourists are allowed without one. It was going to cost more than we hoped, but we figured how many chances to you get to check out the amazing desert and ruins of Libya. Several agencies wrote back, saying the government had put a freeze of visas to Americans (not officially, but they just wouldn’t issue them), one guy offered to do it for $900