LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES

Love Knows No Boundaries from Jason Keller on Vimeo.

The Reveal - 4:25

Istanbul

Istanbul for both of us was the most anticipated: for Jay because he’s a roman history buff and was excited to see the city’s monuments from its days as Constantinople, for Pat because he was supposed to visit here on an extended trip back in 2011 but instead he spent his time in Vancouver instead... :)

Our cruise arrived in port early and we checked into our hotel early. We stayed in the Sultanahmet district which is right amongst most of the key monuments. We were so excited to start sightseeing though that a 5 minute walk “right” of the hotel turned into an hour and a half walk to the “left” with a tram trip - we definitely got to see a lot of the city but we felt silly for walking the wrong way for so long. We discovered where you can buy really cheap bags, shoes, etc and also got to see the great Theodosian Walls which protected the city until the gunpowder age and the Ottoman siege of the city in the 15th century.

Once in the right spot.. The first major sight we went to see was Topkapi Palace. If you’ve been to Versailles in Paris or Schonbrunn in Vienna and expect the same sort of grandeur, this is nothing like that and both of us were somewhat underwhelmed. The palace itself is a sprawling complex of 1 and 2 storey buildings, for the most part modest in decorum. A few rooms feature the beautiful iconic blue tiles. The views from the palace over the Bosphorus are the worth the journey alone, and to see the throne rooms which have beds that the sultan would have stretched out upon. Definitely take the add-on entrance to the sultan’s private chambers - it’s a very interesting insight into imperial family life. 

We next went to the Hagia Sofia. Definitely a sight that both us have been looking forward to see for year. The impression you get as you walk in is that its seen a lot of change over the centuries. Distinct Christian and Muslim iconography the place really is symbolic of the city. After the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 they converted the Christian basilica into a massive mosque. Evidence of the christian mosaics and paintings are slowly being uncovered and right now half of the interior is (unfortunately) behind scaffolding. 

Feeling like we had both just checked a massive thing off our bucket-list, we walked down to a bridge to watch the sunset. Underneath the bridge is a bustling dirty-looking food court, and a sea-bus terminal, complete with floating restaurants. Almost every inch of the bridge was occupied by someone fishing for mackeral. We got some shots of the sunrise then wandered to the Galata tower district and looked for a place to eat. We ended up eating at a turkish restaurant right on the water. For the record, turkish food is awesome. 

(Sunset pic )

Day 2 in Instanbul was filled with seeing the things we ran out of time with on day 1. First we went to the cathedral cisterns - massive underground water storage built by the romans. The columns inside consist of bits and pieces of reused-temple from all over the empire in the day. Most interesting to people are the weeping column and the medusa head capitals which are mounted sideways so as to prevent anyone turning to stone by accident. 

Next we found a time slot between prayers to go see the Blue Mosque. Built on top of the former roman palace, its right across a park from the Hagia Sofia. On the way in, men and women’s dress is inspected carefully and loaner bags for your shoes and sheets are provided - even men’s knees can’t be showing. Inside, we were taken aback by the vastness of the space; it’s completely empty other than modest chandeliers and comfy rugs. We took a break here and took in the detail of the tile work. Apparently during construction, all tile makers were forbidden from producing tile for any other purpose than the mosque.

Jay was particularly excited to see small pieces of what’s left of the once-great roman hippodrome which could hold 100,000 spectators for chariot races and public events. Below is a pic of one of the last remaining pieces of the enormous structure - we were quite surprised how little recognition of the site there is when you're there.

From here we decided to wander and hit the Grand Bazaar. On the way we had some Turkish delight - probably our favorite flavor was pomegranate and pistachio. What we found was that the grand bazaar is just the tourist-ey focal point for a whole district of street vendors that stretches on for miles and eventually meets up with the more authentic Spice bazaar. 

That night, we cashed in some vouchers Pat bought Jay for christmas to go and see a Mevlevi Sema Ceremony - more commonly known as whirling dervishes. It’s about an hour long performance and is an ancient islamic prayer ceremony.  We were both amazed at the level of mental focus and discipline required to spin and spin and spin for over a half an hour without any sign of fatigue.  Highly, highly recommend anyone who makes the trip go see a show. 

After the show we wandered around looking for an authentic experience and we found it on the roof-top with pillows, free wifi, turkish music and water pipes.  We would come to think of this as our spot when as we kept going back. 

Our last day in Istanbul, we decided to take it a bit easier. We went to see the ancient aqueducts, which like the Theodosian walls, the city has built itself around and preserved them nicely.  From here we took another sweaty crowded tram ride over to what would be the newer part of the city around Taksim square. From what we had seen in the “old city” you wouldn’t recognize the “new city” as being in the same city. It really reinforced for us how progressive and modern Turkey is, despite some of the challenges it faces. We were both disappointed to hear that the city won’t host the 2020 Olympics as it would have definitely helped modernize the city and perhaps brought some stability and hope to the region. 

After this we hit the spice bazaar for some shopping, got some great deals like Jay’s  $5CAD equivalent “diesel” watch. 

After dinner at “our” place we stopped to soak in the sights of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia one last time before heading back to pack. 

Mykonos

Our last island stop on the cruise was in Mykonos. We opted to walk into town from where we were ported as opposed to paying $12USD each for a 5 min bus ride. Although we felt good about the extra excercise and cost savings, we definitely felt like we were taking our lives into our own hands. First impressions: clean, very gay friendly, lots of shirtless people on mopeds and quads, and of course the iconic blue and white architecture. We made a short stop at a water-side cafe and enjoyed the view of the water and the windmills across the bay. 

From here we took a quick walk uphill to the bus depot, I guess this is where you can catch a shuttle to one of the party beaches like Paradise beach or Super Paradise beach; however we could see a little quiet looking sandy spot on the water not too far and opted for that instead. On the way over we found a little convenience store run by a friendly (what we assumed to be lesbian) couple from England. The most exciting part of the store wasn’t the service staff but rather the fact that they had the wine that Jay had fallen in love with from Athens. We scooped one and now have it chilling in our fridge for our 1 year anniversary. We spent the rest of that afternoon relaxing 

After the afternoon on the beach and lunch, we wandered back into the whitewash town to explore. What we found was that the cleanliness and architectural controls on the island are extensive and made for a great atmosphere. Roof-top pool parties at boutique hotels with buff-dudes is definitely the “in” thing to do on Mykonos. 

We found a great look out spot and waited out the sunset. We agreed that we’ve never seen a more beautiful sunset before. 

On our way back we stopped by the boardwalk on the docks and had one last greek meal before walking back to the ship in the dark. Walking back was far more exhilarating than the walk out. 

Overall, we’d highly recommend a visit to Mykonos and Rhodes, but you can definitely skip Crete. We will definitely go back to Kusadasi someday and perhaps Israel if things ever settle down...

We eagerly awaited our arrival in Istanbul, but first we had one last day at sea and sailed through the Dardanelles. 

Kusadasi (Ephesus) Turkey

Next our cruise took us to our first Turkish destination Kusadasi. It made an excellent first impression on us, and seemed much more organized and sophisticated than the previous locations we had visited in Greece.

We took a couple hours’ trip our to the ancient ruins of the city of Ephesus. The city although now quite far in-land was once a port city and the second most important city outside of Rome during the Roman period. The city ruins are very substantial, yet only represent what’s believed to be 10% of the former city – so far its taken archeologists 150 years to excavate to date. We saw the entry way to the old library and Hadrian’s temple. St. Paul from the bible lived here and preached to the predominantly pagan people of the city after Jesus’ death.  

After this we took in lunch at a local Turkish carpet making school where we learned all about hand-knotted rugs. A nice silk one will set you back more than a few thousand. It was cool to see how silk is extracted from silkworm cocoons too.

After this we spent our afternoon shopping in a bazaar district in town. Here we learned the art of bargaining really is to walk away. The first store dropped the price of a knock-off shirt from 40lira (~$20CAD) to 10lira by walking 10 feet.  After this we felt emboldened to shop for lanterns for our place. We had been planning to buy a couple of these on the honeymoon for months. We were able to find the perfect set of 9 and solo blue for our place – we even packed extra luggage to make sure we could still carry these on.

After wandering some quaint side streets, we settled in a restaurant called the Baclavatium for some Turkish pizza for dinner, then headed back to boat to head to our next stop, Mykonos. 

Crete

Crete overall was probably the least impressive of the places visited on the tour, nonetheless it is the site of some important ancient history. Most of ancient Greece dates back to the Mycenaean people’s, whereas that of Crete is where the Minoan civilization called home. A cradle of civilization, the Minoan people used Crete as their hub of trade and commerce, they were not a militaristic people in any way.

We made a visit to what is left of the Palace of Knossos, where the mythological minotaur is said to have been slain by Theseus, the son of Athenian Aegius.  After slaying the Minotaur and returning to Athens, it’s said that Theseus, elated by his victory forgot to erect the white sail. Distraught by his son’s perceived death, Aegius is said to have thrown himself off a cliff and into the sea, to which now the sea is still name the Aegean sea.  The Minotaur was a myth told in ancient Athens to demonize the Cretans, however there is evidence of human sacrifice, with marks on children’s bones from meat cleavers.

After the palace we wandered along the marina and into the town center. The town itself offers lots of shopping and restaurants and has a nice atmosphere. We were particularly taken by spending our time on one of the Venetian sea-walls and watching massive airplanes take off low overhead. (Pic is of the only other somewhat interesting thing in Crete, a Venetian fortress that's not open to the public)

  

Jerusalem & Stuff from the Bible

We started day 2 in Israel overlooking the city from the Mount of Olives. We took some great pictures and our guide explained the various areas of the city and how they developed over time. We were also clearly able to see the Kidron Valley which seperates where city was once divided between Israel and Jordan until the 1960s.

The city is one of the oldest in the world and has seen several eras predating Christianity.
From here we went down to the Garden of Gethsemane where its said Jesus prayed before he was crucified, we toured the Church and the grounds. The olive trees in the garden today are beautiful but not believed to be those that Jesus would have seen since they are only 800 years old….

Next we took the bus across into the west bank, Palestinian authority territory to Bethlehem to see the church of the nativity. At the security check point, our Israeli guide had to leave the bus and we were joined by a Palestinian. We had a quick stop at a nativity set store where we watched several of our fellow-bus mates drop over $1000 on olive wood nativity sets… this was to kill time while an Armenian Christian mass was held in the church of the nativity. We got glimpses of some beautiful graffitti and saw our first Stars & Bucks cafe! 

Once at the church we had to wait about a half an hour for the priests to finish up the mass in the grotto. By the time we got in there must have been about 2,000 people behind us waiting to get in.We made our way down the narrow stairs into the grotto and got our pictures. (see below) 

On the way back to Jerusalem after lunch, we took notice of the graffiti on the security walls surrounding the west bank which were erected after the second intifada. Like our tour guide said, the issues are too complicated to do it justice; we won’t try to get into any of those facts here and instead we’ll let the graffiti speak for itself. We didn’t see or notice any graffiti on the Israeli side of the walls.

Our last stop before heading back to the ship in Haifa, was to take in more of the Old City. We walked through narrow streets and saw layers of the past unveiled by the wars between Israel and Jordan. According to our guide, the city has 38 “tel’s” meaning 38 layers of distinct architectural periods dating back thousands of years. Archeologists haven’t been able to uncover most of them, however those that have been are very well integrated into the modern construction that’s there today.

We made a visit to the church of the Holy Sepulcher and saw the slab where it's said Jesus’ body was prepared (see pic below) and the tomb where it’s believed he resurrected from. The Church itself, like the Church of the Nativity is very understated and shows signs of wear of the hundreds of years – nothing like the opulent cathedrals and basilicas found across Europe.  

We were hoping to visit the Dome of the Rock (gold dome in the Old City) however we weren’t  able to for security reasons. The rock is believed to be the place where Abraham was going to sacrifice his first son before being told by an angel that he didn’t have to. The rock itself is also known as the “foundation stone” and is the holiest place for Judaism and is where heaven and earth are believed to intersect. The Dome of the Rock is now a Mosque and is very well protected by security for if a fundamentalist on either side wanted to start WWIII, this would be the place to lay an attack.

Night out in Jerusalem

After checking into our hotel in Jerusalem, we went out again to the Old City. Here we saw the Western Wall at night. It became very apparent to us how intermingled the three major religions are in the city. Israel definitely does a lot to protect not only its own monuments, but also those of Islam and Christianity – they deserve credit here.  Standing at the Western Wall you are overwhelmed by the focus and dedication of the worshippers at the site. Many of the devout are entranced in prayer. At 9pm while standing here the Islam call to prayer came on loud and clear, reminding us of how many different faiths call Jerusalem home. We borrowed yarmulke (small hats) from the bin and made our way to touch the wall. Inside the cracks are thousands of small pieces of paper with prayers and hopes on them. Truly a place we think everyone should see in their lifetime.

From here we took a short bus ride to the newer downtown of the city to experience some of the nightlife. We walked around for some time in search of Ben Yehuda street as recommended by a good friend of ours.  It was a Sunday night but still lively. We saw an outdoor Hebrew karaoke bar where young people were singing and clapping and a little further a rather unique street performing crew.

From here we walked a bit further and stumbled upon a quiet alleyway with small restaurants and Christmas lights hanging. We settled in and had a few beers before heading back to the hotel on the Tram. The tram system is very modern and safe and an awesome example of how to revitalize and connect previously cut off communities.