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Bus Trip to the Aegean Coast of Turkey: It is a fourteen-hour bus trip from Istanbul to Bodrum. On the advise of our tour guide in Istanbul, we decided to take the overnight bus which leaves Istanbul around sunset and arrives in Bodrum in the early morning. Bus travel around Turkey is very inexpensive costing about one dollar (US) an hour. Buses are the main means of conveyance throughout Turkey. They include the big luxury buses primarily for the tourist and Turkish fat cats, the big ordinary buses which are comparable to Greyhound except that they all carry a steward and are for the general public, and then the smaller mini-buses (Dumishes) which operate from the main bus centers to the smaller villages usually for one set fee. The large buses operate between main large bus terminals that are huge and quite futuristic. They are complete with cafes, pools of water and fountains, markets, WC's for 100 TL . Always check whether the cubicle you are walking into is the traditional squat or western throne mode. Also check for TP. (Usually it has been robbed.) Amazingly, smoking is not permitted on any buses. This is new legislation and for once the Islamic fundamentalists advocated reasonable and protective public policy. That is about the only good things that anyone I ran into said about them. An exception to the smoking policy is the bus driver. Around the seacoast, the roads tend to be very steep and narrow. I noticed the drivers smoking more frequently as they drove these enormous vehicles up these steep inclines. Once I noticed the wreckage of a luxury bus, much like ours, scattered over the side of a mountain. I winced at the site. back We arrive at Izmir after a nine-hour bus ride from Istanbul. As our luxury bus drove into town, there was a sea of concrete slab apartment houses as far as the eye could see. Virtually all of them had lengths of steel reinforcing rods protruding from their top stories. Later, we learned that if a property is under construction, it is taxed at a lower rate than when finished. This made good economic sense rather than the idea we had created thinking Turks were big into lightening rods. At the very large and modern bus terminal in Izmir, we found the appropriate bus to take us to Selcuk, the town closest to Ephesus. When we arrived in Selcuk, the bus dropped us off on the street where a pension operator, anxious to introduce us to his establishment, met us. He so desired new business that he provided us a taxi to his establishment. When we told him we would not be able to be his guest, he still insisted that we come so we could refer his establishment to our friends back in the States. Tourism, as I mentioned earlier, was in desperate shape in Turkey during the summer of 1999. Consequently, business people resorted to all sorts of imaginative ways to attract business. We arrived at the pension that appeared to be both clean and friendly. We were provided a tour of the hotel and invited to the roof deck where breakfast was just being completed. We were allowed to go out and procure our own food (bread, fruit, watermelon, and cheese) and to use one of their tables. This was as good a place any to pay to have some of our laundry done. From the roof deck we could see a huge fortress . probably dating back to the Crusades . on top of the hill. There was little doubt but that most of the stone used in its construction came from ancient classical ruins.back The town of Selcuk is so much like all other Turkish towns. Being a tourist stop, it has many cafes and shops selling cards, carpet, and tourist items. As we walked into town to visit the museum that housed many of the high quality artifacts from Ephesus, we encountered a parade. There was a small impromptu band followed by a pick up truck carrying bass drums that were being played. Then came a white donkey ridden by a boy who appeared to be about 12 or 13 years of age. He wore a golden helmet and was dressed in a very fancy cloak. All the people in the parade were men or boys. We later found out that the boy was on his way to his circumcision. This is a very important event to a Muslim youth and at that age must be a very painful experience. The museum was modern yet a bit run down. It nevertheless contained some fascinating and beautiful objects discovered at Ephesus. The most memorable were the statues of Artemis, which is of a woman goddess who is decorated with eggs, lions and griffons. There also is much statuary including a beautiful marble head of Eros and a bronze boy on a dolphin. back Nearby we visited the 7th and 8th century Church of St. John's once the sixth largest cathedral in the world, burial spot of St. John, and the second ecumenical conference of the Christian church from which the tenets of Christian belief emerged as the Nicene Creed. It must be remembered that during the 1st century AD, Ephesus was then the largest and most important city in Turkey. Jews and others practiced their respective faiths freely whether they believed in the Anatolian, Greek Roman or Egyptian religions. St. Paul, expelled from Jerusalem in 37-42 AD, came to Ephesus in 53. For three years he preached the gospel of Christ and established the Church of Ephesus. It was here that he finally wrote his gospel and finally died. Legend has it that the safety of Jesus. mother Mary was entrusted to St. Paul and she came to live (and die) near Ephesus. What is believed to be her home is nearby and is known as the House of Mary. We were unable to visit there. I. ll save that for my next trip. Virtually next to the ruins of St. John. s are the ruins of the great temple of Artemis, the earth mother goddess. It was once considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Not much remains other than some very tall columns on the top of which storks have built their nests. No doubt the ruins of the temple were used in the construction of St. Johns and the ruins of St. John. s used in the construction of mosques and the crusaders fort high atop the hill. back Upon our arrival at the ruins of Ephesus, we quickly realized we had not allocated sufficient time for our visit. It was brutally hot, and there were quite a number of really remarkable places we wanted to see. In spite of the heat, the place was quite crowded with many European women wearing halter-tops and men going shirtless. I saw one fellow . probably a Swede . whose skin was as red as a newly cooked lobster. The city was once a great trading port and religious center, and it was difficult to imagine that the city was once contiguous to water. Siltation has moved the site a considerable distance from useable water. On the distant horizon we could see a great hammerhead crane that was moving objects through the air. We really wondered what that was all about. As we walked along the ancient street, we rounded a hill and the ancient city lay beneath us. The road descended into the ancient city and was lined with the bases of what once supported statues. There were the ruins of baths, fountains, temples and great public buildings. The crane was being used for conducting some further archeological work on a hillside and building a great aluminum covering in order to conserve what was being uncovered. It made me realize that excavation of an artifact is one thing but conserving it in place against the elements is the less glorious but perhaps the most important activity. This particular effort was being funded by a public/private Austrian partnership. We visited the great Celsus library, which, as restored, is the most monumental edifice in all of Ephesus. Completed in 117, a monument to the Roman procouncel (governor) of the Asian province, the capital of which was Ephesus. Twelve thousand scrolls were kept in the niches of the walls. We then visited the huge amphitheater built on the hillside of Panayir Dagi during the reign of Lysimachos. It had been altered many times since. It could seat 24,000. There were many frescoes laying about depicting the actors in the plays, all of whom were male and who wore masks. We left Ephesius and had a four-hour trip to Bodrum.back Bodrum is quite beautiful being located by a protected harbor with hills rising quite dramatically all around the basin. The town is situated on the site of the ancient city of Halicarnassus from where Heroddotus (the father of history) was born (484-425 BC). The remains of one the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum of King Mausolus, put Halicarnassus on the map. The Bodrum Castle, a massive structure built on the island in the harbor by the crusaders, dominates the city. The jet set from the French and Italian Rivera hang out here. You see them everywhere. The senile old men with skinny legs, heavy midriff, pectals that need a bra, and heavy Onassis style glasses being surrounded by the most beautifully sculpted young women one could ever imagine. The rich young males (i.e. the playboys) are so obviously pickled in alcohol and drugged out you can pick them from a mile away. The yachts are what one might expect to find on the French Rivera. We chose to visit Bodrum because Texas A&M maintains a nautical archeological museum at the castle. Also my friend, Brooks MacFarquhar 's mother Sibel has a summer home here. We stayed in a rather shabby pension that was affordable but probably the poorest quality accommodations we had throughout our trip. Our room had three cots and we were able to do our laundry in the WC and have plenty of room to spread it out to dry. Bodrum, unlike the other town we had visited, had many tourists. The streets were packed and the discos, taverns, and restaurants all doing a thriving business. This is where John Olsen will leave my Dad and me, because he must return to Istanbul and back to the States. John has been a great traveling companion. He is always game for new places to explore and quite adventurous. The only down side was his model ship . which we named the Albatross. He bought it in Sinop and has carried it with him ever since . on the plane, bus, and yes even in taxicab. It is a very nice model ship but it is quite large being about 3. high and 3. long. It has wooden sails that also appear to be made of mahogany. It will be a handsome piece in John. s office at Wilmington Trust. However carrying it around Turkey was quite a chore and we admired John. s attentiveness to his new toy. They became well bonded. back We visited Bodrum (or St. Peters) Castle and found it to be quite a structure and museum. Built during the crusades, it was a bastion for the order of St. John. Different nations maintained separate towers . the Germans, English, and French. The dudgeon was located beneath the Gatineau Tower. Above the steps down to the dudgeon is the warning in Latin that "Inde deus abest" (God does not exist here.), somewhat ghoulish. The Knights of St. John ran the place from 1523-1523. As I descended further into the torture room I heard agonizing screams and then saw a victim inside an iron maiden. Apparently someone from Disney Land provided technical expertise in this recreation. The dungeon was opened up only several years ago having been hidden for centuries. All the equipment was still in place so there was no need to artificially recreate it. One wonders what crimes people were tortured for in this awful place. In the castle are several great displays on underwater archeology including an ancient galley that had been raised by Dr. George Bass of Texas A&M University. It is maintained in a climate-controlled room and has a walkway around it so you can examine the ship in great detail. Of course there were many amphorae of all-different sizes and shapes. These were the packing crates and 55 gallon steel drums of the ancient world. Unthinking I took a picture of the ship and was told to leave by the guard. At least he did not take my camera. Hamilton visited Bodrum in the late 1830s. Like John Olson through a set of unfortunate circumstances he was not allowed to visit the inside of the Bodrum castle. However we unknowingly visited some of more interesting sites off the beaten path that Hamilton had explored over one hundred fifty years earlier. "Leaving this spot we ascended a hill& to examine the theater& In the hill above the theater may tombs are excavated in the soft rock, some of which are narrow chambers extending lengthwise into the hill, while others intended perhaps for family vaults, are large apartments containing fourteen or fifteen niches two or three feet wide, formally closed by marble slabs, the grooves into which they fitted being still visible& " These rock caves are not easy to reach. After climbing the steep hill behind the Roman Theater, we encountered a thicket filled with a thorny plant that must be negotiated. The Romans used these plants as packing material to cushion the delicate amphorae in a manner similar to excelsior being used today to cushion highly polished building stones. Mixed in with these plants is wild wheat . reminding me that this is the place of origin of domesticated wheat varieties. A narrow walkway has been carved into the side of cliff and is the only way to get to the caves without climbing gear. The stone caves are sixty or seventy feet off the sloping ground of the hill. This is surely adventure archeology.back We (my Dad, Brooks, and I) took a small bus and made our way to a small fishing town on the Bodrum Peninsula named Gumusluk. There we hiked over cow pastures that overlooked the sea and where you could find finished pieces of stone that obviously once were an element in an ancient building. We came upon a tiled floor and there we did some snorkeling. Underwater we could see ancient columns that once were part of the ancient city of Mindos. We capped off the day with an extraordinary fish diner as we watched the sun set. back
Bergama: Lonely Planet Gets Us a Free Stay We are now in Bergama having left Bodrum this morning by bus via Izmir. I had read in Lonely Planet (The travel guide that will eventually put Blue Guide and Fodors out of business.) about Pension Athena that was a restored 160-year-old Ottoman house that had been enlarged with several additional rooms. Their motto: "We are not the best but trying to get there." Price - cheap - at $5/$7 US for 2 - breakfast thrown in. We were met at the bus station by the proprietor (We had made no prior arrangements.) and for 1 M TL taken by cab to his establishment. We are the first visitors in a week (I told you previously that tourism was rotten in Turkey during 1999) and wants us to stay for nothing if we allowed him to see the newest edition of Lonely Planet. John Olsen had left his copy with us since we had found it an essential tool for travel in Turkey. He was ecstatic! His name was included in what he regards as the "who is who" of world travel! He asked me to read aloud the summaries on his competitors and was well satisfied that they had been utterly destroyed in the manner by which the guide depicted them. Statements were included such as "dirty," "roach infested," "filthy carpet," "one can do better," and "poor sanitation does not encourage guests." Business and prosperity should now pour into Pension Athena - or so he hopes. The place is indeed interesting and does have possibilities. It has an inner courtyard with a dynamite view of the Pergermun Acropolis. The area of town in which it is located is - well - seedy - but then so isall of Bergama. Its economy is based on tourists (Now becoming less frequent due to the fact that visitors take a short several hour "expedited" tour from cruise ship anchored in one of the nearby port cities like Izmir.) and agriculture. Like most Turkish towns, it has far too many retail establishments most of which directly compete with each other and are literally next door to each other. If one type of establishment will suffice - in Turkey five are better. They then attempt to price compete allowing for great opportunities for the purchaser. Ivan, our host, is now out getting Lonely Planet photocopied and showing it off to all his friends. Tonight also are the semi final football (i.e. soccer) playoffs in Istanbul with Turkey playing against Israel. Much passion is evident. back Back to the Athena. The proprietor does not own the place. He is my age - only twenty years old. The landlord will put nothing into it, and if it succeeds as a business, he will increase the rent. If the proprietor makes any improvements, he will also increase the rent. It is commercially worth probably $10K US but the landlord wants $60K and forces the proprietor to sign yearly leases as opposed to a 10 year lease. The courtyard could be most attractive if the potted plants were taken out of the metal olive oil can containers and put in decorative ceramic pots. The torn and horrid Turkish rugs with cigarette burns which hangs on the wall should be discarded, tile installed over the concrete deck, a decorative fountain installed, and perhaps the walls painted and decorated with a classical motif. The clotheslines have to go at least during meal times. A small bar could be installed (every pension and restaurant we have visited sells alcoholic drinks). His roof needs fixing (water drips into our bedroom) but miraculously does not fall on the beds. Ivan needs a business plan. He is doing our laundry now (500,000 TL plus one DC shirt given to the kid who works for Ivan). It will be dried on the clothesline and ironed. back Ivan then sent us over to his very good friend Murat Mert. They all think we are correspondents for "big US magazines or newspapers," a claim that we neither deny nor admit to. Then they tell us how US travel magazine writers con them into free food, lodging, and outright bribes to write about them. Murat showed us a great article on Pergamun that appeared in the New York Times for Oct. 1, 1995 that he proudly displays on his wall. Also an article in Food and Wine magazine of August 1998. He wants to give us his finest meal for nothing. We tell him that would be unethical. We pay less than 3 M TL for a wonderful meal of freshly baked Pita bread with a wonderful concoction of cheeses and spices, sautéed chicken, vegetables, salad, bulgur rice or couscous and red rice. I had 2 ayrans (a yogurt milk product). The proprietor went on and on about the Kurds . indicating they don't care about education, economic opportunity, growth and prosperity. We wandered around town in the evening light taking photos and getting a feel of the place. We met a young couple from Slovania. The woman was at the University finishing a degree in Psychology. They introduced us to a Turkish Archeologist (who spoke excellent English) but to make ends meet worked in a rug store. We hoped that he would give us a tour of the acropolis but as it turned out rug selling took precedence. back We set out for the Acropolis about 7:30am crossing an ancient Roman bridge that crossed a very dirty and contaminated stream. It was teeming with more turtles than we ever could imagine and choked with all sorts of garbage particularly plastic water bottles. The path meanders upwards past many small Ottoman era homes painted in a great variety of colors. Chickens and several sleepy dogs appear to be the only critters that are awake. We forge ahead and finally find the road leading to the Acropolis. It seems that the Germans have always taken a special interest in Pergamum, a city that has existed since Trojan times. Its heyday was during the time of Alexander the Great and latter during the Roman Domination of all of Asia Minor. It was at that time one of the Middle East's most powerful and richest small kingdoms. Pergamum is probably most renown for its library. It was to have held more than 200,000 volumes exceeded only by the Great Library at Alexandria that had 700,000 volumes. The Egyptians became so worried about this competition that they cut off the supply of papyrus from the Nile. The Pergamum scientists went to work and developed pergamen or "parchment" which was made out of animal hides. This led to the development of the bound book. Alas, Marc Anthony pillaged this library to give to Cleopatra as a sop for the destruction of her Library in Alexandria. It didn't make any difference since the later Islamic rulers burnt the books anyway claiming that if they contained any wisdom at all, it would have been included in he Koran. If it was not in the Koran, then it was wrong and should be burnt. In any case we walked up the side of the Acropolis that is beautifully situated in a manner similar to the Acropolis in Athens. The engineering work is breathtaking. We walked through a huge gymnasium, the baths, the very steep vertigo inducing 10,000-spectator theater, and then to the Temple of Trajan. We discovered where the Altar of Zeus was located, the real thing now being in Berlin having been taken there by Germans in the 19th Century. We ran into a few tourists from Japan, and two middle-aged women from the US (Iowa and California) and the couple from Slovenia. Other than these persons, it is as though we are the only tourists in Turkey. Since we had climbed up and not taken the motor road, we missed the entrance gate and thus the joy of having to pay for admission.back Trip to the Carpet Factory Restaurant: We walked down the long road and back to our pension. Our host wants to take us out to lunch and is so insistent that we finally say so what! He had arranged to borrow a car and then we head out of town a distance of about 10 miles to a rather nice restaurant located next to a Turkish Rug Factory cooperative. Uh - Oh! I can see the trap coming. We have thus far successfully avoided the rug trap but now it appears we are to be sucked in. But surprise! We enter the restaurant and are able to choose the very best cuisine from a display case and whatever fish we desire from the hatchery pool that doubled as a fountain/decorative pool. They pulled the fish out of the water and it was cleaned and cooked in ten minutes. It was the freshest and finest fish I ever ate. We simply could not allow our host to pay for this meal so my Dad did. A gourmet lunch for 3 for 5.2M TL or about $12. It made up for the disaster of the day before. back On our way back to the pension we stopped in the Pergamum Museum that is in downtown Bergama. A gift from the Germans (abut 1936) and recently renovated, this is a most beautiful albeit small museum with artifacts and statuary well displayed.back Trip to Canakkale on the Dardanelles: We then take the Dolomus (small mini-bus) to the highway junction where we flag down the big bus travelling from Izmir to Canakkale. We wait over one hour tying to get on anything that moved in the correct direction. We finally succeed and then have a 3-hour bus ride costing 4 M TL. We then cross the Dardanelles by Ferry and check into the Down Under, our hotel from where I am writing. Aussies . a wonderful group of people that are real laid back and have a great sense of humor, surround us. We run out for a bite and find Turkish hamburger - lamb patty and tomatoes. back Our plan is to go to Pergamum and then up to Canakkale (site of the Gallipoli Campaign in WW I) and from there go to Troy. We will probably stay at the Down Under, a hotel in Eceabat town that is on the other side of the 3-mile wide Dardanelles (or Hellespont). This is the place that young Aussie's frequent as they pay homage to their fallen countrymen. Over 1/2 million - both Turks and Allies were killed at Gallipolis. High proportions were Aussies and New Zealanders. From there we will return to Istanbul. Turkey never stops. It makes no difference whether it is mid day or 2am in the morning. The shops are always open and people continually interacting. Being an Islamic country, the sexes are separated by custom. One rarely sees young women - only the men with their sons. Older women are seen only in he evening and in transit. I suspect the women are back home weaving carpets. back Yesterday we took the tour of the Gallipoli battleground. It was eerie being with so many young Australians and New Zealanders. The tragic events that occurred here in 1915 belong to them, not the US. To young Australians, this is a place much like Mecca is to an Islamic that they must visit at least once in their lives to truly be an Australian. The battle site is visited with reverence, pride, and anger at the British - not the Turks. The idea of Winston Churchill, then first Lord of the Admiralty, was simple enough. With an overwhelming force of naval superiority, passage would be forced through the Dardanelles opening a route to Istanbul and Russia. This would effectively remove the Ottoman Empire from the war, and resupply the Russian army with needed munitions to restart the Eastern front. This would force the Germans to reallocate their armies and thereby take pressure off the western front. If it had been successful it probably would have prevented the Russian Revolution. It was an imaginative plan but underestimated the capabilities of the Turks and the strength of their fortifications. Greece was with the Allies and promised return of the old Byzantine Empire when the plan succeeded. This included all the Aegean islands (Crete included), the European side of Istanbul, and the southwestern and southern coastal area of what is now Turkey. Well, matters didn't work out as planned. An allied battle fleet attempted to bombard their way through the Dardanelles but in the process six ships were sunk by mines. The prior day, the allies had swept the channel of mines but that night a Turkish minelayer laid new mines. The Allies didn. t think such an action was possible. As the flotilla of Allied ships entered the channel, one by one they hit the mines. This resulted in the loss of several battleships all in one day! This is not a career enhancing operation for Admirals. The flotilla had to retreat and acknowledge defeat. As an alternative to capturing the fortifications guarding the Dardanelles, the Allies landed a huge army on the Gallipoli peninsula. A large portion of the troops came from New Zealand and Australia who were then training in Egypt. The battle that ensued was incredibly bloody. Ataturk commanded the Turkish army and successfully resisted an overpowering assault from the allies. Thus emerged the great hero of modern Turkey and the legend of the great fighters from Australia. Our guide was a retired Turkish Navy officer who spoke excellent English yet was a bit contemptible of Europeans. He continually stressed the theme of Australian/ New Zealander . Turkish friendship and didn. t particularly cater to Americans. He remarked to us that he was afraid of trouble because some Brits were in our group. The only experience I can compare this trip to was a visit to the Viet Nam War Memorial in Washington, DC. Flowers were strewn in front of the graves of the fallen Aussies by members of my generation. I asked if this was for their great or great-great grandfather and they usually said no. It was simply that they were Aussies who died at too young an age and for a cause that was of little relevance to Australia. However they did their duty and for that reasons all Australians still revere them. The town of Canakkale was essentially once a military town, the site of the great forts, which defended the Dardanelle. s. This also was the place where the Persian king Xeres crossed on pontoon bridges as he took his army westward to attack the Athenians. It was here where Alexander the great crossed with his Macedonian army to conquer central Asia and the near east. I went inside several of the great forts and examined the great guns, which were used in action during World War I. Most were of French and German manufacture. Inside the castle, I saw where one of the 12" shells from the British Battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth had entered the walls of the fort. back Located on the Troad that overlooks the entrance to the Dardanelles, this site immediately reveals itself as a strategic location. From the height, you can see the Gallipoli peninsula and the many ships entering the narrow waterway that leads to the Sea of Mammara and then onto the Black Sea. This is where, according to the story of Homer, Achilles came with Odysseus to rescue Helen who has been taken from Greece by Paris and away from her husband Menelaus who was off fighting in Crete. Helen, it was believed, was the fairest woman in the entire world. One still wonders if this was the true motivation for the sack of Troy by the Greeks or was it to gain access to the great trade route to some of the most productive lands then surrounding the Black Sea. Troy was first inhabited about 3000 . 2500 BC during the late Bronze Age. The city was then situated close to the water where the Scarmander and Simois rivers enter the sea. Legend mentions the islands of Temedos and Imbros as being close to ancient Troy. By adding the description of "Steep Illion" and "windy Troy" the Hisarlik Hill where Troy has been discovered is well described. On top of the rise (about 36 m above sea level), I can feel the cool north wind blowing from the Dardannels as Homer described the spot. Chills go up my spine as I realize I am standing where the great heroes once battled and the great legends of the Iliad were created. It was from behind these walls where King Priam and his people defended themselves against the great assault mounted by the Greeks. This is where through the trickery of the Trojan horse the Greeks were able to enter and then destroy the city. From an early age, I had heard and read about the Trojan wars. My Dad had long wanted to come here but always heard that it was difficult because the Turks placed little value on it and that the early archeologist Heinrich Schliemann essentially destroyed the site as he ruthlessly sought golden artifacts. Guidebooks invariably indicated that Troy was uninteresting and a pile of confused rubble. Here was our chance, and we indeed were not disappointed. Fortunately, we had a great guide, Mustafa Askin, a Turk who is both a scholar and writer and who is quite proficient in English. Having a guide when you visit Troy is a must! It is a confused site since so many different cities (and hence ruins) are located here. The sloping walls of Troy VI are massive and are cleverly designed. The gate to the city is arranged so attackers could not break down the doors with a battering ram. Mercedes Benz is now the sponsor of the Troy excavations and their investment in the site is quite apparent. More exploration is now underway with the recent realization that only a portion of the ruins has thus far been uncovered. To attract tourists, a replica of the Trojan horse has been constructed and I simply had to climb into it. I found that I could crawl through some loose boards and make it up into the eye of the horse. My dad took a great photo of me as I peered out. Archeologists are working on unearthing what they believe to be the grave mounds of the Greek heroes described in Homer. As I understand, they are using special sonar devises to find the tombs, which have been buried inside. These are scheduled to be uncovered sometime this summer and data indicates that grave robbers have never disturbed them. back We crossed the Dardanelles for the last time during this trip and headed by bus up the Gallipoli Peninsula toward Istanbul. In Istanbul we again checked into the Green Hotel and I packed up and prepared for my trip home. My Dad would stay behind to conduct some business and would meet me back in the States probably in a week. As I flew out of the Ataturk Airport, I knew I would return soon to this incredibly fascinating country. I realized that during the summer of 1999, I had been a part of an amazing and historically important archeological expedition. back
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