We wrapped up our Rock N Roll (or as Andy Overman likes to say, the Higher than Sophia) Tour on the 19th with a great farewell dinner. The trip included so much that time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to leave.
I spent the last 22 hours on trains from Istanbul to Athens but I finally arrived this morning at 6:30am. Turkey and Greece are surprisingly similar, except Turkey has a stronger Islamic influence (evident by the dozens of domed mosques and minarets along the skyline). Both languages are hard to understand but Greek is easier to read once you learn the letters (thank you organic chemistry). My dad is flying in at 2:30pm today and we will explore the acropolis overlooking Athens for sunset.
I have been traveling a lot lately, so let me recap what happened in the last week.
The Macalester group spent four nights in Kusadasi (a resort town in the summer), a night in Hierapolis (water pipe and Efes all night long!), and back to Istanbul for three nights. We visited more Greek and Roman ruins (hence the Rock N Roll tour). Along the way were Priene and Miletos (two cities built on the grid plan with streets that meet at 90 degrees no matter what the incline and both with impressive theaters), Didyma (where we saw the oracle at the Temple of Apollo), Selcuk (the ultimate cultural experience: camel wrestling!), Aphrodisias (center for art in the ancient world), Hierapolis ("resort town" in ancient times because of the cascading hot springs), and Sardis (home to the largest ancient synagogue with beautiful mosaics).
My Favorites:
SITE: Ephesus, because of the preserved facades in front of the library, agora, Temple of Hadrian, and Trajan's Fountain (except the water used to fall three storeys and they didn't restore the pillars to full height), as well as the theater. Some of these entrances were reconstructed but most of the ruins are in great condition.
THEATER: Pergamon, because of the spectacular views.
MUSEUM: Aphrodisias, because it was the center for art in ancient times and I only wish I was that good! The excavations have found dozens of larger than life marble statues and reliefs. The attention to details was amazing!
The integration of Persian, Greek, Roman, Christian, and Ottoman cultures is interesting. For anyone who has played the game Risk, holding/capturing Turkey is hard because it is at a major crossroad in the world. This is evident in the numberous empires that have conquered and established major cities and trade routes in Turkey. It is a country unlike anything I have seen; the whole country is an outdoor museum. They treat their ruins like national parks in the U.S. Their tour guides require extensive training (like going to college) and every tour group is required to have one (a bit of a misunderstanding on our part because our professors have PhD's in the subject; nonetheless we picked up a tour guide).
Thanks for reading! For those of you starting school on Monday, have fun!
Katie
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