Day+5

=Istanbul, Adapazari, Iznik, Bursa July 3, 2009=

07:00 AM Early morning departure for Adapazari. Visit to the Adapazari Enka Schools. PM Lunch will be served at Enka Schools. Then we will depart for Iznik, famous with its Lake and beautiful "Iznik tiles," which decorate mosques and palaces throughout Turkey. Iznik has witnessed many civilizations which have left their marks on every corner. It was the center of tile production in the 16th century, producing tiles for famous architectural landmarks. We will visit the Iznik Foundation, an organization reviving the tradition of Turkish tile-making.

Depart for Bursa, rich in religious monuments, mosques, tombs, and traditional Turkish baths. Bursa was a center of Ottoman silk production, a tradition still enduring today and is also home to the famous “Turkish towel”. We will visit the Great Mosque which was built by Bayezid I after the Nicopolis (Nigbolu) victory. After being burnt down by Timur in 1402, the building was damaged by fires in 1493 and 1889 and by an earthquake in 1855 and restored extensively. Then, we will enjoy shopping at the Koza Han, home of the Silk Trade.

Bursa is also the hometown of the famous traditional Turkish shadow puppet theatre, Karagoz and Hacivat. After dinner, the group will enjoy a traditional Turkish Shadow Theatre: Karagoz. Overnight at the Hotel in Bursa.

=Commentary:=

Mike and I head out for a last stroll in Istanbul at dawn. We visit the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. I take some photos of these landmarks with no one else around - it's very serene and quite different than the visits we had earlier when both were teeming with tourists. Mike takes some shots of each building for his famous building collage collection and we head back to the hotel to eat breakfast and get ready for departure. We bid goodbye to Istanbul at 7:00 AM and head east to Adapazari. It is our first trip outside of Istanbul and most of us are sorry to leave the city. Despite four days I feel we only scratched the surface of this great place. Our first stop is the ten year old Enka school outside Adapazari, founded to educate the children of shattered families following the devastating earthquake in this region in 1999. The needs of the local community were staggering following the earthquake and the ENKA Foundation of Istanbul immediately began construction of the school after the local village donated land. The school is made up of a series of modular buildings that can be moved with a large crane based on the specific needs of the school every year. The director joked with us that the teachers and students call it the Lego School because it can change shape so easily. About 60 of the 550 students live at the school fulltime. Some of the students in the upper grades are original members of the school from the time of the earthquake. It’s not quite as lavish as other schools we visit but it has an excellent reputation and is a keystone in the on-going rebuilding effort in the area; piles of rubble can still be seen around the landscape.

We visit Iznik and see the ruins of Nicea on the outskirts of town. It’s our first glimpse of large scale Roman ruins. The Iznik Foundation is a working museum that is reviving traditional Turkish tile making. Many of the greatest buildings in Turkey are decorated with Iznik tiles including the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. The tiles are handmade and hand painted in traditional Turkish motifs. The blue tiles are especially stunning.

We reach Bursa in the late afternoon and most of the party runs to the Koza Han to buy silk scarves, wall hangings, and purses. Mike and I stay in the main square where a group of men are performing an elaborate Ottoman war ceremony near the Grand Mosque. Dressed in colorful costumes, they play drums and horns while others sing. A group of younger men do traditional Ottoman sword dancing as the older men sing. Ali explains that it is a civic group that reenacts these Ottoman songs and dances to keep history alive and show how the Ottomans got men motivated for battle. It is quite interesting and entertaining. It’s an even better experience because very few tourists are there to see it – lots of local grandparents brought their grandchildren to the show.

That night we go to a traditional Turkish shadow puppet performance. We get the history of the art form in Turkey, view a gallery of all the traditional characters in the theater (hundreds of them), see a private show, and then get to try our hand at it. It is quite fun!

We are all struggling to describe the Turkey we are experiencing. Some of us go for a late swim when we return to the hotel and experience a microcosm of modern Turkey. As we swim in an elevated courtyard pool we see an 800 year old Turkish Bath to one side while a raucous party takes place on the other side of the courtyard. People dance to techno as the last call to prayer resonates from a nearby mosque. That is the best characterization of the country that any of us have experienced yet: Thousands of years of history intersecting at one flash in time.

[|Today's Photos]