Athens

After Kusadasi, our travels took us back to Greece to visit Athens, where they know a thing or two about temples and pleasing tempermental gods. Temples, and parts of temples, are all over the city, so in our short given time we had to pick just a few to visit. Our first choice was the Temple of Poseidon, high atop a hill well outside of Athens, giving us a chance to explore the Greek coastline as we traveled by bus to our destination. This spot was a favorite of Lord Byron, who carved his name onto a section of one of the columns, and it is, indeed, a lovely sight. There is a wonderful breeze that flows through the area, almost making you think you are at sea instead of on land. Best of all, because of the location, there are far fewer tourists than you will find in the city, giving a little extra time to drink in all this beauty at your own pace. This is how we began our day.

Next stop was the Acropolis. This one takes some effort to reach; the bus can only take you so far, and then you must climb to the top of the hill on your own. Another hot day, another path paved with slippery slabs of marble that someone thought was a good idea back in the day. Not the best surface to walk on; many people spent most of the hike up cursing their shoes and other wardrobe choices for this adventure. I have to put in a shameless plug here: I did this climb, and every other walk in the Mediterranean I've written about, in a pair of flip flops. Happy feet every day.

Once at the top, a huge surprise .... how can this be? The Parthenon has been here for thousands of years and it is still under construction! Scaffolding around the structure, piles of broken pieces of statues and columns, and no landscaping to speak of. The view of Athens from here, however, is spectacular, and well worth the hike. Although we did not visit the adjoining museum, we were told that most of the actual structure is now housed there to protect it from the elements.

Back down the hill again, we made our way to a small tavern where I had the best Greek lunch ever, with all the classics: spanokopita, moussaka, salad with tiny tomatoes that were as bright red inside as their outside skins, spicy beef, and many other dishes. Waiters would rush by and, seeing a vacant space on your plate, immediately toss on more of yet another yummy dish. The entrees ended with a round of Greek spaghetti, and for a brief moment I was back at Skyline chili in Cincinnati again.

After lunch, we strolled over the the Plaka to see what the shops had to offer. Alas, no paper to be found. Enroute we passed this colorful street art and, as I don't know any Greek, I apologize in advance if it says something naughty. We were delighted to find a shop that sold beautiful decorative glass trays, plates and bowls that we have purchased in Chicago -- the artist is Greek, and we had by accident found the source of her beautiful work.

Our trip is drawing to a close; we have only one more city to visit in the next post!

Ephesus

If you love a good crumbling column or two, then you would enjoy a visit to Ephesus in Turkey, the ancient Greek city where the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was located. All that is left of the Temple now is a nice teetering column, but the rest of the town still provides plenty of visual wonders to enjoy.

I confess, I was not a student of history in my formative years, and somehow Ephesus just slipped right under my radar. (However, I did pay attention during Pompei, as you know from the earlier post.) Ephesus is reached from the port of Kusadasi--just rolls off the tongue, yes? It's a pleasant drive through the Turkish countryside once you leave the port; along the road I saw potentilla bushes growing wild and beautiful .... why don't they look like that in my backyard at home? This was another very hot day, well over 100 degrees, and there were no shade trees in sight. I was sorry not to have brought an umbrella for heat and sun protection, as the usual sunglasses and hat weren't doing a very good job.

We walked the ancient streets lined with slabs of marble that once graced the sides of buildings. Ephesus was a sizable city at one time; makes Pompei look like Munster compared to Chicago, and it had everything ... theatre, library, shops, dozens of temples and, as a consequence, lots of crumbling columns. Our only respite from the heat was a tour of the hillside excavation where a massive home is being reconstructed; it was under cover and provided a much needed break from direct sun. Some of the interior rooms are shown in the photo above; it is remarkable to see firsthand.

After spending several hours exploring Ephesus, we dragged our wilted bodies back to the bus, but not before stopping at the tourist shopping area where I saw this wonderful sign, and where I successfully bargained in the parking lot for 20 bookmarks that are woven miniature Turkish carpets. The book club will love these!

Flying Carpets

First, let me set the stage for the seduction. You're traveling in Istanbul and you've had a long, hot day of palaces, mosques, and the Grand Bazaar. The temperature is over 100 degrees and you've done a week's worth of walking in one day. Your water bottle was emptied an hour ago, the back of your neck is soggy from the humidity, and your feet are begging for a break. That's when the silver tongued Turkish devil invites you in for a glass of cold apple tea or a beer, and offers you a seat in an air conditioned room several floors above the crowds.

Welcome to the Turkish rug salesroom. We were drawn in by the warm hospitality, promise of education about the weaving process and, well, because we just wanted to sit down for a bit. As you are well on your way of enjoying your tasty beverage served on a silver tray, the story begins. First, you marvel at the silkworm cocoons and how the cool, broom-like tool pictured above is used to find the beginning thread of each cocoon. Next, the rug weaver, usually a young woman, arrives with her loom and shows you how deftly she ties the double knots to secure the fiber. Working from a drawing, she creates the pattern one row at a time.

But then it is show time. A team of young studs arrive and start pulling carpets from the inventory at the far end of the room. Whoop! the rug rolls out on the bare floor area in front of you, followed by a another on top of that one, and another still .... carpets in colors you're seeing for the first time, beautiful lush silks and wools, simple patterns, complex florals, whoop! whoop! one rug after another until there is a great teaming pile of overlapping rugs. The guys especially love to roll out the long hall runners, timing their release so the fringe ends just at your toes, a red carpet just for you! They save the little ones for last, because they've perfected a tossing technique that spins the carpet around two or three times like a pizza thrower before it lands on top of the pile. Real theatre!

If you find yourself in this situation, you must not let your curiosity get the best of you. I made the error of asking the price of one I saw fly by, and that was all it took to engage the salesman. We moved onto his radar screen and couldn't shake him for anything. The original price quoted was dropping by the minute "just for you, because you are from Chicago where my brother lives!" We hadn't even thought about buying a carpet on this trip, so it was easy to appear uninterested. After 10 minutes or so, the salesman followed us down the three flights of stairs to the door and we walked.

We strolled around the Grand Bazaar for about an hour and I completely forgot about the carpet. Not so, my spouse. Just out of the blue, he bet that he could get the carpet for 40% of the tagged price. We were approaching the meeting place for our tour which, not uncoincidentally, was just outside the carpet store. I told him to go for it; that I would stay outside to remove any emotional involvement with the purchase.

Thirty minutes later, he emerged from the store with a receipt and a triumphant look .. he had done exactly what he set out to do. Too large to bring home on the plane, the carpet is being shipped to us, but apparently it doesn't fly, it comes by very slow boat in about 10 weeks. Every night I pray to the carpet gods for these things: one, that it will actually arrive, and two, that it will be the same one I saw go flying past. I will post a photo when it arrives!

Istanbul (not Constantinople)

As you pull into the port of Istanbul, you know you're not in Kansas anymore. The skyline is distinctively different, with mosques and towers spread all over the city, and it just looks more, well, exotic, than most of the other cities in Europe. Istanbul is quite large (over 12 million people) and the traffic is tremendous, so it took a while to get to our first destination on the tour, the Blue Mosque.

You must be appropriately dressed to go into a mosque--no shorts above the knees or bare arms, and no shoes, but that works out just fine because the floor is lushly carpeted inside even though the area is massive. The guy with the vacuum cleaner must have to start very early in the morning just to finish up by dinnertime. I spent most of my time inside the mosque looking up at the beautiful tiles and wonderful, larger than life letterforms on the walls, pillars and ceilings.

Historically speaking, the Turks have been there and done that for just about every major culture -- Romans, Greeks, Ottomans, and more. This makes for some interesting architecture as a result. Great cathedrals which later became mosques, then reconverted to churches, and then to museums. Hagia Sophia is one of these structures, and it was the next stop on our visit.

From Sophia, we went to Topkapi Palace, home of the sultans and their families during the Ottoman empire. The compound on which the Palace sits is almost as large as my little town here; once you've entered the gates, you stroll down a wide promenade through beautifully landscraped grounds, past a row of shops including a post office, and then finally you reach the Palace gates. The group of buildings that make up the Palace appear simple in contrast to what goes on visually inside. Colorful tiles are everywhere, pattern upon pattern, in every room and space available. We were able to tour the harem quarters; one of the photos here shows a bedroom. Incredible!

There is also a museum within the compound that displays swords and jewels and ancient artifacts, including books. From Topkapi, we went to the original mother of all shopping malls, the Grand Bazaar, with over 4,000 booths or stalls selling everything under the sun, with heavy concentration on jewelry, scarves, handbags, textiles and cheap souvenirs . We decided to save our money for a more interesting purchase, which I'll tell you about in the next post.

Mykonos

Mykonos is all about the blue ... incredibly blue water, blue sky and blue doors and window frames on the most dazzling white buildings you have ever seen. Nearly every structure is painted white; so is the mortar between the cobblestones on the street, and the trunks of the trees. And it all looks like it was just painted yesterday, especially for your arrival. This town is absolutely brilliant, so if you go be sure to pack your darkest shades.

We did our own tour of Mykonos, arriving by tender and wandering into the side streets from the dock, venturing up the hillside and capturing the view, then coming back down to navigate the narrow streets and shop a little. All in all, it was a lovely visit, except I could not get the Fleet Foxes song Mykonos out of my head the entire time.

And you will go to Mykonos

With a vision of a gentle coast

And a sun to maybe dissipate

Shadows of the mess you made ....

You go, wherever you go today

For all the whiteness, there wasn't a single sheet of paper to buy. But it was a great photo day!

Pompei

The destruction of Pompei in 79 AD was always one of the more memorable stories of ancient history when I was in grade school. I was fascinated by the idea of everything becoming frozen in time, just as it stood, until it was discovered over 1,500 years later. It never occurred to me then that I would be able to visit it one day, but here we were, walking down the stone paved streets and peering into homes and businesses and public buildings, all under restoration since its discovery in the mid 1700's.

We could see Pompei approaching from quite a distance. It is in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, and the whole town has a kind of smoky appearance from a distance, although I did not sense it as much as we toured the site. A major earthquake took place early in the morning on August 24 in 79. As the residents were recovering from the after effects, Vesuvius exploded with such force that the city was buried under about 60 feet of rock and ash in fairly short order, within 48 hours. (How weird is it that I'm writing this post on nearly the exact annniversary!)

If you love a good crumbling column (and what artist doesn't!) then you will certainly be happy here. The buildings that have been restored are really incredible ... private homes that were quite large and elaborate, with pools and beautiful courtyards and lovely mosaics and frescos on the walls. Businesses, such as the bakery (above is a photo of the ovens) were found with the baked bread still intact inside. Apparently the baker, who came in to work before the earthquake, never removed the loaves and they have been amazingly preserved. The bath houses, the library, the brothel ... its all still there. You get such an eerie feeling walking around in the footsteps of the former residents.

I was struck by how many of the everyday objects of art survived ... vases, urns, there are hundreds of shelves like the ones shown here, with items from the excavation. There are also casts of the residents' remains that are similarly eerie ... captured forever in their last poses. A dog. A pregnant woman. So sad to experience such an untimely end.

The textures on the buildings and walls were an amazing visual treat while visiting the site. All in all, a fascinating day, and there wasn't even a paper store to visit!

Amalfi Paper

Back in the 13th and 14th centuries, Amalfi had a currency as good as gold .... its beautiful handmade paper. Most of Europe functioned on the barter system during early times, and Amalfi paper was very much valued as payment. The paper has a 100% cotton content; it is thick and luscious and the most beautiful shade of cream white. When you are faced with an entire book of its pages you nearly swoon from delight. To see it and touch it is to love it and want it!

We had about an hour to spend in Amalfi; the bus had passed an interesting looking archway going back into a bustling piazza (which turned out to be Duomo Square, where the giant church from yesterday's post is located), and that is where we headed. We crossed the street from the parking lot and WHOA! what was this! Right on the corner at the archway was an inviting shop, La Scuderia del Duca, selling Amalfi paper.

If you are ever fortunate enough to go to Amalfi, you must visit this shop. This is the store that book artists see in their dreams. A wonderful blend of old and exciting. Floor to ceiling inventory. No possible way to see everything on the first, second or third visit. No particular order to the merchandise -- papers in flat piles, papers rolled and stuck into huge colorful jars, papers here, there and everywhere. And handmade books, blank and with lines and for accounts and for music writing, and antique pages from books framed on the walls, and some rolled for individual purchase. The store is not very wide, but it encompasses two long rooms and has an impressive inventory.

So of course I bought some Amalfi paper, and a few large sheets of hand marbles which were made in Florence, as well as some of their handmade books for gifts. I also found this beautiful piece of paste paper done on an Amalfi sheet. Thanks to the magic of the web, you can go visit there now using the link under websites at the right. Stay as long as you like!