Category: travel

Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli

On By Rick McIn books, travelLeave a comment

Keen to learn more about Bhutan, I picked up this rather casual account of an NPR journalist’s trips starting 2008.

Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan—said to be one of the happiest places on earth. …

As she helps to start Bhutan’s first youth-oriented radio station, Kuzoo FM, she must come to terms with her conflicting feelings about the impact of the medium on a country that had been shielded from its effects. …

Bhutan’s still too expensive for me.

All tourists must pay US$250 per person per day (US$200 a day from December to February and June to August), with a US$40/30 surcharge per person for those in a group of one/two. This covers accommodation, transport in Bhutan, a guide, food and entry fees.

Izmir Atatürk Museum

On By Rick McIn Islam, travelLeave a comment

The little I knew about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, I liked.

He separated Church and State. Created a model of modernization that more Muslim nations should have emulated.

He was a Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and founder of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President from 1923 until his death in 1938. …

… initiated a rigorous program of political, economic, and cultural reforms with the ultimate aim of building a modern and secular nation-state.

He made primary education free and compulsory, opening thousands of new schools all over the country.

Turkish women received equal civil and political rights during Atatürk’s presidency ahead of many Western countries. …

Atatürk’s foreign policy followed his motto, “peace at home, peace in the world“. …

Despite his radical secular reforms, Atatürk remained broadly popular in the Muslim world.

I didn’t learn much new at the museum in Izmir. But I’m sure most in the nation wished they had Atatürk back as President today.

Turkish pizza – Pide

On By Rick McIn food, travel1 Comment

Any visitor will tell you Turkish cuisine  is one of the highlights.

Not me. I found it a bit bland. Predictable.

Restaurants all tend to have the same things on their menus. Similar ingredients are used in traditional meals.

One highlight for me, however, is Turkish Pizza.

 Pide is a flat-bread of a similar style to pita, chapati, or western pizza crust. A proper pide should be baked in a brick or other stone oven.
“stuffed” version

Over a week in Goreme I ate at Firin Express four times. Three times I had Turkish pizza (Pide). Once pizza pizza. Also excellent.

Once exception was the Nazik Ana restaurant in Bodrum. Popular with local workmen and police, it delivers typical Turkish food with a twist. And in a stylish, unique space.

 

visiting Izmir, Turkey

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Turkey‘s third-largest city is proudly liberal and deeply cultured. Garlanded around the azure-blue Bay of İzmir, it has been an important Aegean port since ancient times, when it was the Greek city of Smyrna, and its seafront kordon (promenade) is as fetching and lively as any in the world. …

Foreign visitors here are largely limited to business travellers and tourists en route to Ephesus. The reason for this is a mystery to us, as the city is home to compelling attractions including one of Turkey’s most fascinating bazaars, an impressive museum of history and art, and a local lifestyle as laid-back as it is welcoming.

Lonely Planet

I did enjoy Izmir.

With it’s pedestrian malls and long seaside promenade it’s a very walkable city for the tourist.

There are always at least a hundred fishermen monopolizing the space closest to the sea.

Wandering the old city Kemeraltı market is a trip.

Population is about 3 million, most of whom have an ocean view. The city sprawls over rolling hills.

Thousands walk the promenade at dusk. That’s the best time and place in Izmir.

I skipped the Izmir Museum of History & Art. And only checked out the ancient Agora through the fence. (I’d spent all my Turkish lira by the last day.)

Turkey is the 13th biggest economy by Gross Domestic Product.

19th in world population rankings. It’s a huge nation.

Bodrum, Turkey

On By Rick McIn food, travel1 Comment

Lonely Planet:

Although more than a million tourists flock to its beaches, boutique hotels, trendy res- taurants and clubs each summer, Bodrum (ancient Halicarnassus) never seems to lose its cool. …

Built by the Knights Hospitaller in the 15th century, Bodrum Castle, overlooks the harbour and the marina. The castle grounds include a Museum of Underwater Archaeology …

Bodrum is OK but it was the least favourite of my stops in Turkey.

The castle and museum are over-priced and not particularly well maintained. This strikes me as a tourist trap with far too many tourists for the available space. Rats crowded into a small cage.

The very interesting Theatre of Halicarnassus is locked up. It should be a major attraction.

I finally found the Mausoleum of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. But it was closed.

My favourite place in Bodrum … Starbucks.

Ephesus Archaeological Museum, Turkey

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Ephesus Museum houses finds from the nearby Ephesus excavation site. Its best-known exhibit is the statue of Artemis retrieved from the temple of the goddess …

Not bad. Renovated and reopened November 2014.

As usual I liked the statuary best.

Socrates

There’s another Ephesos Museum in Vienna.

Basilica of St. John, Turkey

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

The Basilica of St. John in Ephesus. … stands over the believed burial site of John the Apostle. …

Construction of the church began by 548 … After its completion, it was regarded as one of the holiest churches of its time …

reconstruction model

It is believed that the Apostle John traveled from Jerusalem to the city of Ephesus where he remained for the rest of his life. …

At the site there are claims that it was the largest church in the world. That it would be 7th largest in the world today if fully restored.

Today it sits below a fortress.

I did enjoy a leisurely wander through the ruins. Huge and uncrowded, it’s a relaxing place.

One interesting related story is the nearby House of the Virgin Mary.

Catholic pilgrims visit the house based on the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken to this stone house by Saint John and lived there until her Assumption (according to Catholic doctrine) or Dormition (according to Orthodox belief). …

The shrine has merited several papal Apostolic Blessings and visits from several popes, the earliest pilgrimage coming from Pope Leo XIII in 1896, and the most recent in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI. …

The Catholic Church has never pronounced in favour or against the authenticity of the house.