Kapadokya - Troglodytes Have More Fun - ~June 30-July 4

You guys all have to see Capadocia. It's this really bizarre volcanic region in central Anatolia in which the rock (Tuff) erodes very easily, leaving a surreal landscape of natural spires and caves. It's also easy to carve, so many Capadocian communities of the dark and middle ages inhabited caves or - even weirder - underground cities they carved themselves to survive raids by invading Arabs. For more explanation, see mattrufo.blogspot.com, or buy me a beer sometime.


Zelve monastery complex.

Dangerous photo ops are a dime a dozen in Capadocia.




This is a 9th century church (I think) with the original paintings intact (the red circles at top).

Derinkuyu (underground city), main ventilation shaft.

Same thing, but from 8 stories down.

I just wasn't cut out to be an arab raider.

MTV Cribs - Ottoman Sultanate

Our first real tourist destination in Istanbul was the quarters of the Ottoman Harem. Really amazing palace - it's like walking through every orientalist painting you've ever seen, minus the babes and the hashish.


4-poster. Uh-huh.

All these ceilings are about 50 ft high.




The details on this place are beyond reproach - even the gutter is beautiful.

Calidarium.


Not pictured is the Ottoman treasury, which is one of the most opulent collections I've ever seen. The skull and hand of John the Baptist were the runaway highlights.

Istanbul - Waterfronts

Istanbul is a true maritime city, its character deriving very much from its waterways. See below.

Fishermen on the Bosphorous

Bosphorous cruise, European side
Approaching the Black Sea, Asian Side
Sultanahmet, toward the Sea of Marmara

In the park by the modern art museum

Afternoon swim by our first Nargileh cafe on the Bosphorous

Turkish kids like digital cameras too

Freedom !!

I'd like to thank the Birthright foundation for sending me halway across the world on a free package tour. I learned a lot about Israel, did some decent (if completely unchallenging) hikes, and occasionally ate very good hummous.

But I also can't express how glad I am that the trip is over. If I were shipping back to America right now, I'd be downright pissed that I was railroaded through tourist site after tourist site with dozens of loud Americans, with hardly a minute to explore on my own. No one should do birthright without extending because you'll be more stressed out at the end of the trip than you were on the first day.

But that's all prologue. After tearful farewells at Ben-Gurion, I took the train in to Tel Aviv with my birthright friends & met up w/ some incredibly hospitable family friends out near Bar-Ilan University. After a refreshing day of laundry and blogging, I pack back into Tel Aviv for a send-off dinner with the remaining birthrighters. At 6:30 AM, I fly to Istanbul w 2 friends from the trip. After one of the most frustrating travel experiences of my life, I cannot overstate the sense of liberation I got when I walked into the El Al office yesterday to stamp my ticket for a July 24 return date.

My Istanbul traveling companions Tyler (L) and Matt (R):
Parking lot near the Central Bus Terminal, Tel Aviv.

Kingdom of Pork, Lewinsky St, Tel Aviv. If the trip leaders are dead, then anything is possible.... See you all in Turkey.

Golan Heights

Druze Market with Coke cases, Mas'ada, Golan Heights.

I don't have pictures from most of our activities in the North b/c all our hikes & bike rides involved swimming, to say nothing of the canoe trip. But there were still some things worth recording. In particular, the food was spectacular.

The best middle eastern food in the world is in the Druze village of Mas'ada. Here I am with some really incredible Labneh (fresh goat cheese).

Gideon Levy, NYC tour guide and unofficial trip videographer, checks in from our Druze cafe.

Laundry day for the Druze.

Post-hike wine tasting at the Golan Heights Winery. The Yarden Gewurztraminer is worth checking out.

Mountaintop overlook of the Syrian border, complete with sculpture and punning coffee bar ("Coffee Annan").

The DMZ with the Syrian border. These nice green fields are chocked full of land mines.
Hi mom, I'm at the DMZ!

Yafo: The Anti-Tel Aviv

Greek or Armenian church entrance, Old Yafo.

On our one day in Tel Aviv, we took an afternoon outing to Yafo (Jaffa), the old Arab port city that preceded the all-Jewish garden city of Tel Aviv. After ultra-modern Tel Aviv, it's jarring to find a cramped, ancient city 5 miles down the road. I didn't want to take my camera out in the market, but the backstreets here look like a picture postcard of a dusty Arab city. The highlight was probably a guy playing 3-card monte for 50 dollar stakes with an old man who was presumably his shill.

Fisherman & Coke box, Old Jafo.

The oppressor applies sunscreen, Old Yafo

I'm not sure exactly what this is supposed to advertise, but I want some.

Nice spot for a tower.

Jerusalem & Tel Aviv: Memorials

Grave of Theodore Hertzl, Mt Hertzl, Jerusalem.

Mt. Hertzl is the Israeli Arlington Cemetary. IDF soldiers are all buried with these markers, regardless of rank.

Yitzhak Rabin Memorial, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv.

Rabin's grave, Mt Herzl, Jerusalem:

Moderate and liberal Israelis are still shocked about Rabin's murder. It was inconceivable, claims our guide, that another Jew would do such a thing.
Tombstones of Yitzhak & Leah Rabin.

Our tour group after Yad Vashem, Jerusalem's Holocaust Memorial:

I think this was the only time on the trip that the obnoxious kids in the group shut up for more than 30 seconds.

The exit of Yad Vashem, with a reinvigorating view onto the Judaean hills. Zionist subtexts or no, this is a great memorial.

Tel Aviv: Rabin Square

Rabin square, Tel Aviv. Note the large pack of birthright participants in the background.

Floodlights.

Hi mom. Tel Aviv's modernist/bauhaus downtown is aging in a very attractive way. The cracked plaster & sea-salt patina everywhere reminds me of Nice or Marseilles.

I cannot wait to get back to TA and hit up the Bauhau Foundation walking tour.