LLWorldTour

I spent a few days in the French Countryside with my friend Caroline at her cousin’s house in the tiny, rural town of Bias (pronounced BEE-ah). It was just what I needed - a quiet place to relax, leave my bag on the floor for several days untouched, catch up on some much needed writing, and just hang out by the crackling fire. The house was warm and cozy with terracotta tiled floors and wood beamed ceilings overhead, and the aforementioned big stone fireplace.  We didn’t do a whole lot and I liked it. We cooked a little, sat by the fire, and met some of the sweet French neighbors who had us over for drinks our very first night. We couldn’t really speak much French, they spoke zero English and yet it was a blast.

One day we rode our bikes through the lush and tranquil (except for the random hunter’s gunshots echoing through the air) forest land that surrounds Bias to the beach - normally packed with oiled-up holiday makers in the summer months, now it was quiet and delightful. We had a wonderful lunch in the warm sun of an outdoor café as the waves of the Atlantic crashed up onto the beach down below.

Another day we took a day trip, two hours south to Spain. I love the fact that in Europe, crossing country borders is like crossing state borders in the US; except that here…everything changes-the people, the culture, (formerly the currency), the language. Well, I guess that’s true too if you are crossing into Texas.  It was a lovely day. In San Sebastian, we met up with a friend of mine that I met last year at Pueblo Ingles.  He gave us a great tour of the city - a place that has been compared to Rio since the city comes right down to the beach. It is also known for its amazing food. We went on a mini pintxos (tapas) and beer crawl-going bar to bar trying some of the local treats. Mmm. Good friends and good food - really a perfect day.

If you’ve been reading along, you may remember I spent a few months living and teaching English in Istanbul last year.  It was an amazing city that left an indelible mark on my soul. I recently sold some photographs and another article to the Smithsonian on Istanbul. Check it out here and be sure to click on the photo gallery.

With a skyline studded with domes and minarets, Istanbul is one of the truly great romantic cities. In Turkey’s largest city, the continents of Europe and Asia come together as West meets East, separated only by the 18 miles of the Bosporus Strait that stretches from the Black Sea in the north to the Sea of Marmara in the south. And in the less literal sense, on the vibrant streets of this city of 12 million people, miniskirts and trendy boots mingle with colorful Muslim head scarves and prayer beads.

Origins:

Istanbul is a treasure trove of history still being uncovered. Archaeological remains show that people have inhabited the immediate area of present-day Istanbul for tens of thousands of years. In 2008, during the construction of the new Marmaray rail tunnel (connecting the European and Asian sides of Istanbul), a previously unknown settlement dating from 6500 BC has been discovered.  In its long history, Istanbul served as the capital city of the Roman Empire (330-395), the Byzantine Empire (395-1204 and 1261-1453), the Latin Empire (1204-1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922). The city was recently chosen as joint European Capital of Culture for 2010. Istanbul has continued to expand dramatically; today its population is approximately 13 million and increases at an estimated 700,000 immigrants per year. Industry has expanded even as tourism has grown. It continues to be a city that creates its own history at the intersection where both Continents meet.

Then and Now:

Its history traces back from Byzantium to Constantinople to its place as capital of the Ottoman Empire, the most powerful Islamic empire in the world. Today it pulsates as Turkey’s cultural heart and business center.  Urban sprawl has created an Istanbul larger in area than the state of Rhode Island and more populous than all of Greece or Belgium.  Turkey continues to be the center of news and some controversy.  In October 2005 negotiations began between Turkey and the European Union for Turkey to be considered as a possible member of the EU in the future. A conflict persists between the 20-25% Kurdish population and the Turkish government.  For many citizens, women’s dress has become an issue that defines whether a Muslim is secularist or religious. Today, many women are using head scarves as religious symbols against modern Turkish society. The head scarf issue creates lots of problems in the society and in the government between conservatives and modernists.

Appeal:

Istanbul is a jewel box of old and new. Skyscrapers and some of Europe’s largest shopping malls cater to the more affluent set while the old quarter, parts of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, continues to dazzle locals and tourists alike with its cobblestone streets, awe-inspiring centuries-old mosques, and the grandeur of the Topkapi Palace which was the official and primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans, from 1465 to 1853. Considered to be the world’s fourth largest cathedral, the magnificent Hagia Sofia museum was originally built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 537 AD.  Originally a Byzantine church and later an Ottoman mosque, this marvel is universally acknowledged as one of the great buildings of the world. In this growing city, you can explore the streets where crusaders once marched; admire mosques that are the most sublime architectural expressions of Islamic piety; peer into the sultan’s harem; and hunt for bargains in the world’s original shopping mall, the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 6,000 shops, and between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.

Who goes here:

In 2007, more than twenty-seven million tourists visited Turkey. In the lively and historical city of Istanbul, there are thousands of hotels and other tourist oriented industries in the city, catering to both vacationers and visiting professionals. As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, and Turkey’s financial capital, Istanbul has also become a large center for business and business travelers. It has become one of the world’s major conference destinations and is an increasingly popular choice for the world’s leading international associations. According to Forbes magazine, Istanbul had a total of 35 billionaires as of March 2008, ranking 4th in the world behind Moscow (74 billionaires), New York City (71 billionaires) and London (36 billionaires).

Turkey’s beaches are widely popular with Europeans and Russians looking for some sun and sand. And with 5000 miles of coast stretching from the Mediterranean to the Aegean to the Black Sea (just an hour’s drive from Istanbul) there is a sandy spot for everyone.

Istanbul’s appeal among tourists is mainly a result of the vibrant cultures that have flourished in the city and the melting pot of different religions that have existed side by side throughout history.

Famous sons and daughters:

Elia Kazan (September 7, 1909 - September 28, 2003) was born Elias Kazanjoglou in the capital city of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) to a Greek family. He was an Academy Award-winning film and theatre director, Tony Award-winning theatrical producer, screenwriter, novelist and cofounder of the influential Actors Studio in New York in 1947. He directed such Broadway plays as “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”. He directed the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and many other films.

Ferit Orhan Pamuk (born June 7, 1952 in Istanbul) is a Turkish novelist and professor of comparative literature at Columbia University. Pamuk is one of Turkey’s most prominent novelists and his work has sold over seven million books in more than fifty languages, making him the country’s best-selling writer. His fourth novel, New Life, became the fastest-selling book in Turkish history.  Pamuk’s novel Kar (English translation, Snow), explores the conflict between Islamism and Westernism in modern Turkey. The New York Times listed Snow as one of its Ten Best Books of 2004.  Pamuk is the recipient of numerous national and international literary awards. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, becoming the first Turkish person to receive a Nobel Prize.

Hidayet Türkoğlu, commonly referred to as Hedo Turkoglu (born March 19, 1979, in Istanbul, Turkey) is an NBA basketball player for the Orlando Magic. He stands 6 feet 10 inches tall and won the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award for the 2007-2008 NBA Season. Basketball is rapidly gaining popularity in Turkey. In fact, the Turkey national basketball team came in second in the European Basketball Championship in 2001 in Istanbul and in 2010 Istanbul will host the 2010 FIBA (International Basketball Federation) World Championship, which could introduce more Turks to the game.

Ahmet Ertegün (July 31,1923 - December 14, 2006) was the son of the Turkish Ambassador to the United States. He was born in Istanbul and moved to the United States where he became the co-founder and executive of Atlantic Records. He wrote and produced music, defined careers and changed lives. He is described as “one of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry.” By the mid 1950s, Atlantic had become the country’s preeminent R&B label producing hits by such artists as Ray Charles and the Drifters.  The “Atlantic Sound” — a boogie-based, sax-led band arrangement that became an integral part of rhythm and blues — grew into a phenomenon that swept across the nation and the world. In England, young musicians would buy records just because the Atlantic label was on the sleeve. They would grow up to become members of groups like the Rolling Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin and Genesis.

In 1987, Ertegün was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, of which he himself was a founder. At age 83, he was injured after a fall at a Rolling Stones performance in New York in 2006 for the 60th birthday of former US President Bill Clinton Ertegün slipped and hit his head backstage. Although he was initially in stable condition, he soon took a turn for the worse, slipping into a coma later dying with his family by his side.

Interesting Facts:

Turkey sits directly on at least three active earthquake faults. Thirteen major quakes have rocked Turkey since 1939-the latest was a 7.4 magnitude whopper in 1999 which killed more than 18,000 people.  Istanbul straddles one of the most active seismic fault lines on the globe. A few miles away beneath the Marmara Sea, the North Anatolian fault line is stirring, and scientists are predicting a major rupture within the next few decades and say the question is not ‘if’, but ‘when?’

The secular country of Turkey was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who was an army officer, revolutionary statesman, and its first President. An admirer of the Enlightenment, Atatürk instituted wide-ranging and progressive political, economic, and social reforms, transforming Turkish society from perceiving itself as Muslim subjects of a vast Empire into citizens of a modern, democratic, and secular nation-state. Atatürk also wanted to solve the literacy problem. He created a Language Commission who developed a brand new Turkish alphabet using the Roman alphabet in 1928.

The American doughnut shop operator Krispy Kreme announced in 2008 that it will franchise about 25 outlets in Istanbul that will open in the next five years.

I’ve been traveling alone for nearly two years. And I love it. I can honestly say that I now prefer to travel alone than any other way (well how many ways are there really?). Of course, it’s always fun to meet up with a friend here and there, but going solo is, for me, the only way to go.

The funny thing is - by being alone you actually meet more people and in essence are never really even alone.

So the more I travel alone, the more people I meet. The more I travel with a friend, the less people I meet. It’s as simple as that. Many times I’ve been asked the question: “Aren’t you scared being a woman traveling alone?”

Not at all. Yes, being a woman can certainly sometimes bring on unwanted attention, but this is rare and usually not threatening. To me the benefits far outweigh the negatives. As a solo woman, if I need help anywhere, friendly locals will help me. On the few instances I’ve really needed help with my bag or couldn’t lift it over my head to shove it in an overhead bin on the train, there is always a nice strong Frenchman waiting in the wings to help a poor helpless girl. If I’m out eating or at a bar, I’m much more likely to be able to strike up a conversation with a stranger - man or woman. I’m a woman so as a stranger I don’t seem threatening or dangerous. But if I was a man and started talking to random people, they may worry that I was some kind of weirdo or looking for something besides just conversation.

In fact, I meet so many people while traveling that I’ve joked that I have to stop. I’ve seemed to reach capacity in my brain for all the new friends I’ve made in such a short time - names, interests, families - it’s a lot to remember. I mean when in my life (except for maybe just during university) in just 2 years have I ever made over a hundred new friends that I keep in touch with on a semi-regular basis. Perhaps it’s my fault and I shouldn’t be so good at keeping in touch. I do have a tendency to be a super-efficient emailer who never likes to not answer someone’s email within a few days of receiving it, but it’s usually more like a few hours. This is one of my pet peeves of the modern world - people that do not answer emails or do not answer questions posed in an email. To me this is like not calling someone back who has left you a message. In fact, since I’m traveling without a phone, this is exactly what this is like for me. Why would I write you if I didn’t want you to respond? Why would I type questions out if I wasn’t genuinely interested in the answers?

My good friend Marsha had gone on her own extended travels alone and said to me before I left Chicago two years ago, “I was never alone more than three days.” And she was exactly right. There are rare times when I don’t meet anyone, but it’s usually because I don’t want to. Most of the time I put myself in situations where meeting people is somewhat inevitable: hostels, couchsurfing, working, volunteering, taking the occasional tours, and just plain smiling.

Here is just a small example of one day in my life as a solo traveler recently. And this is not atypical. Most days I meet someone.

Caen to St. Malo:

20:00    Train Station in St. Malo-Helen: I arrived at 8pm in the small shuttered town of St. Malo. I left the modern train station and headed outside into the dark chilly night to search for a bus that could drop me off near my hostel.  Right in front were several shelters for bus stops. I studied the schedule and map posted and figured out which bus to take, but in this sleepy little off-season town, it seemed the buses were already done for the night. There was not a soul around except one girl standing on the curb, smoking a cigarette with a suitcase by her side. I approached her with a smile, “Bonsoir. Parlez vous Anglais?” Yes she did. In fact she worked in a hotel in Paris so her English was quite good. I asked her if she knew about the buses. She did not. But she was waiting for a friend to pick her up and offered within seconds to just drive me to wherever it was I needed to go. Shortly after, her two guy friends screeched up in their car and were happy to drop me off at my hostel. They were all complete strangers, but, unsurprisingly helpful.

21:00    Hostel-Amelie: When I arrived at my hostel in St. Malo I checked in to a shared room with 4 beds. There was only one other traveler using the room. Her name was Amelie and she was on holiday from Montreal. We proceeded to chat about our travels and then went down to the bar for a local Brittany beer and hang out like old friends. The beauty of meeting people when you travel is you are all in the ‘same boat.’ No one knows anyone so it’s almost like an unspoken rule that you will become friends faster and easier than in ‘real life.’ This is another reason I like travel so much. People are just friends. No questions. No rank. No status.

12:30    In town-NJ kids: The next day I was walking around town and passed two teenagers sitting on a stone wall. I overheard one finishing his sentence with “…the tri-state area, ya know, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.” I stopped in my tracks and said “I’m from New Jersey.” They were traveling with their folks through parts of France and visiting an uncle who lived here. We chatted a bit, swapped respective NJ hometown names and then I went on my way with a smile and warm feeling of familiarity.

13:00    In town-folks from Little Rock and Baltimore: I was waiting for the tourist office to open after it’s ‘lunch break’ as some American tourists walked up. I alerted them that the Tourist Information office was closed for lunch and we proceeded to chat about each others travels for the next 15 minutes.

16:00    Café-UK man who had a few too many beers: I ended up being the translator between a café owner and a slightly inebriated man who was trying to find his way back to his hotel.

16:20    Café owner: After previously mentioned drunk man left, the café owner thanked me and we proceeded to chat in broken English and French as she told me she was a big fan of the soap opera, “The Young and the Restless.”

The very next day, I took two buses to nearby Mont St. Michel-perhaps the most famous image of Northern France of the spectacular Abbey on the hill surrounded by water. During the tour, I met a lovely couple from NJ: Janet and Marvin. They offered to drive me back to St. Malo where they were also staying. For me a ride in the countryside was wonderful. I rarely, if ever, am in a car while I travel and it was great to take the scenic route along the ocean and chat with my fellow New Jerseyans along the way. The best part? We stopped in a fabulous little seaside town called Cancale-famous for its huge oyster beds that line the beach. We walked down the small boardwalk lined with cute colorful restaurants, shops, and stone buildings. We breathed in the salty sea air and couldn’t help craving the local ‘fruits of the sea.’ So we sat down at an outdoor café, as the late afternoon sun dipped into the Atlantic drank the local cider and slurped down the freshest (and almost still alive) and best tasting oysters I have ever had.

It’s an interesting time in America and the rest of the world. Being abroad during this election season, is giving me a different perspective. Your first thought may be I’m missing something. But the US elections are huge news everywhere and just as important to the rest of the world as they are to us. Thankfully though I’m not inundated by media and lip-flapping pundits here-perhaps because most of it is French so I just can’t understand it anyway, nor do I normally have a TV.

Absentee Ballot

While in Berlin, I went to www.votefromaborad.org and was able to print out my absentee ballot application and a ‘write-in ballot’ and mail it in. The process was mostly painless, except that once I mailed that and they received it a couple weeks later, I then actually had to fill out a second more ‘official ballot’ that they emailed to me and then I could fax that from France to the NJ elections office (oh yeah, I’m voting in NJ where my current permanent address is at dad’s and NJ is inching a bit closer to becoming a swing state) and then had to mail them the hard copy. Thankfully there are no chads on my ballot–hanging, dimpled, or otherwise. So the process is either really accurate and careful OR I just voted three times.

One day I was hanging out at a café in Berlin called St. Oberhotz where a large number of laptopers and expats seem to hang out downing coffees and sucking in the free wifi all day. There was a guy sitting at a hightop table near the door with a small sign affixed to a clipboard that read: US Voters - Help. This expat American voluntary sat here once a week and helped overseas Americans register to vote and find the necessary links to be able to fill out their absentee ballot. I told him I had already sent my ballot in, but he continued to look up the name and phone number for me of the woman I should call at the NJ elections office to confirm she’d received my ballot.

Then a few weeks later I found myself in Paris joining a fellow expat New Yorker I’d met through Couchsurfing, at a ‘Democrats Abroad’ debate party. Since most of Europe is 7 hours ahead of New York, it’s hard to watch the debates here unless you want to tune into the BBC or CNN International at 4am. So the following night they scheduled an event for the many expats living in Paris who wanted to watch the Obama/McCain town hall faceoff. It was held in a lovely cinema-style screening room in Paris’ Cine-Aqua, a sort of Aquarium.

Proud to be American

I am more proud than ever to be voting in this election. During my travels over the last two years, I’ve gone from criticizing my own country, to defending it, and back again. It’s hard to be the one “American” in the room trying to explain all the aspects of being American-many of which I have come to appreciate more while away-but something else I just can’t do. I am American, but I am certainly not a spokesperson for all Americans or the United States government.
I am proud of where I come from and very lucky in many ways. But I think this is something hard to even appreciate when it’s all you know. It’s actually the foreigners that sometimes make me more aware of how fortunate I am to be free and have so many opportunities in my grasp. That being said, since I have never really lived in another country, how can I say the US is the best one? How do I know that growing up in France or Sweden wouldn’t provide the same opportunities or perhaps even more? I can’t say this. Who can - unless they’ve actually done it. Unfortunately, in today’s world, being an “American” has become complex and comes with many stereotypes and stigmas. I want to be proud to be an American because, of course, I love my country. But this does not have to mean I love everything.

Just please vote.

I spent 10 days traversing the various arrondissements, avoiding any missteps into a pile of hot French bulldog doo doo with aplomb, of the aptly named “City of Lights.” From charming Montmartre and the leafy park Bois de Bologne, to starkly modern La Defense and the ‘real life’ working class neighborhood of Belleville (all the while humming the theme from the Oscar-nominated animated film “Triplets of Belleville”), my third time in Paris was a charm.  I covered a lot of the city à pied with my camera slung over my shoulder. So without further ado, some photos for you:

I celebrated the Jewish New Year in the city of lights by treating myself to the best falafel sandwich my taste buds have ever had the pleasure of tasting. L’as du Falafel is a tiny joint on rue des Rosiers in the heart of Paris’ Jewish Quartier. The neighborhood is a lively maze of narrow cobblestone lanes, twisting and turning in an un-grid-like fashion, the way Paris streets do so well. I read about the joint in my travel guide and I’d seen this article in the NY Times. It was even recommended to me by real-life local Parisians themselves. Good food with rave reviews, well then I must go.

I wandered into the mint-green walled no frills eatery and decided to splurge the extra 2 Euros to ‘eat-in’ and sit at a table instead of taking it to go like most Parisians who seem to eat and walk everywhere. For this messy delicacy, I needed a napkin and a seat-I only have so many clothes-can’t afford to get them all gooey. The falafel sandwich was delivered to me on a paper plate in a plastic wrapper (as so many good street foods seem to come) and good for keeping your hands (your main utensil) clean and vice versa.

The pita shell was fresh and soft. The small balls of fried chick peas were moist, soft, and well-seasoned. Add to that some fresh shredded cabbage, crunchy cucumber, sweet tomatoes, and a great yoghurt sauce and you have a meal from the heavens. Plus it didn’t hurt that it was served to me by possibly the best looking Israeli waiter I had ever seen. L’shana Tovah.