Not in Istanbul: Through Thrace

Rather uncomfortably late in the week I realized that I had to make a run to Greece. So, Friday morning I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the Taksim Varan bus station. Fortunately, the tour companies are considerate enough not to require everyone taking a bus to drag themselves to the huge bus station out in the distant reaches of Istanbul. Instead, you just need to go to the nearest agency bus stop and they run shuttles to the station. Varan is considered a luxury bus line. It is also one of about 3 companies that can go to Europe. This may seem like a lot of bus companies considering how few bus companies opperate in other countries. I think Turkey must hold the record for largest number of bus companies opperating in one place. There must be at least 100 different companies opperating out of Istanbul, probably more... They all leave from the big bus station, each from its own little storefront.

By 10 or so, we were on our way across Thrace. Thrace supposedly has some interesting sites and places to visit but none of them are visible from the bus route. Going out of Istanbul, we passed acre upon acre of badly built ugly concrete buildings. Once out of Istanbul the buildings remained ugly and concrete but were spread out a little more and much smaller. The land consisted of rolling hills covered with dry grass and a few scattered trees. There were some stretches of industrial sites with piles of dirt and metal structures. I decided it would be a good idea to close my eyes and try to sleep. I dozed off for a bit and when I woke up we were driving along the seashore. The land side was still full of dry brown hills and fields but the concrete houses had become a little more attractive. We had reached the resort area. People here spend lots of money for little concrete houses near the sea. Some of them have some trees and flowers planted around them but in general, there hasn't been much attention paid to landscaping. I think Thrace used to have trees and if someone cared to plant some more they would grow. However, I guess people have other things they'd rather do with their time.

We stopped for lunch in Tekirdag, a sea side town. There were lots of restaurants and a waterfront park and docks. I took a walk and ran into a huge pelican. There were several in the area. I think the fishermen and fish merchants feed them because they are fairly tame and the fishermen address them as if they were pets.

Back on the bus, we went by more low hills and dry landscape. Finally we reached the Greek border. Turkish customs was a surprisingly quick process involving getting out of the bus, standing in line, getting our passports stamped and getting back on the bus. The bus started up again and stopped at the Greek border post. Here we had to give an official our passports. He asked a few questions such as "How long will you stay in Greece?" and then took the passports to a glassed in booth. He and another officer looked at the passports, typed some stuff into computers, and then walked away leaving the passports sitting in a pile in the empty booth. And they sat.... And we sat... and sat.... and sat...

At the Turkish border post I had started talking to this English guy who it turns out I had been introduced to before. He was a free lance reporter. The guards called him to come into their office. When he returned he told me that they had just wanted to make sure he wasn't working for the Turkish media. Later the guards came back and took a Chinese family to their office. A couple hours passed. At one point they had us all get out and searched our bags. Finally, they returned our passports but we still weren't able to go. One of the passengers reported that the someone in the Chinese family had an "old and suspicious" passport. Eventually, the bus had to go back to Turkey to drop the family off at the bus station at the nearest town. I guess it is comforting to know that you don't just get ditched at the border to hitch hike back to the nearest bus station... The ordeal at the Greek border took about 4 hours. During that time I had some Greek Coffee, talked to the David, the reporter, and watched the sunset behind a rather pretty little white Orthodox church with a sky blue dome.

We got to Alexandroupolis around 8 in the evening. There was enough time to find a Greek money, a hotel and eat dinner. I had to be at the bus station (which was not actually the bus station but the train station) at 8 AM so I went to bed after dinner (midnight). The next morning I was awakened by the 7AM church bells. In an attempt to experience Greece to the fullest, I bought some Spinach and feta pastries. After I bought my ticket, I had some time to walk a few blocks around the bus station. I heard that there wasn't much to do in Alexandropolis so I guess I didn't miss out much by being awake for only about 5 of the hours I was there. The famous landmark of the town is a lighthouse. Besides the lighthouse there were a lot of cafes, bars and stores. However, I didn't see one store that sold CDs which was what I planned on buying. The early morning light was pretty. The eggplant salad I had at a restaurant was yummy but the souvlaki was a bit too meaty for me... I guess I need it on a sandwich with vegetables and not just as hunks of meat on a stick. I liked the spinach filo pastries better than the cheese ones.

The bus came and we were headed back to Turkey. The first stop was our beloved Greek border station. This time I immediately headed for the snack bar for some coffee. Then I went over to the Duty Free shop. It only took the Greek border guard about 45 minutes this time. Turkey took about 45 minutes too making our stop at the border a miraculously speedy hour and a half.

After this the bus seemed to crawl through Thrace. I tried to listen to the radio on my walkman but the good stations dissapeared too quickly. Around 3 PM we arrived in Tekirdag. I took some more pelican pictures and a couple boat pictures. Then I waited outside the bus for it to open. There were shoe shine boys who were trying to get some work from the people on the bus. They were a merry lot. One of them was drumming on the tin can he used as a chair. When he boasted to the others that I had taken his picture, they wanted theirs taken too. All of a sudden, one let out a shout. They all set off in a run. A decorated wedding car emerged from behind the bus. In front of it was a pickup truck with musicians playing in the back. The kids raced after it shouting. I don't know if I've mentioned my feelings about the shoe shine boys. One American guy on the bus was annoyed by them. An American girl bemoaned their lost innocence. I think they are cool. Sure it is sad that they have to work at their early age, but they make the best of it. I see them in groups on Istiklal, holding their shoe shine benches, hands covered in black shoe polish. They are generally laughing and joking with each other. They manage to get some play in while they work. I also admire their independence. They are not sitting on the side of the street with hands outstretched, asking for alms. They are doing their best to fend for themselves. I sometimes hear them ask foreigners for money but they do it in almost a joking way, shouting in English "money, money, money!" They are Victor Hugo's gamin, Gavroche and Charles Dicken's street kids but with jobs. I don't know what happens to them when they grow up. Perhaps they end up street salesmen. As for the degree of their "lost innocence," I can't tell. Of course, I am all for education and think they should be in school but if their circumstances make it so they can't then I congratulate them for making the best of their circumstances.

Sunday was a bright autumn day. Roshan and I headed up to the Bosphorus University campus because spending 5 days a week there just isn't enough for him. The colors are especially brilliant this time of year. The sky seems really bright (when it isn't overcast and rainy). Maybe the brightness of the sky brings out the brightness in other colors too. We walked up to Taksim following a balloon seller.

We went to Arnavutkoy and walked to the base of Rumeli Hisari. To get to the university, we had to walk up a steep (and scenic), road. I will admit it that Bosphorus University has a pretty campus. It is on a hill overlooking the Rumeli Hisar fortress and the Bosphorus. We ate lunch outside and cat watched. The University of Washington, where I got my degree, was filled with squirrels. Other universities have pigeons or geese. Bosphorus has stray cats. We tried to feed this rather hungry dumpster diving kitten but he was rather skittish and the bigger cats would attack him whenever we tossed him a piece of food.