On our way, though, we stop over in Paris, and I plan to make the most of my 1.5 hours in CDG airport. I can’t wait to speak French to everyone that I can reasonably talk to in such a short time while attempting to keep my status as an American undercover. I’ve been mistaken for a European in the past, but I think my bright green Chacos will give me away this time.
Then we have a three hour flight from Paris to Istanbul, arriving on the afternoon of June 6th. Even though Istanbul is extremely cosmopolitan and Western and the “hippest city in the world” right now according to Lonely Planet, I’m hoping to get a strong taste of Islamic culture, art, and architecture. Turkey has a secular government, and Turks are very proud of this fact, but 99% of Turks are Muslim and I cannot wait to visit mosques, museums, and generally see how religion may (or may not be) intertwined with all other aspects of life. According to a Turkish tour guide featured on a Rick Steves podcast (yeah, I love Rick Steves, what can I say) you are far more likely to see people in Istanbul talking on cell phones with their finger in the other ear to block out the sounds of the Call to Prayer than you are to see people walking to a mosque. But as I am always in search of all things ancient, I’m sure Istanbul will not disappoint me given its incredibly rich history.
We will be in Istanbul for a week, and then we plan to travel down the Aegean coast (hopefully by way of ferries as well as buses!) to Ephesus. Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, but is well known for being the second largest Roman city in the Roman empire, and the largest city in the world in the 1st century BC!! The city also housed one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, the Temple of Artemis, but this was destroyed in 401 AD, darn. The extent of the ruins is absolutely enormous, and I wonder if I’ll get to see remains of the gladiator graveyard which was discovered in May 2007. I absolutely can’t wait for Ephesus.
Next, we will likely hop across to a nearby Greek island and begin our adventures in Greece. We haven’t yet decided which islands to visit before we end up in Athens for the last two days of our trip; we are going to go with the flow, and make spontaneous decisions on where to travel! I’ve been doing a lot of general reading, but there are so many amazing places to see that it is difficult to narrow everything down until we get there and have our options realistically set before us.
Our last “certain” plan is to visit Delphi while we are in Athens. Delphi, which houses the ancient oracle of Apollo!!! I absolutely cannot wait to visit Delphi; thinking about the Oresteia makes me shiver.
I’ve studied so many ancient Greek authors in my classes over the years, and being a philosophy major, have fallen deeply in love with Plato. It will be so surreal to visit the places where all of these stories took place.
I feel so lucky, and so grateful to Jordan’s parents who are sending us on this graduation trip!
More to come after we hit the ground in Istanbul.
Love, Molly
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