Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Barbie and the Van, Cappadocia, Turkey 1991


The Gallery this month asked us to find a landscape and 'show what a wonderful and diverse place the world is'.  So here's mine: the record of a wonderful week in a beautiful place with a   dear friend.  Please follow The Gallery link to see what others came up with!




From November 1987 until August 1992 I lived on the road in this van. Sometimes I was alone, sometimes with friends. For nine wonderful months, my best friend Barbie was with me. She flew out from London and I picked her up in Heraklion, Crete on Easter Saturday. We raced up through Greece to get out before my customs documents expired, then spent three months in Turkey looping from Constantinople to Mount Ararat, up to the Black Sea coast, then across into Syria. We spent a month in Syria, a month in Jordan, then alternated between the Sinai, Israel, and Cyprus depending on time, work, customs documents, and visa restrictions.

One of our more relaxed times was a week in the central Turkish region of Cappadocia where the wind and weather have sculpted the rocks into 'fairy chimneys' – some of which were used as monasteries and churches in years gone by, others have been turned into dwellings and hotels still in use. Local people were genuinely helpful -- whether or not we chose to buy from their shop or eat in their restaurant. No refuse, plastic bags or scrawny animals were to be seen in the streets and urban areas: the horses pulling the little carts were groomed and carried bags under their tails to catch manure for well-tended gardens and fields.

Barbie is far away now, living on the other side of the world. We are still in touch, though our lives have pulled us in very different directions. I still think of her as one of my best friends, and remember the times we shared – terrifying, exuberant, exasperating, tedious, and poignant – as some of the best of my life.

5 comments:

  1. When we did Turkey as the star of a cruise we only did Istanbul and Ephases. I did enjoy the trip , but since then I have seen a Michael Palin show where he went to Cappadocia, I wish we had a chance to visit. Lucky you, what an adventure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! It was a great time, and we were so happy with how the people were. In many heavily touristed areas (like Cyprus!) locals develop a kind of contempt for tourists which can be very off-putting. One of the charming things that we found all over Turkey, was that there was none of that -- then. I don't know about now...

      Delete
  2. Stunning. I've only spent a little time in that area on holiday - a little in Egypt, a very little in Tunisia - but I'd love to see more. How lucky you were to see it when you did - I can't imaging anyone attempting such a journey in the current climates.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, John. Yes, lucky to make that trip when I did -- and an earlier one that included Iraq. I did write a book about it (never got published) and one of the points that I tried to use to sell the book was that such a trip would be impossible now. Barbie and I were travelling in the wake of the Gulf War and were worried at times because I was American. Never had a problem...

      Delete
  3. Brilliant piece of writing and a lovely pic. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete