Elizabeth Bowie photos and thoughts
The End of the Beginning.
DOĞUBEYAZIT Of all the days so far following my Great Aunt’s steps, I had not felt in danger, or really had any gut feeling of fear. However as I stepped off the bus in Doğubeyazit, I immediately knew I wanted out. This conflicted with my determination to get at least one photo of Mt. Ararat, [...]
Ağrı…but it’s almost 1700 ft high!
Leaving Erzurum was a journey in and of itself. Despite the fact Jean and Franc stayed there, I wasn’t sure I really wanted to stay in Ağrı. Ağrı/Karaköse, was it the same place? I had to give it a chance and at least go…Ağrı means ‘pain’, and it turned out to be one. But if [...]
Erzurum and the Gothic Quest
After waiting a Turkish ’5 minutes’, or this time, 45 minutes for the bus to Erzurum, I was finally on board and ready to go. I immediately disliked traveling by bus as it was way more crowded and uncomfortable. It was inevitable I would have to switch to a bus at some point as the [...]
Come Hell or High (Mineral) Water
According to Marco Polo, close to Erzincan are some of the, “…finest hot baths in the world.”. Jean and Franc went there and I was not about to miss this one. In their book, there is a photo of both Jean and Franc in a mud hut sampling the hot baths. I was on a [...]
Back on track…
After my two day jaunt in Kayseri, I was now back on track with the journals, and on a train bound for Sivas. Along the way we passed fields and fields of huge sunflowers before moving through mountainous countryside that was breathtaking in both beauty, and the way the train negotiated the rickety feeling rails [...]
Piecing it all together/Wedding #2
Awoke around 9 am to breakfast being served once again on a blanket on the floor, with just the women and kids. I ate as much and as fast as I could. Breakfast taken away, then, more sitting. I had seen a beautiful and simple dress and beautiful red and gold ‘coat’ in the room [...]
Piecing it all together…
“Passed Kayseri at 3:30 a.m. Neither of us saw it.” -from the journals of Jean and Franc Shor In their journals, Jean and Franc have to make a journey to Ankara in order to secure their press tickets for travel anywhere within Turkey, cash some travelers checks, and secure passports and visas for Persia… …62 [...]
Tarsus…an interlude…
Up early at 8 after having just gone to bed around 3. Libia and I get going, on a bus with all my stuff, drop it off at her work, and off I go…Decision time…first a coffee to try to wake up, then decision: to Tarsus to see St. Paul’s church and Well there. I [...]
Adana, Day 2
After a fairly late start to the day, I decided I would go back to the bridge, then the Archaeological Museum, (where Jean had seen a stone cherub she secretly coveted), the Sabanaci Central Mosque, and to find a park with ‘bad statuary…including a Venus de Milo!’. I had also decided to leave Adana that [...]
‘My Yanko’
“You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough.” Dr. Frank Crane (Business Education World, vol. 15, p. 172, via wikiquotes) In Jean’s book, ‘After You, Marco Polo’, she writes about a man named Yanko Dabanovic, a man who who appeared at their [...]