This post is not intended to be political, but it is necessary to note the rapidly changing events and that Turkey may soon be a nation under siege. The American President announced that he was pulling US troops back and abandoning our long-time ally, the PKK. This caused a uproar in the halls of congress and we don’t know how that will eventually play out. My fear is that, like 1991, Bush signaled to Hussein that the US wouldn’t intervene in Kuwait. When Hussein then invaded Kuwait, the US went to war. My fear is that an embattled US President may seek war with Turkey to prop up his reelection chances at home. This President is beneath nothing. I hope I am just a doomsayer and none of this comes to pass, but I don’t see how this can fade quietly away. I also know that this administration has next to no diplomatic skills. We are in a perilous time with no clear path out, with a politically motivated leader who has been backed into a corner.
I spent 10 days in Istanbul followed by six days in Thessaloniki. Prior to planning this trip I knew little of Thessaloniki. My main criteria for going there was that it was easily reachable from Istanbul and had cheap flights to Cyprus — it’s choice as a destination was a pragmatic after thought. It wasn’t until later that I learned it had been the Co-Capital of the Byzantine Empire. As recently as the 14th century, it was larger than London.
The struggle to separate from Istanbul is told in the “Museum of the Macedonian Struggle” in Thessaloniki. This small, but informative museum is housed in the former Greek Consulate which was the headquarters of the resistance or independence movement. Guerilla fighting and terrorist attacks staged by Greek Macedonians against Ottomans and Bulgarians in the early 20th Century were planned in the consulate. Thessaloniki and the surrounding area did not become part of Greece in 1912. Curiously, Ataturk (the father of modern Turkey) was from Thessaloniki and his former home is on the grounds of the Turkish Consulate and is home to the Ataturk Museum. I was unable to visit the museum because it was closed because of Erdogan’s aggression toward the Kurds occurring only about two weeks prior to my visit. At the time of my visit, Greek police had increased security at the consulate and protests in front of the consulate were ongoing.
The modern cities of Istanbul and Thessaloniki have little in common. The population of Istanbul is nearly 15 times as large as the Thessaloniki metropolitan area while its land area is nearly five times as large. It’s shear size makes Istanbul one of the largest and most important cities in the world. Its geographic location straddling two continents has historically meant that it was in a strategic location for trade. As a result, Istanbul was fortified with walls and a moat (what remains of the moat is now planted in vegetable gardens). Thessaloniki’s fortifications were somewhat more modest though it was attacked on several occasions from both land and sea.
Of the countries that I have visited on this trip, Turkey is probably the one that has given me the greatest difficulty in terms of language. The Turks speak Turkish and not much else. By contrast, Greece was probably the easiest I had it. Most of the Greeks that I encountered spoke reasonably good English.
The people of Turkey and Greece also stand in contrast to one another. The Turks are intense, when Erdogan said he was offended by Trump’s amateurish letter and would deal with it in time, Trump should be worried. The Turks are world class grudge holders. One hundred years from when a future Turkish President orders AiR Force One shot down, he may announce that we are now even for the offence shown Erdogan. This intensity permeates every aspect of Turkish life. A hug is almost as common as a handshake, business negotiations begin with a cup or two of tea (that’s how I bought carpets). If you have the same waiter more than once, the waiter will greet you with a handshake. I twice saw old men moved to shoving fights in the street over who knows what. Nowhere have I seen more flags on display than Turkey.
The Greeks do not show the same intensity. They do care a great deal about their place in the world. My time in Thessaloniki featured nightly protests of the Turkish invasion of Syria. People make an effort to leave out food for the stray animals in the neighborhood. Where service in a Turkish restaurant is quick and efficient, service in a Greek restaurant, well it’s going to be an hour and a half. Somewhat inexplicably, Greece is loud, dirty and nothing seems to work. Istanbul, after adjusting for the huge size, is orderly, quiet and efficient (there should be a lot of caveats with that). Somehow, Greece has charm that Turkey lacks. I liked both a great deal for different reasons. It seems that Greek identifies as the cradle of democracy and holds that dear, where Turkey identifies with an empire lost and wants it back.
Turkey is a secular country with a population that is more than 90 percent muslim and the muslim influence is very much present in Istanbul. Greece’s constitution recognizes Greek Orthodoxy as the prevailing religion and, indeed more than 90 percent of the population is Greek Orthodox, though the religion appears to be in steep decline. In Istanbul, there seems to be a mosque (camii in Turkish) on every street corner, the most famous include the Blue Mosque and the New Mosque (about 400 years old) and several others. In Thessaloniki, St. Demetrius and some others are on every Top 10 list. Both cities have a Hagia Sophia, though Istanbul’s is the one everyone talks about. Although the practicing population of each seems significantly lower (particularly in Thessaloniki where it seems no one under the age of 60 even knows where a church is located), religion has framed the city. The call to prayer can be heard all over Istanbul five times a day. Rather than being intrusive, it’s a beautiful and incoherent reminder of time and history. It is common to see women in some form of cover ranging from a modest head scarf to to a burka and all points in between. No form is religious dress in noteable in Thessaloniki, except for cross jewelry as necklace pendants, earrings, or to dangle from the rearview mirror of disproportionately large size, making me question whether the wearer was a Christian or a Rapper.
With Turkey being a muslim country, pork is nonexistent. Greece eats more pork than I realized. It was on every menu and prepared as souvlakis and stews. I managed to make it out of Greece without trying moussaka, as I am not an eggplant lover, that’s OK. Greece/Turkey did seem to be the dividing line between west and east — where coffee meets tea so to speak. Greece is where I stopped drinking tea. It’s not necessarily where I started drinking coffee (Turkish coffee is a thing and it is indistinguishable from Greek or Cypriot coffee). But in Turkey they drink tea. They drink it at meals, between meals, in business negotiations. Following a meal, a restaurant would often bring complimentary cups of tea in small hour glass cups. In Greece, they were much more likely to bring a complimentary dessert when you asked for the check.
Istanbul has excellent public transit with an array of systems including, subway, light rail, trams, ferries, buses and minibuses. We took all of them except the minibuses. These remain a mystery. All worked well and are used extensively by the Turkish people and are crowded. This system allowed us to stay outside the tourist area and commute in. If you plan to use public transit in Istanbul, buy an Istanbulkart (you need it to ride). There are different styles, we bought the reloadable ones. The machines that you purchase the cards from are at every station. The English instructions seldom seem to work, so you’re flying blind.
Thessaloniki has a bus system that I took in from the airport and didn’t use again. It was very crowded. The bus systems seemed extensive. It worked out that my AirBnB was centrally located and I could walk everywhere. Thessaloniki is small enough that it is possible.
As for must see tourist sites in Istanbul, they are almost too numerous to mention and draw huge crowds. The Museum Pass (not to be confused with the Muzekart which is only for Turkish residents and citizens) is probably a good investment. It allows you admittance to 12 museums and historic sites and we visited six of them. In addition, the mosques are free. In addition to the mosques, the Grand Bazar, the Hagia Sofia, the mosaic museum and the Islamic art and textile museum were excellent. The Chora Church is small, but has impressive mosaics and frescoes. It is also next to the Cafe Asitane which is a somewhat high end restaurant (dinner for two was about $60) that seeks to recreate Ottoman dishes. It was good, though we got as much enjoyment out of the many great Turkish restaurants. One should also take the time to explore the neighborhoods of Istanbul. Take a ferry ride across the Bosphorus to Kadikoy and walk around. It is like Istanbul’s Brooklyn and has many amazing restaurants. Also explore the area across the Golden Horn around the Galata Tower. We visited the Jewish Museum, many shops, and Aga Hamami in this neighborhood. It is an old Turkish bath. Whether you visit this bath or a different one, a Turkish bath should be visited. The Museum of Innocence is also in this area, but we ran out of time.
Thessaloniki has Roman ruins throughout the middle of town. It also has an interesting mosque called Yeni Camii. It is small and slightly out of the way. It was built in 1902 for the Donmeh. THe Donmeh were crypto-Jew who followed a rabbi in the 17th Century that claimed to be the messiah. The Sultan publicly converted them to Islam. They continued to live in Thessaloniki and built the mosque (or camii) with the Sultan’s money in 1902. The mosque contains many Jewish symbols, indicating that the conversion was in name only. The museum of Byzantine Culture and the Jewish Museum are also very good. Thessaloniki had a large population of Sephardic Jews and at one time accounted for half the population. A fire in the early 20th Century followed by the devastating effect of the holocaust dwindled the population. The Jewish Museum tells that story very effectively. The neighborhoods and alleys of Thessaloniki are also fun to roam.
Both of these cultures are lived very much outdoors. Walking around, sitting in cafes are a part of life.