Day 13 - Blogabond

This morning was spent at the Archeology and Ethnology museums in Izmir, both of which were fairly unimpressive. As for archeology, the small museum in Selcuk had far more impact and nothing in the ethnology museum (traditional costumes, furniture, etc.), was particularly interesting. In fact, for me, the only things of interest were some pillars in the garden of the archeology museum that had Hebrew carved on them. Unfortunately, when I asked where they were from, what they meant, and how old they were, I just got blank stares from the caretakers. They were in the museum, so they were important, and that is all they knew.

After the museums we returned to the bazaar one last time where, lo and behold, Mustafa found us yet again. He didn't try to sell us anything this time, but rather invited us to join him for a beer at one of the small cafes hidden inside the bazaar. Mustafa, we learned, is a Kurd and this was the first time we got "the other side" of the story. Every other Turk we talked to about the Kurdish uprising generally told us, "Yes, it was bad for them, but now they can vote, and they can speak their own language (which was previously prohibited), and they have their own newspapers and tv stations, so what are they complaining about?" Mustafa, on the other hand, went to the heart of the matter. "Yes, I can rent a flat, but I can't get a job to pay for it." Besides politics, we also talked about education (Mustafa has no formal education but speaks at least four languages and is quite intelligent), travel, religion, etc. All in all, a good three hours.

From the bazaar is was back to the hotel to pack and grab a quick lunch at one of the outdoor cafes on the water. Then it was off to our second favorite haunt, the otogar, to catch a bus to Marmaris.

written by

shoshtrvls on June 14, 1996 from Izmir, Turkey

from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece (1996)

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