The Greek version of Carnival (or Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday or The-Period-of-Debauchery-Immediately-Preceding-Lent) lasts for two weeks. It starts with a grilled meat and alcohol-infused costume party on Tsikno-Pempti or "Smokey Thursday." At AFS, we threw a Tsikno-Pempti party for the students. Most of the boys opted to cross-dress and prance around the dance floor for two hours, while the chaperones (myself included) laughed and tried to avoid being lured in for a man-on-man boogie session; only in Europe.
Greek Carnival ends with Clean Monday: no meat, no more sins, no school. I planned a trip to Istanbul (or Constantinople to the Greeks) with two friends. The overnight train ride lasted twelve hours, but the time passed quickly because I had a deep conversation with the 70-year-old man with whom I shared a sleeper car. I spent the first three hours speaking to him in broken Greek only to find out later that he only spoke Turkish - not sure how I missed that one. Although we couldn't communicate, he tried to sell me socks. His attempted peddling set the tone for the weekend, during which every Turk we encountered tried to persuade us to buy their products which ranged from carpets (a popular commodity) to dishes to "Turkish viagra." I mastered the blank-stare-then-avert-eyes-and-simultaneously-sidestep technique and thus avoided most of the salesmen's attacks.
Istanbul was surprisingly clean and beautiful. One striking feature was the number of mosques; each city block featured several small mosques in addition to the massive, prominent ones. From the outside, the rounded buildings flanked by towering spires are stunning and somewhat intimidating. We toured the Blue Mosque, the most famous mosque in Istanbul, and the interior blew me away. The intricacy of the designs and attention to detail are phenomenal. I was left wondering how somebody could care enough about something to build such an elaborate structure. I suppose it's not too difficult to order a large group of artisans to carry out a task when you are an emperor or a king, but it was very humbling to stand inside (without shoes of course) such an impressive building.
After the Blue Mosque, we went inside the Hagia Sophia and my awe-struck sensation quintupled. I recalled the Hagia Sophia from my Art History course at UGA (the one I took with Renee), but actually stepping inside was incomparable to looking at pictures on a photocopy (because I probably didn't buy the textbook but Renee did). The experience was unreal. Once Constantine took Christianity mainstream and founded Constantinople as the quintessential Christian city and capitol of the Roman Empire in the 4th Century, Hagia Sophia was built under Justinian as THE exemplary church. The interior walls of the immense church were almost entirely made of elaborate mosaics depicting both patterns and icons. Unfortunately, the majority of the walls were covered in plaster and Muslim symbols when the Ottoman Turks took over the Hagia Sophia and converted it into a mosque. Only recently have some of the mosaics been restored and preserved because the Hagia Sophia has been declared a museum and no longer has any religious attachment. The mosaics that are now visible are absolutely extraordinary, and the Hagia Sophia was definitely a highlight of the trip.
We also wandered through the Grand Bazaar, poked around the Spice Market, and took a boat trip up the Bosphorus Strait, which separates Europe and Asia. Istanbul was perfect, then it was time to leave.
We planned to take an overnight train to Greece and arrive back Monday morning to recuperate and enjoy the Clean Monday traditions, however Greece decided to go on strike. We showed up at the Istanbul train station ready to go, only to be informed by the apathetic ticket window employee that all of the trains and buses to Greece were canceled for at least the next two days. Apparently, the entire Greek public service industry decided not to show up for work. Perfect timing. Here comes Plan B: Let's hop on an overnight train to Sofia, Bulgaria then hopefully get on a train or bus to Thessaloniki from there. Off we went. The three-sleeper car was snug at best (not to mention musky), we had to exit the train at 4 AM in the freezing rain to cross the Bulgarian border, and the alleged twelve-hour trip took fifteen, but we made it to Sofia and subsequently caught a bus back to Thessaloniki without any major setbacks.
Great trip. Holler.
We planned to take an overnight train to Greece and arrive back Monday morning to recuperate and enjoy the Clean Monday traditions, however Greece decided to go on strike. We showed up at the Istanbul train station ready to go, only to be informed by the apathetic ticket window employee that all of the trains and buses to Greece were canceled for at least the next two days. Apparently, the entire Greek public service industry decided not to show up for work. Perfect timing. Here comes Plan B: Let's hop on an overnight train to Sofia, Bulgaria then hopefully get on a train or bus to Thessaloniki from there. Off we went. The three-sleeper car was snug at best (not to mention musky), we had to exit the train at 4 AM in the freezing rain to cross the Bulgarian border, and the alleged twelve-hour trip took fifteen, but we made it to Sofia and subsequently caught a bus back to Thessaloniki without any major setbacks.
Great trip. Holler.
That sounds as a good as an STM social
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