Mediterranean Cruise - Antiquities Road Show

July 10, 2010 - National pride, knowledge of guides proves critical

"Every flower is beautiful in its own garden. Every antiquity is beatiful in its own country." So reads the sign at the entrance of the Efes Museum in Kusadasi, Turkey.

I would not have appreciated that expression even a few weeks ago. I have travelled, and looked at what I viewed as a lot of rocks scattered around in a number of sites around the world, without fully embracing their significance.

I've read the guidebooks and remember at least some of my history lessons. But they never hit home until Istanbul, Ephesus and the Greek Islands, all part of the cruise tour my wife and I completed recently.

Most people can remember a special teacher whose enthusiasm and communication style made a boring subject suddenly seem exciting. So it was for me with antiquities. Our guide in Ephesus was a scholar, with degrees in linguistics, architecture and history. He didn't just deliver us the stories of the past, but he made them come alive with passion and excitement.

Ephesus is one of the best-preserved antiquities in the world and it was his illustration of what we were seeing in this world from the past that was, for me, an epiphany.

During the remainder of the journey I saw everything differently. I saw an expression of cultures, of how they lived, ate, worked and died. I understood the spirit and intelligence of the times. Each ruin now painted a real picture of war and peace; always, it seems, with much longer periods of war than peace. I could envision the feats of the great and not-so-great. And I was able to put a face on the people who led, as well as those who were forced to follow.

On this, our second visit to Turkey, we decide to move beyond the major tourist spots to try to find another side of Istanbul.

Our hotel, as it turns out, is not downtown, but rather in a residential and business area about 12 kilometres from the city centre.

A short walk from the hotel we find a small restaurant that looks appealing. The menu has no English translation and it quickly becomes clear the servers will be of little help in deciphering it for us. None of them can speak English, but instead a menu with large, well-photographed pictures of the available courses is placed in front of us is. We are pretty sure, but not certain, what the photos represent. Thankfully, the owner/manager has some fluency in English and is able to help us make our selection.

The lentil-based appetizer soup is exceptional, our main courses are excellent, and the peanut-and-honey dessert they decide to complement us with is outstanding.

But it is not the meal, as good as it was, that creates the lasting memories. Romely is a family-run restaurant, and by happenstance we are there on the night of their grand opening. Manager Ugur Yilmaz, eager to include us in the celebration, introduces us to his family and the others who are dining. As he leads us through the menu, he proceeds to explain to his staff where we have come from in Canada, along with his own knowledge of our region of the country.

The next morning we make our way to a little restaurant on a side street, three blocks away from the famous Blue Mosque of Istanbul.

We have not come here solely to dine. We have signed up for a cooking class on traditional Turkish foods with Eveline Zautendijk, who owns and operates Cooking Alaturka. There are only five couples in the class, including my wife Rae and myself.

Eveline herself is not Turkish. She holds Grande Diplome with honours at Le Cordon Bleu of Paris. She originally came to Istanbul to work in hotels in the tourist area. As she puts it, "Turkey is a place people come to and never want to leave." Then she adds, "So be careful."

For three hours we cut, chop, and listen as Eveline explains the history, and describes how each of the five dishes we will be preparing has meaning in Turkish culture. We learn the history of the spices we are chopping. She explains the differences between eastern and western Turkish cooking, as well as the manner in which these particular ingredients have an integral place in the traditional household.

Finally, we sit down over a couple of glasses of wine with our new-found friends and enjoy the meal we have created with our fellow want-to-be chefs.

After being indoctrinated into the Turkish style of living, we sail on to the Greek Islands.

By coincidence, we visit Corinth a day after Greece has voted to change its government. This timing proves very emotional for me. During my first visit to Greece in the '70s, the country was under martial law. I recall my discomfort at feeling watched over by the soldiers who seemed to be everywhere.

After I returned home, I read with more than passing interest how the citizens, through unyielding, but non-violent determination, returned Greece to a democratically elected government. I was a young man then, but that experience instilled in me a deep appreciation of our freedoms, and an understanding of their potential fragility.

As our guide narrates, I recognize that the land on which I am standing in Corinth represents the beginning of freedom as we know it. It was the seventh-century BC leader Periander, known as one of the seven sages of antiquity, who is credited with the expression "Democracy is better than tyranny." Under his direction, slavery was banned, the poor were helped, and his Corinth would become the major intellectual and cultural centre of the period.

Our cruise ends in Athens. We spend a few additional days exploring its rich history of antiquity treasures, which are still being unearthed to this day. The extent of its antiquities can perhaps best be appreciated when considering the cost of the Athens rapid transit system.

Athens may have one of the best, and most expensive, underground subway systems in the world. Its budget kept expanding as a direct result of a Greek law that stipulates construction must not destroy antiquities that are unearthed in the construction process.

Several years, and millions of dollars in overruns later, the route keeps intact several important findings, which will attract archeologists and tourists for generations to come.

Even the recently opened Acropolis museum is raised and built over newly discovered ruins, which visitors observe through a translucent floor they walk over inside the building and on the pathways leading to it.

On numerous occasions in the past I have visited important places of antiquity on my own, counting on a guidebook or the notations provided at these locations to gain the relevant information about what I was seeing.

I don't know if I can ever do that again. We chose to travel with a guided group every day on this trip. It made a difference in the experience and it created a change in me. Without them, the windmills of Mykonos would have represented not much more than a digital photo opportunity. Our guide helped us appreciate how the usually strong and consistent winds of the island created leaders in agricultural processing for the entire region.

Santorini would, perhaps, be no more than one of the majestic paintings of its spectacular scenery we purchase in one of the shops that line the streets. Our guide made us feel the presence of a still-active volcano which issued its first eruption almost 4,000 years ago.

The excruciating climb to the peak of Mycenae would trigger only a memory of an outdoor sweat lodge for me, but for the vision, excitedly painted in words, of love and betrayal in the murder of the Greek leader Agamemnon, by his angry wife and lover.

For all that, I am grateful to each and every one of the guides who shared their knowledge and pride in the country they call home.