#2002 15 Let’s Take a Holiday

There is an interesting semantics problem between the US and Europe. In the US, vacation is time taken off from work at the discretion of the employee with the concurrence of the employer. Holidays are week days that are designated as non-work days by the employer usually in observance of some national holiday or to reduce operating cost for the company.

In Europe both types of non-work week days are called holidays.

Before we bought Perception, the most time either of us had spent on a boat was nine days. Last season we stretched that to nearly four months.

Perception’s management has noticed a certain lethargy creeping up on the morale of the crew. They tried suspending the

#1 Morale Rule: Daily floggings will continue until morale improves.

-- Morale got worse.

The weather got hotter.

--Morale got worse.

There was more time spent at marinas with electricity, i.e. air conditioning.

--Morale got worse.

So after just over five months of living aboard, management suggested a holiday.

“Good idea!”, said the crew. “Let’s get off this boat and spend some time on land.”

Bonnie and Mike took a road trip in Turkey after they left Perception in Greece. They reported that it was interesting and relaxing. What’s good for temporary crew might work for the regulars. Call the agent. Book the trip. Get out of here and off the boat.

Fortunately the owner/crew has asked the captain/crew to go with her. I accepted.

You might only guess the crew will get “land sick.” They are a delicate lot.

Wednesday

The bags are packed. Perception is buttoned up and we leave tomorrow morning. We’re going to Istanbul.

Thursday

Its off to the travel agency to meet the driver and pay the bill.

Then we settle back in the car and let Coşkuner (pronounced Josh Koon) do the driving. We quickly learn some interesting facts about this man. His father was the driver for Kemal Ataturk, the first President of Turkey. Ataturk suggested to Coşkuner’s father the name that he now bears. It means “bubbling water”. Coşkuner was the driver for the seventh President. When that President retired to Marmaris, Coşkuner moved to Marmaris.

This understood, we both fall asleep and pretty much slept through until we reach Izmir. After lunch and a nap, we go sightseeing.

First, it is Kadifekale. Another ancient fortress in ruin. This acropolis provides a beautiful view of the korfezi, the city and the surrounding mountains. It was littered with bands of small boys who knew only one English word: “money”. There is clearly a lot of poverty in Turkey. This was our first experience with the lack of dignity that one associates with it.

Then, an elevator that provides pedestrians a way to get from sea level to the plateau that much of the city is on. It certainly beats walking up. We drove by the Izmer airport on the way into the city and then by Levent Marina during the sightseeing trip. Given the size of the city, the inconvenience of the marina and the cleanliness of the water, it was a good decision to ask Jerry and Mary Jane to come to Ceşme instead of meeting them in Izmer. It is a large, industrial, not particularly clean city. There is a lot of evidence of NATO presence.

The Greeks call Izmir Smyrna. Whichever, it is the home of Homer. The same Homer that wrote Odysseus and the Iliad. Last year about now, we started sailing the waters of Ulysses' Odysseus. Perception’s first port of call in Greece was Othonoi, the home of Calypso. She was a creature of such beauty that she lured Ulysses to her cave and held his attention for seven years. We only found a cafe named New York, New York. We stayed one night. We have sailed the seas and called on many of the harbors that Ulysses sailed and called on centuries earlier. Now, we are in the home of the Greek who told the tale.

Friday Pergamum - This acropolis of yet another ancient city is spectacular. Unlike Rodos, Efes, Halicanarsus, Knidos and Caunos, this one is not close to the sea and does not command an important sea route. It was a center of science, education and the arts in pre-Greek, Greek and Roman times.

Ayvalik Marina - This marina is a possible winter home for Perception this winter. We went to check the prices and the facility.

Saturday - Assos is another Greek city. Perched high above the Aegean on the cape now called Baba Burnu, there are remains of a temple to Athena, some of the wall and the cistern. In this city, Aristotle held class and got married. Not a small claim for any town.

In Search on the Trojan Horse.

The Iliad from Homer led the German archeologist, Heinrich Schlieman, to an unlikely heap of dirt in 1870. He read the story very closely and believed it was more than a myth. He came to Turkey. He looked where Homer said the city was. There were two major reference points: the Aegean to the south and the Dardanelles to the west. He found a large pile of dirt. When he cut into it he thought he found the remains of seven cities layered one on top of the other. Today, the specialists think it may be closer to 17.

The location is key to transportation between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea prior to motorized ships. The prevailing winds are from the north. The current is from the north. Ships were forced in to Troy’s harbor waiting for a south wind.

Schlieman funded his exploration with a fortune amassed in the California gold rush. Daimler- Benz is funding the continuing excavation at the site.

Yet another city where the harbor silted in, the commerce dried up and the people blew away.

Sunday - At Cannakkale there is a large memorial celebrating 18 March 1915. It was obvious from our hotel room. We were not sure of the significance of the date. The next morning we took a ferry across the channel, drove southwest past a medieval fortress and then to the Gallipoli Battlefield Memorial.

Phyl and I do not like war. We accept that it is a necessary step in diplomacy, but it is one we would just as soon not know about. This battlefield is everything that we would rather not know.

The time was 1915. The Greeks, with the British as advisors and cheerleaders, had been pushing the Turks out of what is now Greece for nearly a hundred years. On an island by island basis it had been a bloody and often ruthless struggle. From the British perspective, the Turks were not much of a threat.

For the Allies, an ice free sea passage for their Russian ally seemed a good idea. From the Aegean there is such a waterway through Canakkale, the Sea of Marmara, the Bospherus and the Black Sea. It was over this same sea way that the Trojan War was fought in ancient times. Sorry Helen, it was for control of trade, not the beauty of your face that a thousand ships were launched.

Barely 1300 meters wide, the waterway passes between Kilitbahir and Canakkale. For the Turks, Kilitbahir is translated literally ‘The Key to the Sea”; Cannekkale, “Channel Fortress”.

Plan One - Send the Navy. On 18 March 1915, the British Navy steamed up the channel and met heavy resistance. Many ships were lost; only a few were Turkish.

Plan Two - Send the Army. Land an army on the beach southwest of the channel and control it from the European side. Send soldiers from England, France, Australia and New Zealand. Over 500,000 soldiers died. The allies withdrew.

At the Anzac (Australia and New Zealand, Army Corps) Bay there is a monument with this message:

“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives...

You are now lying on the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore, rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.

You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears.

Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.

After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”

- Ataturk, First President of Turkey

He was also the Turkish military commander at the battle.

We don’t like war. It, or the threat of it, is a necessary evil in international diplomacy. Threats don’t count if they are never exercised. Constraint in all cases can only mean failure. The people who die never know the rewards.

On to Istanbul.

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