Tuesday was a pretty long day of riding the bus as we headed out to Duzce University, which is about 3 hours away from Istanbul. We had a huge bus for our 26 people so basically everyone got their own row of seats which made things more comfortable. But I was sad to leave Istanbul and the Point Hotel which had begun to feel familiar.
On the way to the university we had a planned lunch stop sort of in the middle of nowhere but which turned out to be one of the best meals I had in Turkey. Since it was still Ramadan and this part of the country is much more religious than Istanbul, our group was literally the only people in the restaurant. Aside from the great food, another memorable moment was crashing the bus. The road to the restaurant had this archway we had to drive under and even though the bus driver got out and checked, we still didn't fit. Whoops!
After lunch we continued to the university, which is almost brand new (built in 2006) and focused on agriculture (think UC Davis). The first stop was the Herbarium which is like a plant museum. Next, we went to the main auditorium where we were welcomed with open arms. I'd heard about Turkish hospitality, but this was completely overboard. I think it helped that one of our professors, Linda Alpin, was friends with the president of Duzce University, Funda Serifoglu. They welcomed us and had each of us introduce ourselves to the small audience. It was quite a cermony including the exchange of gifts between the professors (and later gifts were given to all of us as well.)
Then we a short coffee break afterwards where we met two Turkish English instructors who I think enjoyed practicing their english with us. Next, we piled back into the bus for an adventurous drive down some twisty mountain roads to a 200 year old mosque out in the middle of nowhere. I was surprised our bus could even make it down some of these streets. While out in this rural mountain area, we once again saw the other side of Turkey...people living basic lives near poverty. But chatting with the folks at the mosque they actually seemed happier than most Americans I know, despite not having much.
We made a pit stop back in town to check out an old Roman theatre from about 800 BC. Our hosts served ice cream sandwiches which were a welcome relief from the mid-day heat. And we must have been quite a sight for the local kids in town as it seemed like a bunch of them came to check us out. We also went to a history museum that covered the local history dating back to some 2000 BC. America is such a young little baby by comparison.
View Larger MapOnce back in the bus, we hit the road headed to our final stop for the night -- Akcakoza on the Black Sea. A buffet dinner at the hotel and overlooking the water was waiting for us when we arrived. Akcakoza is a pretty small town, but at least it did have a city center part and a fair number of buildings. After dinner a few of us went to the hotel pool and ventured into the Black Sea early the next morning. It's hard to believe that Russia is just across the water. During breakfast the next day (again looking over the sea) we saw a couple of dolphins just off the coast. This hotel (Diapolis) is in a great location but the rooms are a bit dated even though they're huge (in fact there were two separate rooms in each room.)
But I appreciated getting to see some parts of Turkey outside of Istanbul especially because things are vastly different once outside of the big city.
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