Letters from Abroad: Bogazkale, Turkey
Iris Howley
Issue date: 12/2/05 Section: Entertainment
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I had forgotten where I was: Bogazkale, a small town 100 miles east of Turkey's capital city. To wake the entire village for breakfast before sunrise, the drummers would have to start at the town center at 3 a.m. and then wander their way up through the cobblestone streets, waking all of the 2,000 inhabitants.
October was Ramazan (known as Ramadan in other cultures), although it was barely noticeable in the cities. Those practicing the holiday would eat only before the sun rose, or after it set. So, 4 a.m. breakfast was an important meal for those fasting the remainder of the day. When in more religious towns, I found myself eating "lunch" from a bag of cookies and a few apples, as restaurants were closed during the day.
My travel companion, Torben, and I had predicted the journey to take three hours. Instead, we arrived three hours later than anticipated. Considering our only belongings were my guidebook and three bilingual dictionaries, we were quite ill-prepared to spend the night, but it had to be done. So there I was in a small Turkish village without an ATM, without any restaurants, but with plenty of male-only teahouses, trying to get back to sleep. The sound of the drums slowly faded away, allowing me to return to my slumber.
The next morning my friend and I gathered our food supplies from the grocer, then headed out to walk through the town's tourist attraction, the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusas. It was a hilly seven-mile walk, through the 4,000 year old ruins. Foundations of temples laid everywhere, unnatural grassy lumps told the existence of hundreds of unexcavated buildings, and restored stone reliefs decorated the leftovers of this once impressive city.
Looking at the weathered lion statues of Aslanli Kapi, the green stone from Ramses II, and the reliefs of the Southern Fortress, the volumes of people who have been at Hattusas is obvious- Hittites, Egyptian ambassadors, traders, foreign invaders, archaeologists, and tourists. But today it was only me, my German travel companion, and the local shepherds with their grazing cattle sharing the sights.
So many civilizations have made their way across Anatolia that ancient sites are scattered all over the Turkish countryside. In these three months that I have been in Turkey, I have seen remains of the Hittites, Romans and Byzantines, Seljuks, Ottomans, Urartians, and Armenians. Given more time, I could explore some Phyrgian, Hatti, and Neolithic sites as well. Turkey has been home to various peoples for nearly 10,000 years, making this Hittite city seem almost modern.
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