The last two days have been all over the map, in many senses. Wednesday in Ravda was idyllic, with another training swim in the morning (technical focus: drafting), a lazy mid-day of laundry and lounging, and a late afternoon expedition by Chuck and Hal to Nessebor, a world heritage site slightly farther east up the Black Sea coast. Nessebar is a small island, now connected to the mainland by a causeway, upon which the Bulgar Christians of the past built an inordinate number of churches, some say as many as 40, over the centuries since the early Byzantine Empire. Ten still remain as archaelogical sites, and Chuck and I entered St. Stephen, a small 10th century 3 nave basilica housing a gorgeous array of 15th and 16th century wall paintings of the saints and the activities of the Virgin Mary. The sites are surrounded by an intense cluster of honky tonk gift shops and bars. We sampled two bars: the Hemingway, overlooking the lagoon and beach hotels on the mainland, and the Panorama, overlooking the Black Sea and the harbor, its fishing fleet, many styles of tourist boat, a cruise ship at anchor, and a hydrofoil passenger ferry that resembled the Meteors of the the Neva in St Petersburg. In the evening Chuck, Hal, and Nate's son Nicholas braved the crashing surf for a quick dip.
Early Thursday morning we set out for Istanbul at 5:30 am in Nate's comfy Peugeot. Nate had some morning business to attend to at the Bulgarian consulate. We were not able to get a GPS app to work on his tablet, so we "flew blind" into the heart of Istanbul, Nate ably handling the wheel and Hal not so ably navigating with help from a few google map printouts. Needless to say we got hopelessly lost in the bridal gown district on the wrong side of the Golden Horn from the consulate, and Nate abandoned the car for a cab while Chuck and Hal found something to eat while awaiting his return. A few hours later we were back on the road, heading southeast to Asia over the Bosporus.
It is nearly an 8 hour drive from Istanbul around the south shore of the Marmara (Marble) Sea to the Asian side of the Hellespont. Nate and Chuck split the driving duties. There are many, many marble quarries along this route. The high point (for Hal anyway) was a kebap feeding in a town called Yalova on the south shore of the Marmara (Marble) Sea at a place called Nefis Kofte. If you ever go there ask for Ersin.
Adding in the 5 hours from Ravda to Istanbul it became a long and trying day, but the impressive and unending juxtaposition of mountains and sea provided visual relief. We arrived at Hotel KOLIN about 9:30 pm. We spent way too much money on some gin and tonics, walked over to the bank of the Dardenelles, witnessed a strange and inexhaustible stream of seemingly hapless gulls caught in a wind tunnel over the strait, and called it a night.
This morning as I write I'm overlooking the Hellespont in the breakfast room, watching a ferocious current and tail wind drive massive freighters from right to left toward the Aegean. Nothing seems to be going the other way at this point. Our race starting point tomorrow in Gallipoli is just out of view beyond the next visible point to the east on the European side. It is a daunting prospect. There will be an acclimatization swim later this morning, followed by an expedition to Troy.
No comments:
Post a Comment