BAYLOR: Hassan in Pithion, 1985
There were valuable lessons to be learned from finding myself conversing with a Syrian traveling salesman during the hot morning hours of an aimless day in a tiny border town with more rail sidings and goats than humans.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Today's Tribune column: "Hassan in Pithion, 1985."
We approach the 25th anniversary of my first pilgrimage to Europe, which began in early May, 1985. Vignettes like the one recounted below, some of which first appeared in different form some years back in this blogspace, will appear periodically in Tribune column form throughout summer, 2010.
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13 comments:
Nice. Experiences like these are the antidote to the imperialist mindset we not only foist on the rest of the world but each other.
The imperialist mindset doesn't require travel to eliminate, but it certainly helps. The best decision I ever made was to take every cent I had and spend three months backpacking. It changed my life, and the gift keeps giving.
Terrific column, R. I envy that you were able to do that and wish, when I were younger, that I had the mindset I have now. I think it's part of the reason that I'm always bugging Mrs. Bayern about moving to Europe. I've moved around the US a lot and now I want a brand new adventure. I'm not saying I'll be backpacking a bunch, but to experience as many different cultures as possible is the goal of my life. To be, as Mrs. B puts it, a citizen of the world and gain a perspective that I could never get here.
Shit, now I'm fired up about this. My wife may have a long night of me nagging her to come!
A travel jones is a terrible thing to waste.
Was your visit anything like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv-KcF3Rkv8
Sorry but your column reminded me of my childhood
It was more like Byzantium ... that's a cool 'toon.
I spent time each day within the walls of the Hagia Sophia, having read a book by Herbert Muller called "Uses of the Past." Mostly subsistence was street food: Stuffed tomatoes, grilled meat and bottles of beer from shops.
Many good memories.
I don't get the connection that Jeff is trying to make.
I didn't read any argument in Roger's column against or for imperialism.
The ironic thing about the Jeff's comment is Turkey has long desired to join the EU and has repeatedly been rejected. Funny how the west is perceived to foist its ideals on the rest of the world with states always trying to join that very same system.
Roger how long did you stay in Istanbul?
Did you notice the Sophia Hagia at the end of the videio?
I had a friend in college that was from Lebanon.
I remember the first thing I asked him when he told me where he was from. I asked, didn't everyone from that area have mustaches like Sadam Hussein?
We laughed but you would have never known that Hasam was from Lebanon. He spoke great English and had light brown/blonde hair.
Another thing that reminds me of Hasam in your column is that every time we would be at a party people, and myself, would always ask Hasam why he wasn't drinking. He would always say that he had to study.
It is not until after 9/11 that I learned more about Islam and that it is against their religion to drink alcohol.
I wish I new that then or to have cared more to ask Hasam more questions about him being a Muslim.
Why were you spending so much time in Hagia?
Do they still call it that?
BBL
I'm not sure what it is called now. I went there because it was my first real experience overseas with something so old, and I'd been reading about the history prior to leaving.
I was there for only five days.
There is something about Istanbul that is very intriguing.
It is a place I much desire to visit and see. Especially the Sofia Hagia.
I caught a show once about the sub structure of Istanbul. There was a vast underground aquifer built by the Romans. There were hundreds of Corinthian columns as far as the eye or camera could see. It was a lost world something out of a Tolkein story.
Have you been back since then?
I wonder how much has changed.
Was your visit post Ataturk?
Did you visit any other Islamic nation?
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