ANKARA

Breakfast on our "Orient Express", the night train from Istanbul to
Ankara, seems particularly wonderful to me this morning. Sipping my cup of Nescafe I look out the window to see sheep with their shepherds; fertile fields of unidentifiable plants and vegetables. The landscape is reminiscent of my home in Sonoma County.

In Ankara Meli welcomes us to the 'Meli Tur' bus and introduces her driver, Metin, and her dog Zili. The morning spent at the Museum of Anatolian Culture was a treat and was followed by a visit to the Temple of Cybele (whose symbol, the bull's horns, gave the Turkish flag its crescent). At the Temple site I felt the heavy overlaying of Cybele by Augustus and other major symbols of the patriarchy. Personally, I choose to retain the memory of the museum, with its two wonderful statues and its loving presentation of a rich female presence.

Lunch at the Uludag Hotel was exceptional and dinner in Konya was also terrific. Also packed into this busy day was a talk by Meli on the Sufi (mystical Muslim) poet Rumi at the mosque in Konya, plus a very long hot bus ride. Some hardy souls also extended the night to visit a Whirling Dervish performance but I missed that event.

(Ed. - For me the Whirling Dervishes, those amazing Sufis, were one of the highlights of the whole trip. Three men in long whiter-than-white skirts and blouses, wearing two-foot-tall brown fez hats, danced in perfect rhythm around and around and around, under bluish light, to the exotic, beautiful music of a 6-piece band. The men started with their wrists crossed reverentially across their chests, then stretched out their arms and raised them both to about ear level. As they whirled, the right hand, which was slightly higher, pointed upward toward heaven, receiving the divine spirit, which passed through their bodies into the left hand, which pointed downward toward the earth. Their heads tilted slightly to the right, as if they were listening to God. At first I just sat there enjoying the music and trying to figure out how they kept from getting dizzy, but by the end I felt a great spiritual high.)

Tomorrow it's off to Catal Huyuk and Antalya.