This summer, I (Caleb) got to go TDY with our squadron to Konya, Turkey. We were gone for most of June participating in the Anatolian Eagle large-force exercise. The flying was interesting, especially when an Anatolian eagle and his friend decided to smack into my canopy and engine on departure one day. All-in-all the experience was good, but frustrating at times due to language and cultural barriers. Our off-time, however, was awesome!
We spent three weekends in this fascinating country and enjoyed each one. The country is 98% Muslim and Konya is the most conservative town. Turkey felt like it was torn between maintaining tradition while pursuing western culture. In the modern mall across the street from our 5-star hotel, Muslim women in head coverings watched music videos in the food court showing Turkish pop-stars singing on a beach in bikinis.
The traffic circle outside the hotel as seen from my room. We always had to watch
out for donkey carts in this roundabout on the drive to base.
On our first free weekend, we packed up our rental cars and proceeded 3 hrs east towards Cappodocia. We drove in style in our Punk Van (young Viper pilots are enviously referred to as "Punks"). Cappodocia felt like a mix between the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and Sedona, AZ. Our first stop was in a cave complex that was built around 400 BC. It descended 6 layers into the earth and housed early Christians who sought shelter from persecution underground.
Enjoying the Punk Van cabin with "Sonic" Murnan
Following the cave city, our Intel Officer "Buster" Scott negotiated some "best prices" for us at a hookah bar and, while we were enjoying Turkish water pipes, worked a great deal for a group 4-wheeler tour. I don't think the tour company knew what they were getting into. We tore through the rock formations like, well, a bunch of fighter pilots. It was a blast!
Cappodocia, Turkey
The rock formations were amazing, and many of the strange formations had been carved out to make homes for ancient Turks.
Hell on wheels...
One of the coolest sites was the cave "castle" that was carved into a large rock formation. We enjoyed scrambling up, around, and through the rooms of the caves. We enjoyed the rest of our tour and only broke two 4-wheelers which, considering our riding styles, wasn't too bad - at least not something a couple more Turkish Lira couldn't fix.
Top: The rock "castle"
Bottom: In front of the "castle" with "Bear" Goldsberry
The following weekend, after a great International Night spent hanging out with the pilots from the other participating countries, we made another excursion. This time, we drove north to the capital, Ankara. The destination this weekend was a rug store so we could do some rug shopping. This trip was so much more than looking for a nice rug - it was a complete experience. The owner and host threw us a full Turkish BBQ with grilled lamb, chicken, peppers, tomatoes, bread, and fruit. The food and drinks kept coming and after a couple helpings of each, we were ready to get to work. Each and every rug displayed was a work of art. All the rugs were handmade and hailed from Afghanistan, Turkey, and "Eastern Turkey" (read: Iran). Each of us rug-hunters was soon deep into negotiations - "No, no. How much?" - and sorting through the myriad of options. After much negotiation, and walking away a couple times, I finally settled on a beautiful wool-on-wool Usak rug that is sitting in our living room as I write this post.
Detail on our rug
The following day, on the way home, we stopped by Ataturk's mausoleum. It is hard to understand how revered Ataturk is in modern Turkey. If you curse Ataturk, you can be arrested and fined. He led the Turks during WWI and was the first president of independent Turkey. He is their George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Chuck Norris all in one. His mausoleum was impressive and a good sight to see considering the historic importance of this great man.
In front of Ataturk's Mausoleum
After most of the squadron left, six of us remained behind for one last weekend. We decided to take it easy this time and drove south towards Antalya. Located in a large bay flanked by a steep mountain range to the west and rock cliffs to the east, Antalya is a popular beach resort location. We enjoyed the sun and waves and a relaxing weekend after a couple weeks of hard work and time away from home.
The beach in Antalya
The trip back to Konya was a bit interesting as our Turkish GPS system and own ignorance of the Turkish road system led us deep into the mountains northeast of Antalya. Since we had driven on some dirt roads under construction on the trip down, we weren't surprised when our road turned into gravel and dirt. We should have been concerned, however, when the road changed to rocks and we didn't see another human being or sign of life for about 51 minutes. Long story short: we were able to get down off the mountain and still arrive, alive, in Konya that night.
Our "road" in the mountains
The TDY was good, although it was even better to return back home. Turkey is an interesting country and the people in the shops and restaurants were some of the friendliest and most helpful people I've ever met in all my travels. I'll probably spend some more time in Turkey and, if I do, I'll be sure to post about it. Until then...
Ciao!
