There are plenty of old adages about how travel abroad is the best way to expand one’s conceptions of the world and create the ability to look at one’s home with a new perspective. While I’ve never been much for the kind of quotes you find printed on inspirational posters, I can attest to the fact that travel really is one of the best ways to broaden your horizons, so to speak. If you want to understand other cultures, one trip is worth a thousand Travel Channel features.
Now, I don’t actually travel as much as I would like to. Most frequently, it’s trips to other states, often to visit family. These are great experiences, but they aren’t exactly the kind of journey that one takes to expand their conceptions and grant a fresh perspective. However, over the summer I had what I have no doubt will be one of the best travel experiences of my life.
To skip the suspense, this was three weeks in Greece and Turkey. I’ve been in other countries, but this was probably the most “foreign” trip I’ve ever taken.
The venture began in Greece. While it is a part of Europe, Greece can still be intimidating, as whenever I wasn’t in the more tourist-oriented areas, there was no guarantee I would be able to find my way around without knowing Greek. However, often the best course of action was to pursue as many experiences as I could, without worrying too much about sticking to the beaten path. If you visit a foreign country in the near future, please remember that I advised you to not worry about sticking to the beaten path, not to recklessly attempt to have as many memorable experiences as possible. That’s how people die.
However, the beaten path can also offer plenty to do. There was an abundance of interesting museums, sights and restaurants that were geared towards tourists, and their accessibility didn’t make them less genuine. On the whole, Greece’s culture was easy to immerse myself in. I’m not trying to write a travel guide here, so I’ll just leave it at the fact that it was one of the most relaxing places I’ve ever been. This is due in no small part to the food. Some of the best food I had in Greece was street food, such as moussaka from a café or a souvlaki pita fresh from a griller’s cart. I was often in port cities like Athens and Nafplio, and so there were many distinctive Greek seafood dishes that I tried.
Most people typically aren’t eager to devote a lot of time to touring museums and historic sites, but I found it fascinating. From elementary school onward, students are made to learn about the history of Ancient Greece, but this instruction makes the Ancient Greek civilization seem distant and immaterial. Walking through the ruins of Delphi or the Acropolis in Athens brings these scraps of historic information into significance, and they made me actually think about these past civilizations.
The second half of my trip was spent in Turkey. Turkey is a captivating place to visit, because throughout its long history, it has been a place where the cultures of the east and the west collided, creating a truly unique country. The culture in Greece was easygoing, but in Turkey, I was surrounded by frenzied activity every day. Like in Greece, I visited several different locations, with their own history and atmosphere. All of them were arresting in their own way, from the ancient, incredibly lively and colorful streets of Istanbul to the quiet, dignified Sufi architecture of Konya, all the way to the breathtaking landscape of Cappadocia, where ancient dwellings and churches are hollowed out of the monolithic stone spires and structures that rise from the ground.
At several points in Turkey, I felt stressed when plans went awry or I was overwhelmed by my surroundings. However, I found that nothing went truly wrong, no matter how much a turn of events took me by surprise. Nearly everything about Turkey came as another culture shock, but eventually I found the unfamiliar things I faced simply didn’t faze me.
Greece and Turkey are very different in terms of their culture and history, but both were an incredible experience that I would give anything to return to. And I can honestly say that over the course of my trip, I became better able to deal with some unfamiliar situations..
After all, you know what those inspirational posters say about travel.
– By Colin Battis