6. Kayaköy, Anatolia, Turkey When the Greco-Turkish war ended in 1923, roughly a million Greeks living in Turkey were repatriated, and Kayaköy, a Greek village of roughly 2,000 residents in western Turkey, was abandoned. The remains of the village—including hundreds of ruined homes and two Greek Orthodox churches—are preserved as a historic site. Planning: Fethiye, approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Kayaköy, is the closest town. www.gofethiye.com (Source: Top 10 Ghost Towns | National Geographic, Oct 2011)

6. Kayaköy, Anatolia, Turkey

When the Greco-Turkish war ended in 1923, roughly a million Greeks living in Turkey were repatriated, and Kayaköy, a Greek village of roughly 2,000 residents in western Turkey, was abandoned. The remains of the village—including hundreds of ruined homes and two Greek Orthodox churches—are preserved as a historic site.

Planning: Fethiye, approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Kayaköy, is the closest town. www.gofethiye.com

(Source: Top 10 Ghost Towns | National Geographic, Oct 2011)

“The first colonists came to the area from the ancient Greek city of Miletus at the end of the seventh century BCE, according to Bulgarian National Radio’s (BNR) report about the finds, which included a building that was a metallurgical workshop, as well as two well-preserved streets, one of which led to the sacred site of Apollonia.” (via Archaeology: Remains of ancient Greek settlement studied on island off Sozopol - Bulgaria - The Sofia Echo)

“The first colonists came to the area from the ancient Greek city of Miletus at the end of the seventh century BCE, according to Bulgarian National Radio’s (BNR) report about the finds, which included a building that was a metallurgical workshop, as well as two well-preserved streets, one of which led to the sacred site of Apollonia.”

(via Archaeology: Remains of ancient Greek settlement studied on island off Sozopol - Bulgaria - The Sofia Echo)

In “Hav of the Myrmidons” — published in 2006 in Britain but only now in the United States — Morris finds herself invited back, after two decades, to see the wonders of the new Holy Myrmidonic Republic, dominated by high-tech industries and oil production, strict religious observance, and the frequent rewriting and erasing of history. Gone is the old “gaudy eclecticism that made the old city so compelling.” Instead, the 21st-century Hav has become crudely vulgar and totalitarian, its landscape shadowed by the ominous Myrmidon Tower, its government a theocracy ruled by the so-called Perfects.
Michael Dirda reviews ‘Hav,’ by Jan Morris - The Washington Post
Penthouse on the Parapet (Photograph by Randy Olson) The view’s worth the climb to this home built into the southern portion of Sinop’s ancient city wall. Until recent land reclamation operations, this part of the wall was buffeted by the sea. Built by the Greeks, restored by Seljuk Turks in the 13th century, patched and repaired by Ottoman defenders, the wall still surrounds the heart of Sinop. In the last century part of the walled citadel served as a jail for political prisoners, whose longing for freedom was echoed in clandestinely written poetry invoking the beauty of wind and wave and the call of seabirds. (via Deep Black Sea @ nationalgeographic.com)

Penthouse on the Parapet (Photograph by Randy Olson)

The view’s worth the climb to this home built into the southern portion of Sinop’s ancient city wall. Until recent land reclamation operations, this part of the wall was buffeted by the sea. Built by the Greeks, restored by Seljuk Turks in the 13th century, patched and repaired by Ottoman defenders, the wall still surrounds the heart of Sinop. In the last century part of the walled citadel served as a jail for political prisoners, whose longing for freedom was echoed in clandestinely written poetry invoking the beauty of wind and wave and the call of seabirds. (via Deep Black Sea @ nationalgeographic.com)

Ibrahim Maalouf, live improvisation (2009). His work is remarkable.

For all the parts of you that are Other: Lhasa de Sela accompanied, among many brilliant others, by Ibrahim Maalouf (who deserves his own post). Anywhere On This Road (2003).

Nostalgia is masochism and masochism is something masochists love to share.
Andrei Codrescu, New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City

My elders, who for the record are contemporaries and spiritual cousins of M Codrescu, would support him wholeheartedly if they could stand to read even a word of his writings. But they refuse to.

I’ve always figured, they must be too much alike, he must reflect some quality of their own mind that they don’t wish to discuss or acknowledge. I’ve learned better, though, in the past few years. Of all Romanian cultural traits that I’m aware of, contrariness stands out most vividly for me - they say down and you say up, sometimes just to keep the conversation going. It’s the same with my parents, and probably with me too - we’ll agree without calling it agreement. They’ll tell me to stop pining as if I’m in exile, as they have done all my adult life. I’ll say I’m being pragmatic enough, and to stop worrying. I’m a traveler, not an exile, I’ll say. There isn’t anything left to be exiled from.

Read More