Weekend in Cunda

This past weekend, Aaron, Chase and I (all in the same class at UW) were able to visit our professor and TA on the island of Cunda. Cunda is on the Aegean Sea, and we were able to see the Greek island of Levos across the harbor. Cunda is one of the towns that was completely changed by the population exchange between Greece and Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The town was inhabited by Greeks until they were moved to modern day Greece, and Turks from Crete were moved back to Turkey proper. The town's architecture is much more Greek than Turkish or Ottoman. Other than a long bus ride back and forth, we had an amazing time. Selim, our teacher, and Muge, our TA, both teach at the Harvard program for Ottoman Turkish. The Harvard facility is amazing, housed in an old Greek house that was recently remodeled--think stone mosaic floors with wi-fi internet.


streets in Cunda

the waterfront in Cunda

Getting to Cunda was an adventure in itself. The bus took a ferry across the Sea of Marmara, where the sheer number of oil tankers waiting to go up the Bosphorus is amazing. The ferries run all day and night, and serve as a link to get goods from Istanbul into the rest of Turkey, as well as places beyond.

not Coleman Dock.....

Saudis and sailors and snacks....oh my

not Metro, either.....