Dispatches - 21 September 2025 - Beginning the Next Leg

Jack Rogers
Sep 21
5 min read

In this dispatch:

Weekly Dispatch

First off, sorry for not getting out a dispatch last week! My Sunday was an unexpectedly-long travel day that actually started the night before. I had forgotten that my flight to Izmir, Turkey, didn't leave from Madrid. It left from Barcelona. Fortunately, past me booked a night bus to Barcelona, but present me totally forgot about it. I was already in bed when I got an email reminding me of my bus in two hours. Fortunately, everything was already packed up and ready (except for my wet towel), and the bus station was close by, so it wasn't a big deal. Still, that ruined my nice, easy morning I planned on having with a coffee at the Churreria de San Gines. The adventure didn't stop there, though. The airport's check-in system went down, so we had to check in the old way: with an excel sheet. That delayed us about 45 minutes to an hour for boarding, which when multiplied across every gate trying to push back, delayed us even longer on the tarmac. Between that delay and figuring out the public transport in Izmir (and forgetting about the one-hour time difference), I arrived at my hotel about three hours behind schedule. But I made it, so at least there's that.

I spent the week in Izmir, which has been continuously occupied for about 1,900 years. It was originally founded as Smyrna by Alexander the Great, and is even mentioned in the Bible (in Revelations). Izmir is Turkey's third-largest city, but it isn't the modernised monstrosity that Istanbul and Ankara are. Its old city is still a massive bazaar, its streets are congested with carts, cars, motorbikes, and pedestrians, and all of the buildings have that old feel to them. That's not to say that the city isn't beautiful; there are many great places, like Konak Square, the promenades along the bay, Kultur Park, and many mosques. It was a great place to spend a relaxing week. My hostel was great as well, with plenty of hostel cats and great people to have a long conversation with. One man, Ray, was over 70 years old and had lived a storied life. He and I had many hours-long conversations on every social, political, and religious topic you can think of. Once we learned that we were both once in the military, we naturally gravitated to old war stories, too. Military veterans really do share a common bond, regardless of the wars in which we served.

Of course, not every experience was fantastic. As a Westerner, we are accustomed to restricted government actions and civil rights grounded in democratic or republican forms of government. Turkey is a democracy, but it has a strict policing and intelligence political culture. Three times in about as many days, I was stopped by the Turkish police for random passport checks and questioning. It wasn't anything major, and I never felt like I was detained, but most people I know were put off by the stories. Me? I understood this environment from my last time in Turkey and my experiences from my past jobs, so it didn't offend me. The only thing that concerned me was when one police officer talked to me for fifteen minutes about my passport, past jobs, itinerary in Turkey, contacts in the country, money situation, everything. All standard immigration questions that I would have expected at the border, not in a random bus station, but c'est la vie. That's just the way things are in Turkey. Another police officer (on a separate occasion) took a picture of my passport and ran my information through the immigration system before sending me on my way (it only took about three minutes), and another just checked my visa validity (which took about ten seconds). The guy that talked to me in-depth probably just wasn't used to Westerners passing through that particular bus station (which I understand; it is pretty far off the tourist path).

The past two days, I have been in Mardin, in southeast Turkey. It's about 15 miles from the border with Syria as the crow flies, but it is extremely safe. I would characterize it as the most stereotypical Middle Eastern city I've been to. When you see a movie or play a video game set in the Middle East, this is what you think of (if you don't think of Marrakech). My hostel host told me that there are strict rules in place to preserve the city's historic look, feel, and atmosphere, which I really appreciate. The older I get and the more I travel, the more I see the cultural benefit and need for such regulations. There were once other cities just like this one, but they have since grown, expanded, and replaced their original buildings with modern construction. It was all done out of necessity (at least perceived necessity at the time) and advancement, but it certainly came at a cultural cost. Here in Mardin, there are 1,700-year-old churches (several of them), 1,000-year-old mosques, and, if you look very closely in certain places, remnants of Jewish heritage in pre-Christian, pre-Seljuk times.

Of course, there are two things that I have missed about Turkey since leaving over a year and a half ago: the food and the call to prayer. Turkish food is by far the best food I've ever eaten. There's nothing special about it in terms of preparation or unique spices. There's nothing you can get here that you can't get in the West. There's no reason we can't have natural, healthy, delicious food like they have in Turkey, but we don't. My favourite dishes so far are Iskender, Adana kebabs, and Tavuk Şiş (which is basically just skewered chicken). I'm looking forward to some Dolma and Beyti as well, though I'm told there are several unique dishes I should try here in Mardin. The second thing, the call to prayer, is actually happening right now as I type this sentence. I'm not Muslim, and I never will be, but the call to prayer is something that, for some reason, I find peaceful and reassuring. It's a constant presence in the background, as it happens five times a day. Now, Islam allows practitioners to "make up" a prayer if they are working, so it's not like everything comes to a standstill five times a day, but many people (especially the older and retired) still honour it at the exact time in their homes and shops.

I've got a 40-ish-day itinerary for Turkey that will take me from the far southeast in Mardin to the far northeast in Erdin, so I'm going to be moving a lot over the next several weeks. I swore after my whirlwind tour of the country last time that I'd slow it down the next time around. Guess I broke that promise to myself.

Check out this (and last) week's YouTube videos:

Wayfarer Vlog: Camino de Santiago | Castrojeriz to León (Part One)

Wayfarer Vlog: Camino de Santiago | Castrojeriz to León (Part Two)

A Hard Day: Reflecting on Charlie Kirk's Assassination & Legacy | A Vlog I Never Thought I'd Make

Wayfarer Vlog: Camino de Santiago | León to Sarria (Part One)

Wayfarer Vlog: Camino de Santiago | León to Sarria (Part Two)