ギリシャの聖地 The holy place in Greece

メテオラの岩の上に建つ修道院には入ることができるところもあります。
女性はロングスカートでなければならないので、観光客向けに入口で巻きスカートを貸出しています。

このメテオラも俗世間から離れた修道院として有名ですが、他にもギリシャには、ギリシャ正教の聖地、アトス山というのがあります。そこは入国許可が必要な自治区で、外国人は１日８名、女性は入国禁止、という山。なんと、家畜の雌も入れないそうです。
行ってみたいですが、無理なのでどなたか入国してみて下さい。ギリシャ１国で別の違う国に行ったことになるかも。パスポートにスタンプは押されないと思いますが。

Some monasteries on the top of the rocks in Meteora allow us to enter. Women have to wear a long skirt, so there are wrapped skirts available, to lend to female visitors at the entrance.

Meteora is famous for its monasteries which are removed from the ordinary world. In addition to Meteora, there are another holy place for the Greek Christians, Mt. Athos. That area has a self-governing system, which requires that tourists need permission to enter. Only eight foreigners per day can enter and women are prohibited. Also even female livestock are.
I wish I could go. Would you try to go there? It would be like entering another different country within Greece, though you wouldn't get a stamp of the holy country on your passport.

村と岩 A village and rocks

標識がギリシャ語、地図が分りづらい。
そんな中、レンタカーでテサロニキからメテオラに向かう途中、小さな村に迷い込みました。
人も車もいっぱいで、お祭りか何かあるのでしょう。
きれいな村で民族衣装をきた人もいて得した気分でした。

Signposts were written in Greek symbols, a map wasn't easy to read.
On the way to Meteora from Thessaloniki, we strayed into a small village.
There were many people and cars there. It seemed to be a day of festival or something similar.
The village was lovely and a few people wore folk costumes, I felt lucky to go there.

さて、来る途中の紅葉もきれいでしたが、メテオラに着いたらその巨岩はやはり圧巻でした。
メテオラはその奇石群とその上に建つ修道院、文化自然複合の世界遺産として知られています。
公共交通の便はあまりよくないようで（まあ、修道院は世俗から離れたところにあるものだから当然かもしれませんが。）、車で連れて行ってくれた友人に感謝！でした。車なしでは回れないくらい、あちこちに岩山と修道院が点在していて、「よくまあ、こんなところに建てたなあ」というのがとりあえず一番の感想です。

Also on the way, there were wonderful mountains covered in autumnal foliage. The huge rocks in Meteora were outstanding.
Meteora is well known as a UNESCO World heritage site for its mixture of nature and culture. It has ranges of unusually shaped rocks and monasteries on top of them.
There was poor public transportation to travel there. Monasteries are often in isolated places, so I was thankful for my friend's help in taking me by car. The rocks and the buildings were too scattered to go around without a car. My first thought was how they had built them in such a place.

ギリシャのタクシー Taking a taxi in Greece

テサロニキの駅に着いて、私は焦っていました。
列車が２時間遅れで到着し、イギリスの友人との待ち合わせ時間からすでに１０分経過。
待ち合わせ場所のホステルに連絡しようとしても公衆電話がカード式しかなく、とりあえずタクシーへ。
タクシーの運転手は私が乗り込んだのに、出て行って行ってなかなか戻って来ない。
待つこと５分、どうやら同じ方面の乗客を待っていたらしい。
結局私だけ乗せて発車し、なんと途中でおばさんをひろい、その後すぐに私を降ろして、路地を指さしました。
分りにくい場所にあったので、うろうろ荷物を抱えてさまよいましたが、無事友人に会え、ひと安心。
狭い路地にあって、部屋から遺跡が見えて、なかなかよい場所でした。

普段一人でタクシーは乗らないのですが、（ぼったくりとか怖い目にあったら嫌だし、高いし）、今回は急いでいて道も分らないので乗ってみました。英語が通じず、途中で降ろされ、「ちゃんとホテルの前まで乗せてくれたら迷わなかったのに。」と思いましたが、狭い路地がたくさんあって一方通行が多く、確かにそこまで乗せて行けないですね。

When I got to Thessaloniki, I was in a hurry.
As the train arrived two hours late, I was already 10min late for meeting a friend from UK.
I couldn't call the hostel where we were going to meet, there was only a prepaid card system phone available.
I got in a taxi in haste, but the driver got out and didn't come back for a while.
After 5min, he seemed to be looking for another person to go in the same direction, but then started driving with only me in the car. Surprisingly, he picked up a woman on the way and dropped me off after that, pointing to an alley.
I was lost with my big backpack for a while because the hostel wasn't easy to find, finally I was able to meet my friend there. The hostel was on a narrow alley, with a view of ruins from the window. That was nice.

I seldom take a taxi by myself, because I might have a terrible experience or be overcharged and also it's costly. Still I got it there at that time, as I was late and didn't know the way. The driver didn't speak English and dropped me off on the way. I thought that he should have done that in front of the hostel. However there were many alleys and one way traffic, so it couldn't be helped.

国境を越える～トルコからギリシャへ～ Crossing the border from Turkey to Greece

夜行列車に乗ってギリシャ北部にある町、テサロニキに向かいました。
寝台はベットが上下２つ（下は座席がベッドになる）、小さな洗面台付き。乗客が少なく、一人で部屋を使うことができ、なかなか快適でした。

午前２時、「パスポートコントロール」と繰り返す声に起こされ、出入国管理官と車掌らしき人がやって来てパスポートを持って行きました。
列車を降りなくても、国境を越えられるのはいいのですが、正直不安でした。
この列車は「どろぼう列車」と呼ばれているらしいし、彼らが本物かどうか分らない。
でもパスポートは無事スタンプが押されて戻ってきて、荷物も形ばかりにちらっと見て終了。

列車は再び動き出し、うとうとしたところで、今度はギリシャ側で同じ作業が繰り返され、列車が大幅に遅れて（２時間以上）到着したこと以外、何事もなく目的地に到着したのでした。

I got a night train bound for Thessaloniki, a city in northern Greece.
In the compartment, there were two beds, upper and lower, the lower one was a seat in daytime, and a small washstand.There weren't many passengers, so I could use the space just for myself. It was quiet comfortable.

At 2 o'clock in the morning, a voice repeating"Passport control"woke me up.
Then two men, who seemed to be a conductor and an immigration official, came and took my passport. I was nervous that they might be phonies because I heard that the train was called "thieves train", although it was convenient that we could cross the border without having to get off.
Still I got back my passport with a stamp, and they made a pro forma check on my luggage, that was all.
The train started to move again. When I was dozing away, the same procedure was done in Greece. Except for a delay in arrival, more than two hours, I got to my destination without incident.

イスタンブールの歩き方 Walking in Istanbul

イスタンブールの観光名所は一か所にかたまっていて移動が便利。
白地に青のタイルの美しさからブルーモスクという名で知られるスルタンアメフト・モスク、
キリスト教の大聖堂から、オスマン帝国時代にモスクに転用されたという面白い歴史を持つアヤ・ソフィア、
など見逃せないものばかりです。

In Istanbul, there are main tourist attractions in one distinct, so it's convenient to visit them.
Such as Sultanambmet mosque, commonly known as Blue mosque because of the excellent white tiles with blue patterns, and Hagia Sophia, which has interest history ; it was changed to a mosque from a cathedral in a period of Ottoman Empire, those places are must-see.

そんな観光地を歩いているとよく話しかけられます。
トルコの人は日本好きが多いといいますが、中には日本語が大変流暢な人も。
「中国人や韓国人もいるのに、なぜ日本人だと分るの？」と聞くと、
「歩き方で分る」とのこと。日本女子は「足をすって歩く」。
・・・確かに私はそうかも。もはや着物を着ない時代になったのに、歩き方だけは変わらないのでしょうか。
男性は見わけがつかない場合があるけれど、女性ならほぼ間違えないね、と自慢げに語ってくれました。

When I was walking in that area, many people talked to me.
I had heard that many of the Turkish liked Japan, still I was surprised that there were many fluent Japanese speakers as well.
I asked one of them how to distinguish Japanese from other Asian although many Chinese and Korean came there.
He said that he judged by their walking style, "Japanese walk with their feet scuffing the ground."
Certainly so do I. Today we hardly wear a kimono, but still walk the same as old days, do we?
(We cannot walk in long strides in a kimono, because the bottom would be opened.)
He would mistake it in case of men, but be almost right in case of women, he boasted.

物が売りたくて話しかけてくる人がほとんどだと思いますが、ナンパや話したいだけの人も多いかも。
私はこんなおじさんに話しかけられました。
「２回トルコの女性と結婚して、２回失敗した。トルコの女は口うるさい。私の友人の奥さんは日本人でとても静かでいいそうだから、次は日本人と結婚したい。」
また、夜のブルーモスク（ライトアップされていてきれいです。）を見ていると、流暢な日本語で話しかけられました。
彼は日本に住んでいたそうで、日本語を話したかったんでしょう。
「歳いくつ？」と聞かれたので「秘密」と答えると、
「秘密ということは２９歳か３１歳くらいですね。それくらいの女性は歳を言わない。」
うるさい！図星だわい。

I guess that the most of them who talk to visitors may want sell something but some of them may want to have a chat or to pick up a woman.
I was talked by a man.
He said, "I've married a Turkish woman twice and divorced twice. Turkish women are noisy. A friend's wife is Japanese, he says she is quiet and nice. So I'd like to marry a Japanese woman now."
When I was looking at Blue mosque, which was lit up beautifully in the evening, a fluent Japanese speaker talked to me.
He used to live in Japan, so would want to speak in Japanese.
He asked my age and I answered that it was a secret.
Then he said, "The secret means that you must be 29 or 31 years old. Women of that age won't say their age."
Hold your tongue! You hit it !!