Conference Day 2

The students had a good night's sleep last night and woke up ready to engage the other delegates again.  Several of us walked out to the beachfront again before breakfast.  It was beautiful.

Andrea and Autumn with the resort and pool in the background.

One of several pools

I managed to catch most of the delegates in their committees before they started up and got pictures.  There is absolutely NO opportunity to speak with them or get close enough for pictures once they are in session.  

Autumn  - UNEF

Andrea - ILO

DJ - ILO

Bryan - Shanghai Cooperation Org.

Usef - NATO

Taben - Security Council

The Security Council has the best room...bascially a veranda with a great view of the sea.

View from the Security Council room.

Cassie - Ad Hoc Expert.

Casey- Scheidemann Cabinet (Germany 1919)

Marisa - OSCE

Olivia - World Bank

Looking for something to do in Goynuk

Despite the steady downpour all night and the calls for more rain, we woke today to the sun shining. 

Looking out our bedroom window onto the grounds of the hotel.

I was determined after breakfast to walk into town and see if I could find a tour company to take us to the local sites.  I had tried looking online several times without success.

The stroll from the resort to the town was quite nice.  The area along the coast has mountains rising up from the sea.  The mountains look a lot like Colorado Springs to me, with piney forests and jagged rock faces rising up.

I strolled past a number of new resorts and made it to the "main drag" in town.  I was quite surprised to discover the Queen Elizabeth 'docked' in the middle of town.  Its a hotel designed to look like a cruise ship!  There are store fronts all along the ground level of it.

Many of the shops were closed, and many more were under construction.  It was very obvious it was the "off season".  It was interesting to see the variety of items in shops.  At one store, furs and leather coats, in the shop next door there were bikinis.

Nothing says "buy my handbags" like a stuffed fox in the window... ?!

I found this shop signage pretty funny.  Mannequins in size 0 bikinis and a super model pictured with "Big Size" swim wear on the sign.  Not quite sure what this was in reference to.

I spotted a tour agency half way through town and went to see what they were able to offer.  The proprietor was very friendly and helpful and I had soon arranged a tour for the afternoon with our group.  I walked as quickly as I could back to the hotel to meet the students during their coffee break and let them know about the tour.  I also spoke with the conference staff to let them know the students would be out of committee for the afternoon...after all, we are in Turkey!

Main Street Goynuk Turkey

First Conference Day

We just barely had time to grab lunch and change before the opening ceremonies today.  The resort is pretty sizeable, including the dining room.  They had a huge buffet set up with a large variety of food choices.  They were easily able to feed several hundred people in a very short time.  

dessert bar:  baklava, rice pudding, mousse, cake, tarts...

Salad bar:  They have a real way with food presentation here!

Breakfast pastries

Opening ceremonies were unremarkable.  They put a lot of effort into some video montages with upbeat music.  They thanked every single member of the staff by name, and welcomed the delegates. Then it was time for the first "coffee break" - every day in the schedule has 2 coffee breaks during which time pastries and coffee are put out and all the committees break at the same time.

The first committee session was a little rough.  The rules are quite a bit different from what our delegates are used to and the staff seemed to feel the need to exert a lot of authority early on.  Our delegates took it in stride and remained patient and attentive to the simulation.  The Pakistani delegates were very assertive and loud in their formal speechmaking and reminded my students of some other delegates they had met at the St. Louis conference.  I created a faux pas by passing a note to one of my students to meet the group for dinner.  One of the staff pounced on the note and seized it, then called me out of order and told me not to do that ever again.  I faced him down and he delivered it himself after reading it.  Apparently faculty are strictly observers at the conference and not allowed to interact with their students all.  Since the note was not substantive I guess Mr Rules decided it was ok, but I didn't try to pass any more notes and made myself scarce during committee session after that. 

It rained pretty steadily all afternoon and throughout the night.  Most of our group walked out to the beachfront after the evening committee session to watch the lightening storm over the ocean.  It was pretty spectacular and the surf was really pounding.  We strolled past the pools which were beautifully lit, but were NOT heated.  Any swimming that we do will be indoors (if there are indoor pools, we haven't found them yet).  The weather forcast calls for rain all week.  If it stays like this, I"m going to be very cooped up and bored.

Our hotel

Lounge

Lobby

Roman baths

Our Room

Outside pools

Flight to Antalya

We had to get up early to catch our flight to Antalya this morning.  We left early enough to avoid most of the heavy traffic, but when we reached the airport it was pretty congested.  There was not much effort to yield to other vehicles or take turns merging, simply survival of the fittest.  The student who's luggage was lost recovered it and we were able to get checked in.  Fortunately they did not hassle us about being overweight for a domestic flight since we were making an int'l connection.  Our bags gained several pounds after shopping yesterday.

I had a good view of the city coming in to land.  The most remarkable thing were miles and miles of buildings that looked like warehouses at first glance, but were actually greenhouses upon closer viewing.  (This must be where they grow the pounds and pounds of tomatoes and cucumbers they serve with every meal!)

The airport in Antalya looked brand new.  Large, shiny, modern, with the fastest luggage delivery system ever.  We had to wait about 45 mins for the shuttle bus to arrive to take us to the conference site.  While waiting we met students from Pakistan, Lebanon, and the Indonesian School in Moscow (children of diplomats stationed there).  We found out that the Pakistani school(s) always win the awards at the conference (and after the first session it was obvious why).  All of those I visited with were pleasant and friendly.

The drive to Goynuk and the conference hotel was about 45 mins and it was overcast and rainy.  We drove along the coast and had a good view of the sea.  The mountains were shrouded in cloud, but we caught glimpses of them.

An orange tree growing along the median of the main road from the airport.  

View from the bus of the main road we took.  Palm trees...nice.

Typical apartment complex with solar hot water heaters on the roof.

I found this so interesting...just like some pedestrian crossings have countdown timers so pedestrians know how fast to cross, the red (and green) traffic lights also have countdowns so you know when to step on it (or not). I found it funny that the bus driver actually counted it down and then went immediately upon the green.  Better not run lights here!

We are staying at the Mirada del Mar.  We got checked in without a problem.  The rooms are quite nice and the resort is very attractive (more pictures to follow).  The conference staff recognized me immediately (from our Facebook messaging prior to the conference).  They were quite polite and perhaps went out of their way to make sure our checkin went well.  This reflects well on them since I was so pushy with them before the conference in trying to get the information we needed to prepare for the conference.  I'm just going to try to keep a low profile I think.

The Spice Bazaar

Our last visit today was to the Spice Bazaar (the Grand Bazaar was closed on Sunday).  It is a long building with shops packed in tightly ( you can see down the vaulted hallway).  Every kind of delicious food was available along with a few other goods such as tea and coffee cups, some clothes and misc other items.  It was packed with people and merchants were not shy to call out to you in a variety of languages seeking a response.  One of our guys speaks Arabic and some of the Syrian refugees approached him and got a response, he had a hard time shaking them after that.  I found gifts for several family members, but have more shopping to do.  Our group made good use of their 1 1/2 hrs at the market and our suitcases will be heavier for our next flight!

Dried fruit

Spices

Cavier from Iran and Russia

Mounds of Turkish Delight (with lots of free samples being offered)

Fruits and nuts

Chilis 

Every kind of olive you can imagine

Fish from the Black Sea

Sunset over the market square

Bascilica Cistern

I got to enjoy one new site today:  a HUGE underground cistern that the city used in Roman times to withstand year long sieges.  The cistern was built in just five years.  One of the reasons it could be built quickly was because they reused cut pillars from other locations. Each one has a different capital design at the top of it.  This cistern was one of 50 throughout city in Roman times, fed by springs and aquaducts bringing water into the city for storage in case of a siege.  This is the largest one right near Topkapi Palace.  It holds 100,000 tons of water, enough to last for a year long siege (along with the other reservoirs).  It is nearly empty now and walkways have been built around it for visitors.  When it was in use the water reached the top of the pillars (20+ ft deep) up to the arched vaults.

This is the few from the entrance, just a few steps down from street level.  You can see the bricked vaulted arched ceilings and long rows of pillars.

The water is only about 2-3 feet deep now, but it once reached the top of the pillars.  You can see waterlines on the pillars where it was once midway up.  They had to dredge tons of sediment out of the cistern when they opened it to the public in 1989.  The floor is stone, but centuries of dirt had settled on top of it.

The head  of Medusa were placed at the bottom instead of the top of the pillar and oriented sideways to show disrespect for the paegan as the city converted to Christianity.

Quite a few people died in the construction of the cistern and they are commemorated by the swirls on this column.