WEBVTT - Thou Shalt Embrace The Stillness 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:07.159 Hi, I'm Daniel Schaeffler. This is everywhere today's travel commandment, 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:16.360 thou shalt embrace the stillness. There are very few instances 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:21.599 during travels where I am fully immersed in silence, where 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:25.800 the stillness is louder than the noise. One of these 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.840 times is when I stupidly decided I was ready for 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:34.760 helly snowboarding in Canada, right up in more northern part 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:39.440 of Alberta, close to Revelstoke in Banff. After some very 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:44.920 serious safety training which included a bubble boy demonstration, I 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.800 was getting onto a helicopter taking off for the highest peaks. 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.159 This is the moment that my fellow snowboarders revealed that 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:58.800 they had competed in the Winter Olympics. Excuse me, your 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:04.000 professional snowboarders. The woman next to me then decided that 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.880 this was also the perfect time to tell me that 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:11.360 she's been training for this specific excursion for I don't 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:17.440 know three years. So I had to at this point say, well, 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.039 I snowboard once or twice a year. I also have 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:25.880 a broken knee. And then there was silence, a deep 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.880 silence where only the blades of the helicopter distracted us 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:35.320 from the upcoming feet. We touched down on this glacier 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.320 and we huddled together as a group and what seemed 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:43.040 to me the only way to get down. The helicopter 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:48.920 then left and boom, a group took off, everyone into 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:54.600 the zone, into their single minded focus. Okay, so picture this. 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:59.800 Now I'm standing with my snowboard thousands of feet up 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:04.160 on a mountain's edge, and my entire group has headed 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:10.320 down this insane hill. Silence, the loudest silence of my 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.720 entire life. I could only hear my own breathing, which 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.760 at this point had become a little louder as you 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:22.320 can imagine. Well, how was I supposed to do this? While? 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.960 I decided that I was going to try and remember 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:30.480 every childhood ski lesson, combine it with my sincere love 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:37.160 for snowboarding, and an absolute meditative concentration, and that's how 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.800 it's going to get back down to earth. Luckily, I 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.040 noticed that our trainer guide person was waiting just a 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.840 little way ahead of me. He seemed to trust that 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.600 I knew what I was doing more than me, And 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:55.320 trust me, if you've been in Canadian snow, it's mostly powder. 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.680 Once you're moving, you have to stay in motion. Or 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.800 the object in motion will sink into a tree well 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:09.320 or worse. So yes, it was me and the silence, 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.600 and I think a little bit of luck that brought 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:18.520 me down to the launch. Of course, there also times 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.359 where you can actively choose the silence, like the ten 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.600 days Silent retreat in the winelands of South Africa I 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:30.720 studiously attended. I drove a few hours from Cape Town 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:34.320 and pulled up at this farm with merely a few 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:39.320 structures assumed one I'd be sleeping in. They had massive 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.440 gardens where vegetables and herbs were being grown, and a 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:46.720 whole section of farm animals. I checked in and handed 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:51.240 over my phone and my kindle and an emergency contact 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:56.119 and every other piece of memorabilia from my life. They 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:01.119 suggest that you don't bring any distractions, no books, games, 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.760 not even a photo from home. Well I was all 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:09.520 in actually, Day one, like most new adventures, feels fresh 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:13.320 and exciting. Anyway, Oh, before I forget to tell you this, 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.160 As you check in, you also take a small vow 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:21.560 of absolute silence. For the next ten days, you will 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:26.880 not speak one word to anyone. Day one was aunt. 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.520 I smiled when someone handed me a plate of food. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.440 I smiled when I watched everyone sit down for a 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:39.200 four hour meditation. I smiled when I watched everyone take 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.520 towels and go shower. I mean I was even smiling 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.680 when someone showed me a tiny single bed with a 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.520 small pillow where I was meant to sleep. When I 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.320 realized that there was only one meal a day, plus 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.080 a silly tea break, and the rest was for I 0:04:56.120 --> 0:05:02.080 don't know, fourteen hours of meditation, I stopped smiling. But 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:07.159 onwards I marched they two. I was starving. Since you 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.520 don't dish your own food, I couldn't dish extra food 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.880 for myself or go back for my usual plate of seconds. 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.560 Lucky me, water was free and I could have as 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:23.920 much as I wanted. A kind act of benevolence suddenly 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:29.080 won't became my elexir. By day five, I was ready 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:30.880 to leave. And a lot of people give in at 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.960 this point. So you'd think it's the silence that disturbs 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.920 you and sends you off the edge, But no, After 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.039 a few days, you kind of forget to speak and 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:47.520 the silence becomes this beautiful, soothing bomb. By day six 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.200 and seven, my mind was playing tricks on me. Was 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.440 I in the matrix. Was I captured and voodoo mine 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:59.040 trick to be here? Have I joined a cult? Then 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:04.240 you get to the amazing thing. On day eight, full zen, 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:11.159 the silence becomes you. Sleep was never the steep food, 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:16.160 even one meal, never tasted this good. Even that water 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.479 started to taste like the finest first quench of my 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:24.320 whole life. Meditating for four hours straight no problem. My 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.320 knees and back were fully on board with my new 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.839 life and not giving me any pain. And I was 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:37.039 no longer fighting this silence. I was the silence. Of course, 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:39.719 I stupidly decided to have lunch with my parents on 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.240 the last day as I left the retreat, and after 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:48.919 ten days of silence, the world seemed so silly, so petty. 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.640 My parents were not amused and thought that I was 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.880 being far too banastic for their liking. And then there 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:04.560 are times where the silence just chooses you. Namibia with 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:09.840 its forever and ever silent dunes, and that's the exact appeal. 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:15.920 It's that extraordinary, ordinary thing. There's something primal and truly 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.360 unearthed about Namibia. Away from a usual glut of tourism, 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:24.600 the country holds the steep connection to the beginning of time. 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.120 Although now only a small percentage of the local tribes 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.280 still exists, Namibia is home to some of the original 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:38.559 hunter gather people. My and your first ancestors think about 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:43.560 that their presence and their untouched virtue somewhere propagate the 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:47.960 remote parts of the land right here. Even their fertile 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:53.480 lessons and simple life philosophy opposed to a constant drone 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:58.680 of bigger, better more, are kind of written in the 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:03.520 sand before you arrive of one of the many African tribes. 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.440 The sand had inhabited Southern Africa for at least thirty 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.280 thousand years and are one of the fourteen known surviving 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:17.920 ancestral population clusters from which modern humans descend. My knowledge 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:22.200 of these sand people and their unique click sound vernacular 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.480 actually comes from seeing this old BBC production from the 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:29.200 nineteen fifties by a South African author, Lawrence ban de Post, 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:37.280 who called these people the lost soul of all mankind. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.600 To ponder what that looks like, it helps with some perspective. 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.240 So I hopped onto this tiny bush plane with a 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.199 female pilot and ticked off into the big African skies 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.720 with the wind creeping around us, looking down at a 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:02.839 wad of nothingness framed by cyan and dust. The understanding 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:08.600 of real luxury whispered to me space and time and freedom. 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:12.280 It's here in this pristine wilderness and eternal views and 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:18.160 the desert's magical cape enveloped me. The city dweller heading 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:22.560 out to northern territories of Namibia, where all you get 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:28.880 is just endless space. Tomorrowland, which is the inland area 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:33.200 close to the famed Skeleton Coast, romances with these early 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:38.040 morning mists coming off the numbing cold Atlantic Ocean and 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.160 then a hot desert air kisses all the way from 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:47.120 the canyons, creating this almost Mars like place. The area 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.960 is where I find my next moment of meditative calm. 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.480 The isolation in the world I know is at Bay. 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.640 Although not thick with wildlife, this tract is a perfect 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.720 example of how na each is laws of sustenance, ordained 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:08.120 tracks for the animals and humans are just visiting. Days 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.679 here feel like weeks, and you spend them tracking this 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:17.520 shy desert adapted elephant, or a magnificent aurex, or this 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:22.640 pointy lipped black rhino. Fast paced life is something I 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.520 now can look at from the outside inn the window 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.520 of its slightly smudged, and the jerk of quiet desert 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:36.200 life prevails. Even my attire changes t shirts become more slumped, 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:41.440 and the need for shoes simply dismantles. My longing for 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:45.960 anything digital is replaced by simple moments of observing an 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:56.760 ant or stretching out at a sunset. As you move 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.800 by a charter to the Hoa Nib Skeleton Coast Camp, 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.160 the privilege of access to the wilderness becomes so apparent. 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:07.720 It's located in this private concession between the Palm March 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:12.280 Area and the Skeleton National Park. This areas as remote 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:16.600 as you can possibly find. You fly over shipwrecks and 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.960 these stark coasts, and you think about the ancient navigators 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.400 and conquerors that wanted to grasp their sort of idea 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:29.880 of Africa, and that soulfulness is likened to my own. 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.880 How can this continent, with all its toils, hold such 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.040 a grasp and such a love on me and so 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.800 many of its swains? The great beauty and then this 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:47.680 great silence. The coastal camp is accessible only by our 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.480 light aircraft and located in this wide basin at the 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:56.440 confluence of two tributaries with hills smiling from east to west. 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:02.360 The lunar like landscape is what over as the gravel 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:06.679 plains are covered with some low lying plants, rock formations, 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:12.040 flood plains and dry river beds, and that quiets any 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:18.319 monkey mind and brings this retreat state to Namibia. Nights 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.480 are long in the desert and they allow for proper 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.520 rest away from modern day side tracks and those bright lights. 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:30.280 Here it's just stars rocking me to sleep, and the 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:36.440 silence is what wakes you. The next stop on my 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:40.320 journey was on Gava, just a small flutter inland where 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:46.200 Namibia meets Angola. The famed Eatasha National Park encloses a 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:51.000 giant pan with silvery mirages toying with the savannah, grassland 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:56.040 and thorny shrubbery. The park, proclaimed game reserve in seven, 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.480 is known for its abundance of game, and it's even 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:04.640 visible from space. In the rainy season. Flamingos congregate in 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.240 the salt pan, and the park proudly counts three hundred 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:12.599 and forty bird species. I hang up the binoculars to 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:17.240 rather picnic on the grass to contemplate wildlife, sanctuaries and 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.280 the need for conservation in the world. Of course, This 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:23.160 is where my feet sink deep into the sand and 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:28.319 a scorpion decides to bite me. The strangest thing happens 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:33.240 in these life or death situations. The whole world goes silent, 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:39.400 time stands still. My whole body gave into this crazy, 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:43.880 excruciating pain. A local tribal guide came to speak to me, 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.280 as he probably saw me jumping up and down like 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.880 a full yelping in agony. He looked at my leg, 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.480 and he looked at me and he said, we have 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:59.120 about twenty minutes. Oh, twenty minutes before the pain stops. Right, No, No, 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:04.120 twenty minute before the poison kills you. Unfortunately, airlifting to 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:08.040 a hospital will take thirty minutes. I was trying to 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:14.199 just understanders to embrace the stillness, but it was becoming harder. 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.520 This man took my leg, sucked on it, plucked on it, 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:22.360 and did some kind of magic and somehow managed to 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:27.200 get the poison out. The pain not so much. He 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.280 had saved my life now that I didn't die from 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.760 a scorpion bite, which sounds rather bad. As I took 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:40.600 deeper breaths and went into a more contemplative headspace, I 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.520 think that's what happens when you are near death. Life 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.480 goes on as it always has, but Namibia's fingerprints are 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:54.080 all over me, reminding me of this existence. Of course, 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:57.400 there are also times where silence is so deafening and 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:02.360 so undeniable that it's some play consumes you, like the 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.880 Bolivian salt flats, where you can actually see that the 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:11.760 Earth is round. It is so flat the horizon actually curves. 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.120 I have this idea that we should suggest that the 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:19.120 Flat Earth Society hold their next conference there. I know 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.800 this year they are on a cruise ship of the Irony, 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.320 and then they're hot air balloons with their moments to 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.760 go into silence. I've been on a few of those, 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.920 but Kappadocia in the center of Turkey and the Serengetti 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.440 in Tanzania stand out. Hot air balloon ing f y 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.840 I is an early morning activity if the wind isn't 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.520 right or you're staying on land. In Cappadocia, wake up 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:50.320 time is four am. As you approach the field where 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:54.000 you'll be taking off, from your eyes seem to deceive you. 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.560 Hundreds of colorful balloons all waiting on the ground with 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:03.400 their little baskets filling up with people, and as the 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.640 sun comes up, the fire in the balloon gets all 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.800 jazzed up just enough that it gaintly lifts the basket 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:16.440 up into the sky. For the next two hours, the 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.160 only sound is the sound of the occasional fire spurting 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.360 upwards into the balloon to keep it in the air. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.760 And you have this burn's eye view of cone shaped 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:31.880 rock foundations. You can also see Bronze Age homes carved 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:37.040 into valleys by cave dwellers, just a little dip into 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:43.320 the past. It's all kinds of magical peacefulness. Nobody speaks 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.960 because the silence feels so valuable you don't want to 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.240 waste it. In the Serengetti, you have this burn's eye 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.880 view of the animals, herds and herds of every animal 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.520 you can possibly imagine. What's so different about Safari in 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.000 the Serengetti versus Safari in the Kruger in South Africa 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.960 is that here you have these giant open spaces, planes 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:11.320 that are endless, so you can see animals in mass quantity. 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.520 You see them as they move from one area to 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.200 another to feast or to find water, whereas in South 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.440 Africa it's all bush and shrubbery, so you can get 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.760 much closer to them from a game vehicle, but you 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.840 never see them in quantity, or from the balloon a 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.160 few hundred feet up in the sky. You quietly watch 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.480 as these herds go about their business, young elephants playing, 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.399 the elder giraffes eating baby giraffes how to lean down 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:44.840 to drink water. Zembra is floating with each other. This 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.160 is one of my favorite silent moments of my life, 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:54.359 animals in perfect nature harmony. The other was in Cambodia, 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:58.159 close to sim Reap, where there's this huge lake and 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:01.080 on the water are p people who actually live on 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:04.000 little boats, in fact, people who have never been on 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.800 land before. They're borne on the water and they die 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.720 on the water. So this is where I spent an afternoon, 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:16.480 just floating on this Buddhist prayer boat. I sat cross 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.640 legged on this floating temple and meditated as the sun 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.919 came down, with incense burning and flowers being offered up 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.840 to a statue of Buddha, surrounded by hundreds of little boats, 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:34.199 all floating happily along, and the silence gave me this 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.600 brief moment, this tiny opening in my life to think 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:43.880 about how fortunate I am. Is this luck I don't 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:49.159 think so. Is it fate? Probably not. It just is 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:52.520 what it is. And what a perfect reminder that the 0:18:52.600 --> 0:19:09.960 silence gave me. Let's take a breather and we'll be 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:17.040 right back with Everywhere afterward. From our sponsors trade tables up. 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:26.480 You're returning to Everywhere Land, Welcome back today. I'm with 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:31.399 my friend and tour guide, Unca Bentley, an Istanbul native. 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:37.119 I've never met anyone who knows more about all things Turkey. 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.760 Hello Anca, Hello Daniel. How are you fine? How are you? 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.560 I'm very good. I you know how much I travel. 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:50.280 And one of the best experiences of my entire life 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.639 is spending a day with you walking the streets of Istanbul. 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.120 And that experience I had with you at Haggis Sofia 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.840 is something that I think about and reference all the time. 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:06.239 It really was about thinking about embracing the stillness and 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.320 walking into the space and I want you to kind 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.760 of tell me exactly what it is and sort of 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.159 filming in on its history, but walking into that space 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:18.000 and just walking and being in the silence in this 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:22.320 beautiful place with so much history. And it's funny because 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:27.359 in that silence and just observing. I learned so much. 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:31.600 That is so beautiful. You put it so beautifully. It's 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:35.439 my favorite building. First of all, I think it's a 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.240 building with so many things combined in one. It is 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.119 actually one of the first churches, and it was built 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.480 three times on the same location with the same name. 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:50.120 And I really liked the name Sophia or Holy Wisdom 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.760 as beautiful. Sophia is the root for you know, we 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:58.000 know those words sophisticated philosophy. It's wisdom, and I really 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:02.000 do like that they appreciate that wisdom so much. It 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.600 was one of the biggest churches of its time, and 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.040 I even today, you know, you put the in the 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:11.359 same category with Saint Peter's Saint Paul Cadiral Milan. But 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:14.560 that was built in five thirty seven and five years. 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.840 Thousands of slaves have worked on it. It has a 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.760 huge dome's it's still the highest dom in Istanbul. It 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:26.800 inspired so many architects. Everybody tried to go higher than 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.120 the Dome of Haiger Sophia. I think it's so beautiful 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:33.320 with all of a different sides. So because it became 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:38.400 a Catholic church during the Latin invasion and fourteen hundreds 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:41.439 it became a Catholic church for sixty eight years and 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:45.840 then you have those crosses made in that period whole 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:48.720 different than the Greek Orthodox Church it was, and then 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:51.680 it became a mosque. In four three it was converted 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:56.360 into a mosque. And since it's a museum, but when 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:58.719 you go into that building, you you're going to witness 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:00.840 all of these different periods. So if it's time and 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.800 it's it's beautiful, it's really an incredible experience to working there. 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.600 In fact, I was yesterday there. It always makes me 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:11.159 happy getting in there. Well, the thing that stuck with 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:15.040 me so much was that everyone's been there, the idea 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:18.760 that all these religions and all these different cultures have 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:22.520 been in this one place, and that really the lesson 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:25.400 of that is that we're all the same, that there 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:30.800 is actually more similarity than difference. That is true. What 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:34.159 really is interesting about that is that it was probably 0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:37.439 built on top of a previous temple, a pagan temple, 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:41.040 and that tells a very big thing about people. You know, 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.679 they have to build their temple that they're going to 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:46.920 worship on top of a previous temple, like in many 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:50.639 other places and people like sacrid locations. And that's what 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:52.960 really strikes me the most about Hiker Sophia. Has to 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:55.479 be the same location, has to be the same building. 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:57.879 When you look about it, I think it has an energy, 0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:01.080 there's something special to it. When you walk in it, 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:04.080 it's so beautiful. You have all these different periods you 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:08.520 could witness, you know, mosaics from ninth century, ten century, 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:11.440 twelfth century. And at the same time you have big 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:15.800 calligraphies circles, the biggest caligraphic circles in the Islamic world 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:20.119 with the names of God, Mohammed and the Caliphs. On 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:22.040 the other side, you will see the mosaic of Virgin 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:25.840 Mary holding up Baby Christ Jesus and they're just next 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:27.720 to each other. And I really, I think I love 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:29.800 the combination of all of that together in a building. 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:34.240 That is the beauty. Also the decoration of the building. 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:37.560 You have all the different materials from many different sides. 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:41.480 But I really but really impresses me are those thin 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:45.359 slices on the walls, the marble slices that they put 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:48.880 together like a matchbook design. And you have devil faces 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:51.800 and you have different stories being created. You have angel 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:55.520 wings being created out of the marble veins because you 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:58.760 put them like veneering, you know, you just cut them 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:01.280 in sin slice us and put them next to each other. 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:05.080 I always like to think about the time when people 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:10.480 had no media, no TV, nothing, But then you could 0:24:10.520 --> 0:24:13.720 look at this marble slop which really looks like a 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:16.280 devil face, and the more you look at it, the 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:20.479 more scary it gets. Those images, they're so so alive 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:25.439 when you keep looking at them, right, uncle, Like, I 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:28.720 grew up in Europe, and to me, Turkey is Europe, 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:33.760 whereas Americans often see Turkey as the Middle East, this fictional. 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:36.840 Like when I was going to Turkey, remember I said 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:40.280 to you, My friend said, are you seeing any camels? Like? 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:42.160 And I was thinking, well, no, actually, like I'm at 0:24:42.359 --> 0:24:45.520 the Soho house, I don't know about the camels. But 0:24:45.640 --> 0:24:48.959 maybe talk a little bit about that misunderstanding of Turkey 0:24:49.080 --> 0:24:53.800 and how travelers if they could just come into Turkey 0:24:53.880 --> 0:25:00.200 without this preconceived notion of what it is. First of all, 0:25:00.800 --> 0:25:04.320 I would say, Turks or Turkey isn't doing a very 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:07.640 good job at promoting itself. I always told you that 0:25:07.680 --> 0:25:11.240 they're really like like today, I was at the spice 0:25:11.280 --> 0:25:14.280 market and there is this candy store and it's there 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:17.720 on the same location until seventeen seventy seven. It is 0:25:17.760 --> 0:25:22.400 actually one of the oldest candy stores and it's very modest. 0:25:22.400 --> 0:25:24.520 They never even let you know about it. There's a 0:25:24.600 --> 0:25:26.800 very tiny sign on the corner which says, you know, 0:25:26.880 --> 0:25:29.640 we are with you since five dred something years and 0:25:29.640 --> 0:25:32.480 and that would be really in a big city in Europe, 0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:35.080 it would be in the books, it will be promoted properly. 0:25:35.280 --> 0:25:39.080 Here they're really not good at explaining themselves in many ways, 0:25:39.280 --> 0:25:42.520 or maybe they don't never learned how to. But this 0:25:42.640 --> 0:25:45.359 is a crossroads of many things, like in Is tanbul 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:47.800 Is Tumbul is a city divided by the boss first 0:25:47.840 --> 0:25:51.240 and two parts Europe and Asia. And people always say 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:55.600 that east east west, but it is actually not beating 0:25:55.680 --> 0:25:58.400 south at the same time. It's it's such a crossroads. 0:25:59.119 --> 0:26:01.800 It's been always a big part of the Silk Road, 0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:05.960 of the trade routes. I always like to say Turkish Turks, 0:26:06.000 --> 0:26:09.520 like the Turks living in Turkey are the most mixed nation. 0:26:09.680 --> 0:26:13.000 We do have genes of all different kinds of nations. 0:26:13.040 --> 0:26:16.960 Because this has been always um crossroads for many nations. 0:26:17.200 --> 0:26:20.399 It's very diverse and many things, like even with the 0:26:20.400 --> 0:26:23.919 city parts, every section makes you feel like in a 0:26:23.960 --> 0:26:27.719 different city. Sometimes it's very diverse within the city. But 0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:31.160 I would say in general Turkish people are very hospitable, 0:26:31.520 --> 0:26:37.280 they're friendly and well. People have this idea of Turkey 0:26:37.359 --> 0:26:40.040 and it's it's always seems too many people who haven't 0:26:40.040 --> 0:26:43.080 been here, like a dangerous place. They have to come 0:26:43.080 --> 0:26:46.119 and see more theirselves. It's really not like it's nothing 0:26:46.160 --> 0:26:48.159 like what they imagined. This is the first thing that 0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:50.960 people tell me because they have really a notion in 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:54.320 their head and it's really only changing once they're here. 0:26:55.320 --> 0:26:58.919 So maybe it's my responsibility to to talk about it. 0:26:58.960 --> 0:27:03.000 Maybe it's my responsible ability to tell people Istanbul is 0:27:03.200 --> 0:27:07.960 part of Europe and the concept of the Middle East 0:27:08.280 --> 0:27:13.119 does not exist. It was created by military ideals of 0:27:13.160 --> 0:27:17.160 America to control an area. But there is no such 0:27:17.200 --> 0:27:20.760 thing as the Middle East. There is Europe and there's Asia, 0:27:20.960 --> 0:27:23.959 there's Asia. Turkey is Asia minor. We are not the 0:27:24.000 --> 0:27:26.679 Middle East, that is for sure. Turkey doesn't belong in 0:27:26.760 --> 0:27:30.159 the Middle East. I would say we are located on 0:27:30.240 --> 0:27:34.919 Asia minor and on Europe, very tiny, tinsy part of 0:27:34.960 --> 0:27:37.639 the country in Europe. But still though the West coast 0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:42.679 in general is very European because when we consider Greece 0:27:42.880 --> 0:27:46.640 as Europe, you could swim from many of the beaches 0:27:46.680 --> 0:27:50.480 to the Greek islands. Literally you can swim, so it's 0:27:50.560 --> 0:27:53.800 really quite west and located. It's really very difficult to 0:27:53.920 --> 0:27:58.439 just cut these lines with a knife. One of the 0:27:58.480 --> 0:28:01.720 most amazing experiences of life is hot air ba learning 0:28:01.720 --> 0:28:05.720 and Cappadocia, and I loved so much being in the 0:28:05.840 --> 0:28:11.160