So i'm planning next month's Mediterranean/Baltic travel escapade and hoped to spend a couple days in the Turkish border city of Edirne, one of those ancient places known by a multitude of names depending on the historical period (i've always known it as Adrianople, which completely skipped over the Greeks - oops!). Since i don't have a Rough Guide or other reference book, have been using online resources to check out places to stay and for the days i'm entering the whole town appears to be booked. At one point, there was a flash of some travel magazine with a picture of what looked like two sumo-sized mud wrestlers and i caught "Festival" in the fleeting headline. Hmmm, should that make me more or less determined to keep this in my itinerary? It probably won't come as a surprise to anyone who reads this blog that i'm not a big wrestling fan.
However, i am a Leo, a brazenly curious cat. Turns out that Edirne has been the site of not mud, but oil wrestling for a long, long time at a site named Kirkpinar. Dates back to the Achaemenids (ancient Persians), who preceded the Greeks in Thrace - we're talking 6th century BCE. Found a great article about the subject here, and a site dedicated to the sport here (intriguing photos) which succeeded in getting me all excited about seeing something so culturally obscure. Unfortunately, the tournament is held at the end of June, so i will miss it and quite possibly the city as well. On the flip side, a few more days combing Greek beaches on a sparse diet of olives, feta and occasional glass of ouzo seems a more than acceptable consolation.
