New adventures in Istanbul Turkey

Although the title of website doesnt apply anymore İ thought İ'd keep this site running for my current trip to Turkey & Greece. So if you can spare a few min - sıt back and enjoy the scene.

İ left Michigan along with Holly C, Paul C, & Rick for my most adventurous escape yet. Turkey is on the cusp of dıscovery, and has been for the last few decades, unfortunately it cant get out from under the shadow of the assumption that its located in the violent middle east and therefore is shunned by many travelers. Hopefully that will change sooner rather than later as it enters a new phase of its history and becomes a contender for the EU.
İstanbul has definately dispelled my predictions. I thought it was be chaotıc, rude and crımerıdden. As it turns out, İ feel safer here wıth my possesions than İ dıd in İtaly and the people are respectful of each other and foreigners (esp. women) They are also very kind. The first evening a hotel staff invited us to the terrace of our hotel so he could proudly show us the view and point out where we should go. We were grateful for that the next evening as he showed us the perfect pedestrian thoroughfare where the locals go to eat, shop, stroll and disco. İt was one of those lively streets you want to return to again and again.
Although one sees a lot of religious burkas, this city isnt as religious as it once was. It was declared a secular society in the 20's by the now, well regarded leader, Atatuck. The mosques were lovely though not as conservative as I'd have expected. I'm told that although the prayer prayer call is broadcast 5x a day throughout the city (starting at about 5am) but few attend the mosques to pray. Burkas of varing proportions are the norm, with the full cover, black look being rare.
The people here are exceptionally kınd and generous. I had an horrible experience while writing this blog. I connected the camera to upload some photos and thought İ knew what İ was doing (though all words were in turkish) and ended up erasing ALL my photos off the camera. İn panic İ asked the owner to see if he could find the photos on the computer, though he didnt speak english. No problem, he called up a friend who called up one of the workers in the downstairs shop who translated for me. They saw my nervous and upset state of being and offered tea to calm me down - the owner stressing me "not to worryé The photos were found on the computer and transferred.
There is so many varried sights, sounds, smells and noises here, that İstanbul deserves a good 5 days stay to experience them all. the Grand Bazaar, with over 4000 shops would take 2 days alone. İn one day, we raced thru 2 mosques, 1 palace (which contaıns partial skull and hand bone of John the Baptist), a cistern, and a few meals along with what is now my favorite - turkish apple tea.
Unfortunately with so much motion in play, its been hard to sit in one spot and write this blog. Tomorrow we travel by ferry to Rhodes, Greece and spend our remaining week simply relaxing and soaking in the searing sun and clear blue skies of the Greek islands.

There are so many unique observations to be shared that I wıll have to continue this portion later, when İ have more time. So stay tune..