Fresh fruit and vegetables everywhere! There is incredible variety; the juiciest watermelon, rich apricots, ripe mouthwatering peaches, black cherries, grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce (no yucky iceberg in site), very mild onions. There were food stands all along the road on the way here.

Even some of the highway rest areas have good food. This one had barrels of dried fruits, and also nuts, spices, local honey, passion fruit molasses, chocolate bars with pistachios, … There was just a small section for junk food. Americans could learn from this!

We are in the sour milk zone! Who knew! The milk has just a little sour flavor. One of my colleagues informed me that there are three milk zones. America is in the sweet milk zone along with Europe; Asia is a sour milk zone; East Asia, no milk zone.

Alexander slept here. It seems Turkey has a small obsession with Alexander the Great. One of their most popular dishes is named after him, Iskender Kabab. We had it for lunch and it was very good. It is lamb marinated in yogurt, then cooked in a tomato sauce and served over a thick piece of pita bread, with yogurt on the side.

Tonight’s dinner was eaten at a restaurant with a large terrace overlooking the city. They were set up for an engagement party and couples started coming in to join the party. Because it is Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkey) they couldn’t eat or drink anything until sundown. I felt very guilty as they sat there patiently waiting to eat while we gorged ourselves. Then a cannon went off and they were able to drink some water. The prayer call sounded, and afterwards they started to eat. Imagine making this kind of a sacrifice during the longest days of the year.

Yesterday we visited the city of Nicaea/Iznik, famous for its tiles which are awesome! We visited a place where they still make them by hand. The workshop was interesting. There were women dressed very traditional with ear buds listening to music and then there were some dressed very hip. It ran the gamut which is pretty much the way it is everywhere, traditional vs. modern. We also visited a very old church, now a mosque where they think the Council of Nicaea was held in 325 A.D., The Nicene Creed came out of this. The old walls were really old, think Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, today!

Then on to Bursa, a big city, which rises up from a plain to mountains. The town started on the mountainside and was the early capital of the Ottoman Empire. Now urban sprawl has taken over and it is spreading out to the plains, up the mountains, and pretty much all over. It is famous for its sulphur springs, great for bathing, and there is a ski mountain nearby. From the plain we could see a mountain with snow left on the ski runs. Bursa is also famous for its silk and we spent some time in the silk market, next to the mosque.

We have been touring in a huge Mercedes bus. The bus driver is very talented and able to maneuver steep hillsides (very scary for me), hair turns on crowded streets, and narrow cobbled roads with mere inches to spare on each side. I confess there are many times when I just can’t look and decide to “rest” my eyes for awhile. In Bursa, some of the stop light poles light up green for green lights, yellow, red, very cool. There are also lush parks and awesome views.

Today we visited a couple of Mosques. Before entering, shoes must be taken off and heads covered. If we were Muslims we would also be required to wash our hands, ears, and feet, three times at the fountain. The tiles and ornamentation was amazing. Mosques were built by Sultans as representations of their power. They were also like a community center and contained hospitals, soup kitchens, bathes, and markets within the same complex. The Iznik tiles and other decorations in these mosques is amazing!

Puppet shows are a favorite form of entertainment during Ramadan and we visited the puppet museum and saw a performance.

The final pictures are of the tomb of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman I.

July 12

Today we went to the Hamam, Turkish baths. It was an interesting experience. There are both a men’s and a women’s section and it is a good thing! Apparently the Turks realized the benefits of bathing long before the stinky Europeans. The bath we went to was almost 500 years old. It was all built out of marble with clay tiles on the top. First you go in, are assigned to a wood lined changing room to strip down and then wrap yourself in a linen towel. You move to the steamy bathing room and immediately question the wisdom of doing this on a day when you are already hot. It is steamy! You then sit on the marble bench that runs around the perimeter and park yourself next to a marble basin filled with hot water. You are given a bowl and motioned to dip and pour the water over your body. As you sit, you converse and socialize. There were about a dozen of us so you can imagine the noise level echoing off those marble walls. Then the muscular attendant motions you over to the heated marble slab in the middle of the room. I was the first to go and let me tell you, it was very uncomfortable when she took my towel off, leaving me naked as the day I was born! Shit, this isn’t quite what I expected! I then lay down on the towel and got the scrubbing of my life and then a soapy massage. Then they throw a bucket of water on you to rinse off and lead you back to the bench where you can continue to rinse off. Eventually they get around to tossing the towel back to you and you can sit around as long as you want and relax. My skin really was…. soft as a babies behind! Throughout history, this has been a place for women to socialize, look for possible daughter-in-laws, share recipes, relax, get clean, AND escape their husband and dreary household duties! Often they were attached to a mosque and were one of the first buildings to be erected when the Ottomans took over an area. Good idea!

Before this we had visited a little town that is soon to be a UNESCO World Heritage site, Yoruk Koyu (the last seven slides). It was very interesting and people still live there. The houses are quite large because the clan that settled there were excellent bakers and would live in Istanbul part of the year, ply their trade, and make money to take back home. While we were there this woman was driving her cows down the road from the pasture. We visited the old laundry building, also a social hub for the village woman. It too contained a 12 sided marble slab in the middle and wasn’t too different than the Hamam except the clothes were beaten with sticks and thankfully, I wasn’t!

We also had a chance to wander the streets of Safranbolu (the first fourteen slides), which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is so cute and reminds me of towns in the Swiss Alps. We ate at a Caravansary (pictures 11-13) in a restaurant on the first floor where the camels used to be housed. I’m glad that information was imparted after I ate dinner. As you would expect though, it was very clean and with its thick brick and plaster walls, was nice and cool on a hot day. Later, we had Turkish coffee in a cute little cafe with a grape arbor shading us. It was loaded with grapes but unfortunately they weren’t ripe yet. As we sat in the shade, one of our directors read the coffee grounds left in the cup. It was quite entertaining!

I also walked around, ate some great local candy, flavored with saffron, and yes, bought some saffron to take home.

It was another very full day!

They are playing dueling prayer calls right now from the mosques. The callers in Istanbul were much better. The county-side on the way here was beautiful. We are currently nestled in the mountains in a new town, Safranbolu, famous for growing Saffron. Guess what I am going to try and buy tomorrow? It should be much cheaper than at home. We drove past another town famous for its ski resort. Along the road there were beautiful flowers planted in several places. At one point we drove past an old Roman aqueduct.

This morning we drove to a new, private university, Koc, to hear a lecture on Ottoman poetry. It was a lovely school and everything is in English. They had a building named after Henry Ford, interesting! The school was located up in the hills north of Istanbul and had a view of the Black Sea to the north. It was very modern, had a great cafeteria, be envious Katie, and they even recycled.

Stopping at the rest areas, on the way here, was interesting. They looked very modern but the toilets were a hole in the floor! You stood with your feet on each side and squatted. You still had to flush. My roommate says it is that way in many countries she has visited and it isn’t so different from peeing outdoors. I guess she is right when you think about it. This is very different from the bathroom in the restaurant we ate at last night where everything was high tech. It even had an electronic toilet seat cover that spun on a new plastic seat with each use. Now, that is luxury!

This is the panoramic view from the top of our motel. IT IS SPECTACULAR! We must have the best view in the city. It is also very windy and you may have noticed that I didn’t get very close to the edge, scary! The first view looks across the Golden Horn to the northern, more recent city. The next picture is the Hagia Sophia, then the Blue Mosque which was built to be more impressive than the Byzantine, Hagia Sophia. After all, it has six minarets! The minarets were added to the Christian Hagia Sophia church when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. As you look at the mosques, you are also looking at the Bosporus strait, then as you look to the right you would see the Sea of Marmara. With the pictures, top to bottom is left to right.

Here is a quick run through of the day in pictures. We started out in the classroom with a great presentation on the rise and decline of the Ottoman Empire. Then we heard a talk on why the Ottoman Empire has been so victimized by the western world. Both were fascinating.

Time to travel! We headed north and across the Golden Horn to the “newer” part of Istanbul. As our bus traveled, we passed three large universities and a wall across from one of the old palaces now used by Prime Minister Erdogan for State visitors and such. Just to upset him, people had posted various pictures on the walls of Ataturk, the man that made Turkey a secular country. Next we visited a museum with antiquities from every period of Turkish history. Fun fact – Someone said there are more Greek ruins in Turkey than there are Greece! Next up, boat ride down the Bosporus strait. The palaces and villas were spectacular on both sides, Europe and Asia. Then it was time to eat yet again. I am going to get tooooo fat here! My only saving grace is the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables and the walking. As I sat eating dinner, I had a view of the New Mosque that is 400 years old. Not so new after all! As I waddled out of the restaurant, we decided to walk to the Blue mosque for a view of the welcome sign. When we drove past it on the way back, families were waiting for the sun to go down so they could break their fast and have their picnic dinners on the park lawn. Next stop, the craft market next door where artists were demonstrating and selling their art. Finally, a picture of the Obelisk of Theodosius, which was, in the tradition of Napoleon, stolen from Egypt by a Byzantine emperor to post at the Hippodrome.

And so ends my very busy day!

As you can see from the pictures, it is a shoppers paradise. This place is so old and so interesting, especially if you like to dicker down a price. There were blue evil eyes everywhere. They are used to ward off evil spirits, not put a hex on someone. I bought a small bracelet and I’m not saying it worked but my luggage did finally show up today! Yeah!

During the first night we walked to an interesting restaurant where we had the option of sitting on cushions and eating at a low table just like they used to do, and for all I know, some may still eat this way. It was fun and the walls were hung with interesting fabrics. We ordered a bread they called a pancake and it came with different fillings and could be dipped into sauces. It was quite good and I posted a picture of a lady out front making them.

After a filling dinner we walked around the Old City. Vendors were hawking their wares and even though it was around 10:00 at night, families were out strolling around. The Hagia Sophia, first pictures, and the Blue mosque were both lit up and very beautiful. The last picture is a view from our hotel. It has great views!

The faithful were called to prayer at 10:30 and I was called to bed. The seagulls like to argue through the night and the muezzins woke me at 4:30 a.m. with the morning call to worship. I must say, it is a beautiful chant but It was a sleepless night and a two cups of coffee day!

I have arrived! I had a nice smooth flight but my luggage didn’t. 😦 It has decided to stay an extra day in Zurich. The people at the airport were very kind and helpful. I was met at the airport by a representative from the tour group. The poor man had to wait an extra hour for me . Besides the luggage problem, everything has gone well. Istanbul is a huge, modern city, and the traffic is crazy. The expressway looks just like home, and the speed and traffic, are very New York City!

As the plane prepared to land I could look down on some very intensive farming. Many of the fields ran right to the coastline of the Sea of Marmara. The view of the city from the airplane is awesome. There is the water, the Golden Horn, Bosporus Strait, and Sea of Marmara, all converging. The huge mosques are all visible from the air and there are so many of them. Walking around today we also discovered there are a lot of little neighborhood mosques.

We took the expressway into the city and as you come down a hill, you look across the city, and see the old Roman walls and entry to the Old City of Constantinople. This city is over 8000 years old!

Our motel is in the Old City where the street are very narrow, cobbled and brick. Most of the stores were closed on Sunday. I’m really hoping I don’t have to go shopping for clothes.

I can hear sea gulls as I sit here and write. We are very close to the water. There must not be a bug problem because the windows are wide open and there aren’t any screens.

My hotel is extremely modern. To get in the room you put the room card up to what must be a scanner on the door. When the door is opened, the entry lights come on automatically. If you want more light you set you card in a holder on the wall and the other lights come on. There is a control pad for room service, do not disturb, and something else I’m not sure of. It all looks very clean and new. There is also a great breeze blowing off the water so we have doors and windows open and haven’t had to use the air conditioning.

The pictures below are the view from the airplane, the old city walls and a fountain in the park with the walls behind.