Turkey - 2000

 

Last year we gave serious thought to going to Turkey for the Eclipse but things didn't work out because the group Loren and Evelyn were going with was doing much too quick a trip for our liking and we weren't motivated to do it on our own given that it was the wrong time of year to be a tourist in Turkey (August, so too many European tourists plus too hot). However, we were now motivated to go sometime having read about it and seen a couple of travel videos. As it turned out, the eclipse was accompanied by a big earthquake so it was good we hadn't been there trying to be causal tourists. The best time to go to Turkey (and lots of places) is in the spring or fall, before and after the summer vacation. It seemed a reasonable fit to go this fall and so at the sort of last minute we made some airplane reservation. I also made one set of hotel reservations at a unique sounding place in Cappadocia. Then we headed East for a stint of TRACE operations at GSFC, hosting Karolina Sylwester at our apartment in College Park, and closing down the apartment. The general Turkey plan was to fly to Ankara mainly to visit a particular museum there and to get into the middle of the country, then to do the central/Cappadocia area, then to wander down to the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, see lots of ruins and interesting cities, and eventually end up at Istanbul to see it and fly home. A few days before leaving I managed with some effort to reserve a hotel in Ankara - always liking to have a place to stay in the first city after a long flight.

Warning - this letter is much too long. You might want to just skip to the end or read it selectively ...........

Tuesday-1: Our plane was to leave San Jose at 8 AM but it left about a half hour late. The routing to Turkey wasn't optimal but was all we could get at the rather last minute given the constraints of using some frequent flyer miles (for a change). Flew to Dallas-Fort Worth and it took a long time to land due to some storms (& lots of planes) there. To catch our plane on to Miami meant really hurrying through the airport, but we did it with a few minutes to spare. Baggage-wise, I had mine with me, we had checked Dawna's, and she had two significant carry-ons with her. We wondered if the checked bag would make it there as quickly as we had but this turned out to be a non issue as we then didn't depart for another half hour. Departure was slow with all the planes lining up to get a chance to go, the storm still in the area, and typical airport stuff. By the time we got in the air we knew it was going to be tight making our connection from American Airlines to Turkish Airlines in Miami. The flight was fine, in fact neither flight was super full nor were hardly any on our entire trip. Got there a few minutes before our plane to Istanbul was to leave, raced through the airport, but failed. We had to go from the domestic to the international terminal and when we got to the security gate about 10 minutes before our plane was to leave they wouldn't let us through because they said we were too late and also should have checked in with Turkish Airlines in the lobby. Arguing failed to get them to let us through. So, we were stuck. Turkish Airline people explained the next flight was Thursday! They also said it was up to American to take care of us, and then they disappeared for the night. We next had a long/inefficient session with American and finally got booked on a flight to Turkey the next day/Wednesday which was from NYC. We also were given a chit for dinner and for the hotel that night. The hotel was to be a few miles away but we learned from another stranded passenger that we should push for the hotel at the airport and we did and got it - saves some effort/time. Then we tried to figure out where Dawna's bag was and where might end up. Didn't see it in the American baggage area and they said to talk to Turkish Airline. No one there, however. Back to American. Finally found a friendly person with a computer who convinced me it was relabeled properly to take the same new flights to Ankara as we were and was safely in the custody of Turkish Airlines somewhere. So, off to the room and dinner. Dawna was only up for soup and salad but I had my favorite for that area, Grouper (fish), and it was extremely good. A nice compensation but we sure would have preferred to have been part way across the Atlantic by then. To bed and then up early to catch our plane to NYC.

Wednesday-1: Walked from our hotel room to the gate (nicely convenient), did a bit more inquiring to gain confidence in where Dawna's bag was, and boarded the plane leaving at 7:15 AM. I should have pushed for a later departure the night before but having gotten something rather than the Thursday initial statement I eased up too much. In fact there was a minute where had I pushed really hard we might have gotten on a different airline to Amsterdam that evening and from there on to Turkey on the proper day, but that would have taken real pushing and I was a bit slow at the stick. Before getting on the plane I used the pay phone and after fumbling a little managed to actually call the hotel in Turkey and tell them we were going to be a day late. Broken English but I felt the message had gotten through. Luckily my initial plan was to begin the trip slowly by spending two nights in Ankara; so now it was down to one night and not such a relaxed trip start but things still sort of fit. In retrospect, we were leaving Miami at an absolute time earlier than we had left San Jose the day before so our first day was a net loss. Discouraging.

Plane to JFK was fine but then we had nearly the whole day to kill at the airport. Painful. Did get lots of reading (mostly the Lonely Planet Turkey Book, hereafter referred to as the Book and quotes from it given within quotation marks). Also called Sabina, who figured if we were stranded at Lagardia we could catch a bus to Columbia and have lunch together but that at JFK it just wasn't practical. Eventually plane time came, it wasn't crowded, it left basically on time, and across the ocean we went. Dawna was able to move from our two together (window+isle) seats to a middle row of four seats and stretch fully out for attempted rests.

Thursday-1: After an evening/night on the plane drinking, eating, resting, drinking, resting, etc we arrived at Istanbul basically on time. Had quite awhile to wait before our plane for Ankara. There was one earlier and I tried to get us on it but the folks said it was full and they also didn't like the idea that we'd be on that plane and our bags on the next. I questioned this latter concept given some of our past experiences but anyway we waited and took our proper flight to Ankara. At least we picked up some Turkish money/lira while waiting in Istanbul. Got to Ankara about on time and after a bit of confusion about where our long-ago shipped bag should be that had to do with domestic baggage versus international baggage; sure enough, there it was (and had been since the earlier flight from Istanbul). It was a nice feeling to have the bag. Took an airport bus into the city train station, and then a cab to our hotel. Arrived! Not a great hotel but we hadn't expected it to be. It had been the only one of a half dozen or so who responded to my faxes when I was trying to book a place and we just wanted some place adequate and located reasonably well. Cleaned up a bit, rested a tad, and then went for a walk around the very active neighborhood with many bars and cafes and people. Soon had dinner. The menu was only in Turkish and our waiter didn't know hardly any English but we obtained kabobs (lamb of course) and bread and beer so what more could one want. Oh, yes, the Turkish Towels at our non fancy hotel were great so I looked forward to that being the case everywhere (it wasn't). Slept OK with Dawna making use of earplugs and eye shades; the room being relatively noisy and not very dark since we had to leave a window open to keep it from being too hot/stuffy.

Friday-1: Breakfast comes with the room (everywhere) and is quite reasonable (bread, cheese, some meat, juice, coffee, etc). Headed off by foot towards the museum, taking in the local scene as we walked through busy areas. It was a fair ways and we got there about 5 minutes after it opened. It is the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations "housed in a restored covered market" "built in 1471" and "a must-see for anyone with an interest in Turkey's ancient past." It was wonderful. The layout goes from super old (like 5000 BC), beginning with items "from Catal Hoyuk, the earliest know human community", to old (like almost up to AD) with the items labeled in English as well as Turkish and very nicely displayed. The building itself is super as well with wonderful brickwork, ceilings, etc, etc. We were there before many others and since you flow with the exhibits we basically kept in front of others and the tour groups, which was quite nice. After you flow all around the building you then go into a central part where they have a very extensive collection of marble and limestone ‘hunks' and ‘walls' with fine carvings that have been brought here from a wide variety of sites. Reminds one of the Egyptian equivalent in the British Museum. Just amazing how fine the craftsman and artists were so may millennium ago and how well preserved so much of their work is. As you can tell, we thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this museum; so the visit to Ankara served its purpose well.

Left the museum and began walking towards "home" but by a different route. Stopped at a jewelry store with the goal of getting a new back for one of Dawna's jade earrings. While trying to sleep on the plane the earring had come off and we eventually found it on the floor but not the back. The whole experience of interacting with this local jewelry shop was enjoyable, including the tea they gave us, and eventually we even got a new back (the proprietor sent a kid out to get some possible ones and ended up drilling one open further to make it fit). This took enough time, however, that we grabbed a cab to get back to our hotel. There we got our bags and took a cab to the main bus station. Dozens of companies have booths in this huge station and we found one that was going to the town where we would be staying in Cappadocia (Urgrup). Bought a ticket for basically nothing, had a snack, and boarded the buss within 45 minutes of having arrived at the station with no prior knowledge other than that it was a large bus station and should have a reasonable number of buses to everywhere. You have a reserved seat on the bus, the bus was full, the bus was very nice; and off we went. I had my road atlas (Lonely Planet is doing some Travel Atlases now days) and thus followed along the route, we both stared out the window, and Dawna got some rest. Along the route they serve you tea and water a couple of times along with some Oriole cookies, plus it stopped once at a spot where you can go to the bathroom and buy additional food if you so choose. Pretty soft living; even a carpet on floor. It was rather slow, however; but we weren't in a hurry really. It only stopped three times before getting to our town; at the second of those stops, about 10 miles from our town, most people got off and switched to smaller buses going to various local places. We arrived at the village of Urgrup around 6 PM. Immediately lots of people wanted to help get us to our hotel (and sell us rugs) and there were also cabs, but we walked it. That turned out to have been a mistake for it was a fair distance and more importantly all up hill; but we made it.

For a minute we weren't sure if we had found our place for it was a wall with just an address on the door, but yes, it was the Esbelli Evi Pansiyon. A nice young lady welcomed us, showed us to our room where we left our bags and washed our faces, and then showed us all around the place. This was a great greeting/introduction as she would go to a room like the kitchen and explain that the refrigerator stocked with water and pop and beer was there for us to help ourselves to whenever we choose, the wine and hard liquor were in the cabinet, the stove and things were ours to use if we chose to, and on and on. Like in one room, the computer sitting there was available to use at any time someone else wasn't using it and it was connected to the internet, etc. After the warming tour, we sat out on the patio drinking first cold water and then beer and wine, looking at the great views, eating snacks they provided, and thoroughly unwinding. Clearly this was going to be a fine home for awhile. We then asked them about good dinner choices and the young lady suggested one. And, since she was heading down town now that she was off work, she gave us a ride to the restaurant. Not many folks eating, but a nice place and we got a table looking out over the street/town. Ordered the mixed grill sort of thing and the items in it ranged from good to excellent. Followed this with a nice walk through the town and up the hill (didn't seem so steep in the cooler evening and not lugging baggage), a bit more relaxing on the balcony, and then to bed. A fine night sleep in a very quiet room.

Guess this is a good place to talk a bit more about the ‘hotel'. Originally heard of it in the Book which said "Two old village houses cut into the rock have been combined and lovingly restored and now constitute one of the finest places to stay in all of Turkey" and "work of Mr Suha Ersoz for whom it is a labour of love" and things like that. Made contact/reservations via the WEB and E-mail. The place is now a bit bigger than it was, like maybe 8 rather than 4 rooms because S has added a couple more caves. It is all well done, besides the items noted already: slippers in the room, a room with lots of books many on Turkey and the area, classical or jazz music playing nearly all the time, actually two porches and breakfast on one of them daily, a couple of bikes just sitting there that we borrowed one day, and very gracious hosts - a first rate B&B is how one would classify it. The breakfast is just typical/average, however; but infinite coffee (and sunshine). Cost was $80 if using cash or $90 if using a credit card and of course we brought the cash. Oh, yes, have I forgotten to mention that the freezer had nice beer mugs in it so good cold beer in a cold mug; how can you go wrong?

Saturday-1: The must-see elements of Cappadocia could be seen in a long day running from place to place by car; but that wasn't our plan. Instead we had several days and no car. So, after a relaxing breakfast we walked a block or so and stood at a bus stop. We had mapped out a plan after talking with Suha the night before. A local bus came along and we got on; crowded and friendly. After less than 5 miles we had it stop where a lesser road intersected and got off. Walked down hill a mile or so taking in the countryside and got to the Goreme Open Air Museum. The main item here are the Christian/Catholic churches inside of caves with fine paintings on the walls. As the name implies you wander from one to the next at your own pace reading about them both in the book and via signs in English. Truly amazing. One of them had an extra large amount of refurbishment and you pay extra (as much as the initial entrance fee) to see it; which we did. In theory the money goes back into more refurbishment. We did this all at our own pace and often were in a cave/church by ourselves by waiting until a tour group left, etc. An approach that worked throughout our trip. Fine time, but rather warm/hot out. Then we walked onward from the Open Air Museum towards the village of Goreme taking two detours along the way; as suggested by Suha. First down the valley of swords and then along a trail through some fine fairy chimneys. Both were less than a mile or two in length and although it was hot the scenery and isolation were excellent; like only 3-4 other people on each of these walks. We then walked on into town (again maybe only a mile or two and down hill. Fine village in a magnificent surrounding of fairy chimneys and caves. Had a very good lunch under some shade on the porch portion of a restaurant; seems like I had a baked meat disk and Dawna had an eggplant and meat dish; plus a tall cold bottle of water followed by a beer. Fine people and scenery watching. Then walked around the town, interacted with a few people, saw a couple of sites, and spent a session talking with a rug dealer. Got rather tempted actually but (a) didn't have a means of transport for a large run and (b) hadn't done adequate research to know what we wanted or what it ought to cost. Like we were looking at things ranging from a carpet to go down our hall, to a carpet for our family room, to a carpet for Nathan. No purchase.

Grabbed a minivan, called a dolmus, which was heading to the village of Avanos; say another 5-10 miles away. The main attraction here is pottery made from the red clay of the river that runs through town. There is a neat statue in the center of town made from the clay which has scenes on all four side including "an amazingly lifelike potter at work" a "girl weaving a Turkish carpet" a "self-portrait of the monument's creator" etc. Walked the many shops and then some of the residential area. At one shop a fellow was decorating pottery by hand so we watched him and ended up buying a small vase - sorta wished we had gotten a larger one but was being conservative on how much junk we'd be transporting around. Another neat interaction in this village was stumbling onto a spot where a fellow was dying wool prior to using it in his carpet making. We stared a bit and he invited us to come in and look more closely; all natural dyes which he explained to us in a mixture of English and Turkish and German and we got some of it; like the fact that walnuts were the base for the brown dye. Before dusk we looked around for a dolmus to get us home but it didn't seem likely so we took a cab. Again 5-10 miles and not very costly. A fine outing at a great pace with lots to see and sunshine; etc. Relaxed on the patio with the usual drinks and some snacks, and didn't bother to go out for dinner.

Sunday-1: The nice young lady warned us that not so many buses and dolmus run on Sunday but we gave it a shot and it wasn't too long at our local stop before one came. Took it the 10 miles or so to Nevsehir which was the larger town where our first bus had dropped most of its passengers. The bus was crowed, people were friendly, and Dawna got into quite a discussion with a 19 year chap who would be married in a year and had a fair amount of English ability. Our goal was the underground city at Kaymalki, maybe 10-20 miles south. Got to the major bus station at N and inquired and they said a bus would go to K in an hour; but then 5 minutes later one pulled up with that name on it and we boarded and left in 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, I found an English version of the Turkish Daily Newspaper for reading while we waited (or later). Saw some different scenery and got off at Kaymalki and it was only a few blocks to the underground city. There are several of these with portions of them now open for tourists and it was pretty darn amazing. Back around 800 BC people built cities like these so they could hide from attackers. They are many stories underground (up to 8) and could house thousands of folks. You go in, we turned down a guide and were glad of it, and then follow arrows around through various floors and passages. Some are tight and Dawna's clostrophobicness got tested, but she did OK. You can wander off the signed path considerable and with our flashlight we did; plus they have pretty good lighting anywhere that is legitimate to go. Didn't have much of a feeling as to how long our walk would be and it was relatively short, so after it circled back to where it had started we elected to do it again; and did. All good fun. Maybe bought a few trinkets or at least postcards outside the entrance to the underground city where the street was lined with such stands; walked a bit of the town, caught a bus back to N, from there a bus to our town of U, and then a buss on to the village of Mustafapasa. The attraction here, besides just bumming, was that it was an old Ottoman Greek village "with lovely old stone-carved houses" and had a restaurant that was highly recommended by some folks staying at our ‘hotel' and reasonably recommended by the Book ("a wonderful old Ommoman Greek house which still bears some of the original 19th-century painting"). Went there first and had lunch. Had a short tour to begin with (nice) and then ate under grapevines in an inner court yard. The people were very friendly but the food was only OK and we had thought it would be wonderful. The eats included a cheesecake sort of thing to begin with, beans, eggplant and minced lamb, rice, desert, and salad but we weren't eating salads for health considerations. A local wine which was just OK. Walked around the village center as well as some of the residential areas. One fellow invited us into his "house" which was basically an old place that he was refurbishing with the intent of making it into a B&B in the future. Then we looked around for a likely bus to go home. No find. Decided to walk since it was only 5 km and we'd see more stuff along the way. Fine stroll and about half way there a fellow in a pickup truck stopped and offered us a ride; no English but lots of smiles. We took it to the center of town. Walked back up our hill and another night of snacks and beer combined with washing clothes (yes they have a washer there to use at will) and e-mailing - logged on easily and had fun reading messages and sending out a mini report of how things were going. Pretty darn relaxing/homey.

Monday-1: We had now seen the must-see sites leaving us this day to bum around and also get ready for the next portion of our trip. First, however, we did an after-breakfast walk up the road that we had gone on a few times by bus/dolmus to a scenic lookout. Nice view across a valley with various fairy chimneys and since there was a path down into the valley we followed it to extend our walk back ‘home' and see things closer up. Drank some water and then headed out to make preparations for the future. This included hitting the ATM machines which took quite awhile since some didn't work and some worked only on our VISA (cash advance) rather than our ATM (direct debit) card, but we ended up with a new pile of Turkish money. The next step was at a travel agent recommended by Suha primarily to rent a car but also to discuss other things. I, for example, wanted to get reservations at a hotel in Istanbul for the end of our trip rather than hit this huge city cold. Spent quite awhile with him and ended up reserving a car for the next morning - even going for AC which we were sure glad we had done later on, reserving a hotel in Istanbul for the last 4 days of the trip, and talking with him about good things to do, places to stay, etc for the next 12 days. Turned out his favorite three hotels in Istanbul for people of our leaning (read, not the Hilton but not a dump either and in the old City) were full, but we booked number-4. The Book had it as OK/good as well.

Our planning session being done we then explored more of the village/town and in the process took a different route home which we did wrong and thus ended up doing a pretty darn good hike along some paths over some hills; but we made it. Relaxed a bit from that outing and then took the mountain bikes they had and went for a couple hour adventure on them out into the back country. Our route was one suggested by the travel agent who used to lead bike trips. Fun and a bit scary since much of it was down hill on a sandy (slippery) surface. Usual clean up and rest/drink at the hotel and then walked down town to see if we could find the restaurant we had eaten at the first night and also buy some local wine. Accomplished both tasks in a peaceful manner. Since we had like the spiced lamb in a wrapper the most the first night we had extras of it this night. The wine we picked up for our travels was made in Mustafaspas by the fellow who sold it to us and besides some regular red, he even got Dawna to buy some cherry apéritif - we've not tried the latter. Nice friendly chap "of course."

Tuesday-2: Packed up, had another relaxed breakfast on ‘our' patio, said goodbyes including having our picture taken with Suha via his new digital camera so that he could e-mail it to us later on. Our car showed up and we did the paperwork for it. This included giving the chap who brought it over our drivers licenses so he could go photocopy them. Packed the car, more goodbyes, and off we went. The car by the way was an upgrade to a Mitsibushi from the Corolla - which meant it was a bit bigger, had more power, and used more gas. Wouldn't have been our choice but also not worth the effort to try and change it. Off we headed towards good old N. About 2/3rds of the way there we realized we never got back our drivers licenses! U-turn and back to town, first to the travel agent's place where we learned that the licenses were at Suha's and then to Suha's. He was very embarrassed for they had been returned to him and were in his pocket when he got so involved with the digital camera he forgot to give them to us. Oh well, glad we found out as soon as we did. Then down the road again about 1.5 hours behind schedule; not that we had a real schedule. First stop was the largest Caravanserais in Turkey, which also had been somewhat, restored recently. Caravanserais "literally means caravan palace" which "was a luxury motel on the 23th century Silk Road." We actually missed it when going through the town (Sultanhani) it was in/near but after 5 miles or so, turned around and found it. Impressively large and neat to see and think about how it was used.

Onward to Konya. There are several main attractions here but we didn't think enough of them to have Konya be where we would stay that night, partially because it was a large industrial city. So, we elected to only see a couple of attractions that were near each other, albeit in the center of the busy city. Managed to park in a very tight spot quite near them not knowing if it was really legal or not. Went to the Museum of Wood & Stone Carving and found out it and our other target, the Karatay Muzesi, were both closed from noon to 1:30 and it was a bit before 1 PM. So, picked up a sandwich and ate it on the grounds of the latter, which is also called the Tile Museum. It then opened and we checked it out. Not large and we also didn't have endless time to spend there so that worked out well. The tiles on the wall of this old theological seminary were excellent as was the small collection within it. Walked over to the other spot, also previously a seminary, and discovered it wasn't open due to refurbishment in process. However, the exterior was one of its highlights any way ("half of what you've come to see is the elaborate doorway") and we saw it very well; plus an excellent minaret right next to it. The Book makes the interior carvings sound excellent, but so it be. Found the car and headed out of town. Our getting into and out of the city had gone quite smoothly despite the fact that there is a significant gap in information between the highway maps in my atlas and the city (center mainly) maps in the Book. Rolled onward across pretty barren/rugged country - enjoyable scenery for we desert rats. Also fun to see all the small painted carts being pulled by tractors, folks riding on donkeys with heavy loads, etc. Noted the solar heated water tanks on nearly all the houses. True everywhere we went. Another "true everywhere" item were unfinished apartment houses. We had heard that due to inflation people put their money into beginning to build things and then continue slowly as they get more money, but it was amazing to see the huge number of partially completed buildings.

Next stop was Beysehir in order to see "one of the best medieval mosques in central Anatolia." Fumbled around finding it but did, but it wasn't open. Then, however, a fellow came along and opened it for us and gave us a mini tour (for a donation at the end). It was really great with the 39 support columns all being made from wood (13th century). The only downside was that the "guide" hustled us through it faster than we wanted; perhaps because they were about to have a prayer service there. We also didn't have a lot of time to ‘waste' however for wanted to get to our destination before dark. The destination was Egirdir, a lakeside resort area that is heavily used by locals during the hot summer; but this was a bit past then. As we got into the lake district the bareness gave way to fertility and especially apple orchards. They were being harvested and there were a million stands along the highway selling apples. Stopped at a small one and made a purchase from some enjoyable fellows at a very low price. It turned out over the next week or so that the apples were excellent and held for quite awhile in the car. Got to the village and all of the accommodations looked relative similar. Checked out three of them and each was a bit cleaner than the prior one so stayed at the third one where the people seemed especially friendly. Marginal accommodations but adequate and local and only $15 (including breakfast). Walked across the street to a Lakeside café and ate fish. We were disappointed because it was deep fried and not very interesting, but sitting by the lake as the Sun went down was very enjoyable. A highlight of this was watching 4 or so folks washing relatively large rugs in the lake. They'd scrub with soap and water on the beach, put it into the lake to rinse, and repeat the cycle a few times; eventually just leaving it on the beach to dry out. Dawna (of course) went down and watched them close up, perhaps even offering to help but not being accepted. We slept fine in our not fancy but quiet place.

Wednesday-2: Very good coffee and typical other breakfast stuff. Then walked around the town a bit. Even purchases an elephant (pendant). Headed south on a nice road through nice mountains; but because this road was so new compared to my atlas we ended up staying on it rather than going down the older road to where we were to head next. Figured this out after awhile and took a small country road across some mountains to get back on track (actually backtracking a bit). Onward through nice mountain country but continuing to be amazed at how hazy it was. Took a small offshoot road to the Karain Cave. It is amazingly old has been "continuously occupied for 25,000 years." Some of the wall paintings are still there to look at and the overall size of the set of 3 large rooms is impressive. Hot walk up to it, making the temperate climate of the cave even nicer. There is a nice small museum at the bottom/starting point with only items from the cave and the items span all that time period. Excavation is still in process in a big way.

Then on to Antalya. This was our goal at the bottom of Turkey, on the Aegean Sea and having a fine old city to explore. Plus a well located place for beginning our visits to Greek/Roman/Turkish ruins. The travel agent chap had said to just go down to the harbor in old town and then check out lots of places to find a good one for staying. We tried but tis a large city with lots of traffic and lots of one-way roads and seemingly no way to get into the tiny old-town area. After a couple of ‘circles' we stopped near a large hotel and I went in to ask the people where we were and how we could get to where we wanted to be. I also checked their accommodations - $190/day and fully booked until November; which worried me a bit. They said the best way to get to old town was to walk there! We did and it was a fair distance but not too far. Checked out one or two accommodations and they had rooms (made me no longer worried) at reasonable prices but I wanted to see if the place Phebe's friends had recommended was available or even open; the tourist fellow had told us it changed management and was closed this summer but supposed to open soon. Found it (Turk Evi Otelleri) and it was open and we got a room. Then we tried to learn how to drive to there. Seemed impossible so a young chap from the hotel went with us to our car and guided us to the hotel. Dawna drove in all this craziness doing a fine job and I tried to follow on maps to figure out what was happening. Didn't do to well at that but did learn how to go down one street that you didn't think was for cars in order to get into old town. Whew - a well deserved drink in the room, cleaned up a bit, and then went walking to see old town and eventually have dinner. Fun walking around, almost every building being interesting as they've not allowed anything new there for a long time and have really spruced up many of the old Ottoman houses, making them into stores and hotels. Got involved in a long session with a rug dealer who put three rugs aside for us to consider tomorrow since we refused to buy that night. He also suggested a place to eat good fish when we inquired. Bit of a hike to it and had to get guidance from a couple of folks along the way but found it and it was both fun and good. Outdoor tables, fish on ice and you select what you want, very busy place, etc. Nice experience. Fairly bushed by the time we got back to the hotel. Oh, yes, as part of our initial walking around we carefully retraced on foot the streets we had driven down to get to the hotel after entering old town and convinced ourselves we had a reasonable chance of doing it on our own in the future.

Thursday-2: Found the breakfast area which was in a patio with the wall of the old city on one side of the patio. I should have mentioned that our hotel was basically a couple of Ottoman-styled houses built into the city wall. The whole thing overlooked the harbor and was a very nice setting. Also the furnishings were nice. Relaxed breakfast under grape vines on this patio. Then into the car for the adventure of driving out of town - no sweat, and out of the city - also no sweat. Eastward a ways (maybe 10 miles) to the ancient city of Perge. As with many of these places it is a mixture of Greek (who came after the Trojan War), Roman, and Byzantine. Large, neat, excellent columns, excellent carvings in the marble. The main attraction is "its hug Roman and Hellenistic gates and impressive colonnaded street" - and the Book is right. Great to wander it at our own pace and let tour groups leave a given area so we could see and feel it ourselves. Did it as slowly as we wanted. Was hot, however. Then further (maybe another 20 miles at most) eastward to Aspendos. Very nice and also rather different. The highlight here is a very large Roman theater that and has been restored quite a bit. They have performances there today and would have an opera in 3 days time but nothing that night, unfortunately.

Drove back to Antalya and only made one wrong turn getting through the new/big city and into the old city and no wrong turns getting to our hotel. I took a swim in a small pool in a fine setting. Then we went walking, did a bit of shopping, bumped into the rug man and told him no thank you even tho by now the price was half or less of what it had started at. Eventually ate in a place from the Book with a nice garden; but the food (lamb chops) wasn't great. Right next door we found what looked like a better place as we walked out of this one after dinner. Went back to the hotel promising ourselves we'd have a drink in their bar which was built into the wall and overlooked the harbor, but it was smoky and the view wasn't as great as we thought so we skipped that item.

Friday-2: Another relaxing breakfast and then before we headed out of town we went back to a shop (with some effort finding it) because Dawna decided she'd like to get some of the figures made of leather that a fellow made there. But the place was closed until 11 AM and we weren't interested in waiting, so no purchase. Headed out of town - westward now - without much sweat. Next stop was a side trip to the Olimpos and Chimaera area. The former is an ancient Lycian city and we didn't go to it; while the latter is "a cluster of spontaneous flames which blaze from crevice on the rocky slopes of Mt Olimpos" that have been there forever based on reports from ancient mariners who could see them from the sea. The deal is that the gas that comes out of the ground mixes with Oxygen and ignites spontaneously. Getting to it took a fairly long drive off the main road down towards the sea with the road getting more and more like a farm rut, followed by a relatively long uphill and hot hike, but of course we handled that too. Amazing to see the flames. Now according to the information there, this is where the original Olympics took place and why the Olympic torch is now part of the games. Don't know if it is true but it was a neat story given that the Olympics were taking place right then and I had a special Sports Illustrated on the Olympics in my back pack which I held up like a torch for my picture to be taken (photo doesn't really show the flame well I admit after the fact).

Continued westward on this beautiful drive. Sea to the left, mountains to the right. The sea having some beaches, some rocky areas, some boats, etc. Still hazy, tho. Didn't know how far we'd go; originally had thought to Fethiye, but that was too far now plus the tourist fellow had said Kalkan would be more to our liking. The book didn't make it sound like us, however, and it was also a bit far so we decided we'd stop at Kas; a village on a hill running up from a very picturesque bay with lots of small boats in it - "the quintessential Turkish seaside town". Before getting there, however, we stopped in one town because the book said it had a market on Friday. The market seemed to be mainly farmers selling melons from their tractor-pulled wagons and we bought a watermelon. But several blocks later we found the real market so walked it as well. All manner of food stuffs and a bit of other stuff. Bought a few items like spices and honey and whatever; nothing extensive. Also stopped in a village (Finike, in case you are following on some map) for a fish lunch. Onward we went. At Kas there are many small hotels for local holidayers and we checked out 3 or so before settling on one. Adequate but a very long climb from car level to room level. Hot. I took a swim in the pool to cool off. Didn't realize if I had gone down below car level I could have had a nice swim in the sea - should have checked things out a bit more. Next was a walk around the harbor, look at the boats, look at a couple of stores, and a dinner in the Book's recommended place. Shrimp that was fine/good and some excellent rice. We'd not gotten much starch with our meals in general and were missing rice and/or potatoes. Quite reasonable sleep for me since the place had an air conditioner and it was needed but not very good for Dawna for the blowing cold air gave her a headache. She then learned how to wrap something around her head to avoid this in the future; so there was benefit in the experience.

As an aside, besides the nice coastlines, over the last day we had enjoyed seeing miles and miles with greenhouses galore, also cotton picking, also steep dry hillsides away from the ocean which reminded us of places in Baja; and then in a couple of towns were fascinated with a timer that counted down the seconds until the traffic light would change - rather a neat idea actually. While rambling, another impressive thing was how many 3 lane roads there were going up and down the mountains, so good passing lanes to overtake trucks on steep grades but also a bit scary in determining who is going to take advantage of the middle lane - the uphill folks having priority but it is OK for the downhill folks if no one is using it. What else caught our eye - school kids in uniforms everywhere walking to and from schools; not many on bikes until late in the trip, and no golf courses. I'm sure there are some in Turkey, and even saw one resort advertising itself that way, but for 3 weeks of running around we did not see one golf course. Unusual in today's world. And have I commented upon the beer - only choices were Torburg and a Turkish made beer; with neither being very good/interesting. Anyway, back to the main story line .........

Saturday-2: Breakfast in a great setting overlooking the Aegean. Several folks already in snorkeling which is when I discovered I should have swum there the night before. Considered taking a boat trip to some sights but not really Dawna's thing and the best sites would mean a full day's outing. So, headed onward. More beautiful driving, great sea/mountain scenery. Then headed a bit toward the interior. Took a side trip to a ruin/fortress names Los - "one of the oldest and most important cities in ancient Lycia." Again 3 cultures used this promontory with the Lycium being around 2000 BC. Excellent, including great views of the valley below and an apple lunch at one of the viewpoints within the ruins and all alone. Another portion of the ruins had a very nice theater. Had a good cold beer at a café and then hit the road again. Went to the Saklikent Gorge which "is so steep and narrow that the Sun doesn't penetrate so the water is icy cold, even in summer". Is a neat geological feature but has been made very commercial in terms of a café at the end of it where folks sit on ‘islands' eating their food and drinking their drinks as well as a place that rents out shoes for walking further up the canyon in the water/mud; all in all a bit silly and thus not on our recommendation list. Next was a rather fast drive into the interior on nice mountain roads with fine vistas. Arrived Pamukkale, and stayed in the recommended place. Not fancy but adequate and very cheap - with dinner included it cost like $30 for the two of us. Prior to dinner we walked in this very small village a bit, buying a bottle of local (and cheap) wine. Dinner was a cold buffet, some excellent tomato soup, chicken, and some more of the good rice. For sleeping the room was noisy because we needed the window open so as to not be too hot, but we slept reasonably well anyway.

Sunday-2: The reasons for going to P are the white calcium formations (travertine) terraces as well as another ruined city, Hierapolis, which together are now a national park and a UNESCO world heritage site. In fact they are doing a good job of removing much of the motel/touristy parts of the white terraces so make the whole area even more attractive. Had breakfast and then drove the few miles to the ruins. Did them up properly and they are quite extensive. A bunch of tombs/sarcophagi are the most extensive in Asia Minor. The Roman theatre which can sea 12,000 has much of the original stage and also portions of restored seats. All in all quite nice. Saw the terraces and walked (shoes off) on them a bit as does every good tourist. Then drove back to town and walked into the southern entrance (we had driven into the park at the northern entrance) in order to get a better/different view of the terraces. Fine.

We next drove a short distance back towards the coast to Afrodisias. "Because Afrodisias is so isolated and so much of it still survives, here more than in most place you get a very real sense of the grandeur and extent of the lost classical cities." And do you ever. It was certainly one of our favorites. There was a fantastic gate/arch 95% restored with original marble; the best preserved large stadium in the world (so the sign claims) which could seat 30,000 people and was 270 meters in length - of course we walked it one way on the field and one way in the stands. Everything is laid out spaciously and much archeology is in process. The small theatre/council chambers is in fantastic shape, etc, etc. Then onward to the village of Selcuk. The Book had a definite recommendation here and we tried and tried and tried to find it; and eventually did. They had rooms and we took one. It is basically four or so old Turkish homes around a courtyard. Reasonable place but not super. Had the dinner special there either that night (or was it the next night) and it was fine. Watched some Olympics on the TV in the lounge. Tried to log onto the lab computer via a computer they had there but couldn't do it. I could get onto the internet and thus learn a bit about how TRACE was doing but couldn't get to where I could do e-mail. Fine sleep.

Monday-2: Early breakfast and out to Ephesus (about 2 miles away which is why we were staying in Selcuk) as soon as it opened (8:30). This is the most famous ruin in Turkey ("best-preserved classical city on the eastern Mediterranean") partially because it is so accessible to everyone (cruise ships around the Greek Islands make a day trip to here for example) and we wanted to beat the major crowds. We did! Had it almost to ourselves to begin with. Very extensive and very nice. Excellent marble-paved streets with many columns, fine theater that would hold 25,000 people, amazing sewer and water systems, spectacular library, good mosaics along one walkway, and on and on. All this in a fine setting near the Meander River (yes, that where the expression meandering comes from). Gradually more people showed up and by the time we got near the end of the route a lot of tour groups were coming from the other direction. We hadn't realized there were two entrances and if we had been super clever we would have started at the second one so as to have been ahead of the mob all the time. Not bad the way we did it, however, and retracing our steps back to where we had parked the car let us see things from a different direction even if with more crowds; always see things you missed going the other way it seems. Took all the time we wanted (again) but still were done before noon. Then drove a short way to a village back in the mountains - Sirince. "winding cobbled streets", "handmade lace" "old-fashioned stone-and-stucco houses", "amid grapevines, peach and apple orchards" - you get the picture, I'm sure. Small, neat, walked all of it, did some shopping. Found a fellow making the leather masks and leather figures like the items we didn't get to buy in Antolya and we interacted with him a bunch and bought several things. Ate at an outside café (as always) having the town specialty called manti - Turkish Ravioli. It was very good. Nice interactions with the folks there and again a fine view as we relaxed with food (& beer/wine) in hand. Bought some of their local wine as well (I think). Back to Selcuk and it wasn't too late so did the small, but excellent, Ephesus museum there. The displays were nicely laid out and meant a lot more to us having spent the morning at the site. Probably just snacked for dinner, unless this was the night we had dinner at the hotel and we snacked the prior night.

Tuesday-3: Had the options of a pair of fine ruins a bit south of there, more nice seaside going north, or heading inland; and chose a bit of number-2 and then number-3. As you can see, our whole mode was to decide things basically in real time with my doing lots of reading of the book both in the hotels and on the road. Before rolling very far, however, we made a small detour to see an "ancient funerary monument" from about 250 BC. It was under active archeological work and fenced off so not a whole lot to see. Next we got a bit confused trying to skirt the major city of Izmir which resulted in skirting it further around than planned but it worked OK and we saw more countryside. Took a detour to a Greekish seaside village named Foca. Very windy (as always) but did a bit of walking and I had an excellent fish lunch - Dawn's stomach didn't want to eat. Then headed inland. For quite awhile now we had been seeing lots of cotton and cotton picking and cotton hauling and it just kept increasing. Fun. The general goal was a pair of ruins (Acropolis and Asclepion) outside a town called Bergama or Pergamum depending on the century. Passed up a 3 star hotel the Book said was "the smartest place to stay" and took its two star alternative. Cheap and just OK, but very nice people. In fact it seems like the nicest hotel people were usually at the marginal places. Went to Asclepion. This is "the basis for all Western medicine" and home of Galen who was "perhaps the greatest early physician." Some interesting items but not overly great. The visit was almost more of a tribute to the (real) Drs Wolfsons. It was kinda fun that in the Temple of Telesphorus you learn about the two daughters of Telesphorus who were named "Hygeia and Panacea, whose names have passed into modern medical technology." Back to the hotel and then to down town for some walking and dinner. Even had to take a photo of an infinite line of tractors with trailers full of cotton lining both sides of the street.

Wednesday-3: Reasonable breakfast. Then we returned to Asclepion because Dawna wanted to buy a bunch of evil eyes from a nice old lady whom she had interacted with at a stand there the day before. The lady was just opening up and Dawna helped her open the big "garage door" in front of her stall and then bought the eyes - got a reasonable photo of the two of them. Then off to the Acropolis. This is a general word for a hilltop fortress or city. And it sure was on the very top of a hill outside of town with exceptionally nice views. Still extremely windy. Very extensive and extremely well labeled because the Germans have done so much digging and refurbishing there (I'm pretty sure that was the place). If you wanted to really learn about architecture and buildings/etc you could spend hours reading all their descriptions. A fine site and we took plenty of time doing it.

Oh, yes, part of our (or at least my) relaxed attitude here was that that morning we had called Bursa and made a reservation there so I wasn't sweating coming into a major city late in the day without a hotel room. The place we reserved was recommended by Phebe's friends and the Book gave it fine marks as well. To be fully truthful, I didn't make the call but rather the nice chap at the place we were staying did it for us; he spoke much better Turkish than I do. Then we cruised across the country. Stopped along the way and made a lunch out of our watermelon. It had been kept a bit too long but was still reasonable. Windy as the dickens and we did the picnic in the car. Got to Bursa and attacked the problem of not really knowing where our hotel was because it was outside the central map. But I knew what direction it was and what suburb it was in and we winged it based on a couple of signs. Got close and then asked someone and sure enough it was a few blocks away. Checked in, marveling at our having found this one so much better than we did in Antalya for example. This suburb of Bursa has some hot springs and therefore has been spa area for a long time. Our place was old but well preserved/maintained and fun in its outdated stateliness. Took a walk and found a sidewalk market Dawna had spotted while driving in; OK but not outstanding. Walked a bit more and then had dinner. You are supposed to have Iskender Kebap in this city and I did and it was great. Dawna had something less great. And we ate indoors. Yes, things had cooled off for the first time.

Thursday-3: Breakfast in a nice setting and more variety of food than we had been getting plus more non-tourist people than we'd been used to; like "regular" business persons. Grabbed a dolmus (60 cents each) that went to and through town, switched to another one after a bit of fumbling, therein getting as far in one direction as we wanted to be in order to follow the Book on sightseeing while walking back toward (and later beyond) town. First the Emir Sultan Camii (Camii means mosque) which was quite nice inside and had amazingly old/large trees on its grounds. Also a huge cemetery and we marveled at the headstones that had many different types of turbans on their tops. Good view of the city/valley as well. Then the Yesil Cami, or Green Mosque, so called because of the green tiles on the interior. Great stained glass windows, intricate tile work, finely carved tombs, and much nice wood carvings. Adjacent is the Uesil Turbe, or Green Tomb, which has excellent tile work on the inside, splendid carved marble, wonderfully carved wooden doors. Great stuff and convenient to see at the edge of the main city. We then walked into the city and into the old market area. Very nicely done what with several Hans being incorporated into the market and the architecture therefore being quite good. A Han is basically an urban caravanserais (described earlier) and "the most beautiful hans are the early Ottoman ones in Bursa." Many, many silk shops along with everything else as this has been a key product of Bursa forever as the city is at the end of the Silk Road. Had Islaendar Kebab for lunch and it was even better than the night before. Only downside of this café in the courtyard of one of the Hans was no beer. The waiter eventually explained to me that we were next to the Mosque and therefore no dice. After lunch we visited this mosque (Ulu Cami or Grand Mosque) and it was very impressive. These places are just so peaceful.

Did more walking and shopping and then left the market and headed towards our suburb on foot taking in more of the city scenes. Along the way we tried to call Helen and found it surprisingly easy; on our first try the line was busy and on the second try we got her (before work in California) and learned that no crises existed that she knew of. Also stopped at an Internet Café but again couldn't log onto my computer. Could get on the internet quite easily and thus saw nothing terrible re our TRACE instrument and became further convinced that I need to get an internet e-mail account for such occasions. {Postnote - got one with Yahoo the first week back.} Found some interesting sounding tombs from the Book but they were not open. Then caught a dolmus for the rest of the trip home. This grabbing a dolmus for almost nothing anytime you so choose is a great way to get around. Back at the hotel we had a beer (from a market across the street) in the room and Dawna arranged for a Turkish Massage. The hotel had a Turkish bath capability with all the trimmings but she only went for the massage. While that was happening I relaxed a bit and watch some Olympics (no English, however) on the TV in the room. No Track and Field unfortunately. Then we snacked for dinner and hit the hay. Don't think I mentioned it but the hotel had a fine view of the valley/city below it and it was also quiet - a nice spot really.

Friday-3: Tried to call our hotel in Istanbul to see if we could arrive a day early but no one answered. Went to the desk and they tried for us with the same strange result. Had breakfast and then headed out for the first activity of the day. On the prior day we had followed the Book's instructions to locate a store in the market which was run by a chap who makes Karagoz shadow puppets and does puppet shows. Bursa is the birthplace of this activity but it had basically disappeared in modern times until he began doing it again. It is his avocation and one of love, while to make a living he has a shop in the market where he sells the puppets and some antique stuff in general. We didn't buy anything there but learned that although the regular days for puppet shows at a small museum/theater were on Wednesday and Saturday he was going to do a show the next day at 10 AM, that the place was relatively near our hotel, and that he had more puppets for sale there. So, we walked over. It is a fine building/museum and we looked around for awhile with ourselves being the only ones there besides and a young kid who helps out the lead chap. Then a few others showed up, seeming to be serious puppet people from central Europe. The chap did a 15-20 minute puppet show. Neat as was the whole setting/interaction/history. After the show we bought a couple of nice puppets for souvenirs, interacted with the kid some more with Dawna giving him a Mickey Mouse, and then went back to the hotel. This time we were able to get through to the Istanbul hotel and made a reservation for that night, albeit ‘next to the wall' but we would have our regular/better room the next 4 nights. With that secured, off we headed in no big hurry; getting out of the city pretty smoothly.

Next stop was Izmir, a very old town which is in a farming area and whose original fame was making the most famous of all Turkish tiles for the various mosques, etc. Walked quite a bit, looking at various things including a pretty good old city wall, and then had lunch. Piede, Turkish pizza, was our choice as we had not yet had it. Quite good although again at a spot without beer. In our walk we got semi lost so were "behind schedule" a tad. The walk had been interesting in terms of not only the city wall and village houses but also many many small factories that were making wooden boxes for fruit and the like. An amazing number of boxes and sawed up trees and later on down the road we saw tree farms that provide the trees for this. Rather a strange industry. Anyway, on around the lake we went heading for the ferry that takes one across the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul, in contrast with a long and ugly drive around the sea. Missed the turnoff which cost us another 15 minutes but then got there. Boarded fairly soon but nearly an hour elapsed before the ferry left. So, the trip was as the Sun set and it was fun to see a fair number of ships as we got near Istanbul but other than that it wasn't anything very special. Dawna rested during the 1.5 hour trip while I stared out at the scenery. We had taken front row seats and later on learned that we shouldn't have left our tickets in the car and that seat numbers had actually been assigned on the tickets; but guess no one wanted to try and straighten out these non-Turkish speaking old foreigners so they didn't boot us out of those nice seats. One couldn't go back down to the car to get the tickets since the stairs were locked during transient.

Arrived a bit after sundown, which meant semi-darkness, making the challenge of getting to our hotel even larger. Made a semi-illegal right turn onto a road along the waterfront with fast moving and modest traffic going our way and bumper-to-bumper slow moving traffic going the other way (out of town on a Friday evening). Didn't catch the spot I wanted to make a left turn into old town and all of a sudden were almost going across a bridge over the Golden Horn. A truly illegal u-turn got us out of that and we did get into old town but heaven knows where. Stopped and asked a passerby and after he tried to explain what we should do he eventually just got in the car and guided us there. In the process he stopped a couple times for directions himself and at one stop the fellow he talked to talked me into buying a city map (which really wasn't better than what I had). Got to the hotel. Tried to at least give the helpful fellow some money to take a cab to where ever he had been headed when he got in the car to help us but he refused (several times). Checked in and went to our room, again hearing that it was on the wall but we'd get a better one after that night. Actually it was OK but relatively small, no view, and not able to get much breeze through it. Tried to call the car rental people but the phone didn't work so went back down to the lobby and did it from there. Yes, they'd come get the car; and within an hour they did. Pretty darn smooth. Slept. This hotel (Ayasfoya Pansiyonian) is located on a single street that runs between the Aya Sofya and a wall of the Topkapi Palace; two of the major attractions of Istanbul. Perfect location. The street had been refurbished and thus was classical with cobblestones and a row of Ottman houses along it, these constituting the ‘hotel.' Charming on the exterior and quite adequate on the interior. We had arrived, the car was gone, and to sleep we went with a fan making it reasonable.

Saturday-3: Breakfast in a garden setting and because it was rather cool you eat in what used to be a greenhouse and has been fixed up quite nicely rather than in the outdoors part of the garden. Went straight to the Topkapi Palace ("one of the world's great museums") and spent the next 6 hours or so there. Quite a place. Built in 1453, it was the residence of many sultans. It is spread out over a large area with courtyards and gardens to wander through as you go from one room/ area to the next. Following the Book's advice we went straight for the Harem because it is the one place you have to go with a guided group after buying a special additional ticket and it can fill up for the day. No problem getting on the first tour. The Harem has 300 rooms which housed 400-500 people (300 of them concubines) and you see only a small portion of it. Rich, spectacular, great tile work, lavish, etc; the downside being the guide rushed you through and even had a person at the end of the group whose job was to catch stragglers and keep them moving; plus the guide spoke too softly (for me). But the sites were grand. Every where else in the museum you were on your own and could take all the time you wanted - and we did. After the Harem we did all the rest of the museum and I'll let you learn the details from any travel book. It was as good as the literature implies what with wonderful jewelry in the Treasury, super tile work many places, fine Arabic carvings, etc. etc. etc. Had a lunch of apples from our backpack sitting in a location looking out over the Golden Horn and Bosphorus. Dawna had an experience that actually gave her a headache for a bit, and thus is worth repeating. First in one room we noted a young lady all in black with her face nearly fully covered as per Moslem ways and hands with decoration on them probably meaning she was a new bride. In another room, actually the "sacred Safe-keeping Rooms" which are "sumptuously decorated with Iznik faience (tiles), constitute a holy of holies within the palace" we were standing next to her and her husband and she talked to Dawna about something we were looking at and also complemented Dawna on having a scarf over her head to show respect even tho it wasn't required. They then talked a bit more and in this setting it really got to Dawna. She did recover from the mini headache quite soon.

Eventually went back to the hotel for a bit of a relax and moved our stuff into our new, larger, and on-the-street-side room. Then we headed out to see more of the area on foot. Gradually got to a place to eat which the Book recommended as being a bit off the tourist track. Small, mostly locals, very interesting and good puffy bread; Dawna had excellent kabobs and I had only an adequate steak (lamb in both cases of course). Relaxing time and nice walk in the evening back to the hotel. The weather was such that we wore light jackets.

Sunday-3: The usual breakfast and then applied the get-there-first approach to seeing Aya Sofya. The Book said it opened at 9 AM and we were there by then but the sign said 9:30. So, we went to the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii) first. These magnificent attractions all being a few walking minutes from one another and from our hotel was sure convenient. Again for both of these famous spots I'll no repeat all the elements in any tour book. The Mosque was very large yet still graceful. Had four huge (I estimated 30 ft diameter) columns holding up the huge dome, grand tile work, miles of carpet, wonderful marble carvings. Now might be as good a time as ever to comment on binoculars and flashlights. These two items were with us at all times on the trip and turn out to be the greatest concept since sliced bread. Invariably we found ourselves checking out carvings and tiles and stained glass windows and etc with the binoculars. Not nearly so often but often enough, and at unsuspecting times, we found ourselves using the flashlight to see things or go places otherwise not possible. I highly recommend this approach for all touring. Although magnificent it still doesn't take a long time to see the Camii, and we then went back over to AS which was by now open of course.

Built in 526-65 AD by Justinian "to restore the greatness of the Roman Empire" it "reigned as the greatest church in Christendom until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453." Huge, 30 million gold mosaic tiles covering the large (seemingly floating) dome, enormous quantity of different marbles basically framed into the wall, super mosaic scenes which you get up close to when you go upstairs plus those grand binoculars, and on and on. Took quite a bit more time to see it than to see the Mosque, but nothing like the time it takes to see Topkapi. Having done these two must-dos, we took a few minutes rest at the hotel - looking out our window at the minarets above the AS by the way. Then we hopped on a streetcar/tram and rode it a few stops to where the boats are that go up the Golden Horn and Bosphorus and taxi all around (like over to Asia). Many boats in a fine setting, almost traffic jams and we got some info re their schedules. Walked across a bridge over the Golden Horn. Lots of people out everywhere since it was a Sunday and nice weather; many fishing from the bridge. Next round of strolling was in the general direction of the Suleymaniye Camii which is "Istanbul's largest mosque" and truly grand yet simple with not a lot of decoration other than "fine Iznik tiles in the mihrab, gorgeous stained glass windows" massive support columns, and excellent marble grillwork. The route to the mosque went through endless packed streets with stalls/markets along the way. Mostly clothes and clothes and clothes and I even bought a belt. Dawn bought some in-theory Tommy Hillfinger perfume that was really a copy/cheat; but equally cheap. Hard to get out of endless market streets but eventually did get to the mosque. Then headed back on foot cutting across the city to ‘home'. Once back we did the Yerebatan Saray (Basilica Cistern) which was built in 532 AD. This is an enormous (70m x 140m) with a roof supported by 336 columns; which gives it enough of a churchy feeling to get the name Basilica. Neat and amazing that they built such a huge useable, yet decorative, item so long ago; although a bit of a tourist trap now. Again, just a block or so from our hotel. Don't remember what dinner was that night but you've read enough about eating lamb by now anyway.

Monday-3: No hurry get-up, breakfast as usual, and then by tram back to the boats. Here we got on the first one of the day headed up the Bosphorus. Had dressed warmly and thus were able to sit outside at the railing and watch everything. Fun although not magnificent. Lots of boats to look at, interesting sites both in Asia and Europe including some forts and palaces, stops at a few villages. At the next to last one, where the boat would turn around, we got off and did our usual walking and looking (local stores, a fish market, many boats, etc) with a middle of the period lunch at a fish restaurant. Nice view off a patio over the harbor which was filled with small fishing boats. Excellent meal beginning with some Calamari, then Dawna had fish kabobs that were probably swordfish and I had a local, mackerel-like fish that was probably my best fish of the trip. Returned home and did some more wandering, including a couple more mosques. Kucuk Aya Sofya Camil was small and quite nice but we only got in by a chap opening it for us and then he pushed us through it rather rapidly. Sokollu Mehmet Pasa Camii was even better ("harmonious architecture, the coloured marbled, and the spectacular Iznik tiles, some of the best ever made") but again we got pushed through - partially because prayer was in process and you really shouldn't be in there in that situation but the proprietor let us in for a bit. Although pushed in terms of seeing things, the prayers certainly added to the scene/feeling. Had dinner in a newly refurbished hotel with Dawna having an eggplant thing and I had a stew like item. Fine but not wonderful. Excellent wine however, and very nice setting and waiter. The weather continued to be excellent, cool enough for walking, not cold, not hot, and no rain. Also no fog and very little smog although we had been told the smog would be terrible.

Tuesday-4: Humm, I don't think I've ever written a trip letter where there was a "-4" which shows that Dawna has managed to get us to go longer and longer lately. It also means the letter has gotten ridiculously long. Today, was sort of our extra day with no absolutely special items to see other than the Chora Church which then became the Kariye Camii and is now the Kariye Museum, famous for its mosaics and murals. Got there by a lengthy combination of the tram and then on foot; the latter providing more viewing of a different part of the city. The mosaics and murals were excellent yet again; a spot not to miss if you like that sort of thing such as we (and many tour groups) do. Went "home" by a combination of walking (some along the old city wall), a subway, and our tram. Along the way, had a reasonable lunch and spent some time in the covered/famous market; more than 4000 shops! A bunch of this time was in a leather shop where we got the entire sale job and eventually Dawna bought a suede shirt/jacket for a price that was about ¼ of what it started out at and maybe 70% of what she thought she could get it for in the states. Interesting/tiring experience with all the pressure of the salesperson being applied. Also walking around the market you are assaulted by so many sales persons it gets tiring. We didn't stay as long as I had expected; I think we enjoyed the Bursa market so much that we were somewhat burned out on markets. Speaking of sales pressure every where you go people come up and try to chat/be friendly and then to sell you carpets, this is especially true in Istanbul but somewhat true nearly everywhere, and you get tired of it to say the least. What competition.

Went back to the Mosque that had such wonderful tiles on the interior and this time were not pressured to get out in a hurry so we saw everything nicely both with and without the binoculars. Also nearby there (and our hotel) is the Hippodrome park-like area/strip. It has a very nice "little gazebo in beautiful stonework" although not very old and then a trio of obelisks. One, the "Obelisk of Theodosius, carved in Egypt around 1500 BC" and "brought from Egypt to Constantinople in 300 AD" is absolutely amazing. The hieroglyphs carved on it look like they were done yesterday - it just seems impossible. Then there is a weird spiral column that was also from Egypt (Constantine took it from the temple of Apolio in Delphi where it had been since 478 BC); and finally a rough-stone obelisk that no one knows from where it originated but people do know that it got repaired in 913 AD and "that the bronze plates were ripped off during the Fourth Crusade." Yes, one can walk a few feet in any direction from our hotel and see yet another amazing item.

Wednesday-4: Time to go home. Breakfast at opening time and then a taxi to the airport. Checking in went smoothly and Dawn was able to spend all of our remaining Turkish money at the duty-free store getting some (real) perfume at a good price. The flight home was fine but long - more than 12 hours in the air. Cleared customs in Chicago and got on a different plane without too much of a wait. Another 5-6 hours and we were in San Jose and picked up by Friedel. To home, look at some mail, and to sleep. We both did just fine on the jet lag thing both going and coming; fundamentally not having any to speak of. Nice.

Summary: Grand trip. Good weather (it never rained), nice people (they continually helped you figure out your money/change which gets tough when you are trying to see if the bill is 100,000 or 1,000,000 or 10,000,000 but there aren't any commas on the bill), proper pace for the most part although another day in Antalya would have meant seeing their excellent museum, fine roads with good (aggressive but that's fine) drivers, lots of dry/barren/Baja-like country side, endless amazing Greek/Roman/Lyceum/etc ruins often one on top of another and mixed together, fine mosques and tiles (although our memories of Spain say theirs are better), and good but somewhat boring food. Having read this entire epistle to make a round of edits, I think I didn't rave enough about the old ruins (compared to the mosques) but they were an equal highlight. And except for the terrible time getting there, the rest of the transportation all went well. Bought a reasonable (for us at least) number of souvenirs but no rugs; and took a reasonable (FOR US) number of photos. And, please, don't forget your small binoculars and flashlights when you go there or anywhere.

The first draft of this epistle was written on the plane to and from NYC about 10 days after returning from our trip - we went there for Sabina's 30th birthday. A long weekend trip that was much fun with the highlights being seeing her of course, seeing her and Russel and friends tangoing endlessly, going to the new Rose Center at the Natural History Museum where some TRACE videos are part of the exhibit, going to an excellent Broadway play (Copenhagen) on Bohr and Heisenberg, having beautiful weather, walking endlessly through this fascinating city, taking her gang out for her birthday party, etc. Will now stay home for a couple of weeks before going to a work meeting plus extra time on the Eastern Shore (of Myd). And yesterday we made arrangements to go to Baja for a week with Borners in February.


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