The words Cesky Raj translates into English as Czech Paradise. Here is information we found about the area where we were hiking. The Vranov castle was founded in early 15th century by Hynek of Waldstein. It is situated on a narrow sandstone cliff on the right bank of the Jizera river and with its length of 400 metres it ranks among the largest rock castles in the Czech Republic. Further owners have built a more comfortable family seat down in the valley, and the old castle has been abandoned. In 1802 the manor of Malá Skála was bought by Franz Zacharias [View Full Entry]

---

---

Pruhonice Nancy and I had never heard of the village of Pruhonice, or the castle and park that are there. We are glad that has changed and that we and others from the seminary visited the village, castle and beautiful park today. We overhead P.P. talking to a visiting couple and he said "a beautiful botanical garden." "We want to go," Nancy said. And so eight of us met at the bus stop at 1:30 p.m. and off we went. Getting to Pruhonice If any of you are traveling to Prague, here is how you go to Pruhonice via public transportation. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Morning Walk After breakfast on the day we were flying back to Prague, we had a bit of time on our hands before we were to be driven to the airport. So we decided to walk about the hotel neighborhood. The morning was bright with fluffy clouds and the air had a chill to it. It was a great morning for a walk. We had also noticed that Istanbul is full of cats. Last summer we had noticed that Moscow is full of dogs, not pets, but dogs living on the streets. Here the most often seen aminal is cats. Before [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Blue Mosque was another must see place on our list and had been for many years. Blue ceramic tiles in the mosque give it its name. There are no blue tiles on the exterior of the building, at least we did not see any. The Blue Mosque was built in the early 1600's, some 1100 years after the Hagai Sophia, and is still a working mosque. Between prayer times tourists are allowed into the mosque. Everyone must remove their shoes and put them in plastic bags that you carry with you. Upon exiting the mosque you may put your shoes [View Full Entry]

---

---

Underground Protection When foreign armies moved through the area people needed a place to hide. The soft rock in Cappadocia provided, if not the perfect place, at least a good place but only after a lot of digging was done. There are several underground cities in Cappadocia. The one we visited has 7 levels and everything that was needed to wait out a passing army was available. There are living quarters, animal stables and mangers from which to eat, dining areas/cooking spaces, churches, and even a temporary grave. I am not sure about others in our group, but I was [View Full Entry]

---

---

On our last night in Istanbul and we decided we had to see the Blue Mosque close up at night. We are glad we did. When we arrived at the outer courtyard, people were leaving from the last prayer service of the day. We peeked inside, but did not attempt to enter the prayer room. The moon was hanging in a dark indigo blue sky and I took a photo of it beside a minerate. It would have been really neat if it had been a crescent moon, but it was a half moon. We stayed in the couryard twenty or [View Full Entry]

---

---

Cappadocia has been on our want to visit list for a long time. A few years ago we visited friends in New Mexico and hiked with them in a state park where the formations and geology are very similiar to Cappadocia. Our friendsknew about this newly opened park but had no idea till we got there that the scenes would be almost exactly like those they had seen on a recent trip to Turkey. They were so enthusiastic about Turkey that we tucked that information in the back of our minds and it stayed there until we finally got the chance [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Movie Do you remember the 1960's movie Topkapi? If you have not seen the movie, rent it and watch it. The story is good as is the photography. The film stars Melina Mercouri, Maximilian Schell, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley, Akim Tamiroff and Gilles Ségal. The plot of the movie deals with planning to steal the emerald-encrusted dagger of the Ottoman sultan from Istanbul's Topkapi Museum, where it is on display in a glass-enclosed case for tourists to admire. The dagger is actually on display in the museum. It is not displayed as it was in the movie and would [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Grand Bazaar I did not know what to expect when we visited the Grand Bazaar, the Kapali Çarsi, other than there would be lots and lots and lots of Turkish products. I was not disappointed by the products and as for the building in which Grand Bazaar is located, it like everything else in Turkey surpassed my expectations. It is Turkey's largest covered market. Here is a list of at least some of the items you can find there; Turkish carpets, glazed tiles and pottery, copper and brassware, apparel made of leather, cotton and wool, meerschaum pipes, alabaster bookends and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shortly before traveling to Turkey our friend Janice here in Prague told us about several places she really loved and hoped we would have a chance to see while we were in Istanbul. One of these places which sounded very interesting was the cisterns of Istanbul. Neither of us had previously heard of the .... Bacilica Cistern in Istanbul. We had a chance to tour in the cisterns and they were really lovely to see and awe inspiring. It is both an amazing engineering feat, done so long ago, and a very interesting place to visit. Before we entered we were [View Full Entry]

---

---