Blogs from Beyoglu, Istanbul, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East

As I write this post, I am looking out the window of our beautiful cruise ship, at the setting sun over the Marmara Sea. The Star Legend is a small, 200 passenger vessel in the Windstar Cruise Line. It provides all the amenities of the larger cruise lines, minus the crowds. We sailed out of the harbor at precisely 5pm, waving goodbye to the Istanbul coastline with its striking minarets and ancient coastal history. The sea is calm and skies are clear which should make for a peaceful night of sailing. Before we boarded though, we had one last highlight of ancient Istanbul to explore, the Galata Tower. As I previously mentioned, it was the highest point of the Genoese walled city. Built in 1453, the Genoese could watch the strait for uninvited ships. Sounding an ... read more

Saturday: Arrive at the docks at 6:00 AM. The view coming in – with the sun rising over the Bosphorus bridge – was wonderful, lighting up Topkapi and the Sultanamet mosques. We exited the ship and transfered to the Pera Palace Hotel where we dropped off our luggage and went out into the surrounding Beyoglu District. After a few hours we returned to the hotel and sat for awhile waiting for our room to be ready. As we sat on the veranda John managed to spill an entire glass of ginger ale on Peggy, leading to a change of clothing prior to getting into the room. We had an unremarkable lunch near the “tunel” cable car that comes up the hill from the Galata Bridge and the Sulanamet street trolley. Upon return to the hotel we ... read more

Last night we ate in a restaurant on a street up hill from our apartment. It was full of young tourists from all over, but no Americans that we could see (or hear). This area is interesting: downhill from our apartment are many, many electrical supply shops. Most are very small. Up the hill from us, there are mainly guitar shops with young hipster clients. On streets adjacent to the guitar shops, there are trendy restaurants and boutiques. We seem to be right on the transition line! This morning we walked down the hill to the tram station and traveled across the Golden Horn to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. The first terrorist attack was in the square there, so there are many police and security checks to get into the mosque and museum. ... read more

We fly today from Seattle to Heathrow and then on to Istanbul, arriving tomorrow afternoon. We are staying in a beautiful apartment near the Goleta Tower. The recent acts of terrorism have taken a bit of the excitement away from this trip, but Istanbul awaits, with its history spanning so much of modern times, and its unique position straddling Europe and Asia. The original plan was to take a cruise ship (a first for us...) from Istanbul to Venice, but the cruise company cancelled the Istanbul portion, so we are flying from Istanbul to Athens to pick up the ship and continue through the Greek Isles, to Croatia, and then to Venice. We next travel in Italy and Sicily for 3 weeks....and then to Connecticut to celebrate my mom's 85th birthday... We leave behind our beautiful ... read more

Nach langer Vorbereitung ist es soweit - meine Reise nach Osten, soweit der Osten reicht, hat begonnen. Und welcher Ort wäre passender für den Übergang von Europa nach Asien als Istanbul, der riesige Schmelztiegel am Bosporus (Platz 23 auf der Liste der größten Metropolen der Welt), der sich über beide Kontinente erstreckt! Es ist nun bereits mein fünfter Tag in der Stadt, und bereits jetzt kommt es mir vor, als würden mich Welten von meinem alten Leben und der alten Heimat trennen. Es wird also Zeit auf die ersten Tage zurückzublicken, während ich auf der Dachterrasse meiner Unterkunft im Stadtteil Beyoglu sitze und Chai schlürfe. Tag eins begann mit der Ankunft auf dem im asiatischen Teil gelegenen Flughafen Sabiha Gökcen. Und mit IM meine ich, daß die Häuser bis zur Landebahn reichten und die Dächer bei ... read more