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

Our body clocks were all over the place . The two hour time difference from home was playing havoc with bedtimes and waking up. We did not seem to be able to get around the feeling of not knowing what time of the day it actually was . I guess we might have had a better idea had we listened to and taken notice of the calls to prayer . We decided to go for a walk . Was Istanbul a safe place to walk ? It was no different to any other city as we were to come to find out during our walk . The shops were still filled with shoppers and the shopkeepers shouted out continually to the tourists to call in and buy something . A carpet to take home , spices ... read more

"All generalizations are dangerous, including this one." -Alexander Dumas This will be short and sweet. Upon reflection, I never really thought visiting a Muslim country would make me feel uncomfortable. As someone who is not religious, I respect anyone's beliefs as long as those beliefs aren't forced on someone else. Walking down the streets of Istanbul, it did become apparent that I was obviously different and didn't belong. More than once, I was approached by someone who said, "You are American? Do you have a gun and go pow pow?" The generalizations can go both ways. I was warned about terrorists before I left the U.S. I have to say that I never felt unsafe in Istanbul. Even on the back streets at night. My birthday wish is that we all, myself included, respect each other. ... read more

Istanbul, August 9-12 Alexis and I arrived in Istanbul a day earlier than her boyfriend, Jaren, was scheduled to be meeting us. Jaren was missing Alexis so he had decided to tour around Turkey for two weeks before returning to his teaching job in the fall. Although I was invited along, I decided to once again venture on my own and give Alexis and Jaren a chance to spend some quality time together. In order to ensure an easy, stress free adventure around Turkey I decided to book a last minute 12 day tour with Topdeck tours. My tour was not scheduled to start until the evening of Saturday, August 11 so I got to spend nearly two days touring Istanbul with Alexis and Jaren. The three of us visited the Grand Bazaar, Taksim Street, and ... read more

Another whirlwind day of visiting here there and everywhere. Today's agenda includes Topkapi Palace, the Post Office, A ferry trip to Kadikoy which is the Asian side of Istanbul and going past the Maiden Tower followed by another night out eating. Topkapi palace was made in 1500's by a Sultan and occupies the most wonderful piece of land overlooking the sea and Golden Horn. It has many pavilions, large grounds, and was home to a harem, many wives and many more servants. The treasures of the day are carefully preserved and displayed including so many jewels. One area was devoted to the artifacts of the prophet Mohammed including his footprints. This area included an Iman chanting from the Koran making it very atmospheric. The Asian side of Istanbul includes spice markets, fish markets and many alleyways ... read more

To add to our woe of leaving Santorini, we had a miserable flight that was leaving at 6:50AM, so that meant catching a cab at 5:30, and therefore waking up at 5:00. Brutal. We didn't have an alarm clock, and weren't sure if we were even confirmed or if there would be a cab waiting for us. We finally tracked down Sima, and she had arranged everything, bless her. The cab would come at 5:20, the guy would take our bags around 5:10, and hopefully wake us up if we weren't up. Sima even lent us a clock. Waking up was tough, but we managed. Kudos to the kids for being such troopers and being ready to hit the ground running. We didn't even have time to eat breakfast, so we really felt bad for the ... read more