Blogs from Turkey, Middle East

After arriving in Istanbul the day before, we depart early in the morning for Bursa, but unfortunately catch the early morning rush hour. Istanbul, a city of over 10 million is on its way to work and we are caught up in the rush hour scramble. We leave Europe for Asia over the Bosphorus Suspension Bridge which was designed and built by the Brits and opened in 1973 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic. Our trip south involves a short ferry trip across part of the Sea of Marmara. We are on the way to Bursa, which in 1326AD became the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. We reached Bursa by noon and had lunch in the centre of the silk market followed, in the afternoon, by visits to the ... read more

As happens here - we got a last minute invite to attend a special concert from the Choir of World Civilizations. I appologize ahead of time for the lack of quality in the video but the song and the solo singer is amazing so it's well worth the listen/watch. For those of you who don't know, the Choir has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and encompasses religious songs from all the local religious groups here in Antakya. The choir is actually being studied at length by my musically talented friend Chris who can offer a much more sophisticated view of their performance. For me - it would have been nice to have a program with the names of the songs listed. As I don't speak any of the languages - it was enjoyable yet ... read more

With nine remaining days in Turkey, we are writing from our Antalya flat, which is already denuded. Each day friends and strangers come by to haul off items they have purchased during our moving sale, and they stay for tea and conversation. "What's the matter? Why are you leaving Turkey?" they ask. "When are you coming back?" In a culture in which plans are seldom made more than a few days in advance, the notion that we came for two years and that the two years are ending just doesn't cut it. So we speak instead--with complete truthfulness--of how much we long for our U.S. friends, children and grandchildren--mentioning that a third grandchild (Kate and Lisa's baby girl!) is due in September. "Tamam" (okay), they say. "But you will miss the sun and the sea and ... read more

At breakfast this morning Kath and Albert confessed that they fell asleep before the end of the match too!! So it was only me, who really wasn't interested, who actually caught the end of the game. Fortunately, Kath and Albert turned the television on this morning and managed to catch the replay. Of course they were pleased with the result. Today, with the sun actually shining, we had a very lazy day at the resort. This morning we lazed around reading on the sun-beds down on the beach. At lunchtime we ventured around to the snack bar by the Aqua Pool and ate pizzas for lunch. Then, this afternoon, just for a change of scenery, we moved to the sun-beds by the pool to read a bit more!! The only thing is that I think lazing ... read more

My day began with a short and odd trip to the Synagoge. Apparently there was a miscommunication and the person I thought would meet me there did not show. Shrugging it off I walked toward the St. Pierre. IPOD in ears and water bottle close I started the roughly 2 mile hike. Along the way I found an odd blown glass museum. The bottles were supposed to keep the holy water from the pilgrimage sites. As I left and continued walking – I ran into this guy that I had met a week or so before. He gave me a ride up to St. Pierre. We took some photos from inside and he showed me the hidden cavern that the Christians used to hide from the Muslim invaders before. These caverns make a weird honeycomb into ... read more