Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 360

"What time is the Sunday Catholic Mass?" Cenker asked over the phone in Turkish, while calling the phone for Santa Maria Draperis. The response on the other end was not Turkish nor English. Cenker continued in English, "What language is the mass?" Cenker turned from hanging up the phone with a dumbfounded smile, "the mass is in Spanish/Italian?" We set out for the multilingual mass in Turkey around 2:45pm. We caught a mini-bus to the train/subway above ground stop, taking the train to the final stop at Haydarpaşa Terminal, originally constructed by two German architects in 1906. The area was first used as a train station in 1872. During the last decades of the Ottoman Empire, Haydarpaşa would be the starting point in the rail line connecting Istanbul to Mecca, the holy city destination of the ... read more

Of the myriad things Cenker and I have in common, we both have a sister with a little boy. On this my second trip to Turkey, i met Demir, Cenker's newphew. He is so adorable with the cutest little face and most endearing eyes. He looks like a sweet teddy bear ready to be hugged and kissed! "Bak! Bak! Bak!" you can hear Cenker's family exclaiming to Demir, "Look! Look! Look!" as they introduce the new addition of the family to the world. Cenker's Dad Recep cannot be separated from the baby, he constantly holds the baby arms wrapped around his belly as he faces out to everyone. There is a picture of grandpa and baby in the living room, where the baby's face replaces his grandpa's on his body - so poignant - the overlap ... read more

Istanbul. Almost Australia’s entire population crammed into a bustling, vibrant metropolis encompassing two continents. It’s funny - we were chatting to a bloke in Tehran who lives in Basel in Switzerland and we found it amusing how he used to go over the border to Germany to do his grocery shopping. Well, last night we left our hotel, jumped on a ferry and had dinner in a different continent… It’s quite bizarre though having arrived here from Iran - you seem to experience culture shock in reverse (counter-culture shock I suppose) - it just seemed so odd to see blokes standing around drinking beer, women without headscarfs (and the latest in cutting edge fashion), couples holding hands (and even kissing occasionally - right there on the street!!) We’re staying in a lovely hotel in Curtakan, the ... read more

Geo: 41.0245, 28.9881 GUN 7 GUNLERDEN PAZARTESİ Son derece rahat bir uçuştan sonra Istanbul'a kazasız belasız indik.Rahatımızı mavi Johhnie Walker, badem şamfıstık ikilisi ile Toblerone sağladı..Kulaklarımızda Apple 'a müteşekkir olduğumuz I pod ve muhtevasında Müzeyyen Senar,Muazzez Abacı,Emel sayın,Zeki Müren takviyesi var kendilerine teşekkür borçluyuz.Aksi halde bu uzun yol geceleri çok zor çekilirdi... Meydana indik artık alış veriş durur sanıyorsunuz ...yanılıyorsunuz..Millet mutlaka bir Duty Free yoklaması çekti...Öpüştük ..hayırlı yolculuklar diledik..gelecek seyahatte buluşmak üzere ayrıldık.. Sonuç: Herkes bir defa mutlaka Çin 'e gitmeli..... read more

The Pontic Mountains (Turkish Doğu Karadeniz Dağları) are a range of mountains in northern Turkey, whose eastern end extends into southeastern Georgia. The range runs roughly east-west, parallel and close to the southern coast of the Black Sea. The highest peak in the range is Kaçkar Dağı, which rises to 3942 meters elevation (12,933 feet). The North Anatolian Fault and the Northeast Anatolian Fault, which are east-west running strike-slip faults, run along the length of the range. The mountains are generally covered by dense forests, predominantly of conifers. The Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests is an ecoregion which covers most of the range, while the Caucasus mixed forests extend across the eastern end of the range, which is known as the Kaçkar Mountains. The narrow coastal strip between the mountains and the Black Sea, known ... read more