Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 383

Well, that's Europe done. I'm writing this from steaming hot Kuala Lumpur, about a week after stepping off of the plane from Istanbul. With the Butterfly Effect shrugged off (despite my reservation having been cancelled somewhere along the re-scheduling line, but rebooked on the spot), I have made it to Asia. However, I wanted to write a final post on Europe because it's neat enough to say now that a chapter has finished, a page turned and all those other cliches. Sigh, I love them. And that's why on this blog, I'm gonna hit two birds with one stone. The End of Europe (Istanbul) and the Beginning of Asia (Singapore). *edit* I'm gonna split these up, writing up Singapore in the next blog. *** On a side note, the pictures for this section will be put ... read more

Mesopotamia Il Mercante Eccomi finalmente in Mesopotamia, terra ricca di storia e da qualche anno anche di acqua: grazie ad una colossale diga, quello che fino a dieci anni fa era deserto ora e' una distesa di campi coltivati attraversati da infiniti canali per l'irrigazione; solo la temperatura e' rimasta quella di sempre: abbondantemente sopra i 40 gradi! Ad Urfa (Şanlıurfa) avverto per la prima volta la sensazione di essere giunto in oriente: pochi turisti occidentali, caldo opprimente, polvere nell'aria e gli ampi pantaloni bracaloni indossati dagli anziani del luogo. E' d'obbligo in questa citta' rifugiarsi nel fresco parco in cui si trovano la grotta dove naque il profeta Abramo, le due vasche con le carpe sacre (sarebbero davvero ottime cucinate come kebab...), la medressa, moschee e varie sale da the. İmperdibil... read more

Geo: 39.9439, 32.856Mike: We decided to take a break today and get a guide for Istanbul. The thought was to get the lay of the town, see some sights and be prepared for our next few free days. Yusef met us at 9am and we toured the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Yusef knew a few facts and stories but was short of details and depth and spent much time on his cell phone. The Hippodrome used to be large oval for horse and chariot races and dates back many centuries. Now it is a paved oval surrounded by buildings with two ancient obelisks and one serpentine column at one end as the last vestiges of its former glory. The previous day I actually spent 10 minutes walking around the Hippodrome searching for it. ... read more

It's my third day ın Istanbul. What a amazing city. The people here are extremely friendly, almost too friendly. you never know if they are just being helpful or if they are trying to sell you something. I'm just waiting for those words 'would you like to come look at my store.´ At this point I thank them for their hospitality. 'Why You not come see my carpets´. So I explain to them that I do not need any carpets, I do not want any carpets, I have no room to carry any carpet, and I do not have any money to spend on carpets. By this time I usually have them laughing at how determined I am not to buy a carpet. So far I haven't Bought anything I didn't want to buy. Overall ... read more

Hello agaın Everyone, I am startıng to figure out some of the keys on the Turkish keyboard, so hopefully the spelling is a bit better this time. The "i" is on another key position so it takes awhile to change my hand positioning for it. We ended the conference yesterday morning with great success, and İ was also able to make even more strides for One Child´s Village. All ın all, İ can already claim that the trip has been an enormous boost for OCV and ıs well worth the price of admission (which, ın fact, I did pay myself so it is no expense to OCV). It is pretty hot here and after the conference we checked out of our rooms and headed to the airport for a flight into the interior of the country. ... read more