My first visit to the Middle East

I was pretty excited about my first foray into Turkey. I really had no idea what to expect. I knew it was a Muslim country, but that the other Muslim kooks hated the Turks for being too secular. I also knew that half of Turkey was in Europe and the other half was situated in Asia. We would only be touring through the European side. Back in my youth I had a female pen pal from Incirlik, Turkey. I recall her saying even back then that Turkey was a modern country and much like Europe. My first glimpses of the place seemed to bear out that contention.