Experiencing Turkey

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Hi Everybody!
Walt and I have been pleasantly surprised with our experiences so far in Turkey. We feel the country is a step above most of the sites we visited last fall in Asia. We have felt very safe even in the evenings on the streets, and we have found the country to be clean.
Turkey reminds us of Eastern Europe. Istanbul is the only city in the world that sprawls across two continents. To the East of the Bosporus Strait lies the city's Asian side. We stayed on the Western, or European side. We only stayed there for one night but will be going back for a couple of nights at the end of our trip. From our hotel, we walked to the Sultanahmet Square and viewed the Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia. We will go through both upon our return to the city. Yesterday, we went south to Gallipoli, caught a ferry across the Dardanelles. We stopped at Troy, the city made famous by the mythological war of Troy as told in Homer's Illiad. The stonework and walls left from the city's 9 previous settlements were impressive. We went on to Canakkale and spent the night there. Today, we drove to Pergamum to visit the Acropolis. We are spending tonight and tomorrow night in Izmir. Tomorrow, we will go to Ephesus to visit the home of the Virgin Mary and the tomb of John the Baptist.
We have learned lots of interesting facts about Turkey. The country has made lots of progress in the last twenty years. Being here is very much like being in America. The country has compulsory schooling for 8 years. Children have the same teacher for the first five years.
She has to teach them every academic subject plus PE, music, art, etc. Children attend school from the ages of 7 to 15. They don't have enough schools so they have two sessions a day. The country has 100,000 mosques. All of the priests are employed by the state and must keep politics out of the church. Some women wear head scarves in various colors, but you don't see women dressed in black with black veils.
Turkey is self=sufficient agriculturally. We have seen fertile land of plowed fields and fields of wheat, sugar beets, rice, etc. Farmers do not have to pay taxes. Family members do the work and the farms often don't have fences between them. There are many orchards of olive trees. We have been served olives, tomatoes, cheeses at every meal. The bread is great here! A loaf of French style bread is 25 cents. We have had a chance to try many native dishes. Some of the onion relishes and spices are a little strong for me.
Most of the people on the tour are our age with a couple of exceptions. A few individual parents are traveling with one college age child. I had dinner last night with a lady and her son. She told me they were from NYC and that she was a fund raiser for Hilary Clinton. The son worked for Rep. Nader. Walt told her that we probably know about as many Democrats as she does Republicans. I forgot to say that the first night when we introduced ourselves, Walt said, "This is my wife, Everette; we are from Alabama; and we are not COUSINS!!! That got a big chuckle. Everybody is friendly and most have traveled over a large part of the world.
This is our first experience being on a tour. So far, we are glad that we did it. Our guide spent 14 years in America and is easy to understand. I am not going to bore you with lots of blogs, but I will probably write at least one more.
Take care,
Everette

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Comments

[Kristi G]

Turkish Baths
A friend of mine who travels a lot with his job, just got back from Turkey. He mentioned the Turkish baths and how great they were supposed to be. He never got a chance to try it because he was so busy. Hope you two enjoy your time there.

[Mary Kay Glaze]

Your trip
So glad you are having more wonderful experiences!