Turkey - The Condensed Version!

I'm back!  As you know, while I was in Turkey, I was unable to access my travel blog on Google Blogger because the Turkish Courts had blocked it at the request of a Turkish Cable TV Company.  Some young turks were posting soccer footage on Blogger and the cable company went to court to stop them.  The Court solution:  Block Blogger for everyone in Turkey.  That's absurd.  No wonder Turkey has not been admitted to the European Union.

I confess, initially I did not like Istanbul.  Why?  Well, first I had a hard time getting there.  If you recall, EgyptAir had mistaken me for a terrorist because only me (and terrorists) buy one way plane tickets to Istanbul!  Secondly, I arrived at the Attaturk Airport in Istanbul, go to use an ATM to get Turkish Lira and my ATM card was swallowed.  I ultimately got the ATM card back but it was a heck of a lot of work – Strike Two!   Lastly, I arrived in Istanbul and a blizzard hit the next day.  It snowed for 3 or 4 days with icy winds and temperatures down to -5 deg.Celsius.  Brrr...  I'm a cold weather wimp who had just spent the past month in South Africa in shorts and t-shirts.  I thought I was going to freeze to death.

However, upon further consideration, Istanbul was an amazing experience.  It's a city of 11 million people.  Istanbul straddled two contients, Europe and Asia.  It is (technically) a democracy with separation of church and state but has a 98% Muslim population.  There are over 3000 Mosques in Istanbul and everyone of them calls the faithful to prayer 5 times per day – At dawn, shorty after noon, late afternoon/early evening, when nightfall begins and before you go to bed.   The calls go out from loud speakers on the minarets or towers on the mosques.  Muslims pray facing east towards Mecca.  You don't have to actually go to a mosque every time you are supposed to pray, but every Friday afternoon is mandatory and the Iman will deliver a sermon in additional to the usual prayers.

In Istanbul, I visit an amazing number of museums, palaces, mosques, cisterns and had some incredible experiences.  I had the best rice pudding I have ever had in my life.  I watched (from a distance) riot police lined up against a protest by Turkish journalists, (No worries - everything was completely peaceful).    I ate like a local and had a street vendor make me a lollipop from hot molten sugar.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside most mosques but some of my favorites places were the Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Topeki Palace, Galanta Tower, Taksim Square and the Basilica cistern.  I bargained with Turks in the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar - ( I hate bargaining but it is expected in Istanbul).

I enjoyed Istanbul so much I decided to tour the rest of Turkey.  I went on a bus tour of Gallipoli and Troy where we had an  excellent tour guide.  He was a young man of 26 but he really loved his job and he loved the stories of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp.) at Gallipoli.  Winston Churchill had sent Anzac forces to take Gallipoli penninsula -- the path to Istanbul because the Turks were an ally of Germany.  A horrific battle that went on for 8 months with massive causualties on all sides.  April 25th is Anzac Day which is a public holiday in New Zealand and Australia, with celebrations similar to Veteran's Day in the USA.

I'm tired.  More to come later, (with pictures hopefully), on Troy - (Yes, remember your Greek mythology - Helen of Troy, big wooden Trojan horse..), the Cotton Castles and healing waters of Pamukkale, Pergamon - an ancient Greek city in modern day Turkey), the ancient city of Ephesus (which was the 2nd largest city in the world behind Rome in 100 BC), Cappadocia with it's eerie rock formations with churchs built into rock caves. 
Shari