Got into Istanbul at 5 am and took a nap on the floor of the airport, it is amazing how a pillow under the hips and a fleece as a head pillow can make a hard floor bearable. Woke up at 8 am for overprice airport breakfast, then into the city. A very claustrophobic day in the big city. The Blue Mosque was packed to the gills- a big change from the ( Read more... )

Today Trey and I woke up at O dark thirty to take the bus to Antakya/Antioch/Hatay very near the Syrian border. We were stuffed into a bus and napped as we bumped along the secondary roads. I almost got left at one stop when they stopped just long enough for a smoke, but not to run to the gas station to the bathroom. We safely got to Antakya, a ( Read more... )

Today I met up with the Cappadocia Fulbright fellow and his sister who were visiting Antep. We saw the Zeugma Mosaic Museum (which included crossing train tracks and a four lane highway to visit, luckily I found an alternative route back). I am going to become a mosaic artist after I am done carving stone, I have decided. Beautiful, intricate ( Read more... )

Today was the whirlwind tour of Antep's historical district and museums. Trey and I took the dolmas (little bus) downtown to St. Bedros' Church, which had been hidden behind a factory wall for years and was "unknown", and which is now a cultural center where they were having a puppet show. Nearby was the Kurtulus Cami/mosque which was a church ( Read more... )

Two of Trey's students were commissioned to take me shopping at the Bazaar today. The mission turned out well. I found a purple Turkish rug that fit in my luggage- the selection of rugs was slim, but I found the perfect one. Plus a blue and yellow floral couch throw or summerweight comforter. We found the Zincirli covered bazaar next where I ( Read more... )

Today we booked a private tour of the area around Urfa. I woke up to the predawn call to prayer, which according to my brother includes the remonstrance, "Prayer is better than sleep", but I did go back to sleep afterwards. Mahmet picked us up in the car and we drove to Job's Cave where he recovered after drinking water from the holy well on the ( Read more... )

Slow going getting up, but Trey and I are out the door by 10 am for the bus station. The bus to Urfa does not leave until 1:30 pm, but we pass the time eating lunch, drinking tea (or cay, pronounced chai)and playing cribbage. The 2.5 hour ride took us through pistachio country, over the Euphrates River and into Mesopetamia. Pistachios have a ( Read more... )

After freshening up, I caught the metro and tram into the old city of Istanbul (Sultanehmet) with my backpack (much to the chagrin of my fellow passengers who were crammed up to it). Walked through Gulhane Park trying to find the Archeology Museum- but well worth the lunch by the fountains, tulip-lined paths, cranes!!! nesting in the tree tops and ( Read more... )

Thanks to my fabulous library volunteer and her two poodles, I had a lovely transport to the Portland Airport, full of laughter and not worrying about the trip ahead. At JFK I had to make a quick decision whether to take an earlier flight to Istanbul (but not any earlier to Gaziantep) or spend 7 hours in NYC. I paid the fee and went for it, ( Read more... )

I leave on Friday the 13th (wahhahahha) for JFK and then onto Turkey. What to pack? The weather says 72 during the day and 40s at night. A pair of jeans, spring weight pants and capris and lots of top layers? Definitely a head scarf for visiting the mosques. I suspect I will spend most of the trip lost in a reverie looking at mosaics- I know that ( Read more... )