A Week in Central Turkey. Stories to follow. Leaving Istanbul tommorrow for Budapest. Bitter and sweet.

^^^^^^^^^The (little) Prince Islands^^^^^^^^^^
We all took a trip out the the Prince Islands yesterday. They're an hour ferry ride from Istanbul and have no cars. Laid on the trash and shell covered beach, walked through a planted forest, and drank some turkish coffee. It was all surprisingly exhausting. Tonight Ben, Sierra, and I are going to eastern Turkey to visit Rumi's home and head out to Cappadocia.





Leeches anyone?




Look closely at the second one down, on the right.

Yes, I Know, My Captions Are Incredible.

View from the toilet of our hostel in Northern Cyprus.

The old castle on the coast of Northern Cyprus.

Hagia Sophia from the Blue Mosque.

Inside Hagia Sophia.

The Blue Mosque from Hagia Sophia.

The Blue Mosque.

Inside the Blue Mosque.

Sure is nice to see some familiar faces in a land far from home. Ben and Sierra arrived three days ago, smelly and smiley, and the four of us have been constantly talking since (check out Sierra's excellent postings here: sierrasworldatlarge ). The day they got here we went to get soup and ayran (a drink of yogurt, water and salt) and then headed over to sit and talk at a park that was full of the kind of trees that have little puff balls and are planted all over Rincon Valley. On the way back we stopped to drink tea and smoke a nargileh on the waterfront as the sun set behind the old mosques. It's been fun exploring the city with them; counting jellyfish in the water, taking the ferry to Asia at dusk, philosophizing in the Grand Bazaar. Today we went searching for boza, a fermented bulger drink that's said to look like mucus and impart vitality to the imbiber. The store has been there since 1876, but were out of boza. We had some shira, fermented grape juice, instead and were refreshed and revitalized. We're looking at going to Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque soon, so Ben and Sierra can have their first mosque experience. For now they'll have to settle for the call to prayer through loudspeakers. Sigh.

öööö Turkish Delight öööö
I haven't posted in a while for a couple reasons. One is that we've been traveling a lot. Going from Southern Cyprus to Northern Cyprus, in particular, was bizzare. The Turks and Greeks used to live together on Cyprus, the cultures and people relatively intermeshed, until a series of events led to a civil war in 1963 and the Turkish Cyproits went to the North and the Greek Cyproits to the South. That's the way it remains today, with much animosity about the whole ordeal. For example, if there is a Turkish Cyproit stamp on your passport, Greece may not let you into their country. But they don't mind a stamp from mainland Turkey. Ah, the impecible logic of politics. The border between the North and South is a tangle of razor wire, propagana posters, bullet ridden buildings, and UN and Turkish troops. Passing wasn't difficult though, and we enjoyed the beautiful castles, clean air, and good food of Northern Cyprus. We met a bald, goateed American, Mathew, from New Orleans who spoke in a loud friendly voice. It was good to talk to an American, at least one who is down to earth and has that southern sort of friendliness to them. He gave us some good advice about the town we were staying in, Girne. Then we took a ferry to Turkey and a 16 hour overnight bus ride that was maginificent, at least as far as overnight bus rides go. Comfortable seats, beverages and snack service, and polite stewards. On a bus. For a reasonable price too. We finally arrived in Istanbul 5 days ago, and I love the place. Rolling hills, ocean on three sides, very clean air, creative people. Like San Francisco with a call to prayer five times a day. Nick and I got an apartment today and he started his internship at the Sephardic center (a Spanish-speaking Jewish community) yesterday. We've seen a lot of great things here so far but I haven't been able to post pictures in internet cafes. Hopefully this will change soon, but for now I'll just have to try to figure out how to describe this indescribable city.