Dropping Friends at the Syrian Border
A beautiful followsummer memory! Sunday, May 23rd, 2004: Sanliurfa to Istanbul, Turkey N 40 ° E 029 ° We leave Sanliurfa about 9 a.m. – this will be a long day on buses for Greg and me. The first part, which takes 4 ½ hours...
Feeling Like Sultans at The Topkapi Palace
Topkapi is organized into 4 courtyards that go from most public to most private, which was the suite of the Sultan himself. Only the 1st and 2nd courtyards were accessible to the public, and the Sultan used to receive visiting...
Looking Down the Dardanelles Towards Gallipoli
There is confusion at 6:30 a.m. Haluk tells us this is the Turkish way. The shuttle that has arrived to take us to the public bus station is too full to fit the 8 of us. We stand around waiting while mobile calls get made and...
Up the Bosphorus, Almost to the Black Sea
Wednesday, May 26th, 2004: Istanbul, Turkey At 10:00 we are at the ferry piers along the Golden Horn, the long, narrow bay that bisects the European side of Istanbul into 2 parts, and forms a perfect natural harbour. We have...