The Bostanci Hotel Istanbul

... to give you a break on the cost. What is interesting is that shops ALWAYS only get $1. No matter what the item, no matter what the cost you start with or bargain down to, the shop is “only making $1” on the sale. I heard this from almost every shop owner where I made a purchase or tried to bargain for a purchase.

Tamerlane stories:

Tamerlane means “Timor the lame” which he was ...

... to the ferry to go to the Princes Islands - a group of four islands out in the bay, meant to be beautiful, having scenic beaches and beautiful vistas. The ferry took about an hour to get to the first Island - Kinaliada, but we stayed on the ferry until we got to Heybeliada, the third Island, and got off the ferry.

The ferry itself, on which there were many more people than space, and we managed to sit between two families, and watched as people were berating eachothers ...

... that Einstein probably spent most of his lifetime looking for in his GUT (grand unified theory).

Like other countries in its position, a not-so-long-ago Mexico comes to mind, Turkey seems like a nation of retail artists/gougers. An inordinately large percentage of people seem to make their living by taking a watermelon, cutting it up, and then selling the individual pieces at the same price as the original whole to people who are too lazy or stupid or rich ...

... at the Palace. One of Roberto's and my challenges was to capture 10 pictures of real people. Neither of us are strong in capturing people, haven't figured out why. My friend Jean-Pierre (friend from Abu Dhabi for those who don't know him) amazes me with his ability to get all these great shots of people, so I'm hoping to learn how to do that. I can take pics or architecture, of nature, of friends ...

... we saw a little man in a suit holding a sign that said one of the girls names we were with. They had a nice shuttle and everything ready for just the four of us and took us straight to the hotel. Since we had originally planned on traveling with 6 people, we ended up renting a "flat" in a hotel. We tried to downsize rooms once we got there but the hotel was full. The three different Angels House employees were sooo nice and accomadating. They really value their ...

... ngly endless rows of stalls/shops. On the way here we went to The Sophıa Museum. An ınterestıng mosque (once church) that is having the surfaces restored to when ıt was a church. We leave tomorrow night on an overnight train to Veliko Tarnavo in Bulgaria. Oh, and the Elvis thing? Muslim countries have a call to prayer which is belted out of all the mosques around 5 times a day. We have nicknamed it Elvis... :-)

... the complex is off the map, we have left the compass behind, and the streets leading to it are under the map legend, so we can't see them. so we guess, and head for a street where we can get a bus. On the way, pass a mosque with a Friday sermon in progress, and a policeman with a walkie-talkie watching it. Avoid it, then try at a bus-stop to get on a bus, or get info, without luck. Walk up the street, find a street ...

... no mean feat considering the size of the Bazaar is the equivalent to a suburb! We headed to where I thought they would be (in the bowl aisle) and yep - there they were... I helped Flik choose her bowls and ended up picking up one myself -- so hard shopping with 8 people -- the waiting and everyone wants to look at different things... I was happy to leave and cruise back to the hotel... I got ready for dinner and attempted to spruce up a bit (we have ...

... style palace and truly opulent. As we approached the entrance we were told by the guard that we were not allowed to explore the palace in our own time, but rather, we were obliged to join a guided tour. To be fair, there was no additional charge, but I really don't like a guided tour. There were about 50 of us in the 'English' tour. I think there were only about 10 of us that were native English speakers. There were lots of Italians and Germans, Japanese and other ...

... we had in mind. Having made it so close to the famous ruins of Ephesus we decided to do a combo of busing and biking the rest of the way south then take another bus to the relatively cool (35 C) mountains. Ephesus is also quite interesting and old. I'm not much of a history buff, but it is interesting to think of all the work that went into building such structures, the attention to detail is impressive. I also learned that it is believed that Mary ...