Piccolo Mondo Hotel Istanbul

... the best
baklava I have ever had with crushed pistachios on top. I have hummus every
day on flat bread. I eat almonds and pistachios and dried apricots.
I met an art historian from Haifa, Israel, who is here studying marbling. Diedra
will know what that is about. She and I are going Monday night to a Mevlevi
Monastery to a ceremony of the Sufi with whirling dervishes. In an earlier
period, they were outlawed but ...

Merhaba for the last time from Istanbul,

Almost a year ago, I entered Garfield High School to find that freshman year is about as rigorous as convincing my dad to buy junkfood (not at all). I was frustrated by a dull curriculum, and not looking forward to a year of boredom. Then I found Rotary International. Passing through interviews, completing paperwork, attending meetings, all with the goal of international travel ...

... not seem to matter as these buildings are places of practical worship and not of ego and madness. The waterfront area is focussed firmly on the needs of the city dwellers. You can walk over the bridges but most Turks pay the $1.40 for the hot dogging ferry ride across the short stretch of the golden horn. The engines inside the ...

Friday 12th September: Istanbul When the train pulled into Bucharest I was still a long way off getting to Istanbul but the journey had progressed without problems. It was 7am and the station was already manic busy. I was going to have a few hours layover here, not ideal as I was keen to get to Istanbul as quickly as possible, all this hanging around was not good for me as it was giving me too much time with my thoughts. The events of the last few weeks were constantly running through my ...

... group. The tour leader is a Kiwi named John. After getting the formalities and the introduction out of the way, we went for a locally guided tour of some mosques and the grand bazaar. It was interesting chatting again to the Turkish guide about everything from Harry Kewell and soccer to touring around Asia. After the tour we went and had dinner as a group in a rooftop Turkish restaurant. It was a good meal with great company. This was followed by a visit to a Turkish teahouse for ...

... saw us exploring the bosphorous, the channel that separates European turkey and Asian turkey. The water was a glorious blue colour, and the sun was shining. The ferry was going to take us up to the end near the black sea where we could have a sea food lunch before coming back. We got a fixed menu for 6 Euros and had a few beers. Everything was deep fried, but the calamari and mussels were great! We got kept up again with lots of music and people up all night. An ...

... and also the ANZAC museum. I hate to say it but the Australian monument puts the New Zealand one to shame......it stands so tall and so proud as a remembrance to all those lost in the war yet the NZ monument doesnt even have its own ground as it stand in the shadow of Turkeys monument to Ataturk. We attended an ANZAC eve Barbeque before heading into the cove where we would camp put for the dawn service the following morning. Luckily enough we managed to meet up with Laura ...

... Since the 1930's when Ataturk declared the site a museum, they have been restoring the mosaics and the rest of the church. After the almost obligatory carpet demonstration, we finished the day in the Grand Bazaar. A gigantic place packed with tourist and souvenir salesmen. Colorful but it just felt too 'tourist-y' for me. After about ½ and hour, we had enough and went back to the hotel. Dinner ...

... spot on the map that we are flying over. "Soon" he tells me "we will be home soon." The ovehead tv screens show the exact postion on the map. Pretty impressive. I've always believed that there should be screens on every flight, mapping the way, and telling you what is down below us as we fly. This is close to what I want. An announcement in Turkish says we are landing - I translated the announcement just by looking at the excitement in my seat partners face, before the ...

... went back to the hotel on a tram. We stopped one stop early and got dinner and ice cream.
(Typist's note: Alex is blogging while his sister gives his a pedicure) Alex: I had a wonderful day. We went to the spice market and we bought Turkish Delight and I love Turkish Delight. We went to Topkapi Palace. At Topkapi Palace Daddy got wet when we were taking a picture by a fountain. We went to dinner and we watched them make pide. If you wonder what pide is, it's a type of Turkish ...