Into the heartland

Day 6 -- I fınally made ıt to an ınternet cafe wıth enough energy to wrıte a lıttle bıt. Thıs has been a fascınatıng but rıgorous trıp so far. We have an extremely ambıtıous ıtınerary, whıch has us goıng from 6 AM tıl 9 or 10 PM each day.
Thus far we have vısıted many of the major mosques ın Istanbul (at least 15 of them!!), ımportant Ottoman tombs, funerary monuments, soup kıtchens, hospıtals and the lıke. That ıs not even countıng the museums and Bosphorus boat rıdes. We have been to the Covered Bazaar, the Egyptıan Spıce Market and the Sılk Bazaar ın Bursa. I vısıted the center of ceramıc tıle-makıng under the Ottomans (Izmıt) as well as the unforgettable mosques of Bursa.
Thıs computer ıs brutal. The keyboard ıs a Turkısh one, so half of the keys are dıfferent or not avaılıble. The coımputer dısplays everythıng ın Turkısh & I cannot fıgure out how to swıtch stuff over. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Too tıred to contınue. I wıll wrıte more when I can

In Istanbul!

We landed at 1045 this morning, checked into our hotel & then went to the Topopka Palace -- the seat of empire for the Ottomans once they took Constantinople (1453). No time for a thorough description, but suffice it to say, it was magnificent -- the treasury was unbelievable. The harem was exquisite...the tulip gardens were so peaceful.
The food it terrific and the people are delightful.
Tomorrow we begin early at the Haggia Sophia & the Blue Mosque -- mosaics, mosaics, mosaics!!

A portend of things to come

Last message from the US

It looks as though I'll be figuring this blog thing out as I go. I'm just now getting to log on from a different site and make sure that I can add posts.

I anticipate giving a brief summary of the sites I visit, with the corresponding historical background -- I'll try to keep it lively!! Hopefully I won't run into any difficulties connecting my camera to the computers in the internet cafes over there. We'll see what the situation looks like when I'm there.

I look forward to seeing the sunrise on the Black Sea, with the Golden Horn glittering in the early morning light. I'll let you know...

Skype to Skype baby!!

OK, still state-side & have created a skype account. It's a free internet phone service. My name on there is "mannjeff2" (no quotes). You should be able to find me with that or my email address, which you already know!!
Let's see how this works out...

Here we go ya'll

First post
Still in AZ, talking with Sam.
I can't wait to be back in the Mediterranean! The sunsets are amazing