Don't come to Turkey if you hate cats

We are sitting on the deck having our coffee on a wonderful day. I thought that I would give you a few insights to Turkey as we have found them so far.

For every dog we have seen there are at least 100 cats if not 1,000(ok so I exaggerate). Cats run loose all over Istanbul and a bit less so in the hinterlands. Turkish people love their cats. Everyone feeds them handouts, puts out water for them, etc. The family across the road has at least 30 they are keeping. The cats are well behaved and are generally very friendly. For the most part they are not allowed in the house. The Turks are very "hygienic" as they say. When you arrive at a home, you remove your shoes that you wore outside and put on some 'house' slippers provided. There are inside and outside shoes Animals are not allowed in for the most part. It is to separate the outside world from your home.

Yesterday we had as many as 11 cats on the deck. Anne and Angelika have been feeding them as needed. We have been petting and stroking the brave ones, who don't know about these strangers.


The Turkish people have been very friendly. They are nominally Muslim. When you walk down the street you see women covered (very few) and others in Western "style conscious" attire, and everything in between. The calls to prayer sound from the Minarets 5 time a day, but the streets seem to stay busy with work and the other goings on of life.

The nation fast food is doner kebab, which is a gyro (in Greece). They also have Starbucks, McDonalds and Burger King. Coke, Frito-Lay products and knock off clothing are readily available. But why you would want to eat any of that here when the local food is better, tastier and fresh, is beyond me. In the bazaars there were stacks of Ralph Lauren Polo attire. All said made in USA(hahahah yeah right), but of course we know they weren't. The polo player icon on one shirt was about 10 times larger than those on the "real " Polo attire. Nice Textiles though are very cheap here. They have beautiful scarves and cloth, too much to choose from!!

BTW we rode in the mini van to Milas. It was packed full. I asked Angelika if this was like this all the time. She said it is some times, but the most odd trip she had was when someone loaded on a full grown sheep! I'm still trying to picture that!!

Anyway thats it for now.

Hello From Iasos

Iasos and the village are the same place. This area has been inhabited since the bronze age. First with locals, then the Greek conquest, then the Romans, then the Byzantines and finally the Ottomans. There is a major archaeological site here with layers upon layers of cities. We explored this yesterday. Pictures are attached.

Today we rode the minibus to Milas. It wasn't quite central American with the chickens and sheep, but close. We got to Milas and the shopping began. I found two rugs that I bought. Anne has picked up so much stuff that we had to buy another suitcase! Pictures attached

Hi All,

Well we finally have a decent internet connection so I will have to spend sometime getting the blog updated. Kiyikishlajick is a little country town near the Aegean sea. It is rocky and lots of Olive trees everywhere. The community is a mix of local farming people who still live in the "old ways" and people from other countries who have summer homes . So you have all the sounds of roosters,chickens, sheep, cows, dogs, cats(always lots of cats) and donkeys. Plus 5 times a day there is the call for prayer from the Minaret(a small tower adjacent to the Mosque ) although normally reserved for religious things, apparently they have used it here to remind folks to pay the water bill or be shut off at the end of the month LOL.

We Arrived on the tenth and were treated to a wonderful lunch by Angelika and her friend . We were then invited as was the whole village to a Muslim circumcision celebration ( called a Sunnet). The locals wait until age 8 to 10 to do this. The entire village turns out for food, music, celebration, etc. It is like a Bar Mitzvah with family, friends and everyone attending. They invited us in with great warmth and kindness. It was obvious we were outsiders, but shook our hands, welcomed us and the few who spoke a little English chatted with us. They brought out trays of food, good too, and bottles of Raki, a Turkish liquor that tastes like anise(apparently some partygoes overindulged and fight broke out later on that night, Darn we missed that!!) It was really cool to see the dancing and musicians. Its not your regular band! they play the Ne, Mai, and others I can't spell. check out the following videos. Plus all the locals dancing was pretty cool too.

Istanbul day 3

Hey all,

We have not left the hotel yet, but we plan a trip up the Bosphorus river and to visit Topkapa Palace and the Blue Mosque. Yesterday we also visited a beautiful small Mosque with really exqisite old tilework from the 6th century!

WELL WE MADE IT

It was a rough crossing for me (Edward), I got no sleep on either flight, and basically was up for 28 hours. Anne did a little better and got some some sleep on the flights. Both were sardine specials. All tha was missing was the Olive oil, they or I guess we were packed.

We have a layover at Schiphol in Amsterdam. I was going to post there, but we could not connect with the wireless. The computer would connect to the Free WIFI site, but the browsers would not recognise it. After an hour we gave up and went to the Art Museum they have in the airport. When we got to Istanbul, Angelika met us with hugs and kisses. We caught a cab to the hotel. 30 minutes later we are on the hotel wireless and everything is working wonderfully.

I then slept for 12 hours. Anne and Angelika went out for a bit to eat. Today we got up and went touristing with a passion. We went to see a mosque and the Egyptian Market. I was the pack mule. When we left my backpack was pretty empty and weighed 3 pounds. Returning home at 9 pm it weighed 30 pounds. Those two girls can shop.

We went to visit some of the Jewish sites in Istanbul. There has been a comunity her for centuries. It is very small now, but both Askenasiem and Sephardic Synagogues are here. We went to one of each. The Sepphardic is now a museum, but the community has been here since 1492. They took in a lot of Spanish Jews who wer exiled by Spain. The speak Ladino, which we found out we sorta speak. It is basically Spanish using hebrew letters to spell out spanish words.

We went the Askenazic Synagogue and met a bunch of the members. They are undergoing a major restoration. I think this is one that was bombed a few years ago. It has double walls of steel,, with steel girder reinforcing between the street and the actual building. It was quite impressive. The Shamos chatted with us in Turkish, Angelika translating,. He also spokle a little French and English.

We the shopped some more, actually I watched them shop.

The pictrues are as follows the Synagogue under renovation, the Sephartic Synagogue, the mosque, shopping in the Egyptian Market

We are in Istanbul

Hi all,
YAY!! We made it to our hotel in Istanbul. The Hotel Zagreb.
Our first flight was only 8hrs and 15 minutes, we got in an hour early! Our layover in Amsterdam was 3.5 hours (we tried to use the free wifi to update the blog but it just did not work). Surprisingly the airport has a micro mini museum with some really nice and probably really expensive paintings on display. It was nice an quiet too. The airport is like a mini mall! Clothes, electronics, bags, dutyfree booze perfume,spa toystore, even a Sbarros and Mcdonalds!! and of course all the Netherland nicknacks including Tulip bulbs and wooden shoes. Apparently it's nicknamed Holland blvd. Its a damn long flight just to go mall shopping. We jumped(or is that dragged?)on to our next flight to Istanbul, gladly, only 3.5 hours. Total travel time was just over 15 hours
We are reeeeally tired.

Still here in Texas getting all the critters organized and still playing with this blog site.

3 days left to get ready!!

I posted a picture of our ultimate destination in Turkey. My "Auntie's" home. It is surrounded by a little grove of olive trees.