Turkey - Our Group

Before I bore you with all the hundreds of photos of flowers, mountains, plains and old rocks (and maybe food, drink and cities), I'll start by boring you with photos of our group and of us. You're not really interested in Turkey, anyway, are you? It's us you want to see! This post will concentrate more on people...if you want to know more about the country and the customs, you'll have to come back for future editions.

First, Our Leader

Nida comes from near Sardis. She accompanied us over the entire 2500+ km and was very patient with us, answering questions and waiting on the whole group to regather at every stop.  While some shopped, others were taking pictures...or just wandered off. One of my favorite pictures of Nida, as she sat waiting patiently for all of us to reappear from the Topkapi Palace:

The Group

Several group pictures were taken (at Ephesus, et. al.), but the best one I got on my camera was at Tarsus, the birthplace of the apostle Paul. This well apparently dates from Roman times, but no one can guarantee Paul drank from it as a boy.

As we began our short cruise up and down the Bosphorus, the narrow channel that separates European Istanbul from Asian Istanbul, more group pictures were taken, one of the men and another of the women.

What's wrong with this picture? The trip was only beginning and Abbie had all the men around her! Hmmm... more below, as you'll see. Actually, when the picture of the women was taken Abbie was not present, and all the women came and sat where I was. I had my seat and didn't give it up, so my picture was taken with all the women. (Didn't get that on my camera.) When Abbie got to where we were, the men were getting ready for their picture. I took her place; she took mine.

Lourdes


This group is basically the same one we went to Israel with two years ago. They come from various Baptist churches in mainland Portugal. The one exception (besides us) is Lourdes, a member of our church, who was not part of the Israel tour.

In Cappadocia....

In Kusadasi...

Us

We did get some pictures of us together, by the way.

In a tree, literally (in Istanbul)...

In the middle of Cappadocia (no trees)...

But most of our pictures were taken of her by me, and of me by her. She got to stand by pretty flowers at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul..

I, on the other hand, was in a cave in Antioch of Syria. (The passage behind me is supposed to have been an escape route  from a cave where Christians met in the early centuries when they were persecuted. I was on my way back from having discovered I couldn't escape that direction. I had to come back and join the group.)

Abbie soon adopted the local dress code. Here at Antioch of Syria, because of the cold, wet weather. A few days later, she discovered that the pashmin actually kept the hot sun from burning her neck.

She left me for another

Abbie was soon telling me good-bye.

A couple of days later I knew the truth: she had found another. Someone with more hair. I came upon them as they were about to kiss in broad daylight!

Lourdes, on the other hand, apparently had to use a more physical approach to get his attention.

To Turkey and back(?)

I know we went to Turkey. I'm not sure I'm back yet. We got home about 2 a.m. Monday morning, so it's been a week since we left Istanbul on Saturday, but the experience was so intense that I have dreamed of travelling, seeing old rocks, and being in Turkey every night since then. The landscapes are beautiful and varied; the people are friendly. I began studying the language and feel like I left in the middle of the lesson. I miss the music of the language.

I took so many pictures that I could send 4 a day, and it would take a year to share them all. And that doesn't count the film clips. I hope to take a few at a time, grouped by subject rather than date or location, perhaps, and give you a feeling of what we saw and experienced.


Let's start with coffee---Turkish coffee...what else? The ground coffee is boiled in a little pot and all is poured into a cup without filtering. At some point you have to stop drinking because all that's left are grounds. The cardinal rule: if you want sugar, it goes in during the boiling of the water and grounds---don't stir! (In fact, it never comes with a spoon. You have to tell them when you order the coffee whether you want sugar, and how much.)



My first cup, the first night. It was served with Turkish Delight, but that is another story. Yes, it was the Hotel Titanic, but we survived.

A few days later, the coffee came in a silver container...

The patterns on this cup and saucer are typical of the designs and colors of Turkish pottery. More of that later, too.