Turkish Delight

All right, some bloggers don't blog everysingle day like some very busy young mothers can. So it's been a couple of weeks. But tweaking Google Chrome to NOT show websites - and blogger's pages - in Turkish took some doing.

And this is not a trip report. Did that after our trip to Cuba. If you missed that let me know and I will put it up here. So, just some impressions.

This country is almost exactly as large, in terms of population, as Germany - about 75 million. Most of them seem to be here in Istanbul, on the main drag, Istiklal Caddisi, and we only 250 meters from that great pedestrian mall that has two ancient streetcars clanking down the center, dividing the milling crowds like one of those oil tankers plying the Bosphorus nearby.

When we hear the muezzins' voices from the mosques' loudspeakers we look around to search for prayer rugs being spread. But nobody responds, all going go on about their business, even the occasional totally black, totally covered women whose only features we can detect are tiny slits revealing their dark eyes. Depending on the section of town, there are more or fewer headscarves to be seen, but by far most people wear modern western, some very modern fashions.

Istanbul's location between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara is truly spectacular. I can only think of a much, much smaller San Francisco and its Bay and Hong Kong as perhaps equally stunning sites. The spectacular Bosphorus, connecting Black Sea and Marmara, and the Golden Horn, a side arm of the Bosphorus, provide endlessly fascinating vistas, with a huge ship and boat traffic in all directions.

But don't ge me started in Turkish politics or economics. There is something to be said but I will spare you the grim - and the encouraging details. For now.