What a lovely people! Everyone, even the vendors, were pleasant and welcoming. The Turkish economy is booming with amazing amounts of construction and there were few signs of poverty and hardship. We know this exists of course but it was very much less evident here.
The sectarian society is a homogeneous mix of many aspects of the Muslim faith from totally free style pro-western attire to strict orthodox, heavily veiled women, often walking together or in the same family.
The landscape and towns were like home except there were minarets instead of church spires. Chanting replaced bells and we would simply look at our watches and announce to each other that it was time for prayer. After a while this simply became commonplace and no longer stood out. Funny how quickly that occurred! Just like in Morocco.
There was less curiosity here from the locals-just a simple acceptance of us and our American ways...smile. The children all waived and so many smiles passed us as we walked the streets.
The place oozes with history, ancient and modern. The building of one culture (period) on top of another was intriguing.
I'll be back again in March and I've been taking lots of notes. And...I've made a few friends!
The continuing adventures of Tom and Bobbie Lucido and the World Travel Club...this year we descend upon the Mediterranean starting in Madrid. We will travel through Andalusia to Portugal. Flying to Casablanca we travel to Marrakech before departing for Munich where we will spend a day exploring before catching our continuing flight to Turkey. Next we will board a Greek Isle cruise. We’ll visit ancient Greece before ending our nine week journey in Egypt and Jordan.
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