So much to see, so much to do, without enough time to do it all. We spent a total of 9 days in Greece. Now that I am home and able to reflect, I’m left with lots of memories. Photos are a great lens as I look back and realize all that we saw. This was…
It’s All Greek To Me!
It’s time to see the ancient ruins of Athens I can’t put it off any longer. Come on along, here we go! We started at the Temple of Zeus.Hadrian’s Gate. The ancient and modern all in one place.Theatre of Dionysus.Beautiful sites from the Acropolis looking out over the city of Athens.This was one of my…
Time To Eat and Shop in Athens
Of course, Athens has incredible history and I will cover that, but right now I’m hungry, so let’s eat and do a little shopping! Turkey adheres to pork free dining. When we arrived in Greece, imagine how happy those of us that love bacon, were to see bacon on the menu!! Oh yes, they had…
Izmir’s Karisyaka on the Other Side
I had the good fortune of spending the afternoon with someone that speaks Turkish. Off we went on the ferry to Karisyaka, known as the other side. It was a grey but beautiful day. Riding on the ferry gave me the opportunity to take some bird pictures. These Bonaparte’s gulls, yes that Bonaparte, Charles Lucien…
Terrace Houses and Cats in Ephesus
My visit to Ephesus is the gift that keeps on giving. There was so much to take in while I was there. Not to mention it was raining for part of the visit and not slipping on the cobbled marble was a very high priority. It’s after I’ve returned home that I have learned so…
The Emphasis is on Ephesus
Let me be clear. While I took history classes in school like everyone else, I was probably paying much more attention to what the girls were wearing and where I was going after school. Consequently, I spent 2 1/2 weeks in the cradle of history without a lot of background information to draw on. Since…
Welcome To Izmir, Turkey
There are so many things I will be sharing along this journey. Today, it won’t be the ruins and countryside, because it’s lunchtime after we arrived in Izmir.Here is what we had…Starting with this fabulous lentil soup.Salad.Chicken kebab and lamb patty.Refreshing oranges for dessert.After lunch we had the opportunity to stroll along the grounds of the…
How Bazaar!
A bazaar is a large market place selling miscellaneous goods. In this case, The Grand Bazaar is the granddaddy of them all. Founded in 1461, with a network of 61 covered streets enclosing 3,305,000 sq ft, the bazaar is home to over 4,500 shops. As many as 400,000 shoppers, both local and around the world,…
Tour Time in Turkey
After spending the first day acclimating to the time change, it was time to take an official tour of incredible Istanbul. Our guide gave us the following warning, “Pedestrians beware, traffic lights are for decoration only!” Glad we were on a bus tour. These first pictures are from the old city walls of Constantinople, constructed…
Istanbul Not Constantinople
Just how long does it take to travel from California to Turkey? Wish I could tell you it’s a blink of an eye, but instead it’s 12 plus hours.One moment it’s Thursday evening and then it’s Friday evening as we landed in Istanbul.Istanbul’s population is 18 million, that’s 14 million more than Los Angeles. On…