The far side of Europe

The last few days of riding were in rural Turkey - lots of rolling hills covered with scrub oak and some more robust forests, and interspersed with small towns - some agricultural, but many mining - gravel mining.  Not very much of great interest.  Not many folks spoke English.  Plenty of big trucks to share the road.

Finally through some forests as we went over a final ridge.  Thick forests with a bunch of picnic areas and campgrounds being heavily used by locals.  Down towards the Bosporus through a pretty valley with several kilometers of "Event Parks" - full of outdoor lawns covered with pavilions, tables, bandstands - looking to be ready for a bunch of weddings in the afternoon.  Interesting.

On our last night on the road, we stayed at a nice resort and had a chance to look on at a wedding reception going on outside:  interesting contrast as one family in the receiving line was very modern (apparent sister of one of the couple had a low cut strapless number that compared well with Pipa at the Will & Kate wedding) while the other family had women all in Hijab - Muslim conservative, though very fashionable, dress with headscarves and long gowns/suits for the women (though no veils).  Never figured out which family belonged to the bride and which to the groom.  As folks came through the receiving line there was an interesting on & off of greeting styles (as well as outright ignoring of the conservative family) between the two families.  Weird, funny, uncomfortable.  Bride & groom were dressed, and danced, like something out of an American movie (no, not My Big Fat Greek Wedding).  Nice music.

On down to the Bosporus.  Really cool.  Look across the water and there is Asia.  Look to the left and you can see where it opens into the Black Sea - somewhere up there is Russia and the Ukraine and next winter's Olympics.  There's a 7 MPH current through there, but deep underneath is a current running the other way driven by the different salt content of the Black and Mediterranean Seas.  Hard to wrap my head around that one.

Plenty of big ships, including the gigantic cruise liners, oil tankers, container ships going through and all mixed in with small fishing boats, local ferries, little family boats, and sleek high power fast boats that appeared to belong to James Bond and other folks who could buy Boulder without exceeding their credit card limit.

Then, dip a few tires into the water (nobody fell in), and load onto a boat for a trip down to Istanbul - been on my list of places to visit for a long time, and what a nice way to get there.

Spent the first 24 hours a bit away from the tourist center in a very crowded area - Ortokay - mostly used by locals.  High levels of chaos and crowding.

Then today moved to a different hotel (a boutique hotel on a Yuppie side street and returning to something resembling the cafe society of western Europe) towards the tourist center.  Spent some time in the shopping area leading up to Taksim square - the center of the unrest and demonstrations a few months ago (no sign of that now). Lots of folks speak English, so easier to navigate, and altogether very nice pedestrian mall with a trolly that stretches for well over a kilometer.  And, yes there are several McDonald's as well as other American style fast food joints.  But plenty of local shops, sights, etc.  Fish markets, silk markets, leather goods, shoe stores, lamp stores, as well as Gap, Esprit, Timberline, Birkenstock.

Off the tourist mall, the shops tend to run in groups - 12 scuba shops, 30 lighting stores (lots more LED's here than in the US), 40 hardware stores, etc.

Tomorrow on to the history, museums, mosques, etc.

Later.