Pictures from Turkey

I have just returned from a little trip around Turkey and Greece with a couple friends from college.  Here are some highlights.  Hope they are not too boring.

This is the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. 



A light shop on the street in Istanbul.  One of many but we did not feel overwhelmed....it was actually very interesting and the shop keepers were not intrusive. ( As we had heard they would be)

I took this to show the Muslim ladies in the background and the variety of their dress.   It a very diverse group of visitors here in the Hippodrome section of Istanbul

Our first meal in Istanbul...the first of many wonderful meals.



I later asked one of our guides about this and another young boy who I saw in Istanbul dressed all in white with a white turban.  He told us that the boys were celebrating their circumcisions, an act which designates their transition from a child to a young adult.  I watched this kid for a while and he was still acting like a child.

I included this photo because I learned about meerschaum.  Its a rock that softens when its wet making it easier to carve and also it absorbs nicotine so that's why its used in pipes and cigarette holders.  

These are dried eggplants which are used for dying wool and also used during the winter to eat as stuffed eggplant.

Of course we got taken to a carpet market and had to later endure the sales pitch but we did get to see how they prepare the dyes from various plants for the wools.  This was a school partially run by the Minister of Education.    Actually, I learned a lot but didn't buy a carpet but not because I did n't want to.  They were beautiful, but....I don't have a floor.

After Istanbul, we went to Cappadocia where these fascinating caves are located.  Its complicated,  but these mounds were formed by prehistoric volcanic ash and the early Christians carved out holes and virtual homes when they had to hide from other religious groups. 

This is the view from our hotel in Cappadocia out over the valley.  Very interesting and beautiful place but you can't go in the summer as it gets way above 40 degrees centigrade and in the winter it gets snow.  But, in May, it was fantastic !!!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=A7vqOqYV9Cs#t=14s

Well, I hope this works.  This is a video I just received from a volunteer who served here a couple years ago and now is back as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer, like me.  Most of these shots are from her very small mostly muslim village near the Greek border.  Its very typical of the rural parts of Bulgaria, tho.  The green leaves you see them working on are tobacco leaves.  Too much sheep footage for my liking and not enough of the kids... but it is terriffic.

Hope you enjoy it...and hope the link works.

OMG, I always panic a little when Google tries to upgrade..... but I think this blog will work pretty much the same way.  I have some more photos for you. 

This is a taxi ( tacsi) called OK, Supertrans.  This is just another example of the Cyrillic alphabet...it just intrigues me. If you're intrested....the p has the r sound, the c  has the s sound, the upside down  u has the p sound and the h has the n sound...its so intersting.  Incidentally, Peace Corps recommends we use this company.

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This is the entrance to the local market....my neighborhood is called Krasno Selo and that sign says " Pazzar ( Bazzar) Krasno Selo"

 . The backward 3 is a z... Its a slow day..Sunday..

This and the next photo are views of downtown Sofia whici  I took from the restaurant on the top of the conference center which I have a picture of later.



This is a tram stop near my apt.  Their public transportation is very good

A service dog on the Metro

This is the entrance to the "Military Club".  Its a huge building with a couple restaurants and a big theate

 r type room and I b elieve several floors of office space.  This evening a Mardi Gras type band was playing as part of the program by the US Embassy Cultural Affairs attache.  Apparently Bulgaria at one time had a huge and very powerful military, but not now, and this building is a holdover from earlier times. It is beautiful and very well maintained as are a lot of the older buildings in downtown sofia....they call it city center. 

This is a bakery that I have to pass each day.....not easy !!!!!

THis is their conference center...pretty fantastic.  You can see Mt. Vitosha in the background...they have skiing there.

This is the Sofia Art Gallery.  They were set up for a free Bluegrass concert sponsored by the Irish Embassy in honor of St. Patrick's day, see the next picture.

This is the lead singer and the bass player of the band " Lily of the West".  The lead singer is coming to Nashville in August on a Fulbright.  There were also a mandolin and a guitar player. They also had a guy playing drums which is pretty weird for bluegrass  They sang most of the songs in English but did a few in Bulgarian.  The seats were all full with SRO.  It was a big success but their actual music was not too polished...but it was OK.

I am still working in the clinic with the kids with Disbilities 4 days a week and next week I'll start every afternoon in an English instruction school working with some of their teachers.  Life is a lot easier here than it was in Nicaragua but there are still challenges....just fewer and much more manageable.  Its a very good experience.  Thank you for paying your taxes  :)

This is Felicia giving some info to teachers about the upcoming Spelling Bee.  Nice classrooms thanks to money from the EU and the teachers are very friendly...just like our teachers..underpaid, overworked and real friendly

A relic from the communist era at the entrance to the bus/train station. Not sure what it is......big.  At the bottom is a fountain but its not working right now...winter.

This is the kitty of my language teacher.  Its a calico "persian" or long haired...very cute

Not a very good picture but this lady was classic....fur coat and hat...very Bulgarian looking

These are the credentials of the man who cleaned my watch....he has a degree in mechanical engineering and htat is a photo of a watch or what  he calls a "computer" he worked on at a university in Berlin.  I think he is  a tad over educated to be a watch repair guy but that is a prob lem here....lots of highly educated people but not much work for them. Part of the document is his transcript...the grades he got in his various engineering classes. 

This is my apt. building.   Its home.....

These are now abandoned buildings that were part of the communist cooperative effort.  I am told that the communists built the places and all the people had to bring their animals here and they were housed together and then the products of them were shared among all the people.   Now, its just abandoned.  don't know if all worked out as planned or not...but, now ...nothing.  These are in that community referred to above, Dragoman.

This is the stage in the community of Dragoman where i went with Felicia, my PC friend.  They were having this celebration of their liberation from Turkish occupation in the late 1800s.  They do this every year on or around March 3.  This is a group of babas ( grandmothers) who sang a lot.  They looked like they were having fun.

Young girls in native dress doing traditional dancing.  Very very nice and lots of community involvement.

This is a swamp in that same community, Dragoman, which is very near the Serbian border.  The communists drained the swamp to use the water for irrigating fields nearby but when they were deposed, an NGO came in and has been working to reclaim the swamp...they started with only 2 bird species and now have over 200

Culture shock....this is the interior of the Bulgaria Mall which is right across the street in Sofia from that sorry looking building I had a picture of earlier.  The mall is beautiful !!!!!

This is back in Dragoman...a stork nest that is used year after year.  They aren't here yet...don't know where they go but they come later in march, I think.

 

Another shot of the interior of that mall.

That says "Picadilly" above the word Daily.  Its another grocery store.  Its that cyrillic alphabet...very interesting.

I have seen this sweet doggie here several times waiting for his owner to come out of this groceery store that is downstairs.

That says " Parking" and thats a Citroen, lots of them here. 

These three musicians were making cheerful music so I gave them a little money and took their photo.  I have no idea what that sign says but this is the entrance to one of the undergound pedestrian passageways that keep  pedestrians out of the traffic at busy intersections....good idea.

This is one of the buildings tat was constructed during the communist times, still fully occupied but no one maintains the exterior.  I am sure the interiors are perfectly nice.  Its right across the street from the new Bulgaria Mall which I have photos of later.

One of the underground passagways for pedestrians, lot of graffiti but no trash and no homeless people

That says " fantastico" and its a grocery store.

 

This is one of many vendors of Martinitzas...little red and white things they give to each other in anticipation of the arrival of spring.  Notice RayBan right behind it....