Turkey

Cruising the Bosphorus

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It may be a bit of an oversimplification, but you could probably say that Istanbul exists because of the Bosphorus. It was the first thing I wanted to see when we got there. We dropped our bags at the Empress Zoe hotel, and headed right out. We were only a few blocks away, and so our first impressions of Istanbul were those of the strong current flowing from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, the ships lined up waiting for their pilots to take them through the strait, and the lines of fishermen with their lines in dark water.

Fantastic Cappadocia, Turkey

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Cappadocia, In a word: fantastic. In the literal sense. It’s a fantasy land, both in terms of history and landscape. The region is a network of small towns that have one thing in common: the weird geology of the region lent itself over the ages to people digging caves to live in. And so they did.

And, if you look at a map, and know a little of the history of the Christian church, you’ll see that this area also lent itself to becoming a true cradle for the infant church–a cradle which sheltered Christians in these caves for up to fifteen centuries.

Ancient Battlefields of Turkey

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We’re about five hours into a seven-hour Turkish bus ride from Canakkale (near Gallipoli) to Selcuk (near Ephesus) so I’m being dry roasted by the bus’s heating system and a bit distracted by the ignored prohibition against cell phone use. Only three people are talking loudly now, so it’s actually a bit better than before. And, it’s a bit bumpy as we wend our way around the road construction. So, I don’t know if this is going to work, but it’s too dark to read, and the bus interior reading lights don’t work, so I thought I’d try. The light of the computer screen, you know.