Istanbul

Imagine the contrast: going from a country of 3.5 million to a city of 13 million; that has been the shift from Bosnia to Istanbul. My imagination could never have come up with this place. We have 8 days here and that is still not enough. Some of our group have set out on excursions to other parts of Turkey (we have a group currently in Ephesus) but I opted to immerse in Istanbul and hope to get to the other parts another time.

In the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die, Istanbuhl racks up with 7 entries and I have been knocking them off the list each day. Here are a few:

- The Haggia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Within 1000 yards from each other, these two structures are individually stunning and as a pair are fantastical. Together they are two of the most distinctive structures of the expansive Istanbul skyline.

- The Bosphorus - is the river that runs through Istanbul and gives the city its distinction of being the only city sitting on two continents. One side of the Bosphorus is Europe, the other Asia. On a river trip yesterday, we sailed up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. The mosques, palaces, palatial homes and all array of ships and boats - combined with blue water and a very warm and sun-filled day (as have been all our days in Istanbul) made for a most delightful trip.

- Turkish bath - We tried the bath in Budaphest which was a delicious spa-like experience. A Turkish bath is a whole other level. This one truly fits the 'bath' experience. I was 'bathed' and massaged (from head to toe) by a generous portion of woman named Felice. Bathing included being scrubbed down with a sandpapery mitt and being splashed repeatedly at the ritual's end with copious amounts of cold water (which felt good in that steamy space) ladeled from a marble basin (every thing is well worn marble in this place) with one of the traditional hand-hammered tin basins distinctive to the baths. After the hour plus experience one sits wrapped in a towel and drinks tea and munches on Turkish delight before slipping off to your individual changing room, complete with single bed in case you need a little nap after all that . . i did.

Soccer update: The Turkey vs. Germany game (semifinal game in the tournament) was our fourth game in the host country of a Eurocup team and this one, alas, was the first loss. Ahh, we were hopeful for a win as the final game would have been with Turkey on Sunday, our final night on this trip. It was a terrific match and a close one. Seeing the exuberance over each goal the Turks won was surely only a taste of what a victory would have looked like. But perhaps, with the spirit of this team of students and a photographer who could not have resisted rushing into the post-game frenzy, I can be thankful for no soccer fatalities. (Footnote to the comment on my last post, that we had been told Turks like to shoot guns in the air after a victory, there was the icon of a handgun with a red X across it in the corner of the television during the game broadcast. . . ).