Istanbul - the most exotic city I have visited

Greetings from Turkey and especially from Istanbul. I arrived here from Dubai and have been busy seeing how much the city has changed since I was here last year this time. I love Istanbul! It is my favorite city in the world. It is such a wonderful mix of the old and the new, the cultures of Turkey and Asia and Europe and the world. The great civilizations of the world have passed through Turkey and left the mix of laws, art, literature, design, languages, culture and zest that I haven't found in other large cities. What makes Istanbul so special is you can stand at almost any point in the city and see the 7 hills and dig down to find artifacts of ancient civilizations and know that you are in a place unlike any other. If you walk the streets here, you will see people from all parts of the world. I would guess you can start counting the various countries represented and come up with at least a dozen within 15 minutes. So I feel a bond here, I feel safe here and I feel I am among those in the world that are proud of their heritage, their families and their friends and happy to share with others.

Shopping is a big pastime here

Looking toward Asia

If you are in the US and reading this, you only get the news of the violence surrounding Turkey and unfortunately affecting Turkey right now. People here are going about their daily jobs here but they are on edge a bit too. The violence is not something that the Turkish communities are used to in modern day. If you turn on the news here, this week you will see the funerals of those killed by the bomb in Ankara - so sad since so many were young soldiers. But if you walk around the city, you will see families enjoying their weekends and visiting the many mosques, churches and buildings that have been renovated recently. We walked through a beautiful museum yesterday that had just opened  with calligraphy- written scripts about the Koran and life in the past. The large framed works are beautiful with tiny script and bearing the design of the various mosques -  and tiles. The organization I am working with, ISMEK, is keeping the craft going by holding classes throughout the city for those who would like to know how to paint the pottery and large displays hung throughout the city to keep the Turkish culture known to the children. It is an admirable task. We wondered through a neighborhood yesterday that looked like it was ready to be torn down. Yet there were people everywhere carrying bags of cement, pots of pansies, trees, and other construction materials. I then found out the whole neighborhood is being renovated with money the Turkish government has put aside, 1 Billion - per year, to upgrade the country. It is interesting to note that some buildings looked like they were made of wood when closer inspection showed the acrylic wood so popular in the US for floors. I saw pieces that were exactly like my deck at home used for siding on these old brick homes. This one neighborhood had renovated their mosque and all kinds of volunteers were there putting in sod and the grass and putting in rows of white rock, trees and pansies. A building there that was new and very attractive was a city center built by UNESCO. I walked to the edge of the patio and looked out over the city and had the most beautiful view of the 7 hills of Istanbul!
I turned around to see a little girl chasing a fat cat into the yard of an old house. She was a beautiful girl with her whole life ahead of her. If you haven't visited Istanbul, be sure to put it on your list of "must do!"