Istanbul

Istanbul is my favorite major European city. I haven't been to many - Stockholm, Berlin and London. But so far Istanbul wins the European-cities-Bryan-likes-pageant. It doesn't win the World-Cities-Bryan-likes pageant. Istanbul is right behind Dohuk and Erbil in Iraq, and Batman and Mardin in Turkey. But Istanbul shouldn't feel too bad, it beat Stockholm and boy did I love Stockholm.

I won't write as much about Istanbul as I will about the rest of my trip but I'd like to mention a few things.

1. I spent the whole trip scared because in a few days I was going to fly to Eastern Turkey and then take a bus to Northern Iraq. I wondered if I was going to see my wife and kids again. As a matter of fact I was more jumpy in Istanbul than I was either in Eastern Turkey or Northern Iraq. Perhaps it was because the people I was staying with kept talking about the PKK and their recent terrorist activities. The PKK is the Kurdish separatist group of Turkey. They have been labeled terrorists.

2. While riding on the ferry over the Bosporus Strait, I saw a jellyfish the size of my five year old son. Jellyfish are so beautiful and gross at the same time. They are about as equally gross as they are beautiful. Is anything else in nature that perfectly balanced?

Sometimes dolphins play in the wake of the ferries but I didn't see any.

3. In the Sultan's Palace I saw a dagger that had a ton of rubies on it. I was disappointed to learn that the dagger had never been used on anyone. My guide pointed out that it wasn't quite practical to use a priceless dagger when there were so many less expensive daggers in the world. She had a point, but one doesn't stab an enemy with a priceless dagger because it is practical or impractical. One does it because it has rubies on it.

4. I went to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia and the world's largest Bazaar. I talked a shopkeeper down to twenty dollars from the forty dollars he offered on a Tin-tin in Istanbul t-shirt. He was nice enough to make me feel like I was a hard bargainer. Then I had a Turkish bath in a four hundred year old bathhouse.

5. In one corner of the Bazaar I saw the most fascinatingly crude t-shirts I'd ever seen in my life. One had a picture of Napoleon in congress with a naked blond whom I assume is not Josephine. The punchline was in English, but it didn't make sense to me. I will not repeat it, in case it is as filthy as the picture. I never realized that there was a market for obscene Napoleon t-shirts.

6. Air Turkey has the best airplane food I've ever tasted. It was like I was eating at a mediocre restaurant.

7. Everyday at prayer time, there was a call over loudspeaker from each of the mosques in the town. I'd hear it from one mosque and then a half a second later, I'd hear another call from another mosque. Then another and then another. It was eerie and beautiful. Every town I stayed at in Turkey, I'd wake up to the sound of the call to prayer.

8. I could live a year or two in Istanbul. Absolutely gorgeous.