Hello again, Blogonauts! Back again with a messy mesh of memories of our stay in Istanbul. Turkey is a secular democracy ... well ... in as much as the government of any country in Europe could be called secular. The Turkish constitution certainly does not guarantee the clergy seats in Parliament. (Surprisingly, the United Kingdom has Spiritual Peers, twenty-six Church of England bishops who retain membership in the House of Lords). But in the same way that th...

Hello again, Blogonauts! Intrigued by the headline? Enticed to explore what I mean? Beginning to feel your mouth involuntarily water? It is a tease, dear readers. For what the local Turks call "lokum," the English speaking world refers to as "Turkish Delight." How could such a name not cultivate curiosity? And thus, numerous Istanbul stores and stalls sell boxed versions of these scrumptious, gummy, bite-sized confection cubes. But it isn't just a name. They...

Hello, again, Blogonauts! Alright, I am a bit behind. I've included a flush of photos as penance. The source for my seeming silence is .... hmmm ... I have it! ... a combination of jetlag and joie d'vivre! What better excuses can there be? I mean it ... what better excuse can you apply for me here? While I'm awaiting reasons to justify laziness, I'll slip into something a bit more industriousness This will therefore be a momentary burst of bloggishness. The...

Hello again, Blogonauts! Istanbul is indeed lovely, and among its charms are the various mosques and minarettes of the old city. Unfortunately, sometimes jarringly, from these minarettes comes a pre-dawn Arabic alarm clock. At precisely 5:36 AM, the loudspeakers on the nearby Blue Mosque sprang into surprisingly sonorous action as the muezzin urged the millions of Muslims within earshot to kneel for a bit and say a few ritualized words to Allah. Sleep, for the re...

Hello, again, Blogonauts! I'm off on another 2-week jaunt, this time to a panoply of European capital cities. We're starting in Turkey. And if first impressions count, Istanbul is toweringly IMPRESSIVE! It is a park-filled, flower-festooned capital. They seem to embrace both their ancient history, which is extensive, and the modern world. And after wandering through various other cities around the Mediterranean, Istanbul stands out from its peers for the seeming ...