More bits of Turkey

The blame for the little hiatus in blogging for the last few weeks falls squarely on our employers and their incessant need for us to return to work after vacation.

While we recounted our Turkey trip to OOFALWOvians in some semblance of chronological order, there is simply no way that a dozen or so posts and some photographs could fully cover all we saw and did in nine days there. To fill some of these gaps, here are a few more tidbits:

The ubiquitous ice cream cart

A mural of dead religious people inside Hagia Sophia

Medusa doing her thing in the Basilica Cistern

Last day in Istanbul

A Bosphorus cruise was scheduled for our first day in Turkey, but we were rained out. This turned out to be fortuitous, as some friendly Turks we met felt sorry for us and arranged to have the private yacht of a Turkish pop star sail us down the strait - a vast improvement over the large tourist ferry which was originally scheduled.

Skunk Eye insurance

There is not a public building nor private home nor edifice of any kind in Turkey that doesn't have at least one nazar hanging on the wall. These amulets, known also as a Blue Eye or The Eye of Medusa, serve to repel the evil intentions sent your way by those who may issue a pox on your house or otherwise besmirch you psychically.