August | 2012 | JB Research

Rugs everywhere!

Shopping is my vocation and avocation. So a trip to the mall is never an empty gesture for me. Imagine my delight in visiting a country where shopping is a major past time.

Before we left for Turkey, I spoke with many friends who had recently visited. Oh, how they raved: East meets West; history, beauty of the land, people effusive with warmth, personality and a general love for American people and culture. I heard this time and again from my friends, architects, engineers, developers, designers, and regular people, friends and neighbors. Go, enjoy, shop ’till you drop on the trip of a lifetime.

We arrived at 5:00 P.M. some day after we left, I couldn’t tell if it was 3 or 4 days on the very looooooong overnight flight. What we found on our first day was a “mister toad’s wild ride” from the airport to Sultanahmet, the “old city” and when they say “old” they mean “old” like 1,500 years old! The streets are thin and curvy, and when you get within the perimeter, the cab sways and swoops, and after a long plane ride (did I already mention that?) it was quite an introduction. Traffic is bad in the city and it took us another two hours to get to our hotel, a ride that normally takes 20 minutes without crawling rush hour commuters.

And so began our 11 day stay in the city of Haghia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace. It was about 100 every day, and we did see most every tourist locale. Some of the trip was very difficult because of the crowds and the heat (Who goes to a hot climate in the peak of summer?)

To put these things in context and as the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” here is how I spent my summer vacation: