Except for the first night in the attic of the Mystic Hotel, our stay in Istanbul was at the Alzer Hotel. I mention this because if you wish to hear the story of the Optimist Hotel and Ahmet and the vanishing room and the missed appointment and the awkward little dust up with Ahmet at the restaurant in front of our hotel, you have only to come by my rug store - no obligation to buy. I will tell it. 

Finding the Alzer was like falling off of a burning ship and landing on the back of a dolphin which takes you to the safety of shallow water. It was just what we needed. The Alzer Hotel is across the street from the Blue Mosque. In fact, our window room looks out on it. If you lean out a bit, you can also see the Hagia Sofia, currently a museum but formerly a 6th century church which was converted to a mosque when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople (Istanbul). Both buildings are unbelievably beautiful. The hotel offers a sumptuous breakfast in a little dining room on the top floor of the building. We were there each morning at 7:30 so we could get the best table in the corner facing the Blue Mosque and looking out over the Bosphorus, a strait that connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. It is a MAJOR shipping lane with cargo ships day and night chugging along serving the markets of Bulgaria, Moldovia, Russia, Georgia etc. I' m telling you, this place was the best. It was also a pleasure to stay in one place for a few days and cleave ourselves from our luggage. 

Istanbul is a city where you want to travel light particularly if you plan to shop the Grand Bazaar or Spice Market or any other of the dozens of insanely crowded shopping areas throughout the city. condense the sights, sounds, smells and contents of the average American mall into a snow globe. That is the Grand Bazaar.

We took a ferry up the Bosphorus, the strait separating Europe from Asia, to its termination point at a little fishing village. There is a ruin of a Medievel castle at the top of a steep hill overlooking this village from which you can see the Black Sea. We went there and got a great picture of an indistinguishable body of water and the top of the heads of a group of German boys who seemed to be in front of us everywhere we went that day. the three hour ferry layover at this village was awkward because there was only 45 minutes of things to do there. I was reminded of this statement by a friend from Corbin, KY: "if you make people wait somewhere more than 30 minutes, they'll throw $25 up a dog's butt." So true.

Speaking of dogs, both Greeks and Turks love their dogs (and cats); however, it appears that very, very few actually own either in these countries. Don't misunderstand. They are everywhere. Dozens of dogs at the Acropolis. Litters of cats at Delphi. Cats by the ton in Istanbul and every other place we went. No one wants to own them ,but all seem to tolerate and share in their upkeep. I was told in Athens that the authorities from time to time will round up the dogs, give them rabies shots and release them.