Last night we agreed that we are both tired and ready to come home. Two weeks of backpacking through Greece, the Greek Islands and Turkey are enough for us. We would do it again anytime, and I hope to visit Crete and Turkey in particular again. Tomorrow, we have to be at the Ataturk Airport at 6am so we will miss our beautiful breakfast with the Blue Mosque. We may also have heard our last call to worship by the Imam there, a hypnotic chant beckoning the faithful to prayer five times a day. I love its mystery, and it reminds me of one of my favorite recordings, Peter Gabriel's "Your Eyes".

Before I go, I will relate one more vignette I witnessed at the shop next door to our hotel. An older couple who looked American, were shopping for decorative "evil eyes", a glass talisman that comes in various sizes and which by reputation protect the owner from evil. They are everywhere here, and, soon, you should be able to see a fairly representative collection of them at my house. Apparently, this couple was a pretty hard sell so the salesman held the "Eye" up in front of the woman' s face and began to sing "Santa Claus is Coming To Town". Honest to God, and a pretty good rendition of it, too. How could you not love a country where people love what they do that much?