New District, Museum, Shopping, Wandering, Resting Day 12

No photos from yesterday because I think I've run out of steam. I won't take any today either. Today we plan to see another museum (contemporary) near the waterfront in New District area.  Tomorrow we fly home.

I hope you enjoyed the blog and I appreciate you reading and being with me on this trip. Not sure I'll do another blog for the next trip because I so much more enjoy the privacy of my art journal and blogging is a bit of work. Hugs and thanks, Rebecca

Ephesus, Izmir, and Kusadasi Aegean Sea, Day 11

We got up at 5am to catch a domestic flight to Izmir and then took a tour of with a small group of strangers of EPHESUS and then afterwards were dropped off at the coast of the AEGEAN sea in the town of Kusadasi for a few hours of beach time!  And then we caught a flight back that same night!

We stopped along the way to Ephesus at the house of the Virgin Mary on a beautiful forested mountaintop. Here is a quote to help you understand (from the Bible):

"St. John the Apostle brought Mother Mary with him to Ephesus where she remained in her house on Nightingale Mountain until her death."

Along the way we stopped at a mosque and temple.

A wall of prayers at the house of the Virgin Mary.

Beautiful countryside on the way to Ephesus.

Wild flowers were everywhere.  These red poppies would pop up between marble slabs and were just so beautiful.

Statue of Nike, Goddess of Victory.

The old roman toilets... no privacy. Clearly going to the bathroom was not the same embarrassment it is today.

A small demonstration.

There was a stork on top with a nest with babies.

It was a miracle that we had brought our flipflops. It was really hot at the coast and we also zipped off our travel pants at the knee. How cool!!!!

So much fun!!!!!!!

We found some beach glass to bring back. Soft on the edge after being tumbled by the sea. This glass is sold on ETSY because people make jewelry out of it.

A beautiful sculpture of a hand holding birds for peace with Greece.

2 Videos:

Istanbul Day 10

Grand Bazaar again for a lamp, shirts, and tiny beautiful backgammon/checkers/chess game,  lunch, then to a place to sit, draw, and relax, and finally Galata Park to look at the herons again while I drew.

Bought a lamp from him.

Painted some hanging lamps outside while we relaxed.

Played a game of backgammon. It was close, but Polly won by 1 roll of the dice.

Painted the Obelisk that I drew yesterday.

I love this photo of Polly stopping to smell the roses.

We ate dinner here at this cart.

Istanbul Day 9

Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, SantraIstanbul Cultural Center/Art Museum in renovated industrial power plant, Hamam, Galata Bridge.

I have a cold now too and have had a sore throat for several days. I have a drippy nose. However, I do not care because I do not feel bad at all. I carry my bandanas as snot rags. Those are handy, remember that if you pack for a long trip.

Their stop sign is good for us Durhamites on so many levels. It just makes good sense.

Souffle and tea after lunch at the SantrasIstanbul Art Museum.

I bought a couple of shirts like this, which I like a lot.   

This was made out of styrofoam. The building of the old industry turned art museum was very cool.

Part of it, it was too big to photography properly.

We went to a 500 year old Hamam (bathhouse) where a woman with the largest breasts I've ever seen scrubbed, rubbed, and washed us down on big slabs of marble.  

For a while we played zilch (with dice) in the room to relax and unwind, then tonight we took the tram down to the Galata Bridge and had a fish sandwich (split it) and Polly had a beer. The area under the bridge is for restaurants and great views, while the cars zoom by above. It was a beautiful area. I think that just about every Turk smokes. Cigarette smoke all the time, everywhere. I really like this photo. I hope you do too.

Polly was enjoying the bridge atmosphere. 

Here is a video clip of a small strange slice of life in the touristy section. The music is obnoxious, but I like the movement of the people, train, and scarves. Turn the sound off. 

American music, by the way, is our biggest export (maybe second to Coke and the iPhone).

Istanbul Day 8

A big hello from Sappho.

This is a beautiful statue of Sappho from the Isle of Sappho (The original lesbian neighborhood). She was probably a narcissist, but thank goodness because she left us some nice poetry and evidence of my kind way back when.

The tour is over as of yesterday.

We figured out that I must have had food poisoning alone or in addition to other problem because many of our group were also very ill in the same manner. Took Cipro antibiotic that the travel medical office at Polly's office had given us so I was much improved an hour after taking that altho am not 100%. 

Saw the anthropological museum yesterday, very enjoyable.

There were so many statues in the cafe garden which was so enjoyable to draw. I am switching over to my art journal but feel like I want to finish the Istanbul story with you two (Bill and Kathy are reading this, you are my only 2 that I know of).

Tile museum

Beautiful Gulhani Park which was part of Topkapi Palace grounds back in the day, and had many blue herons nesting in the trees.

Found a rooftop place for dinner. Was a hostel with many backpackers and loud music so we left quickly after eating.

While we were eating Polly watched this woman knit. For some reason I feel this will make Kathy laugh.

We went to sit outside the Blue mosque last night and I drew it in my watercolor art journal and I started to feel like I was being watched. So I turned around and saw these two men from Kuwait. I told them, don't watch because it is not very good. They were complimentary and I asked them what they were doing in Istanbul. They were there on business as men in the fabric textile industry. We had a nice conversation, they said they saw other people drawing earlier and showed me little videos they had taken of the sketchers on their iPhones. I told them that what they were seeing was called "urban sketching" and gave them the website www.urbansketchers.org which is a website I visit daily to learn how to draw when I travel. They were excited about that resource.

I thought later that if I had been with a giant group of people (tour) then I would not have met these two men. I like traveling more without a group, but am glad I had the group tour experience.

I definitely like having a guide and may use one in the future if we take another trip to a location that would benefit with one.

A black cat came to inspect my drawing.

The cats are everywhere. They are well taken care of and well loved by the city dwellers.

Blue Mosque at night.

The view of the Bosphorous from our hotel patio.

A drawing of Mert during his political talk.

The statues in the cafe garden at anthropological museum.

Blue Mosque and diary entry.

We bought a silk rug after looking at many and going to two different dealers. Oddly, the rug we selected, only after purchasing it, the man told us it is about SHAMANS (the story/pattern in the rug).