One of the random connections on our recent trip to Turkey had to do with C. S. Lewis. Ever since I first read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe I’ve wondered what Turkish Delight was like. I wonder no more. Every shop in Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar offered free samples. I not only had my…
I was back on familiar roads yesterday, rain-soaked as they are, listening to All Things Considered as I drove to the grocery store and tried to figure out how to integrate where I have been the past three weeks and where I live. I had just pulled into a parking place when Meillsa Block said…
Thursday afternoon we flew from Paros to Athens, which was the beginning of our trip back home. It was also the first time on our trip to arrive at an airport with no one to meet us. Irene had given us instructions on how to take the Athens Metro from the airport to our hotel,…
We had one full day in Paros. Today we are on our way to Athens; on Friday we will find our way back to Boston. Though our island adventures are not what one might call extensive, Ginger and I do have a pattern. She is a beach or pool person; I am not. I like…
Yesterday was Ginger’s birthday. On a normal birthday, the phone would ring throughout the day with friends far and near calling to wish her well, presents to open, and, of course a cake. Each year, we also try to do something we have never done before. One year, we decided – halfheartedly – we would…
We spent out last day in Cappadocia on another tour. All the participants were people we had been with the day before: Charlene and Nancy, from San Diego, who began a three month trip watching the solar eclipse in Libya and, after moving across Turkey, were headed to Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan; and Yuko, a…
Yesterday was a full day. At 4:45 in the morning, Benden, the same man who let us in last night knocked on our door to tell us it was time to get up: we had a balloon to catch. By 5:15 we were in the minibus on the way to the office of Kappadokya Balloons;…
Yesterday was a travel day. We had to get from Selcuk to Avanos, in Cappadocia, which meant we had to drive an hour to the airport in Izmir, catch a plane to Istanbul (because all planes go to Istanbul before they go anywhere else), catch another plane to Kayseri, and then drive an hour to…
When Ginger wrote her grant application for her sabbatical, walking was the primary metaphor. She talked about how important walking had been in her life and how she wanted to walk in the steps of Paul through Greece and Turkey. She wrote as well as she walks and the Lilly Endowment let us take this…
In the middle of Selcuk are the remains of a Roman aqueduct. Storks come to nest on top of them every April and May. We could hear — and barely see — the new baby storks (storklets?) today. These pictures are for Amy, who likes pictures of birds from other places. Peace,Milton