I will break this into two parts as the server seems to be having difficulty with it


(Message edited by Valterreekian on April 10, 2006)

Part 2.

ISTANBUL!

The famed "Blue Mosque", named for the great amount of blue glass in the windows and the fact it is painted inside in Blue and white (the colors of the Ottoman Empire)

Exterior


Interior


This Exterior was taken during the eclipse. We had about a 75% eclipse here. The light is shed was surrealistic



The great Haghia Sofia. Over 1500 years old, this building has been both a Mosque and a Christian Cathedral. It is now a Museum.



Now the next place was really cool! Built by the Roman Emperor Justinian, this great Basilica Cistern was the size of a football field and was 50 feet undergound.



It had two oddities though. The Turks say they still have no idea why they were added..

The green oozing column



The Medusas. There are two Medusa columns One has the head upside down and the other laying on it's side.....very odd.



The Grand Bazaar (and WAS it!) This place was HUGE. This is a shot down one of nearly 30 corridors going off to the south. BTW, the Touts are extremly aggressive and quite cunning in their tactics here.



Topkopi Palace. This place was cool. It had a Harem section which once housed some 400 concubines of the Sultan! Poor guy.....yeh, right.



The Fortress of Europe, built in only 4 months! This was a staging area for the invasion of Constantinople. This was actually built in 4 months. It is huge! Across the Bosphorus River is the Fortress of Asia.



These are shots of the beautiful and regal Dolmabahce Palace. It had a Harem that took up nearly 1/3 of the palace! It was a large grounds covering some 25 or so acres right on the river.

Exterior:



Interior:



And Finally Zurich!

We were only here one day due to an airline foul up, but DCool1 was "Cool" enough to come pick us up and show us Zurich (Thanks DCool, you are a class act)! What a beautiful city. And as DCool pointed ou, the women are hot, hot, hot! We toured around downtown a bit and even got a tour of the "Red Light District", but alas at the prices they were asking, I had to pass.

Here is the city on the water:



And here is the bar that Albert Einstein spent a lot of time while working on his General Theory of Relativity back in the World War II era.



Well, it was a great trip, and an exhausting one. I highly recomment Istanbul to all who would be interested. The people were remarkably friendly and honest (for a change). The city is very modern (though not architecturally of course) and VERY clean. The people are very cleanliness oriented and hospitable. The food was great and diverse. They made it clear that they are not Arabs. They are Muslims. They hate the Arabs, and the Arabs hate them. Also, here you rarely see a woman with her head or face covered. It is very cosmopolitan. I will return to Istanbul for sure!

Egypt is not a place I recommend. It is filthy, there are almost 20 million people in the greater Cairo/Giza area. The pollution rivals that in Mexico City. On the best day, visibility was 1/2 mile. The touts are aggressive and very dishonest. Some even try to give you a "free" gift and then demand money for it. They will not take it back and will cry thief. The tourist police are aware of what is going on and do noting. While we were in the Valley of the Kings, we entered a Tomb, and there was an employee in there with a flashlight. He hassled EVERY one of the literally hundreds of tourists who went by for a tip! In the National Museum, an employee holds all the toilet paper to the side, giving out a few pieces to each customer and then demands a tip. He does no get one from many, but a few of the weaker minded tourists cave in and give him one, thereby encouraging the tactic.

Everything Ancient about Egypt was wonderful, everything else was pure shit. The food, the service, the attitude, all were pathetic, and WAY overpriced for the local economy. A burger in the Hotel was 37 pounds. Around the corner it was 2 pounds (There are 5.75 pounds to the dollar). Internet was $18 US per day and all in one session. If you logged off, you lost the rest of your time, etc. These people have worked out EVERY conceivable way to get money for everything from every tourist. I would not recommend it.

Athens is always great, though a bit spendy. Watch out for the hotels though, as the rooms are small and the bathrooms are downright tiny. I am not a very big fellow and I could barely fit in the shower. The food here was good though and the people though a bit blunt are generally friendly and show great pride in their county and heritage.

Well, hope you all enjoyed the report!

Val

Did you find any good Egyptian or Turkish mongering ? Love the look of the Egyptian women

No Egyptian options that I saw. The girls I was with were European.

In Turkey, the same, although there was a Red Light section with Turkish women in it, the "guards" would only allow Turks into it.

Hi Valterreekian
Great pictures, up to a few years ago I use to have to travel on business to Istanbul regularly and although I loved the city I was mugged there twice, placed under house (hotel) arrest once (long story) and scammed more times then I care to remember.

As for Egypt, I always found the people friendly except as you wrote the touts who prey on tourists. If you eat with the local the food is great and cheap just don’t drink the water even stay away from the ice. Some of the best Scuba diving in the world can be found in the Sinai which is a cheap and comfortable overnight bus ride from Cairo. If you are looking for some action head to Victory Square at night but be circumspect Cairo sure isn’t BKK.