This post is just a round up of cool things that didn’t fit anywhere else. The Turkish people were very nice but we found that once we were out of the city of Istanbul communication could be difficult.

The food was quite good. Every meal started with cold mezze and then hot mezze ( meaning appetizers). Most of the time we had no idea what we were eating or how to eat it. The dinners were very heavy on fish and after a while there were some rumbling from my tour mates. The fish was served with the head and was not filleted so they were full of bones. I fared much better with my vegan meals.

When I saw this piece at Ömürlii Ceramics in Cappadocia I knew that it had to come home with me. I regretted a piece that I did not buy in Egypt and I wasn’t going to let it happen again. This was a family owned business that had been in operation for 200 years. When we entered the business we were given a demonstration of how this wine decanter was made. I was hooked. I looked at all the traditional Turkish designs and nothing jumped out at me. When I saw this piece, I knew I had found it. Of course, as you would expect, it was the most expensive decanter in the entire store. However, I did say no to the two matching wine goblets.

I have four months until the next vacation. Kenya and Tanzania in August. Stay tuned!