Hello From Pergamon, Turkey

There was no internet in the last hotel so I couldn't post anything until now. We just got in for the day. It is 5:07 p.m. Thursday. It is 5:07 a.m. Thursday back home, and from my computer, it is 27 degrees! My lilacs will probably be frozen!! Ugh! The time has gone quickly here. Day 1 and Day 2: Sunday morning at 3:00 a.m. we got up from the hotel in Seattle and got ready and to the airport by 4:00 a.m. Plan B already got put into motion because very FEW of us had luggage that would fit in the container for an international flight carry on SO...most everyone had to check their luggage. It ended up ok, with no one's luggage getting lost along the way. The plane ride to New York was long and un-eventful. I stayed up so I could sleep on the next leg. And sleep I did! The trip from New York to Istanbul went quickly for me. We arrived in Istanbul at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning. We went to the hotel and then were on our own for a little bit. We all got on the tram and then had lunch, walking over to the Topkapi Sarayi Museum afterwards. We were without a tour guide for this museum but they did have some English printed on the signs. The museum held a lot of clothing and jewels and swords and such, that belonged to the 6th generation of the Ottoman Empire Sultan Mehmet. Shelley about got smashed by a police car as she tried to cross the street. They drive way too fast. She survived and was able to accompany us on the rest of the journey. It had been 32 hours since leaving Seattle and not much sleep to show for it, so she has a good excuse! We went back to the hotel after and ate dinner and went to bed to get much needed sleep. Day 3: The Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofia Museum were toured this morning. These are both muslim prayer mosques, with the Aya Sofia not being used as a mosque today, but a museum. Very interesting this muslim religion. The Hippodrome was next (a place where chariot races took place a LONG time ago) and then the Grand Bazaar, which had our kids fascinated....LOTS of things to spend their money on. The Spice Market was the next stop, which featured a pet market on the back side along with garden market, where you could buy any garden seed you wanted. The amount of people in this city is spectacular. The weather was on the chilly side and overcast so I imagine the amount of people out and about was not as many as if it were a nice day. The men were out at all times of the day while the women tended to be out only after the early afternoon hours. There was a Bosphorus Boat tour which went in the Darnel waterway. This is the waterway that links Istanbul, Turkey, Europe and Istanbul, Turkey, Asia. There were 2 big bridges that linked the continents with escavation going on now for an underwater tunnel for public transportation between Asia and Europe with another for private vehicles to be added soon after. The waterway was full of huge tanker ships, cargo ships, fishing boats, tour boats and little toy boats navigating amongst each other. It was cool seeing the city from the waters edge. Back to the hotel for dinner and then bed. Day 4 This day was devoted to a bus ride from Istanbul to Pergamon, with a couple of stops in between starting with Troy. This city really doesn't exist anymore except for left over bricks and walls that are left over from the abandoned city that was rebuilt 9 times before being abandoned. Fascinating. It also holds the trojan horse that was built to appease Poseiden to keep the city safe. The Greeks knew this and hid inside it and once it was delivered to Troy, came out and massacred the soldiers. The horse now has stairs built into the back legs and tourists can go up and poke their heads out of windows that are in the horses sides. After Troy the bus continued stopping in Pergamon at the hotel. We saw LOTS of olive trees along the way. Turkey is 3rd in the world for olive oil production. There were olive trees growing in every possible ground available, from backyards to clear up the mountaintops. We had dinner and then went to bed shortly after. Day 5 Can't believe how fast the time is going! This morning we got to sleep in until 7:30. We had breakfast and then headed to Acropolis (Greek for "Crown City") a town from a long time ago at the top of the mountain, where there was also Athena's Temple and Zeus's Temple, which has now been moved to Berlin, and an ampitheater (the steepest ampitheatre in the world). It was so incredible...beyond words!! Some of the walls are still there, lots of columns left over, a water reservoir and parts of Athena's Temple. Acropolis, being at the top of the mountain, had beautiful views of the valleys below so we got to see plenty of beautiful sights. A carpet factory was next on the tour. We got to see the actual ladies that make the rugs and all the work it takes to produce one. That was fun. Lunch next and then the tour guide, Mehmet, took us all on an extra excursion to a local public boarding high school. That was a fun time for the kids...to get to see other kids in a school setting. We got to go to a rehearsal for a Turkish Folkdance and the instructor let our kids participate and learn some of the dance also. I think they really enjoyed themselves. We then toured the Onyx Factory. We are now back at the hotel getting ready for dinner. We will leave at 7:30 tomorrow morning for Ephesas.