Bosphorus Cruise

Last posting of Turkey photos as don’t want to bore everyone. We took a cruise down the Bosphorus. It was a great way to see all of the city and the amazing architecture. It was of course cold and overcast but at least it didn’t rain. The photos are a bit dark due to the gloomy weather but still neat. Also notice how red my face is from the cold in these photos!





You can see how they build more or less on top of each other and all the way up the hillside. Pretty amazing but not for everyone.




There are two suspension bridges that connect the European and Asian side of Turkey to each other. They are pretty amazing. The Asian side is where most of the population actually lives and has the high dollar homes.


Here are a few of the very expensive (multi million dollar) homes on the Asian side. Believe it or not several are wood – which is unusual in this region and this close to the water.



This was our hotel from the water with a palace in front of it. The palace was very neat.



The most expensive hotel in Istanbul - the Ciragan Palace. You could stay in the Sultan Suite for the bargain price of 27,000 EUR per night.

The Four Seasons where we had Thanksgiving dinner, it was once a women’s prison and has now been converted to an amazing five star hotel.


There were walls all around the city. These are left over from the Byzantine period.


Here we are enjoying the warmth of the cabin. It was just way too cold to stand outside; even venturing out to take photos was brutal.


Something must have looked interesting to me, this is a good shot of my new bracelet my mom and dad gave me (along with the rug and an awesome Kate Spade purse) for my 30th. Thanks mom and dad!

Towards the end of the tour we had not one but two near collusion experiences. The last one we were all bracing ourselves as I truly thought we were going to hit another boat – our driver had to try to reverse our boat to avoid. It was crazy!

Hayam Al Bar (Desert Camping)

Another custom here in Kuwait during the “winter” months (if you can call mid 20 C everyday winter) is to camp in the desert. Tents are set up in the desert – which is essentially just right outside the city of Kuwait. I pass these camps on the way to the various Military bases. It is amazing the sheer number, overnight it goes from bare desert to totaly full of tents.

Camping is not high on my list of favorite past times, but camping in the dry desert amidst the sand, power lines, and oil refineries is even less appealing. Although some of these tents are very pimped out on the inside. We are talking real working bathrooms, large flat screen tv’s and surround systems fully powered through generators, Persian carpets, the works. On the weekends the desert is lit up with lights and activity. Everyone has ATVs, soccer or volleyball fields are set up, food is prepared and consumed, shisha is smoked.


Another odd concept is you are right next to the interstate – nothing like 24/7 heavy traffic noise to add to the dessert camping ambience.

I wont be camping anytime soon (I did have the opportunity to visit a few last year) but would like a tent (the black and white striped variety) to bring home for parties. The black and white ones are made from Camel hair and quite nice.

Eid Mubarek

Today is Eid Al Adha (festival of sacrifice) which is celebrated at the end of the Hajj. It is a major Muslim holiday and means everyone is off work, school, etc… A big part of the EID holiday is that the Muslim’s butcher cows and sheep to commemorate the tale of Abraham and his son Issac. They eat some and give the rest of the meat to the poor. Last year my neighbors butchered a cow and we were able to participate.


This year low and behold they were again butchering, not just a cow, but sheep as well. I arrived a bit earlier this year so witnessed the full event. It truly is amazing as they hire people to butcher the animal in front of them(one of the family members even has to chop the head off the animals) and they all sit around drinking tea, coffee, and eating.





Many of the street cleaners (yes people not machines clean the streets here) were waiting around for their share of the meat. The family also gave them all money. Very generous.

Quite the social event and I felt honored that they included us and welcomed us with open arms. A neat chance to interact with my neighbors and meet their children. They of course sent us home again with meat….

Does that mean they think we are poor? Kidding of course, they are really just very kind.

* Here is an excerpt from an online article about the slaughtering of sheep during Eid:
“Muslims need the lamb meat to celebrate the holiday, which commemorates the ancient tale of Abraham, who placed his son Isaac on an altar as a sacrifice to appease a divine demand. An angel appeared at the last moment with a ram to take Isaac's place. For Muslims, a meal of lamb during Eid al-Adha is as important as turkey is to Americans on Thanksgiving Day. They eat the meat themselves and also give some away to those in need, in observance of Quranic law.”

Christmas spirit

Over the weekend I decorated for Christmas, I am hoping it puts me in the Christmas spirit. It doesn’t feel even slightly like Christmas. I spent yesterday laying out at the pool - no chance of snow here! Here in Kuwait Eid is celebrated (right now), as Christmas is a Christian not Muslim holiday. You don’t have pretty Christmas lights, holiday music, and parties. This morning at the Arifjan DFAC they had decorations up and Christmas music playing, so that was a nice surprise. Almost makes me want to go down there more often, almost being the key word.

My tree is without ornaments again this year as I don’t yet trust Aeisha to not tear them down.

I also made cookies to take to the office. I started with the easiest and most basic, Ritz crackers with peanut butter covered in almond bark. Whenever I make these they always remind me of my Grandma Van Every. She used to make them all the time. I think she liked the easy part as well! I’ll tackle a few more complicated varieties if I can find the right ingredients. That and maybe a Xmas movie should tide me over until I land in the good ol USofA on the 21st. Then Christmas will be in full swing, I so can not wait.

Third day in Turkey

We awoke to very cold weather but at least no rain the third day. This was one of our fullest days as far as activities. In the morning we headed to the fish market so we could glimpse all the fish as they came in fresh of the boats. It was smaller than the markets here in Kuwait but still really neat. There were cats galore in the area just waiting for fish – made me miss my little Aeisha! Of course all the scary fisherman wanted their photos with us. Then we walked across the street to a very quaint neighborhood with all the restaurants serving the fresh fish. There were a lot to choose one and the one we ate at was very tasty. Just a bit hard to enjoy the fish after you just saw it whole across the street. At least they removed the head before bringing to our table. After this we rushed back for a cruise down the Bosphorus River (photos will come next). Then we hit the local spice market. They had all kinds of interesting spices to include Turkish Viagra! They guy swore up and down it works like magic. We all passed on the Viagra but did get apple tea and a few others to bring home. That evening we went to a Turkish restaurant right near our hotel for Turkish night. You had dinner and all the local alcohol you could consume (beer, wine, or Raki) for a set price. So we all tried Raki which was quite harsh as you can tell from Toni’s expression.


There was live music all night and even though we didn’t have a clue what they were saying it was great and very entertaining. Towards the end of the night they also had folk dancers and belly dancers. I may have even ended up dancing with the folk dancers at one point – not sure if it was due to the Raki consumption or the fact the management stuck us front and center so I really had no choice when they drug me out. A very very fun day for sure!