Topkapi Palace

This was the main palace of the sultan’s during the height of the Ottoman Empire. After touring this, I decided I wanted to be a Sultan. The administration of their kingdom is run by their mother, they don’t have to attend meetings (they sat in another room and listened),  they have an awesome assortment of guns and weapons, they have a sweet house on the shores of the Bosphorus, and you can marry multiple wives and have between 300-500 concubines. What a life!

Riot at the Hagia Sophia

I call this a riot, but it was more  of a protest against keeping the Hagia Sophia as a museum and not a mosque. Over 4,000 muslims joined in a prayer service outside the museum and then left chanting and jeering. It was pretty cool.

The Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sofia is pretty unique. It contains beautiful mosaics of Jesus, Mary and some of the disciples, yet it’s also filled with Muslim art and was last used as a mosque. It also has 4 large turrets that are typical of mosques. It was originally the site of a cathedral built by Constantine’s son built in honor of his dad, but it was converted to a mosque when it was sacked by the Ottomans in 1450. It's currently a national musuem and not used by either Christians of Muslims. This is quite controversial in the city.


                                    

The Blue Mosque

This is one of the largest mosques in all of Turkey. Like all the mosques you visit, I had to take my shoes off and wear pants to enter. All mosques also play prayer chanting over loud speakers during prayer services that you can hear playing across the city. There are multiple prayer services muslims attend everyday (every 2-3 hours).

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul was probably one of the more beautiful cities I visited. Think San Francisco, but bigger, with more mountains, more waterways, more history, and less nerds from Stanford and Berkley. It’s a very walkable city with great views, great food and a huge bar district. One of the more interesting facts is that half of the city is in Europe and half is in Asia. Who knew? Below is the flag of Turkey - I thought it was cool.

The Sphinx

The Sphinx sits at the front of the entrance to the pyramids. It’s a statue with a lion’s body (symbolizing strength) with the head of a pharaoh (symbolizing wisdom). This is how all of the pharoah’s wanted to be remembered. I was surprised at the amount of attention the Pharaoh’s spent on planning and thinking of the afterlife during their actual life. As soon as they're named Pharaoh, they begin building their tomb (e.g. - a pyramid).

Mandatory Tourist Photo

This is a mandatory photo for all tourists. The good news is that tourism was down about 80% this year so this only cost me about $2.

The Streets of Cairo

So rules pretty much don’t exist in the streets of Cairo. First exampel, there are no street lights or stop signs at all. And from what I can tell everyone self-organizes and communicates via a continuous series of car horns that never stop. But somehow they get it done and I didn’t see a wreck in the 4 days I was there. I’m still shocked. The photo below shows a guy that chose to walk in the street instead of the empty sidewalk as well as a photo of the routine sheeping that occurs on the streets in downtown Cairo. Again, no rules.

Egyptian Bazaar

There is a huge bazaar In the middle of downtown Cairo. This street of shops were selling trinkets, statues, oils, clothes, and other goods and wanted to tell you all about it, often jabbing you with the very goods they’re trying to sell. As you can see, it's pretty empty. This is one of the main places where it's evident that tourism was down 80% in Egypt.

 

National Musuem: This the entrance of the national museum that houses the many of the ancient treasures found in the 139 pyramids that exist west of the Nile River in Cairo. While many treasures are housed here, a lot of them are located in different museums around the world that were taken during various Europen conquests (including the Louvre, British Museum, etc.). However, this museum contains the treasures found in King Tut’s tomb, which was the greatest discoveries found in Egypt. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any photos inside the musuem so this is all you get!

National Democratic Party Headquarters: this the building that housed the headquarters of former President Mubarrak’s political party. Many of you saw clips all over the news of this building burning during last January’s revolution. It sits next to the national museum and Tahrir Square.

Room With a View

I arrived at Cairo late at night and really didn't see much on the way in. But this is what I saw the next morning when I woke up and opened the curtains in my hotel room. Not a shabby view.....

 

Egypt

Cairo is a city like no other. Like Greece, I was here during the middle of a time of great change for the Egyptians – as such, everyone had an opinion on the situation and what was next. I stayed through the 1^st day of their 1^st round of elections. These were the first free elections in the country since the 1970’s.

Most of what I saw of Egypt was through the eyes of my tour guide, Samir. He has 3 children, was a strict Muslim, and had been guiding tours for over 10 years. He was actually a party of a faction of tour guides that were selected to travel to select US cities with the relics from King Tuttankamen’s burial chamber. We had some great conversations about our upbringing, our beliefs, and our families. I’m convinced that if Samir had grown up in a place like the US where there were more economic and business opportunities, he would be a millionaire. He was sharp, hard-working, well-read, and had a gregarious personality.

New Friends

My dinner being surrounded by some new friends from Cyprus. Again, the food in this country was awesome (And Mateo, Irine, and Joanna weren’t bad either!).

Party Time

Momma Kyprianou knows how to cook. And cook she did. This photo with her sisters and the desserts they made during Christina's birthday party. Clearly, her skills run in the family.

Mr. Kyprianou was the #1 chef of the bar-b-q. He gave me some great ideas on grilling.

This is a photo of Christina's brother, Alexi, and his family, Haido and little Demitra. Little D is a spirited 3 year old that craves attention and gum! She provided hours of entertainment over the weekend.

Agia Napa

This was taken at one of the best parts of Cyprus - Agia Napa. I bet you all didn’t even realize there was a beautiful blue ocean behind me.

Next Up.....Cyprus

This small, island country with around a million citizens was a highlight of the trip. Not only because of the physical beauty that surrounds the country or its interesting history, but mostly because of the great people I met. I took a couple PHD courses at UT this Spring and became friends with Christina – she was born and raised in Nicosia, Cyprus and came to the US for college and is now studying in Austin. She volunteered to be a tour guide and invited me to stay with her family during her birthday weekend. I showed my gratitude by eating everything her mother put in front of me and adding 10 pounds of weight and an inch to my waistline.

Rhodes Trip

As I was on a long-term trip, I decided to cut some costs and take a little adventure as I made my way to Rhodes (site of the ancient historical site – the Colossus of Rhodes). Instead of flying, I took an overnight sea ferry from a port in Athens. However, I got my trip confused and booked a ferry that took 17 hours, instead of 11 as I originally thought. This gave me plenty of “me” time and was also the start of my affair with the Hunger Games Trilogy - that I knocked out in about 2 weeks.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t do much in Rhodes. I read, sat at the pool and beach, ate some great food, and unwound. It was probably the most relaxing 2 days of my life! Below are a couple photos of the beach outside my hotel room and a cool beach town called Lindos.