June 2026

Neolithic Sites in Turkey – May 2026 May 19 Leave PDX on Icelandair . Good flights, but the seats in Iceland First Class are scarcely better than other airlines’ Premium Coach – cluttered leg space, too-hard seats recline only a few degrees. On the second flight I was in the front row, too close to the wall for legroom but luckily there were two empty seats farther back so I moved there. The second airplane was much more comfortable than the first. The Berlin to Istanbul flight on Turkish Air was a huge step up. Seats more comfortable with decent recline. They served the best meal I’ve had on an airplane in ages – delicious appetizers, excellent fish, a very nice rice pudding dessert. One regret - in the drinks menu I noticed several very distinct Icelandic gins, and failed to try one. Unique botanicals, one brand turns pink when you add water (including tonic). I've been avoiding liquor on flights but still... how many chances will I get to try pink gin? May 20 Arrival, Arrival was a mess. There were only a few signs in English, and my brain was in worse shape than I realized. (I'd just as well have had the gin - it couldn't have been any worse.) In retrospect it’s comic – “giris.” in Turkish means “entrance” but I read it as “girls” - nonsensical and rather funny in retrospect but it slowed me up getting through passport. I think not having my distance glasses with me contributed to the frustration – in the future I will carry them. Then I couldn’t find the right luggage conveyor, and I couldn’t get the ATM to give me any money. 36 hours with no sleep only an hour or two half-dozing is not enough for brain function. So I gave up on Metro and took a rather expensive cab to the hotel. May 21 Free day. I got a decent 4 or 5 hours sleep, not enough but a start. I had booked an island tour from a marina across the golden horn but couldn’t figure out how to get there – the desk clerk said take the tram but I couldn’t get the ATM to give me cash – didn’t realize the tram gate would just read my WISE card. Ended up walking around the neighborhood, took a different boat tour that was disappointing. But as the day progressed I gradually felt more energetic, with the fog clearing from my brain. May 21 evening - meet the tour group Big shock: There are 19 persons, way too many. The tour leader, Juneyt, seemed well-organized and competent but I couldn’t see how one person can possibly handle that big a group. I was told it would probably be 12 or less. Half of them reached the hotel a half hour after the planned intro meeting, so the initial meeting with the science expert, Sinan, was postponed until the next evening. We walked down to the tram then walked a few more. blocks to a nice restaurant with a view over part of the city. Juneyt was good about telling the restaurant about my dietary restrictions; they served my salad first but served my main course and dessert after everyone else. Half the party were nearly finished by the time I got my meal, and the beef was chewy, so by the time I had eaten even half my meal it was obvious I was holding everyone else up, so I gave up on it. The beef was served on a watery bed of greens, not terribly appetizing, so I just gave up on the last half of it. They served me a plate of fruit and I ate the ripest part in something of a hurry. (Fruit so hard and green it was inedible was a pattern during the entire trip.) This is why I dislike groups this large – meals, site and museum visits, it’s all the same. In my experiences people in front at least get to see what we’re there for, but they are pressured by the people behind and the people behind just struggle to keep up, hear none of the tour guide’s explanations and scarcely see anything at all because the group has already moved on. [These guides proved to be excellent at making sure everyone was included.] May 22 Istanbul sites. The group took the tram to Hagia Sophia – glad I saw it 20 years ago. They have installed a huge metal scaffold to support the dome, and the ground floor is designated as a mosque and restricted to Muslims. The second floor is still a museum, open to the public. I was quite impressed by both the few intact mosaics and (as I was throughout the trip) the calligraphy of Arabic. The Blue Mosque is beautiful but now it is totally jammed, very long line (but it moves fast). Again, glad I visited before it became so crowded. As the day wore along I felt my Istanbul schemas becoming active and getting around much more comfortable. With an early flight – to our first excavation site -- we had a 2:30 am wakeup. Nonetheless, we walked down to the waterfront, sacrificing over an hour of precious sleep time – but it was worth it. The restaurant is excellent – I shared a grilled octopus, whole grilled sea bass and plate of oiled broccoli with another guest; we all enjoyed great conversation & meal. As he always did, our guide Juneyt did a great job of taking care of me and the other guests with dietary restrictions, explaining to the servers and helping us with selections that were both safe and delicious. This, the second group meal, was much more satisfying than the first night meal and left me feeling much better about the situation. May 23. Konya and ÇatalhÖyÜk. Early wakeup, mostly easy trip to the airport except for one person who slept in and had to be called again. Fortunately the traffic was light, both to and in the airport. The flight was awful – over an hour in a narrow seat with my knees grinding into the seat in front of me. Konya is located on a large very flat plateau between two mountain ranges, both sites of former volcanic eruptions. The plain is dotted with mounds of various sizes, all known from aerial surveys to cover neolithic settlements. A few decades ago an archaeologist excavated one of these and found evidence of sustained human habitation. ÇatalhÖyÜk was very interesting. Beginning about 9000 BCE people built and inhabited a 23 hectare site, which remained occupied for a thousand years. They built with mud bricks, and plastered over, with paintings of animals and humans on many of the walls. The structures were adjacent, with no space between and with flat roofs covered with dirt and accessed from above. Some units were divided into two or three rooms, with a hole to crawl through but no door connecting them. Single rooms often have partial walls to separate areas dedicated to particular uses – including one for sleeping (with raised platforms) and one that is kept clean. Walls are often whitewashed and decorated with images of animals. Dead are buried under the floor of the home – and it appears that they are often not related. Children appear to have lived separately from parents. Cooking was done in outside areas. When a new home was desired for whatever reason the old was broken down and the new one built atop the rubble. That’s how the sites grew into mounds. The society appeared to have been egalitarian, based on some agriculture, hunting and gathering, and trade in obsidian and obsidian tools from volcanoes to north and south. The settlement at Çatalhöyük consists of rectangular, flat-roofed houses with adjoining walls. The houses were built side by side without any space between them. Entrance and exit to the houses were provided by a ladder, accessed through a square opening in the roof. This opening also serves as a chimney through which the smoke from the hearths and ovens is discharged; since there are no windows in the adjoining walls, the only light source is this opening in the ceiling. Given the limited illumination inside, it is believed that people carried out daily activities like food preparation, weaving baskets, and other tasks on the rooftops. Communal living and joint production were predominant; roofs were used to pass from one place to another and probably functioned as a street or plaza for casual socializing as well as access. When Çatalhöyük was first established, hunting remained an important source of meat, but by the middle levels 80 percent of the animals found were sheep and goats. The now-extinct aurochs, which occupies an essential place in the community's world of symbols and rituals, was domesticated in Çatalhöyük only in late periods. The inhabitants probably resisted turning this wild creature of symbolic value into a domesticated animal, even though it had been domesticated in other parts of Anatolia. The people of Çatalhöyük had a sophisticated aesthetic sensibility and decorated the mud-brick walls by whitewashing them then painting them with abstract, human and animal images. These settlements are important for several reasons. They give a good sense of the early development of culture, predating true agriculture by hundreds of years, and the gradual use of domesticated animals and plants. After visiting these sites we went for a late lunch. As I tried to do everywhere I had authentic regional food for lunch, a salad of white beans, boiled eggs and tomatoes and a bowl of yogurt with some herb or spice I didn’t recognize. For dinner I had a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers both chopped rather fine, with garnish of green onions and parsley and a chunk of slow-roasted lamb – all delicious. Yogurt is often served with both lunch and dinner, usually sprinkled with herbs (dried or fresh) or containing small berries. It is sweeter than our yogurt and complements the spicier dishes nicely. Whirling Dervishes (Sufi) After dinner four of us went to a demonstration of Whirling Dervishes – which originated in Konya. The whirling is a kind of moving meditation, a ritual to connect with Allah. I found it quite interesting. I took several short videos as well as still photos. The feet move in a systematic pattern, and the arms are raised in a gradual ritual, hands beginning together at the waist. The dancer slowly raises them, beginning to separate them as they pass the face, and spreading arms wide beginning when the arms are nearly straight in the air. (As the introduction emphasized, the ceremony is a ritual, not a dance in the sense of artistic entertainment. That distinction is evident throughout.) Two figures did not join the whirling. One is a sheik, leader of the ceremony, who began it with a chant, then periodically blessed the others as they walked in front and bowed to him. The other figure simply wandered around the floor, between and among the dancers. Even watching it seemed contemplative. Having had less than four hours sleep the previous night I was glad to get to bed. I was wakened by an overamplified call to prayer at 4:30 after a good night’s sleep, feeling much refreshed. I am presenting the other sites mostly in the order visited, not in any historical sequence. By now I was beginning to appreciate our guide, who managed to keep the entire huge group organized, and always made sure everyone had plenty of time at each site, even if it threw us off schedule. May 24 Cappadocia ["C" is pronounced hard, like our "k") Immediately after breakfast we boarded the bus and departed for Cappadocia. Along the way we stopped at the largest and most beautiful of the Seljuk Caravanserais, built in 1229. It is a sort of inn, developed by a local Sultan to encourage traders to continue bringing goods from the east by providing shelter and protection from gangs of robbers. Surrounding an open courtyard are a kitchen, infirmary, saddlery, rooms for guests, and a large overhang to provide shelter for animals. The walls of the shelter area are lined with some interesting paintings in a unique style, and the support columns have bas relief carvings in a completely different style. AŞIKLI HÖYÜK This was another excavation of a 9000 year old settlement, not covered with a shelter, but just with plastic tarps. This was one of the earliest excavations, done and documented in the 1990s, before they realized that rain and melting snow would erode the site fairly quickly. The approximate location and shape of the buildings are marked with We found lots of worked and partially worked flint shards just lying on the ground indicative of the village’s role in the flint trade. Some were so thin they were translucent, and edges as sharp as a knife. The site provided few interesting photos, and was most interesting for how it demonstrated the development of archaeological tools and techniques. We drove on to Cappadocia and checked in to a hotel set among the fantastic jagged hills or eroded tuff that spread for miles in every direction, then walked down the hill to a small restaurant where I had a dish of stuffed mushrooms that was very nice. The best views of the fantasy rock formations are from the air (tomorrow’s report). After lunch we visited an underground city (one of many in Anatolia); five levels of dwelling chambers connected by small tunnels (I had to duck walk through most, crawl through some). During the early Christian era, several underground cities were carved out – the exact dates are uncertain. No-one is quite certain why they were built (probably to hide from anti-Christian violence) or how long they were used at one time. They were discovered mostly by accident (like a shepherd stumbling into one) in the 1960s and later. May 25 The day began early. I got up at 4, got ready and was picked up for a balloon ride. We reached the launch site in early twilight; a few balloons were already in the air and many were in various stages of inflation. I was dismayed to see that the passenger baskets were the size of a small bus, divided into at least 20 square compartments. Fortunately there were only three of us so they put us in a corner compartment – even more fortunately they loaded me last – into the very corner. We were strapped into our places, then waited in growing anticipation while they finished inflating the balloon. We felt the basket slightly swaying – and we were airborne! It was very beautiful – the twilight sky filled with balloons, each sporadically lighted by the propane jets inside. (They make quite a loud roar.) The ride was amazingly peaceful, slowly drifting past rock formations, sometimes brushing over a treetop. The pilot took us down into a canyon, past several moguls, then up over the rim, over a nearby ridge, up and up to about 6000 feet. The city lay below us like a planner’s model. I was quite tickled when I saw a hotel swimming pool shaped like Casper the Friendly Ghost. After a little under an hour, the pilot brought us back down near the ground. I was amused again when we came over a ridge and saw a photographer working with a model, a beautiful woman in a red gown with a long train, who waved and smiled broadly as we passed. Of course I couldn’t resist such a shot. The famous silence of a balloon ride was impossible with 28 tourists chattering away and a blast of the gas burners every few seconds, but in the beginning and end we could hear lots of birdsong, and throughout there was just a marvelous sense of calm. Then we drifted by a rock formation hollowed out into what looks like a single dwelling with at least three levels. I took a couple of stills, then video recorded it as we drifted past After I got back, had a late breakfast and joined the group, we drove to an “outdoor museum” – a section of the valley where early Christian monks had lived in caves, organized about 500 CE into a monastic community. There are at least ten churches – chapels would be more accurate – all in caves cut into the stone and decorated with frescos. Unfortunately most of the frescos were vandalized, both during periods of religious strife and through common vandalism. Many of the frescos high enough to be out of reach were still in good condition, and their quality is astonishing. What a loss the vandalism was! We had a very late lunch (I had mushrooms stuffed with tomatoes and garlic in a tomato sauce) then Juneyt led a few of us for a walk through a narrow canyon lined with moguls, many of them set up as dovecotes. Before development of commercial fertilizers the farmers gathered the droppings to use for fertilizer. It had been raining every day, and portions of the trail were muddy, some with streams flowing down them. Otherwise, walking was quite easy. For dinner we walked a few minutes up the road to a restaurant where we were seated at a long table. We were served hors d’oeuvres – parsley, raw onions, four paste-like condiments, one of them quite peppery. I was advised to order a kabob pot,chunks of meat and vegetable in a tomato sauce cooked in a tall pot. It was very good. It was frustrating to try to hold a conversation because another large group at the next table was very noisy. It started raining again, quite heavily at first, then eased off and I started thinking about going home, but the guide told us we would have a dessert so I decided to wait. They distributed plates with knives and forks then, after another 15 minute they brought nice looking little tarts – for everyone on my side of the table except me. Nothing for the other side of the table, either. After 30 more minutes we realized they were not going to give any of the rest of us a dessert, so we all got up and headed home – I went ahead to walk faster, and the rain had eased off so I managed to get only slightly damp. May 26. Long drive to Ankara, broken up by the Hittites, Bronze Age, about 1600-1200 BCE. (Copper age about 6000-1600.) First we stopped at Yazilikaya, a Hittite shrine / temple built amid a rockpile with natural springs. There are two chambers, a smaller one leading to an inner area enclosed by high walls and a larger, slightly more open one. The larger one has bas relief and engraved images of deities in a procession toward an inner courtyard. The chief god and his son are both shown standing on the backs of mountain lions. Above the end of the chamber the chief god and another god stand on the back of lions. The much narrower passage to the smaller chamber is guarded by two demons, whose permission must be asked before proceeding further. To the right of the inner chamber, a slightly wider lane has other images of the gods, in one image holding a large sword. The entrance is guarded by demons, from whom you need to ask permission before entering. At first it was difficult to make out the images, but as the sun rose higher and moved westward, more details became visible. From Yazilikaya we walked back a quarter of a mile down the road to a small open-air restaurant for lunch. I had grilled trout, which was excellent, topped off by watermelon. Then we drove across the valley to Kaymakli, a very large Hittite city built on the side of a rather steep mountain. It was abandoned near the end of the kingdom, and all that is left are foundations, paving stones, a few partial sections of city walls and partially ruined city gates. Archaeologists have begun work to restore the wall. We stopped at the temple, three of the gates and the palace, located on a high hill overlooking the temple. I was surprised at the steep ground, quite different from my image of a bronze age city. Juneyt said that the city probably hosted 20,000 people at its peak. The top pictures show the lion gate and sphynx gate – note the obsidian eyes. The bottom picture shows the temple ruins from the rocky hill where the castle stood. We spent so much time at these sites that we didn’t get started toward Ankara until nearly 5:30. I have so much trouble with the limited leg room (8 inches between seats, like the cheap airlines) I had to sit in 2 seats to stretch out in. Fortunately our group didn’t nearly fill the bus. May 27. May 29. Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe Historical background from a lecture by Sinan. Turkish people migrated from central Asia, enslaved by Arabs. In the neolithic period people began to settle from nomadic to agriculture around 10,000 B. Climate change from ice age around 14-10,000 BC permitted warm seasons, suitable conditions for agriculture. People already had some knowledge of animal husbandry & cultivation when they began to congregate in permanent settlement. This started in the Fertile crescent; parts of Israel, Levante, Syria, SE Turkey, Iran & Iraq. The core region of neolithic settlement and development. Around 10,500 BC, people began to domesticate sheep, cattle, goats; grains, pistachio, lentils, grains, all native to Mesopotamia. This developed into agriculture over several thousand years while it spread slowly through Anatolia, and later, via sea, to Europe by migration. Central Anatolia 7,000 BCE; Greece 6,000, Germany, 5,000 BC, England 4,000 Ceramics styles and DNA analysis support migration from Anatolia to Europe Pre-Neolithic sites, recently discovered, covering 9 hectares 3 layers: (1) surface; (2) 8700-9000 BC, pre-pottery Neolithic B; (3 – bottom) 9500-8700, pre-pottery Neolithic A, situated directly on a limestone plateau. Discovered in 1960s, its importance for both social and aesthetic development was not understood until it was excavated again in 1994. The area surrounding Gobekli Tepe lacks water and they found no evidence of agriculture, so they initially thought people never lived there and focused on temples. Newer excavations reveal domestic houses present from the beginning, built in layers atop each other like in the other sites from the same era, but the total population is still unknown Relative dating involves comparing tools etc.; Absolute dating, Carbon 14. Layers – the temples are built on bedrock at the bottom of a natural swale, a depression in the rock. Above them, domestic houses were built on higher levels of the swale. Temples consist of large subterranean circular structures on level 1, 9500-8000 BCE. The entire area is 15 meters high, 300 m diameter. In each structure T-shaped pillars face each other; some are embedded in walls and some free-standing, usually in groups of four; the height ranges from 1.5 to 5 meters - the T-shaped pillars may represent stylized human figures. Many have animals in relief; all are wild animals, many of which live under earth – snakes & scorpions, leopards, wild pigs; all in motion, all male. All are depicted with detailed anatomic details, especially penises and teeth. Surveys show at least 20 more such structures yet to be excavated. To build all this required enormous labor, indicating a high level of social organization. The stone was taken from a nearby limestone quarry – but moving these massive stones would require organized effort. Of many people. Level 2 has only one building; smaller and rectangular. It still has pillars, some with lions. The building is semi-subterranean, carved into bedrock. The T-shaped pillars are also carved from the bedrock represent stylized males. Only one figure depicts a woman, carved on the wall, probably carved later. The image I saw had been removed to a museum. Like many of the images of males, animals and men, the genitals are emphasized. The four structures studied thus far are mutually contemporary. There is no evidence of slavery; the work must have been motivated by a strong ideology. In addition to bas relief, we have 3-dimensional sculptures, detailed with muscles, teeth, ribs, penises. Some project out of the walls and others seem strategically placed. Fox Pillar building – smaller, depictions of foxes; contains a basin. Benches in the center. Enclosure C – Boar Building; T-shaped pillars are also inside. U-stone, narrow entrance and narrow corridor. Enclosure D is defined as a stone age zoo – all the animals are depicted: snakes, ibis, leopards, cattle … Central pillars form male figures, possibly priestly dancing One pillar is in the shape of a totem with figures including at least one human. Human heads are deposited carefully in the enclosure, often next to pillars. The dwellings may have been placed in tiers surrounding central “temples” Temples may have been deliberately filled in or simply filled by the debris from collapse of the surrounding dwellings. Unfinished T-figures were found in a workshop area adjacent to the site. Animal remains (mostly bones) include wild fox, horses, boar, gazelle (60%), wild goats, hare, crane Each season there was a massive migration of gazelle; this may have motivated site selection. They may have used these hills for hunting long before settling there. Plant remains – wild einkorn wheat, almonds, pistachio - no domesticated species Basins with residues evidence of beer production; may have figured in competitive (or ceremonial) feasting. “Trans-egalitarian society” – not strictly equal, not yet hierarchical. Karahan Tepe is contemporary and equally important but less famous so less popular, and it is allowed to get much closer to the enclosures (and several goats were grazing among them. Here are two of the enclosures from Karahan. May 27 & 28 The Ankara and Sanliurfa museums contained reconstructions of Gobeklitepe and other settlements, along with displays of stone tools that show how they progressed from simple hand-axes to knives, scrapers, and spear-points. Both museums also include extensive displays of bronze age, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine structures and artifacts, but most of us were too tired after two or more hours in the neolithic displays. I think it would take two or three days to do justice to either of these museums. I was particularly taken with a stylistically sophisticated statue of a man, with obsidian eyes that give him an almost surreal intensity. (Obsidian was often placed as eyes in statues of animals as well as humans.) One of the most interesting things about the Ankara castle is what Sinan called “spoilers” pieces of earlier sculpture and temples incorporated into the walls of the castle and ramparts for repair. Some of these are almost comical. There are two remaining parts of the castle, about .5 to 1 km apart; the intervening space has been filled in by more recent buildings May 28 & 29. Sanliurfa – old city Before leaving Sanliurfa we spent about an hour in the old city, at the base of a large citadel with two minarets. Legend has it that Abraham was thrown from one of these minarets onto a pile of faggots intended to burn him alive, but the fire turned into a lake and the sticks into fish; the lake is full of 12-14 inch long fish which, of course, are well-fed by tourists. Farther on we came to the cave, one of the supposed birthplaces of Abraham. May 30. Roman Bridge, Before returning to Istanbul, we visited a dam over a tributary of the Euphrates River, a burial mound, then a Roman bridge over the river. A notable feature of this area is a place just upstream of the bridge where the stream has deeply undercut limestone cliffs, first on one side then on the other side of the river. I could not help thinking what a hazard it would be for canoes and river runners. Mt. Nemrut Burial Mound. We walked around there for a while, then went on to a visitor center high on Mt. Nemrut, which is capped by a huge conical pile of rocks, matching the one that we had visited earlier, with the plan of watching the sunset. Juneyt was evasive about the distance to the viewing area, so I was set for a nice long hike but it took only 15 minutes, up a rather steep, wide path, part paved and part composed of stones well-polished by millions of tourist feet. There were wide paths up to the top of the mound, but when I started up one, a guard blew a sharp whistle – as I returned to the paved path I realized that it was a potentially dangerous path – not at all clear what it was for but it would be easy to cause a rock-slide. Obviously the rocks were piled up by human labor (slaves, probably) to serve as a grave marker for royal bodies. There are two viewing platforms at the base, one for sunrise, one for sunset. The one on the east has several busts of gods and heroes, with a more abstract stylized structure behind. (This is where I elicited a whistle warning for starting up a very clear trail). The western platform is larger, with a larger collection of statues, including Apollo and Hercules, along with several blocks that appear to have been shaped for use in a wall that did not get built (or was built and fell apart). We settled down on one of these blocks, but there was a gusty wind that was quite chilling. About the time the sun was setting it got much colder, and everyone wanted to go down to the warmth of the bus. There were still people coming up the trail and others pausing alongside the trail, but none of my companions wanted to stop or even slow down. Near the bottom the trail crossed a steep snowfield that was beginning to freeze again – I had little trouble crossing it (the trekking poles proved their usefulness) but some of the slower members of the party had difficulty on the freezing, shoe-polished icy snow. They reported that several guides had stopped along either side of the trail to help people cross. Everyone was glad that we went there for sunset, not for sunrise as the itinerary called for. June 1 Istanbul, Aybuke and Mehmet. The flight back to Istanbul on Turkish Airways was fine. I managed to request an aisle seat and the agent gave me exit row, so the trip back was much more comfortable than the outbound trip. To cap it off, after I refused the sandwich the crew was handing out, explaining that I am celiac, one of them brought me an extra (and very excellent) meal that was apparently extra from business class. Cudos for Turkish Airways! It was a busy week for Aybuke and her family – final exams at her university and several activities for their son, Meta. I did some more sight-seeing, including a visit to the Archaeological museum, then got on the metro (sub/surface way) that the hotel desk clerk directed me toward. I had already encountered (and recalled from my visit 16 years ago) the confusion of Istanbul’s streets – very few of them have street signs, so following a map (especially an on-line map; paper maps are virtually non-existent) is a challenge everywhere. Few people speak English and almost everyone gives vague, ambiguous directions (“that way,” with a pointing gesture. It turned out I had got on the wrong line – goes in the direction of Kotkoy but farther south. I had to double back and take a connecting line that was impossible to find – ended up taking a cab. Later, when taking me to the bus (at the local airport) to go to Bursa, Aybuke also had difficulty with the lack of signs, ambiguous directions, and unexpected relocation of the bus pick-up point to a location very difficult to reach. Negotiating Istanbul requires skills quite different from most European and American cities, skills I developed when I was there 16 years ago, and was beginning to recover when my visit was over. June 3&4 Bursa Bursa, two hours from Istanbul by car, was an early capital (before Edirne) of the Ottoman empire. Because Aybuke and her family were going to be quite busy on Wednesday and Thursday, I took a bus to Bursa and checked into a hotel a mile from the main area. Unfortunately I have few pictures because my cell-phone battery stopped charging early in the visit. Wednesday afternoon I visited the Grand Mosque, Green Mosque, and Green Tomb. The Grand Mosque is a sprawling stone building with many domes; inside, two of the domes are quite beautiful. A worship service was starting as I entered. I was struck by the musicality of the chanting – the Imam had a lovely tenor, and I found it uplifting even though I could only guess at the words. I lingered for ten or fifteen minutes to listen, before moving on to the other sites. My path took me through the narrow lanes of the famed bazaar area, fortunately only moderately crowded. The Green Mosque and Tomb are perhaps even more beautiful than the Grand Mosque, with ornate tiles and domes. The weather has changed radically and I found the afternoon heat somewhat enervating, so after lunch I headed back to the Culture Park, across from my hotel, beginning at the Archaeology Museum, which was quite disappointing – three rooms with a few interesting exhibits, but nothing to compare to the other recently-visited museums. I ended up sitting for over an hour in the shade of some beautiful, tall trees before going back to the hotel, settling in, and walking back to the main area for dinner. My plan for Thursday was to visit the old Ottoman village, Cumalikizic, then go on the cable car that would take me to the top of a local mountain top, then return to visit the central citadel. I could not find public transportation so took a cab – with no clear idea how I would get back. The village is built of stone, with streets made of (almost) flat stones – very difficult walking and quite steep, but quite charming. Many souvenir shops but none of them sold postcards (obviously a dying medium). When I was ready to go the tourist map looked like I could walk to the tram but one of the staff at the village told me it is 11 kilometers. Fortunately there is a city bus line that goes only there and back. On the way back several of the other passengers tried to help me with advice when to get off, all in Turkish + gestures. When I saw the Grand Mosque I started to get off but an old man said “no, no, I help you!” I got off anyway and found a place for lunch. By that time it was so late I gave up on the cable car idea and went to visit the Citadel instead. It consists of remnants of old rock ramparts, built into the cliffs surrounding an elevated hilltop neighborhood, beautiful buildings, mostly 3-4 story apartments and shops. Ride back – the bus company pulled another switch on us – but Mehmet figured it out and met me at the arrivals, as per the new instructions. The entire routine with the bus is typical of Turkey – few signs, changes without any advance notice, vague directions. The whole society has become tech-dependent, coupled with complexity and indifference. Almost every Turk I know personally is the embodiment of friendliness and generosity, but the system is bureaucratic and confusing. Kidzania. On Saturday Meta had a five hour appointment to meet his cousin at “Kidzania,” a sprawling fantasy-land for 8 year olds that occupies half of a floor of a shopping mall in a high-rise tower. I wasn’t able to go with them (Aybuke was the designated adult and anyway I had to try to get my phone fixed) but how it was explained is that it is a venue for pretending to be an adult. At the outset they receive a small amount of play money, which they can spend for various things – including an “education.” They can “earn” more “money” by “working” at various jobs. Among the possibilities, there is a flight deck of a real (retired) Turkish Airways jet where they can be pilots, flight attendants and passengers. While they were doing that Aybuke’s brother and Mehmet helped me find a repair shop to replace the battery on my iPhone, sat down for a beer and French fries (I also had a salad), then took the metro over to Kodakoy, a posh shopping district that has largely replaced the Taxim (after the government “reformed” it in response to anti-government demonstrations several years ago.) When we returned, after 5 hours of playing “adult” the two kids were still totally wired, full of energy.