The Whirling Dirvishes

Many thanks to Sally Smith for sharing her drawings of the dervishes whom we met on our first night in Turkey.
The dervishes move from the crossed arm position, symbolizing being at one with Allah, to the whirling on an axis position with right hand facing up, left down, and head tipped to the side (over the heart).

Wikipedia states:

The Sema represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to the "Perfect". Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the "Perfect". He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, able to love and to be of service to the whole of creation.

Thanks, Jane!

Just wanted to send a thank you to Jane Hurd who wished us "soft landings" for the trip. We had 8 flights and every one of them was a soft landing!

Location:Boston

More parting thoughts

From Nancy Adams:
Far and away the best part of this trip was the fantastic group we traveled with ... 14 from Boothbay, 1 from Pittsburgh, and one from London, plus great travel guides.

From Doreen Dun:
Yes, traveling with Nancy (my roommate), Boothbay friends (old and new), AND my two Indian-American cousins was wonderful. Visiting Jerusalem was exciting, but the city's history is so tragic and its future so bleak that it almost feels wrong to laugh there, as Sally Smith said. We
spoke with more Palestinians than Jews (hardly any Jews -- although we TRIED to meet with some), and I came away with much concern for their future. Turkey is superb -- I'll leave it to other to tell why.

Location:JFK - NYC

Final Day

We started the day with a visit to three excavation sites of Ephesus. There are marvelous discoveries of homes and baths with indoor plumbing and central heating. Two huge theaters and a library dedicated to wisdom, character, knowledge and expertise.



The mosaics on walls and floors would be inspirational to the most demanding quilter.


We had lunch at a family owned and run restaurant which we all decided should be turned into a cooking school.


Next we visited a museum which houses many of the artifacts uncovered at these sites.


We ended the day at a rug workshop and a leather store where we we received tours, fashion shows, tea and wine, and most us succumbed to temptation. More to follow.

Busy, Long Day

Today we had a 5:30 wake up call to make our plane from Istanbul to Ismir. We are now on the Asian side of Turkey. When we arrived we headed to the Agora in Smyrna to see the excavations.





From there, we headed to a synagogue to talk with a rabbi about the life of his temple. The Jewish population is decreasing rapidly. I think he said that he has only about 12 regular worshippers.
On to a wonderful lunch of ground lamb kebobs, sadly followed by a motorcycle/auto collision right before our eyes. Mary and Wendy went to offer assistance, but they said they didn't have to do anything. Miraculously, after a bit of rest, this man we watched somersault in the air walked to the ambulance.

After lunch, we went to visit the excavations of Sardis, home to Croesus - a very rich and powerful Caliph who extended his realm in all directions, but went a bit too far when he crossed the river to the East and lost everything.









The mosaics here are phenomenal, and there is very little control over where you can go and what you can touch. Was Escher here?




Next we went to the Temple of Artemis where we were overwhelmed by the colossal columns and the views.










This brought us to sundown and a busride to our hotel featuring raisins, figs, and Ratki, courtesy of our guide, Ahmet. Our best hotel dinner yet and a walk by the water, and we are ready for rest.









Tomorrow is Ephesus!

Happy Birthday, Russ!

As we say farewell to Istanbul and head to Kusadasi, Russ said farewell to 58 in grand style.

Location:Istanbul

Iyi Bayramlar

Today is the beginning of the Feast of Sacrifice. We began our day by going to a mosque to observe worship. It was very crowded, so like many Muslims, we were in the courtyard listening. It was the first time we saw armed guards in Turkey and it made us wonder what the threats are to worship in a country with 99% Muslims. Perhaps just the crowds.

Location:Istanbul