Chris, I thought you might be able to relate to this: My 44-yr old son and his wife are in Istanbul right now having traveled about 1,000 km on nearly a dozen train rides and over 1,200 km of cycling through cities, the Black Sea coast, the Carpathian Mtns, the Transylvanian foothills and countless dusty villages trapped in the 19th century (or liberated depending on your point of view) -- included Poland, the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria. The bike trip to Istanbul began a month ago when they flew to Warsaw, Poland. All that was certain was a departure a month later from Istanbul. He e-mails me when he can and calls once a week for certain to let me know all is going well.

He loves Istanbul -- is spending a couple of days touring the city. He has promised to take tme to Greece when I retire in a year or two. (My grandfather was of Greek parentage who was born and raised in Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey -- emigrated from Smyrna to the U.S. as a teenager.) Now that he has seen Istanbul, he says we must visit there also. He returns to the U.S. in a couple of days and I will see him next week -- can't wait to hear all about the trip and see the photos.

I know you visited Istanbul -- don't know how much time you had for sightseeing -- wondered if you shared his fascination with the city also,

Barbara