Things I loved here…. The Grande Hotel de Londres – Amazing place, loaded with history and a great crowd in the lobby. Wireless access, central location, strong tea, great decor and wonderful staff. (And they have great new carpeting in the lobby.) Hemmingway stayed here, so should you. Beyoğlu – This is the neighborhood where… (read more)
OK. I think a sufficient amount of time has passed since the purchase of my Turkish carpet to begin to talk about what happened. I had just come out of the Basilica Cistern. I had gone there at the suggestion of my friend Cecilia because she said it was one of the things in Istanbul… (read more)
When I told my friends back home I was going to Turkey, I asked them if they knew anyone there. I was prepared to spend my time alone, but I thought it would be nice to have a contact in country. Elise, who works for Skowhegan, put me in touch with here dear friend Alina,… (read more)
Well, things came to a head between the Indians and the Italians today. One of the things that happens on these tours is that you go to a site (in this case, today it was Pamukkale, Hieropolis and Aphrodisias) and then you get driven to a “special presentation” where you are offered high quality goods… (read more)