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Posts from the ‘Travel’ Category

Jul 5

Istanbul Ice Cream Show

Who doesn’t like ice cream? (Photo: Daydream Tourist)

Turkish ice cream, or dondurma, is thickened with mastic and flour so that it takes on a wholly different consistency.  It stretches like taffy and is kneaded like dough but is still essentially milk and sugar.  Because of these sticky properties, ordering a cone in Turkey usually comes with a string of “think fast” tricks in which the vendor moves ice cream back and forth over two cones and flips your dessert away as you reach for it from the serving stick.

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Jun 25

Russia Eurovision 2012
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An American Watches Eurovision 2012

eurovision 2012

Walking home from dinner in Istanbul, I noticed the Eurovision Song Contest Finals being broadcast on a cafe TV and zipped back to the hotel to watch.  From what I can tell, Eurovision is a American Idol/Pop Idol combined with good-natured European nationalism.  I have some vague recollection of years past when the musical acts were either terrible, super avant garde or kitschy traditional music.  Always one to watch European countries compete, I followed eagerly, only to realize that I really don’t like European pop music!

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Jun 19

Turkish Iznik tile pattern scarf

Istanbul Bazaar Purchases

I don’t buy a lot of souvenirs when I travel, but the prospect of bargaining in Istanbul sounded like too much fun.  I hoped to negotiate in Turkish (to give myself some legitimacy) and so I really tried to learn at least how to say numbers.  Frankly, I doubt I fooled anyone and you’ll see that only one purchase was actually significantly made in Turkish.  That being said, I’m really happy with what we found.

Turkish kabob skewers Read more

Jun 6

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Back from Turkey

Aphrodisias Agora theater frieze, Turkey, ancient Roman

Aphrodisias Agora theater frieze (Photo: Daydream Tourist)

I just returned from two incredible weeks in Turkey!  I’m still processing the experience and my impressions of the country.  But on a more practical matter, I’ve only just started looking at my 1300 photographs!

I’ll start with a detail from the Agora at Aphrodisias.  The ancient Roman market there was encircled with this Theater Frieze depicting known mythological characters and dramatic masks linked with a floral and fruit garland.  The blocks are stacked near the entrance to the site forming a wall of quirky and unique faces.  Aphrodisias itself was one of the most impressive archaeological sites I have ever seen and we had it almost completely to ourselves.

Mar 11

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Photo of the Week – Art in the Favela

Beleza (Beauty) written in a San Paulo favela alley (Photo: EPA/SEBASTIAO MOREIRA)

SAO PAULO.- The Portuguese word Beleza (Beauty) written in large white letters on blue walls in an alley in the Brasilandia neighborhood of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 06 March 2012. The graffiti and painted walls are part of an art project by five Spanish artists, entitled Luz nas Vielas (lit. Light in the alleys), which was realized with the inhabitants of Brasilandia, one of the favelas in Sao Paulo. Photo: Sebastiao Moreira/EPA.

Image and caption, Copyright © artdaily.org

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