Goodbye to Turkey

Throughout Turkey you see the "evil eye". It is a "good luck" charm, like our rabbit's foot. It is a pre-Muslim tradition and is pervasive; you see them everywhere, on the bus, in homes, in hotels and in jewelry. Even hanging right there as you enter the cabin on Turkish Air!














Our tour guide is Yucel Atik (pronounced Yew-jell Atick). He is the best. If there is anything about Turkey he doesn't know, there's a good chance you don't need to know it. He is a secular Muslim who has made an intensive study of Christianity for his tours. He was educated at the American-funded University of Bosporus, where all study is done in English. He leads tours in Turkish, English, Spanish and French all over the world--a total of 31 countries.






It was now time to fly back to London. The flight itself was uneventful, being only four hours long. Bill sat next to a young Turkish woman who was two months from getting her PhD. She had studied in the UK for several years and was very proficient in English. Her field of study is immigration and movements of peoples and she was well versed in the situation of Hispanics migrating into the US. Trips like this are always best when you can interact with local people.

We arrived home in Nettlebed in time for dinner at the White Hart. All in all, this was a great trip.