Istanbul

I'm leaving in two hours for Istanbul. I'll be gone for nearly a month.

I've planned this trip for six months ( maybe that's too long for me, I do well with spontaneous adventures). I'll be joining two scholars and 20 other people to visit the sites in Turkey and Greece that Paul of Taursus journeyed in the first century to spread Christianity. Most of the cities are truly ancient, with familiar names like Ephesus, Corinth. After three weeks with the others ( another departure for me, I usually travel solo ), I'll be off to the Greek isles for a week--Santorini and possibly Crete.

It's funny, I'm a little wary of this trip, which is unusual. I went to Bejing shortly after Tienenman Square, went to Belize and Guatemala when it was pretty much undiscovered and never worried ( except to elicit a promise from my son, Chris, that he wouldn't try to take on a highwayman if we ran into one ). But the Middle East, and all that is going on in that part of the world have my attention.

Turkey, as you know borders a lot of hot spots, and the Kurds have been rallying in the past few months in Istanbul. All that said, I believe in my soul that travel out of the U.S. is essential to get a real "take" on what's going on outside my coccoon. Not to mention that I made a promise to myself three years ago when I walked across the northern tier of Spain that I would leave the U.S. at least twice for the remaining years that I can travel ( presumably many ). This trip is the second one for this year.

I won't be posting as frequently as I usually do because I'll be moving from place to place every other day, and I am not taking my laptop. If there are internet cafes, I'll post.

So long for now.
M.C.