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Historic Old City

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  Day 1: Welcome to Turkey Sat, Apr 25, 2026 In the morning, I set out on my own to go to the Cisterna Basilica. It  is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul.  This one was  built in the 6th century during the reign of Emperor Justinian I to provide water to the Great Palace of Constantinople. We meet our group at 1 p.m. at our hotel in Istanbul's historic center. Shortly after, we'll take an orientation walk and visit the exquisite 400-year old Blue Mosque, named for its brightly colored tiles. Then we'll tour one of the world's great treasures: Hagia Sophia, for 1,000 years the grandest domed structure on Earth.  Then we walk to the Grand Bazaar for some orientation a free time in a crazy busy maze like shopping area that use to be part of the sil road.  I found a quiet coffee house and rested.  We'll end our day getting acquainted with one another over dinner at a local restaurant Nergis Galata, which...
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Traveling Again! Turkey bound

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 April 23, 2026 I’m headed on another Rick Steves tour (maybe my 9th?).  This time to Turkey.  I’m going to do the blog a little different this time so I can spend more time touring and looking around in the country.  So the plan of what I’m going to do each day is to copy and paste the description of each day from the Rick Steves itinerary and then adding pictures below.  So a lot of the words will not be my own. If we do something off of the actual plan, of course I will add that.  Today Thursday, I am flying for the first time on Turkish Airlines directly from Chicago to Istanbul. I hear that they are a good airline to fly on.   I’ll let you know. (Here is my review-Just average as an airline goes, but the food was good).   Tomorrow Friday April 24, I arrive in Istanbul at 545am and hit the tourist train immediately when I take a food tour at 1000am.  This isn’t part of the Rick Steves tour, but it is  run by people they know. it shou...
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Garden of the Gods!!! Last vacation day

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 Wednesday October 1  Our last day was spent in Colorado Springs at a wonderful park called Garden of the God’s Park. It is a registered National Nature Landmark.  We spent most of our time out in the park, but the nature center looked like something to also spend time in…maybe next time.   It was established like this “  In 1909,   Charles Perkins ‘ children, knowing their father’s feeling for the Garden of the Gods, conveyed his four-hundred eighty acres to the City of Colorado Springs. It would be known forever as the Garden of the Gods “where it shall remain free to the public, where no intoxicating liquors shall be manufactured, sold, or dispensed, where no building or structure shall be erected except those necessary to properly care for, protect, and maintain the area as a public park.” We took a 5 mile hike and were excited to see these Rocky Mountain big horn sheep, just off of our hiking path.  That’s Pikes Peak you see in the background of t...
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Rocky Mountain National Park

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On Tuesday September 30, we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park.  But first we had to get there and the drive was beautiful with all the leaves changing.  The majority of the yellow leaves are the aspen tree.  And we were welcomed to the town - Grand Lake- with this double rainbow.  Next morning, we drove into the Rocky Mountain national park.   First, we saw meadows and evergreens and the aspens.   Then we took a short 1 mile hike around Lake Irene.  When we woke up it was 37 degrees so we were still bundled up.  It was pretty early so I kept my eye out for bears! (Spoiler, didn’t see any)  Next we headed up to the Alpine visitor center. It is the highest elevation point in the park that visitors can reach.  As you can see from the pictures, less and less trees, snow showing and barren tundra.  Bob didn’t want his picture taken - Again!  We are headed up to the top, because, why not.  The wind was whipping, but we made...
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