Tashkent, UZB to Istanbul, Türkiye

Of course, between the end of “The Stans” and the beginning of “Istanbul” other stuff happened…

The day before I left Central Asia for Türkiye, and shortly after I got back to Tashkent from Khiva, I visited my former student, Christiane Ochoa, at her work with USAID at the US Embassy in Uzbekistan.

Not only did she give a tour of the Embassy and the USAID offices, she introduced me to the US Ambassador, Jonathan Henick! She also introduced me to a bunch of people and we had lunch there.

Later than evening, we went out to a great Georgian restaurant with Joel, an education officer, Carson, in military cooperation, and his wife Heather. After a fun taxi ride, we went to a Russian punk bar!

Not only does this first batch show some of that fun, it depicts Christiane showing off her diplomatic passport (with many stamps). Also, I couldn’t resist snapping Samantha Power‘s message in a book she signed for Christiane (I had read another, her memoir: “The Education of an Idealist.” (She had been the US Ambassador to the United Nations under Obama, and now runs USAID.) Cool stuff…

The flight was easy breezy, and I was able to get this stunning phot of the Bosporus, the strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara (eventually the Mediterranean), the gap between Europe and Asia!

The taxi ride from the airport was over an hour, but amazingly (not without some discussion) the driver delivered me right to my little hotel in the middle of Sultanahmet neighborhood, home to some of Istanbul’s most iconic historical sites. That afternoon, I strolled around the Blue Mosque and took in some of the ‘hood. That included some bling, the Hagia Sofia from a distance, a dilapidated old building, etc. This batch includes breakfast from the terrace of the hotel and its incredible views…

The next morning, after a leisurely start, I went back to the Blue Mosque to check it out again from the inside (actually I’ve been to Istanbul briefly once before when I chaperoned a trip that was mostly to Greece). It is beautiful and all these shots are from/of the inside…

Interestingly, the Istanbul Marathon was taking place today (same day as the one in NYC!), so I couldn’t help but cheer on some of the finishers (I think I saw the woman winner cross the finish line (much glitter and fanfare). And I avoided the many road closures that were taking place around the city…

Next, I went to the Hagia Sophia, which used to be a Christian Cathedral, but has long been a Muslim Mosque. It truly is spectacular, such a vast space under the ancient domes. Note the pic of the face. Others from the Christian era have been painted over because Islam iconography shuns depicting people (even animals), but that one is like a truth window (as are several crosses thereabouts). In spite of the onslaught of tourists, I did a little meditating before we infidels were purged before prayer…