This Family In Asia: Istanbul, Turkey

The "Blue Mosque"

"There's a mosque." "Hey, there's another one.". " And there's another one right across from it!"

Mosques are the Starbuck's of Istanbul. These incredibly beautiful buildings dot the skyline here and each one is an architectural feat. We are struggling to understand the religion behind the buildings where women are segregated and covered as if their hair is somehow offensive.

I may be extra grumpy about such things as I, along with the rest of my party, are just recovering from a nasty stomach flu. Our 5 day stopover in Turkey has been dramatically shortened as we all slowly recovered in our pension. But today we ventured out and saw some amazing mosques, the hippodrome, had some Turkish delight, ducked the aggressive salesmen of the Grand Bazaar, and of course looked at some area rugs with "no obligation".