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Twenty Years Ago Today ,Friday, December 11, 1998: DS-Antalya, Turkey; Panes – Istanbul

LOG: Yesil Ev

CHASING SUNSETS: p231, “Our hotel, Yesil Ev, or Green House, was a converted house, painted green, right in the middle of everything we wanted to see in Istanbul. The big three (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi, together with the Yerebatan Saray, were all within 300 yards of the front door.

Who needed a TV (there wasn’t one anyway), when the misty blue, flood lit, Blue Mosque filled the window. Who needed alarm clocks (you guessed it, none in the room), when the call to prayer boomed at us, from at least six mosques, at first light. They seem to practice call- and-respond, or we-can-be-louder-than-you, or both, randomly. Although these were more strident than most, we have been woken by similar calls for almost two years, since Indonesia, so our response was to sleepily note that it must be six o’clock, and roll over for more snooze.”

 

 

Twenty Years Ago, Wednesday, May 1, 1996: Anaho, Marquessas 

Twenty Years Ago, Wednesday, May 1, 1996: Anaho, Marquessas
LOG: Another reef walk; snorkeling.
CHASING SUNSETS: p 42,  Ryan (age 8) “‘Dad gave me our fish spear and I was picking around in the tide pools when I saw a flash of green behind a rock. It was a five-pound parrot fish. I jabbed it with the spear, which bounced off the big scales, but the fish jumped out of the pool onto the coral and I speared it. Everyone was amazed. It was only later when I told how I really caught it.’

Taking the dinghy back through the passage in the reef, we noticed a man knee-deep in water catching fish on the incoming tide, killing each with a quick bite just behind the eyes. As we watched, fascinated, he caught a small octopus, dispatched it in the same fashion and held it out to us. He seemed surprised when we turned it down, but we had just spent the low tide walking on the reef and watching the octopi scuttle in and out of their holes. Who eats the floor show?”