We arrived one day late in Istanbul due to the cancellation of our Turkish Airways flight. They finally gave up on flying that night at 4:00 am after 3 hours seated on the plane and 1 hour seated in the terminal. We arrived at the hotel they provided at 5:30 am with instructions to be at the airport by 1:00 pm the next day. The plane was going to leave at 4:00, but really they boarded the group at 4:30 The flight was pleasant if long. We exchanged money at the airport and bought tickets to Erbil. That round-trip ticket cost almost $700.00 each. We had a pleasant ride to the hotel, but Hosein with whom I am traveling to Iraq, whom some of you met one afternoon, went to stay with his family.

I went to Develeh Restaurant on the first evening. It is in a neighborhood I wouldn't have found alone. Fortunately the taxi drivers are honest and are amazing stunt drivers for a city with all the driving skills as if they had been trained to ride tricycles in rush hour traffic in Rome, Mexico City or Tehran. What a commanding view of the water! And the food! I started with a blue cheese that was the mildest I have ever tasted and served with walnut halves. I ordered the eggplant hummus served with the best bread I have ever eaten for a cold appetizer, a warm appetizer of ground meat, pine nuts and herbs in a thin casing of pastry, and another dish from Anatolia that appeared to me shwarma but had a more interesting flavor due to some unknown ingredients. I had one glass of an excellent Turkish wine. It was so good that, had I not been so full for eating half of what was served, would have ordered another. The meal was quite reasonable for the quality, excellent service and unequaled view of the Bosphorus. Taxis are a bargain as Murat had said. Thank you, Yasemin, for introducing me to authentic Turkish haute cuisine.

I am too tired to go out tonight, but tomorrow Hosein and the son of the family with whom he is staying will meet me at my hotel at 1:00 to visit sites together. His relative can't speak English, but he and his family were so kind as to send food and flowers to me at the hotel. I guess that will be lunch tomorrow. I will try to test my photographic skills on some amazing structures and tape interviews in Arabic, Kurdish, and Turkish if not Persian.