TURKEY

Thank you every one for your comments on my blog, on facebook, sea glass sites and by private e-mails about the sea glass  felted wool stones with beads I have been making.
I shared the photos and news about it everywhere,on my etsy shop thalasseaglass, blog, facebook and all sea glass sites! Hopefully people will like them!
I am planning to make as many as I can! I love making them and looking at them, and they do look beautiful many together!
And do take part in the giveaway I posted about yesterday!
Now I want to talk about something else,about what is happening in my patrida(homeland) Turkey. This is the country I was born in but I am a Greek so I have two homelands Constantinople (Istanbul-Turkey) and Thessaloniki (Greece)
At the moment in Istanbul and other major cities riots are taking place.
It all started with a demonstration against the destruction of a park in the High Street of Istanbul call Istiklal in the Taksim area. Police were very violent against this demonstration using chemical gas weapons against the demonstrators. That led to more demonstrations all over Turkey.
The governemnt shut down the news, the Internet and people have no news of what is happening, of deaths, and injuries etc
I am forwarding links I have found on the Internet for my International friends to learn what is happening there and hope that all my friends in Turkey keep safe!
You can read this blog in Turkish and English and find links.
You can read here and here.And more.

Independence Monument on Istiklal, Istanbul, Turkey when I was on a school visit there in April 2011.

Istanbul 4 and last

On our last day we had two destinations.

First Balikli church where we took holy water from the spring with the fish.

Then we went to Tukuazoo Aquarium. Info says it is the biggest in Europe. No it isn't. If you have seen Barcelona's or Boulogne's like I have,it is smaller.Still I love aquariums no matter what their size is. But photography in them is prohibited by the lack of flash and because of the glass. So just  a couple of photos which were better than the majority.

 These strange creatures remind me of alien spacecraft.

 I touched one!Brrrrrrrr!

 There were some big sharks.

 Those golden yellow fish were lovely!

 Those little purple fish were absolutely gorgeous!

 The huge octopus is so sweet.

 We had a short walk into the Mall near Turkuazoo but there was not enough time to see much.

 We bought some cheap T-shirts from the Aquarium shop.

 What we really like from Istanbul are the local sweetshop products.Here are some photos of the sweets we bought for us and as gifts and of course everything is finished by now!

 Baklava,fistikli lokum,kagit halva,pismaniye,akide candies,ahududu liquor,elma tea(apple tea).

 I added this sea globe to my collection in the summer house again from the Aquarium shop.

 A little turquise pottery cat from the new Kutahya collection.

Some wooden colourful spinning tops.

 Some fridge magnets.

 Three little Kutahya bowls.

 The globe in the summer house.

I hope you enjoyed all four reports from my trip to Istanbul.

Istanbul 3

I have not forgotten that I have not yet told you about the rest of my trip to Istanbul. So here are lots of photos from the third day.We started early again as we had lots to see and do.

I loved all the Turkish flags huge and red flying everywhere in the city.

First we went to Chora Monastery which is now a museum.

 It has fantstic frescoes and mosaics in it,very well preserved.

 Saint Paul.

 My son loved playing with this cat in the church.

 Then we went to Saint Sophia(Aghia Sophia).

 It is huge and very very beautiful but unfortunately not used as a Church anymore.

 We then went underground to Yerebatan or Basilica or Justinian cistern.Not suitable for those suffering from claustrophobia,it is a magical environment of wet surfaces,draughts and cold and water running everywhere. The lights and the music add to the atmosphere.Not to be missed.

 Two huge medusa heads are under two columns in the Cistern.

The Theodosius obelisk.

 The Blue Mosque opposite Hagia Sophia is also very very big,covered inside with blue tiles and a red carpet and it is still used as a mosque.You have to take your shoes off to see it inside.

 Outside the Blue Mosque lots of street sellers sold those spinning tops which you could find everywhere in Istanbul for just a Lira(half a Euro).They are lovely with those magnificent colours and all the kids loved playing with them everywhere.

 Opposite the Blue Mosque is also the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. We didn't visit it but I loved the label outside.

 Tulips bloomed everywhere because of the Laleli Festival the festival of tulips.

 We then went to the covered market or Grand Bazaar or Capali Carsi.The colours were fantastic.
Silk scarves....

 Lanterns and lights....

 ....and colourful pottery dishes.

We then had lunch yaurtlu and iskender kebap.

We spent the evening with Margrit and Bulent our friends.