The church at Pergamos

Today we rode through Izmir (Smyrna), including a ferry ride, and saw the city of Bergama, Turkish translation of Pergamos.  It was a short ride, just about 45km.  We toured some ruins of the Acropolis and ancient pagan temples.  Tomorrow we head for Salhili, which is the site of ancient Sardis. That's 150km, or 87 miles.  That will be one heck of a day! We will probably be on the bikes from 8:30 am until 4-5 pm.  Fun times ahead!!!!

Starting at Izmir

Izmir is the Arab name for Smyrna, one of the church sites we are visiting. Our first ride is tomorrow, and its off to the races.

One part of the journey is almost over

Here we are, our last night in Istanbul, in front of Hagia Sophia (it means Divine Wisdom, by the way) and at a GREAT little restaurant. Tried to put up a video, but no go. Anyway, this city is fantastic!.  The people are incredibly friendly, almost everyone we ran into spoke either English or Spanish.  Yes, I know they want our money, but still, I've been to other places where they want your money and aren't as friendly about it.  The history here is all over the place, just walk outside a hotel in the old city and you run into some ruin.  Esteban and I cant wait to come back with Nelly and Milkelis.  Gotta bring lots of money: a bit expensive, but oh well, you're on vacation.  What can you expect, we're tourists.

Dinner anyone?

Thought you might enjoy a night out with us and some good Turkish music, but the freakin' video took more than 5 hours and never loaded thanks to this wonderful high speed internet!  May be I'll post some pictures of the restaurant tonight.

Hagia Sophia , Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque & the Grand Bazaar

So what's the difference between old an ancient? Ohhhh, how about more than 1,200 years!  We are standing in front of the door to the Grand Bazaar, the oldest mall in history.  It dates from about 100 years before Columbus sailed to the New World.  The obelisk is Byzantine, so give that about another 1800 years.

Starting out having some fun!

Before we get to the nitty gritty of sweating on the road and peddling our butts off, we thought we'd get a little sight seeing in first we probably won't ever be back in this part of the world.  Istanbul is a city full of history so here we are!  More to follow....