Smoking and Geography

Alhamdulillah, Turkey has a pretty good position with respect to smoking, compared to other parts of the Middle East I have visited. Most indoor places are no-smoking areas, although some restaurants have smoking areas or are not smoke free. The buses are smoke free, alhamdulillah. Signs are everywhere, and more importantly, people follow them.

That being said, Turkey is between Europe and the Middle East, two of the most smoker-intensive places I've ever been. Naturally (or unnaturally), a lot of people smoke here as well. I think half of my colleagues here smoke. Most of the men probably smoke, and a lot of women as well. I must admit, it is a little disconcerting to see so many hijabis smoke. But then, after jumuah, most of the guys have lit up, so I have to deal with that as I walk back. Truth to tell, it is when I am walking that I get most of the secondhand smoke - people can't do it inside for the most part, so they smoke in transit. Whenever there is a lot of foot traffic, usually someone or the other ahead of me is smoking, so I smell it.

In other news ...

The dollar is rebounding again against the lira. It had dropped down below 1.5, but now is back near 1.7. Of course, my US holdings have fared quite horribly in the meantime.

The last veteran of the Turkish War of Independence died earlier this week. The last Ottoman veteran of WWI died last year. Only eight WWI vets are still alive around the world. Sad, but natural.

I am still watching quite raptly to see what becomes of my hometown - decisions made over the next couple of weeks in DC could have long lasting impacts on Michigan.

Other than that, I am trying to figure out if/how/when to visit other places in Turkey over the rest of my trip. I think Muhammad Baba and Atiya will probably want to stay in Istanbul for the most part during their visit, so I am keeping a few of my Istanbul to-dos undone for now. I still have a few extra weekends however. I am trying to figure out the logistics and feasibility of visiting Konya, Izmir, Cappadocia, Edirne, and Greece in particular. I probably won't be able to see all of them, but in sha Allah, I hope to visit at least some of them. Konya is a 10-13 hour trip, depending on if I take a bus or train, so it would make the most sense over my Bayram holiday, I think. Edirne is about a six hour bus ride - I could do that over a weekend, and see the Selimiye mosque, Sinan's masterpiece. Edirne is right next to Greece, so I could do that in one trip if I just want to go for visa purposes. Thessaloniki is a bit further - that would be about an eight hour trip total, but still doable on a weekend. Izmir is about eight hours away - also a possible weekend trip. Cappadocia is the furthest I think, out in Nevsehir. I should probably try and bundle it with the Konya trip, since it is three hours further from there. We'll see.

Anyways, I wanted to show you a map so you can see where all of these different places are. The orange dots represent places I've been this trip. Light blue are potential destinations. Dark blue, I have seen in previous trips.

Izmir is on the western end of Anatolia. Konya is in the south center, north of Cyprus. Cappadocia is near Nevsehir, which is northeast of Konya. Edirne is northwest of Istanbul in Europe. Zonguldak was on the eastern end of the Black Sea coast. Bursa was just on the southern side of the Sea of Marmara from Istanbul.

Hmm...while I have this map up here, I may as well explain some geography and the different bodies of water as well, since they confused me for a long time. The Black Sea is clear - north of Turkey. The Mediterreanean is clear as well - south of Turkey. The Aegean sea is east of Turkey, where all of those islands are near Izmir. Anatolia refers to the part of Turkey that is in Asia. The Sea of Marmara is the body of water directly south of Istanbul, that is separated from the Aegean Sea by a narrow channel. This narrow strait is the Darnadelles. Between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea is the Bosphorus, which cuts Istanbul into Europe and Asia. An offshoot of the Bosphorus is the Golden Horn - this cuts into the European side of Istanbul, but you cannot sea it on this map. Those are the main bodies of water in Turkey. Of course, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers lie to the east, but they are not clear on this image either.