Randy doing the unthinkable - driving in Istanbul!

Waiting to go over the first Bosphorus bridge to get to the Asian side

On the main highway in Turkey (between Istanbul and Ankara) - note lack of lane markings

Some of the beautiful scenery on the way to Eskisehir

Tunnels were frequent through the mountains

Dilruba and Haluk in their kitchen

Dinner at the Yapicioglu's - the apartment was beautiful, new and big and the food was even better

Alice with Haluk and Aykut Arapoglu, a student from the Pittsburgh days

Haluk with the baby Tarcin

View from our bedroom window in Eskisehir - note the crystal clear sky

We reluctantly left our Istanbul sanctuary of the Cinar Hotel this morning.  After yet another long and perfect breakfast on the terrace, we took a taxi to the airport and got the car, a Ford Focus.  Our Garmin GPS, brought from home with its new Turkey and Europe maps, worked -yeah!  We drove to the Cinar (actually Randy drove and Alice operated the GPS) and picked up the luggage.  We then began the nerve wracking process of driving across Istanbul.  The traffic was not too bad (being mid day and good weather) and we made it across the first Bosphorus bridge within an hour.  The highway for 1/2 of the way to Eskisehir was the main one to Ankara and was very good.  Surprisingly (to us) the road after that was a quite new, good four lane divided highway all the way to Eskisehir.  We made great time and got there in just less than four hours.

Haluk Yapicioglu, my student and now Assistant Professor at Anadolu University, lives in a new three bedroom, two bath flat with his lovely wife Dilruba, an education professor.  While we washed our clothes (which was desperately needed) and Skyped with our bank to re-authorize our ATM cards - they had mistakenly put June 1 as the trip end date instead of July 1 - Dilruba cooked a large and very delicious meal.  The best part to me was a yoghurt and purslane and cucumber salad.  It was unusual but totally wonderful. Haluk contributed a special kebab.  They invited Aykut Arapoglu, a student from Pittsburgh whose Ph.D. committee I was on and is now an Assistant Professor at Osmangazi University, and two friendly and vivacious women who are professors with Dilruba.  These ladies (I do not remember their names) studied both at Missouri and then Ohio State.  We all ate a lot and drank up the Greek and Bulgarian wine that I had brought, both red and white.  Afterwards Haluk, Dilruba, Randy and I drove to the city center and strolled around the river area, a nice mix of shops, bars and restaurants along the river and some other main streets.
The highlight, however, of our visit with them was meeting their sweet kitten, Tarcin (Cinnamon).  She is adorable and so playful and friendly.  We are missing our cat babies a lot so seeing her was a sight for sore eyes, as they say.