Where East Meets West

In the short span of one month I returned to Kiev, Ukraine to spend time with Chris, enjoyed 10 days with Chris in Istanbul, Turkey, and did a day touring the Flower show in Girona, Catalunya, north of Barcelona.

Kiev

This was my second trip to this Eastern European country where Chris lives.  Spring weather made Kiev much more alive and enjoyable than the first time in the heat of August.  Also, Chris has gotten to know the city pretty well so we visited some areas and streets that were more attractive and pleasant.  My six days there were very relaxing, waking up late and leaving the apartment late morning, going to the shopping malls (a favorite pastime of Chris!), and enjoying some delicious meals in the city.  I also got my final tattoo there for a very good price,  It took two sessions and 7 hours.  But I am happy with the results.

But what I enjoyed most about my time there was the hours upon hours that Chris and I could talk and share our lives and our love.  It was just wonderful!

Istanbul

This is the city that spans two continents - Europe and Asia, and the most muslim country that I have every visited.  It was amazing the number of mosques that occupies the city.  At first I thought it seemed excessive, but then I remembered the city of Washington DC and the number of churches that there are, averaging one every couple of streets, and on 16th Street one or two on almost every block!

What would seem an oddity in DC or in Barcelona was the norm - the majority of women with their head covering (hijab) to varying degrees, men wearing either western clothes or muslim robes, and call to prayer five times a day from speaker systems attached to the towers of the mosques.  Having so many mosques close together made for a cacophony of calls that sometimes competed with each other.  The cityscape of mosque domes and towers created an exotic allure, at least for this westerner. Between that and the incredible harbor with three intersecting bodies of water (the Golden Horn estuary, the Bosphorus strait and the Marmara sea), makes Istanbul one of the most beautiful harbor cities in the world, rivaling Sydney, Australia.


Tourism apparently was down, according to one of our waiters, due to the bombings that occurred in Istanbul this year.  We also had some doubts about going, but we decided to go through with our plans and we glad we did.  As a result, we did not have to deal with huge crowds in all of the tourist places that we visited, which made our excursions very easy.  We also were very impressed with the public transportation system.  The trams and metro were very clean and modern.  The buses and ferries were quite good as well.

Having 10 days (8 full days) gave us plenty of time to see all the major sights and not be too rushed.  We felt very safe throughout our entire visit there.  We are considering returning to Istanbul for a 4-day weekend since it's very easy for Chris to find flights to Istanbul.

Girona

Although I didn't get home from Istanbul until 7;30 pm on Monday, May 9, I had indicated that I

Game of Thrones is filmed in Girona, thus this theme

wanted to go with a small group of friends to Girona to see their annual flower show the very next day.  It's an unusual show in that the flowers and other decorations are displayed throughout the historic part of the city.  There are displays in patios, in parks, on bridges, in waterways, in churches, on building steps, each one created either by private citizens, businesses or the city government.  Most of these flower displays are filled with creativity and are a delight for the eyes.  We escaped the rain most of the day but the drive back to Barcelona was brutal with heavy rains.  As usual, I had the pleasure of meeting some new friends on this trip.