Tea Sugar Dreams

A year in the woods completed and time for a reward. While your perception might be that Rebecca and I had a one year vacation in France, that is far from the reality. INSEAD is hard work and a challenge for both the MBA student and their partner. It is a year full of learning, challenging, exploring, testing and trading offf priorities. Would we do it again? Bien sur! So, with the academic challenges completed, it was time to celebrate and while many INSEADers headed to Tunisia for a big group holiday / graduation trip, we decided to fly East to Turkey with Tim and Colleen. Colleen, CEO of Puppy Dog Vacations (PDV), proved to be the best holiday planner around. Even Rick needs to beware of PDV. Thanks to Colleen, we discovered the magic of Turkey and would encourage everyone to visit once. So, what is "tea sugar dreams"? During our first day in Istanbul, a very nice and enthusiastic carpet salesman taught us to say thank you in Turkish. Tea sugar dreams sounds similar to thank you in Turkish. After a week of trying, I'm certain 0% of the Turkish population would understand any of us in our attempts to be grateful. Tim, we gave it our best mate.

On a PDV tour, the CEO always makes the decisions, once rocking advice has been provided.

Istanbul mixes Eastern and Western cultures From the prayer call towers adjacent to the mosques, you heard the religious ritual announced to the city. This photo attempts to capture the mix found in Istanbul...merchants in the foreground and the Blue Mosque in the background.

PDV found a perfect hotel right in the heart of the old city. Our first visit was to the Ayasofya, perched on one of the seven hills of Istanbul. Created during Suleyman's reign, this experience immediately brings you face to face with the Christian and Muslim elements of Turkey.

From inside the Ayasofya, we could see the Blue Mosque...so we made that our next stop. And this photo is from inside the Blue Mosque...

In total, we spent a day and a half in Istanbul and then jumped on a flight to Cappadocia, the land of the fairy chimneys. This flight takes you East towards Iraq and into a portion of land that really felt like the origin of civilization. Homes were carved out of rock. These rock homes were lived in until the 1950's and today, you can find a few five star hotels utilizing these same rock dwellings.

PDV arranged for a 3 day tour to expose us to the best of Cappadocia. Ramsey, our tour guide, is first class and if you ever make it to Cappadocia, ask for Ramsey.

Welcome home...

If you read up on this part of Turkey, you will quickly learn that early Christians settled here and though we don't know if they carved the original dwellings, their churches, sculptures and frescoes are scattered throughout the land. Ramsey knows all the details and will take you to places you would not find on your own. I'm typically not a fan of tour guides but this is a place you need one. Here we are visiting one of the many Christian dwellings.

After 3 excellent days in Cappacocia, we flew back to Istanbul for a few more days of touring and shopping. The Grand Bazaar is an absolute must and Colleen and Rebecca are gearing up to negotiate like the pros.

I found picture taking to be more fun. While many places in this world have aggressive vendors, we found the Grand Bazaar to be a place where they quickly left you on your own. It was a nice level of pressure...enough to get the flavor of the Grand Bazaar and the world's first shopping mall, but not so much that you became annoyed and had to leave.

And if you like gummi bears, then you need to buy some Turkish delights or Lokum during your visit...

Rebecca could not resist the spice market.

Now that I've worn you out with all the pictures of Turkey, I wanted to end here with one more photo. The Yerebatan Cistern. This was first constructed by Constantine and served as the water source for the city during times of seige or drought. Today, it is home to goldfish and truly one of the best things I've ever seen. I'll save the history lesson for you to discover on their official site.