Category: food

Eating and politics in Turkey

One of the interesting parts of this tour is our guide Suleyman. He is Turkish, and we found out yesterday, part Kurd, and Muslim. We get a view of his country from the inside. His knowledge of the history and politics of Turkey is truly impressive, and yet in no way is he any kind of intellectual. He’s really down to earth, and often very funny, with a dry wit that makes us laugh a lot. He also demands respect, standing at the front of the bus talking about one thing or another, if someone is chatting away he will clear his throat, look incredibly displeased, and say, “Excuse me, excuse me!!” before he will continue his stories.

One of his stories is regarding Turkey and the European Union. Its one thing to read in the guidebook and quite another to hear his version. Turkey has been in conversation with the EU for several years, with many people thinking that it would be a great thing to be part of the EU. However, it seems that the population of Turkey is about 75 million, and unlike many other European countries, Turkey still has a positive population growth. And of course, Turkey is 95 percent Islamic. This seems to make a lot of Europeans very uncomfortable, since Turkey would become the largest country in the EU in population, and would make the EU dominantly Islamic. Suleyman thought this was somewhat insulting, and said basically he didn’t want to be part of anything that didn’t want him for stupid reasons, aka “I don’t want to go to a party where I am not invited”. So the jury is still out on Turkey becoming part of the EU, but Suleyman thinks its not likely to happen in the next 10 years at least.

Another of Suleyman’s political discussion has to do with the Turks and the Kurds. He insists that Kurds are not a particular ethnic group, they are simply people who live in a particular part of the geography of Turkey, Iraq, and other parts of the Middle East. He says most Turks are Kurdish in some way or another, since people from the Kurdish part of Turkey have migrated to other parts of Turkey, especially Istanbul. He said his grandmother was Kurdish. Then he discussed the fundamentalist terrorist group in Eastern Turkey who is attempted to create a Kurdish state, and he dismissed this with a harrumph, and then under his breath in a very rapid comment mentioned that Turkey, with the support of the US, recently bombed some Kurdish outposts in western Iraq. He then changed the subject.

Television. All the big hotels boast cable TV. We think that is great, because it will give us a bit of something in English to help keep track of the world. Cable TV consists of the BBC, and sometimes the international version of CNN, and so far there has been very little news of anything at all except the terrorist attack in Mumbai, so we check in occasionally to get some news from the US. Here we have the BBC and 2 other channels in Turkish. Haven’t watched them much, although we aren’t in our room much either. I’m glad for the internet, since its great to be able to have a note from my kids to keep me connected and a bit grounded.

Food. I need to try to talk about the food. We have been eating fairly traditional Turkish food at the large buffets that are offered at our hotels for the evening meal most of the time. Of course, some versions are better than others and last night’s meal was really impressive. It is very nearly impossible to remember everything, but I am going to try to at least describe what it’s like to be eating here.

One thing that is a big part of Turkish meals are the cold salads, what Suleyman calls the “beginnings”. These often seem to be my favorite choices for the meals anyway, and the one thing always present is eggplant. The eggplant is thinly sliced lengthwise and grilled so it looks like a roasted pepper and served with cool tangy yogurt. There are long huge green beans seasoned with lots of olive oil. A fava bean salad with some onions and olive oil. A tomato salad that looks a bit like pica de gallo without the cilantro, lots of chopped tomatoes, some cucumbers, onions, and lots of broad leaf parsley. Dolmas. The dolmas last night were made of seasoned rice rolled into a softened cabbage leaf. The main seasoning in the rice is lemon and I think cumin, but I couldn’t identify it, even though it was really good. Then some kind of deep fried cauliflower, but not crisp, soft and lumpy, also served with yogurt. Shredded carrots and shredded beats drenched in vinegar, many kinds of olives and triangular cuts of goat cheese, some with red pepper, some with dill, others with more olive oil. Piles of diced very dark green lettuce and spinach that is really good. Huge red radish slices as big as a baseball if it were sliced, covered with chopped dark parsley. Cold boiled potatoes with mild seasonings that need a lot of salt to be good. Some kind of potato salad that has yogurt as the dressing with little cubes of potatoes, carrots, and peas.

Many kinds of bread, most of it fairly soft and not crusty, even though it looks as though it should be. The butter is usually not very good, so we use more dark green olive oil for the bread. Then the main dishes at the buffet are usually several kinds of stews, with lamb and beef and chicken and unidentifiable vegetables, often eggplant and mushrooms which I love and are the two things Mo doesn’t. Almost always are the meatballs, maybe beef, maybe lamb, and also in a tomato and eggplant stew. There is usually some kind of rice pilaf, quite dull without much flavor. Turkish flatbread, something like Indian nan, or a flour tortilla, filled with goat cheese and spinach and roasted on a hot pan like a quesadilla. In the midst of all this complicated food is a large pan of “chips”, great fat French fries that are light as a feather and perfectly cooked inside and crusty outside.

Desserts are all sorts of things with honey in common. Little cakes and madelines, soaked in honey, something like a pistachio baklava, but not as crusty, soaked in honey, little chocolate cakes, that aren’t sweet and stick to the roof of your mouth like peanut butter. Beautiful little lemon cakes that look wonderful and taste a bit like glue. Tangerines that are tart and fresh from the local trees. Once I had a pistachio vanilla custard that was to die for and a chocolate pudding that was equally wonderful. The big thing here is called “Turkish Delight” and is in all the stores. It is the present that you take when you go visiting, and Suleyman insists that whomever has the front seat in the bus is required to bring a box of pistachio Turkish delight. Now I know where Washington State’s applets and cotlets came from. They are nothing more than Turkish Delight Wenatchee style.

I am sure that the buffets are not the best to be found in Turkey, but no matter where we go this seems to be the style of food that we find. Even when we stop at “real” Turkish restaurants they have this buffet style of eating. The first day in Istanbul, when we ate at the Pudding Café, I think I had the best food I have had so far.

Day 4 or second day in Istanbul

I started this morning very early, waking in the dark at 430 am or so. Decided to quietly take a bath instead of lying restlessly in my bed. The bathtub here is small and narrow, but deep, and has a curved bottom that makes standing in the shower rather interesting. The water feels great, but in a bath I could see the brownish tinge that I had read about in some hotels in Turkey. Somehow, with the heat and the bubbles it didn’t bother me a bit. Mo woke a bit later and we went down to our buffet breakfast of yogurt, honey, muesli, for me and hard boiled eggs and corn flakes for Mo.
The group was going on the Bosphorus Straits today, a cruise between Europe and Asia, but we decided it would be a great day to be on our own exploring. After the bus delivery to the Grand Bazaar we had the rest of the day to ourselves. The Grand Bazaar itself it huge, with more than 4000 shops and stalls filled with “stuff”. Lots of stuff. More stuff. Especially jewelry, Turkish ceramics, and pashminas of every possible color and fabric. To think I bought so many in Thailand thinking I had something unique. I must say, though, the pashmina is a fabulous piece of clothing, warmth for cool breezes, a head cover for mosques, a blanket for a picnic, and just generally pretty. Lots of pashminas here in Turkey, as elsewhere.
After wandering for a time down the labyrinthine covered walkways we found a nice little coffee stall and sat for a cappuccino. Our host was young and charming and delightful, and his helper not quite so charming, but the Turkish men are so friendly and talkative, pushy, trying to charm you in to their “family” shop just around the corner, asking always where you are from, and in general being very sweet and cute. They aren’t touchy or pinchy or lewd in any way, which is nice, but after awhile it does get a bit tiresome being followed along all the streets by dark good looking young men trying to get you to go to their shops and buy something. Our cappuccino host, for 13Lira, made a lovely cup of java, and told us how difficult things are in Turkey right now because tourism has effectively died since the economic crash.

You would never know it to look at the streets though. They are filled to brimming with people walking and shopping. We wandered out the main gate of the grand bazaar looking for the Spice Market. The grand bazaar is the oldest shopping center in the world, but has become just a huge tourist attraction, and our guide said that the Turkish people never shop there. The Spice Market, however, is in the same section of the city, but much smaller and much more delightful, with amazing pyramids of saffron and spices of all kinds, Turkish Delight, a sticky sweet Turkish candy thing, and of course more pashminas and ceramics. We managed to get out of both markets with nothing more than a glass of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. Very red, and surprisingly, very sour.
After a time, I decided that I needed a bathroom, which here is usually referred to as a WC, or water closet. In most of the city, the toilets are the squatting kind and cost a Lira or so to use. We saw no sign of anything at all so in desperation I asked a nice looking gentleman for a water closet, bathroom, banos? He nodded and smiled and then said, “wait here” while he ran down the street to get a taxi. Mo and I said, Do you think he is trying to get a taxi? And sure enough he was. I said no no, and then smiled and made a little short street squat to try to indicate what I wanted. To much good humored laughter, another nice man pointed us to a square with a WC.

Wandering through the market and the streets around the market, we found another square near the New Mosque, sat and watched the people and the cats for awhile, and then found our way to the tram station for the adventure of finding our way back to Taksim. The tram itself was visible, in the middle of a very busy street. We couldn’t figure out how to actually get to the station, so had to run across the street and climb a wall and go over a fence to get where we needed to be. Once there, of course no one spoke much English, so we pointed and managed to get a token, get on the tram, ride very quickly to the Funiculare (another tram going up the hill to Taksim) and emerged from the tunel’ into Taksim Square. This time it was good Mo was paying attention because I was so completely turned around who knows where I would have ended up.

Home to the hotel to rest a bit, write a bit, upload our photos and post to the blog from the lobby where we have wireless access, and then back to Taksim Square and the pedestrian mall. This evening, there were even more people than last evening, and again, everyone was walking very fast in both directions and most everyone was talking on a cell phone. It’s hard to figure out where everyone is going, except it must be the social thing to do in the evening. Thinking about the lifestyle here, with people in very small apartments with a view like our hotel room, and no outside, I can see why a walk on the mall in the evening could be a bright spot in a working day. We walked along once more, watching all the food preparation and choosing one that looked great for dinner. We had the meat thing called “kebab”, differing from “shish” kebab, with rice and tomatoes and chips (fries), and I made the mistake of asking for yogurt. In this place however, the delightful yogurt was strong as a fresh billy goat, and the kebab seemed like a very old sheep rather than lamb. Mo liked this much better than I did, but it wasn’t exactly a memorable meal. We continued our walk, looking for a bakery, where I found a box of mixed baklava for 15 Lira, about 10 dollars at the current exchange rate. I love the pistachio baklava.

Home fairly early, but a cold chill is in the air and it’s nice to be back in our room with full tummies and tired bodies. I’ll upload today’s photos and find my bed early this evening so that we are ready to get the suitcases in the hall by 630 am and our bus trip to Bursa and Cannakale tomorrow. Onward!

Day 3 or First Day in Istanbul

The Blue Mosque

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyotesue/23NovDay3InIstanbul#

It’s amazing what sleep will do for you! The room is tiny the beds very narrow, firm (another word for hard), and low to the ground. But the water is hot, and not brown as I had read in some of the reviews, and we both slept really well until about 2am. I guess that was around 4 or so in the afternoon back home so maybe to be expected. There is even a window that opens and we listened to hard rain and thunder, expecting the day to come to be challenging. Imagine our surprise when we woke again to brilliant cool sunshine!

Breakfast in the hotel is a buffet, an interesting one, if not exactly superb, but there were good breads, goat cheeses, many kinds of yogurt and muesli, apricots and olives, and the coffee was strong but not thick and bitter as traditional Turkish coffee is rumored. As we dressed for a cool and possibly rainy day in Istanbul, I felt my spirits rising with the sun.

The bus is big and comfortable with huge windows and open space, so even though I am the seasick/carsick prone one, it didn’t bother me in the least. We began our morning with a trip back through the “new” part of Istanbul, Taksim Square, the location of our hotel, to the “old” part of the city, across the Golden Horn, a brackish water inlet estuary, and to the ancient portion of the city called “sultanamnet” which contains some of the city’s most significant monuments. We first stopped at the Hippodrome, where a gigantic stadium once stood at the heart of the city. Istanbul means nothing in Turkish, and the story is that it was once called only “the city” However the turks couldn’t speak the greek words meaning the city, “is stan” and it morphed into Istanbul, really meaning nothing at all. It was really the only city in the beginning. Most cities in the Byzantine era were smallish and in this city in the 3rd century the population was already a million. So people from the entire known world considered this place “the city”. The Hippodrome was the center of this culture, and we saw the Egyptian Obelisk brought in from the Luxor tomb in Egypt and the Serpentine Column brought in from Delphi in Greece, dating from 479 BC. It’s amazing to see that this obelisk has stood for more than two millennia, even with Turkey being right in the midst of 3 tectonic plates that generate huge earthquakes.

We walked from the Hippodrome to our first piece of magnificence, the Blue Mosque. The history of this building in incredible as well, and the name is simply taken from all the blue tiles from Iznik that decorate the interior. Suleyman, our guide, gave us some fascinating background on Islam, and mosques as houses of prayer only. A Muslim doesn’t belong to a particular congregation, he simply goes to a mosque to pray with like minded people at the proper times. The mosque was commissioned by a Sultan during the time when the Ottoman empire was declining, and there was controversy then about the 6 minarets which were said to be a sacrilegious attempt to mimic Mecca. It was huge, and gorgeous, and incredible, no matter. A bit overwhelming.

We then walked across the square to the Hagia Sophia, a much older building, once a Christian church when it was built in the 6th century. At the time, there was nothing in the world of its stature, and it was a place where people came from all over the world to worship. Later it was converted by the Ottoman sultans to a mosque, and much of the Byzantine art mosaics that depicted people, saints, Mother Mary and such, were covered up because images of people are not allowed in Islam. In the 19th century it was restored and some of the mosaics are now visible. It is a place of great wonder, and I overheard one gentleman whispering to his wife, “This has been on my list since college!” I also remember reading much about this particular place in art history classes as an example of Byzantine art, and one of the beginning places of art and culture in the world. Another amazing experience.

For me, though, sensory person that I am, the highlight of the day came as we were leaving Hagia Sophia at prayer time, and the Muzzein call to prayer echoed throughout the squares across the city. It was a moment in time, of really feeling the essence of a place, and knowing that you are in a spot that isn’t on the list of everyday. I am in Istanbul. Istanbul.

We had lunch at a great little place called the Pudding Shop, which as a cafeteria style eatery filled with amazing looking food. I had cheese stuffed zuchinni, a stuffed pepper of some kind with delightful sauces. There was a photo of Bill Clinton on the door, and the owner standing there was very proud that Clinton had been there not just once, but twice. We walked along the streets after lunch, smelling the great smoky smell of roasted chestnuts coming from the street carts, and watching all the people. The place is filled with people and full of life and energy, even though it’s Sunday and some things aren’t open.

The last stop for the day was the Topkapi Palace, palace of the Sultans, on one of the 7 hills of Istanbul, Seraglio Point, where the Golden Horn, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosphorus straits come together. In Byzantine times, monasteries and public buildings were on this site, and later it became the residence of Sultans for more than 400 years. It is now a rambling museum, filled with glittering collections of the royal treasury including an 84 carat diamond, a collection of sultan’s robes and other treasures. The views of the Bosphorus from the terrace were wonderful, and we looked across from Europe to Asia just across the water. The Straights of Bosphorus are the narrow channel between two continents. Once we leave Istanbul, our travels will be in Asia until we return at the end of the trip to this amazing city that sits in two continents.

Mo and I decided to skip the organized “Istanbul by Night” dinner and dancing and do our own thing instead. After resting for just a bit in our room, we dressed again in something a bit warmer and headed for Taksim Square, and the “pedestrian mall”, the hub of activity in this part of the city. The square is huge, and marked by a MacDonalds and Burger King, but once you are walking down the street, everything changes. We decided to follow our guide’s advice and had dinner at a nice restaurant called “Haci –Baba”, where we had lamb shish and meatballs from the grill and kabob menu. It was refined and delicious, but after we left there we walked down the streets with the throngs of people and saw food that was beyond anything I ever imagined. Especially fun is the way that they have all the cooks making the food in the windows of the restaurants, smiling and laughing with you, and smells wafting out the open fronts of the shops. I read somewhere today that there are only three unique kinds of cuisine in the world, French, Chinese, and Turkish! I am going to have to explore that whole concept a bit further, but for today I just thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful food and incredible atmosphere of this very energetic, cosmopolitan, ancient and fascinating city.

I told Mo today, a couple of times, I do really love this place, it’s incredible. I felt a moment of wonder as we crossed back over the Golden Horn with the mosques and minarets silhouetted against the skies and thought how incredibly lucky we are to have a chance for this kind of experience. It’s like pinching myself, reminding myself, I am in Istanbul. Istanbul!

March 11 Back to Hanalei

March 11 Last full day on the island

We had no major plans for our last full day on Kauai, thinking initially we would use this day to return to whatever part of the island called to us most. That turned out to be the north side. We went to the Kilauea Lighthouse to view the incredible view of the coast and the bird refuge, thrilled that the clarity and breezes had returned to the island. Still not the trades, but at least breezy enough to make for incredible views and great cloud formations. We stopped in to visit some shops and galleries at the little shopping area in Kilauea and truly loved the http://www.bananapatchstudio.com/ a place full of really special island art and ceramics. My favorites were the watercolors of island women and turtles by Joanna Carolan, http://bananapatchstudio.com/catalog/prints/jcgiclees_legends.asp and watercolors of the turtles by her mother Nancy Forbes. Another treat found there was the Aloha Spice Company and their amazing organic island seasonings. Yum. http://www.alohaspice.com/

I had a photo project for the Hanalei Valley Soil Survey Update, so with GPS and directions in hand, I attempted to find the exact locations for photos requested by the Soil Data Quality Specialist in charge of the project, but back in Davis, California, where he tried to figure out where best to get some much needed illustrations. Some of the sites were easy, but as is of ten the case in soil survey, other sites were behind fences and no trespassing signs. It was still fun, though, and took us on some back roads up the valley that we might not have seen otherwise.

After the photo project, we continued north to the Tunnels Beach, supposedly the best location for snorkeling. Once again, our trusty guidebook led us to the hidden parking and access for the beach and we even found a parking place thanks to someone leaving the area and stopping to let us know there was a place to park. Once more we weren’t disappointed. This beach is the one made famous in the movie, “South Pacific” as the location for the mythical Bali Hai. We packed down to the beach with heavenly stir-fry veggies leftover from my wok cooking adventures and our snorkel gear. It was a perfectly magical Kauai dream afternoon. The sun was perfect, with some clouds coming and going and causing the light on the palis to change and shift. The fish were everywhere, with a shallow reef deepening into a very scary deep channel. Mo and I were both underwater snorkeling toward the deeper water and when we hit the edge of that deep dark thing we both burst to the surface at the same time, laughing hard. Neither one of us was ready to fly out over that underwater cliff. Later on I got a little bit more brave and snorkeled along the edge of it, but never too far out. I heard later from Karl that the current there is deadly, and can take you out to sea with the force of a freight train. Lucky for us, we were too scared of the very deep underwater canyon to get caught in it, although sometimes going back to shore was like swimming backwards. Now and then it could get a bit scary when swimming as hard as you can takes you out rather than in. But the fish were great, huge things.

I once had a salt water aquarium and saw many old friends out there, only much bigger. Our Achilles Tang was so fragile and maybe 4 inches long and I saw Achilles Tangs a foot long swimming in the shallow channels along the reef, along with Picasso Trigger fish that were a foot long as well. We saw several varieties of butterfly fish, tangs, and the big silver fish with black stripes, schooling and flying about the way that the geese do, looking like someone waving a sheet in the wind. It was wonderful, and I didn’t even swallow any sea water. A couple of times we tried the fins, but both of us just felt way too ungainly with them on so I snorkeled with my Keen’s and Mo just did it barefoot. The barefoot part wasn’t very easy, though, and next time we will buy the cheap reef shoes at K-Mart.

After a long and very sweet afternoon on the beach we returned home via HWY 56 and stopped in to check out the China Market in Hanalei, which was funky and not as interesting actually as the Coconut Market back in Kapa’a. There was more to see in Hanalei, and we never made it out to the very high end Princeville Resort. On this last day on Kauai, we discovered that there were a few things on the list that we didn’t manage to get to, but we just looked at each other and thought, oh well. We loved every thing we did get to for sure.

Back home in time to relax a bit before our planned night out at a great restaurant. We weren’t sure of our choice, so talked with Karl and he recommended “CocoNuts”, which turned out to be the perfect place. It wasn’t too busy, with a great local flavor, but not at all kitchy, just refined and tropical. It was a bit pricey, but oh so worth it.

Karl had recommended the Ono, but when our waiter described the special I was instantly hooked. My dinner consisted of Mahi Mahi with a light dusting of coconut, finished with a thai ginger curry sauce, with fresh red ginger, pineapple coconut, and a slaw that echoed the pineapple thai ginner curry flavors. Amazing amazing. Mo had salmon finished with a very dark sticky teriyaki sauce with pineapple rice and veggies. Entrees ran about 30 each but by this time we were a bit used to island prices, and remember our 50 dollar lunch on our first day out and didn’t mind. Had a Sonoma chardonnay that was great, and I can’t remember the name of the winery, but once again, add some warm tones of oak to anything and we usually like it. Ahh what a dinner.

We went home very content and happy with the way we spent our last day on the island.

Tybee Island and Savannah

Beginning out third week of travel this morning with the first hint of some weather coming at us. Mo slept well in spite of her injuries but is still feeling somewhat uncomfortable when she has to move around too much. Seems as though she bruised or cracked her left back rib area and it’s pretty sore. As awful as it was, I am just really grateful it wasn’t any worse and she is healing up ok.

This morning we woke in the dark, and made coffee to take on the sunrise beach walk. The beach was quiet and lovely, and the sunrise was not spectacular, but still nice to be on the beach at that time of morning. Walking barefoot in the water in December isn’t bad either.

Skipping breakfast this morning we decided to go to Tybee Island and spend the night tonight. There were some interesting people at the campground, a strange old man with a strong SC drawl and a big floppy hat who rode around in his golf cart and talked to everyone, another younger man who just seemed way too interested in talking to a couple of old ladies about sharks and alligators and kayaking. We met a lovely couple who had retired from the Air Force and returned to her homeland here in South Carolina. She was truly lovely with a beautiful accent and wishing us safe travels. She has a great Standard Poodle who was only 8 months old and looked as though he was 3 feet at the shoulder!

There were also a lot of cats in the park running wild, feral cats that would cruise around the campsites looking for goodies. Jeremy really loved watching one pretty little girl particularly. We put the cat cage out on the table and Jeremy really loved being outside and watching everything.

It’s cloudy and a bit windy now as we drive south along HWY 17 on the way to Savannah and Tybee Island. Predictions are for a big rain storm tonight which is badly needed in the south, but I would like to be safely set up before it starts I think. Planning lunch at the famous Tybee Island Crab Shack this afternoon and then checking out River Street in old town Savannah.

Later
We found the River’s End RV park on Tybee Island, the only rv park within driving distance of savannah and settled in for the evening. It wasn’t cheap at 35 bucks for a night, and the sites were along a residential street. Wasn’t too bad though, since the place wasn’t very full and we had no neighbors, and we had full cable tv, fast wireless internet, and laundry facilities. A buck seventy five each to wash and to dry is a bit steep however. But after a week and a lot of wet towels and dampness, we were really glad to get things washed.

Heading back to the Lazaretta bridge to the famous Crab Shack was a real treat. I read about this place on tybee many years ago when reading about the low country of Georgia and South Carolina in Southern Living Magazine, and have always wanted to go there. It didn’t disappoint me, with big wooden tables with garbage cans in the middle under open holes where you throw your crab and shrimp shells. I had the “low country boil” a mess of food that I have read about that I think Bubba Shrimp Company only tries to copy. It consists of shrimp,, some kind of sweet sausage, corn on the cob and potatoes all boiled up together with some special crab shack seasoning and the whole thing was just scrumptious. Of course, the Key Lime Marguerita and the Key Lime Pie for dessert made it fun as well. Then we went over to the Crab Shack gift house called the cat house because cats have free reign of the place and bought our tee shirts. I figured the Tybee Island Crab Shack tee shirt could be my shirt purchase for this winter’s trip since it represents the farthest distance from home that we will be this year.

Later after that great early supper we drove into Savannah to check out River Street, the place that Peg said shouldn’t be missed while visiting Savannah. The streets were made of old stones that were used as ballast in the ships and then made into streets, the buildings were the originals built in the 1700’s, old warehouses used for cotton and slaves. Many flags have flown over Savannah, including the Jolly Roger and the pirate history here is thick. The other thing Savannah seems to be really famous for is it’s hauntings, called the most haunted city in America. I can certainly see why with all the political and cultural ills that have befallen the city over the last 200 years.

The man named Oglethorp who designed the city built it in the mid 1700’s and laid it out with wide avenues and many public squares in a regular pattern. He build the city and selected the inhabitants who were people who had a vested interest in finding a new life in a new world, but who also had good skills. He thought that Savannah had the climate to provide silkworms for silk and grapes for wine so that England wouldn’t have to buy these things from foreign countries.

The city has a great feel to it, southern and cosmopolitan without being too big and overdone. It was a great evening walking along the Savannah River enjoying River Street.

Home to our cable tv fairly late in time to hear the sirens come on the channel warning of tornados in a wide swath from Florida up through the Georgia and South Carolina coast, but the night left us intact with just wind and rain and by morning all was clear and the temperatures went from warm and humid to brisk, dry, and windy.