Wonderful!

Had a great time in the miserable weather with Claire. She bravely soldiered along through the incredible Balat and Fener neighborhoods and provided extraordinary tidbits about Eyũp, the synagogues of Balat, the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate and so on. The beautiful cobbled streets are an incredible side of Istanbul not to be missed. Topped off by a splendidly hot and soothing cup of sahlep in the rain. What could be better?

It was really enjoyable. We were sorry that we were unable to view a synagogue due to the security around it. Ebru explained this and said that we would sit at a cafe nearby and talk about the Jewish history. For whatever reason we didn’t. It was a most enjoyable tour. Ebru is extremely knowledgeable even about rather obscure points. I’m not sure it is her fault we didn’t talk about Jewish history. I may have asked her too many questions in the Bulgarian church and used up our time. I would do this tour again. I learned so much.

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