Honeycomb For Breakfast :)

                                                                                  Istanbul, Turkey
                                                                                June, 2015

Getting back to writing about our 2015 summer trip to Greece and Turkey. 

Geography:
There are only a handful of cities in the world that span 2 continents. Istanbul, with its long, amazing and fascinating history, rightfully claims the top spot. Many people in Istanbul live in Asia and take a ferry to Europe for their work !!! They can brag, "Hey, I have an inter-continental commute".

The Bosphorous Channel which connects Black Sea (top) to the Sea of Marmara (bottom)
is the border between the continents, Europe & Asia.
Istanbul spans both Europe(left) and Asia(right).

                                                                                               Click on this image to see it in full screen mode.

The view from our hotel (Levni) room. Left of the Bosphorous channel is Europe and right is Asia.
Stitch of 9 images.

                                                                         
                                                                                       Click on this image to see it in full screen mode.

The Bosphorous channel was created by the melting waters of the last ice age!
The Bhosporous bridge connecting Europe and Asia was opened in 1973.

History:
If you think that the geography of Istanbul is interesting, check out its history:

          676 BC ---> a Greek settlement founded on the Asian shore.
          667 BC ---> Byzantion founded by Greek colonists from Athens.
          334 BC ---> Alexander the Great, conquers Anatolia (most of Turkey).
            64 BC ---> Byzantion becomes part of the Roman Empire (renamed to Byzantium).
         324 AD ---> Constantine becomes the ruler of the Roman Empire.
         330 AD ---> Constantinople (today's Istanbul) inaugurated.
        1071 AD ---> Seljuk Turks destroy the Byzantine Army. 
        1203 AD ---> Venetians capture Constantinople.
        1299 AD ---> Osman founds the Ottoman Empire.
        1391 AD ---> First Ottoman siege of Constantinople.
        1458 AD ---> Ottomans conquer Athens.
        1919 AD ---> British and French Occupy Istanbul after the first World War.
        1922 AD ---> Sultanate was abolished and later Turkey was declared a secular republic.
             1973 --->  Bosphorous bridge opens, linking European and Asian Istanbul.   
    
Due to these turn of events over 2500 years, Istanbul today provides an amazing and unique treat to the mind, body and soul of a traveler.  It is a colorful city full of fascinating sights, historic monuments, and friendly people while offering the most delicious cuisine !!!


                                                                                              Click on this image to see it in full screen mode.

The "Blue Mosque" on the left and "Haghia Sophia" on the right are in the same plaza right opposite to each other.
I took this image standing between them, thanks to iPhone's Pano mode :)

The Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia as seen across the Bhosporus Channel from the Asian side of Istanbul

The Grand Bazaar.

The Spice Bazaar

Grilled Eggplant!

Chicken Kebobs!

European side of Istanbul!

Asian side of Istanbul!

Justification to the title of the post :)

The Levni Hotel had an outstanding and yummy breakfast buffet. While there were many dishes that are unique to Turkey, one dish really caught me by surprise. It was a real honeycomb - of course without the bees :). I just didn't want to miss it and tried it. It was absolutely delicious. 
 

Honeycomb for breakfast !!!

Honeycomb for breakfast !!!

                                         Stay tuned for more posts on Istanbul!

Cosmic Quintet !!!

For the first time since 2005, the 5 "naked-eye planets" (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter) are visible at the same time. The moon has been moving along the planets as if it is the guide showing the path. This celestial dance has been going on since Jan. 20th and will last until Feb. 20th. If you are interested in watching the 5 planets, you need to get up at least 45 minutes before sunrise and look from south east to south west. If you are really keen on spotting Mercury, you need get away from your house and go to a open area with an unobstructed view of the horizon. Mercury is the innermost planet, stays close to the Sun and doesn't rise up very high in the sky.

Graphics showing the 5 planets. Courtesy: NASA.

Going from left bottom corner to right top corner:
Moon -> purple M. White arrow -> Mercury. Green arrow -> Venus. Blue arrow -> Saturn. Red arrow -> Mars. Yellow arrow -> Jupiter.
Stitch of 4 shots. San Dieguito Road. 2/6/2016, 5:45 AM.

Moon, Venus and Mercury above the peak of "Black Mountain". To the right of Moon is Venus. Mercury is below them.
The mountain at the center (farther away) is the "Iron Mountain".

Towards the right edge of this shot is the big constellation "Scorpius" (refer NASA graphics, above).
Straight above the street lamp (almost to the top) is Saturn.
To the right of Saturn is Antares (a "Red Super Giant" star) which is part of the Scorpius constellation.
Antares is really, really, really massive !!! How massive, you may ask.
If placed at the center of of our Solar System, Antares' outer surface will lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter :)

Moon, Venus and Mercury.

Moon, Venus and Mercury.

All the newspapers and websites are talking about only 5 planets being visible. In fact, a 6th planet is also visible. Let us see who spots it first :)

@Night: San Diego: Lunar Craters!

Having taken many pictures of Lunar eclipses and Planets with the Moon, tried getting some closeup images of the Lunar craters. All of these images were captured with attaching a Canon T3i to a 6" Dobsonian telescope using a Celestron 8mm eyepiece.

Mama Thira !!!

                                                                                    Santorini, Greece
                                                                                June, 2015


The towns Fira, Firostefani and Imerovigli are south of Oia. One morning, we took a cab to Fira and walked along the winding path towards Firostefani. This gorgeous walk with breathtaking and stunning views has 100s of steps to climb but the view of the Caldera makes it an easy walk. Our destination was "Mama Thira". What is Mama Thira? Read on !!! 

The white patch towards the right is the town of "Fira".  Firostefani and Imerovigli are to the left.
This photo was taken from Oia.

Walking from Fira towards Firostefani.

Oh! What a place to hang a chair!!!  Would love to be there.......right now :)

Restaurant with a beautiful view of the Caldera.

Handicraft shop.

A Hotel overlooking the Caldera.

"Heaven is closer than you think" !!!

A small Cafe at Firostefani.

"Mama Thira": One of the highly recommended restaurants in Firostefani!

Mama Thira exceeded our expectations. The food was fresh and very tasty.
Notice the sign on the stone wall on the left.  It will be handy, later on!

Fingerlickingly delicious Kebabs! Needless to say, we went back to this restaurant the following day (:-P...

In most restaurants, you get to choose the Fish...and I did ;)

Yellow Donkey is a very light, local beer!

May be, one of the most photographed locations in Firostefani.
A beautiful blue dome church, walking distance from Mama Thira.

This photo is a guide that shows from where to capture the blue dome church (previous photo).
Mama Thira is towards left. If you go up behind Mama Thira and turn right on the road,
it will take you to a small parking lot (see a van and few people).
That is the place to shoot the blue dome church.
The sign on the stone wall behind Mama Thira, points the direction to this location.

Good old, Vespa !!!  Loved the bright colors!.

Yours  Truly...

Venus, This Morning!

The bright and shiny Venus hid behind the crescent moon this morning (occultation).  I was waiting for Venus to just touch the Moon but the clouds blocked the view!

@Night: Santorini

                                                                                    Santorini, Greece
                                                                                June, 2015

While on vacation,  I definitely don't pack up my camera after sunset. Taking night time and early morning photos pose some unique challenges. Due to low light conditions, you have to take long exposure shots. If there are some bright lights in your frame, long exposure will washout the details. Often, you will be the only person standing outside in a cold, dark and unfamiliar location. Given all the challenges, I absolutely enjoy the experience. More than my day time photos, I like my night time photos. 
      

Armeni Village, Oia, Santorini.
June 25, 2015. 9:06 PM.

Armeni Village: Panaromic view from out side our cave!
June 26, 2015. 6:13 AM.

Long exposure is needed to get the buildings exposed correctly. But, the moon gets washed out.
June 24, 2015. 11:52 PM.

So, I hid the moon behind the tree branches. The constellation Scorpio and Saturn are at the left side.
June 24, 2015. 11:56 PM.

View of Oia from the northern tip of Santorini.
June 24, 2015. 9:06 PM.

June 24, 2015. 9:12 PM.

Restaurants at Oia.
June 25, 2015. 9:01 PM.

The two bright planets are Jupiter and Venus.
June 25, 2015. 9:35 PM.