Awakened by the Call to Prayer.

This morning in Istanbul, we (or at least me as Keith was already awake) were awakened at 6 am by the call to prayer from the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet). Keith recorded some of it on his iPhone. What a beautiful sound. I slept like a rock last night being beyond tired from the flight.

We went out walking after checking in to the hotel and visiting with Aysem, our friend who lives here and works for City Bank. She is helping us to get the most out of this short visit to her beautiful city. We met Aysem last May when we went to Italy to visit with Robin and Rosita in Lecce. Ayshemm was in for a wedding of mutual friends of theirs. She is an adorable person full of smiles and good cheer. As it turns out Ayshemm is just beginning a project with City Bank and some other agencies to help Kurdish women in the north with micro-banking. We will have to talk more about this after our trip to India where we will photograph some of SEWA's micro-banking successes.

We walked in the neighborhood by our hotel with our cameras. There was a light drizzle but the temperature was pleasant. We are near the Hagia Sophia and the Sultanahmet (The Blue Mosque) within a couple blocks. The Hagia Sophia is one of the 8 wonders of the world. I did not do a great job making pictures last night but I am putting two up and Keith will add at least one more.

(images - top: Hagia Sophia through a fountain; Keith at the pub on the corner where we drank some Turkish