August 20 ...

Hello everyone, first of all apologies that I have not written in a long while ... we are in Greece and we are running around from Athens to the island of Evia back to Athens to Akrata in the Peloponese ... and visiting lots of family here ... for the most part we have been in a hurry because I need to head back to the States on the 23rd ... anyway ... as long as you know we are safe and well ...

I would like to continue on Turkey because there is soooooo much more to say ...

continuing on my mom's movie habits ... I found out that when her indearing boss kiria Panagiota would be gone and her mom would be in charge ... guess what these young girls would do .... turn back the clock like 10 minutes so they can get out early to head to the movies ... can we try this at work? ? ? too bad for us -- our school has bells .... ha ha ha

my mom and dad have many many cousins ... and then I have lots and lots of second cousins ... many of whom I do not see unfortunately ... one of the cousins was God rest his soul on her dad's side ... her cousin Panagiotis .... (he died a couple years ago from Parkinson's)

Panagiotis mom was Alexandra - my grandfather Elia's son. She and uncle Stavro also had a beautiful daughter ... Kostantia ... is that not a great name ... Kostantia died at the age of 16 from measles ... imagine that. She was really smart ... She was going to Zappeio one of those elite schools .... and she was gorgeous -- I saw an 11X14 picture of hers and she was beautiful. Panagiotis went on to the Theological School in Halki (which is now closed) read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halki_seminary -- and as he walked up the hill and it is a hill every day to go to school ... he would pass by the balcony of his future wife Kiki ... The seminary is a gorgeous spot on top of Halki and for Turkey to get into the EU -- the reopening of this great institution is one of the hurdles ... so this is why we are staying on the island of Halki ... the house has benn redone to now have about 7 apartments and my aunt's family owns two of them .... so we stayed in the one on the third floor .. no elevator on the island ... and there are some homes with four and five floors .... good legs ... anyway ... you may think this sounds idyllic .... but did I mention that this is the major road for everything ... as you know there are no cars. ... so you think no noise ... well ...first of all the SEA GULLS have been absolutely amazing in the way they want to chat with each other from midnight to 8 am ... I have never ever ever heard such a commotion ... then you have the horse carriages that go up and down all the time and they have this lovely bell to make sure to alert folks that they are coming ... and then people ... talk really loud here after midnight ... I guess after they had a drink or two ... in all seriousness ...it was a great place to stay.... and the sea gulls are now in our memories ....

we took all types of transport in Istanbul ... there is a new tram and we took that to visit the chruch of Zoothohou Pigi -- the church of the life giving well ... my dad has made going there a tama ... something he has to do when he is in Constantinoupoli...

on the tram .. my mom started chatting with two different ladies ... one of them was from my grandfather's on my dad's side village ... Gemushane -- we came close to visititn and she said that the Greeks the Rums there helped her and her family .... the other one said that her family came to Istanbul and the Greeks there helped to teach her family to read Turkish -- nice things to hear.

we went to the church and we found two tour buses from Greece and that was a welcome sight ...my mom and dad talked with a few of the guests there ... so here is the story of the church ... there is a Greek cemetery there and an Armenian cemetery on the other side ... like 100 yards from each other ... the area is called Balookli and there is a famous Greek hospital there .... with the same name. So the Greeks and the Armenians wanted to build a church there ... but only one church could fit there ... so they went to some Sultan and he wisely decided that he should not get involved .. but that there should be a cockfight and whosever rooster wins gets the church .... well guess who won ...

then there is the tale about the fish in the well ... by the way ... the well gives water that we call agiasma ... we drink that as blessed waters ... so the fall of Constantinople in 1453 ... folks came and said that the Turks were taking over and either a priest or a nun would not believe it and they said .... as they were frying fish .. that they would only believe it if they fish they were frying became alive again and you guessed it .... half the fish oura .... the tail became alive ... so goes the story ...

we had some delightful balik ekmek sandwiches ... fresh fish sandwiches in Eminonu on our way back to the island .... I could eat that and fried mussels every day ...

The day before that -- it was my mom's turn to do what she wanted to do ... we took turns ... and we went on a cruise on the famous and all important Bosporous Straight

The Bosporus or Bosphorus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, (Turkish: İstanbul Boğazı or, for İstanbul's inhabitants, simply Boğaz; while the term Boğaziçi denotes those parts of the city with view of the strait) (Greek: Βόσπορος) is a strait that forms the boundary between the European part (Rumelia) of Turkey and its Asian part (Anatolia). The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, it connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea). It is approximately 30 km long, with a maximum width of 3,700 metres at the northern entrance, and a minimum width of 700 metres between Kandilli and Aşiyan; and 750 metres between Anadoluhisarı and Rumelihisarı. The depth varies from 36 to 124 metres in midstream.
The shores of the strait are heavily populated as the city of Istanbul (with a metropolitan area in excess of 15 million inhabitants) straddles it.

here is more from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosporous

Anyway -- a very important sea route -- and gorgeous homes .... pools -- elaborate architecture ... a lovely cruise --- we usually get off at Sariyer get something to eat -- and take the bus back .... but this time we went to the end -- almost to the black sea ... rumeli kavali -- the European side -- end of the line lets say ... we got off and took a stroll through and saw a fish tavern -- two tables occupied and we decided to stay ... you are not going to believe this ... in a city of 15 million with only 2,000 Greek inhabitants ... here we are three tables -- all Greeks with roots from Constantinople ... one of the couples actually lives here in the summer and another table comes to Halki in the summer... the one couple that lives there in the summer -- the wife was from yenikoy -- neohori in Greek ... in Maine we have one family from Istanbul and guess where they are from? yup Yenikoy -- this woman in her 70s actually worked for these folks dad who owned a small market there ... unbelievable or what .... my mom got her number and will give it to the folks in Maine ....

then the other table was a couple in their mid to late 40s with two girls ... the wife ... we found out -- after my mom went straight up to them to chat ... hung out with my aunt Kiki's -- the person where we stayed in her appartment in Halki .. her two daughters ... Dina and Mary ... Small world ... sadly she found out that my cousin Dina ... had died a few years back from lung cancer ... I think she was 43 and has two kids that we visited in Greece here a few days ago. This poor family has lost a daugther and a husband in less than a year ...

She was so happy to reconnect with Mary at least and my mom -- Ms. ATT .... connecting folks ... got her phone number and gave it to her ...

At the church of Zoothohou Pigi ... Greeks asked my parents why they left .... such an incredible city .... and as one realizes ... for 250,000 to leave in what 5-8 years there has to be reasons ...

let me first say that something happened in Turkey against the Greeks every few years ...

first we have the Treaty of Lauzanne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lausanne

where populations of Greeks and Turks left their homes and had to repatriate to the other side .... even though they had lived there for hundreds of years .... what a horrible things...All folks of Greek descent except those Greeks living in Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenevos had to leave Turkey and mostly become refugees and come to Greece or other parts of the world ...

then we have in the 1940s--- where I told you that the Turks took all men from 20-40 to help in creating roads, etc .... the reason my grandparents died .... my mom's dad participated in this as well ... but he came back ok ...

Then there is a tax that is only levied on Greeks ... que paso here? ? ?

Then they say -- Only people that have roots in Istanbul can stay in Istanbul? WHAT? ? my dad's grandma -- although was not educated ... boy was she a smart woman ... she got someone to write that she was from there even though she had come from Adarpasha -- about 50 miles away ...

Then the 50s came and with that one of the worst hours in Greek Life in Istanbul --
what we call -- Ta Septembriana -- The September events of 1955

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Pogrom

Today -- The Turkish newspapers have said that what happened in those two days was totally orchestrated ... a bomb erupted in the Turkish consulate in Saloniki ... the bomb was placed there intentionally by the Turks ... anyway -- those days -- a riot erupted ... but what is amazing is that trucks and trucks full of Turks from the suburbs of Istanbul were bussed in and created a riot .... horrible things happened ... my dad was in the military on the border with the Soviet Union .... imagine how he was feeling ...

my mom's house was spared because a neighbor or two .. Turks ..said that they had the wrong address and no Greeks lived there ...

On the island of Antigoni ... which was all Greek pretty much .... the mayor who was one of the two Turks on the island .... refused to allow the boat to disembark ... or who know what would have happened there ... anyway -- hundreds of Greek stores destroyed ... Greeks killed ...raped ... you name it ... a sad sad day in history ...

imagine the Fear ....


then in 1965 -- a law was passed that all Greeks that had Greek citizenship had 24 - 48 hours to leave their homes .... we have always had Turkish citizenship until we became Americans .... even in Greece ... we never got Greek citizenship .... imagine the hurry and anxiety ... we met folks just two days ago that had to seel everything and apparently my parents bought their bedroom set ...

Then the Cyprus conflict was brewing in the late 60s and then the attack on the island in 1974 ... well .. who wants to be made part of the Turkish army to invade their Greek brothers and sisters on the island .... and my dad had already known if the Turks take you ... as they took his dad ... he ended up an orphan ... who knows really what he was thinking .... what the rest of the 200,000 were thinking .... but slowly and surely folks left .... really it is an amazing thing ...

so these are some of the reasons ...