Temptation in Turkey

Cappuccino in Istanbul -- this does NOT look like cappuccino to me. And I am an expert
on Cappuccino....

That could be because tea is very popular in Turkey...I loved seeing those charming little tea cups everywhere...

There was pick up and delivery tea service everywhere we went. and the spice market was filled with teas. I tried pomegranate tea, rose tea, flowering jasmine and apple...
delicious! I will never give up cappuccino but an afternoon tea is quite nice too.

For me, a lot of fun of travel is just walking all over and looking at ordinary things, away from the tourist circuit...like these stationery shops.

I found some delightful notecards....

and bookmarks that look like little Turkish rugs and of course the ever-watchful
evil eye charms.

Turkish mailboxes for sale?

I believe so....and now I am wondering why I didn't buy one..
Oh yes-because I can only fit so much into my suitcase.

This looks like an Italian mailbox. In fact, it IS Italian but there is was in Istanbul, sitting proudly outside a Turkish cafe.

SPECIAL DELIVERY
I had a mail art assignment to take care of. Mail artist and SF Correspondence Co-Op member
Alice S. made a set of wonderful zines from her recent trip to
Istanbul. This guy was featured and my job was to deliver. As you can see, he was
absolutely delighted with the zines...

and the photos of himself inside. I have no Turkish and he had no English but mail art  needs no translation.

My friend Alice is a rubber stamp fanatic opps I mean fan and he made stamping motions with his hand to show he remembered Alice and her love for rubber stamps, especially this big one.
It wasn't for sale but he whipped open the door to this cabinet and --

all these were for sale. Of course I had to follow in Alice's footsteps and buy a few rubber stamps too.
That was really a fun delivery.

OK, some of you (and you know who you are) have been saying "What? No food photos??"
So, here are just a few of the many I took...don't encourage me or I may have to do a FOOD only post.
Women sitting in restaurant windows making fresh flatbreads was quite common.

So, of course, I had to try some of the bread, which just happened to be filled with two kinds of cheese and grilled...and served with the delicious manti (small Turkish ravioli).
This was really too delicious.

And did I mention the Pudding Shops? Something we don't have here in the USA.
Shops with tea and coffee and all kinds of puddings and baklava. Yes, I believe I will stop in every afternoon for a treat.

This is JUST what I need to see after all that tempting Turkish food -- I think I'll skip this.
Maybe I could just user it to weigh my mail? Or my suitcase?

I hope you aren't getting tired of the travel posts. I have been so busy trying to catch up on all my mail that I haven't even had time to photograph everything I've been sending out.
And I've been sending out A LOT.

I have one more Turkish post and then on to OUTGOING mail, incoming mail and
wouldn't you know, holiday mail. And the travel journal, photo album project and travel collages.
And more!

What are you all up to?

SEND A LETTER -- GET A LETTER

Lovely Turkish Adventures

Istanbul, Turkey
Seems like I gathered quite a lot of attention while on my mail art travels in Turkey.
For example, this little cat seemed quite intrigued with me while I photographed
this adorable yellow mail box.
The entire cafe right next door also seemed interested but we won't go into all that.

This (very nice) guy had quite a laughing fit watching me shoot this Mail Box from all
angles. Did he wear that yellow shirt to coordinate with the yellow post box? We'll never know, will we? He finally decided to go ahead and post his letters and he wished me a great day.
In English. How did he know?

PTT Mail Truck -- ooh noo -- a mail truck. Whip out the camera......and start running...

There it goes...you'd think they could slow down a bit instead of making a nutty American chase after the truck.

Istanbul Airport -- it may be too small for you to read -- but that sign on the top left says
PTT POST OFFICE -- I'm on the job.

A Mail Box with a little local color. I wonder why they changed from yellow to red?
I really do like that envelope on the mail box though....
Stamps Are Required For Mailing
Do people really drop in letters without stamps?

This guy actually came over to me and looked onto the screen on my camera -- I don't know if he was checking if I was photographing him or the mail box -- but he walked away laughing.
I did get laughed at a lot on this trip but it was all in good fun.
I think.

This little cutie is leaning right....or left...depending on which side you are looking at it from.
The Blue Mosque was right behind it. Most people would photograph the famous
Blue Mosque but I was intent on photographing the cute little mail box.

Charming, don't you think?

OK, turn-about is fair play. This is me with a delightful Turkish mail box and it is just a total
coincidence I am wearing the same colors as the Turkish Postal Service.
Really.

Istanbul is a beautiful and fascinating city, filled with ancient mosques and adorable mail boxes.
Very nice people and absolutely terrific food.
Lots of carpets and cats. Highly suggest a visit if you ever get the chance.
I still have the PTT Main PO and some stationery shops to share with you.

Send Good Mail -- Get Good Mail

Bella Italia (Part Three)

Venice
Because Venice has absolutely no cars.....

....everything has to be delivered by carts....

I got a kick out of seeing this dry-cleaning delivery cart.
And, as usual, people got a kick out of seeing me photographing the dry-cleaning
delivery cart(I got laughed at and looked at a lot in Istanbul too, which you
will see next post).

Restaurants get their food and wine delivered by carts...

And, of course, all this is leading up to the fact that the MAIL is also delivered by cart.
Very cool.
No sign of the delivery person. Someone could steal one of those packages
just sitting there like that...(I wouldn't think of it).

I wish one of those packages was for me -- I am part Italian, after all.

Another very cool things about Venice is, many of the mail boxes have faces on them.

Here's a shiny new mailbox (ever so out of place in crumbling Venice but I do like that envelope on there).

And here's one a bit more my style...

Posta -- Mail
Say it any way you like!

PREGO NO PUBBLICITA
My feelings exactly - a mail box is supposed to be for mail not for junk!

Venice is really a magically beautiful place just to walk around in...next time I'd like to spend a week or ten days and just walk all over, take pictures and eat and drink coffee and wine...

It is been brought to my attention by several people (hello Mary Ann...) that they haven't been able to comment
on the blog. Since I see there are hundreds of page views and so few comments I wonder if others have the same problem. I have removed the word verification this time around to see
if that helps -- so give me a shout-out and say hello. Let me know if you have been having trouble commenting and if that helps. As long as I don't get a bunch of spam I will leave it off and so we'll see what happens.

I am working on catching up with all my mail -- so if you have sent me mail, you will hear from me soon.
Send Good Mail to Get Good Mail.

Ciao tutti!

Bella Italia (Part Two)

Here we've got some "Mail Box Portraits".
I'm quite captivated by these lovely red POSTE boxes.

Often there are two together -- I think one is for mail to be dropped into
and the other must be for the letter carrier to pick up to deliver?

Another pair...

A single -- are we noticing anything here?

A surprising amount of graffiti around Venice -- and I don't appreciate it  all
over those beautiful red mail boxes.

Here's a lovely box without -- the red contrasts nicely with the grey, don't you think?

And here's a box with graffiti -- still, it has a certain charm.

A pilgrimage to the mail post office in Venice didn't work out too well...

Sadly, it is closed and all boarded up. I imagine the Italian post offices are having similar
problems as the USPO's are. Sad. And with all those stationery shops we saw you'd think people were sending mail.

Love the two choices! I guess my postcards will have to go into into the
PER TUTTE LE ALTRE DESTICAZIONI

Are you all getting tired of post boxes yet?
Then maybe we'll  buy a few more postcards.....

And we can sit with a nice cappuccino at breakfast time and write them out and then drop them into one of those red Italian beauties.