Today started a new chapter in our journey throughout Europe and the Middle East. Not only have we now left Istanbul, but we also began to travel with the tour group which appears to represent a major change that will occur for the rest of our trip. Rather than the previous days of our travel, today we have moved by tour bus and have had a very regimented schedule that both removed many of the chaotic elements of our trip, but also limited our interaction with Turkish people.

Our day began early with our departure from the hotel at 6:45 and we then took a car ferry across to Bursa. From there we went to the large silk market that Bursa is so famous for and looked around at the various shops with some people making purchases. Once we had finished there we were whisked off to a series of mosques and mausoleums, most of which date back to the time of the Ottomans. These locations were beautiful, but soon the heat of the day and the earliness of our start seemed to blur them all together. Eventually we made it to our hotel, which was arguably a more beautiful sight than any of the mosques we have seen. It is a very nice hotel and even as I write this most of the girls are in the Turkish bath hopefully having a wonderful time.

On a deeper level today we were given an assignment to try and find the hidden message behind the culture around us, both purposeful and what has become second nature. This assignment forces us to look past the clear appearances and instead concentrate on the reasons behind the world around us. Some of the things that were discussed were the conflict between secularism and Islam in Turkey and the way to look at both sides objectively and also the way the Turkish government presents itself and Turkey. Our tour guide is a vocal secularist and it provides a fascinating juxtaposition to the Turks and Kurds that we have met in our travels. Although there is the possibility that Chelsea will remain slightly afraid of him simply because she was unexpectedly interrogated on American military involvement in the Middle East and the current support of the Turkish government. Another interesting observation to make is the way the Turkish government presents the sites that we will be visiting. The combination of all of these fascinating elements will make this assignment an interesting one; one that will hopefully force us to reexamine our entire world to find the hidden message.

On a practical note, this is Alex Wisbey posting today. I think that I am still logged on as Jasmine because she used my computer to post in Berlin, but let me assure you that this is me and that we are sharing the burden of the blog. I hope that everyone is having a wonderful summer because I know we are. Peace.