Turkish Vacation

Dear Adventurers,
Thank you for your interest in my blog, more posts are on their way as I will be going to Elazig, Turkey from 10-24 June to meet my in-laws. But I will also be going to learn about the culture, how to cook amazing turkish dinners, tourist sites and meet musicians. I am hoping to buy a Turkish flute, similar to a recorder as well!

For those of you who are new or would like to re-read the story, check out this  page and that page


Here is some information about Elazig, "Elazig is the most orderly city of the Eastern Anatolian region, due to its being recently founded with the name of Mamurat-ül Aziz in the 19th century by sultan Abdülaziz to settle some over-population from Harput town. It is situated on a plain near a mountain on 1,020 meters above the sea level and is surrounded by vineyards and gardens. The city today is also a trading center for crops and livestock. It's population is approximately 270.000 today. Keban Dam on the Euphrates (Firat) river and their artificial lakes contribute to the growth and general appearance of this rapidly developing city. Keban lake is the biggest artificial lake of Turkey.

The attraction of Elazig is the Byzantine Fortress of the ancient city Harput, which is made with milk (more on this later). There are also several mosques of the Seljuk period. Lake Hazar, 25 kilometers south of Elazig, is a fine tranquil site, while Buzluk Cave, 12 kilometers northeast, is an interesting cave, which remains cool in the summers and warm in the winters despite the harsh climate of the city."


I will post thoughts and photos after I get back.

Thanks, Merci,

 

Thoughts from the Metro: French Facts

Almost every morning, I try to read a Direct Matin, one of the 3 free newspapers found in the metro.

There was an article about the change in French population in the Wednesday, January 19th version, that I just had to share.

Fun Fact 1: The population has just passed 65 million! According to January 1, 2009, the population was at 64,7 millon.

Fun Fact : 58,7% of French are between the ages of 20-64.

Fun Fact 3: Marriage is way down in France, more people are pacsing, meaning they have signed a contract and are no longer consider single. Pacs are usually for same-sex couples but more and more opposite -sex couples are doing it. Pacsing is the new "marriage" trend, and when it ends it beats getting a divorce!

Fun Fact 4: 54,8% of children born in France are born out of wedlock! Think 36% are born to married parents!

Fun Fact 5: 828,000 babies were born in 2010, beating the normal 800,000 a year. I guess this means more single parents?? based on the fact noted above.

What do you think of these facts? Do you have more to add?