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The morning after the Full Moon I wandered by St. Mark’s Square again.  Venice, with St. Mark’s Square in center, near the eastern end of the Grand Canal, which snakes its way through the big island (click on photos for enlargement) St. Mark’s Square, with the basilica of St. Mark to the right. The big U-shaped building below the basilica is the Doge‘s Palace. St. Mark’ Square, with the Basilica of St. Mark and the 323-foot high Campanile, or Bell Tower, at the far end. Snow had fallen the night before and was still a stiff damp wind whipping around the plaza.Thus the place was pretty much deserted. Another view of  St. Mark’ Square  A 1503 etching of St. Mark’s. Not much has changed.  St. Mark’s Basicila The first version of St. Mark’s was completed in 832. It had been built to house the relics of St. Mark, which had been stolen and spirited out of Alexandria, Egypt, in 828 by Venetian traders. This church burned in 976 and was later rebuilt. Not much is known a...

As soon as the Blizzard in Istanbul subsided I wandered off to Venice. I had four goals in mind:     See the Full Moon of January 12 over St. Marks Square     Check the news on the Rialto     Continue the Investigations into the life of Enrico Dandolo that I began on my last trip to Venice.  View the loot stolen by Enrico Dandolo and the his Venetian cohorts during the Sack of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1204  The Full Moon, partially obscured by clouds, over St. Mark’s Square (click on photos for enlargements).  Another view of the Full Moon over St. Mark’s Square  The Rialto Bridge across the Grand Canal. The current version of the 104-foot long stone bridge was built between 1588 andl 1591. Actually there wasn’t much news on the Rialto. If I hear of anything I will let you know.  View from the Rialto Bridge Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

I was sitting at an outdoor table at a cafe in Istanbul enjoying the first appearance of the sun after a Huge  Blizzard . Skimming the news on the internet while sipping a demitasse of Turkish coffee I saw this headline: Camel Festival Takes Place In Mongolia . Clicking on the story I read: “A ten-year-old male camel belonging to herder Shoovoi from the Shinejinst soum (district) has been named ‘Best camel’ of the year. A total of 22 male camels took part in a competition in which they were rated on their appearance.” It just  so  happens I know Shoovoi and have even ridden one of his camels. I first met him on a camel trip I did in Bayankhongor Aimag back in 1999. He is married to the sister of my old pal Zevgee (now Deceased ), with whom I did Twelve Horse And Camel Trips over the years. Zevgee was born in Bayankhongor Aimag but later moved to Töv Aimag, where his wife is from. He told me that he still had five brothers and a sister in  Bayankhongor and that two...

From Antalya I wandered back to Istanbul, where I thought I would stay for a day or two before wandering on. Instead I got caught up in one of the Biggest Snowstorms In Recent Memory . At my hotel there was at least sixteen inches of snow on the ground and reportedly there were 120 centimeters (47 inches) in some parts of the city. All this in a city built on hills (seven of them, like Rome) and not that well equipped for handling snow. Over 800 flights were cancelled in and out of Istanbul’s two airports. This was quite a contrast with Istanbul In January of 2014 when the temperatures reached the low 70s F. and irises were in bloom. Hagia Sophia in the snow. This was the first morning of the blizzard, when only about six inches of snow had fallen (click on photos for enlargements). Palm trees taking a beating during the blizzard Blue Mosque in the distance For the first time in all my years of coming to Istanbul the famous fish sandwich restaurants near the Galata Bridge were close...

The 2016 Winter Solstice occurred in Mongolia on December 21 at 6:44 pm. It was of course the shortest day of the year. There were eight hours, twenty-two minutes, and fifty-four seconds of daylight, five seconds less than on December 20. On December 22 there would be two seconds more daylight. So the days would be getting longer. I climbed to the top of Zaisan Tolgoi just north of my hovel before sunset on the 21st and at the moment of the Solstice made  appropriate offerings and orisons. The next morning I absquatulated to Istanbul, where I caught another flight to the city of Antalya on the Turkish Riviera, about 300 miles south-southeast of Istanbul. Antalya, on the Mediterranean Sea Turkey’s fifth largest city, with a population of over a million, Antalya is the second biggest tourist destination in the country. Over 12.5 million visitors passed through Antalya in 2014, with most of them staying at beach resorts to the east and west of the city. Antalya was especially popular ...