We spent some time with three Sarayevo natives during our stay. Marima our walking tour guide, Skender our siege tour guide and Amar our guest house host. They were all young children when the war started... one was six, one seven and one eight. It was very interesting for me to meet them and hear their perspectives - each was different but also similar. Marima shared many poignant personal memories of the war, is getting by and doesn't have any faith that education or ambition get you anywhere. Skender is incredibly knowledgeable about the war and politics. He tries, with varying degrees of success, to present an objective view of the seige of Sarajevo. He is involved in running a couple of hospitality businesses with his family. Amar has a good full-time job and has built his guest house on his own, which he runs in his spare time. All three have a keen sense of gallows humor, and meeting each of them was a very interesting and moving experience for me. \n
Arriving in Cappadocia was jaw-dropping amazing, and that was in the dark. I can't wait to see what this looks like in the light. We walked through Goreme this evening after we arrived. It's very tourist-centric, but so far not in an obnoxious way. We met a discount travel agent named Brent who is an American golf pro who moved to Turkey. He gave us free Ouzo (or the Turkish version of it) and talked for over an hour giving us advice about what to do and how to do it. I'm so glad we came here!
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