Grant: An amazing country with over 90 million people 90% of whom are Muslim, yet still a strong and proud secular state. Istanbul was the most interesting to me, with over 15 million people and growing it was fascinating. Though very poor in parts it seemed to work well with a state of the art metro and tram system. It is beautiful as well, surrounded by the ultra clean and blue waters of the Bosphorus River and the Marmara Sea.

It really is a moderate Muslim country that is looking West to Europe but is growing angry over the European Union's stalling tactics over entry into the EU. Clearly the Iraq war and the Lebanon invasions are starting to unsettle people and to undermine the moderate elements in the country.

The other wonderful thing about Turkey is the collection of amazing of Greco-Roman ruins which are in far better shape than those in either Italy or Greece. Both the Romans and the Greeks built extensive and beautiful cities with shrines, temples, stadiums, theatres and libraries along the coast of the Aegean Sea and thanks to the lack of development over the centuries, these structures are in amazing shape.

I was especially impressed by Ephesus, a city to which Brutus and Mark Anthony fled after killing Julius Casaer. Evidently the apostle John also spent his last years in this city and St. Paul was driven from here by the local merchants threatened by the potential lost of business in sales of pagan images as the growing Christian community attempted to shut the pagan shrines down. Great stuff and a great time with the family, too. The fall looks to be very busy so this was a nice break before.

Brianna: Turkey. Yeah, it has THE best water in the world. Ocean water, I mean. The beaches weren't great but we went on a blue lagoon trip and got to swim and jump off the top of the boat which was fabulous!!

There were some really nice ruins even though it was really hot. Ephesus was awesome but we went to a better one called Aphrodisias. In Istanbul we went through more water bottles in two weeks than I have ever had in a year. The Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia were nice but I preferred being in the water (Duh!).

In Istanbul, the sellers were very hassley (we learned this the hard way: entering a shop and not intending to buy anything. We spent about 15 minutes trying to leave the store!!!) In Turkey they have the nicest apple tea ever. Every store we went to offered us apple tea!! Yum…

Dillon: Turkey… hmm, no… not suitable for vegetarians. But it is ok I guess, the waters pretty nice. Wait no, the water is awesome! Beautiful clear blue water with white sand…ok I am going on a bit, sorry.

They had great fish fresh from the sea (I hope. They were pretty expensive!) in Istanbul. About Ephesus, technically it is just a bunch of rock stacked upon each other, into weird shapes. I don't know why the parents liked it. Ok, the weird shapes bit was kind of cool, and so was the amphitheater.

In Istanbul every day was boiling and having lived in London for a year (where heat is not common) we felt like kebabs, minus the stick. Overall, Turkey was great (unless you are a vegetarian that is).

Mary: Many ancient treasures to explore in this country. Easy, pleasant and safe to travel about as well. One of the highlights for me was the Great Palace Mosaic Museum, a hidden gem of a museum tucked behind the Aya Sofia Mosque.

The mosaics are from the Great Palace of Justinian from about the mid-500's AD. The original work is believed to be 3,500- 4,000 square meters in size. The museum contains about 250 square meters. It is not only that the work has survived in tact for so many years, but that the work itself is so impressive. (And no, we did not take a picture of EVERY image, just many of them.)

Climbing down to the Basilica Cistern, we emerged to a surprisingly cavernous space filled with columns and fresh water - there for over 1,500 years. And Topkapi Palace (it may look like ‘top copy‘, but it isn't pronounced that way) started in 1453 with Mehmets' conquest over the Byzantines. It houses amazing relics from Muhammad that make it a pilgrimage spot for Muslims. And more amazing jewels than England's crown jewels.

Orhan Pamuk's wrote in his memoir of Istanbul (titled, Istanbul ), of the effect of living in a city that used to be the capital of an empire; of the effect of having reminders of their glorious past around them; and of the effect of being the gateway between East and West. Reading his book gave me a starting place to think about this area of the world. Overall an amazing experience.