Momma Linda: Apimondia

Apiculture is the art of beekeeping. Bees are like livestock, and are kept for many reasons: for pollination, for honey and other products (wax, propolis and the bees themselves). To us Southern Utahns, you might call it bee "ranching" ha.

Today after breakfast in our comfy room, we headed out to the Apimondia conference in Taksim square, north of where we are staying. We used our Istanbulkart transportation cards and hopped on the train, then the Funicular. (look it up). It was difficult to get our bearings on Taksim square, but with the help of Athena's smart phone, we eventually found North and started walking. It was cloudy and rainey off and on, so that was a good way to spend the day--inside.

Oh my. Beekeeping is HUGE. There were no representatives of the USA Federation of Beekeepers that I could see, but by golly, I think everyone else in the world was represented. We had to stand in line a long time (about 30 Minutes) to get a one-day pass for me to attend, and we checked on the tours, BUT the highlight of the day was the exhibits. It was a rather large exhibition hall. Not as big as World of Concrete Expo, but maybe almost as big as the ALA conventions, or close to it. There was a world-wide representation, truly. We wandered around and tasted honey, Athena visited with vendors, we just soaked it in. Then we went to find something to eat. That was another long line. Again, line or "queuing" in the US seems way more polite and organized than lines or queues in other countries. Pushy, pushy. We saw such contrasts. One guy in a line kept pushing himself ahead of us. One guy bumped me almost out of the food line...but apologized. Then later the fellow in front of me in line did hand me my cafeteria tray ever-so-politely AND offered me the last roll from the basket. I had to decline since I needed 2...so he took it. ha.

After we had lunch and felt a little rested, we went to attend a few of the sessions. I went to two and so did Athena. It was huge, noisy, translators hard at work, short, didn't match the printed program. But it WAS very interesting and Athena was thrilled to learn that she, as a small independent beekeeper who teaches and has 10 hives, has the very same concerns about the health of bees as the rest of the worlds' beekeepers, whether they are small operations or massive ones. It's fascinating and we've had some interesting discussions on the state of the world, agriculture and health in general.

We meandered out of the convention center (it was very large) and found our way to Taksim Square and found---an antique book fair! Or festival or something. Dozens of booths all filled with hundreds and thousands of books. Many were old, but not all of them. It was fun to meander slowly through that.

Athena came to do Bee stuff and I work in a library and found Book stuff. Cool, huh?

We had to rest after that. It was a long morning/afternoon and we had tickets to see the "Dervish Experience" that evening. Another ride over the Golden Horn (it's the waterway between old town and new town, not the outcrop of land that may or may not look like a rhino horn) to find, in the rain on new and different streets that we had never been on, the Hodjapasha Cultural Center. With a little help from a pharmacist ("They won't try to sell us anything here") and another tourist from Eastern Asia, we eventually found it tucked in a little darky alley way! But it is very popular and it was an interesting show. Rather amazing at what they can do...but we didn't really know what to expect. We were both tired. We both nodded off at one time or another. I guiltily looked around and I don't think anyone else was nodding off. Perhaps were were just too tired.

And I was nodding off as I have been proof-reading this, so there won't be any captions on THESE photos tonight, either! Just too sleepy. Tired. But we do rest well at night, so that's good.

We wandered the streets and alleys of Old Town Istanbul after the Dervish show and stopped at one little shop to find some little snack to tide us over. Well, we just wanted dessert. They have a lot of sweets here. I wonder what kind of diabetes rates this population has.? But, really, the Turkish Delight is very nice. And so are the pastries. They all drink sweet teas, but in very small amounts in cute tulip-shaped glasses.

The next experiences? Tomorrow is Sunday and I'm going to attempt Church on my own and Athena's going to attempt the conference on her own. Then we'll head over to Old town to hopefuly see the Blue Mosque, perhaps ferry across the Bosphorus Strait and set foot on the Asian Side. We feel as though we are old hands at the tram thing. Tomorrow I'll attempt the Metro (!) It's difficult with very little sense of direction, but perhaps knowing where the Bosphorus Strait is will help.

In one of the conference presentations. Speaker is at the podium, the screen on the wall for the powerpoint, etc. is MASSIVE, but upstairs in the rooms behind the glass windows are where all the translators are working. Many people were wearing headsets. Oh, the presenters presented their talks in English! The first one I heard was from Tanzania, but his accent was very difficult for even me to understand. Next fellow was from Australia. Much easier.

Athena is holding an itty-bitty ice-cream cone - type cup. And it was used for honey tasting at the (below) Honey Bar. Those jars are filled with honey and they put some in the little edible cups for us to sample.

Other venders just had little teeny plastic spoons that we could sample. And really, there wasn't all that much honey eating going. on.

The exhibit hall spread all over, and parts were massive. Other parts were cramped and crowded.

Look at those silly ladies behind us with the bee costumes on! ha. One lady teaches children beekeeping and they were from somewhere in Russia.

There was a children's art contest that was going on. Cute stuff.

I found a loom. There was someone weaving at it earlier. But I do gravitate toward fabric. And I did to this exhibit, especially since we are going to that town that was featured in this booth when we travel to Asia for the beekeepers technical tour later next week.