Mmmm baklava!  Not exactly a candy, but close enough for my purposes.  In Turkey baklava tends to consist of pastry, pistachio, and a lot of honey.  There are also kinds with chocolate, walnuts, and creme - but I tended to prefer the more basic variety.  I tried the baklava in a venerable pastry shop in Istanbul, renowned by the locals as the best in Turkey, and then traveled halfway across the country to Gaziantep - the Turkish hometown of baklava - where pistachios are harvested and stalls selling the rich, sweet pastries abound.  Sadly, I never learned to make it.

I am finally caught up in uploading pictures, so take a look on flickr for all my pictures from Europe, Turkey, and Syria.  Next step: write lots of blog entries!

Yes, I am safe in Syria - even with the bombing the US did on the border with Iraq.  The locals here aren’t exactly happy about it, but they don’t blame individual Americans as much as government policy.