I stayed at the Harmony Hostel while in Istanbul - www.istanbulharmonyhostel.com or on hostelz.com - www.hostelz.com/hostel/156426-Harmony-Hostel. It's a wonderful little hostel very near the bus-line and within walking distance of the central part of town. A very nice ambiance, with pillows on the floor, free meals, open areas where guests and staff can get to know one another, great place for single travelers to meet others. Have I said it all? The hostel is above a carpet shop and when open there's always the sign out front: "Harmony Hostel - same same only different."
Turns out I helped them sell this magnificent bedspread to my friend, Claudia.
Ugur works there. He's a Kurd, self-taught English, a peace worker in my eyes, one of the best in the world. He's from a small Kurdish village in southeastern Turkey, one of the many threatened by flooding from the development of dams in that region, that predominantly Kurdish region. Person by person he spreads truth and peace. He shares his thoughts, gleaned from a difficult life, that violence and hatred are not the path to justice and peace.
When I leave Istanbul he carries my luggage to the bus stop and waits with me for the bus to arrive. We sit together on the bench and chat, this old American woman and this young Kurdish man. I take his photo.
"Ahhhhhhh . . ," he says wistfully, as he looks out across the park. "The women I see here are so beautiful. I would never be able to see women such as this in my own village."
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