Happy Children's Day............April 23rd is a National Turkish Holiday Honoring Children

Today is National Children's Day in Turkey, a National Holiday established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, formed in 1923, after a devastating period of wars including World War One and Turkey-Greece War of 1922.

The photos here are of Turkish children from 1) Edirne 2) Konya, 3) Gaziantep (Syrian refugee children), 4) Izmir 5) Izmir (Syrian children) and 6) Izmit/Sakarya.

Eid Mubarak/Happy Ramadan from Nasreddin Hoca

Greetings to our blog readers in Dubai, France and New Zealand.

We also want to send a special Ramadan greeting to our friends in Turkey, Cyprus and Azerbaijan.

Now, that Ramadan is complete, we can all go out for halal hot dogs and an Efes Pilsen Beer*......:)

The image above is of the famed Nasreddin Hoca, a comical Persian philosopher who reportedly rode his donkey backwards; Nasreddin lived in what is now central Turkey in the provinces of Konya and Nevsehir.

*-Efes Pilsen is a Turkish beer made from the pilsener formula developed in the town of Pilsen in the Czech Republic.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Jesus Christ Bobblehead Doll

Yes, this was on our Silly Gifts Wish List, but I didn't get it! The Jesus Christ bobblehead doll retails for $9.95 from the bobbleheadstore.net and it is available at novelty stores nationwide, though it may be hard to find in Konya, Turkey (the most conservative city in the Muslim country).

There is some irony as my favorite religious-themed movie is "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979) which many Christian conservatives views as blasphemy!

50 Beers Around the World- Efes Pilsen (Turkey)

We have gotten slightly behind in our 50 Beers Around the World series, but we resume it today by featuring Efes Pilsen which was previously posted here under an entry about Beers of the Islamic World.

Efes Pilsen, founded in 1969, is actually now the eighth most popular-selling beer in Europe. And, perhaps even more surprising is that it has breweries in Serbia, Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan!

The beer company is headquartered in Istanbul and is frequently advertised throughout Turkey. We have heard that it can at times actually be hard to find the beer or any alcohol products in Konya, Turkey, which is the country's most conservative city, but we have not been there is 23 years so that would hard to verify!