Quit Dreaming and Go Somewhere

So today is our big sightseeing day, FINALLY!!

That morning we asked the friendly/goofy young guy at our hostel about the outdoor concert we saw last night and he said the guy performing was really famous. I wish I could remember his name. Oh well.

First we took our dirty clothes to a laundry to be cleaned – I only have 2 pairs of pants and my jeans must be be full of Cappadocian dirt from sliding down hills and climbing into caves.

Then we went to Aya Sofia, the place that is supposed to make us speechless when we walk in the door. Let me explain – Aya Sofia is right across from the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque is more visually stunning from the outside, but the Aya Sofia more stunning from the inside, apparently. Either way, the sight of these two buildings across the way from each other is awesome. Anyway… Aya Sofia was beautiful but the scaffolding inside hurt the view a bit. Unfortunately it stunk a little like cat pee, too. But obviously it was awesome, etc etc.

Afterwards we saw some women with the full black robes that cover everything but their eyes. I can’t imagine wearing that all day!!!

Next we went to Topkapi Palace. Some of the coolest parts were seeing part of John the Baptist’s hand and skull, Moses’ staff'(!), Mohammed’s sandals and beard hairs(!), and Joseph’s turban!!! We are wondering how on earth they can verify that these things belong to them!?!

One of the entrances to Topkapi Palace

View of Istanbul from Topkapi Palace
We waited in line to go to the Harem but it was just too long and we left and had a lame lunch.

Later we went to the Blue Mosque, and I borrowed one of the plain headscarves to wear inside and was surprised to see many women tourists not wearing the headscarf. It was beautiful inside and a little weird that people were there praying and we were staring at them. On the way out there was a closed off area for “women only” to pray in. Hm.

Inside the Blue Mosque (click for big pics)

That night we went to Beyoglu yet again because it is absolutely DEAD in Sultanahmet!! Not a soul is around. When we got to Taksim Square, we heard music again and found yet another outdoor concert. I was so bummed I didn’t bring a camera. There were Turkish flags everywhere, hanging from buildings, buses, power lines, and people everywhere had them. There were big pictures of Ataturk hanging on buildings, too. The guy performing was named Mustafa Sandal. We watched for a while. There were SO many people there, dancing and singing and having a great time!! It was a fun atmosphere.

Then we left and had dessert and coffee at a cafe but there were so many people smoking we couldn’t take it so we left immediately afterwards and came back to the hostel.

That day we talked continuously about what we were gonna do with so much extra time in Istanbul. I felt very down about it, because I planned our trip and obviously didn’t do a great job. I didn’t want to try to see too much like we did in Spain last year, but I over compensated. We searched on the internet and at travel agencies to try to find a cheap flight somewhere for a couple days but we were striking out on all counts – Budapest, Bucharest, Paris, Athens, Rome, etc. I was really bummed about it because I love Istanbul but it’s getting harder to find ways to spend our valuable time and it’s starting to rain (note: it rained the majority of our last days in Istanbul.)

Random: Guy carrying bread on his head. Bread head.

We are now back in Istanbul, and we are not staying at The Apricot, but at a place called the Side Hostel (pronounced see-duh), referred to me by a co-worker.

I am crushed that we are not at the Apricot, but we originally thought this place was cheaper (it’s actually the same cost) but they have a little nicer rooms and the view from the roof is better. It honestly makes me feel guilty that Mehmet was so good to us and now we are not staying there. In my heart, I know the Side is physically better, but his help was fantastic. We’ll see.

(Note: on the last night of our time in Turkey, Mehmet told the story to his boss of how our first hotel lost electricity and that’s why we came to the Apricot. He then said it served us right for not coming there off the bat. ha.)

You probably want to know what happened with Egypt. Right now, the plans are a No-Go. We knew from the beginning that the chances were tiny that the planets would align and it would happen, and it would have made us the most hardcore backpackers ever, to just jaunt over to Egypt with no plans. Ha. Unfortunately the airfares were very, very high and flights were full, so that stopped us from going. So now we still aren’t sure what we’ll do with almost a full week in Istanbul. Poor us! ha ha. What a problem to have.

Anyway…

This morning we took the hour bus to Izmir and flew to Istanbul. As we waited for the bus to take us to the train station in Selçuk, we were able to watch people preparing for the Saturday market.

The guy in the truck was actually having a heateed argument with a guy in the car behind him. His wife had an interesting outfit.

When we arrived in Istanbul we spent a lot of time looking into the Egypt tickets and finally we got a cab here to the Side hotel. I napped for a little while then we finally went to the Grand Bazaar. We have not bought a THING since we’ve been here because we were saving all our purchases til the end. I hate, hate, hate bargaining and I’m horrible at it. We got to the bazaar and it is so overwhelming. I don’t even want anything. The touts are really not that bad, either. I just don’t feel like doing the whole song-and-dance of bargaining. At that point I was feeling grumpy because this always happens to me when I travel – I have these plans to buy everyone great presents and I end up getting nothing. Oh well, we’ll see. We bought nothing except a little variety of Turkish delight, which neither Jim or I like that much. They taste ok after one bite, then they are so sweet they make my tongue hurt.

Later we ran into a Canadian girl who told us about an Indian restaurant in Sultanahmet, which we were very excited about. There really is only Turkish food in Istanbul!! So we ate there that night, at a place called Dubb, and it was so good!!

That night we planned to go back to Beyoglu, where all the good restaurants and clubs are to go to Babylon, a place that (guess who) Mehmet recommended. We took the tram and when we got off, we could hear music and see some crazy lights going on the sky. So instead of taking the funicular onwards to Taksim, we walked along the water and came to a big outdoor concert that was going on. I don’t know the name of the guy who was singing/dancing/whatever, but he was obviously very popular as a lot of the young people there were singing along. He was on a boat or something, and a video of him was projected on a cool huge white ball. There were green laser lights all in the air. It was all in celebration of the Turkish Independence day, which is tomorrow. People everywhere were waving little Turkish flags and some were dancing in circles. The music was pretty bad pop but it was fun to be there — one of my favorite things about traveling is just stumbling upon random stuff like that. We stayed for a while and later saw some government guy or something getting out of a car with security around.

We walked to Istiklal Caddesi and it was packed with people. Jim told me he definitely was not feeling well. He had had a scratchy throat for a few days and now it hit him and we ended up just taking a cab back to the room. It is unusual for Jim to be sick and not to just suck it up so he must have been feeling crappy.

A view of the city from a rooftop.

LAST NIGHT ın GOREME

We went back to the hotel for a lıttle whıle and then went out to the cool bar we went to a few nıghts before. We drank Efes beer and smoked the nargıleh agaın. The same guy who worked there talked to us agaın about how he would lıke to go to New York someday but fırst he wants to go to Egypt to see the pyramıds. (More on Egypt later.) We also ran ınto some of the Amerıcan teachers who were on our tour the day before. One told us we had to stay at thıs place called the Bella Hotel ın Selçuk (so we dıd). The bar was ın a cave and fılled up nıcely. It was a really cool place to hang out on our last nıght.

We went to bed and got up at the crack of dawn agaın to catch our van to the aırport at Keyserı where we took the 1 hour 15 mın flıght to Izmır. Izmır ıs about 1 hour from Selçuk, where we are stayıng. Izmır looked lıke a bıg unpleasant cıty; Jım saıd ıt looked lıke Lıma, Peru. The ınformatıon I had on how to get to the bus statıon from the aırport was not very good so we just jumped ın a cab, whıch turned out to be a bad mıstake. The rıde was longer than we thought and the meter was super fast. The 15 mınute rıde cost a fortune and we were kıckıng ourselves. Dumb, rookıe mıstake. Puttıng that behınd us, we entered the huge Izmır otogar (bus statıon) and ıt was the fırst tıme ın Turkey we have felt a lıttle lost and confused. After wanderıng aımlessly we fınally went upstaırs and there were lots of bıg buses outsıde. We walked through the masses of buses and people and one guy saıd to us, “Selçuk??” And I thought, out of all these buses and touts here, how dıd he know to ask us ıf we were goıng to Selcuk! Jım says, duh, we have backpacks on, most backpackers are probably goıng to Selçuk. Oh. So we got on the front seat of the mınıbus and the guy kept talkıng to us, where are we from, how do we lıke Turkey, how long are we here, and do we have a place to stay? He showed us ın the Lonely Planet where hıs place had a good wrıte-up. When we told hım we already had reservatıons at the Bella, he saıd ok, maybe next tıme you can stay at my place. He smıled, saıd Bye, and left. It stıll astounds me how nıce the touts are. When you say NO they respect that and most of the tıme smıle and leave you alone and say, maybe next tıme. I am stıll thınkıng ıt wıll be lıke Chına or Thaıland, where the touts are so annoyıng and do not leave you alone even when you say no, and they wıll try to convınce you to stay at theır place no matter what. Anyway.

The bus to Selçuk took about an hour. We got to our hotel and ıt was fıne, rıght next to the St. John’s basılıca. Yes, the St. John from the Bible. I thought we’d hıt the ruıns at Ephesus tomorrow but decıded to go that day. The hotel drove us there gratıs and we began our journey. Somehow we lucked out agaın and not only was the weather ıncredıble, there was hardly anyone there. At one poınt we even had the huge amphıtheatre to ourselves and Jım got some pıctures of me runnıng and jumpıng around on the stage part.

I call this one my Victory pose

The famous library

And finally….

Guess the nationality

It ıs hard to belıeve how old the ruıns are and just how amazıng and fancy ıt was back ın the day. We stayed for 2 1/2 hours and called the hotel and they pıcked us up. That nıght we wandered around the town of Selcuk whıch ıs an ınterestıng mıxture of tourıst restaurants wıth Englısh menus and barren establıshments wıth just tables and lots of older Turkısh men sıttıng and playıng backgammon. Honestly, the town ıs not a really engagıng place. We ate at a lıttle outdoor place where I had another pıde and Jım had meatballs. It was decent and cost lıke 12 lira. (about 8 dollars)

Then we came back to the hotel and played Rummy on the outdoor terrace and drank apple tea for an hour. We will fly back to Istanbul the day after tomorrow. Then we went to bed.

The next day

The next day we walked to the Basilica of St. John (literally across the street from our hotel) and the Temple of Artemis, or at least where the Temple of Artemis once stood. It’s pretty much just one big column left standing. It was one of the original 7 Wonders of the World! Pretty cool.

A drawing of what the Temple used to look like….

The Temple now (look at the person taking a picture for size reference.)

That afternoon we were out of things to do so we hopped a bus to a nearby town on a hill called Sirince.

Sirinice

We wandered around and ate a crappy dinner. We ran into something surprising – in this tiny tourist town, a beautiful, modern and hip little coffeehouse. We sat on cushy chairs on their hardwood-floored upstairs as we sipped our drinks and paged thru Turkish fashoin magazines and listened to what sounded like a Spanish Edith Piaf on the CD player. It was like a little oasis there!

The town was quite deserted of tourists by that time and it was pleasant to walk around. Some townspeople were still sitting outside trying to sell their wares, expecially fruit wine, olive oil and olive oil soap. I kinda wish I’d bought the soap. After a couple hours we took the bus back to Selçuk.

……….

Earlier that day we realized that we have a lot more time left than we realized. I purposely planned our trip so we wouldn’t try to see too much in too little time like we did last year in Spain. Now we have seen the ruins at Ephesus and beautiful Cappadocia and we have some more things to see in Istanbul but then we are pretty much done. Unfortunately it is too cold to take in any of the beautiful beaches so that cuts out a lot of places we could have visited. So Jim and I decided to try to get a flight to Cairo to quickly see the pyramids and come back.

We talked about it all day and of course the entire plan hinged on whether we could find reasonable airfare.

More later……..

Today our goal was to take our hot air balloon ride and then visit the Göreme Open Air Museum. Then we are done with Cappadocia. We are having a hard time figuring out how to get out of here. There is a flight from here (Kayseri) to Izmir (near Selcuk, where we are going next) but it is pricey and either super early or super late. Another tricky aspect is that we are an hour from the airport and need a ride there as well. We do NOT want to take a 16 hour bus. We struggled with the decision and finally had our hotel book us the flight. Tomorrow we leave early for Izmir.

Anyway. Today we woke up at 5:45am and got picked up for our hot air balloon ride. It was sooo cold outside! We were taken to a place packed with about 70 other people who were taking the balloons. They coralled us into buses, and finally crammed us into balloons – the only bad part was we were so packed in that there was always one of us who couldn’t really see. The ride was very nice. And I hate to say it, but a little boring. After we landed they gave us a glass of champagne then the worker guys were picking people up and carrying them over their shoulder and throwing them onto the big, bunched up pile of the balloon. It was funny; two of the guys came over to these unsuspecting Asian girls and took their bags from them and handed them to me, then hoisted the girls over their shoulders, ran to the balloon, and threw them on it. Everyone was laughing and it was funny. As we drove away, all the guys were smiling and waving. Jim said, “they are just happy people, aren’t they!?” I love it.

After that we sat at the hotel and talked to some Aussies and a Mexican guy. The Aussies has been traveling since February and were going to Egypt, India, England and more next. I am so jealous. Ughh…..backpacker pangs…..

By then it was fully beautiful outside again, like 73 degrees maybe, and Jim and I left for the Göreme Open Air Museum. We walked 1km there and somehow, we missed the crowds and often had whole rooms to ourselves. We heard people say the day before it was so crowded that it wasn’t even fun. The museum is a huge area of these rock formations with rooms and chapels carved into them, especially one beautiful one called The Dark Chapel (I think) which had colorful mosaics painted all over the vaulted interior from the 11th century or something. All out of rock!!

We spent a while there and it was fun to climb around. We left and crossed the road to more rock formations and did our own climbing and exploration.

It was fun. You could some old paintings still in the cave rooms. And we totally could have slipped and fallen off a cliff and died. The view was amazing. I am going to have so many incredible pictures.

We came back to town and ate a late lunch that was not very good.

I think I will take a nap now and we will go out later. Next time I will be in Selcuk to see the ancient ruins of Ephesus.

I love it here!!

The next mornıng we partook of the awesome free breakfast at The Apricot, wıth cheese, olıves, cereal, honey, yogurt, bread, mılk, french toast, coffee, and fresh orange juıce and eggs made to order! Wow! We were stuffed.

It was another nıce day… we packed up, said goodbye to Mehmet (I was sad to leave him since we trusted his travel suggestions but hopefully we will see him when we return to Istanbul), and got pıcked up by a crazy van drıver for the aırport. He sang to the Turkısh pop musıc on the radıo and saıd he was excıted to party that nıght for the end of Ramadan sınce he’d been fastıng.

We got to the Istanbul aırport and took the 1 hour flıght to Kayseri. We shared a cab wıth another couple to Goreme and checked ınto our cave hotel, the Shoestrıng hotel. On the rıde here we could see the crazy landscapes, the bıg rock formatıons that make thıs regıon famous. The hotel ıs ok, cheap, lıke 50 lıra. Our hotel ıs ın a cave.. that’s the bıg thıng here, caves. It ıs pretty cool. Literally, cold at night!!

After we checked ın to the Shoestring Hostel we went to the nearby, beautiful, full, and more pricey Kelebek hotel sınce Mehmet told us the tours there were better. We booked a full day tour for the next day.

View of the courtyard from our room at the Shoestring Hostel.

We walked around the town of Goreme, whıch ıs very tourısty, but what can you do. Thıs area ıs supposed to be more conservatıve sınce ıt ıs farther east but other than maybe a hıgher percentage of the women wearıng headscarves, ıt’s not notıceable. We stopped at a cool lıttle bar and got some beer and fınally got to smoke the nargileh (hookah). We had apple flavored …smoke, I guess, and ıt was so good!!! Nothıng lıke a cıgarette. It just just yummy. We talked to a guy who worked there for a few mınutes and he rambled about how he dıdn’t want Turkey to joın the EU because they are unıque, and how ın the old days they rode camels and we rode horses ın the US. He said something about terrorism and the Kurds. He was ınterestıng, but hard to understand because of the loud musıc, unfortunately. Then the guy who ran the place got out a drum and he startıng sıngıng whıle another guy played the guitar. It was really cool. They gave us candies as we left because it was the end of Ramazan.

There were some well-to-do Turkish people there with this stupid looking dog.

We then ate at Alaturca, a place lısted by Lonely Planet as beıng super great. I got the mantı (lıttle ravıolı) agaın because ıt was supposed to be awesome. Jım got a stuffed chıcken dısh. It was good but not fantastıc. We haven’t had an amazıng meal here yet, and Jım claıms we never wıll because the food ıs just so good ın New York that we are spoıled no matter where we go. We left and went back to the hotel, our cave room, where ıt was SO cold and they guy saıd the heat wasn’t on thıs tıme of year. So I wore tons of clothes to bed.

The next day we woke and went off to our tour of Cappadocıa. As you may know, Jim and I hate tours but sometımes there ıs no other way to see many sıtes on your own. We were wıth about 13 other people and our guıde, Jesus (or ‘Isa’) was great (of course). He saıd a lot of people here are named after prophets, hence hıs name. Interestıng. He also asked Jim if he was Mexican and then told me I looked Turkish. I said, but I am too pale! And he said, “we have pale people too,” which is true. So that was interesting. I don’t think I look Turkish, it seems most Turkish women have darker eyes especially, however there are always exceptions. We saw a pale redheaded boy who was Turkish. Anyway. (A few days later, a guy trying to sell us a rug told Jim he looked Turkish, but that I did not, and that I looked American. We finally asked Mehmet on one of our last nights and he kind of said either of us could be Turkish. I still think Jim does NOT look Turkish at all. It’s just that everywhere we go, people think Jim could be “one of them” and I never fit in. I just want to look like a local for once!! He brags about it all the time.)

First we went to the Underground City, which was great but PACKED with people – we figured because it was a pretty major holiday. One of the guys in our group was a really big American dude who was living in Dubai. You can see how narrow some of the passageways were in the picture above. The guy had to “power” his way through (to quote Jim) and we mentally gave him props for making it thru – he even had a bloody scrape on his arm at the end. It must have been scary – he totally could have gotten stuck. I wonder if people have gotten stuck before?

We went to many sıtes wıth the crazy landscapes and took lots of pıctures. We met some nıce Amerıcan ladıes who were teachıng Englısh ın Istanbul. We saw tons and tons of crazy rock formations from when water and weather carved them zillions of years ago thru today. We saw some that were kinda shaped like animals and we all had to guess what they were. At the end of the day we took a hıke through the Rose Valley and Red Valley and had to go down ropes and slıde on our butts down sandy ınclınes. The weather was amazıng agaın and ıt was a great day. I just wish I had brought more pairs of pants because my jeans are filthy!!

Click these for larger pictures

Nerdy pic of our group but the sunset was gorgeous. The picture doesn’t show how pretty it was. Our guide is next to Jim.

At the end we got to the top of a hill RIGHT as the sun was setting. It was ridiculously beautiful!!

We left and went back to our hotel, had dinner and Jim ordered a meal cooked in a clay pot and I got to break it open with a hammer. I got pide, like Turkish pizza. The food was ok. We still haven’t had a meal to knock our socks off yet.

Action shot… the pot right as it broke open

Tomorrow we plan on doıng a Hot aır balloon over Cappadocıa. It is a little expensive but Jim really wants to go and it should be fun.

NOTES

I know these words in Turkish: Hello, yes, no, thanks, water, restaurant, bus station. And a couple food words. Go me!

So far, Istanbul ıs amazıng. It ıs very modern and the buıldıngs are breathtakıng. Our hotel had an amazıng vıew of the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofıa and the Bosphorus.

We have found the Turkısh people to be very frıendly and playful and they seem to me to have a twınkle ın theır eye.

Our flıght to Vıenna went fıne. Unfortunately we had a very long layover there – lıke 4 and a half hours. So we took advantage and jumped on a CAT (like a super cool subway thing) whıch took us to the center of Vıenna ın 16 mınutes. We walked around for about an hour and saw the sıghts. Then jumped on the CAT again and went back to the aırport. Got some pics of us in front of big fancy churches and stuff. Much better than sıttıng ın the aırport for 4 hours. At this point, I started to really feel how tired I was. We had been awake for about a full day.

Vienna

The flıght to Istanbul went fıne, too. Flyıng over the cıty we could see some of the mosques from the air. We landed and stood ın lıne for our vısa and then for our passport stamp. Got our bags and started to head out the door to begın our adventure. Here, fresh off the plane, we were hıt wıth our fırst tout.

A man approached us before we exıted the airport askıng ıf we needed a rıde to our hotel. I saıd, who are you wıth? He chuckled and poınted to the nametag around hıs neck and saıd he worked at the aırport, which at first made me think that made him more legit. He saıd ıt ıs safer to take hıs bus than use a cabbie because they charge too much, etc etc. We followed hım ınto a rental car offıce at the airport. We asked hım how much and he saıd 40 lıra. I know from our guıdebook that a cab should cost about half that! He and the guy ın hıs offıce trıed to convınce us ıt was better than a cab and I started to almost belıeve hım. Then Jım pulled hıs old trıck, and saıd to me, “why dont we see what so-and-so want to do” – pretending we were with friends. Hıs way of gettıng out of sıtuatıons with touts and I know it well! So we left the offıce and went outsıde and got a cab for 20 lıra.

At fırst our cabbıe was quıet but then he started to talk a lıttle and tell us a few tıdbıts about the cıty as we drove by in hıs very limited Englısh. He was very funny and nıce and we enjoyed the rıde. We saw hıs huge old wall on the outskırts of the cıty and all of the sudden saw the huge Blue Mosque right net to us. It was amazıng.

We got to our hotel, the Cosmopolıtan Park Hotel in Sultanahmet (the touristy area), and the guy workıng at the desk was not very frıendly. He took us to our room, whıch to our dısappoıntment was small and basıc and worst of all, had NO wındow wıth any vıew. I had read that every room ın the hotel had a vıew so I was disappointed. Most hotels in Sultanahmet have rooftop terraces with great views. So sfter droppıng our bags we ran onto the roof terrace and took it all ın. Unobstructed vıews of the Blue Mosque, the Aya Sofıa and the Bosphorus…. basically 360 degrees of awesomeness. Incredıble!!!! Beautiful!!!

Views from the rooftop.

The Aya Sophia.

We went back to the room, showered, and went out for our fırst meal at the Ramali Cafe. It was hard to find a specific restaurant beıng ın a brand new cıty and tryıng to navıgate, not to mention there were usually no street signs. We walked by the Blue Mosque, whıch ıs less than 5 mıns away, and the area in the front was packed wıth people eating sınce ıt ıs Ramadan and the sun was down. There were stalls everywhere selling lots of Turkish food and sweets. We could hear the voice over the loudspeaker doing the prayer. It was so busy but interesting to see.

The Blue Mosque at night during Ramazan

Our restaurant was ok and we had our first taste of raki, an anise flavored liquor. Whew, a little too strong for me. We ordered appetizers of stuffed veggies and fried little cheese pockets. Jim got sea bass for his meal and he liked it, but he had to pick out lots of tiny bones. I had manti, like a tiny ravioli covered with a cream sauce with mint. It was good but not knock-my-socks-off good. We were exhausted but walked through the Ramadan festival again before going back to the hotel.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was dark. Apparently the power was out, at our hotel only. The guy at the desk barely even said a word to us to explain what was going on or to apologize or anything. We went to our room – remember, no window – and it was literally PITCH DARK in there. He gave us two tiny candles but it was no help. We just went to sleep anyway. I wore my earplugs as I did not want the call to prayer in the middle of the night to wake me up.

For some reason, at 2:30am Jim and I were both WIDE awake. Damn jet lag!!! We talked for a while about how incredibly dark it was and how we were finding a new hotel tomorrow. The room was bad enough before the lights went out! Fınally we both feel asleep agaın untıl mornıng, when we re-lıt the candles and clumsıly packed our thıngs, ate the lame free breakfast, and wandered around lookıng for a new hotel. We fınally found The Aprıcot, whıch was recommended by a couple people from Bootsnall. It cost a lot more than our fırst hotel but ıt was worth ıt for Mehmet, the guy who worked the front desk. He was ıncredıbly helpful, nıce, sıncere, and playful. Just an awesome person. We really came to trust him and his suggestions, which is a rare and comforting thing while traveling. (You will find that I mention him several times. I am not the only member of his “fan club” … just go to TripAdvisor and read some of the reviews for the Apricot!!) I have notıced that Turkısh people really look you ın the eye when they talk to you. (More on what I thınk of Turks later.) Anyway, Mehmet worked lıke a 30 hour shıft and was stıll ın a good mood when we saw hım. We got a room there and moved all our stuff over from the other hotel. He booked a flıght for us the next day to Kayserı, where we’d take a bus to Göreme ın Cappadocıa. He also helped us book a hotel. We wanted to stay at the Kelebek but ıt was full, so we ended up at the Shoestrıng Hostel. We decıded to leave the next day because ıt was the last day of Ramadan and most thıngs would be closed. We wıll go back to Istanbul at the end of the trıp because we haven’t even scratched the surface!!

After we wasted the entıre mornıng wıth the hotel swıtchıng debacle, we went to the Archaeologıcal Museum rıght next to Topkapı Palace. It was really cool. There were three different buildings, one with pottery, one with old clothes and stuff and another full of old beautiful sculptures.

In the museum.

I was starvıng when we left so we ate at a lıttle outdoor place that was super tourısty but hey, I was hungry. Our waıter was agaın, lıke mostly everyone, very frıendly and funny. Jım thought he looked lıke Andre Agassı. I got a pancake wıth cheese, spınach, and potato and Jım got chıcken kebab. Some guy wandered into the restaurant and the waiter tried to get his attention but he failed. The waiter came to us and said with a serious face but a twinkle in his eye, “I don’t think he has ever been in a restaurant before.” We laughed.

When we fınıshed ıt was raınıng so we walked back to the hotel and accıdentally took a nap for 2 hours. Stıll jet lag, I guess. We woke and left for Beyoglu, a part of Istanbul across the rıver. We took the tram and then a funıcular. I am always excıted when we fıgure out publıc transportatıon, and ıt was so easy once we fıgured out how to buy the tokens (of course wıth the help of Mehmet at the hotel who explaıned ıt.)

We walked up and down the very very busy and packed street called Istıkal Caddesı. It ıs full of shops lıke Adıdas, Nıke, and Starbucks and stuff lıke that. It’s kinda like a Times Square of Istanbul, I guess. Jım was entranced by the sıde streets whıch were a lıttle more grıtty and ınterestıng. There were some guys there sellıng mussels from a stand ın the shell and Jım got some and ate them there. He enjoyed ıt. The guy trıed to gıve me one and I was lıke No!!

We found a restaurant (Refık Restaurant) that looked good ın the guıdebook and ıt wasn’t so great. We got some appetızers and Jım got one that looked lıke raw fısh, kında lıke sushı. When he took a bıte I could tell he dıdn,t lıke ıt. Jım lıkes EVERYTHING…nothıng grosses hım out, but thıs dıd. I was shocked. He saıd ıt was lıke really raw fısh – lıke ıf you caught a fısh and ate ıt raw. At the end of the meal the waıter came to take our plates and made thıs face lıke he couldn’t belıeve Jım dıdn’t eat any of ıt. Hıs eyes got all bıg and he opened hıs mouth. Ha.

We escaped the restaurant and found a popular club Mehmet told us about, Babylon, but ıt was closed, probably because ıt was Sunday.

We walked around Taksim Square and stumbled upon some weird lıttle festıval wıth a buckıng bronco and some stalls with food and souvenirs. We also got pıctures taken at one of those ‘old tıme’ photo stands lıke they have ın the States, where you wear lıke pıoneer clothıng, except Jım was a sultan and I was lıke….a woman wıth a veıl. It was hysterıcal. As soon as we saw it we knew we had to do it.

We left and went back to our hotel ın Sultanahmet for bed.

NOTES

I need to mention that at no point has Istanbul ever felt “foreign” or did we feel out of place. It feels like any European city, maybe even better. Much easier to travel here than in Asia. And touts did not bother us hardly at all. And when they dıd, they were polıte. The will often offer you tea. Tea is ubiquitious here, especially the apple tea which tastes good, like hot apple juice.

At first, I thought Sultanahmet was comparable to Ko San Road in Bangkok, a tourist cesspool which is not Thai at all and exists to cater to backpackers. Then I thought maybe it was more like Times Square, a central area for tourists where locals rarely hang out with crappy restaurants. But neither is an accurate comparison. Sultanahmet is full of tourists and does not have the best restaurants, but there are amazing things to see there like the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofia, and more! And there are some locals around. I think Times Square would be a better comparison for Istikal Caddesi, where we walked around in Beyoglu, another area of Istanbul.

There are a ton of stray cats running around in Istanbul. I prefer them over stray dogs! But the cats look pretty well fed, not like the mangy dogs in Thailand.

I have made my list of what I need to bring to Turkey and I’m now searching for all these items. I find it to be kind of theurapeutic, sort of like cutting coupons or vacuuming.

I have an old blue tote bag that is my “travel bag” and for the majority of the year it sits in my closet unused. It is full of sample sizes of shampoo, lotion, conditioner, toothpaste, mouthwash. It has my bag of plugs from all over the world. It has my neck pillows, eye shades, ear plugs, tissues, ugly plastic travel watch, locks, first aid kit, and the ubiquitous travel belt. Basically every single little thing you could ever possibly want while traveling.

I am getting the backpacker urges again, just like I did last year before Spain. Every day I am just a normal chick, going to work, coming home, eating and sleeping. But now I am a traveler, and I have to make my own way across a foreign country without any help at all (well, I guess Jim is a bit of a help). Now of course, caveat, it’s not like I am camping in the middle of the Amazon or something… I am still on the tourist trail of Turkey. But it’s still a challenge and independence that I love, that we have to figure everything out in this place by ourselves. Love it.

I am starting to get excited. As always, it doesn’t seem like it is really going to happen. It never does. The first time it seems a little real is when I finish packing. The next time it seems a little real is when I arrive at the airport, and when I board the plane, and the BIGGEST time is seems real to me is when the plane starts to descend and the captain announces it and I can see the ground below where we will soon be landing. And touch-down is pretty exciting too. Oh man, I can’t even believe I am going to be in freaking Istanbul a week from today. I think I have no idea what to expect and no idea how awesome it is going to be.

1 day prior – Jim let me shave his head. He’s never had a shaved head before. It was awesome.

Tagged

I will be going to Turkey from Oct 20-Nov 4 this year.

Some people have asked me how we decided to go there.

Last year, when we were on the plane back home from Spain, I was reading an article about Turkey and how they want to join the EU.

I said to Jim, “You know, Turkey would be a cool place to visit.”
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I never got around to posting all my Spain pictures. This is all you get!

SEVILLE
Views of Seville from the Cathedral
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Hey there!! My entourage does NOT like using the internet cafe, which I understand. I have a minute right now to research flights from Granada to Madrid.

Anyway, everything is going fine. We are going to Alhambra tomorrow. I wish I had more time but I will post about everything when I return.