It was ok, I got a couple hours sleep on the plane. Then a friend of a friend picked me up from the airport, named Tolga (friend of Ersin). It was really great… I got a ride to his home where his mum had prepared breakfast/dinner and a bed for me. So I ate breakfast/dinner at 4:30am, then had a couple of hours sleep. After freshening up, I was invited to Tolga’s sister’s house for breakfast. They just kept feeding me :-) It was traditional Turkish breakfast: tomatoes, olives and cucumbers from the garden, with different cheeses, eggs, sausage and Turkish bread.
Tolga’s mum took a real liking to me ( don’t even mention the yo mama jokes peoples :-P ), even though she couldn’t speak a word of English. They invited me to a big family gathering and dinner the next night, of course I accepted.
Tolga and I started our journey from Asia to Europe. Istanbul spans two contents, and he lived in a small city just outside Istanbul on the Asian side. It took an hour for us to get to Istanbul. During the train ride, people would jump on between stops and walk around the train selling stuff: pens, watches, all sorts. It was common practise in Istanbul, so sayith Tolga.
Istanbul is HUGEMUNGOUS! (I know that’s not a word). From 20 mins into the train journey… we were in the outskirts of Istanbul. Upon arrival we had a wander around the Asian part of Istanbul City. There were lots of souvenir shops and stuff. Tolga knew half the owners… but they didn’t have anything that tickled my fancy.
(Sultanahmet from the fairy)
After that we headed across the water to the European Istanbul via fairy. The views were cool and you could see a panoramic view of the city. Upon arrival, we quickly made our way to the hostel so I could check in and drop off my heavy pack (laptop adds a bit of weight). My hostel was in Sultanahmet, which is the main tourist part of Istanbul. It was a strange experience… anytime you even thought about reaching for your map, someone asked “Can I help you”. The Turks are extremely friendly and helpful… which is lucky because their streets don’t have road signs! So the map was pretty much useless except if you had view of a landmark.
After sorting myself out, Tolga guided me around Istanbul. It was the middle of Ramazan, a Muslim period where they can not eat or drink (nothing! Not even water) during sunlight. So everywhere you went, the restaurants were empty. Also, Tolga didn’t have much energy because of it… but he still showed me everything.
The first stop was walking around the outside of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia. They were spectacular, very very different to what I’ve seen so far, so they still had the wow factor on me ( unlike Catholic churches nowadays :-P ).
After that, we wandered through the gardens of Topkapi Palace. There wasn’t much there really… really quiet and not much beauty about it.
Next destination was the Egyptian Spice Bazaar. This place was a bustling Bazaar that sold gold, spices, sweets and honey. Every 5 steps you walked, people gave you free samples to try. It was great… if you’re a slight bit hungry, go here and you soon will be full!
We wandered through the city, then caught the train to the University near Sultanamet. This was a pretty cool looking uni… but it was guarded, and security would only let you in if you were a lecturer or a student of the uni. The Uni was also close to the Grand Bazaar, we just walked past and had a quick look. It was packed with people... sooo many people.
After this, Tolga had to leave, so I said good-bye and I would see him tomorrow.
Upon Tolga’s departure, I visited the Blue Mosque to see the inside. This was a cool experience. You have to take your shoes off when you go in… but it is great because the carpet is so soft that you sink into it. Inside was beautiful. Really different. I took my photos and sat around for a bit. Probably spent an hour there. It was free to enter as well… their religious buildings aren’t perverted by tourism yet, like some other places.
Nachste halt, Aya (Hagia/Saint) Sofia. This was a bit church built during the ….. and was converted to a Mosque during the Ottoman empire. It was now a museum. Going inside was really different. You think that when you convert a church you would completely change it to meet your religion… but here it was something special. There were still mosaics of Jesus and Gabriel on the walls, along with big Arabic inscriptions and shields. A mix of Catholism and Islam…. Really different.
I wandered around this place reading everything, learning the history and admiring this strange construction. Spent over two hours cruising this place. I then went back to the hostel to chill.
The next few hours consisted of writing my paper (I know I was supposed to be on “holiday”) , watching pirated movies on the massive screen at the hostel and chatting with randoms. Ok, it was more of the latter two, but I still did some work :-P
Oh did I mention how awesome this hostel was? It had its own bar, along with a massive plasma screen and surround sound system, with a bunch of pirated movies to watch. The staff were extremely friendly and one even joined us for drinks quite often :-) If people go to Istanbul… then stay here: “Istanbul Hostel” (I know it’s a hard name to remember).
I went out for a couple of hours in the evening to see the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia by night. There were also thousands of people out on the streets, eating and having fun. Apparently it is always like this during Ramazan, everyone comes out to party in the evenings because they are allowed to eat!
It wasn’t too much of a late night, I was in bed by 1am.
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