See. I told you we got to see Obama!
The Blue Mosque
Just one of the many beautiful streets in old town Istanbul
Spring has sprung
Is this in bad taste?
Basilica Cistern. Anyone seen From Russia with Love?
Keeping up with our physical activity by doing some Tony Little Gazelle beneath the Aqueduct
Another tower...
The Asian side of Istanbul
Playing a little backgammon at our local bar with some friends we've made
View from a castle at the mouth of the Black Sea
As our Egyptian adventure was winding down we began perusing (to read thoroughly) the ol' Lonely Plane book to see where we should go next. We thought we had a pretty solid itinerary going but then we started talking to some of the people we were traveling with, and as the saying goes "the best laid plans..." aaand here we are in Istanbul.
This place is amazing. It easily makes the top 3 places I've been list and each day that we are here, it climbs the charts. It has everything: perfectly planted gardens like I'd imagine Norway or Sweden to have; the hustle and bustle of any modern city; the cobble stone streets and old buildings like Holland or small English towns; and the Eastern outdoor market, barter for your life, mentality.
When we first arrived, we could not get anywhere in the city because good ol' President Obama was in town. 9,000 police were employed on that drizzling day to make sure that he was safe, and to make sure that we had a horrific time getting to our hostel. However, every story has it's silver lining. Here's ours: standing with our huge pacs on on our backs, dirty clothes from the train ride, looking like hell I'm sure, this man stops us and asks what we need. He then led us to his store where we were able to use his phone to call our hostel and leave our bags until Obama-mania settled. Did I mention that this store he led us to was a carpet store? And did I also mention that this nice mans name was Aladin? That's right, we spent the morning sipping tea with a carpet salesman named Aladin. Welcome to Istanbul.
As for the sights, we have seen many a' Mosque, walked 5km to a bridge to Asia and then found out we couldn't walk across the bridge, eaten solely street meat, raged some happening clubs (that sucked actually), and had far-out, groovy conversations about the plight of the world's citizens with kids from Germany, Portugal, France, Switzerland, UK and USA.
All and all, Istanbul is an absolutely amazing city and we've only scratched the surface.
When we first arrived, we could not get anywhere in the city because good ol' President Obama was in town. 9,000 police were employed on that drizzling day to make sure that he was safe, and to make sure that we had a horrific time getting to our hostel. However, every story has it's silver lining. Here's ours: standing with our huge pacs on on our backs, dirty clothes from the train ride, looking like hell I'm sure, this man stops us and asks what we need. He then led us to his store where we were able to use his phone to call our hostel and leave our bags until Obama-mania settled. Did I mention that this store he led us to was a carpet store? And did I also mention that this nice mans name was Aladin? That's right, we spent the morning sipping tea with a carpet salesman named Aladin. Welcome to Istanbul.
As for the sights, we have seen many a' Mosque, walked 5km to a bridge to Asia and then found out we couldn't walk across the bridge, eaten solely street meat, raged some happening clubs (that sucked actually), and had far-out, groovy conversations about the plight of the world's citizens with kids from Germany, Portugal, France, Switzerland, UK and USA.
All and all, Istanbul is an absolutely amazing city and we've only scratched the surface.
2 comments:
trev you have a beard! so cute.
can't believe you guys so obama in istanbul, sickest thing ever
So did you buy a carpet from Aladdan? Ah yes, apple tea a fierce negotiating for carpets..... It's the best! Hopefully you bought a carpet and shipped it home ( they can send by post so it would be fairly affordable to do - just takes time to get home). My very first carpet that started my collection was from Istanbul. Turkey rocks. What are you guys going to explore while you are there?
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