Toikey

Day 1

Here were my initial observations after flying in the middle of the night to Istanbul, Turkey.
-Wow
-It's so clean and quiet
-There is water in the air and the temperature feels like a nice cool spring morning back home
-It's so....green
-No one speaks Arabic and Turkish don't make no sense
-Hey my roommate is here! Hi, Alex!

We took the metro to the tram stop and then promptly got lost for a few minutes trying to find the tram. Arriving at the hotel we checked in and went to the bosphorous, where I almost as promptly fell in copying Alex and trying to touch the water. We found a place near the water to drink tea and plan our day and then fell into a conversation with two Turkish men and a Kurdish guard who wandered over. The Kurd spoke only Turkish, one of the turkish men turkish and broken english, and the other english, turkish, and arabic. Greg and I communicated mainly in Arabic while Alex sat there, left out, and I had to tell him what were saying. It was a spur of the moment conversation and kind of nice.

The rest of the day we spent walking, walking, walking, and did I mention walking. We got lost a few times and had fun just wandering. Us travellers visited some mausoleums and Chemberlitas (the burnt column). Just a note, the grounds of Istanbul University are huge! and gorgeous! If only, UMBC, if only...

Then it was time for the walls. Yes, the infamous Walls of Constantinople that I had heard so much about in my previous two years from Alex, Mike, and mostly Steve. We climbed the ruins or some, and what a steep dangerous climb some of the steps were. The view was great and we could see all the mosques and buildings all over the city. The walls also stretched on for miles; they were and are impressive fortifications.

We then visited the Kariyeh Museum which is an old church with lots of old famous mosaics. Quite beautiful.

That evening we saw a whirling dervish performance. Though it was spinning for 90 minutes, it was kind of peaceful and spritual, especially when the music and singing stopped and the men were whirling for a few minutes in silence. The only sound was the swishing of their socks.

That was pretty much the day. Like I said, lots of walking. The action packed day concluded with us having our first Turkish beer, Efes, in the basement bar/restaurant of the Istanbul Hostel and talking with some people, one of which what we all thought was a cute german girl. (not her)

For food we ate one of what was to be many turkish breakfasts, though with the added benefit of an omlet. Alex and I split an omlet and turkish breakfast (slice of cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, butter, jam, hardboiled egg).

I cannot say enough good things about our hostel. If anyone goes to Istanbul, I highly recommend this one. They are friendly, the Internet is free and they will book you good deals on bus trips (we didn't go through them) or dervishes or turkish baths (we did go through them). If I ever go back, I will stay there. It is located in the tourist section which has its advantages and disadvantages. The area is dead at night except the block over with all the restaurants and bars. It is easily accessed by public transportation. Our walks to wherever we needed to go took us in the park in between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Absolutely splendid first thing in the morning.

Thanks, answers.com