It's safe to say that İstanbul is my favorite city I have ever visited overseas (though Barcelona is a close second). Marshall and I arrived here two mornings a go after taking an overnight, 14-hour bus ride from Kaş.
The first two nights we crashed at a couch surfers house, Ahmet. He picked us up for the bus drop-off and cooked us the first good breakfast we have had in a looong time. Later on he proved to me a great guide to the city and answered a lot of questions about Turkish culture and customs. His English is great (good thing, because my Turkish language skills consist of 3 or 4 phrases, one being "one beer please"). Ahmet took us to a fabulous restaurant in a trendy part of town off the guidebook track where we enjoyed true Turkish food. Stuffed eggplant and zucchini, rice pilaf and friend eggplant. Mm mm mmm! Afterwards, we consumed a dessert drink called Salep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salep#Beverage).
And seeing that it was Saturday night, we hit up a cool roof-top jazz cafe where we listened to the rain and sipped on rocki overlooking the city and the fancy Russian Embassy and then people-watched while nursing a beer in the hip Beyoglu district. We topped the end of the evening off with a driving tour of the town along the Bosphorus and took a peak at the Black Sea.
The next day, Marshall and I were on our own. We toured:
-the Blue Mosque. Has 555 different shades of blue
-Aya Soya. A church converted into a Mosque. The mosaics, architecture, size sooo impressive. By far my favorite religious site.
-walked over Galata bride (the bridge the game Bridge was named after)
-rode a ferry
-Spice Bazaar (not nearly as frantic as the Bazaars in Syria or Egypt)
-Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts
Istanbul is extremely pretty and very European looking. Marshall says it reminds him very much of Paris. Being here in the fall is a real treat, all the colors are in their peak fall-color glory. What is also cool is that because Ahmet lives on the Asian side of Istanbul and the sites are on the European side we got to jump between continents to get from one side of the city to another!
Yesterday we wandered around the city more and went into the Topkapı Palace. I was blown-away. The Palace is "new", built in 1453 when the Ottomans sacked Istanbul. Priceless jewelry, swords, and treasures are kept here. Including:
-an 86 carat diamond, surrounded by 49 other diamonds
-millions, maybe BILLIONS dollars worth of diamonds, rubies, emeralds embedded in thrones, broaches, baby cribs, etc
-David's sword
-Moses's Staff
-arm of prophet John
-Abraham's saucer
Anyways, much more to say but I'm running out of time and want to see the city before taking an overnight train tonight. More to come later.
See everyone SOON!
