A cup of tea equals 40 years of friendship or so I have been told

Thursday, November 13, 2008
Istanbul, Turkey

One of the many boats that was hanging out in the harbour.

Well today did not start that early and not nearly as early as I had planned but whatever. My first task today was to find a mode of transport into the centre of Istanbul. It turns out that would be a very easy task. I just had to grab the 81 bus from the stop 2 minutes from my hotel and get off at the city centre. Sounds easy enough. Even I didn’t plan on screwing that up. I am getting pretty good with this public transportation thing.

The mess that is Istanbul...part of it anyways. Crazy is all I can say.

Next task was to get some lira which was also very easy. There was an ATM right in the hotel. I realized that I was calculating the exchange rate wrong so that instead of 1 YTL (that's turkish lira) costing me $1.28 Canadian it actually only cost me around 75 cents. Much better than the $1.65 I have been paying for euros the past few weeks.

I don't know what it says either. Let's hope it wasn't important.

So the bus ride turned out to be very educational. There was a very nice man there who spoke English and taught me all about the fun things I should see and do. Although my tour (which I will join up with in a few days) will end in Istanbul I am still not sure what I will see so I decided to hit up what I wanted so that I don’t miss anything. I rode the bus to the city centre and then got off and decided I would just start walking. I found my way up a hill and up some stairs and through some shops and all that fun stuff. There were a ton of people around (with a population of about 15 million I guess that is a given) but people seem very relaxed here. I feel more comfortable here already and I am totally getting why people get here and never want to leave. I love this place.

Yeah....that's a lot of pigeons. You will find these guys in Eminonu.

I eventually made it back to the water front to try and grab a boat tour along the Bosphorus. All along the railings you can see men fishing. I am sure some of it is for personal use but I am sure some of those fish get sold to restaurants as well.

Anyway, I hopped aboard a boat that would sail up one side of the Bosphorus and then back down the other. I am sure you are wondering what the Bosphorus is. That is the stretch of water that separates the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side of Istanbul because Istanbul of course sits on both continents.

The Ortakoy Mosque in the shadow of the Bosphorus Bridge. Which one do you think was there first?

The Bosphorus also connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. The trip itself was not interpretive so I am still learning what I was looking at but there are a lot of buildings, including palaces left from the Ottoman Empire. The trip was about 2 hours and it is probably a good thing it was not much longer as it was pretty cold out on the water. I am certainly feeling the changing of the seasons.

Dolmabahce Palace as seen from the Bosphorus. A palace of the Ottoman Empire, construction was completed on the palace in 1856. It was the site of Ataturk's death in 1938.

The gate to Dolmabahce Palace.

Very different from the palaces on the European side, here are a few buildings on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. Don't worry, the whole Asian shore does not look like this but this section really stood out....even more than the palaces.

After I got back on shore I made my way to the Grand Bazaar and I assure you that is not just a clever name. This place is huge and I can see how easy it would be to get lost in it. I found however that as long as I could get back to the main walkway, I was fine.

The entrance to Kapalicarsi (Grand Bazaar).

It was like being back in Egypt again with all kinds of little shops all selling the same things. I am well practiced now with ignoring but the familiar sounds of “Canadian lady, Canadian lady, come into my shop” did make me smile a few times. And I must say I did very well because I did not actually buy that much….just a couple wool scarves that will come in handy in a few more weeks when I am in the snow of Austria. I am looking forward to coming back at the end of my tour though. I may buy a few more things the second time around.

I hope they were selling these for bait....but I did not actually stick around long enough to ask.

Once I made my way out of the bazaar I made my way over to the Blue Mosque. This is one of Istanbul’s most famous landmarks. I was there a little late to visit today but it will be on list of places to visit tomorrow.

Sultanahmet Mosque (The Blue Mosque) at sunset.

It sits across from Aya Sofya, a former mosque which is now a museum so hopefully I can visit both.

Aya Sofia. The Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia get to look at each other all day long. It's funny because the Blue Mosque was built to rival Aya Sofia in grandeur and beauty.

Eating was the next thing on my mind. I am still in the full swing of my tourist activities which leads me to eating very little during the day and walking a lot (which explains my weight loss). The evenings are certainly colder but still pretty nice so I found a place where I could sit outside….under a heater. I must say after day one I will have no problem with the food in Turkey. It is really good.

So after my first full day in Turkey I must say I am certainly glad I was able to fit this country in on my trip. I am really looking forward to the next 17 days.

Julie