Reunited Explorers
ok so let me sum up the first couple of days in Istanbul...
Day 1: i finally get there and took a taxi to the hostel. well i could have gotten to the hostel a much cheaper way, but i was so so tired from travel time that i splurged. taxi it was!
ps, istanbul is SO huge, i dont see how any taxi driver knows every nook and cranny. or could survive without a GPS, more importantly. but anyway, i was driven down this cute little street and i suddenly look to my right--Andrea!! sitting outside waiting for me. it was soo wonderful to see her.
ok for those of you who don't know, Andrea is my preious friend i met in Austria and i love her dearly. she's come to see me in texas twice and we like meeting up in places around the world. we planned this short little 5 day trip to istanbul together.
ok, so when we started exploring, we first noticed we are really close to 2 mosques. although i dont agree with the religion, the mosques are very beautiful. and we learned later than Istanbul has about 2,500 mosques and 180 Christian churches. but anyway, we were actually way more excited about the fact that the mosque near us is surrounded by a park that has free WiFi internet. :) good thing for travelers.
also, these said mosques have call-to-prayers. 5 times a day, someone 'sings' from the loudspeakers and you can hear it across the city. well, luckily, the two mosques we are staying by have a call-to-prayer at about 4:00 am every morning. ha.
anyway, back to exploring. andrea and iran into this guy who looked like he was finishing a tour group, and we asked him a question. that question thus turned into andrea and i making a friend. and our tour-group-guiding-friend named Ferat ended up showing us all over the city and taking us to things we'd NEVER have found on our own! we had our own private tour--for free!
so the first place we went to was by the sea and we were looking for a ferry we could take the next day. then we went across the Galata Bridge and ate on the bridge--lamb shishkabob! and we went to another place, that's famous around the work and brings in $600,000 of business a day and ate typcial turkish dessert! Baklava. it was..interesting. haha, i liked it but just very very different. and very popular. Then we went to Kabatas and shopping at little bit at some market vendors then we took a ferry down the Bosporos. The Bosporos was beautiful. the ferry ride was just about an hour long, and it lets you see the European side of the city up close first, then on the way back it lets you see the Asian side up close. all houses along this area are beautiful and super expensive--however, andrea and i found one we liked and bought it!! well, we just took a picture of it...that's pretty close to buying it, right?
hen we finished our little relaxing ride, we did some more shopping then went to my favorite place thus far! The Egyptian market!! i loved it. i think istanbul is really mostly known for it's markets--Bazaars, they are called.
and, FYI so these people drive CRAZY. i know, i know. europeans (i.e. italians) drive crazy, right? wrong. they've got nothin on these turkish people.
Day 2: Andrea and i checked the weather yesterday and found out it was supposed to rain in the coming days...so we took advantage of the only nice sunny weather day we had and took a boat to Prince's Islands. well we didn't exaaaactly know which boat we were supposed to get on...we got directions from like 3 different people and got to a harbor where we thought the boat would be. lots and lots of people were getting on the boat, but we wanted to make sure it was going to Prince's Islands. so we get up to the ticket counter to ask. and our question somehow turned into not an answer, but rather just two coins put into our hands, and a hand motion for us to move it along. so of course, we just take our two coins and get on the boat. on the boat to a more-or-less unknown destination. woo!
turns it it WAS the correct boat after all--the boat ride was about 1.5 hours and there was no room to sit anywhere, it was really crowded. andrea and i had to sit on the floor of the boat. on some rope.
not the most comfortable chair i've ever had...but it worked. :)
Prince's Islands are made up of 4 main islands and we got off on the 'Big Island'. it was so cute, like a little village. no cars allowed. only walking, bikes, and horse drawn carriages. we ending up going to the other side of the island and found our own little 'nook and cranny' of a beach spot. we enjoyed the water and weather and floating jellyfish.
on the boat on the way back to the city, some people bought bread and were feeding the birds. we took our turn too and these seagulls followed us all the way from the islands back to Istanbul! kept us entertained.
more to come...
Day 1: i finally get there and took a taxi to the hostel. well i could have gotten to the hostel a much cheaper way, but i was so so tired from travel time that i splurged. taxi it was!
ps, istanbul is SO huge, i dont see how any taxi driver knows every nook and cranny. or could survive without a GPS, more importantly. but anyway, i was driven down this cute little street and i suddenly look to my right--Andrea!! sitting outside waiting for me. it was soo wonderful to see her.
ok, so when we started exploring, we first noticed we are really close to 2 mosques. although i dont agree with the religion, the mosques are very beautiful. and we learned later than Istanbul has about 2,500 mosques and 180 Christian churches. but anyway, we were actually way more excited about the fact that the mosque near us is surrounded by a park that has free WiFi internet. :) good thing for travelers.
also, these said mosques have call-to-prayers. 5 times a day, someone 'sings' from the loudspeakers and you can hear it across the city. well, luckily, the two mosques we are staying by have a call-to-prayer at about 4:00 am every morning. ha.
anyway, back to exploring. andrea and iran into this guy who looked like he was finishing a tour group, and we asked him a question. that question thus turned into andrea and i making a friend. and our tour-group-guiding-friend named Ferat ended up showing us all over the city and taking us to things we'd NEVER have found on our own! we had our own private tour--for free!
so the first place we went to was by the sea and we were looking for a ferry we could take the next day. then we went across the Galata Bridge and ate on the bridge--lamb shishkabob! and we went to another place, that's famous around the work and brings in $600,000 of business a day and ate typcial turkish dessert! Baklava. it was..interesting. haha, i liked it but just very very different. and very popular. Then we went to Kabatas and shopping at little bit at some market vendors then we took a ferry down the Bosporos. The Bosporos was beautiful. the ferry ride was just about an hour long, and it lets you see the European side of the city up close first, then on the way back it lets you see the Asian side up close. all houses along this area are beautiful and super expensive--however, andrea and i found one we liked and bought it!! well, we just took a picture of it...that's pretty close to buying it, right?
hen we finished our little relaxing ride, we did some more shopping then went to my favorite place thus far! The Egyptian market!! i loved it. i think istanbul is really mostly known for it's markets--Bazaars, they are called.
and, FYI so these people drive CRAZY. i know, i know. europeans (i.e. italians) drive crazy, right? wrong. they've got nothin on these turkish people.
Day 2: Andrea and i checked the weather yesterday and found out it was supposed to rain in the coming days...so we took advantage of the only nice sunny weather day we had and took a boat to Prince's Islands. well we didn't exaaaactly know which boat we were supposed to get on...we got directions from like 3 different people and got to a harbor where we thought the boat would be. lots and lots of people were getting on the boat, but we wanted to make sure it was going to Prince's Islands. so we get up to the ticket counter to ask. and our question somehow turned into not an answer, but rather just two coins put into our hands, and a hand motion for us to move it along. so of course, we just take our two coins and get on the boat. on the boat to a more-or-less unknown destination. woo!
turns it it WAS the correct boat after all--the boat ride was about 1.5 hours and there was no room to sit anywhere, it was really crowded. andrea and i had to sit on the floor of the boat. on some rope.
not the most comfortable chair i've ever had...but it worked. :)
Prince's Islands are made up of 4 main islands and we got off on the 'Big Island'. it was so cute, like a little village. no cars allowed. only walking, bikes, and horse drawn carriages. we ending up going to the other side of the island and found our own little 'nook and cranny' of a beach spot. we enjoyed the water and weather and floating jellyfish.
on the boat on the way back to the city, some people bought bread and were feeding the birds. we took our turn too and these seagulls followed us all the way from the islands back to Istanbul! kept us entertained.
more to come...
~ "keep your eyes on the Lord..." ~
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