Turkey part two!

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Turkey part two!

We arrive back in Istanbul. Nothing much seems to have changed apart from there being a lot more Ataturk flags hanging around. Other than that everybody seems to be going about things as usual. We make our way to Seljuk´s, Our couch surfing host, for the next few days. We call him when we arrive. He lets us know he is on his way home from the European side but it will take at least a couple of hours to get across the bridge due to major transport disruptions caused by the police cordon around Taksim. We are a bit worried it will be the same when Margit and Ronald arrive and we hope it won´t stop us seeing Istanbul with them. Seljuk arrives a couple of hours later and lets us know he will be going to Taksim to protest that night and did we want to join him and his friends. We nervously agree - our curiosity overrides any uncertainty we have. Only the night before has Taksim been closed off. There are a few other people dressed in long pants and long sleeves with back packs heading in the direction of Taksim. We assume they are also heading to protest so ask them if they have heard of a way of getting in. Apparently we should get a taxi to help us. We jump in a cab and the driver takes us as close as he can. We get out and are shocked at the quality of the air. Our eyes and skin already burn from the remains of the tear gas. It is a cat and mouse game with the police, protesters trying to enter the suburb and the police pushing back (with lots of tear gas).People hand out food and water. The people living in the surrounding apartments wait by the doors opening them for anybody trying to escape the gas. The older people stand on their balconies banging pots in support of the protesters. We stay for around an hour but don´t see even one police officer. We only know they are around when a tear gas canister hits the ground a few meters in front of us. It is interesting to be there, it is also especially surprising to see that it is not only students protesting but people even in their sixties. You can see the frustration in their eyes as they yell.

We leave feeling that, while it was definitely eye-opening to see the conflict up close, it was quite dangerous. We could have easily been hurt by a canister. We also remember our passports are still in Germany and we really shouldn’t be putting ourselves in confrontation with the police.

The next day the riots calm down and it is easy to get around Istanbul. We get to see the Blue Mosque and look around the Grand Bazaar but spend a lot of time just walking the little side streets, drinking a lot of tea and playing a lot of backgammon alongside the locals. We spend each night sitting by the water watching the amazing sunset that Istanbul seems to put on most nights. We feel very small watching the huge sun go down behind the mosques in this Giant city.

Margit and Ronald arrive a few days later and it feels like we just saw them yesterday in Berlin. We spend a nice few days together. The first day we take a leisurely boat cruise on the Bosporus out to Anadolu Kavagi where we can see the Black sea in the North and the Mediterranean Sea in the south. In the evening we take them to the Asian side to our favourite spot to watch the sun go down. The next day we take the ferry out to Yalova to show them where we had been living the last month and introduce them to our new friends in Kurtkoy. Everybody was very enthusiastic to meet them. Cheverl and Alan Prepared a delicious lunch. A couple of older women showed us how they made the local bread and we drank tea with the men in the tearoom. A friendly man that we had not met before even gave us a lift back to the ferry. Margit and Ronald said it was a flash back to the communal ways of East Germany. The next day we celebrate Eric´s birthday, in a sweet little cake store before saying farewell to Margit and Ronald. We are sad to say goodbye so soon. We are now half way through our trip and feel we have seen so much. Eric felt he could have easily gone back with them happy to have already experienced so much.

With Eric a bit homesick and me dreading a 30 hour bus ride we board another lively bus to Georgia!

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