Blogs from Ortaköy, Istanbul, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East - page 2

One evening after school several of the new teachers took a boat tour of the Bosphorus. It started on the Asian side, by the second bridge. I have never been on a luxury boat cruise with catered aperitif and dinner before. It was lovely and the food was delicious. We cruised the Bosphorus for hours, eating, drinking and enjoying the views. The boat started up the Asian side, towards the Black Sea. We didn’t go all the way up to the sea, but crossed over and headed south along the European shore, towards the Sea of Marmara. The Bosphorus is lined with mansions, historic and new. A traditional wooden home that borders the water is called a yalı (not yali). We watched cargo ships cruising up towards Bulgaria and loaded tankers coming down from Russia. There ... read more

I have not worn a seatbelt for a month. I realized this right after crossing the border into Turkey. I probably spent about thirty minutes thinking about this statement. For non-Americans this is a rather easy achievement to garner, but for "us" automobile bound travellers, I rather like the sense of freedom that it denotes. ISTANBUL: the multi-continental city, capital, religious site, and transportation hub. Sure didn't seem like much when I arrived at 3 am at the bus station. The views were much more reminiscent of scenes from archeological digs at night in the desert -- tiered plateaus along a hillside with sunken lights emanating from the lower halves of each terrace. I know that description is a bit vague, but needless to say I did not feel as though I was in the monstrous ... read more