Istanbul, Turkey - Day 2

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Booked a tour the day before, starting at 8:30 AM...they were late...pretty much every mode of transport that I took while I was there was late. The guy at the hostel called the tour person to ask if all of the numbers listed on the route would be available, and he said they would be. They weren't. I asked on the tour bus to make sure this would be the case, sure enough we would not stop at any of them. Only the places indicated with a picture on the tour map. So, we went to Chomera (I have to check the map for spelling) museum/church/mosque. It was pretty and had some interesting pics. Something of note was that the older pictures were fairly detailed and looked like they had been done more recently than the frescos in the more modern tomb area. The tour guide wasn't sure why this was. In fact, the tour guide, though very nice, was not all that well informed.

We then went to this high point to take pics and take a cable car down. At this point, there were all of these grave stones looking out onto the sea. Apparently, if you are very wealthy you get serious waterfront property and amazing views when you die. We then went to Rumelli fortress when it started to rain. Rumelli fortress is all open air. So, we ran in and took some pics. Then, I met with the other tour group, because of the weather (and likely because I was only 1 person) they moved me to a different afternoon tour. It worked out, because that tour was actually more expensive than the one I was on and there were more people. We passed by Dom Baqe palace, which they said was really cool and worth visiting, perhaps on my next trip. We got on the boat at 1, then waited until 1:30 for some more people. It was freezing and pouring for most of the trip even though we were in an enclosed area with the heat on...brrrr. We made two stops that were just kind of little villages. We had lunch on the boat at about 3:30. And, went over to the Asian side. It wasn't the most exciting tour I've ever taken and I would say it wasn't really worth the 30 Euro I paid for it. But, you live and you learn.

I got back to the hostel around 7PM, and I was quite exhausted. But, I had told Sibel I would meet her. So, I rallied and met up with her about 10:15PM at the Taksim metro station. Taksim square is on the other side of the river. It is the big going out area, especially Bayol/Ikslik (sp?) Street. Once on the street there are tons of little tiny branch of streets where everyone seems to hangout. We went to a few places in that area that were pretty fun. Drinks seemed to average about 10 to 15 lira. I tried the FMS (turkish) beer, it was pretty decent as far as beer goes. Sibel was with her friend and building mate, Tufan. He was really cool and we all hung out until like 5AM. Then, I ended up staying over at Sibel's apartment. It was sort of like two studios on top of each other. It was a cool set up. We didn't get to bed until like 7:30 AM, so the next day was pretty much gone by the time I started functioning.

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