Arrival in Istanbul

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Got in to Istanbul today after nearly 20 hours of travel. We took an awesome route, though: right over Romania and the Black Sea at the very end. Landed at around 10:15 AM, a beautiful, clear day, around 75 degrees.

Took a taxi to my hotel, The Tulip House, where I was fortunate enough to get the best room in the place - I'm right by the garden, and my windows look out on it. When I arrived they made me tea and gave me a big map of the city.

I'm in Sultanahmet, the oldest part of Istanbul, full of cobblestone streets that wind around beautiful buildings and parks. I set off in the early afternoon and headed to the Blue Mosque, a massive and incredibly beautiful building. You have to take your shoes off inside, and you look up at some 20,000 blue tiles that literally make the whole place glow blue. Quite a sight - I could've stood there forever.

Then I made my way to what's called the Palace Cistern. It's an underground courtyard that was made in the 5th Century to hold tons of water. It was an eerie, surreal experience, where they had this walkway that cut through the columns, and in the water below were these giant koi fish. It honestly felt like some creepy courtyard of the Underworld.

I ended by eating a delicious meal: chicken shish kabobs finished with a true Turkish coffee. One other thing I noticed is the Muslim call to prayer. Throughout the day the whole city echoes with a person chanting over a loud speaker, calling the devout to the Mosques. It sounds beautiful, and gives a true foreign ambience to the city (at least to me).

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