Life in Turkey

I've been in Istanbul for some days now. Today I have somewhat more time to write about what I'm doing, and what's going on. There have been complaints already that I only write short entries to this diary ;-) It's sometimes not so easy to have enough time, to find a good place, and to know what to write. If some strange ı instead of the usual i appears, sorry, it's because of the turkish keyboard.

So after a real good time in Budapest, with good weather, some nice sight seeing, Sziget with friends, I at first felt a bit lonely in Istanbul. It's quite different here compared to Europe already. Also some major problems occured concerning the visa for Iran and Pakistan. I could now finally apply for a visa to Iran, but I have to wait for a week to get it. When I phoned the Pakistanian consulate, which was a hassle for itself, they plainly told me: NO! You wıill not get a visa at all. So what to do? After some time I found out about the phone number of their embassy in Ankara and called them. They said: Yes, but bring a letter of recommendation from your own embassy. So, just organising the onward travel is very difficult.
Still I did not only run around between different embassies, I did not run anywhere at all, because it is usually more than 30 degrees during daytime. A slight relief is the wind that sometimes blows over the Bosphorus. And this one can enjoy especially in one of the many roof terrace restaurants, where I'm having my daily kebab, casic, or pide. The kebab food is different than the one you can buy for take away in Germany. It's served on a plate and depending on the name the meat is sometimes more like shashlic.
The days in Istanbul I sleep in a dorm bed at a nice hostel with good turkish breakfast (wheat bread, sheep milk cheese, tomato, boiled egg, tea, water melon: quite good) and a big table for playing pool.
It's not too expensive given that everything is fılled up because of the F1 race in Istanbul this weekend. I met friendly people here, I always have breakfast with a dutch guy, he cycled to Istanbul from home, and he wants to continue down to Israel! Also a brasilian couple cycles from London to India, I did a trip on the ferry to the asian side of Istanbul and back together with them. They also have to struggle with the visa stuff.
The turkish people are quite friendly over all and after some time of getting used to the more crowded and buzzeling situation, I feel well here. Most people speak some english and som even speak german and have lived ın Germany. In the shops, where I buy some fruit and naturel yogurt, they always have time to speak a little, and in a travel agency you are offered a cup of turkısh tea most times.
The hostel I'm based is in Sultanamed, the central part of old Istanbul, around the corner form Saint Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque. It's an awesome place, between these and many more historical buildings.
Because I now have some time waiting for the Iranian visa, I decided to go on a short trip to Ephesus, a site of many roman and greek ruins and maybe I also visit Permukkale, where they have hot springs and terrases to bath in.
I hope you can now imagine what my life is like in Turkey a bit better. Feel free to add comments or ask questions.

---

Part of trip: Round the world trip

---