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Published: June 25th 2007
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The park
A good place to stop and wait, huh? Untitled Hello everyone! Earlier this morning, İ admit that İ was missing Vancouver a bit and that I wanted to come home, believe it or don't, as Samir says. Mom of course told me otherwise, not to wish away our trip, and "no more negativity", but İ seriously think 5 months is long enough, and we were thinking to go for a year! Anyway, that was just a small whatchyamacallit: Dad and mom have told us to express ourselves on paper (actually they only told Samir that when he got mad about his math page and wouldn't tell anyone what the problem was), so, anyway agaın, let me start writing about Turkey a new country and the last leg of our trıp.
We flew first from Srinagar to Delhi and then made a stop in London for a day. Then we flew to Germany for a few hours, then finally to Turkey, İstanbul. So if you're willing to listen, İ'll tell you the whole thing. In Germany we met this lady who was from the US, but was living in Turkey for awhile. She got us a taxi at the airport and took us to a hotel, quite a
bad one at that and that's where we stayed for only a night, thankfully. The next day we moved to another "otel" which is the word for hotel in Turkish. The staff there were very friendly, and since we needed bus tickets to a small city called Safranbolu, they recommended a travel agent to us. We went to him and bought the tickets for 39 Turkish lira each (lira is the Turkish currency), which we thought was a good deal. Anyway, we did some sightseeing around İstanbul, going to a few different places. On our first full day we walked around trying to find some thing that İ can't remember at the moment. We passed parks with stunning fountains, and people who made their rabbits pick fortunes for you to read. Jamil and İ sat at a park while mom and dad and Samir looked for that thing that İ can't remember at the moment. Me, being the photographer, took some cool pixs which will be posted. Anyhoo, ( yes, İ said anyhoo) as mom says it takes a day to get used to a new city so our very first morning wasn't that interesting. On our second day, however,
we went to an old. old underground aquaduct which isn't used anymore but is still full of water. İf you didn't know, an aquaduct is what they used mostly in the olden times, to deliver water from place to place. This one was called the Basillica cistern. İt's famous for the two Medusa heads which are mysteriously on two pillars in the heart of the cistern.
A day later we visited Istanbul's two most famous sites, the two reasons why all tourists come here and why it used to be Turkey's capital. One: İ'm a huge mosque that's supposed to be blue and İ'm on every postcard in İstanbul. Answer, I bet you had no idea, it's the "Blue Mosque!" The mosque is a point in Istanbul where all muslims around Turkey come to, just so they can have the honour of praying in the massive, beautiful building. It may be loud (I won't even start to explain to you why) but it's definitely a for-sure stop in Turkey. The same day we stopped at number two on the most famous sites list. It's called the Gallato bridge and it goes over the Bosphorous which is the separation
Gallata Bridge
You see? That side is Asia, and this side's Europe! point between Europe and Asia so therefore, not only is Turkey on two continents, but İstanbul is in both Asia and Europe. Pretty amazing huh! Anyway, we came home late that night and went to sleep quickly.
Our fourth day was Samir's birthday. ! We of course didn't do anything that day but lounge around town eating at fast food places and going to the theater, which was of course what the three of us needed: a break.
The fifth and last day we ventured to a museum called Aya Sofya which used to be a church and then was turned into a mosque. It's a beautiful, high standing structure with two tall minarettes on the east and west of the old museum. On the ground floor there was a hole in the wall and the christians and muslims believed that if you stuck your finger in the hole and turned it, and if it came out wet all of your sicknesses would be cured. I'm serious, mine came out wet! Well that's a good ending note! More later about Safranbolu!!! From Alia
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canucks abroad
Azim Bhimji
Hi!!
Alia is such a good writer! So is Jamil!! They are both so talented! You are so Lucky Azim and Beth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!