East meets West part iki

The flight: $140 USD
Shay and I flew from Izmir to Istanbul on Saturday morning. The Atlas Jet flight was only 40 minutes long and we were actually served a meal, a brown bread, pimento cheese sandwich along with our choice of beverage. I, of course, chose çay (Turkish tea), which I have become very fond of. It is served in a clear, small, tulip shaped glass with a couple of optional sugar cubes and a little, tiny spoon to stir.

Our Hostel: $18 USD per person, per night (female dorm)
We had no trouble taking the Metro from the airport to Sultanahmet (the old European side of Istanbul...very touristy). Once we arrived in Sultanahamet, we were totally lost. Luckily, we recieved help from a local man that has moved to Florida and was back for business (carpets, of course). He was nice enough to point us in the right direction and even offered to talk to us about purchasing carpets...how great was that. Brilliant. We would later come to find out that carpet salesmen are the norm all around here and we would be solicited so, so many times. It is like timeshare in Waikiki. They are all very nice, though, and do serve you çay while you are listening to there sales pitch, "for you, my friend, a very special price." The entire time there are a couple of guys unrolling and diplaying many carpets for you to look at. Brilliant. When we were walking in the direction of the hostel, we were flagged down by a guy sitting on a chair outside a shop, reading a paper. He pointed to a picture of a rhinoceros and asked us what we called this animal in English. Once we signed in and dropped our bags in our currently empty 8 bed dorm room, we headed up to the rooftop cafe to check out the great view of the bay and the playful dolphins swimming in the bay. We met the owner of the hostel, Murat, and his brothers, who work in both the hostel and the Metropolis Cafe, down the street. Murat had just returned from a trip to Cuba and over the next couple of days, we would have many interesting political and cultural conversations. Murat is a Kurd and this is really the first time we have been able to get a first hand view from the Kurdish perspective of their quest for independence.

Istanbul
We decided to go to the Grand Bazaar and look for a belly dancing hip scarf for my friend, Susan, who is taking belly dancing lessons. The Bazaar had everything that you could possibly want to find. We especially enjoyed the Spice Bazaar. After finding two hip scarves, we returned to the hostel to sit up on the roof to watch the sunset, read and drink tea. While we were up there we met some travelers from New Zealand, Australia and Canada, all staying at the hostel. The Kiwi boys were hilarious and we couldn't stop thinking of "Flight of the Conchords" when they were talking. We befriended Ant, an Aussie living in London, and he accompanied us around Istanbul over the weekend. On Monday, we also picked up Katie, another Aussie, and she went with us back to the Grand Bazaar. The Kiwis and Australians were in Turkey for ANZAC day. A day of rememberence for the troops lost during an especially tragic WWI battle between the Turkish and Australian/New Zealand (for England) armies that took place at Galipoli. Every year any Kiwis or Aussies on this side of the world gather in an all night vigil on the battlefield. If not for that battle, lost by the Australian/New Zealand forces, Atatürk, the leader that changed the face of Turkey when he became president, may not have gained the power that he attained. He was a colonel leading the battle and was highly praised for his ability to predict the enemies battle plan, hence winning that battle. He went on to become a General, then, arguably, the most beloved Turkish leader ever. His likeness currently adorns everthing from money, to posters, to flags, etc. On Sunday night we had drinks at the Metropolis Cafe with all the Aussies and Kiwis. The Kiwis were so drunk and so funny. One of them even showed us a magic trick (which sounded like "truck"). They kept asking us if we could tell the difference between the Austrailian and New Zealand accents. We couldn't, mostly. We saw most of the tourist sites; The Blue Mosque, Topkaki Palace, The Grand Bazaar....but we missed the Aya Sofya. It was closed on Monday, when we went to visit. Shay was very sad about that. She is going back at the end of May and will be sure to see it then. All in all, we had a great time in Istanbul. It was so much fun. The hostel was great and Murat and his brothers were very accomodating and friendly. They were all very involved with the guests. We met some great people there. Shay ran into the Canadians later at Mt. Olympos and I just missed them in Cappadocia. It's a small world.

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