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Published: April 3rd 2008
Istanbul is incredible.
My first day in Istanbul was relatively uneventful. Nate and I wandered the streets and came across a pretty cool local market. We enjoyed people-watching and eating some delicious chocolate cake. For dinner, a group of us went to a local restaurant. The place wasn’t on any of the main roads and nobody that worked there spoke even a bit of English. They found a man that worked across the road and new a few words and phrases, and he helped us figure out what to order. I had a chicken and rice dish that was really good…reminded me a bit of Indian food, but not as spicy. We then headed to a hookah bar and enjoyed some sheesha and apple tea.
Our first day of AFP was alright. We had two lectures which were somewhat interesting, but on a topic I already am quite familiar with. We ate at the University and headed to the Blue Mosque which is one of 3200 mosques in Istanbul. There is an obolisque from the Egyptians that was 3500 years out front, although the mosque itself is 1600 years old. From there we walked back to the boat and
stumbled upon the Grand Bazaar. This inside market sold everything Turkish you could imagine…spices, carpets, chocolates, lanterns, plates and other trinkets. Of course everything was colorful and shiny and I was instantly entranced. I managed to escape without buying anything, but I definitely see myself back there at some point this week to buy souvenirs. In the evening, Chelsea was playing the local team (I can’t remember the name of it…Feder something or other, their initials are FB). It was a huge game and the bar we were at was going crazy! The local team won and pandemonium ensued…we went out on the town for a couple of beers and watched the local people wave their flags and chant and carry on like lunatics. Police were everywhere and it would definitely not be a good time to wear a Chelsea jersey!
This morning I slept in and missed the morning of my AFP…it was to a trade office or something that I’m not interested in, so I didn’t really miss much. In the afternoon, we were taken to Ortakoy, which means middle village. Ortakoy is a charming waterside suburb of Istanbul with a church, synagogue and ornate mosque surrounding
tons of Ottoman buildings. We basically just wandered around, people watching. The strange thing about the afternoon was that there were police everywhere…on the ground, on boats in the water…we just couldn’t figure out why. When we were getting ready to leave, we walked out to the main road where a small crowd seemed to be gathering. We decided to stay and as it turns out we were standing in the exact location where the Olympic torch was going to be passed. 5 minutes later a woman was running down with at least 30 security guards around here and right in front of us…15 feet max…the flame was passed to the next runner. We were able to go right up to the woman and get our pictures taken…it was amazing! What are the chances of our perfect timing?
Anyway, I’m really taking a liking to this place. It reminds me of Morocco and Europe at the same time…it really is where East meets West. I’m looking forward to finishing this AFP tomorrow and spending some more time in Istanbul, really getting to know the culture and life! Xoxo
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Mom
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Pictures, please.
Hey, Megs, where are the pictures????