Istanbul

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My journey started on August 20th, 2005. I came to Turkey. First time to a foregin country..and since I didn't dispose of so much money, I travelled by train. It was a 24 hours journey...and so it started...
One sunny and extremely hot day in Istanbul, 9 am. The train stopped in a dusty train station called Sirkeci that looked like in the old English movies. First shock: the Turkish language..seemed like some stones hitting each other in people's mouths...men screaming, luggage grabbing, weight carrying. I was with another Romanian friend, Anca. We were supposed to be English teachers in a city called Eskisehir, somewhere away..about 6-7 hours by train. What we didn't know was that nobody was there to wait for us. We had to manage. Outside the train station we saw something amazing: lots of cars, colourful buildings, crowded ones, people pushing and moving around..only us standing and watching them.
In the next second we decided to take our luggage and carry on. My suitcase had 50 kg (as I was supposed to stay in Turkey for 1 year..) and I had other back-pack with 8 kg. We managed to cross Bosphorus by ship. The splendour of the city was far more better than in the pictures I've seen on internet before. Lots of buildings of all sizes and shapes, a huge bridge in the backgroud that reminded me of American movies, Kiz Kulesi (Maiden's Tower - some historical small tower in the middle of the bay - it can be reached only by boat..I heard that it's outrageously expensive to eat there). After 20 refreshing minutes (the cool breeze was a gift from the gods of the sea..) we finally arrived on the Asian side. I guess everybody know that Istanbul is the only city in the world that connects 2 continents: Europe and Asia.
On the Asian side there was another beautiful image: the train station called "Haydar Pasa" looked like a castle from the 18th century. It looked surprisingly huge seen from outside. Inside you could see some of the modern world technology. Unfortunately for us, we had to wait for the train to our final destination....5 hours! While waiting I've had some time to relax and watch around..and what better friend can a person find than a bottle of beer?! 😊
It was very close to getting a fine - as Turkey is a very traditional country - and alcohol is theoretically forbidden for Turkish people. In the train was interesting again. We didn't know, but we took the cheapest and most dangerous train possible: DoGu train. We had to share the places with some strange Kurdish young men (as it was going to the Eastern part of Turkey..) that were very kind to us, with a Turkish family who gave me the opportunity to taste some "turkish delight" for the first time.
We arrived in Eskisehir at 2 am. 8 boys were waiting for us. We were happy that in the end someone was there for us and...for the luggage 😊 hehehe.

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Comments

[SILA]

wrong information
:) drinking is not forbidden in Turkey dear :))) wrong impressionsss.. and you dont get a fine ofcourse if you drink alcohol!!??.. s1la from istanbul

[Adina]

I understand..
..your point of view, but that was my first impression and I can't change it. Later on I saw the other face of Turkish people and culture :)