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Published: December 28th 2007
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Istambul!!!....it has some magic in its name...with its fair share of disasters, from conquests to eartquakes it emerges as an enticingly vibrant city...Having arrived at the airport, being overcharged for a visa fee, we embarked on a hectic taxi ride into the heart of Sultanhamet ( the place where we were staying me,Deanna,Maria,Justina and Rafal)Welcome to Turkey!!! The taxi ride took about 30 min...the car pulled very quickly,speeded up and even overtook an ambulance with the blue lights on!!!???... Is it how you drive in Turkey, we thought???...well even an extra person in the car did not seem to bother our driver,who later turned out to be extremly friendly, chatty and funny even though he could not speak a word in English...we soon exchanged few words...''tesekkurederim''-meaning ''thank you very much''...oh i dont even remember how many attempts it took me to remember this one...well we all had a good laugh...something of a ''she sells sea shells on the sea shore'':-)
...we got to our hotel and even though it was quite late we decided to go out for a meal....it didnt take us long and far (about 150 meters) to be swarmed by the restaurant' owners inviting us to
try their cuisine...As a big eater i was realy looking forward to trying Turkish kitchen...unfortunately it was a big let down, so we decided to make it up by ordering two shisha pipes ( hmm we didnt realise then they would be quite big and take whole table space )....we had a realy good evening, the atmosphere and friendliness of the Turkish people made up an average meal.
Morning...the party is over...its time to do some sightseeing...dragging everyone from the bed, queues to the toilet and nagging everyone to hurry up!!!...here i discovered the trouble of traveling in a group and missed the advantage of being a solo traveler...the weather hmmm...was also not on our side...but no rain was gonna scare me...i think its actualy the first time i took an umbrela with me, so was kind of prepared to face Turkish autumn. We headed to Topkapi Palace, just to be told that it was closed...well we thought...we d come tomorrow...soon we were advised that all museums were actualy closed and we were offered a city tour....''a visit to my shop'' and all sort of other activities...hmm i thought? ...there was nothing mentioned about it in my
guide book so i just considered it as a small Turkish scam...and well... soon we were sightseeing Aya Sofya, Blue Mosque and Galata tower.... it started getting dark now, some of my companions started falling asleep even after a cuppa of a Turkish coffee??!!??...just me and Deanna were still ready and full of energy to plonder the streets and stalls....
...oh the Turkish markets.... the neverending see streets of stalls and shops....here after visiting a few of the ''similar'' countries i was nicely surprised that merchants were actualy not that pushy and you could easily watch and wander between the stalls without being overly harrased...here we also learnt a trick...Grand Market being now a very touristy spot is definiately not a place to shop if you wanna snatch a bargain...speaking English and even more- American English wont help you and will probably double your price and lower your chances in haggling...I could see the smiles on Merchants' faces doing the business with the elderly American ladies...luckily being of a Polish origin i managed to easily lower the prices...''you are cheap i was told'' after being asked where i was from...''no way to do business with you''...they
continued...and here an idea came up...we soon taught Deanna our Canadian friend some Polish basics...oh it was so much fun watching her persuading and hagling with merchants...it was worth it though...
...we spent our evening maybe not in the greatest culture exploring spot ( an English lokalike pub ) but we had a good reason to celebrate and party:our friends Justyna and Rafal's engagment...and a good party has to be continued...but where to get an alcohol in a quarter full of mosques???...soon we were pointed a shop...believe me Smirnof vodka is kind of a wow thing here so expect to pay a lot...you might prefer to opt for a cheaper local versions...
...another day...hmm we were supposed to meet with Atalay, a boy we met in the pub last night...''you have to see the other side of Istambul''... he insisted...so we boarded the ferry to the Asian part...how naive i was....here i remember going back to my school days and a exchange with French students who arrived with rucksacks full of food and sweets...so you have Mars and Snickers bars they wondered???...electricity???....yes we did have electricity,Mars and Snickers and shops were full of food...going
back to Asian part of Istanbul....i gasped....Zara?...Benneton?...Gap?....yes... and we did have a latte in Starbacks....soon i actualy wanted to go back to more''exotic''european shore!!!
...Everyone will agree that a trip to Turkey would not be completed without a visit to a Turkish bath...being a Hamams' virgin we did not exactly knew what to expect there...Rafal being the only male in a group stayed behind...we went to Camberlitas, one of the oldest baths in town ( a bit pricy though 40 lira )...oh it was such a great relaxing experience...first you enter one of the small steamed rooms that surround the big oval stonework where you get to be washed and massaged by an attendant...( hmm dont be surprised or shocked here and expect half naked elder woman doing the job,slapping your buttock every time they want you to turn around...😊
...tonight we decided we would go out and experience local clubs...we went to Taksim area a long street full of bars and shops...after careful studying the guide book on the the dress code and local safety...we experienced the opposite...no dress code, a lot of eyeing up but a fairly safe environment....even police was very
helpful when saw us wandering back home ( where in other countries we would be probably arrested and bribed for no reason;-) )...
...our last day in Turkey....and so many thing to see...a quick ride thru Bosforus is a must...here you can either catch a ferry that departs twice a day ( i think ) or you can opt for hiring a local boat...well show some interest to a local men offering their boats and you will never take a cheaper ferry!!!...you will be followed, the price will be going down and down till you have enough and you will take the boat!!! i was stalked for about 20 minutes from one ferry terminal to another, was shown tons of pictures...i was stubborn...but the price dropped so much that in the end we gave in.
...so the Istanbul trip came to an end...i will definiately come back one day as the country has far more to offer...people were extremely friendly and i enjoyed every minute of my stay....lol did i forget to mention our taxi driver on the way to the airport...he laughed every second we shouted: ''be careful'', well we shouldnt have
mentioned we had to catch the plane!!!
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