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Published: April 3rd 2008
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Upon my arrival in Istanbul I had no idea what to expect.. I looked out my port-hole expecting to see all of Istanbul and instead it was just the wall of a red building...but not to worry that was just the port center. I had a free day the first day that I arrived. I slept in, ate lunch on the ship then wandered about. I found a local market where they had all sorts of goods. Here there was a nice fish market with a wide variety of local catches. The presentation of the fish was absolutely incredible. They were placed in large baskets in circular patterns and other types of similar arrangements. I passed many places that have local grains and spices that are sold by the scoop full. On my back I stopped at a small food place and purchased an “Islak hamburger”. This was a bad idea... it was basically a soggy roll with a piece a meat the size of a sand-dollar from the beach. It was soaked in tomato sauce and had small foul tasting pickles to “spice things up”. Not to knock the local food; I soon tried another Islak hamburger and it
was a complete turn-around. On the subject of food... they have corn cup stands all over the place. I’m not quite sure what the fixation on corn is here..but it’s quite amusing. Also they make this thing called Kumir which is basically a glorified baked potato. They open a baked potato and put a knife in it and mash it all up...then they load up the potato with probably up to 15 different types of toppings, sauces...etc... Very interesting..
After wandering on my first day, a group of my friends and I ventured to a local hookah or narghile bar. We smoked flavored tobacco and played chess.... - it was a very classy establishment::pops-collar:: Anyways.... then we carried onward to Taxim Square where we found a small acoustic pub with a Turkish performer playing the guitar. I ended up on stage for a bit and was asked to come back again..it was great times...... after this place we went to another pub that had live music.... there I was greeted a bit differently than I would have expected. At the time I was wearing a blue baseball hat, blue blazer, dress shirt and jeans. The very next night there would be a Chelsea vs. Turkey football (soccer) match. What I didn’t know was that I happen to look like a very well known player on the Chelsea football team. The employees of the bar talked me to all night like I was a professional football player. They waited on me hand and foot with my friends... and everywhere I went in this bar they would look at me and yell “Chelsea!”..... I somewhat feared my life .. b/c so much tension is associated with football teams. Either way it was a hilarious experience..b/c I had no idea who I looked like..or why things were the way that they were.
The next day I had my AFP... we traveled to Bilgi University and learned about their school and programs and then we went to see the Blue Mosque. This was a wonderful experience. The architecture that is associated with the Mosques here are incredible.... it’s really hard to put into words just how nice they are. They are allllll over Istanbul. Being that it is a 98% Muslim country..this would explain it.
That evening I went w/friends back to the narghile café and we watched the football game between Turkey and Chelsea... a very exciting match... we told each other that if Turkey was to win.. we would have to go out and celebrate with the locals and watch them in their celebrations. ::drum roll::: -- Turkey won!
We ventured back to Taxim square where there were drums in the streets.. the horns of Istanbul were sooo lively..everywhere in the name of victory and celeration. There were flags being waved all over. It was quite an amazing sight. We stopped on a street corner and ate muscles that were local catches. They were 2 for 1 ytd (Lira) ..there was rice in it and it was a bit spiced... it was very tasty... we went back to the bar with live music and had a drink..then ventured to another pub where we found two many playing traditional music. There were men in the pub who would perform a series of dances together with locked arms... - it is tough to explain but it was very very unique and I feel lucky to have been able to have seen it... it was hiding in a small pub on a side street.
Today I skipped the morning of my AFP (Academic Field Program) in the name of sleep. My own fault... you know how it is.. sometimes sleeping in is nice.... and it was... either way I picked up the afternoon AFP with the International Relations Post-Grad. Trip where we traveled to the Ortakoy portion of Istanbul (meaning middle village). Here we wandered about the streets looking at small market stores and such.... upon leaving we bumped into hundreds of police officers...we were quite confused.. then all of the sudden the Olympic torch runner is in sight on the road that we are standing on. She approaches and passes the torch to the next person.. we casually ask for a picture with here and we got our pictures taken with here and were able to hold the torch right after they had extinguished it to pass it on to the next runner.... - that was a nice hidden reward for our afternoon.... On our way back I stopped and bought a larger backpacking pack at a very good price. Then we wandered back to the ship.
The past few days have been amazing. I find Istanbul to by my second favorite port yet far... to Bangkok, Thailand... this are two - must-see places on my map.
Until next time.... cya!
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Mom
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Turkey
If you get a chance to get down to Kusadasi and go to Ephesus...wow. That ancient city is unbelievable! I am so happy you are finding adventure and staying safe. Can't wait to see the pictures and hear all about it. Have fun!