***Istanbul Color***

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5/22 - 5/26
The Turkish Lira firmed .05% on the week on very strong overseas demand for donner kebabs.

Jaime and I arrived safely in Istanbul Tuesday morning, the day before a news worthy fire took hold of the airport. We checked into a moderate hotel (the last luxury for a few weeks) and began to explore Sultanahmet, the historical/tourist district where we were staying. We toured the Blue Mosque with a local carpet salesman, (discovering only after his $20 fee) but enjoyed the fantastic site, 1000+ year old mosque with dramatic domes, incredible tile work and stained glass. Thankfully our hotel has a rooftop bar with a direct view.

That evening we took a couple mile walk through town to a pedestrian street (itskaldis?) bustling with bars and restaurants. (Jaime would like to make an appearance in the blog now...)

Andrew has really impressed me with his grasp of languages. On our first night we went to a nice restaurant and at the end of our order, he tried to thank the waiter in Turkish. He struggled for a good 3 minutes and instead managed to unknowingly order us a small jug of a horrid, vodka type substance. In other instances he tried speaking Spanish for no apparent reason.

The next day we explored a massive underground Cathedral, toured the Bosphorus river which splits Turkey into Asia and Europe. We also went to the Spice Market where we sampled some delicious Turkish treats. The food has been amazing and whatever I can't eat fast enough, Andrew "helps" me with.

The Aya Sofia was also spectacular with the interesting history of having been a church then declared a mosque, then a museum (Aya Sofia is the 4th largest dome in the world- with St. Pauls, The Duomo and the St. Peters ahead). It still has some of the original mosaic work depicting Christianity as well as the massive circles with Arabic writing during the Mosque era. Although a bit confusing, very pretty.

(Andrew is taking over the blog again...)
We took a stroll through the Grand Bizarre and were bracing ourselves for some pushy salesman but were pleasantly surprised by how tame it was (this is effectively a mall with hundreds of jewelers/carpet/leather goods booths). We took note of a crowd of men shouting at each other, and while we first thought a fight was about to break out, we soon discovered that this was the modern day currency/metals exchange pit of Istanbul. About 50 men all stood around, cell phones in hand, all talking to the currency shops/banks/jewelers that they represented, and with hand signals but without computers or paper (I am not sure exactly how they recorded their trades) were exchanging risk. I marveled at them for as long as Jaime would let me.

We plan on seeing the Topakai Palace this afternoon and then heading out of Istanbul for more of a backpacker's tour of the rest of the country.

Istanbul has been the most Islamic area either of us have ever been, sharing it's borders with Iran, Syria and Iraq. We think we will spend most of our time in the western parts. The Islamic call to prayer 5 times a day is broadcast over loud speakers (note the first call at sunrise has been a 4:40am daily reminder that we are not in NYC). I also should note that the donner kebabs have not completely agreed with me, and am undergoing a mild case of "Sultans Revenge".

Tonight we have for an overnight 11hr bus ride to Cappadocia, the archeological area of turkey- where we will tour some ruins and surely be invited to see more carpet stores, which apparently is the occupation of every english speaking turk. Overall, the Turkish people have been very friendly and welcoming of us.

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Photos

Andrew's Expensive Turkish "Thank You"

Blue Mosque
This was the breath taking view from our rooftop bar

Andrew on Expensive Carpets
Not an hour goes by without us being approached to buy a carpet.

Istanbul Currency/Metals Exchange
Outside the Grand Bazzar these men are trading currencies amongst each other using cell phones.