Home, Sweet Istanbul

We arrived in Istanbul after a night in the Tel Aviv airport followed by an early morning flight. Backpacks on, we left the airport, navigated the tram - Istanbul's great public transportation system - and headed out in search of a place to stay. After walking around for about two hours we stumbled upon Emirhan Inn Apartments. It appeared to be out of our budget, but getting desperate we asked about prices and availability anyhow and low and behold we found a gem! We have since been staying in a one bedroom apartment for 80 liras a night (a little over $50). We have a little kitchen, a clean, private bathroom and a washing machine!!! Needless to say we are living in luxury, and loving it! Plus it came with three adorable little kittens who we've started feeding (probably much to the owners chagrin). Our kittens aren't exactly tame and cuddly, but cute all the same! When they hear us get home, they start meowing at our back door for food. They come in, eat, and when feeling brave explore a little. If we move towards them too quickly or try to pet them they dart off like a bat out of hell.

Our first day we slept in, which became a recurring theme, and then headed out to explore. After sleeping in, making breakfast, heading out the door to explore the city at around 2:00 p.m., and then sheepishly handing our “rent” money over to the proprietor, optimistically hoping the room was still reservation free for the next day, our place really felt like it was our “home.” Despite the fact that the guy running place must have thought we were out partying every night until late, somehow managing to sleep in through all the construction noise going on around us, we loved our home and our new favorite city, Istanbul, and one day led to another until a whole week flew right by.

It wasn’t all just comfy beds, clean laundry, and kittens galore though. We did manage to get out and explore the magnificence of the city around us. We first headed up to the Hippodrome, an open-air area with a few old columns (one was even from ancient Egypt!) to see, but otherwise appeared to be an area for pedestrians to sit and enjoy the free Wi-Fi. Next we took off our shoes, I covered my arms, legs, head, etc. and headed into the Blue Mosque, a beautiful, old mosque in the heart of the city that is still functioning. It gets its name from all the blue tiles decorating the interior. Just opposite the Blue Mosque is the Hagia Sophia, which has served as both a mosque and a church through the years and the change of empires.

The rest of the week is kind of a blur of sleeping in, cooking dinner and walking all over the complete European side of Istanbul. We took a cruise on the Bosphorus which offered a gorgeous view of the city. Istanbul is peppered with mosques and the many minarets give it a unique skyline, beautiful at sunset. We explored the hubbub of the Grand Bazaar with the many booths of vendors selling what they claim is gold, diamonds, and silk pashminas, though I'm still unsure what is real or not!

On Saturday, we had our own personal tour guides: Muharram and Mehmet. Muharram, a Turkish native, went to grad school with Joe at FSU and his brother Mehmet, who doesn't speak a lick of English, is a detective in Istanbul. Muharram lives in Ankara but came up for the weekend and the two of them spent the day showing us around. They met us at our hotel at noon, questioned us about what we'd done so far and quickly made an itinerary of the remaining best of the best things to see and do in Istanbul. They were truly incredible ushering us around, buying our tickets into the Basilica Cistern and Topkapi Palace, and giving us an insider’s perspective on the Turkish culture. And, it was great to try some new foods as well, a fish sandwich (with a side of little fish which you may or may not enjoy eating the entirety of), a baked potato topped with various goodies, and a thorough explanation of the many numerous types of kebabs (Turkish people LOVE meat). We ended the day with a hot tea at the water's edge with a beautiful view of the amazing Istanbul skyline.

We have both really loved Istanbul. The weather has been perfect, a taste of fall with the cool mornings and nights and perfect days! There is a crisp breeze from the water and everyone is walking around in their pashminas and boots (I miss cute clothes!!). It has beautiful architecture and enjoying a tea on the edge of the Bosphorus will certainly make anyone fall in love with the city! After multiple days of saying "we'll leave tomorrow," we finally pried ourselves away...at least temporarily!

We took an overnight bus to Pammulkale, a cute little town famous for its hot springs, bizarre white landscape, and Roman ruins. Tomorrow, we will head to Ephesus and then the Mediterranean coast. But our comfort in leaving Istanbul was that we know we'd have to goback. We fly out of Istanbul on October 19th for India!