"And Bob's your uncle!"

Hi there loyal readers! Long time no talk!

I arrived in Istanbul Saturday night without any issues after a pleasant flight on Swiss Air through Zurich (which has just moved up dramatically on my to-go-to list) and got picked up from the airport by my airport shuttle and a guy with my name on a sign. There was impressively horrendous traffic so I think it took about an hour to get to the hostel, but I napped on and off, so I didn't see too much. I saw Ali as soon as I walked in to the hotel, which worked out perfectly and we immediately went out to a phenomenal kebab dinner with salad, hummus, and Turkish beer which altogether was enormous and we were completely unable to finish it.

On Sunday, we were both exhausted and took it easy in the morning, but we found a café with American coffee (I haven’t tried Turkish coffee yet but it is rumored to be extremely strong and thick) and were planning on reading the guide book and figuring out what to see, but we mostly just talked and got caught up. I have now become much more educated in all matters relating to Silver City, New Mexico and Tacoma. Our hostel is in a fantastic location and is a five minutes’ walk from the Aya Sofia, so we made that our first stop. It’s so different than all the Cathedrals I've been to in the last few months, and is absolutely stunning of course. It was originally built as a Christian church in 537 AD by Emperor Justinian and converted to a mosque by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453. The construction was such that it doesn't have any big central columns supporting the dome, which creates a huge open space in the middle.

Next we went to Topkapi Palace which was (partially) built by Mehmet. Busy guy. We didn't do much research before but according to my guidebook, “It was the home of Selim the Sot, who drowned in the bath after drinking too much champagne; İbrahim the Crazy, who lost his reason after being locked up for four years in the infamous palace kafes; and Roxelana, beautiful and malevolent consort of Süleyman the Magnificent.” It was a huge property with a variety of buildings filled with jewelry, incredibly ornate objects like vases and boxes encrusted with more jewels, fancy weapons, and bizarre clothing worn by Sultans and royalty. There were also a number of buildings we couldn't go in, but they were beautifully decorated with tiles on the outside. By this time it was getting dark, so pictures are of variable quality. (It is dark by 5pm here!)

The Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque are connected by a large plaza and a fountain in the center, and it’s great at night because the buildings are illuminated and the fountain changes colors. There are also what seems like hundreds of birds (maybe just tens of birds?) flying over the rooftops.

We had dinner at another restaurant near the hostel. Most of the restaurants here have a guy who stands outside to encourage the lost and hungry tourists to eat there, and since we’d chatted with this guy several times, he was very pleased that we actually ate there. My stomach has been happier at other points in my life so we just had bread, soup and tea, but it was perfect.

Since it gets dark so early, we went back to the hostel to relax for a bit and ended up hanging out and playing (well, I watched) poker and chatting with various people in the hostel. I’ve never spent several consecutive days hanging out in a hostel and getting to know people, and it’s quite pleasant. We met an Australian/English guy who used the expression "and Bob's your uncle," which means "and there you go!"

Also, it seems like everyone here has traveled far far more than I have, and I’ve done my fair share. I guess the people who you met while traveling also like to travel. I also want to go to Nepal now. And everywhere. However, I’m struggling with the fact that I can’t speak or read anything in Turkish… I can say please and thank you and stop (because it’s a three-letter-word and I’ve seen it on a variety of stop signs) but nothing else. In the hostel and in tourist areas you don’t need more, but I really dislike not being able to read a menu or ask for directions or read any of the words on the TV! I miss Spain lots in that respect.