Istanbul

Maksi came along as well, and really enjoyed the Blue Mosque

Inside the Grand Bazaar

Inside the Spice Bazaar.  Plenty of spices, Turkish Delights, as well as all the same things as the Grand Bazaar

On our way to the Princes' Islands.. Blue Mosque and Sophia in the background.  These birds followed us most of the way, catching pieces of bread tossed up by passengers.

View from the top of one of the islands (with Istanbul across the water), and one of my friendly followers.  TONS of stray cats and dogs here!

Being in Turkey for several months and never going to Istanbul would have been a crime, and so i hopped on a bus and headed NW this last week.  To save money, me and Angelique took the night bus, which leaves Ankara at 1:30am and arrived in Istanbul around 7 or 8am.  We arrived tired, mostly because we foolishly chose to sit in the one pair of seats that has the back door in front of them and thus no leg room!  

Her Turkish boyfriend met us at the station and we caught a little bus and taxi into the heart of the city.  After several circles around the quiet, tiny streets of the Sultanahmet neighborhood, we spotted out hotel, a small pink 3 story building.  We headed upstairs to the rooftop terrace, as most hotels have in that neighborhood, and ate breakfast with the sea of Marmara on one side and a half view of the giant Blue Mosque on the other.

Afterwards, first things first, the mosque.  It was gigantic and beautiful, and the grounds surrounding it were kept up perfectly.  It was also bizarre for me to see so many flowers everywhere, as i think its the first time I've seen flowers in February, and even though they could have flowers in Ankara, they just don't.  We followed the tourist line and entered the mosque, which was also beautiful inside and really makes you wonder why they could build such huge great building so long ago, with little 'technology', while now many buildings are ugly and fall apart even with our great technological advancements.  But in the end, a church is a church is a mosque and even though it was impressive, i was anxious to get to the streets.  We looked at the other giant, and I read that it's the largest enclosed space in the world, Haghia Sophia from the outside, as they charged 20 Lira for entrance.  

Next up, the grand bazaar, as one of the main reasons to come to Istanbul was to look for gifts for myself and others.  The boyfriend should have stayed home or gone out with friends, as really, what guy wants to follow around two girls as they shop.  But he insisted, and was annoying, and thus our shopping was more hurried and shorter than we had wanted.  But i still picked up a few things.  As you walk around the packed place, sellers call out to you, telling you to spend your money at their shop.  They are used to so many tourists that they all have their own way of making jokes and seeming charming, even though they say the same thing to every girl that walks by.  We did bargain though, and all of the things I bought I got for at least a few Lira less than first stated.

ON the second day, we took the pubic ferry to one of the Princes Islands.  It was a fun boat ride, as the water is a beautiful aqua color, and the sea gulls followed our boat most of the way, begging for bread tossed up by passengers.  The island we disembarked on was the second biggest, with a wide area near port full of restaurants and cafes.  I can imaging that in the warm summer months this place is packed.. with tourists of course.  I split from my group of friends and headed up the hill alone, to get away from the 'strip' and hopefully a nice view from the top.  When I reached the area near the top, life seemed to slow to a halt.  Everything was calm and quiet, with some local older people going about their daily business of fixing things around the house or lugging groceries up the hill.  The houses are a variety of well kept little summer cottages, some old small shacks where people are living, and some beautiful, but abandoned, big homes.  As i climbed the hill, a group of stray dogs took to me and followed me all the way up.  At the top, there were some beautiful pine woods, but also a different group of stray dogs which didn't like my new friends on their turf.  My guys went around in a large circle, but kept following me down the path through the woods.  When i decided to turn back, my followers hooked on to a German family and thus I lost them.  On my way down the hill, heading back to the port, i came across several puppies wandering about as well as tons of stray cats.  I guess with so many tourists around, feeling sorry for them, they are always well fed.

All in all, Istanbul is worth a visit.  It is a huge city with lots of energy and things to see and do.  I did not, however, like how much English i heard and how everything was catered to tourists.   After living in Ankara and hearing almost only Turkish, it was bizarre to hear English everywhere we went in Istanbul.  I do want to go back however, and shop a bit more at my own pace as well as see more neighborhoods, the Topkapi Palace, and definitely return to the Princes Islands to escape the hustle of the city.

BBQ in February.. definitely not in MN!

A few weeks ago, when the weather was relatively warm, me and a few friends decided we need to get out of the heart of this concrete jungle and have a picnic.  We decided on a Sunday when none of us had a hockey game, but woke up to cloudy skies and a light drizzle.  We were set on having the picnic anyways, and I think they wanted to do it mostly to show me how Turks do a BBQ.  We met up at the ice rink, and it was me, Emrah, his hockey friend Ozan, his girlfriend/my teammate Irem, Teksin, who plays on a different girls team, and two Slovakians, Pavol and Andre, who play on Emrah's team.  So a Latvian/American, four Turks, and two Slovakians set out around 1pm for a picnicking place on the edge of the city, all the while it was drizzling rain.  We arrived about half an hour later to find that the city had sprawled considerably, and the picnic place that they knew of was almost kaput.  There were apartments built all around, whereas a few years ago, they say it was just bare hills.  The picnic tables were still there as well as little party tents, so we could stay out of the drizzle, and so we dicided to stay here.  At the grocery store, Ozan and Emrah went to town buying lots and lots of meat.  Turks love their meat, and have many many different kinds of 'köfte', which are like meatballs or hamburger patties.  They all have a name, and each kind has either its own shape or spices.I think they bought 4 or 5 packs of köfte!  We also bought chicken wings and plenty of vegetables for a salad.  

Starting a fire in a drizzle wasn't easy, and so only after about an hour of trying did we get hot coals to start cooking our food.  First up, peppers and eggplant, put on the grill whole.  Meanwhile, we put the Slovaks to work cutting up veggies for the salad.  When the eggplant was ready, Irem skinned them and mushed the insides together with lemon and salt (and usually we'd add garlic, but we had none) to make a traditional Turkish eggplant mush, which is delicious.  Next up was the meat.  Ozan took charge of cooking the meat, and as the meat was ready, he'd put it in a piece of bread (we bought 5 loaves!) and handed it off to the first person in line.  This went on for about 3 rounds, so that everyone got one of each type of köfte on bread.  Delicious.  Lastly, the chicken wings went on the grill, and meanwhile a small family of dogs, a mother with two pups, came to our area to beg for food and got plenty of chicken wing bones.  

Even though it was a cold, wet day, the picnic was a huge success.  And we were one of about 6 groups of people picnicking there that day!  I guess Turkish people rarely get time to get out and picnic and thus, if it was decided to try for a picnic, they will no it no matter what the weather.  I never thought I'd be having an outdoor BBQ in February, but I also never expected to be living in Turkey in the first place!