Ciao Mondo! : Gobble Gobble

Just as I was leaving Barcelona, I got an email from my friend, Courtney, who is in my fellowship program in Israel: "Want to meet me in Istanbul? Serious." Hmmmm...I still had some free time, but I was on my way back to Alexandria..literally. Damn not enough time to change the tickets. So what did I do? The minute I got back to Alex I bought a ticket to Istanbul and was on my way again about 26 hours later. Oh, there was a TON of drama inside of the 26 hours...why me? But I wo

n't go there right now. In some ways it became a really good thing that I was leaving again, but at the same time it really was a bad time to leave because I was very upset and it really put a damper on my trip. Oh well. So, I caught the train to Cairo the next day and off I went to Istanbul.

Breakfast on the Straits.

The airport was ridiculous. I had asked for an airport pick-up and it took me almost an hour to get through the line at customs. While I was in line I heard my name paged but what was I supposed to do? After I finally got my bag and went out the door there were literally hundreds of people waiting with signs with people's names on it. I scanned the crowd for my name and miraculously found it. I think Courtney was pretty shocked to see me and surprised that I actually showed up!

Courtney, Ozgur and me

Istanbul is everything that Alexandria should be. It has a 90% Muslim population, but since it is a secular society, you don't feel obligated to cover from head to toe. Yes, there were "veiled" women, but there were also women wearing skimpy, tight skirts. It was so nice to walk down the street without being harassed or ogled. Istanbul is clean and very beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

The oldest and best hamam in town

Courtney knew of a guy named "Ozgur" through a friend who picked up up on the morning of our first full day there. He was so gracious to drive us all around the city. We had a really great Turkish breakfast on the Straights of Bosphurous, we drove across the bridge to Asia, and then he rented a private boat and we cruised all around the Straits. It was really great!

Later, he took us to the nicest hamam in the city. What is a "hamam?' Well they're also known as Turkish baths. I went to one in Syria, but Courtney had never been. We went in and received these little ornate pouches decorated red and gold, were given these gingham "towels" and shown to a locker room. Hmmm...do we take everything off? Or leave on underwear like we did in Syria. We asked someone and they showed us that these little pouches actually had black underwear in them. OH! So, we put them on and were ushered into a large room with a huge marble slab in the middle. The room was very hot and steamy and you basically hang out until a half naked and very unattractive woman comes over to you and suds you up and rubs you down. Then you get a loofah scrub and a short massage....and that's about it. There was a hot tub that you can go and relax in afterwards, and then many women go hang out in an open area on couches drinking tea or juice before they leave. After our massages and the hot tub, we were ready to get out of there! We walked down

the street with wet hair and guys were saying, "you look very beautiful, very clean." Yeah, whatever.

The next day, we headed over to the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque since we lived right there and they are across the street from each other. The Hagia Sophia was an Eastern Orthodox

church during the Byzantine period which was completed in 537. It is also known as Ayasofya Museum and Church of Holy Wisdom. It was converted to a mosque during the Ottoman period after Fatih Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 29 May 1453. After 1935, it was converted into a museum. There are just 3 larger churches in the world after Hagia Sophia. They

are St. Paul's Cathedral in London, St. Peter's Bascilica in the Vatican, and Duomo in Milan. Inside, there is a hole in the wall. The legend is that if you put your thumb in it and spin all the way around and it comes out wet then the water has healing powers. I managed to spin myself around better than everybody else. Everyone gasped in awe of my spinning skills and I actually had a large drop of water on my thumb. I proceeded to rub it on my face h

oping that it will never age. lol.

Right across the way is the famous Blue Mosque. It was built between 1609 & 1616. Inside, the high ceiling is lined with 20,000 blue tiles that give the mosque its popular name. Fine examples of 16th century Iznik design, the oldest tiles feature flowers, trees and abstract patterns. The overall effect is one of the most beautiful sights in Istanbul. We went there at night and hung around a bit.

We also went and checked out the big palace called the Topkapi Palace. You had to pay extra to see the "harem" room. After the conquest of Istanbul by Mehmed the Conqueror in 1453, the construction of the Topkapi Palace was started in the year 1460 and completed in 1478.

The next day we wanted to thank Ozgur for such a great day. we treated him to a nice dinner and headed out for some karaoke. Yay! I sure do miss singing and my band!

Weird kiosk in town where you can take a picture of yourself for free and then email it to yourself.

Inside the Grand Bazaar

Fishing off the bridge.

Enjoying a beer.

In front of the Blue Mosque, having lunch on one of the many beautiful rooftop restaurants.

Here, we had lunch at a "boat" restaurant. They serve these whole fish sandwiches. It appears as though the fish is freshly caught, but Ozgur told us the fish is actually shipped from Norway!