We woke up early on Wednesday and surveyed the foreign land that lay before us. The best way to explore a new place, we've always believed, is by foot, preferably fleet feet. We went out for a morning run alongside the coast we had trekked the previous evening, but headed in the opposite direction. We saw the Prince's Islands, jagged outcroppings stuck out in the sea where no cars are allowed. It seems to be an idyllic return to yesteryear, much like Mackinac Island in Michigan. After our run, it was time to see what Istanbul was really all about.
After a tremendously large breakfast full of even more Turkish food than I can remember, we boarded the train, subway, tram, and ferry into the old city and took a brief tour of the highlights. We went inside the Blue Mosque (quite large), saw some of the relics of Constantine's reign as emperor in the 300's (including the Hippodrome, where they held chariot races, the outer limits of the track designated by obelisks that were several millenia old and still retaining their original carvings). We then walked around the rest of Sultanhamet Square and then made our way across the Golden Horn tributary into Taksim for some dinner and family-friendly carousing.
We hung out at a bar for a bit and ate some delicious french fries. As we were leaving, Alex randomly pointed out a girl and said she was looking at me all evening and that I should go talk to her. Whether this was true or not remains to be seen, but I made my way over there, thinking it would be funny since she wouldn't be able to understand me, and found out, much to my surprise, that she spoke perfect English and had been an exchange student in Wisconsin. This created a wrench in the plans, though, because now I was forced to make conversation, which, when it comes to people I don't know, is a fairly horrifying proposition. So there I was making chit-chat with a Turkish lass while her friends kept snickering and making comparisons between me and Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory (unwarranted comparisons I might add). After this bizarre affair had reached its end (or we had finally gotten hungry for dinner...at 11 p.m.), we made our way to a delicious local restaurant and gorged ourselves on ravioli-style entrees and potato pancake appetizers, all the while discussing my new friend. Sometime after midnight, we caught the bus for the Anatolian side once more. I fell asleep whilst admiring the beauty and, even though we were crossing the bridge onto another continent, I could nary be shaken awake.
No comments:
Post a Comment