Our travel day to Turkey was another long one. This trip sometimes feels like a series of modes of transportation connected by brief stops for history and culture, rather than the other way around! I'm pretty sure we won't remember much of the travel days in the end. I've used traveling days as times to catch up on A. Sleeping B. Reading the travel guide for the next place or C. Blogging/journaling. I had a lot of time for all three because it took over 15 hours to get from one bed to the next on our two flights to Turkey. We had a 2 hour layover in Qatar, which looks much like any pictures of Dubai/Abu Dhabi/any super desert-y town/country in the middle east. It's actually only one peninsula removed from the UAE, and it seemed nice enough, hot enough, and nutritious enough while we stopped over. Highlights being shopping in the gift shop for a keychain for my nephew, Jonathan and a little picture, as well as sampling some middle eastern rice and lamb dish that was delicious. It had golden raisins in it- I consider golden raisins a welcome edition to many rice dishes. Luckily, we didn't almost miss the second flight. Qatar Airways boards an absurd HOUR before the time for take off, so the first flight crew was wandering around the airport looking for us while Ryan was using the toilet- we were definitely the last ones on the plane- does wonders for the American reputation I'm sure...Anyway, we were nice and early for this one, and then waited to board the plane on the Tarmac in the type of heat that distorts distances, making it seem like a mirage of sand, sun, and jet exhaust was surrounding us. How cliche.
We landed happily in Turkey, excited for a new continent, a break from noodles, noodles, and more noodles (or just rice for Ryan). We had a serious craving for a kebab and sleep. After our taxi driver asked for directions 4 times, and we went by our hidden hotel maybe twice, sleep won. We slept for 12 hours!
Yesterday we got up and had a lazy morning. This hotel is less like a hotel and more like an apartment in a 4 story building. Our apartment takes up the whole floor, consisting of an entry, blue tiled bathroom, living room with a kitchenette and a bedroom. Good going Ryan! He booked this one, and it's great to have the apartment feel again! I guess they upgraded us without us knowing, so we hadn't brought much by way of food, so we basically had our snacks for breakfast, and then got around to head out to lunch. The guy in the office downstairs recommended a great Turkish buffet place right down the street, and one of his guys took us their personally! It was delicious! We tried the best moussaka (eggplant and meat type stew) rice pilaf, and a fresh stuffed green pepper. Holy yummy. I think we might go back for lunch today! They also served us homemade baklava and Ryan tried the rice pudding. Mmmm. Yeah, definitely going back for lunch!
After lunch we headed out and walked up and down the winding cobbled streets of the Old Town in Istanbul to see the Blue Mosque, which is stunning in architecture, the inside domes are covered in tiles, humongous marble columns supporting the arches of the ceiling. The place was breathtaking inside. It is still a working mosque, but it mostly was tourists when we were inside because it's only closed during the several prayer times each day. I had to buy a new purple scarf to covet my head in respect.
We then made our way back out into the beautiful weather. Another fantastic thing about Turkey is that it's not 800 degrees with 100% humidity. I really loved Asia, but I was growing tired of sweating every day, all day. So. Much. Sweating. Ew. Here, though, the weather is glorious! 75 and sunny! We walked through the park over to the church turned mosque turned museum of the Aya Sophia (Hagia Sophia, same place). It's another's beauty of a building. More soaring ceilings, and this one had a bit more history around the layers of beautiful colored jewel mosaics that had covered the ceilings and walls. Only bits and pieces of the mosaics still can be seen after some uncovering of layers of plaster and/or marble slabs. It was such a mix of cultures and religions, but all of it was impressive. So much history!
After getting off our feet for a bit at the little outdoor cafe, we made our way back to the apartment hotel by way of the Egyptian obelisks that line a park, where I tried a Turkish drink from a street vendor that tasted a little like warm, cinnamony yogurt, and then a street vendor tried to sell us guidebooks, then moved on to trying to get us to come to his carpet store by asking Ryan if he had a beer belly, then telling me I look like Angelina Jollie. Seriously dude, you MUST work on your sales pitch!
It was turning into a glorious sunset as we made our way back down the hills and stoney streets, twisting and turning through what felt like several back alleys, but led us directly back to our hotel! Ryan is a map wiz! We stopped in quick at a tiny market where we mimed to the old woman having tea that we wanted to buy water, some soup mixes, and some fruit (including some superb looking tomatoes) to take back to our kitchenette.
Later, we went hopping back up the road to grab dinner from a restraint where we dined on the sidewalk, watched the local neighborhood boys walk around the narrow streets and tried some Kurdish dish made in a clay jar. The waiter brought it out, still in a bed of flames, then used a metal tool to pop the top right off the clay jar. It was a tasty stew mix of beef, chicken, mushrooms, onions and too many spices that I could never name . Two for two in the Turkish dinning department! So good! We finished off the night sipping little clear glasses of the traditional Turkish apple tea. It's quickly become a favorite. I'm glad we have more time here! We are going to visit the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market today, so I'm expecting even more pallet pleasing experiences. So, so far, Turkey is truly a delight!
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