Monday, October 3, 2011

Take me back to Constantinople...

After half-strolling, half-power walking to the harbor to board our gigantic steel grey ferry departing for Istanbul, we plopped onto the balcony seats on the back to glimpse the view of the city of Yalova. Mountains shadowed by the sun peeking out of the gray clouds highlighted the Sea of Marmara. After buying a cup of coffee for 6TL (!!!! $3.50!) I finally settled down to begin our relaxing journey down to Istanbul. Tas and I had joined our friend Clayton in his big little sea-side city of Yalova before heading to our big city-- Istanbul. We, once again, were graced with luck and saw at least four dolphins playing happily, jumping out of the waves made by the enormous ferries. We passed the Prince Islands, fortresses  of old, and islands peppered with trees- just asking to be climbed. These secluded bits of Marmarian paradise have captured my imagination. I dream of hiking up to the top and stationing myself right at the zenith- perched to wake up to the sight of a glorious sunrise. Or more excitingly, I dream of being a princess. Let's make it queen, shall we? Queen of a tiny little island. I could eat fish and hike and swim all day long in big pink dresses. But enough about my dreams. Saturday was our first Istanbul trip this year.... 
After finally landing in Istanbul, we hurdled ourselves into Istanbulium- the word I think is most appropriate for all the Istanbul encompasses. Turkish craziness. My motto here is go with the flow. Any other attitude immediately sets you up for limitations on fun.  Our of every city in the world I have been lucky enough to visit, Istanbul is the one. A unique flair or European meets a very tangible feeling of East-ness. We headed to Taksim Square, a bustling center for both Turks and Tourists. We had met a friend through a friend through a website and were crashing with her for the night. Turned out, she was a really cool girl from Georgetown who is opening up a travel company in Turkey! We dropped our stuff of at her place near Taksim and went on to devour some mediocre food. We headed to the American embassy for me to take care of some business and then meandered back towards the main part of Istanbul. Lazily passing shops full of music, vintage photographs, clothes, lollipops, steel, hair, (you name it, we passed it) we hiked up to Galata tower and took in the food. And when I say took in the food, I mean we ate a whole heck of a lot. Tas departed back to Yalova and Clayton and I wandered up to his old apartment in Galata- which has a stunning view! Clayton, myself and two adorable Turkish women took in the most beautiful views of the Bosphorous, of the whole city. Check it out.

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