EUGENE and SHELLY!: Istanbul.

Cut and Paste:

Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul, historically also known as Byzantium and Constantinople;^[4] see the names of Istanbul) is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.8 million.^[1] Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural, economic, and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province.^[5] It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbour known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents.

In its long history, Istanbul has served as the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). The city was chosen as joint European Capital of Culture for 2010. The historic areas of Istanbul were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.^[6]

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While Shelly was in the U.S of A. I needed to get myself and do something cool. SO I went to Istanbul (not Constantinople). I had a great time as you will see in the following collection of photos and ramblings. Please click on the pics to make them big and good looking!

I took this pic within my first hour in Istanbul. Turkish dudes all over are trying to drag you into their carpet shop. I managed not to come home with any rugs, but I did measure the apt. before I left just in case. In exchange for coming here and seeing his goods, the guy walked me though the Blue Mosque (comes later) which I revisited on my own once I knew the proper procedure for entering a Muslim place of worship.

These cool old fountain/bath things were EVERYWHERE.

A cool thing i did was I took a cool cruise on the Bosporous straight on a crappy boat.

This is the northern part of the city from my boat view. The thing sticking up is the Galata tower. This guy Berk, who I talk about later, met with me and we went up there at night.

He pointed out the price on the sign, in Turkish, reads five. Guys like me get to pay ten! :) This was common throughout everwhere. none of the stuff had price tags, and i always ended up bartering to get a good price (or at least a cheaper price). Whenever you buy ANYTHING you must ask the price first, cuz they are just absolutely into haggling. I think you could make a bad movie about a guy living in Istanbul and then using the street sales skills to make a fortune trading real estate in New York, and it would be great. Like Crocodile Dundee. More on this later in the Bazaar section.

Amazing view. while we were up the the last Call to Prayer occured, and it was stunning to hear all the mosques on the horizon, big and small, do their thing.

Efes Beer and ‘white cheese’

Taskim, a neighborhood on the north side of town which is kind of a modern downtown, as opposed to the older part where the bigger mosques were (and where I was staying)

Site of the Hippodrome, between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, where horses were raced while this was the capital of the Byzentine empire. This obilisque was brought from the Luxor temple in Egypt around 390 AD this time but dates from 1490 BC. Astonishingly, 3500 years old and looking good!

A small bazaar where I scored some leather gloves one day when it was cold and rainy (after visiting several shops and lots of haggling)....

A mosque, don’t know which one. I’m sure its famous. Close to the waterfront (next pics)

Fishing in the Bosphorous from the bridge. The lit up boats in the backround sell sandwiches (see below):

This guy was fishing off the bridge, and he was like ‘Hey! I got one!!!’ but then he reeled it in and acted like his minnow was in fact a catch. Interestingly, I used to do the same thing to my dad when I was 5. The point is that the Turkish people were extremely nice to me, and many of them spoke either English or German. or both. It worked out cuz I know about 3.5 words in Turkish, and I bet my Swiss friends can guess what they are.

These guys grill up sandwiches, and its very popular. A lunch cost me 3 lyra, approx 2 dollars US (surely the Turkish price is half):

This juice they sell looked really good, but it was basically nasty pickle juice with bitters. unbelievably foul... but when in Rome-er-uh-Constantinople, do as the Istanbulians!

Cool waterfront near my hostel, just down the hill from the Blue Mosque.

i had a Turkish bath which is like a cross between a sauna and a massage (no below the belt stuff),

http://www.cemberlitashamami.com.tr/hamam_english.htm

and afterwards I felt sooo good, I had to get a haircut. here’s me with my Turkish haircut (yes it is silly):