Pictures of Istanbul--in Two Languages!

OK, the pictures aren't in two languages, but the writing is...enjoy! (English is located halfway down the page).

 

Sayın Okuyucularım,

 

Bu hafta sonu sonunda evden dersten çıkıp gezebildik. Maria ilk önce Yerebatan'a gitmek istemişti fakat Cumartesi günü çok geç kalkıp yavaş yavaş hareket ettiğimiz için maalesef oraya kadar ulaşamadık. Metrodan Taksime inip İstiklal Caddesinden yaya gittik. Gerçekten çok eğlenceliydi. Amerika'dan ceketlerimizi getirmediğimiz hava serinlediği için yenileri almak istiyordum. İkimize birbirlerine çok benzeyen zeytin yeşili trençkot aldım. Sonra da CELTA'yı okuduğum yere gidip güzel öğle yemeği yedikten sonra Galata Kulesine kadar yürüdük.

 

 

CELTA yerinden İstiklal Caddesine manzarası

Istiklal Street from my CELTA school

 

Yürürken bu güzel kiliseyi görünce foto çektik.



 

Maria

 

Maria

 

Rose

 

 

Galata Kulesindeyken hava çok güzel, manzarayı çok net gözüküyordu. 

 

Maria Galata Kulesinde

Maria at Galata Tower

 

Galata Kulesinden Boğaz manzarası

View of the Bosphorus from Galata Tower

 

Galata Kulesinden Topkapı Sarayına manzarası

View of Topkapi Palace from Galata Tower

 

Galata Kulesi

Galata Tower

Çok yürüdükten sonra acıktık. Peynirli pideyle ayranla beslendikten sonra ders arkadaşla buluşup, yeni daireye baktık. Güneş battıktan sonra arkadaşlarla Creamery'den çok lezzetli dondurma yedik. Harika bir gündü ve ikimiz çok eğlenip rahatlandık.

The next day...

We got up late again, but not nearly as late as on Saturday. Maria was determined to go to the cisterns, so we got on the metro, funincular, tram to Sultanahmet square. We were supposed to be meeting some friends, but they hadn't shown up yet, so we wandered around, ostensibly admiring the scenery, but actually because I was lost and couldn't figure out where the cisterns were located, even though I had a really awesome map...I need to stop being too embarrassed to ask for directions--but I don't want to look like a dumb tourist, even though I actually am. Pride killed the cat...wait. Huh? And now, back to your regularly scheduled program...

So we wandered around, bought a bag of chestnuts, wandered around some more. Finally found the cisterns, stood in line for a while, then got a call from our friends saying they were on their way. Maria decided she would rather go see our friends than stand in line anymore, so I promised her we would go back later, and we headed across the square to the Blue Mosque, AKA Sultanahmet. I have noticed that they have two names for everything here: one for locals and one for tourists. That way, if someone uses the tourist name, the locals feel justified in charging triple the price for whatever the poor tourist is buying. Fortunately, the Blue Mosque is free, and triple free is still free.

We saw some of our group waiting on the steps and waited with them for the rest of the group, which finally showed up, but not until it was prayer time. We went to a restaurant where I ordered some delicious Mexican food (to split, because it was triple the price). We had a nice visit with my classmates, then some of them took off to go to a jazz concert which was also offering free wine. We stayed, then did a quick tour of the Blue Mosque. I was annoyed at being made to move to the 'tourist' line in the back instead of being able to go in the front door, like I did last time I was in Turkey. It was pretty crowded, but still as beautiful as ever with thousands of blue and white tiles lining the inside walls. For some reason I didn't get any pictures this time, but we'll go back again before we leave Turkey. That's the neat thing about free stuff, you can keep going back.

 

Courtyard of the Blue Mosque

 

After this, someone in our group mentioned a little cafe on the hill near the Grand Bazaar, and suggested we go there to drink some tea and admire the view. We strolled through the completely deserted bazaar (closed on Sundays) to the cafe, whose view was just as dramatic as he had promised. We sipped triple-priced beverages as slowly as we could while Maria dashed around taking pictures of everything, from the beautiful view to the slightly muddy speakers from which drifted high-class music at precisely the right volume. The view of the Bosphorus and city skyline, already impressive enough, was improved by the evening light which had taken on an odd honey-like quality.

 

After this, we dragged our tired feet to the bus station at Eminonu and, trying not to get run over, found the bus that would take us all the way back up the hill to our doorstep. I didn't take into account the Istanbul traffic, and we sat on the bus for a solid hour, maybe more, before we finally made it home. Next time I'll get out at Taksim and take the metro from there...Live and learn, I guess.

 

Last night I spent a while doing three loads of laundry--I can start wearing clothes again today (yay!), washed a week's worth of dishes, and wiped a thick layer of Istanbul dust off the table so we could eat again.

 

Having planned to go sightseeing again today, I first slept in, then made a leisurely breakfast, then worked on this blog. Maybe by dinner time I will have gotten my shower and be ready to go sight seeing. For now, I'm enjoying the change of pace and just relaxing. Maria has been racing around the house with her usual energy all morning, singing at the top of her lungs, making up songs about anything and everything. When I laugh at her cuteness, she gets angry at me.

 

Thanks for being so patient with my sporadic and short blog entries these last few weeks. Now that I'm done with the program and doing a lot more sightseeing, my blogging should pick up again, and there should be more pictures too.  

 

Happy Monday, everyone!

 

This is me, signing off...