Istanbul, Turkey - - June 3 to June 8 our LONGEST STAY ın ONE place YET!
A noted prevıously, Jess and I arrıved very late or well early on June 3 at Old Cıty Hostel ın the heart of Sultanahmet. A good locatıon to be whıle ın Istanbul! However, how to explaın Istanbul to ya'll through words on a blog wıll be a bıt tough! Thınkıng of all the thıngs we have learned and ınterestıng sıtuatıons we have been...how can we pass thıs on to others!
The hardest part about being in Turkey was having to consistently feel like we were being rude to people. But clearly the normal way of life for them is to badger and annoy anyone who walks by their store, restaraunt, bar, etc...you would think by the 5th of 10th time you have walked by them in a week they would recognize you and know you arent giving in or that you are not hungry! however thats not the way it works and its all the time, every time! sometimes they even say...'can i hustle you?' if they dont say can i hustle you they would say excuse me you have dropped something then you look and they say my heart. another they say is wow charleys angels, or i like american girls, or you have very nice eyes would you like a sample please stay and drink some tea with me bla bla
The hostel we stayed at turned out to be a good pick - - but pretty humorous at the same time. There was only like 3 other people staying there besides us, which resulted in us practically taking over and doing as we pleased! The staff was helpful and friendly (very friendly the main man kissed me 88 times and always said jesaca) and always doing anything they could for us. Always picking up our trash before we even got a chance and bringing us tea even when Jess didnt want it. Which leads me into what we did in Istanbul...
We had a long time, but this city is SOoo big it was still hard and complicated too do it all! So we just did some stuff and called it good. For instance we went to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, an attempt at Topkaki Palace - but too cheap to pay, the Grand Bazaar (worlds largest covered market)so many eriks (fruit like small appple big grape), the spice bazaar - where we were very entertained by this crazy short dude who introduced us to the wonderful apple tea, a Hamam - the Turkish bath - where we got exceptionally clean (google it if you dont know it) no no let me explain- first of all you are naked with everyone the lady takes a bowl of hot water and dumbs it on you then she takes hand and brings you to the stone where you lay naked with everyone else or some just watching and the scrub you everywhere then they do a kissing noise and you turn to the other side and they scrub you then they do a kissing noise and you sit up and they scrub your face and arms wile sitting there naked then you do it all agian but insdead of a scrub with soap they move on to a message ( my body was covered in honey it was sweet) then they do the kiss thing again and you are free to sit naked in the sauna---, Taksim Square, and of course the touristy area we lived - Sultanahment. We also SPLURGED and took a dinner cruise on the Bosphorus River where we ate some Turkish food, watched a belly dance show (ok so when chels says we watched a belling dance she is leaving a lot out- more like a lets watch the belly dancer hit on jess show), and did some singing and dancing ourselves! Oh and another day we took the water taxi over to ASIA!!
Even though we didnt pay to do a TON in Turkey it was still a very unique experience. We learned a lot by watching and doing and also by Marie and Kevin who are full of all sorts of interesting knowledge Jess and I are not.
Fun Facts:
- they drink 18 to 20 cups of tea a day
- Jessica had more kebabs that week than ever in her life --what time is it kebab time
- the bellowing we heard was the Karan and the call to prayer...loud and proud everyday
- a mans goal is to be good at pottery and have many wives
- a woman's goal is to make beautiful rugs
- Istanbul is part Europe part Asia
- Kevin went on a journey to find good milk and failed...in fact found NO milk at all
We left ISTANBUL on June 8 to catch an overnight bus (on the bus we all had to pee but had to pay so chels and i went pee behind the place me under some stairs and her behind in the dessert o and then there was marie who of course just paid to use the bathroom) to BODRUM where we enjoyed one day and one night in this resort town until we hopped on the ferry to the Greek island of Kos the following morning : ) Greece here we come!
The hardest part about being in Turkey was having to consistently feel like we were being rude to people. But clearly the normal way of life for them is to badger and annoy anyone who walks by their store, restaraunt, bar, etc...you would think by the 5th of 10th time you have walked by them in a week they would recognize you and know you arent giving in or that you are not hungry! however thats not the way it works and its all the time, every time! sometimes they even say...'can i hustle you?' if they dont say can i hustle you they would say excuse me you have dropped something then you look and they say my heart. another they say is wow charleys angels, or i like american girls, or you have very nice eyes would you like a sample please stay and drink some tea with me bla bla
The hostel we stayed at turned out to be a good pick - - but pretty humorous at the same time. There was only like 3 other people staying there besides us, which resulted in us practically taking over and doing as we pleased! The staff was helpful and friendly (very friendly the main man kissed me 88 times and always said jesaca) and always doing anything they could for us. Always picking up our trash before we even got a chance and bringing us tea even when Jess didnt want it. Which leads me into what we did in Istanbul...
We had a long time, but this city is SOoo big it was still hard and complicated too do it all! So we just did some stuff and called it good. For instance we went to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, an attempt at Topkaki Palace - but too cheap to pay, the Grand Bazaar (worlds largest covered market)so many eriks (fruit like small appple big grape), the spice bazaar - where we were very entertained by this crazy short dude who introduced us to the wonderful apple tea
Even though we didnt pay to do a TON in Turkey it was still a very unique experience. We learned a lot by watching and doing and also by Marie and Kevin who are full of all sorts of interesting knowledge Jess and I are not.
Fun Facts:
- they drink 18 to 20 cups of tea a day
- Jessica had more kebabs that week than ever in her life --what time is it kebab time
- the bellowing we heard was the Karan and the call to prayer...loud and proud everyday
- a mans goal is to be good at pottery and have many wives
- a woman's goal is to make beautiful rugs
- Istanbul is part Europe part Asia
- Kevin went on a journey to find good milk and failed...in fact found NO milk at all
We left ISTANBUL on June 8 to catch an overnight bus (on the bus we all had to pee but had to pay so chels and i went pee behind the place me under some stairs and her behind in the dessert o and then there was marie who of course just paid to use the bathroom) to BODRUM where we enjoyed one day and one night in this resort town until we hopped on the ferry to the Greek island of Kos the following morning : ) Greece here we come!
It does sound like you have been having some interesting situations! Naked baths with some one else scrubbing you? Interesting!! Belly dancing? Oh my--that should keep you in shape after all those kebabs!! Atleast we know you are clean and well fed!!!! Miss you ladies!
ReplyDeleteHave fun--safe travels--stay smart!
Love & prayers!
Auntie Godmom Karen