TURKEY!

We docked early in Istanbul and our port was in a perfect location. I went out to the deck to look around and prepared myself for some cold weather, finally! It wasn’t freezing but definitely North Face weather, which is really refreshing after months of heat and humidity. The skyline of the city was incredible and really different from any other big city I’ve ever seen. I made travel plans with my friends Justin, Jordan, and Brittany and we all met early so that we could get off the ship and go straight to the airport. Most people were planning on staying around Istanbul because it’s a big city and there was definitely enough to do there for five days. My friends and I read about a town on the southern coast called Antalya that sounded beautiful so we decided to try and spend some time there and come back to Istanbul for the last day.
The four of us were the first people off the ship and we talked to some parents who were eagerly waiting for their SAS kids to come off the ship. There are parents at a lot of the ports who meet their kids there and travel around with them, I can’t wait to see my parents waiting for me in Florida! We grabbed a cab and quickly realized that even with negotiating the prices in Turkey were nothing like what we had been paying in the rest of the world. The airport was about a half an hour away and right when we got there we found a cheap flight to Antalya that was leaving right away. We bought the tickets and ran to the gate, luckily making the flight since the next one was four hours later and a hundred Turkish Lira more (the conversion was about 1.4 Turkish Lira to the US dollar, which made conversions pretty confusing). The flight was really short, but basically all flights anywhere in Turkey were less than an hour and a half. It’s crazy to think that you can get around an entire country as quickly as it takes to get around California. When we arrived in Antalya it was a total change from the cold city feeling of Istanbul. The weather was in the 60’s and it was bright and sunny. We took a cab to a hotel that we’d read about, and enjoyed the view on the drive there. The streets were clean and developed, there was shopping and hotels, and restaurants and everything looked safe and inviting. This was definitely a new atmosphere to travel in. We were all so happy to be in such a developed and beautiful place, and after driving along the ocean and arriving at a hotel we all thought Antalya was the most beautiful place we had ever seen. The city wrapped around the coastline of a big bay of gorgeous blue water and behind the hotels and houses there were mountains covered in dense green forest. None of us knew much about what Turkey would be like but Antalya looked and felt like paradise. The first hotel was full so we ventured out to another one that sounded pretty eccentric in the guidebook.
The Hillside Su Hotel was the funniest place I’ve ever seen. When we entered the entirely white building the lobby is adorned with three humungous disco balls that were literally each bigger than me in diameter. There were huge white coaches with huge white pillows sitting on the shiny white floors. All of the walls were bright white and orange trees sat in the oversized windows. The only decorations besides the whiteness were red accent lights. It felt like being in a tacky dream. The reception desk was long and white (of course) and had about 8 clear goldfish bowls with orange fish in them lining the counter. We were all in shock and thought it would be fun to stay there for the night. We checked into our white rooms and then decided to try out the hotel’s sushi chef for lunch. We hadn’t had good sushi since Japan and this was a fantastic meal. I never realized how much I had missed avocados! After eating we wandered out to see the pool and beach. The pool area looked like it was directly out of a modern architecture magazine. Everything was clean and crisp and white. There was a pathway out to the beach and a small area with white couches and towels for hotel guests to lounge on. The weather was really warm enough for lying out (this was the off season in Antalya) so we walked around the beach in our jeans and jackets and took in the atmosphere. If the weather had been fifteen degrees warmer I don’t think I would ever want to leave that beach, it was pretty much empty and so picturesque. We found free internet in the hotel, which is always enticing because we have to pay for it on the ship. I spent a solid four hours on the computer getting back to my friends and figuring out my class schedule for next semester back at Vandy. After settling into the hotel rooms we rested for a bit and then went downstairs to have our free buffet dinner that was included in the price of the room. I had a buffet dinner in Hong Kong that was absolutely the best buffet I had ever seen but this dinner came in a close second.
We left the stark white walls of the hotel and entered the dining room, which was entirely red. I don’t think I’ve ever been so entertained by a hotel. There were tables and tables and tables of gourmet food that seemed to go on forever. They were divided into tables of cheeses, bread in every form possible, cooked vegetables, meats, spaghetti with meatballs, pizza, and tons more. Each of us went back at least 3 times to try things we had missed. And even after I thought I had seen everything, Jordan told me that the tables went into another room past the one we were in and it had at least five tables of unbelievable deserts. There were cakes and cookies, pies, custards, chocolate torts, puddings, fruit concoctions and crazy sauces. We figured the high priced room was worth it after this unbelievable dinner. After stuffing ourselves we changed and asked the front desk where to find some kind of nightlife. They recommended a bar nearby with live music, although it was the off-season so we knew we wouldn’t find too much to do. After trying out one bar that was empty except for the band and maybe three people, we took a taxi into “Old Town” and walked through the cobblestone streets. There were a lot of bars but because the weather had gotten cold there weren’t any people there. Right as we were about to give up a Turkish man asked us what we were looking for and then lead us through the streets in the direction of music. At first we thought he was taking us to his house or something but we ended up in a pretty authentic, non-touristy Turkish bar. It was a small place with two tables full or Turks and we sat down to listen to the band play. This was an unplanned and unexpected night but we ended up having a great time there. We all danced with the Turkish people in the bar and stayed until late having some beers and enjoying the music.
We slept in a bit the next morning in our crazy white hotel rooms and then checked out and went back into Old Town to find out about tours around the area. Right as we got out of our cab a man in a suit asked us what we were looking for and then ended up leading us across the street to a rug store. They invited us in for tea (which was really common in Egypt as well) so we accepted and went into the store. The men tried to sell us rugs and we sat there politely declining, telling them we were only students and couldn’t afford them. The speech that rug store owners give is really intense, at least this is how it was in India and in Turkey. They started unfolding rugs all over the floor and telling us to email our parents and ask if they wanted a rug so that we could buy one and have it shipped home. A man came in holding a large solid metal lantern looking thing and then he opened a small door on the side of it and took out our cups of hot tea. The tea was served in little clear glasses that indented in the middle making a bulb or vase shape and they sat on little glass plates. It was pretty bright green tea and it tasted just like sweet apple cider. I think I had Turkish apple tea about 15 times again after that in the country and I bought some to bring home because it was amazing. After our tea we told the man we were looking for a hotel and for tours. He lead us across and down the street to a tour office, owned by a relative of his (of course). We discussed what we could do and decided to go on a full day tour the next day of a place called Myra where we would take a boat out and explore some interesting stuff. Then the man who was helping us took us into the center of town to a small hotel. This hotel was probably the least nice of any place I have stayed during semester at sea (except for the one we stayed in the next night). It was a tiny building that looked like a cabin on the first floor but had a TV and couches and we were amazed at the way they made it look in pictures on the brochure they had at the front desk. It was very cheap so we agreed to stay there and the man walked us up to our rooms. The rooms were a very interesting mixture of things. They had some neon cheap fleece blankets and rickety old furniture, but there were TV’s and bathrooms attached to the bedrooms so we were happy. We called our cab driver who had taken us to our hotel the first day and asked if he could drive us out to a tourist spot for the afternoon, because this was cheaper and easier than taking a tour. The driver agreed and came to pick us up.
It was about a half hour ride out to our first destination, the Duden Waterfalls. This area was like a little park that was fenced off, and we paid our admission and went in to look around. The waterfalls and caves behind them were unbelievable. There were manmade stairs so that we could walk into the caves carved into the rock that the waterfalls rolled over. Everything was misty and the sun was bright so it looked even more incredible. The interiors of the caves were covered in thick green moss and felt cold and damp. We walked deeper into them and stood directly behind the cascading falls. From every angle this place was really breath taking. We walked down below to view the falls and the river and I took pictures from the bridges of the rainbow that formed over the area where the waterfalls ended. The leaves were bright greens and yellow and the weather was sunny but a little cold and crisp, which felt a bit like we had finally entered fall after the long summery weather in other parts of the world. After we were done exploring the falls and the nature at Duden we got back into our cab and drove up to Termessos. The drive there was a long windy one around a mountain to get to the top. We could see the land and the mountains for miles and miles in every direction and there wasn’t a cloud in the clear blue sky. At this point I don’t think we could even see a town anymore, it was just nature all around us. We got to the top of the road and read the signs about the history of Termessos. I took a picture of the sign and it’s really interesting so I’ll just transcribe exactly what it said:
“Termessos is one of the best preserved and most attractive archaeological sites in Turkey. The Permessians referred to themselves in inscriptions as Solymias, a native people of Pamphylia. Their language seems to have been a dialect of Piidian, although mentioned in the “Illiad”. In connection with the story of Bellerophon, Termessos does not make its first appearance in history until 334 B.C. when Alexander The Great passed through the region. Termessos enjoyed its first period of prosperity in the Hellenistic age and its second in Roman times. The inhabitants were acknowledged by the Roman Senate as ‘Friends and Allies’ of the Roman people and were granted the right to ‘formulate their own laws’. Nothing is known about the Christian period in Termessos.”
There was also a map of all the different sites or ruins to see. We walked up the trail toward the city, which wasn’t an easy hike, especially in the altitude. After a while we came across thee first sign of where the lower city walls were. We could see a bit of stone structure that had been over half-way destroyed. We continued up the path to the signs leading us to the bath and gymnasium. There were doorways and walls made of stone still standing but because of all the trees and rubble it was hard to tell what everything was and how it originally might have looked. It was pretty hard to believe that this village was built into the side and top of this mountain. At the top there was the theater that sat with the rows of stone seats looking outward over one of the most phenomenal views I have ever seen. It was in pretty good condition with all of the fallen stones resting in the center where the stage would have been. We each sat on the edge of the ancient stone rim for a long time just taking in the scenery. I was completely struck by the complete and total silence. There was not a single bird chirping, it was simply dead quiet. Termessos was an absolutely perfect place and sitting there in the fresh air with the sun casting a shadow over exactly half of the spectacular theater was something I will never forget. The acoustics in the theater were pretty amazing. Brittany and I walked down into the center and we could easily hear and talk to the boys at the top without yelling at all. After a good amount of time enjoying the silence and taking pictures, an SAS trip arrived. It was a small trip of about 12 people and we knew it was SAS right when they walked up because they were so loud. They didn’t expect to see us there any more than we expected to see them there. I think we were the only independent travelers who came all the way to Antalya. The “Sheriff” from the ship and his wife were on the trip so we talked to them about what they had seen and how much we all loved the area. We said goodbye to the SAS-ers and headed back down the trail.
Our cab driver was waiting for us at the bottom and he pointed out some wild pigs running by in the road. They were pretty scary and disgusting looking, but we didn’t get very close to them because they ran away. We asked our driver if he could stop at a restaurant on the way back because we were all starving. He took us down the road a bit and turned off at an area that was a popular camping place. There was a little outdoorsy looking restaurant on the side of the road that he said was good so we went in for some food. There were no menus and the man didn’t speak too much English but he said they had some kind of kebob so we asked for chicken and beef and salads. The food was delicious, and much better than we had expected from a little run down restaurant like this place. After eating we went back to our little hotel and wandered around the streets of Old Town for a while. We found a pet store that had at least 15 puppies in it and they were adorable. The puppies were tiny and kept in little stacked cages, there was even a skinny little brown boxer that I fell in love with. It was whining and shaking and I just wanted to take it back to the ship with me, of course it made me miss my boxer, Sophie. Jordan and Justin called me over to see another animal in one of the cages, which at first looked like a smallish fluffy white dog but I was shocked when I realized it was a bunny! It was literally the biggest rabbit I have ever seen, the guy pulled it out and held it by its neck and it must have been as long as his torso and over two feet wide with all its fluff. It was one of those bunnies with red eyes, and that made it extra creepy. It was almost impossible to stop playing with the puppies but we headed off to try some street food. In Turkey they have kebob stations on the side of the street where there is meat on a giant skewer that turns upright in front of a flame and cooks. The kebob guy uses a huge knife to scrape of pieces of meat on the outside that have been cooked by the flame. Then he wraps the meat, tomato, lettuce and sauce up in a pita type bread like a burrito. I think I ate this about 6 times while I was in Turkey. It was one of the simplest, cheapest, and best things to eat in the country. We had a dinner of kebob from a street vendor for only a few dollars and then walked around the city looking for something to do. It was the off season in Antalya and if there was any night life it wouldn’t have started for another few hours so we saw a movie theater and decided to check if there were any English movies. There was one US movie that was a few months old but Jordan, Brittany, and I hadn’t seen it so we wanted to kill a few hours watching it. This was the first movie theater I’d been to in over two months and I forgot how nice it was to watch movies on a giant screen rather than the on my laptop or the tiny TV in my room on the ship. The movie had Turkish subtitles but it was in English so it took me back to the US for a few hours. It is really amazing how privileged we have been in every single country because English is extremely common all over the world and it was never really necessary for us to speak any other language to get by.
After the movie we wandered a bit more down the streets and at every restaurant we passed there was a man asking us to come in and eat. We kept telling them we had already had dinner but we asked if there were any places nearby to go out at night. One man pointed us in the direction of the harbor, where there were supposed to be bars and nightclubs. It took us a while walking through the streets to finally make it to the lit up harbor but it was worth the walk. There were a ton of boats docked and bars and restaurants lining the strip along the water. Everything was lit up and reflected on the water, and I’m sure this place would have been full of people in the summer. We found one or two bars that were open and went in to check them out. Most places were closed in the because of the off season so after the boys played darts for a while in one of the bars we walked back to our hotel and got some sleep.
In the morning we woke up at 6:30 and headed back to the tour place to meet the guide and the rest of our group. We loaded up in a van and then a bus with a bunch of other foreigners. The drive was long but the scenery was unbelievable. We drove along the coast basically on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We wound around turn after turn and each cove was more beautiful than the last, parts of the drive reminded me of some areas of Highway One along the California coastline. Every once in a while there were small beaches or green valleys that were entirely untouched and didn’t have a single structure built on them. If land like this existed anywhere in the US I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be covered with vacation homes and resorts. It took about three hours to get to our destination but we stopped at a restaurant and gift shop about half way there. When we arrived we got off the bus in a small town that sat along the water. I feel like I’m running out of words to describe this part of Turkey because it was all incredible, beautiful and unbelievably picturesque. The weather was a bit chilly but the sun was out and brightly reflecting on the crystal clear water. We boarded our little boat and took off on a slow tour of the nearby islands and scenery. Our tour guide had to give the same information in 4 different languages so it was hard to get a very good description of anything. His English wasn’t bad but his accent and confusion of the other three languages made it hard to understand everything he said. There were a couple little towns built entirely into the hills of the tiny islands. The guide told us that in these towns there were no roads at all, and people got from place to place by steps carved into the hills between the homes. On top of one of the small islands there was an original castle built by the crusaders. It wasn’t in perfect condition but it was very large and easy to see from our boat. We also got to see a “sunken city” or the ruins that still existed under water and along the shore. There were stone doorways, steps, and the foundation or outlines of buildings that sat on the shore and were visible a few feet under the sparkling clear water. These islands were all only accessible by boat which was pretty incredible because there had been ancient civilizations as well as modern towns built there even though there were no roads or bridges to get there. The boat stopped so that we could have a chance to swim around. Brittany and I decided it was a little too cold to get in but Jordan and Justin changed and got in with some of the other tourists. They said it wasn’t too cold but we were still wearing jeans and sweatshirts on the boat so getting into the ocean wasn’t really appealing. We returned to the little town by the water where we had started and got back on the bus for the ride to another site.
The next stop was the town of Myra, where we had lunch and visited the St. Nicolas church that was erected there after his death. Lunch was mediocre but it was included in our tour. The only good part was the tomato soup, which was really good. This area was supposedly well known for its tomatoes. After lunch we went inside the church for a tour. I took a picture of the sign describing the history of St. Nicholas and it said: “St. Nicholas was born in Patara in the second half of the 3rd Century and lived there until he became the bishop of Myra.” He was a popular religious character and gained popularity all over Europe. He is now known in America of course as Santa Claus. He is also known as the patron Saint of Seamen and sailors used to wish each other luck with the phrase “May Saint Nicolas Hold the Tiller.” The church was small but very interesting and dated back to the 8th century. I bought a St. Nicholas medal on a necklace to wear on the ship, hopefully for some protection against any bad seas for the rest of the voyage! Justin and I took pictures with the giant Santa Claus statue that was erected in the center of town and we looked around in the shops waiting for the other tourists to get back on the bus.
After Myra we drove out to a site where there was a large well-preserved amphitheater as well as some other ancient ruins. This place was really amazing. It’s really hard to describe but my favorite part were these tombs that had been intricately carved into the rock side of a mountain. They had windows and doorways and were carved so completely into the rock that they looked like the mountain had formed that way. We couldn’t get too close to the tombs because they were fairly high up, but there were steps leading up to the top of the theater. Once we reached the top we looked down into a huge number of stone steps with the mountain behind us, and the sun setting out to the side over the land. There were also a bunch of mountain goats walking all over the steps. They were really big with huge curled horns, which made them particularly intimidating. There were a few little boys trying to lead us around and sell us things and they kept grabbing the goats by the horns and hitting them. This was pretty funny to watch but we were all expecting one of them to get mad enough to head butt the boys down the steps. We stayed as far away from the goats as we could and explored the theater. This theater was probably larger than the one we saw at Termessos but it wasn’t quite as impressive because of its location. It was still incredible to be able to walk around in a structure that was centuries old and still standing. We had a few glasses of fresh squeezed orange and pomegranate juice from the vendors around the site, and then got back on the bus for the drive back. We stopped at the same small restaurant/shop after about an hour and a half of driving and arrived in perfect timing for a spectacular sunset over a view of a huge valley with green hills, a small lit up town, and the water below. The sun made layers of deep red, then dark orange, then glowing yellow fading up toward the dark sky. It was hard to capture on the camera but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way the sky looked at that moment.
We had decided that we wanted to go to Olympus to see the flames there and stay overnight, so we had the tour bus drop us off half way on their return drive to Antalya. This seemed like a good idea at the time, especially because we only had a short time in Turkey and we had seen all there was to see in Antalya. Also the Olympus flames were supposed to be truly amazing. So we spoke to our guide and he said they could drop us at a place where a bus would come from the hotels and pick us up to bring us into the town. The driver was apparently a little confused and it took him a few times turning around to get us to the spot we needed to be. We felt bad that we were inconveniencing the other members of our group so we didn’t object when the guide finally told us to grab our stuff and wait on the road for the bus to come. He said that the bus came about every half hour and that he had called one of the hotels to let them know we would be there. It sounded like a good plan so we all picked up our backpacks and got off the bus. We stood on the side of the highway in a sort of inlet where the road turned off at a sign for Olympus as the bus pulled away and everything became pitch black. We literally couldn’t see a single thing around us, except when cars would come by every few minutes. I had my computer with me so I opened it up for some light and put on some music so it wasn’t quite as scary. We were all laughing at ourselves because we couldn’t believe we were standing on the side of the road with no concept of where we were and no guarantee that we were getting picked up. After about 40 minutes a bus finally arrived and we ran up asking if it was for the hotel in Olympus. Luckily it was the right bus and we were saved! The small bus took us down a winding road away from the highway toward our hotel. I guess I forgot to mention that Olympus is known for its tree house hotels and our tour guide had recommended the best one that he knew of. So we arrived at the “hotel” which consisted of a bunch of wooden tree houses and bungalows as well as a small main room where meals were served. It was really cold by this time of night but we were all excited about staying in a tree house so we booked the room for the night. There was a sign up that said there were night time trips out to see the flames after dinner. We asked the manager and he arranged a trip for us that night. We sat down to dinner while our tree house room was being prepared. There were a few other Americans there as well as some girls from Canada and a couple from New Zealand and Australia. The meal was very home style, some grilled chicken, potatoes, pasta and bread. It wasn’t bad food especially after our long day and adventure getting there. The four of us put our stuff down in the “tree house” before bundling up to go out and see the flames.
Our room was raised off the ground by steps and consisted of four thin walls and a door, floor and ceiling. There were two big beds with layers of sheets and blankets but there was absolutely nothing else in the room. The bathrooms were all outdoors and all the meals were served in the main room. These tree house hotels were all over the place in Olympus but obviously they were extremely popular in the summer months and basically empty during the winter.
We got into a van, which took us on a winding drive out to the area where we could see the flames. When we arrived it looked like a campsite and a man came out of a small building to collect our money for the tickets we had to buy. He then handed us two flashlights and pointed up a dark trail, telling us to follow it up about 2 kilometers. We hadn’t expected that this would be self-lead but everything that night had been pretty unexpected. We followed the dark path using our small lights to find our way through the woods uphill. At one point we had to step over a huge fallen tree but the little pathway continued past it. After a pretty good hike we saw some light ahead and heard a few people talking. Coming up to the flames was one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. There were much more than I had expected, probably over 20 of different sizes spread out everywhere over a hill of rocks and dirt. There were some campers surrounding one large flame but luckily there weren’t many other people there. We took a bunch of pictures but it was hard to show just what they looked like. Some were tiny and came out of little coves of rock, while others were a few feet high. They were mostly yellow and orange, like regular flames, but some of the little ones were really blue where they came out of the ground. We read a sign about the flames that explained that the “Eternal Flame of Olympos” is caused by a constant gas leak from the ground that always remains ignited. This is where the original Olympic flames were lit and the athletes ran down into the town from there. It was incredible to see the flames at night, and I think this was my favorite thing we did on this trip. I can’t wait to show everyone pictures from this night, because they are really unbelievable.
After coming back down the hill from seeing the flames, we met our bus driver and went back to the tree house hotel. We stayed in the main room for a while playing cards (because there was a wood burning stove in there to heat the room), and then eventually headed out into the cold to go to bed. I don’t know exactly what the temperature was but I can say that even with at least 3 blankets on that was the coldest and most uncomfortable nights sleep I have ever had. I guess it’s fun to say that I slept in a tree house hotel but I didn’t appreciate it at all that night. We got up early the next morning to catch a ride to the bus station and then bought our tickets for a shuttle back to Antalya. When we got there the shuttle was pretty much full but they put plastic stools in the aisles for us to sit on. There were soldiers in the back of the shuttle sitting there holding huge guns the whole time, which was pretty weird. After the long ride we were back in Antalya and we had about two hours left before we had to catch our flight. The boys had heard of a bungee jumping place so we took a taxi out there but it was closed because it was the off season. I was pretty happy that it wasn’t open because I know they would have tried to make me do it.
The flight was short and we all slept the whole time, and when we got off in Istanbul and walked out of the security gate I realized my entire wallet was gone. It had my credit cards, cash, all forms of ID, and my passport in it. I started freaking out and went to every person in the airport asking who I should talk to. They all sent me to different people over and over and I basically got nowhere. I finally talked to the lost and found and convinced one of them to run on the plane and look for it because I was almost positive that it had just fallen out somewhere near my seat. They said they couldn’t find it so I asked to write down a number to call in case they did and they gave me a report to fill out, but this was all pretty difficult since they spoke very little English. We got back to the ship and I had to go through a whole ordeal explaining my situation because losing your passport is pretty much the worst thing to do on Semester at Sea. The phones and internet were down on the ship so I had to go out in Istanbul and try and find a phone and then I couldn’t figure that out so I had to go back to the ship and get my computer. I finally got a hold of my mom through instant messaging by having a friend call her and of course she wasn’t too happy with the situation. She had to cancel the credit card of course and it was a huge ordeal. After that I found some of my friends and had some dinner before heading back to the ship to deal with figuring out a new passport. There was a guy from Istanbul who was working with the ship to help with any situation like this who I had spoken with earlier about my missing wallet. I saw him again as I walked into the port and he told me they’d found the wallet at the airport. I was pretty ecstatic because once we got there and picked it up everything was in it, including my passport. Thankfully everything worked out but of course it was a nightmare for a few hours. There have been at least 10 other SAS kids who have lost wallets and passports and some of them have had to pay huge fees or go through long processes to get new ones. I was so relieved to have everything back in my hands!
After that fiasco I turned in my passport to the front desk (we do this at every port when we don’t need it anymore) and I went out with some friends to experience Istanbul at night. Walking down the streets was a whole new experience. It was crowded everywhere and not a thing was shut down, as a lot had been in Antalya. I really loved the city of Istanbul, it had much more to offer than I expected. We went to a few bars and hung out with some other SAS friends and then headed back to the ship for a good nights sleep. I’d heard of a lot of people who got unknowingly involved in scams while out and about in Istanbul, but luckily this didn’t happen to me or my friends. Apparently when some guys would go into a bar and sit down, a few girls would come over and then immediately there would be drinks set down in front of all of them. When the guys tried to leave they would be stopped and asked to pay a ridiculous bill, some of them were hundreds of dollars. A lot of the SAS guys refused to pay and some had their wallets taken and money stolen or the bartender would lead them to an ATM and force them to withdraw a ton of money. This was just another thing we were warned about and had to watch out for.
The next day Corinne, Mio, Natania and I spent the day wandering around Istanbul and doing all our souvenir shopping. I loved the city even more during the day and I’m glad I had some time to spend there. We had some of the best food also. We ate kebob again and they also have these baked potato stands where they have hot baked potatoes that they put melted butter and cheese into and then you can choose from a bunch of different toppings. It was the perfect meal for a cold day. We walked for a long time in the Grand Bizarre, which had more stuff to look at than I’ve ever seen. The first place we went was directly outside at the entrance. It was a beautiful store with all handmade jewelry and the two men who worked there were very nice. They brought us some Turkish apple tea, of course, and convinced us to buy a few things. One of the men was making jewelry as we stood there and before we left he tied red strings around our wrists for good luck. Next we entered the overwhelming alleys of the bizarre. I could have spent days in there wandering and shopping. There are great leather goods in Turkey so they make imitations (or as the vendors call them “authentic fakes”) of designer leather purses that are extremely well made. We looked at tons of purses, jewelry, tea sets, pashminas and tons more for hours. It was a great long day of shopping and then we headed back toward the ship for some delicious dinner and got on before on-ship time.
Turkey was incredible, as you can tell by how much I wrote. I really think it was my favorite port (although Croatia tied it next). I was really happy to have found so many amazing things in a country that I hadn’t expected much from. I would love to go back, especially in the summer months to southern Turkey. And Istanbul was more amazing than Hong Kong (my other favorite city), it has endless things to offer and the culture and history were fascinating. Sorry it took me so long! I have been feeling pretty sea sick on the Atlantic and it’s exam time so I’ve been a little busy, but Croatia will be up soon! Thanks for reading, I’ll be home in a week and I can’t wait to be on dry land again!!!