Afterwards, we met up with three other guys and went out to Dinner. I had Iskender, which is some type of beef, it came with rice and … yogurt?! This wasn’t yogurt to eat on the side, it was to mix the rice/beef/sauce with… which I did, it actually wasn’t that bad. It grew on me throughout the eating of it.
When we were done eating, 4 of us headed to Taxim, about an hour away. One person was catching a flight to Turkministan, whereas Brent I and Sarcam were going to the Galata Tower – the tallest point in Turkey. We made it with no problem, and it was pretty high up there! We had to conquer a steep steep street to even make it to the base. The views were incredible though, a 360-degree view encompassing all of Istanbul, it seemed. When we got down, we met some Germans and talked to them for a bit, after that Sarcam took us around the city and showed us all the old sites that were in the Ottoman Empire age. There were definitely some old structures that we stumbled across… the rest of the day was spent walking around modern day Taxim, which again is the most popular part of Istanbul, comparable to Hollywood.
At night we chatted with Mahir for a while and then decided to watch a movie and just relax for once, The Pursuit of Happiness was the chose. Gotta love that movie! This actually lasted much longer than intended, until 1-2am. That early wake thing just never presents itself, so I thought, tomorrow we were meeting some of Brent’s friends a good hour away at 9am!
Which brings me to my early wake up call. I blindly threw on some clothes and stumbled out the door. The sun greeted me with a nice burn in my eyes, and we were off! We met up with Rob, his wife, parents, and three kids in front of the Hagia Sofia to plan out the day. They were a great family, lots of fun.
The first stop was the Underground Cistern, which was used as a water source, constructed in the early 300-500s. It was impressive to say the least, hundreds of pillars holding up the earth above us… with a large space filled with water, dimly lighted. Medusa’s head was in the Northwest corner, one upside down, and one on its side. They don’t really know the significance of this… but cool nonetheless.
Next, Tokopiki Palace. The Palace of the Ottoman Empire – this was a palace no doubted. We walked in to be surrounded by large parks and greatly sculptured buildings. It was hard to determine where to start. We saw the Empire evolve throughout the ages, as well as some of the jewels they won/looted/made. Brent mentioned how they didn’t really polish most of these, and he was right, a lot of these could have produced a much greater awe factor if they took the time to! However, one of the stones was an 89 karat Diamond… this was polished and gleaming with all 89 karats! So amazing, especially because it was found in a rubbish dump!!! I would have gladly liked to come across that one…
The next exhibit claimed to hold some artifacts, this was a little skeptical, to say the least. First – we saw David’s sword from David and the Goliath… ok… that might be okay, if it wasn’t for Moses’ Staff next to it… and then the Skull and Arm of John the Prophet… along with Abramham’s Turban… Mohammad’s Beard, Footprint mold and Tooth. Eh… who knows?
Rob and his wife went into the next part, a Harem. This cost a little extra, so I instead decided to lie down in the grass and soak in the rare sun rays. I think I fell asleep? Because when I opened my eyes everyone was standing over me! Ah, time to go.
We headed to the Blue Mosque now, Brent and I already have seen this, so he went to the bathroom and I again, lay in the grass. I didn’t fall asleep this time, but definitely got a hefty amount of sun. I think I got a little red even! I’ll take it.
Now was time to escort Rob et. al to their hotel, it took a good hour of direction getting and countless taxi scammers to finally get there. Along the last few meters of the walk to the hotel, a man with a giant cart of strawberries was going by… 3TL for a KG!!!! That is 2 dollars for 2.2 pounds of strawberries… I couldn’t resist. I bought a half KG and successfully demolished them within the half hour. We now all gathered to go out the dinner, which was cafeteria style, you pick what you want. Rob’s parents offered to pay for Brent and I, as well as everyone else, it was a pretty good/interesting meal. I tried an array of foods, mainly because everyone picked stuff that didn’t suit them and I then had small portions of each! Have to try everything once right? That’s what I think at least…
After we were all good and stuffed, we walked them back to where we parted to catch our own bus. Everyone said their goodbyes, and we went our separate ways.
Later tonight Mahir, Brent and I were watching some soccer highlights and talking. All of a sudden, the power goes out! The whole block went into a blackout. I still think it was because I was charging both my camera and computer at the time same, but they won’t let me believe that…
One more day in Turkey for me, then off to Greece.
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