Saturday, March 11, 20:30/8:30pm, Istanbul - Cool

After spending the first week seeing the main tourist areas in the Old Town, the Sofia Hagia, Topkapi Palace & the Grand Bazaar, Anna, Lyle & I spent the 2nd week visiting areas of the sprawling metropolis I had not traveled to in October, when Mary & Dave were here. Istanbul is enormous, with close to 20 million inhabitants. While taking the ferry out to the Prince's Islands, we had a sweeping view of the city, perched as it is above the Marmara Sea; we could see buildings in either direction, East or West, as far as the eye could see! It was impressive. (I flew in to the old airport, from Budapest, riding the Metro from there to the Old Town, Sirkeci station; I believe I counted 15 stations; it took over an hour.)

Our 12 days are up and I left Istanbul yesterday evening, heading for Bulgaria. The train was an overnight sleeper, but that is a misnomer, because every couple of hours we were disturbed by border guards or the conductor. To be honest, other than border control, I don't know what that was all about. I disembarked in Dimitrovgrad, rather than take this particular train to Sofia, the capital. At the rate we were going, I was going to miss the connection to Bucharest, so by taking the train from Dimitrovgrad, I could cut across the middle of the country, meeting up with my train in Gorna Oryahovitsa. Save myself 5 hours or so. I'll catch the overnight sleeper in Bucharest later this evening and arrive Budapest tomorrow morning. Hopefully, refreshed, but that is to be determined.

My companion in the 2-bed sleeper out of Istanbul was a young Turk by the name of Ular. He was shy about his English, but soon warmed to the practice. (I was grateful he wanted to speak to me at all.) Ular had spent a few days with his family and was returning to his studies in Sofia; he is 20 & a medical tech student at one of the universities there. Although he did admit he is not so interested in the Biology, but is passionate about the Physics(!). He wants to be remembered 'forever;' I think he meant 'immortalized,' like Galileo & Copernicus. I was impressed and told him so. He then asked me if I had ever been to Vancouver, Canada, although it took me a few tries to understand what he was asking, as his accent was thick. I said I had and it was his turn to be impressed. I asked, "Why?" By this time, Ular had brought Vancouver up on his Maps app, and he pointed to all the green around the city, the mountains with Whistler, Banff and Lake Louise. He said there is not much 'greenery' in Istanbul. I don't know if he is the determined type or just naive. You don't need to travel half-way around the world to find 'green' on a map: he could travel to Slovenia or Italy or Austria for glorious mountains & forests. Ular then asked me if I liked Philosophy, which I do, but I had my doubts we could say much about it, what with all of the technical terms used to describe the different -isms: Stoicism, Existentialism, Nihilism, etc. He said he was agnostic, yet believed we had a 'soul.' He was referring to Religion, but close enough. He did not follow his parent's belief in the Muslim faith. He is not alone, as there are about as many young women in Istanbul without head-scarves as with, in my observation. It was getting late and he asked if I was sleepy, if I wanted to lower the beds. I thought that was a good idea and thus the end of our conversation.

As I was leaving the compartment, he turned in his bunk and I whispered, "Thanks & good luck! Now, go save the world!" He smiled & I closed the door.

More later. 

First Days in Istanbul

[Once again, apologies, as I started writing this on Wednesday, but put it aside & I just finished it on Sunday evening…oh, bother!]

Istanbul Wed March 1 Hi: 11°C/52°F Lo: 8°C/46°F Overcast & windy

Lyle & Anna arrived from the airport in the middle of the afternoon, yesterday; my flight was the day before, Monday. Since I woke up in Istanbul, I was able to make contact with the Airbnb host after breakfast and he told me that since the apartment was empty, I could take the apartment at any time, no need to wait for the 3 p.m. check-in. I thanked him for the courtesy, not wishing to trudge around town with my luggage in tow. The rental was easy to find, as it was just up the hill from the last station on the M1 tram line, no missing my stop, everyone off! 

I had stayed the night, Monday, at a small hostel in the Sultanahmet section of Istanbul, close by the Hagia Sofia & the Blue Mosque. That became clear at 6 a.m. the next morning, when the 'call to prayer' rang out across the city. Being so close to, like, 4 major mosques, the sing-song cadence was more 'cacophony' than musical. Unlike hostels in other major European cities, this backpacker inn had a working kitchen on the ground floor, and the following morning, there were Turks coming & going, ordering breakfast, even though they were not staying at the hostel. When I asked for coffee, my table-mate laughed, as it was a large mug with cream; the young man, from Australia, asked if I had ordered such a  'tall white;' I shook my head, no. He speculated that the cook heard my American accent, if you will, and assumed I wanted an 'Americano,' not a shot, as he was drinking it (an espresso). My breakfast consisted of a couple of pieces of sliced salami, a small piece of hard cheese, olives, sliced green pepper, a ramekin of rose hip jam and 3 cookies(!); with a side plate of scrambled eggs topped with a Turkish spice mix. Oh, and a large basket of sliced baguette. It was 'lezzetli,' delicious.

The Australian looked to be in his mid- to late-20's, traveling around Europe for six months. I asked him why he was here in winter, when it was nice & warm in his part of the world. It was apparently a matter of timing; he had the time, so he made the trip. A very pleasant & handsome man, we did not talk long, as he was to meet some friends he had made, to go exploring Istanbul, much as I was.

Our rental apartment is conveniently located at the junction of five different means of transportation: the M1 tram, the Metro Red Line, a funicular, many buses & a plethora of public ferries chock-a-block at all hours with commuters crossing over to the Asian side of Istanbul, across the Bosporus Strait. We can easily get to any part of Istanbul we want, which is terribly convenient. But the apartment itself leaves much to be desired, with some things needing repair, but the inexpensive rent is worth the hassles. More on this later.