Days 51 & 52: Istanbul

So the reason I put them together is this: nothing really happened on day 51 (which, by the way, was 22 October). I did my normal morning routine of coffee and people watching. The only interesting thing to come out of that was the man who accosted me (well, not exactly accosted, but he seemed pretty intense) when I was coming out of Starbuck, yelling: "Why you drink that? You're in Turkey, you should drink Turkish coffee!" No doubt he knew of a 'great place' to get some Turkish coffee. But I told him that I already tried it (I did) and that it wasn't to my taste (which it's not), and then I continued on my way to the park.

I was just through with my delicious Starbucks non-Turkish coffee when it began to rain. I walked myself back to the hostel, with the wind starting to pick up and the chill of autumn starting to kick in. The rest of my day consisted of drinking Turkish tea (so freakin good - apple chai is amazing) and sitting around the hostel, napping and talking with the other travelers. And for dinner, of course, Medcezir. By this time I knew all of the staff there, especially my waiter Ragyup. Every time I see him when I pass his restaurant to go up towards the main thoroughfare, I say hello and he asks me how my day is going. It's really nice to have a routine with local people I kind of know, and who kind of know me.

Okay, on to day 52. I took the tram as far as it goes in the Northern direction to the tip of the Golden Horn. This left me near the piers where ferries depart for Asia. I was tempted to jump a ferry and go over, just to add another continent to the trip, but then decided that it's still Istanbul (and therefore much of the same), and I've already been to Asia. So I sat by the Bosphorus Bridge, watching the fishermen do their thing and the boats ferry passengers across the strait. By the way, the Bosphorus Bridge is pretty impressive - it's nearly 5,000 feet long and connects two continents.

After watching life go by and daydreaming for some time, I walked over to Dolmabahce Palace (Dol-ma-bach-ie). It was home to the sultans from the 1850s until the Republic of Turkey was founded, and then it served as the first president's home and offices (that man - Ataturk, actually died here in the palace). The current president still keeps an office here for when he visits Istanbul. It was all quite impressive (check the pics on my facebook page), but I felt as though the tour was rushed. You aren't allowed to just wander around by yourself, you have to be on a guided tour. Every half hour or so they have a group go through. This leaves you little time to actually look at all of the fine furniture and art in the well-appointed rooms of the sultan and his wives. Really, you just get glimpses. So, yeah...not my kind of tour.

More apple chai capped off my day (I actually didn't "drink" that much here in Istanbul, just a glass of wine or two with dinner each night). I'm not a tea drinker at all, but I could sit around all day with this stuff and be happy and contented with my life. I'll definitely be figuring out how to make it when I get home so that I can get through the cold winter. My evening drew to a close while watching the moon rise over the hills on the Asia side of the city: