Believe it or not, I am writing this post curled up in my bed in Farmington, New Mexico! If any of you are surprised to hear that, I wouldn't of believed it a week and a half ago either. Originally, my plan was to go down and spend Christmas in Stuttgart with Robert, a friend of the family from my parents' days as teachers in Germany, before heading back to Karlstadt for Silvester (New Years). However, those plans were shattered when Robert revealed that he had used his frequent flyer miles to gift my family with a round-trip ticket to Albuquerque for the post New Years period. So, here I've been since the 30th and will remain until this coming Saturday (the 6th). I have had an absolute blast while being here! It has been great to spend some quality time with the family, not to mention get a little dose of the green chile that has been so sorely missing from my diet. But that is another story for another time. Before boarding the plane headed towards America, on Christmas day Robert, David (his son), and I all boarded a plane with a destination of Istanbul, where we would remain until the 28th.
DAY 1
We arrived in Istanbul around 19:30, and went strait to our motel to check in and unpack. After unpacking we decided to go on a little walk to scout the area out and see what was close to the hotel. It was then that we discovered what may have been the most enjoyable and important part of out stay in Istanbul: an amazingly delicious food source which we would end up finding ourselves at every night there. Once 19:00 or so hit, all along the streets little stands and converted motor homes would pop up with signs saying "Uykuluk". As it turns out, this is a local specialty of Istanbul (in particular the area we were in) and is quite delicious. We weren't positive what kind of meat it was, our best guess was goat, but it was meat that was fried on a griddle, then tomatoes, onions, peppers, and any other desired ingredients were added while the bread warmed up on the griddle, and finally everything would be put into the bread and the last spices were added. It was heavenly. We decided that the spices made it, as the first night we only had meat without any of those extra ingredients (but with spices) and it was fantastically flavorful.
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| Robert and David with the man who made the Uykuluks. |
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| This is not any of our Uykuluks (it was taken from Google images), but it gives you the idea |
DAY 2
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| The view from the hotel room. |
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| The Blue Mosque, a still working mosque of Istanbul. |
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| Entryway |
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| The interior, an absolutely gigantic structure. All of the cords that can be seen hanging down are to support the huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. |
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| BOOM! There they are. No candles now, just lights though. The large area you see was not open to tourists, as it is still a working mosque. There was a railing behind which tourists could look around and take pictures. However, even women are not allowed into this area that you see, when services are going on women must be in the upper areas by the railings that you can see in the upper part of the picture |
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| The size of the pillars that keep the Blue Mosque up. |
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| Next on the agenda: Hagia Sophia |
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| This mosque was originally a great cathedral of Emperor Justinian's reign, later to be converted to a mosque as the Turks conquered Constantinople, before finally being converted into the museum that it still is today |
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| All over the city you could find these stands with oranges and pomegranates, where you could also but fresh squeezed juice |
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| Topkapi Palace, the home of the emperors and sultans of Constantinople. |
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| Galata Bridge, famous for the stores that reside under it. |
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| The bridge from the top...I was amazed to see people fishing over the edge along the entire bridge |
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| Good old Istanbul traffic. It took us (on our tour bus) about an hour to make it up this 3 mile hill |
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| An interesting pool in front of a hotel. I had plenty of time to admire it, as it was on the hill of death |
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Part of the old ruins of the walls of Constantinople
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DAY 3
The day began with a visit to the Basilica Cistern. This huge room underneath what used to be a basilica is special in the way that it is constructed. While most cistern were simply huge rooms/chambers to hold water, this one has hundreds of pillars in it, allowing for a very gorgeous atmosphere which my little camera had no chance of capturing.
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| One of the famous attractions of the cisterns is the two Medusa heads on two of the pillars used. One is turned upside down, and the other on its side. It is suspected this was a display of Catholic disgust/dominance of the old pagan gods. |
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| Finally! The first Starbucks I've had since being in Europe! So missed...delicious coffee and, above all, IN AMERICAN SIZES!!! |
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| Just a classy looking Burger King |
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| The entrance to the Grand Bazaar |
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| The Grand Bazaar used to be open an open air market only covered by tents and such, then was later converted into what it is now...it is basically a gigantic mall, but with much less classy stores and goods. Also, be ready to have to barter. |
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| It is amazingly easy to get lost in its kilometers of passageways and twists and turns |
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| If that doesn't isn't the most attractive way to display a thong, I don't know what is. |
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| We bought some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice |
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| The largest pomegranates I have ever seen |
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| Robert got a half pomegranate and half orange juice mix, which I must say was a little better. |
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| For this cup it costed about 2 U.S. dollars...and it used like 4 pomegranates |
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| At the spice bazaar |
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| Jasmine tea bulbs |
DAY 4
The last day was very laid back. We had to check out at around 12:00, which was also when we needed to leave to get to the airport in time for our flight, so we decided to just lounge around the hotel for the morning and collect ourselves before departure. It was an amazing trip and was great to be able to spend some time with a couple fellow Americans! I have been SO remarkably blessed in all that I have been able to do and see while over here so far and owe a huge thank you to Robert for making this trip possible! I hope that everyone has had a very merry Christmas and a superb start to the New Year! Best wishes to everyone, until next week!
