Screw this, I'm moving to Turkey.
So, I haven't updated in quite awhile...and this is partially because I was on vacation in Turkey!!! It was ridiculously awesome! This is probably going to be a long post, but I'll try to slim it down as much as possible. ANYHOW...Jill and I took the red-eye flight from Cairo to Istanbul last Thursday night (it was the cheapest), and we arrived in Turkey at about 6:00 AM on Friday morning. Our room at the hostel wasn't ready yet, obviously, so we dropped off our luggage and then went out to do tourist-y things, as exhausted as we were. First we went to the Hagia Sophia, which is pretty cool-looking on the outside, but AMAZING on the inside. You can climb up to the balcony level and look at mosaics and beautiful architecture and whatnot. The Hagia Sophia was a church until the Ottoman Turks converted it into a mosque sometime in the mid-1400s (random bit of trivia, sorry if you don't care). After that, we visited the Blue Mosque, which is breathtaking from the outside. The inside is very nice too--I'll get my pictures up on Facebook soon, even though my camera sucks and therefore they didn't turn out all that great.
After the Blue Mosque, we went to some Islamic Arts and Architecture museum, but I was really tired and out of it so I didn't really care. We went back to the hostel and slept all afternoon, till about 5:00. Then we went out to dinner at this really nice restaurant, where I had a dish called "Chicken Peach". It was chicken drumsticks sauteed in cream sauce with peach pieces, and it was the most delicious thing EVER! Yum. We had bananas cooked in crepes and smothered in dark chocolate for dessert. Turkish food is SO much better than Egyptian food--it's not even funny.
Now for perhaps one of the most interesting parts...after dinner, we went to a Turkish Bath! It was certainly, um, an experience. Basically what happens is that you take off all your clothes (and I mean ALL), and wrap a towel around yourself. However, once you enter the bath, one of the attendants just pulls the thing right off, leaving you completely exposed right in the middle of the room. Some people had worn swimsuit bottoms, but we hadn't thought of that (stupid, stupid, stupid). So anyhow, I had to lie down on my towel while some strange woman poured water all over me and then soaped me down with a loofah thing. And when she was done with one side and wanted me to flip over, she would slap me on the ass. It was the most awkward thing ever. After the bath, Jill and I got oil massages, which I think are overrated. It felt nice and everything, but the oil was really thick and it wouldn't wash off the first night, so I felt all oily and gross until I took a shower the next night. And also, the masseuse spent a disproportionate of time massaging my ass. All the employees in our section were female, thank goodness, but it was still so weird! Anyhow, after the massage, we had had enough ass-massaging for the night, so we left. We got some free Turkish Delight from some shopkeeper, and I had some mango tea. Then we went back to the hostel and slept.
The next day we went to The Basilica Cistern in the morning, which is a huge underground cistern that used to hold water in the time of Justinian (c. 500 AD). It was dark and creepy and pretty and AWESOME. My pictures turned out horribly because there was no light, but whatever. We moved on to Topkapi Palace later, which was nice too. In the afternoon, we went to the Grand Bazaar, which the Lonely Planet guide assured us would be the most "discombobulating and disorienting" shopping experience in our lives. Um, I'm sorry, but the Grand Bazaar has NOTHING on Khan Al-Khalili in Cairo. The Khan is WAY more intense and crazy. Nevertheless, the Grand Bazaar was really cool, and I bought a bunch of scarves. Yay.
The next two days were spent in Troy! We took a 6-hour bus ride to the town of Canakkale, which is very cute and peaceful. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and I got some great pictures. Troy was really cool as well--it's actually 9 separate cities built on top of one another. We got to see ruins from each of the 9 layers--it was pretty sweet. While we were in Canakkale, we had the most amazing baklava in the history of the world. It was ridiculously tasty. We spent our last day in Istanbul visiting Dolmabahce Palace. It was built in the 1800s, and it's unbelievably elaborate and ornate and stuff. Kind of like Versailles, I guess. It was awesome to look at, but there were huge lines and long waits and blehhh. After that, we just kind of wandered around Istanbul for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had Turkey's world-famous pudding for dessert at dinner--mmm. We got back to Cairo at about midnight last night. Sigh. I love Turkey.
Some overall notes...the vacation was just so nice because we got to breathe clean air for a few precious days. Cairo is so smoggy and dirty, and you don't really notice until you've been there for awhile and then go somewhere else. I'm going to come back in June with lung cancer at this rate. Also, this trip was my first experience with hostels, and they're actually very nice. I really don't mind not having a private bathroom--it's just like a college dorm. Finally, Turkey is just so amazingly pretty. It's very European in style and feel, and the atmosphere is so much less oppressive than Cairo. It kind of sucked because it made me become aware of all the things that I don't like about Cairo. And then in addition to this, a good number of my friends aren't really having a good time in Cairo, and their negativity is rubbing off on me, so I become convinced that I don't like it either. I was doing perfectly fine until they started complaining and influencing my thoughts. Argh. I still love studying abroad and all, but at this point I just can't wait for Winter Break...I'm also very excited about senior year at the U of I, and I kind of want to be there now.
But yeah...this is too long already, and besides, I have to get packing. We're leaving for Mount Sinai this afternoon! We're going to climb it tomorrow night, I think--I'm so excited! Everyone says it's gorgeous. But yes, I must go. I'll probably post again after I get back!
After the Blue Mosque, we went to some Islamic Arts and Architecture museum, but I was really tired and out of it so I didn't really care. We went back to the hostel and slept all afternoon, till about 5:00. Then we went out to dinner at this really nice restaurant, where I had a dish called "Chicken Peach". It was chicken drumsticks sauteed in cream sauce with peach pieces, and it was the most delicious thing EVER! Yum. We had bananas cooked in crepes and smothered in dark chocolate for dessert. Turkish food is SO much better than Egyptian food--it's not even funny.
Now for perhaps one of the most interesting parts...after dinner, we went to a Turkish Bath! It was certainly, um, an experience. Basically what happens is that you take off all your clothes (and I mean ALL), and wrap a towel around yourself. However, once you enter the bath, one of the attendants just pulls the thing right off, leaving you completely exposed right in the middle of the room. Some people had worn swimsuit bottoms, but we hadn't thought of that (stupid, stupid, stupid). So anyhow, I had to lie down on my towel while some strange woman poured water all over me and then soaped me down with a loofah thing. And when she was done with one side and wanted me to flip over, she would slap me on the ass. It was the most awkward thing ever. After the bath, Jill and I got oil massages, which I think are overrated. It felt nice and everything, but the oil was really thick and it wouldn't wash off the first night, so I felt all oily and gross until I took a shower the next night. And also, the masseuse spent a disproportionate of time massaging my ass. All the employees in our section were female, thank goodness, but it was still so weird! Anyhow, after the massage, we had had enough ass-massaging for the night, so we left. We got some free Turkish Delight from some shopkeeper, and I had some mango tea. Then we went back to the hostel and slept.
The next day we went to The Basilica Cistern in the morning, which is a huge underground cistern that used to hold water in the time of Justinian (c. 500 AD). It was dark and creepy and pretty and AWESOME. My pictures turned out horribly because there was no light, but whatever. We moved on to Topkapi Palace later, which was nice too. In the afternoon, we went to the Grand Bazaar, which the Lonely Planet guide assured us would be the most "discombobulating and disorienting" shopping experience in our lives. Um, I'm sorry, but the Grand Bazaar has NOTHING on Khan Al-Khalili in Cairo. The Khan is WAY more intense and crazy. Nevertheless, the Grand Bazaar was really cool, and I bought a bunch of scarves. Yay.
The next two days were spent in Troy! We took a 6-hour bus ride to the town of Canakkale, which is very cute and peaceful. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and I got some great pictures. Troy was really cool as well--it's actually 9 separate cities built on top of one another. We got to see ruins from each of the 9 layers--it was pretty sweet. While we were in Canakkale, we had the most amazing baklava in the history of the world. It was ridiculously tasty. We spent our last day in Istanbul visiting Dolmabahce Palace. It was built in the 1800s, and it's unbelievably elaborate and ornate and stuff. Kind of like Versailles, I guess. It was awesome to look at, but there were huge lines and long waits and blehhh. After that, we just kind of wandered around Istanbul for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had Turkey's world-famous pudding for dessert at dinner--mmm. We got back to Cairo at about midnight last night. Sigh. I love Turkey.
Some overall notes...the vacation was just so nice because we got to breathe clean air for a few precious days. Cairo is so smoggy and dirty, and you don't really notice until you've been there for awhile and then go somewhere else. I'm going to come back in June with lung cancer at this rate. Also, this trip was my first experience with hostels, and they're actually very nice. I really don't mind not having a private bathroom--it's just like a college dorm. Finally, Turkey is just so amazingly pretty. It's very European in style and feel, and the atmosphere is so much less oppressive than Cairo. It kind of sucked because it made me become aware of all the things that I don't like about Cairo. And then in addition to this, a good number of my friends aren't really having a good time in Cairo, and their negativity is rubbing off on me, so I become convinced that I don't like it either. I was doing perfectly fine until they started complaining and influencing my thoughts. Argh. I still love studying abroad and all, but at this point I just can't wait for Winter Break...I'm also very excited about senior year at the U of I, and I kind of want to be there now.
But yeah...this is too long already, and besides, I have to get packing. We're leaving for Mount Sinai this afternoon! We're going to climb it tomorrow night, I think--I'm so excited! Everyone says it's gorgeous. But yes, I must go. I'll probably post again after I get back!