(no subject)
Turkey is the most amazing country I've ever been to. If you ever ever ever get the chance, GO.
At the risk of writing an entry so long that you will all skim (at best), I offer a few reflections.
The Blue Mosque is so beautiful and intricately designed that it can make you dizzy. I officially find mosques 20x more intersting to look at than churches.
That said, the requirement that women cover their head, shoulders and arms with a head scarf was a new experience to say the very least, especially looking out from under a head scarf to see men headcover-less.
I've never been harassed so much in the street in my life. The approaches by men ranged from the extremely funny- such as the man who offered Allyn every last one of his chickens, because she was his favorite- to the not so funny at all- the man (and then second man) who followed a friend and I for an uncomfortable while because we'd been holding hands asking "Are you lesbians?" -NOTE: this is the first time in 5 or so years that I responded "NO" to that question.
I went, technically, to Asia. SO HA. I've been to Asia. I know Joanie's not impressed. Whatever. Half of Istanbul (to the east of the Bosphorus) is Asia and we went... and got lost... whatever. It was ASIA.
We went hiking around one of the Princes Islands, where there are NO CARS. Yay to that. There is, however, a big military base... whatever... we hiked about a 1/3 of the way around the island and found a beach and had a picnic and went swimming in the jelly-fish infested, cold, somewhat dirty, but nonethless amazing Bosphorus.
Yeah. That was officially the best trip I've ever taken.
At the risk of writing an entry so long that you will all skim (at best), I offer a few reflections.
The Blue Mosque is so beautiful and intricately designed that it can make you dizzy. I officially find mosques 20x more intersting to look at than churches.
That said, the requirement that women cover their head, shoulders and arms with a head scarf was a new experience to say the very least, especially looking out from under a head scarf to see men headcover-less.
I've never been harassed so much in the street in my life. The approaches by men ranged from the extremely funny- such as the man who offered Allyn every last one of his chickens, because she was his favorite- to the not so funny at all- the man (and then second man) who followed a friend and I for an uncomfortable while because we'd been holding hands asking "Are you lesbians?" -NOTE: this is the first time in 5 or so years that I responded "NO" to that question.
I went, technically, to Asia. SO HA. I've been to Asia. I know Joanie's not impressed. Whatever. Half of Istanbul (to the east of the Bosphorus) is Asia and we went... and got lost... whatever. It was ASIA.
We went hiking around one of the Princes Islands, where there are NO CARS. Yay to that. There is, however, a big military base... whatever... we hiked about a 1/3 of the way around the island and found a beach and had a picnic and went swimming in the jelly-fish infested, cold, somewhat dirty, but nonethless amazing Bosphorus.
Yeah. That was officially the best trip I've ever taken.