This is the winter of our relaxed sightseeing.
I left Ankara in a blur of caffine and stress, emailing in my last term papers as I threw clothes into my backpack. Boarding the Fetiyeh express, it really hadn't sunk in yet that I was on vacation. The train rumbled away into the Anatolian night. Riding that last crest of energy from the godawful german nescafe drinks (mit pseudomethamphetamine!) I nervously inventoried my baggage. Before I had the chance to really start fretting that I forgot something, sleep came with merciful speed.
Oh, what a city Istanbul is. It's even nicer when the weather isn't horrible!
For the first six hours, Istanbul had mosesinegypt fooled that sunshine existed here.
Istikklal Caddesi. It has a little trolley. That's how sickeningly charming it is.
Of course, some things you can't just see once. The 15YTL you fork out for each visit to the Hagia Sofia is oh my god so worth it. My pictures actually turned out this time, but no photograph can ever, ever do it justice.
Hagia Sofia 2: the bloodening!
The building is so mind-bogglingly huge. Birds will give a brief flutter of their wings and then just glide accross the expanse underneath the main dome.
This mosaic is twenty feet tall, plated with real gold, and on the inside of a huge dome.
Topkapi palace was (foolishly) attended in some of the most awful fucking weather I've ever experienced here. Myself, the persians & company, and our visiting cairene spent most of the visit, uuh, shivering. It was still very cool. The Ottoman concept of a palace is really different from European royal homes- Topkapi is really a complex of linked courtyards with scattered residences and buildings. They also have a number of religious relics, including a sword of Imam Ali, Mohammed's bow, hair from the prophet's beard, and his footprint! You can't actually see his footprint, though- it's in a closed case.
It is, however, a very nice case.
This is where the Sultan got to hang around most of the time. I am deeply jealous of the Sultan.
This was all well and good, but it was also all rainy and cold. We soon found ourselves on a ferry in the sea of marmara, bound for Bursa.
Coming up: tombs, Egyptian key ninjas, retail therapy and finger cookies.
Sadly, more pictures will be a few days in coming, because I actually happen to be going back to Istanbul. I know you may be asking yourself "why the hell does he keep going there?" but come on, fourteen million people (actually probably more like twenty million) live there- that's about three Norways. There's a lot to see. Plus this trip is free, we get to break in the new kids, and I can see if that old guy in the grand bazaar will budge on his price for Madonna nesting dolls.
He'd fucking better.
Oh, what a city Istanbul is. It's even nicer when the weather isn't horrible!
For the first six hours, Istanbul had mosesinegypt fooled that sunshine existed here.
Istikklal Caddesi. It has a little trolley. That's how sickeningly charming it is.
Of course, some things you can't just see once. The 15YTL you fork out for each visit to the Hagia Sofia is oh my god so worth it. My pictures actually turned out this time, but no photograph can ever, ever do it justice.
Hagia Sofia 2: the bloodening!
The building is so mind-bogglingly huge. Birds will give a brief flutter of their wings and then just glide accross the expanse underneath the main dome.
This mosaic is twenty feet tall, plated with real gold, and on the inside of a huge dome.
Topkapi palace was (foolishly) attended in some of the most awful fucking weather I've ever experienced here. Myself, the persians & company, and our visiting cairene spent most of the visit, uuh, shivering. It was still very cool. The Ottoman concept of a palace is really different from European royal homes- Topkapi is really a complex of linked courtyards with scattered residences and buildings. They also have a number of religious relics, including a sword of Imam Ali, Mohammed's bow, hair from the prophet's beard, and his footprint! You can't actually see his footprint, though- it's in a closed case.
It is, however, a very nice case.
This is where the Sultan got to hang around most of the time. I am deeply jealous of the Sultan.
This was all well and good, but it was also all rainy and cold. We soon found ourselves on a ferry in the sea of marmara, bound for Bursa.
Coming up: tombs, Egyptian key ninjas, retail therapy and finger cookies.
Sadly, more pictures will be a few days in coming, because I actually happen to be going back to Istanbul. I know you may be asking yourself "why the hell does he keep going there?" but come on, fourteen million people (actually probably more like twenty million) live there- that's about three Norways. There's a lot to see. Plus this trip is free, we get to break in the new kids, and I can see if that old guy in the grand bazaar will budge on his price for Madonna nesting dolls.
He'd fucking better.