Constantinople

Spent 3 days and 2 nights in Istanbul, the worlds 2^nd largest city (by population) and more importantly where part of the filming for the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, took place.

City	Population
Istanbul  (crazy)	13.5 million
New York (went once)	8.2 million
Chicago (went a bunch)	2.7 million
Eskişehir (where I live now)	650,000
Grand Rapids (good beer)	774,000
Ada, MI (home)	13,000

In Istanbul we toured the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, and Dolmabahçe Palace. We took a boat tour of the Bosporus, haggled at the Grand Bazaar, sampled foods at the Spice Bazaar, and partied around Taksim Square.  Istanbul is unique in that is partly in Europe and partly in Asia (transcontinental).  Europe’s largest city also contains a large amount of ethnic minorities and tourists, like any major city would I guess. It was a nice change of pace to be amount thousands of other tourists and speak English relatively easily when shopping, eating, etc.


Dropping a photo bomb.

View upon arrival, outside our hostel.

Hagia Sophia 

Blue Mosque

Blue tiles tiles which give the Blue Mosque its name.

Outside the Blue Mosque, love that shirt!

Spice Bazaar, one of my favorite places. 

Saucy sausages 

Turkish Delight assortment. 

Turkish Delight is a candy made of a sugar gel like confection base with nuts, honey, lemon, etc added. 

Sampled some great teas.

Cantilevered retaining walls below the water table.

Floating club on the Bosphorus 

Fish sandwhich that I tried to eat after the boat tour. Couldn't do it. 

Dolmabace Palace, so much swag to be had there. 

4.5 ton chandelier in the Palace. 

Istiklal Street during the day. Very busy street with shops at ground level and bars on the 

Galata Tower at night.

Heading down an Istiklal side street, so many people eating, drinking, and having a good time. We ended up finding a club with rooftop dancing. 

Birthday drink for Agne. 

Another one of my favorites, the Basilica Cistern.  It was underground, cool, dark, damp, and very cool. 

1 of 2 original Medusa's heads in the Cistern. It is not sure what they are doing there or how they got there. 

Carrying the Turkish flag around Istanbul for 15TL.

Inside the Grand Bazaar (3000 shops) where we haggled and I bought too much stuff. 

Just before entering the Grand Bazaar.

Yazilikaya, "Jungle Gym"

This weekend we traveled to Yazilikaya for the first of our weekend trips.  We explored tombs, mosques, and “Midas City.” Midas City is believed to have been a cultic and settlement center of the Phrygian’s (they comprised a kingdom of western modern day Turkey (aka Anatolia) around 800 BC (fyi that’s old)). You may be familiar with King Midas the “guy who turned stuff to gold,” although this particular  settlement is named after a different King Midas who ruled Phrygia at the time.
TLDR-Turkey is beautiful. 

Good looking dude lookin. 

Summer pic from Mehmet, our guide, before restoration began on this 600 B.C (600 BC!!!!!) monument at Midas City. 

View of mosques and tombs before the trek up.

Spherical domes, one for each mosque in this first settlement we toured. 

Chauncey! Spotted some Turkish beehives on the hillside during a break. Looks like 1 deep on each hive and only 1 has a super, so maybe the honey flow hasn't started yet (it is so dry). But what do I know, all my bees are dead. 

Checking out some tombs.

Same tomb. Different view.

Baling hay, by hand. 

Hiking up to the "jungle gym." We climbed all over this giant rock formation that had many nooks and crannies carved out by early inhabitants. 

I desire a Nikon D3000 (or D3100 or D5000).

What a view. Took a series of photos that I will try to stitch together later for a panoramic. 

Climbing out of cavernous structure designed to hold water for the inhabitants of Midas City.

Great view and a cool breeze on a cloudy day. 

Lunch time sacrifice at one of the many monuments or alters. Check out Caroline's blog about here time here in Turkey, don't worry it's much better than mine.

Bad habit #1. This stuff is everywhere and I cannot stop eating it. 

Hot stuff

Turkish coffee refers not to a specific coffee bean or flavor per say, but a method of making coffee were the finely ground beans are left to settle in the bottom of the cup (you‘re not supposed to eat them). Here has been my experience ordering khave sade (plain coffee).

1.    It is served extremely hot with a nice layer of foam on top. You have to give it awhile to cool down.

2.    The serving size is very small (~2oz) and comes on a saucer, with a piece of chocolate and a small shot or glass of water. The water is said to clear the mouth of the strong taste. I use it to rinse the coffee grinds from between by teeth because I am an idiot and try to drink every last drop. 

3.    I was told you dip your finger in the water and put a drop of it in the coffee to help the grounds settle out before drinking. 

4.    Slowly sip your khave sade, stopping when you can no longer drink without taking in grounds.

·      They have Starbucks and Caribou Coffee here, but I haven't seen anyone walking around town or on the bus with their mug of coffee. It seems like it's something you drink on premise.

·      Coffee shops usually have all the typical drinks you would see at home (exception no pumpkin spice latte (shame)) plus the Turkish coffee variants.

·      Outdoor patio coffee/pastry places line the streets and they are always well populated late at night. The weather is always perfect for grabbing a coffee with friends, in fact a lot of younger/middle aged people sit and enjoy there warm drinks for what seems to me a long time, conversing late into the evening. We always have to ask for our bill.

·      Most coffee houses have fleece blankets for customers during the night and you see quite a few people donning them as they sip there coffee and say things I do not understand. So fucking cozy!

·      It isn't to uncommon to have a cup of coffee at the bar after the 1st bar (or 3rd bar in our case usually). Said to be a hangover cure. 

Late night coffee. Each came with a bar of chocolate or a CHOCOLATE SPOON! Can you see the thick foam on the top?

Water to cleanse the palette. 

A cup of coffee at university after analyzing topo maps in Turkish for 2 hours. 

Tea (Cay, pronounced chai) is also very popular and is usually served after semi-formal meals or offered to guests.  It is a type of black tea and just like coffee served really hot! In the busy city center you see guys hustling down the street delivering platers of this liquid amber to costumers. 

Tea before our board meeting. Never really thought much of it back home, but add a sugar cube to this stuff and it is great. Also usually served with a lemon slice.

Tea after dinner. Mostly served in these hourglass shaped glasses on a plater that makes you feel so sophisticated and cultured. 

No chai or Turkish coffee, but it was hot stuff. Flaming shot of absinthe.