Troy

I got to the bus station in Istanbul and no one spoke English. I wasn't sure if I was at the right stop or if I was getting on the right bus. I just kept showing people my ticket to ensure they pointed at the same bus.

It was a rough bus ride during the night, tough to get any sleep. I got to Eceabat where I got a couple of hours of sleep, boarded a ferry to Çanakkale where I met Uran, my guide to Troy.

There isn't much to see in terms of ruins, but Uran had much to say about the story. There are ruins of nine towns on top of each other. They believe Troy VI is the one that is referenced in Homer's Illiad.
Leaving Troy for Selçuk was quite a journey. I waited for a bus that I was told would stop for me at the side of the highway. It was about 40 minutes late and I was starting to get pretty nervous. But patience prevailed and the bus came. I took it to Izmir, which was a 6 hour bus ride and then transfered to a public bus that finally brought me to Selçuk.

Photos from the Troy ruins:

Istanbul Day 2

I thought I'd wake up early and walk around old Istanbul, but I slept for a good 12 hours. My hotel is near a few mosques and some people might be bothered by the evening and morning call to prayer but I can sleep right through it.

First thing this morning I decided to try and find the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar. I took off with only the map in the guidebook (which is not a good map) and quickly got very lost. Luckily old Istanbul is a peninsula and 3/4 directions will lead you to the coast. I got to the coast line, regained my bearings and was soon at the spice market. A neat place.

A few streets from the spice market I found the Grand Bazaar. This place beats the West Edmonton Mall. It's pretty much a hundred tiny streets with kiosks with a roof. I'm at the start of my trip so I wasn't looking to buy anything, just scoping it out. Though it's pretty interesting, it wasn't all that picturesque.

I then made my way back to the area I'm staying in, Sultanahmet, and went to see the Hagia Sophia. From the outside it pales in comparison to the Sultanahmet Mosque, but on the inside it's quite amazing. It has layers upon layers of history, literally. Many christian frescos have been covered by Islamic designs. Restorations are ungoing and a big part of it was closed.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I went to the Sultanahmet Mosque, but did not go inside. It seemed really crowded and peeking inside it looked like there wasn't much for photos. I got a nice shot from the courtyard. Stopped by the Hippodrome (what's left of it), then I just walked around, followed the city walls and walked around the tiny streets. Had my fortune read by a rabbit. Stopped for burek a couple of times and had a wicked chicken shwarma. In a few hours I leave for Troy.

Spice Market (Note the Turkish Viagra):

Grand Bazaar:

Hagia Sophia:

Inside the Hagia Sophia:

Frescos inside the Hagia Sophia:

Frescos inside the Hagia Sophia:

The beautiful Sultanahmet Mosque:

Streets of old Istanbul:

Istanbul is expensive!

It's Friday evening here. I got off the plane around 1:00pm and by the time I got out of the airport it was 2:00pm. I decided to take the Istanbul Metro and then transfer over to a light rail train. It went pretty smoothly and I got to the heart of Istanbul for only 3.20 Turkish Lira (vs 20 Euro taking a cab). The man sitting next to me seemed to have a 9mm tucked in the back of his pants. That made me a little nervous, as he wasn't wearing a uniform of any kind.

I don't seem to be getting much hassle here. I'm guessing that it's because I look like I might be Turkish. I'll walk down a street and see shop owners urging tourists into their shops, but they seem to be leaving me alone.

The hotels are pretty pricey in Istanbul. The first place I went to was a bit of a dive and they wanted 35 Euros/night. That's 53 Canadian dollars. I continued walking around and looking for places. Two others were about twice that price and finally found one for about 30 Euros. I left my backpack and went walking around.

I didn't get a lot of time before the sun started setting. It started getting dark about 5:00pm. I managed to get some photos of the Sultanahmet Mosque (more commonly known as the Blue Mosque)and that's about it. Tomorrow should be a more fruitful day.

Landing in Istanbul:

Sultanahmet Mosque:

Vendors near Sultanahmet:

In Frankfurt

It´s so freaking expensive for internet here!! If you can believe it, it´s like 40 bucks an hour. Cant afford too type for long! I´ll be in Istanbul in about four hours.

Last day of work (for a month)

I'm almost ready to go. The backpack is half packed. I have to run a couple of more errands but I think I have everything. This time tomorrow I'll be airborne for Istanbul! Well Frankfurt first -- then Istanbul. :)

P.S. I've set the blog time to the current time in Turkey, that's why this post is dated November 6.

Counting in Turkish

I have altı (six) days left to go and I'll be in Istanbul, Turkey. I'm getting pretty excited and trying to learn some Turkish in the meantime. Today's lesson is counting in Turkish. It's kind of fun. Counting from 11 to 19 sounds like Santa readying his Turkish reindeer.

1 - bir 2 - iki 3 - üç 4 - dört 5 - beş 6 - altı 7 - yedi 8 - sekiz 9 - dokuz 10 - on

11 - on bir 12 - on iki 13 - on üç 14 - on dört 15 - on beş 16 - on altı 17 - on yedi 18 - on sekiz 19 - on dokuz 20 - yirmi