Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Istanbul (a brief overview)

         It might only be 7:30pm, but due to much travel the last couple of days and jet lag it feels much later. Which means that I have lost my motivation to write the papers and do homework. Oh well, maybe tomorrow I will be more awake and motivated to do work. But for now I really wanted to be able to write a little about my adventures of the past week in Turkey. I went with my roommate Ruth, and three guy friends who I did not know very well before the trip, but were really great to hang out with for the week. So much happened and I am still processing the trip, but the following is an outline of what we did. In the days to come, I hope to post some of the more specific stories and thoughts that I had while on the trip.

Sunday, March 3: We flew from Dulles (Washington D.C.) in the afternoon.

Monday, March 4: We had a layover in Frankfurt, Germany before arriving in Istanbul around 1pm. After getting to our hostel, we spent the rest of the day walking around trying to get oriented to the city.

Tuesday, March 5: We decided this day would be "Mosque and Market" day. We went into the famous Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market, and hung out around another big mosque.

Wednesday, March 6: We took a ferry to one of the Prince Islands to spend the day there before coming back to mainland Istanbul and walking through Taksim Square.

Thursday, March 7: I spent the morning sketching the Hagia Sophia before going the Modern Art Museum and back to Taksim Square.

Friday, March 8: We went to the Cistern, Hagia Sophia, back to the Grand Bazaar, and hung out in the restaurant connected to the hostel.

Saturday, March 9: I went with one of the guys and two American girls we met at the hostel on a boat tour of the Bosphoros Straight.

Sunday, March 10: I spent the day with Ruth and the two American girls visiting the famous Chora Church, city walls, and surrounding neighborhood before last visits to shops and sites near our hostel and then heading the aiport where we slept for a few hours before flying back to Frankfurt.

Monday, March 11: Our flight from Istanbul to Frankfurt was at 5am. We then spent over four hours in the Frankfurt aiport before the eight hour flight back to Dulles. We arrived back to the apartment a little before 8pm.

The week was really full with millions of small interactions and mini adventures. Even after a week, I feel like I only saw and experienced a small portion of this amazing city. It was truly a great time and I cannot imagine a better way to spend my last Spring Break. 

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