Rockin' the Casbah!

Sitting on the west side of the Bosphorus, Istanbul is a gateway between Europe and Asia and the ancient city shows a variety of influences in its long and complex history. My flight arrived in the morning, almost due south from Kiev, and I grabbed a cab and headed into the city. I stayedin the Orient Hostel, the biggest hostel in Istanbul, and my room alone had thirty beds in it. As we drove into the oldest part of the city we passed crumbling ancient city walls as the traffic got more and more dense. Eventually I started thinking that walking might be faster and would have been tempted had I any idea where we were.

As soon as I checked in I went for a walk, exploring the city by foot - my usual mode of transit - and found my way to the Grand Bazaar. The labyrinth of shops was built in the 15th century and covers more than 54,000 square meters. I didn't make my way through the twenty-one gates or even come close to exploring the nearly four thousand shops, though I did find my way into a leather-working shop and decided that a custom-made leather jacket would make a good souvenir. I have finally started getting the hang of the constant bartering that seems to be a part of every culture except North America and managed to get the vendor down roughly fifty percent off his original price. Every time I have success like that though I start second-guessing myself, assuming that the price was artificially inflated for the purpose of fleecing tourists. Which in this case it probably was.

In checking in at the hostel, the guy at the front desk told me that there was a tour the next day on the Bosphorus and that I could get in on the group rate if I was interested. I signed up then and there and only slighted regretted the decision as rolled off my top bunk in the morning to make my way to the pick-up point at the front of the hostel. I had mistakenly thought that the group was going to be composed of solo tourists like myself, but it was actually a Dutch high school trip and I was the only one who had been suckered into the group rate discount. Still, it was a fun day as the boat picked its way north, stopping in Europe, then Asia, then back again, finally anchoring in the Black Sea where we spent an hour or so swimming, jumping off the upper deck of the boat into the cooling water. On our second stop another solo tourist joined the group, and so Hiba, a Pakistani woman, and I hung out for the day as the Dutch kids stuck to themselves.

The next day I again wandered the city, finishing at the Hagia Sophia, the famous cathedral-to-mosque-to-museum. Built in the fourth century, the building was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a century. When the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in the 1453, the cathedral was naturally changed to a mosque. An interesting mix of Byzantine architecture and Islamic scripts, it was a great experience to explore the building along with all the other tourists. Definitely not just another bloody church!

That night, I headed back to my hostel and watched the World Cup game between Australia and Germany. Every single sidewalk cafe had big-screen TVs lining the street, and everyone regardless of their heritage was finding a spot to watch the match. All of us commonwealth types - Canadian, Kiwi, and Aussies - were cheering for the Aussie underdogs as we sat around the hookah and drank our turkish draft. A very unique soccer experience, though I call it football in conversation to avoid confusion with everyone but Americans. It was a depressing loss despite our best efforts to change the fact that the Australian team were heavily out-classed, with the game ending up 0-4. I caught a few hours of sleep before heading out to the airport the next day and flying on to London, England. Three weeks of traipsing around the British Isles with no real plan to speak of - why start planning now? - and then home.