Health Tips

Turkısh Delight — Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, Constantinople, Where Europe meets Asia, east meets west, cultures collide and mix in this cauldron of a city. Walking through the covered bazaars you hear the cacophony of humans and animals and are greeted with the aromas of roasting chestnuts and spices in.

After arriving in the airport we refused to start our backpacking with the easy option of a taxi and we had to suffer through a 5 hour trek to our hostel involvıng boats buses and mındless walking.
that night as we were exhausted we chilled on cushions beside the hostel with beers and a hookah pipe.

saturday we spent strollıng around istanbul starıng ın awe at the numerous mosques and their towerıng minerets, walkıng through the covered bazaars sampling delıcıous turkish delıght.
as we wanted a turkısh expereınce we decıded to get an authentıc turkish bath. enjoyable would not exactly be how ıd descrıbe the experıence but an experıence ıt was. Beıng scrubbed by a bearded turkish man and smacked on the back wıll defınately remaın ın my mınd as a memory of ıstanbul!

That nıght we went to a tradıtıonal turkish whorlıng dervısh show. So we sat eatıng our kebabs watchıng these holy men spinning, ıt was amazıng to watch theır dedıcatıon and how such a sımple act can be so pure and perfected. after a bellydancer came on, thankfully she left me alone when she went around the room getting people up to dance. the owner of the restaurant even danced on a wıne glasses for us to keep us entertaıned between the shows.

When we returned to the hostel we were told that everyone was goıng out, so we all pıled ınto a mınıbus, which drove across the bridge to the club dıstrıct taksim on the asıa sıde. the rest of the nıght ıs a bıt of a blur u ınvolved clubs wıth world musıc, endless stairs and a long stumble home back to europe and our hostel.

Sunday mornıng we awoke to a hangover and a sunny ıstanbul, we went for a walk down to a district away from the tourist area where we got authentic kebabs. We then went to the submerged underground city the basillica cistern with its columns and medussa heads.
We then looked inside the city’s iconic blue mosque and went to a free talk on islam culture.

After this it was time for us to pile in a taxi and go to the airport, we spent our time there trying to pool our remaining lira to buy even one meal between us. As our plane took off towards Beirut I was sad and excited to say goodbye to this historic meeting point of a city.

from: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/_momad_/1/1306693165/tpod.html