Istanbul is Constantinople

That was the song Mrs. Brendel used to sing to us in 6th grade. And now I'm HERE! With my parents! Who must've thought I was a hobo when they first arrived. Egypt did not afford me very good shower facilities and had a lot of sand and soot to cover me in. Not to mention no easily accesible laundry places near my hostel. Anyway, Istanbul is great! My parents were zombies when they got off the plane. But they rallied a little that night and we had a very nice dinner right next to our wonderful hotel, the White House Hotel. It really is fantastic, staff, wifi, shower, A/C. This traveling has made it very clear to me what is important to me in a hotel. I'm a little ashamed to put free wifi on that list. Anyway, we also took a stroll between the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque that night, as well as through our first bazaar. It was too late to see many people there though.

The next day we met our tour guide, Numan. He started us off at the Basilica Cistern. I don't like being crowded by people, and that gets quadrupled when I'm stuck underground with them. But we caught the Cistern just as it opened with no one there. It was really cool. Dad tried to toss mom into the water. I have photo evidence. Haha. Next was the Blue Mosque. It was very cool, I had never seen the inside of a Mosque before. I was too shy to ask to go into any in Egypt, although I understand they are very nice about letting in visitors. I would guess they are proud of the architecture and beauty, and they should be. They are all breathtaking. After this we took a walk to the palace. I didn't like this as much. Toooooo many people. Mostly tour groups. I hate tour groups. I love tour guides. I hate tour groups. Too many people in too small a space. The palace was never built to be a museum, and it shows. We got to see lots of treasury pieces though. Mom (Sultan Mandy) wanted the 86 karrot diamond in the treasury. We also got to see a Turkish military band play which was REALLY cool. Apparently it is hard to catch them play, because the time changes each day.

By this point we were exhausted. The palace really did most of the tiring out. We ate some sheesh kebab and turkish meatballs at a famous place right next to the Hagia Sophia. It was outstanding. This gave us some energy back, but we were still pretty tired. So Numan brought us to a Turkish carpet store to see how the handmade carpets are made. They were very hospitable and this little break gave us the last bit of energy we needed to do the Hagia Sophia. Oh we also got some Turkish Ice cream. The stuff is very stretchy, and the guy serving it tossed the stuff around like a frisbee. He also used my dad as a human ice cream cone. It was pretty cool. The Hagia Sophia was definately my favorite. Originally the largest church in the world for several hundred years, it was later turned into a mosque. But rather than damage the images of Jesus and the angels, the Muslims simply white washed them. The result was they were preserved perfectly! It was very cool to see that compromise level. It was also cool to hear the story of how it turned from mosque to museum. Apparently Catholics wanted to turn it back to a church when it had been a mosque for hundreds of years. The two sides were getting heated, so the leader of Turkey decided to turn it into a museum. It probably wasn't his most popular decision, but at least they hated him and not each other. I thought that story was really cool.

For dinner, we went to a famous draw bridge out near the Golden Horn and had some delicious Turkish sea food. Numan joined us, and even helped us find which parts of Turkey were worth seeing and how to get to them. He was a fantastic guide, everything we could have asked for. The food was delicious but was way too much. I made myself sick on some of the most delicious fish I've ever had. But that's ok, cause whatever calories I gained, I burned off today. Today we took a day trip to the Prince's Islands, an island chain right off the shores of Istanbul, to the south. It is also technically Asia, which means I've officially been to 4 continents! There we rented bikes from a very bad company, Trek Bicycles. The island was awesome. Beautiful scenery. Very cool church at the top of the highest point. Definately worth the day trip. Unfortunately it was way too crowded in the main town itself, and the horse carriages are poorly controlled. So try to avoid those and you'll have a great time. Oh also, don't rent from Trek. Their bikes broke more than a dozen times on us. It just became a hike at one point because the stupid thing couldn't keep the chain on the gears. Anyway, it was a hike, but it was really cool. Oh and if you go up to the restaurant next to the church, get the meatballs. They're really really good.

Tonight we are gonna do... something. Not sure what. Dinner probably. Then tomorrow we are gonna try to see the Mini Turk (small models of famous places in the world and Turkey), the Military Musuesm (always fun to see stuff that blows stuff up), and the Harem (a house for the Turkish Sultan's concubines). Until next time!