First Visit to Asia

Today a smaller group of us woke up and took a minibus from campus to Sarryier, the town at the base of the mountain.  We walked around for a few minutes looking for the docks where we could catch a ferry across the Bosphorus to Asia. Found it surprisingly quickly, and hopped on the ferry and settled in. Having grown up on the Emerald Coast, I’m used to seeing green water. But the color of the Bosphorus is a deep green that’s so different than the water of the Gulf and Bays back home. And there are random patches of the darkest, bluest blue in the middle of the deep green waters. Very beautiful.

The views of small coastal villages from the ferry were incredible.

Once we arrived in Anadolu Kavagi we hiked up the mountain to Yoros Castle.

Not having mastered enough Turkish to read all the signs around town yet, we weren’t entirely sure where to go. Thankfully, the friendly neighborhood stray dog greeted us as we got off the ferry and, as if he knew exactly where we wanted to go, led us on the right roads up the mountain to the castle. 

 (We named him Benji)

Yoros Castle was built on this location by the Greeks, and then used by the Byzantines for defense purposes because of it’s prime location at the mouth of the Boshporus, which channels all maritime traffic between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and Russia. 

We couldn’t go inside because there was some archaeological digging going on, but we did find a well established path leading out from a hole in the barbed-wire fence which led us to some areas with even more spectacular views.  

(View through a hole in one of the outer walls)

We had lunch at a seaside restaurant after the hike back down the mountain. The 9 of us split 2 orders of the freshest calamari we had ever tasted, and I had a salmon, tomato, and pepper kabob that was delicious. This is how they explained the catch of the day.

After lunch we walked around the small town for a little bit before catching the ferry back to Sariyer, and then a bus back to the university.  Gonna try and get some reading and work done for classes on Tuesday before we head to the Prince’s Islands in the Sea of Marmara tomorrow!

Markets, Mosques, and Ramadan

On Friday we went back into Istanbul to do some more sightseeing. All 22 of us (18 students, 3 Professors, and Cansu) headed straight for the Suleymaniye Mosque so we could tour it before Friday prayers.  Half of the time whenever we visit mosques my shorts seem to cover enough of my knees for the guard at the door to let me pass, and the other half of the time I’m given a wrap to tie around my waist. This visit included a wrap, but it was worth the trouble. The mosque was beautiful, had a lot of little details that some of the other mosques we'd seen didn't have.

Outside in the mosque courtyard, there's a great spot to take a panorama of Istanbul across the Bosphorus.

 After everyone got their panorama and took advantage of the mosque’s facilities (Quick Tip: if you ever need to find a toilet, head for a mosque; the old mosque complexes all used to include bathrooms and cleansing stations so people could wash before entering) we headed over to a museum that housed the remnants of some incredible tile mosaics that made up the floor of the Great Imperial Palace of Constantinople.  Only about 250 sq meters of the original 2,000 sq meters of mosaic floor were recovered. The rest was covered up when the Blue Mosque and surrounding areas from my last blog post were built on top of it. The style of mosaics looked familiar from ,y trip to Rome a few years ago

A group of 5-6 of us broke off from the rest of our hoard to explore on our own and get a little lost. We found a market with lots of crafts, food, and drinks from regions all over Turkey that had been set up in the old Roman Hippodrome for Ramadan, which started Saturday. I tried something called Ottoman Syrup, made of cloves and cinnamon and other spices. Not too bad. After we walked through that we headed to the grand bazaar to take a closer look at all of the cool stuff for sale in the narrow, crowded halls. I didn't buy anything because there’s so much to look at you’re afraid as soon as you buy something you’ll find cooler stuff just a little further down. Not the best strategy I suppose.

At this point we had been walking non-stop for hours and our feet really needed a break. But we were due to meet up in Taksim square with the rest of our group for dinner. Got a little lost trying to find the right tram line, but not for long. And by coincidence the rest of our group hopped on the same car on the same tram about 6 stops later. I think the Turks on the tram assumed all Americans must know each other by the way we greeted the others. 

Dinner was at a great café down an uncrowded side street, where we met up with our other guide Serhat. Great pizza and cold beer.  Ended the night at a karaoke bar in Taksim, where we found out Serhat and Cansu are Karaoke masters. Successfully navigated our way back to Koc via a late night bus from Taksim square. I think we’re all starting to feel fairly confident about navigating the city on our own

Realized I hadn't shared the view of campus from my dorm window, so here goes. 

(Can't tell from this angle, but the Black Sea is on the other side of that clock tower. That tall orange thing to the left is the start of the third bridge that will span the Bosphorus to connect Europe and Asia. It's definitely needed, but is gonna ruin an otherwise unspoiled view.)

First Day in Istanbul

We made our first trip into Istanbul on Thursday.  We caught a bus from the university to a nearby town, then used a newly opened line of the subway to make our way into the old section of the city. We visited Aya Sofya,

the Blue Mosque,

 the Basilica Cisterns,

the spice market,

walked over the Golden Horn into the newer section of the city,

and had dinner near Taksim Square.

All in all, we walked around ten miles. But hills and steps are everywhere in Istanbul, so it was definitely a great workout. The weather in Istanbul during the summer is amazing. The weather is fairly hot, but since it’s a city so close to the water there always seems to be a pleasant breeze blowing through to help cool you down, as well as lots of trees and shady areas to hide under.

 Although we were constantly sweaty yesterday during our exploration of the city, I would still describe the weather here as very pleasant. If we had walked ten miles around Tallahassee instead of Istanbul, we would all most likely have suffered heatstroke. The streets in the older section of Istanbul were surprisingly wide, so much so that it never seemed to get as crowded as a city of that size should. But this might have just been because of the time we were there. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when we visit again! 

(Cool Obelisk I forgot to put into the the post)

I'm Here

Good first impressions are always important. Counting the time spent on my flight to Istanbul, I’ve now spent about 24 hours in Turkey.  I include the flight time because the minute you board a Turkish Air flight, you feel like you’re already in Turkey. Everything about the flight, from the music they played, the Turkish delight and Turkish coffee they served before takeoff, and especially the meals they served (which unlike stereotypical airline food, was delicious) made it impossible to forget your final destination.

 All I have seen of Istanbul so far is the airport and the sights along the roads leading up the mountain to the University, but tomorrow and Friday we make our first trips into the heart of the city. I've learned a few general things about Turkey, though:

• ·         Don’t watch the flow of traffic around you while in a bus or cab. The amount of times you will narrowly avoid being blindsided or rear-ended is extremely high, since traffic rules are non-existent here.
• ·         Turks aren’t big on Air Conditioning and instead prefer to open a window to coax in a breeze (side note, my coaxing skills evidently need practice because it is hot in my dorm). 
• ·         The Turkish food I’ve had so far has been delicious. We went to a local restaurant today on the edge of the Black Sea for a 6 or 7 course breakfast spread out over 2.5 hours. Good Stuff.

• ·         Turkish is a confusing language to pick-up. Hopefully my southern ears will start adjusting quickly.
• ·         There are stray dogs and cats everywhere. But surprisingly they all look pretty friendly and generally well cared for.

All in all, a pretty good start to the summer. I’ll post again after our Istanbul trips later this week

Summer in Istanbul

In the months and years after all of my previous travels to different states and countries, I always found myself wishing that I had done more. That I had taken better pictures, kept better (or more often than not, any) notes about where I went and what I saw. Everything seems so vivid and fresh while you're there experiencing it, and you feel like you'll always remember every little detail for years to come. Unfortunately, all of the great memories do fade a little as life goes on. So I've decided to be better about keeping a log of my travels, starting with this summer. I'll be spending 6 weeks studying in Istanbul at Koç University.



After my time in Turkey, my girlfriend Rachel and I will spend a couple weeks traveling around Europe. Hopefully the fact that I spent the time to create this blog will force me to use it to record all my experiences so that I'll have something to look back on in the future. This will be the best way to keep up with where I am and what I'm doing for any friends or family members that might be interested.  Feel free to pester me if I don't update this page at least a couple times a week, I'll probably need the encouragement!