Day 11

3 am - having a sleep at Istanbul Airport


view towards the Blue mosque from the hostel

fresh juice from granade apples

Paul's at Atlan's Barber shop

Sultan Ahmet or "Blue" Mosque, because of the

blue tiles inside

bazar impressions...

turkish hand made carpets...

water pipes waiting to be ordered in a street cafe

What a cliche day in Turkey!!! Or just reality???

After an hour or two of sleep in the International Airport in Istanbul I buy tickets for two shuttle vans taking us on a 70 minute race into the city on this Saturday morning at 7:30 am. The streets are empty, it is a National Holiday, the weekend of the “Sugar Festival”. Ramadan – the islamic fasting period finished two days ago and today families visit each other and the kids are given lollies and sweets to celebrate the occcasion.

Our driver sees the opportunity and with 168 km/h he approaches the toll gate and says to me: “No fear, no fear, adrenaline!”. The road sign reads 30km/h, but he does not break and flies through the narrow gate with close to 170km/h.

Once the adrenaline rush has settled we enjoy the vista coming over the new Bosporus Bridge into the European part of Istanbul and our driver simply uses his warning lights, when he decides to ignore the ‘one way street ’ or ‘do not turn right signs’! trying to beat the other car through the allyways of the old part of Istanbul and in record time we are there.

The roof terrace of the Orient Hostel offers breathtaking views onto the Bosporus Water Way and onto the two big famous mosques in town, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia and the Iman’ s prayer sound over big speaker down from the minnarettes onto a bunch of tired Australians.

Paul and I arrange a shave in Atlan’s barber salon. He also removes my ear hair by pulling the cold wax ferrociously of my lobes, gives me a neck and facial massage and finally freshens you up with some sort of cologne over the head so you stay cool headed for the next hour – interesting.
We wander through the streets, get some money changed since Turkey does not have the Euro and is still operating with Lira. Only two years ago they redefined 1 Million Lira to 1 Lira - inflation on a run.
We sit down and drink apple tea and watch the endless stream of Turkish families who are out and about today. To me it becomes quickly obvious that the rug and carpet sellers are still masters in their art of casual conversation with tourists and it again requires a merciless but friendly NO before we get tangled in guilt and awe and walk out of a shop with at least two kilims and a water pipe.
Aerliah has to insist five times that she will not kiss the shop keeper for “the favour of letting her buy “ a few honey drenched sweets, Baclava.
Just below the Blue Mosque we have lamb and flower tea for dinner. A Dervish spins himself for minutes on end with closed eyes in a trance like state while two musicians are playing the drum and turkish guitar to lead him on.
11pm – cheers and yells everywhere around our hostel – Turkey is playing Slovania in the semi finals of the basket ball world championships hosted in Istanbul this year.
Hundreds of people in the bars and restaurants are glued to the flat TV sreens. In the last second of the game Turkey scores a basket to take the victory home and a roar explodes around us and celibrations carry on long into the night.

What a day! Stefan