Kebaabs and Turkish Coffee.

Miraculously, I was somehow able to meet Elli as she stepped off the tram at the stop near our hostel with a similar dazed and confused look I shared hours earlier. Greeting her with open arms it was as if we had kept in touch perfectly for the past year (in reality I e-mailed her a week ago asking, "Meet me in Turkey?")...but such it is with good friends. We spent the evening catching up and smoking sheesha (flavored tabacco) along the Sea of Marmara like true locals.

The next day we were able to visit the Blue Mosque, main bazaar, and spice bazaar; plus many more mosques and sights and even walked to Asia (Istanbul is basically the only part of Turkey in Europe and is conected to the rest of the country by bridge, which is considered a part of Asia). The food we tried today was, needless to say, unlike any flavors I've ever tasted and left me completely speechless. Known largely for their kebaabs, the Turks have truly prefected this type of cusine to a heavenly level.

One museum of note was the "Istanbul Modern", showing contemporary art but not in the way you might think -- instead of that boring impressionistic junk (sorry mom) or random colors the five year old next door could do (sorry to whoever that offended) this museum offered contemporary art in the sense that it portrayed things you might not consider art. For instance, my favorite exhibit was one where hundreds of books in all languages were hanging from the ceiling about ten feet off the ground by string (one of which was "An Introduction to Statistical Inference" -- probably the reason this was my favorite exhibit). Others included a film of two orange peels shaped as people making love in front of a fire before being crinkled up by the heat, a film projected into a fluffy cloud hanging from the ceiling, a front yard of a home where one wall was a projection and in front of it a real tree with plastic trash hanging from it, and the other side a bench so you could sit and feel like you were in the piece of art, and finally a video of an old Greek man going through his daily routine (to name a few). But! I think the coolest part was that in all these videos there was no narration, no voices, just music. In that way, subtitles were unnecessary and people of all languages could enjoy the films on the same level. I really thought this aspect was quite thought-provoking.

After enjoying turkish coffee on a rooftop terrace watching the sunset over the centuries old skyline of Istanbul (one of my new favorite skylines), we returned to a park near our hostel to people watch and check out some of the mosques at night, lit up magestically with vibrant colors.

Before I arrived, many people told me this would quickly become my new favorite world city. Although judgement is still out, I must say they were not exaggerating. What I've found most interesting so far is how westernized Istanbul is for being a largely Muslim community. It is no where near as conservative as Egypt was, not only in terms of dress but also in the number of women I see alone (compaired to Cairo where women were rarely if ever unaccompanied by men, presumably their husbands). It truly seems like more of a western European city than one of (what I would percieve to be) a more typical central Asian (the PC way to say middle-eastern) city. With that said, the plethora of mosques around every corner, each as breathtaking as the next, and the constant call to prayer (five times per day), are traditional reminders that this is a predominantly Muslim city. Speaking of such, the call to prayer brings back such good memories of Egypt... Istanbul is also much cleaner than I expected, and certainly not as impoverised as other places I've recently visited (meaning it stands in stark contrast to India) so that has been at times refreshing. The transportation system is fantastic, and has proven, and I'm confident will continue to prove, to be most convenient.

Tomorrow we'll visit the Aya Sopha and partake in a self-guided walking tour which will lead us to the Chora Church which has come highly recommended.

CM