alright.. sorry ive been so slack.. heres the last stop!! well, kinda.
another early arrival..surprisingly at 7:30- kinda sorta like the original travel time we had hoped for! we rolled into istanbul and i was, for a bit, over life... much how i always feel after everything aches from trying to sleep on a bus.. the free shuttle man was there as i had hoped..and everyone i had made friends with was more or less headed to the same spot... so if he was taking us somewhere else.. well, at least there would be 10 of us there together.. theres always dudes offering taxis and free shuttles..the smart cheeky bastards know what to say to get you to go with them..but our instincts or something thankfully got us on the right shuttle right to the perfect drop off point infront of the blue mosque.. it was raining.. bummer...but i found my hostel all too easily and made instant friends with the staff after i told them raymond sent me here.. so i am now a special friend too.. they were tellin me i could go get free accomadation elsewhere down the road..either joking around with me or thinking that every "beautiful american girl" who walks in here is a slut. cool. way to go america. and then they told me stories of americans who would work the carpet road as ill call it.. theres like 34 carpet shops on the street over.. for free food and places to sleep.. hmm ill take some food for sure...but then ill haveta peace out after that..quickly. after taking my first hot shower in days, settling in and getting into my room, i decided i had wasted enough of the morning and started my sightseeing... the weather report says its gonna rain the entire time im here, so i might as well get used to it.. and if i see at least one major site a day, i will have done well in istanbul... so today.. going cheap.. well go to the blue mosque.. i waited in the tourist line that wrapped around the corner, took off my shoes and joined the other 200 people inside the mosque. it was pretty cool, but nothing overly spectacular.. its kinda like an empty church inside. the wall detail was nice, the carpet fluffy, and the crowds were annoying, even though i stole a few tid bits from each of the over sized old people american groups oo-ing and ahh-ing inside.. i learned that the 3 ostrich eggs hanging near the top of the big dome kept spiders out, and that women haveta pray in the back while men can pray anywhere.. after that i wandered over to the grand bazaar.. grand, hmm... maybe not so much as huge, but there is definitely a lot goin on.. i got lost wondering around the differnet alleys of the indoor maze.. coming to the same point a few times and wondering the same streets outside around the place a few times before i got oriented... or lost and ended up in the spice market actually...where they were hustling me to buy some turkish delight.. i shoulda gave in because i ended up paying way more for less later on in the evening.. but first i sampled my way through every turkish delight stand i could find before i ended up in a little jewelry shop where i was too excited to even pick out the right jewels... and then the two men in the store started competing about asking me out.. the guy at the main counter was shaking... i told them i had to go find my friends.. so i walked until i found the water.. from there i could easily find my way home.. well a detour for some baklava and turkish delight.. and then i followed the tram tracks for a while until i knew where i was.. easy. back at the hostel i hung out with these brazillans who made me want to go there even more.. except for the chain smoking.. and we hung out all night way past my bed time chatting with the way too old american man and the english dude with short arms.. strange group.
the next morning i got up just in time to catch the breakfast.. they close up at 9:30..kinda early if you ask me! but at least it got me up.. so much for sleepin in and taking my time in istanbul.. i made friends with the americans in my room, all 5 of them.. they were all studying abroad in london but were all from different parts of the south/midwest.. alright. so we travelled together in a mob to the grand bazaar it was slow.. but i really wasnt on a time schedule at all.. so we walked around and observed more belly dancing costumes that were a rip off, cool colored plates, heaps of fake everything.. i like the one guy who tried to convince me the plastic beads were real stones.. and when i wouldnt offer him a good price, he handed me the actual plastic ones so he could trick someone else... more haggling, more fake purses and polos, and cool lamps and rugs, aladin hats, jerseys, jewelry and useless trinkets.. towards the end of hte afternoon i wondered off somewhere talking to someone too long and i lost the group.. and then i went around to the outside shops adn found some better deals.. so i shopped and got soaking wet, and decided i was kinda done with the day.. i went back to dry off.. but nothing really dried off.. but i didnt leave again til i went to get dinner. the americans went to find pizza hut.. im not joking.. so i went on a mission to find this yogurt covered noodle thing i had in olympos.. apparently its turkish ravioli.. but this one had meat.. so i tried something new at a restaurant where i sat and listened to these old farts ramble about all the places theyve been.. o new zealand.. o south africa... o antartica. grr. at that moment i wanted to be an old fart who could just go whereever on a cruise whenever i felt like it.. after inhaling my food listening to them babble on and on about their 'crazy' stories of how a lion roared and a whale jumped.. one of htem wanted my tea because they thought it was the 'famous' apple tea... i was just drinkin regular tea out of a little turkish glass.. so i told them it was turkish tea.. (i left the fact that they only sell apple tea to tourists out to be polite) and explained the difference. then of course they asked why i was tehre in turkey alone at a restaurant.. and i gave them my speal and then they thought i was the coolest person ever. ha. they were from tennessee i believe, or somewhere else near nashville... but they wanted me to be sure i told my mother how proud the 2 american ladies in turkey were of me. sometimes when the only people you hang out with are all doing the same thing as you.. traveling and surviving on next to nothing.. you forget that what you are doing isnt completely normal and not everyone else is doing it too. so i was special again for 10 minutes... and then it was back into the rain of istanbul... i walked another block or two before i couldnt take it anymore and headed back to the hostel for the belly dancing show! it was nice they tried to do something for halloween... it was offically my lamest halloween ever...but i guess its about time! haha. well the belly dancing wasnt too exciting as ive seen it before.. until the lady picked me to drag up on stage and dance with her.. cool. so i went with it. everyone was laughing.. and then almost everyone else had a go.. adn i think i can say i was definitely better than most of the people that went up... k. they were all boys which made it easy buttt thats just technicalities :)
another day come and gone and i didnt really see anything new. oops. haiga sophia today? eh. maybe tomorrow. the americans wanted to go with me to the asia side to check it out.. apparentlz shopping is way cheaper and the kebabs are better.. for only 1.50 lira a ferry ride, it was definitely in my price range.. so i went on another look through the blue mosque with them before heading to the ferry terminal to get across teh water.. the asia side of istanbul is, well, not touristy. at all. there were a few shops, a tiny bit of english, and a mcdonalds where most of the group ate, so it wasnt even cheap at all for them. i found a kebap that was alright.. not the best..and not even the cheapest ive had in turkey. because there were shops nad not an open market, there wasnt too much negotiation to be made. but we walked around anyway and scoped it out.. and it was funny to watch their faces of disappointment... ive defnitely been let down way bigger than this, and ive wondered plenty of places where there is just locals living their daily lives... its almost ironic because so many backpackers look for places like this in big city destinations but they cant find the 'real istanbul'.. i think this was as real as it got. we found a baklava shop where i showed everyone what baklava was and tried my best to describe it.. the dude was so nice and let us sample a few different ones.. and then sold it to us for less than half the price across the water. sweet. so the baklava is the deal over here... i wish i got more. i asked around for the bazaar... most people were confused and said o pazar!?! no not near here.. i think i later figured out pazar might be a town.. or maybe it is the market far away, but it really seemed like a town on the map...failed, we returned to the european side and made our way back to the grand bazaar.. surprise surprise! i think ive i could sum up istanbul in 1 word it would be bazaar. well the grand bazaar was closed as we suspected for sunday, but there were plenty of shops around it ready to strike good deals on anything and everything. i gave in a little to the 5 lira soccer jerseys (like 3 dollars) and hten i found as i continued looking around that my white and yellow stripes were actually goin the wrong way.. well i guess thats what you get for only 3 bucks! i also had a long and hard debate with this guy trying so hard to sell me a blanket.. i really liked it.. and was actually about to give in to the student price of 40 lira with 2 pillows until i noticed that an animal had chewed through most of the back.. hm. i wasnt about to pay almost 30 bucks for a blanket that had been chewed through.. no its ok! look! just look at this side.. no buddy..an animal has chewed through the back.. i dont think so. so then it was down to 30 lira without the pillows.. and i was thinkin that was about hte same deal as before.. and the animal had still chewed through over half the back. so i had to walk away from that one. tim, on of the american boys got us dragged into this scary back store to see this guys shop so he could get his lacoste shirt.. we were all pretty sure we were going to get shot... i chose to stand next to the door even though the man insisted i come in and sit... nah. i didnt even really need to be in there at all.. so when tim didnt get the agreed upon deal outside, he walked away as he should have and the guy threw the shirt at him. the other 2 and me saw it in the corner of our eye and were freaked out because we didtn know it was actually the shirt that hit tim.. haha.. we thought it was like a chair or something. o gosh. its funny how your mind plays tricks on you when your imagination gets going. so we shopped until nightfall, again, and then headed back to prepare for our turkish baths! o the turkish bath. what an experience. first we went to grab some food.. i bartered down my kebab sandwich and water to 3 lira because thats all i brought with me.. on purpose. it worked! also wearing my sandals helped too.. the guy was obessed with my nasty feet. looney. i showed him my ring and my boyfriend and we bailed... o yes this was only after the boys asked for no vegetables in thier wraps.. i was kinda hesitant, thinking they needed to word that better, but i let it go.. maybe it was fine.. well they got tomatoes and pickles? (i guess it was this kebabs shop specialty) like everyone else, and couldnt handle touching theirwraps, so i devoured another one and so did some of the other kids.. ha. you cant let good food go to waste! and then we walked down the road to the bath place.. it was nice from the front.. apparently its one of the first traditonal baths so we were in for the full experience.. alright. sounds good... i think.. i thought it might be something like the blue lagoon in iceland... completely wrong. we paid and were handed a little yellow tile, a box of something and what looked like a tiny tablecloth. this lady showed me and the other two girls to the changing room.. we were confused a bit.. like what to wear since we didnt need to bring our swim suits.. so we get butt naked under our little table cloths..and the lady comes back with these black granny panties for us.hmm. ok. we put them on and head down to the hamam.. we walk in and completely understand all of a sudden why we werent allowed to bring our cameras.. this is supposed to be a relaxing, spa like situation.. which i guess it could be if you are used to this type of thing.. our little tiles entitled us to a 15 minute scrub down by a big fat turkish lady with the sponge in the little box.. that was truly special. definitely a once in a lifetime experience.. everyone else in there is relaxing, enjoying the excessive heat and bathing themselves in the big water basins all around. and the three american girls are sitting in there laughing at the situation, not quite sure what to do.. but we paid to get scrubbed down.. so that we did. and then we had a wash down by the fat naked ladies.. and then it was time to relax in hte hot tub pool.. well i just about passed out in there and had to go cool down.. so we went out and realized that we still had at least an hour before we were supposed to meet the boys in the main room.. so we cooled down for a bit and headed back to the spa.. fishin around with my feet, i found a little red tile.. aka the ticket to a 30 min oil massage! yes!!! so all this mild torchure was worth it! the tile worked easily, and before you know it, i was getting rubbed down again by a half clothed fat turkish lady.. much better.. and i really needed that massage..i wish i couldve told her to focus on my shoulders that are sooo tight from carrying aorund my broken backpack lately.. so i was feelin good, and ran home through the rain and the cold.. only ate it on the cobblestone once...and i felt great going to sleep.
the next day was my last full day.. and the sun was finally out! o yay. it wasnt supposed to come out until the day i left.. but ill take it! and since the hagia sofia decided to be closed on monday... i decided it was now or never to see the black sea. i got the low-down on how to get there from the hostel man.. he thought i was crazy.. and said bye to my american friends before headin back to the ferry to catch a bus to sile.. apparently the place to be if any on the black sea.. the journey took the full three hours the hostel man warned me about.. and the fact that not one person on my entire journey spoke a word of english made it a little more difficult.. but i got there.. it rained and poured along the way.. and a few old ladies smacked me and pointed at my rubber sandals.. yellin at me cuz my feet were showing again. geez. i wont do that again! as we rolled into sile, i wondered if i was the first tourist to ever step foot here. there was nothing in english or anything that even signaled where teh beach was.. but i just looked at the sky and could tell which direction to head.. its hard to explain, but the sky always looks different over the water. i tromped down a hill, through a few puddles and mud spots, and found the roaring black.. well very brown... sea. it was freezing, i had to pee, and there was really no hope of me getting in that water.. there was no one around and no where to go to the bathroom.. so i jumped the sea wall and peed over the black sea rocks. cool. and that was that.. i was ready to no be there anymore. so i walked up a road, assuming it had to take me back to town.. stumbled into a grocery store for some cookies and milk and headed back to the bus station. everyone was blankly staring at me.. and my feet. i waited for the rigth bus to come, but it didnt.. so i went inside to try and get a bus seat on the right bus.. luckily there was a guy in the back who spoke some english.. and he told me teh buses were full until 3:30.. fine.. it was only 3:00. i could deal with 30 minutes just fine. so he wrote my ticket, and i wondered the little stores around the bus stop.. buying an eraser for my eurail pass nad some superglue to hopefully hold my strap on my backpack on better.. neither really ended up being the purchase i had hoped them to be, but whatever.. i only spent 1 lira. my bus had rolled in.. so i got on.. and then figured out there was assigned seating..so i swithced to my assinged seat.. and then got kicked out by this girl ranting in turkish at me.. so i went back in and tried to explain there was a girl in my seat too.. so they crossed out my 5 and wrote 17.. well there was someone else in 17 too.. and then this guy gave me his seat and he sat in the back.. except that wastn ok because then i was sitting next to a guy.. so the whole bus was playing musical chairs.. and they stuck me next to this woman.. and everyone calmed down.. and we rolled out.. back through another storm of rain.. luckily no one hit me on the way back. i found my ferry and headed more or less straight back because i was kinda over life.. until i got back to the european side and decided it was best to head straight to the bazaar becuase it would probably be closing soon.. i got caught up in another jewlery store, where i was required to stand by the heater as i look at stones... hah they were nice.. the blanket man was closed up, but i picked up a few other things id been waiting to get and headed back to the hostel. life as normal carried on there meeting strange people and talking with the owners. taking bribes to rate their hostel high so i could get a cheap airport shuttle ticket. ah. just another night in istanbul!
the next morning it was time to leave! could my trip really be over?! i got up early for my last hostel breakfast to hopefully have some time to run back to the bazaar (like i told you.. every single day!) to pick up the last few things i wanted when it closed last night.. well the bazaar didnt open til 8:30.. i was there around 8:20 and i had to be back for my shuttle at the hostel at 8:50. .and it was a solid 12 min brisk walk. nothing was opening at 8:30 like they had all told me.. but i roamed around quickly hoping just one person would be open.. no. not even my blanket man down the road.. guess ill haveta barter with him next time im in istanbul! i found a shop on the corner, and gave him all my liras for two little outfits for utes kids.. and sprinted my butt back to the hostel.. everyone was standing there waiting..but i did get back at 8:50 exactly! everyone in istanbul was once again staring at me. .you might think its normal to see someone running through a city.. but apparently its not so taboo here. i got in, made it to the airport nice and early, and then of course had to wiat an extra hour for my delayed plane.. they said sorry for the delay.. and i think they mightve also said there is no reason for the delay. thankss. but my cheap flight was still good.. they fed me and showed ice age 3.. too bad it was only in turkish and german.. but i think i got the gist! and then going through customs i was nervous because my visa for europe is due to expire before i actually fly out.. and all the turks were getting a million and a half questions.. they just looked at me and stamped my passport without a word. ha. guess i dont look like an illegal to germany. so i hurried to the train.. of course i missed it..so i just took the train to the main station in munich where i could eat away all the left over euros in my wallet.. the last time i was at this train station there were millions of people in liederhosens running around.. bummer they were all gone.. now it was just normal people in a freaking cold station. i got a kebab and some candy to keep me going.. and i found my train to minden! well hannover.. it was all a piece of cake once i got in the right direction !
another early arrival..surprisingly at 7:30- kinda sorta like the original travel time we had hoped for! we rolled into istanbul and i was, for a bit, over life... much how i always feel after everything aches from trying to sleep on a bus.. the free shuttle man was there as i had hoped..and everyone i had made friends with was more or less headed to the same spot... so if he was taking us somewhere else.. well, at least there would be 10 of us there together.. theres always dudes offering taxis and free shuttles..the smart cheeky bastards know what to say to get you to go with them..but our instincts or something thankfully got us on the right shuttle right to the perfect drop off point infront of the blue mosque.. it was raining.. bummer...but i found my hostel all too easily and made instant friends with the staff after i told them raymond sent me here.. so i am now a special friend too.. they were tellin me i could go get free accomadation elsewhere down the road..either joking around with me or thinking that every "beautiful american girl" who walks in here is a slut. cool. way to go america. and then they told me stories of americans who would work the carpet road as ill call it.. theres like 34 carpet shops on the street over.. for free food and places to sleep.. hmm ill take some food for sure...but then ill haveta peace out after that..quickly. after taking my first hot shower in days, settling in and getting into my room, i decided i had wasted enough of the morning and started my sightseeing... the weather report says its gonna rain the entire time im here, so i might as well get used to it.. and if i see at least one major site a day, i will have done well in istanbul... so today.. going cheap.. well go to the blue mosque.. i waited in the tourist line that wrapped around the corner, took off my shoes and joined the other 200 people inside the mosque. it was pretty cool, but nothing overly spectacular.. its kinda like an empty church inside. the wall detail was nice, the carpet fluffy, and the crowds were annoying, even though i stole a few tid bits from each of the over sized old people american groups oo-ing and ahh-ing inside.. i learned that the 3 ostrich eggs hanging near the top of the big dome kept spiders out, and that women haveta pray in the back while men can pray anywhere.. after that i wandered over to the grand bazaar.. grand, hmm... maybe not so much as huge, but there is definitely a lot goin on.. i got lost wondering around the differnet alleys of the indoor maze.. coming to the same point a few times and wondering the same streets outside around the place a few times before i got oriented... or lost and ended up in the spice market actually...where they were hustling me to buy some turkish delight.. i shoulda gave in because i ended up paying way more for less later on in the evening.. but first i sampled my way through every turkish delight stand i could find before i ended up in a little jewelry shop where i was too excited to even pick out the right jewels... and then the two men in the store started competing about asking me out.. the guy at the main counter was shaking... i told them i had to go find my friends.. so i walked until i found the water.. from there i could easily find my way home.. well a detour for some baklava and turkish delight.. and then i followed the tram tracks for a while until i knew where i was.. easy. back at the hostel i hung out with these brazillans who made me want to go there even more.. except for the chain smoking.. and we hung out all night way past my bed time chatting with the way too old american man and the english dude with short arms.. strange group.
the next morning i got up just in time to catch the breakfast.. they close up at 9:30..kinda early if you ask me! but at least it got me up.. so much for sleepin in and taking my time in istanbul.. i made friends with the americans in my room, all 5 of them.. they were all studying abroad in london but were all from different parts of the south/midwest.. alright. so we travelled together in a mob to the grand bazaar it was slow.. but i really wasnt on a time schedule at all.. so we walked around and observed more belly dancing costumes that were a rip off, cool colored plates, heaps of fake everything.. i like the one guy who tried to convince me the plastic beads were real stones.. and when i wouldnt offer him a good price, he handed me the actual plastic ones so he could trick someone else... more haggling, more fake purses and polos, and cool lamps and rugs, aladin hats, jerseys, jewelry and useless trinkets.. towards the end of hte afternoon i wondered off somewhere talking to someone too long and i lost the group.. and then i went around to the outside shops adn found some better deals.. so i shopped and got soaking wet, and decided i was kinda done with the day.. i went back to dry off.. but nothing really dried off.. but i didnt leave again til i went to get dinner. the americans went to find pizza hut.. im not joking.. so i went on a mission to find this yogurt covered noodle thing i had in olympos.. apparently its turkish ravioli.. but this one had meat.. so i tried something new at a restaurant where i sat and listened to these old farts ramble about all the places theyve been.. o new zealand.. o south africa... o antartica. grr. at that moment i wanted to be an old fart who could just go whereever on a cruise whenever i felt like it.. after inhaling my food listening to them babble on and on about their 'crazy' stories of how a lion roared and a whale jumped.. one of htem wanted my tea because they thought it was the 'famous' apple tea... i was just drinkin regular tea out of a little turkish glass.. so i told them it was turkish tea.. (i left the fact that they only sell apple tea to tourists out to be polite) and explained the difference. then of course they asked why i was tehre in turkey alone at a restaurant.. and i gave them my speal and then they thought i was the coolest person ever. ha. they were from tennessee i believe, or somewhere else near nashville... but they wanted me to be sure i told my mother how proud the 2 american ladies in turkey were of me. sometimes when the only people you hang out with are all doing the same thing as you.. traveling and surviving on next to nothing.. you forget that what you are doing isnt completely normal and not everyone else is doing it too. so i was special again for 10 minutes... and then it was back into the rain of istanbul... i walked another block or two before i couldnt take it anymore and headed back to the hostel for the belly dancing show! it was nice they tried to do something for halloween... it was offically my lamest halloween ever...but i guess its about time! haha. well the belly dancing wasnt too exciting as ive seen it before.. until the lady picked me to drag up on stage and dance with her.. cool. so i went with it. everyone was laughing.. and then almost everyone else had a go.. adn i think i can say i was definitely better than most of the people that went up... k. they were all boys which made it easy buttt thats just technicalities :)
another day come and gone and i didnt really see anything new. oops. haiga sophia today? eh. maybe tomorrow. the americans wanted to go with me to the asia side to check it out.. apparentlz shopping is way cheaper and the kebabs are better.. for only 1.50 lira a ferry ride, it was definitely in my price range.. so i went on another look through the blue mosque with them before heading to the ferry terminal to get across teh water.. the asia side of istanbul is, well, not touristy. at all. there were a few shops, a tiny bit of english, and a mcdonalds where most of the group ate, so it wasnt even cheap at all for them. i found a kebap that was alright.. not the best..and not even the cheapest ive had in turkey. because there were shops nad not an open market, there wasnt too much negotiation to be made. but we walked around anyway and scoped it out.. and it was funny to watch their faces of disappointment... ive defnitely been let down way bigger than this, and ive wondered plenty of places where there is just locals living their daily lives... its almost ironic because so many backpackers look for places like this in big city destinations but they cant find the 'real istanbul'.. i think this was as real as it got. we found a baklava shop where i showed everyone what baklava was and tried my best to describe it.. the dude was so nice and let us sample a few different ones.. and then sold it to us for less than half the price across the water. sweet. so the baklava is the deal over here... i wish i got more. i asked around for the bazaar... most people were confused and said o pazar!?! no not near here.. i think i later figured out pazar might be a town.. or maybe it is the market far away, but it really seemed like a town on the map...failed, we returned to the european side and made our way back to the grand bazaar.. surprise surprise! i think ive i could sum up istanbul in 1 word it would be bazaar. well the grand bazaar was closed as we suspected for sunday, but there were plenty of shops around it ready to strike good deals on anything and everything. i gave in a little to the 5 lira soccer jerseys (like 3 dollars) and hten i found as i continued looking around that my white and yellow stripes were actually goin the wrong way.. well i guess thats what you get for only 3 bucks! i also had a long and hard debate with this guy trying so hard to sell me a blanket.. i really liked it.. and was actually about to give in to the student price of 40 lira with 2 pillows until i noticed that an animal had chewed through most of the back.. hm. i wasnt about to pay almost 30 bucks for a blanket that had been chewed through.. no its ok! look! just look at this side.. no buddy..an animal has chewed through the back.. i dont think so. so then it was down to 30 lira without the pillows.. and i was thinkin that was about hte same deal as before.. and the animal had still chewed through over half the back. so i had to walk away from that one. tim, on of the american boys got us dragged into this scary back store to see this guys shop so he could get his lacoste shirt.. we were all pretty sure we were going to get shot... i chose to stand next to the door even though the man insisted i come in and sit... nah. i didnt even really need to be in there at all.. so when tim didnt get the agreed upon deal outside, he walked away as he should have and the guy threw the shirt at him. the other 2 and me saw it in the corner of our eye and were freaked out because we didtn know it was actually the shirt that hit tim.. haha.. we thought it was like a chair or something. o gosh. its funny how your mind plays tricks on you when your imagination gets going. so we shopped until nightfall, again, and then headed back to prepare for our turkish baths! o the turkish bath. what an experience. first we went to grab some food.. i bartered down my kebab sandwich and water to 3 lira because thats all i brought with me.. on purpose. it worked! also wearing my sandals helped too.. the guy was obessed with my nasty feet. looney. i showed him my ring and my boyfriend and we bailed... o yes this was only after the boys asked for no vegetables in thier wraps.. i was kinda hesitant, thinking they needed to word that better, but i let it go.. maybe it was fine.. well they got tomatoes and pickles? (i guess it was this kebabs shop specialty) like everyone else, and couldnt handle touching theirwraps, so i devoured another one and so did some of the other kids.. ha. you cant let good food go to waste! and then we walked down the road to the bath place.. it was nice from the front.. apparently its one of the first traditonal baths so we were in for the full experience.. alright. sounds good... i think.. i thought it might be something like the blue lagoon in iceland... completely wrong. we paid and were handed a little yellow tile, a box of something and what looked like a tiny tablecloth. this lady showed me and the other two girls to the changing room.. we were confused a bit.. like what to wear since we didnt need to bring our swim suits.. so we get butt naked under our little table cloths..and the lady comes back with these black granny panties for us.hmm. ok. we put them on and head down to the hamam.. we walk in and completely understand all of a sudden why we werent allowed to bring our cameras.. this is supposed to be a relaxing, spa like situation.. which i guess it could be if you are used to this type of thing.. our little tiles entitled us to a 15 minute scrub down by a big fat turkish lady with the sponge in the little box.. that was truly special. definitely a once in a lifetime experience.. everyone else in there is relaxing, enjoying the excessive heat and bathing themselves in the big water basins all around. and the three american girls are sitting in there laughing at the situation, not quite sure what to do.. but we paid to get scrubbed down.. so that we did. and then we had a wash down by the fat naked ladies.. and then it was time to relax in hte hot tub pool.. well i just about passed out in there and had to go cool down.. so we went out and realized that we still had at least an hour before we were supposed to meet the boys in the main room.. so we cooled down for a bit and headed back to the spa.. fishin around with my feet, i found a little red tile.. aka the ticket to a 30 min oil massage! yes!!! so all this mild torchure was worth it! the tile worked easily, and before you know it, i was getting rubbed down again by a half clothed fat turkish lady.. much better.. and i really needed that massage..i wish i couldve told her to focus on my shoulders that are sooo tight from carrying aorund my broken backpack lately.. so i was feelin good, and ran home through the rain and the cold.. only ate it on the cobblestone once...and i felt great going to sleep.
the next day was my last full day.. and the sun was finally out! o yay. it wasnt supposed to come out until the day i left.. but ill take it! and since the hagia sofia decided to be closed on monday... i decided it was now or never to see the black sea. i got the low-down on how to get there from the hostel man.. he thought i was crazy.. and said bye to my american friends before headin back to the ferry to catch a bus to sile.. apparently the place to be if any on the black sea.. the journey took the full three hours the hostel man warned me about.. and the fact that not one person on my entire journey spoke a word of english made it a little more difficult.. but i got there.. it rained and poured along the way.. and a few old ladies smacked me and pointed at my rubber sandals.. yellin at me cuz my feet were showing again. geez. i wont do that again! as we rolled into sile, i wondered if i was the first tourist to ever step foot here. there was nothing in english or anything that even signaled where teh beach was.. but i just looked at the sky and could tell which direction to head.. its hard to explain, but the sky always looks different over the water. i tromped down a hill, through a few puddles and mud spots, and found the roaring black.. well very brown... sea. it was freezing, i had to pee, and there was really no hope of me getting in that water.. there was no one around and no where to go to the bathroom.. so i jumped the sea wall and peed over the black sea rocks. cool. and that was that.. i was ready to no be there anymore. so i walked up a road, assuming it had to take me back to town.. stumbled into a grocery store for some cookies and milk and headed back to the bus station. everyone was blankly staring at me.. and my feet. i waited for the rigth bus to come, but it didnt.. so i went inside to try and get a bus seat on the right bus.. luckily there was a guy in the back who spoke some english.. and he told me teh buses were full until 3:30.. fine.. it was only 3:00. i could deal with 30 minutes just fine. so he wrote my ticket, and i wondered the little stores around the bus stop.. buying an eraser for my eurail pass nad some superglue to hopefully hold my strap on my backpack on better.. neither really ended up being the purchase i had hoped them to be, but whatever.. i only spent 1 lira. my bus had rolled in.. so i got on.. and then figured out there was assigned seating..so i swithced to my assinged seat.. and then got kicked out by this girl ranting in turkish at me.. so i went back in and tried to explain there was a girl in my seat too.. so they crossed out my 5 and wrote 17.. well there was someone else in 17 too.. and then this guy gave me his seat and he sat in the back.. except that wastn ok because then i was sitting next to a guy.. so the whole bus was playing musical chairs.. and they stuck me next to this woman.. and everyone calmed down.. and we rolled out.. back through another storm of rain.. luckily no one hit me on the way back. i found my ferry and headed more or less straight back because i was kinda over life.. until i got back to the european side and decided it was best to head straight to the bazaar becuase it would probably be closing soon.. i got caught up in another jewlery store, where i was required to stand by the heater as i look at stones... hah they were nice.. the blanket man was closed up, but i picked up a few other things id been waiting to get and headed back to the hostel. life as normal carried on there meeting strange people and talking with the owners. taking bribes to rate their hostel high so i could get a cheap airport shuttle ticket. ah. just another night in istanbul!
the next morning it was time to leave! could my trip really be over?! i got up early for my last hostel breakfast to hopefully have some time to run back to the bazaar (like i told you.. every single day!) to pick up the last few things i wanted when it closed last night.. well the bazaar didnt open til 8:30.. i was there around 8:20 and i had to be back for my shuttle at the hostel at 8:50. .and it was a solid 12 min brisk walk. nothing was opening at 8:30 like they had all told me.. but i roamed around quickly hoping just one person would be open.. no. not even my blanket man down the road.. guess ill haveta barter with him next time im in istanbul! i found a shop on the corner, and gave him all my liras for two little outfits for utes kids.. and sprinted my butt back to the hostel.. everyone was standing there waiting..but i did get back at 8:50 exactly! everyone in istanbul was once again staring at me. .you might think its normal to see someone running through a city.. but apparently its not so taboo here. i got in, made it to the airport nice and early, and then of course had to wiat an extra hour for my delayed plane.. they said sorry for the delay.. and i think they mightve also said there is no reason for the delay. thankss. but my cheap flight was still good.. they fed me and showed ice age 3.. too bad it was only in turkish and german.. but i think i got the gist! and then going through customs i was nervous because my visa for europe is due to expire before i actually fly out.. and all the turks were getting a million and a half questions.. they just looked at me and stamped my passport without a word. ha. guess i dont look like an illegal to germany. so i hurried to the train.. of course i missed it..so i just took the train to the main station in munich where i could eat away all the left over euros in my wallet.. the last time i was at this train station there were millions of people in liederhosens running around.. bummer they were all gone.. now it was just normal people in a freaking cold station. i got a kebab and some candy to keep me going.. and i found my train to minden! well hannover.. it was all a piece of cake once i got in the right direction !
No comments:
Post a Comment