Joe and Cait, my traveling companions
This made my day. On the Princes' Island, there were horses EVERYWHERE, pulling people in little carraiges (yeah, we totally got in on that, it was the perfect way to see the island), being led around, just hanging out, pulling carts...
There were cats everywhere, too. One jumped up on my lap when I was sitting on a bench (right after Cait said she wanted one of the cats to just "jump up and love me," so I got her wish, basically :D ), and it was very snuggly. A bit dirty, but snuggly (and I'm washable, so I didn't mind). It made me miss my own cat.
Do you prefer Pepsi or Coke? Too bad, they only have Cola Turka, which I've decided to claim as my favorite, and will attempt to order at every restaurant from now on, just to confuse people.
One of the mosques, and below you see the "wishing column," which sounds so much better than its other name, which is the "sweating column." You stick your thumb in the whole and swirl your hand around (while making a wish!) and from thousands of people doing that, it's worn away part of the column. It's a bit gross, but like tossing a coin in the Trevi Fountain, it's just one of those things you have to do when you're there.
I know I haven't posted any Turkey pictures, and that's because, to be honest, I don't really have any. Due to us showing up before we could check into our hostel, we had to store our bags... and I forgot to get my camera out, because I thought we were just going to grab something to eat. Turns out, that's when we went and did all of our day-time exploring, so I'll have to steal pictures from the other kids.
Five of us went, and I was the last addition, doing the spur of the moment thing. Luckily for me, I ended up in the same dorm-style room as Joe and a girl named Cait whom I'd never really talked to (the other two girls were Danielle whom I'd just met and roomed with in Pafos, and Jordan who lives next door) and a bunch of Australian kids. They were fun to listen to, but incredibly messy.
Actually, though I'd kind of assumed I'd end up wandering around mostly with Jordan and Danielle, since it was the two of them who had given me all the information on the trip and the hostel, I ended up with Joe and Cait the whole trip, which was awesome. Once again I got to meet and hang out with someone I wish I'd met much earlier on the trip, and unlike in Cairo, in the bazaar when the vendors harrassed us, they called out to Joe instead of us girls, kind of automatically assuming he was in charge. Sexist, I know, but it gave Cait and I a sort of freedom, almost, and it was Joe who was constantly being annoyed.
We saw the Blue Mosque and a few others, the Sofia Hagya and all those cultural things, and mostly just wandered.
The two souvenirs I'd expected to get in Turkey (scarves, because I'm addicted to them and they're gorgeous there, and evil eyes) were the two things I really didn't bother with. I got a few evil eyes, but that's because they were attatched to something else I bought. Mostly what I ended up with was tea and a coffee grinder so that I could continue my Cyprus coffee addiction back home... as long as it makes it back home.
The two best parts were the day we spent on the Princes' Island and the turkish baths. We had been told to visit the island, but first of all were not really warned that it's not one island, but a collective name for a bunch of them, so we got on the ferry and basically just picked one of the stops. Turned out pretty well. Secondly, we spent most of the morning debating whether it was the "Prince's Island" or the "Princess Island" because without seeing it written, we couldn't tell from the pronunciation, so we were curious. Only at the end of the day did we discover that it was neither, but the plural of the masculine. Not an option we'd considered.
Anyways, back to the interesting stuff. We took the tram to the harbor (in the two days we spent in Istanbul, we got lost a thousand times and rode the tram all the way as far as it goes in both directions. Just a little trivia fact.) and hopped on a ferry, picked a stop and got off, and started walking around. Almost immidiately we were nearly run over by a horse-drawn carraige, and then another, and another, and another (seriously, they're everywhere!) and finally we decided we'd be all touristy and do it, since none of us had ever been in one before. Joe bargained the price down, and we hopped in, playing musical chairs in order to get all the pictures we wanted, and toured the island, which was beautiful (although there wasn't really much to do there). We did a tiny bit of shopping (I bought tea. I think between Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, there's now more tea and coffee in my bloodstream than plasma. That'll be interesting to explain the next time I have to get blood drawn) and for the most part we just ate. We had a couple beers in at a little table in the harbor (where I got that picture of the horse-drawn wagon unloading one of the boats) and were swarmed by cats and seagulls, while Joe (who doesn't like seafood) ate a fish that was still whole and fish-looking. I was impressed-- even though he hated fish, he had been willing to try it, and actually ate the whole thing. All in all, it was a perfect day.
The turkish baths... oh man, if you ever have the chance, do it. Best money ever spent. As soon as we walked in, they threw Joe into one room, and Cait and I into another to change, and that was the last we saw of Joe until the end. All three of us had been wondering about how much we were supposed to strip down for the baths, as we'd heard conflicting rumors. Cait and I kept our undies on, but Joe was more daring and went starkers (we asked, later. When you travel with the same people for so long, you lose some of your shame. I know way too much now about way too many of the GLS people. Good times, man). Dressed in towels that looked like cut-up picnic table cloths and bright rubber sandals, Cait and I were ushered into one side, into a hallway that was just marble all over, and at the end it opened up into a room where three sinks were overflowing, and there was a low marble bench hugging the wall. The woman who was leading us around (wearing a bathrobe) picked up two bowls that were near the sinks and showed us that we were supposed to dump water from the sinks onto us. Sounds boring, but actually it's really awesome and relaxing. Two Canadian girls were there, finishing up, and they left after chatting with us for a bit. Once Cait and I were thoroughly soaked and had adjusted to the humid heat, to the point where we kind of felt like the puddles that we were making on the marble floor (we wondered about the draining system, as there didn't seem to be any. Later we noticed grooves in the floor in the hallway that allowed the water to run out.) the woman in the bathrobe came back and led us out into another room, where she and another woman (both now wearing swimsuits) took away our tablecloths and had us lie down on stone tables. They exfoliated, washed, massaged... it was amazing, but in that way where you're not really sure if it's excrutiatingly painful or incredibly relaxing. As a note, they are RUTHLESS on sunburns and bruises. At a few points, I was on the verge of screaming, and Cait said the same later, but from what Joe told us, the boys had it even more so. On their side, where there was apparently a party going on because he'd been thrown in with a bunch of (very cute) Italian boys, the big Turkish men who did the washing and massaging basically just beat them senseless and nearly cracked their spines. Joe said there was a lot of screaming involved (from him and the Italians) but afterwards they felt amazing. That's kind of how it goes. Cait did almost kick the woman working on her when she went to touch her feet, since apparently Cait has very ticklish feet (which Cait said she'd never noticed before). Anyways, first you lie face down and then when you're pretty convinced you have no skin left but that all your muscles have been rubbed into silly-putty-like-consistancy, they have you flip over and do the same to the front. Then they send you back to the washroom where you sit and pour water on yourself until you feel like moving again (or fear that you're going to fall asleep and drown, which is a good time to leave). We could hear Joe's voice through the wall, and he told us he could hear us, but we couldn't hear what was being said.
After, we got out and they gave us towels and we dried off and changed, then sat and had apple tea (which tastes like PERFECT hot apple cider. It's the most amazing stuff ever), while we waited for Joe, and then just hung out and chatted with the Italians for a bit, before we went home for the night, where we slept like dead people. Best money spent-- worth every penny.
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