Another great day. I will say that I think 2 days with a guide is probably enough. Definitely enough? Bulut is great, but we’re kind of stretching things out a bit. That being said, every day has been special.
First – photos from the night’s adventure. I was so pleased with myself because I left my hotel room. Turns out yesterday’s practice was at 4AM, not 4PM. Still working on all the time differences. So I had time and after writing up the day’s events, went on out. I was going to walk and then decided to take the tram over the bridge to the stairs up to Galata Tower. That worked perfectly and then I started wandering the streets. They’re all charming with stores, restaurants, homes all intermingled. Eventually, I made my way to Istiklal street. I was starting to think a bathroom might be a good idea, so that required a restaurant and that was a bit easier than said. I kept looking up the tiny side streets – but not for cars instead for restaurants. I finally found one, sat down in a cloud of cigarette smoke (they’ve never heard of lung cancer here) and ordered. Basic please. I just wanted one decent meal that I wanted to eat. Ordered from the best picture on the menu (high cuisine not). I then asked about the restroom, nope. Out of commission with construction. I could tell it was real because he started to give me instructions and then stopped chagrined.
Ok, I’m a camel. I had lemon/mint tea, so good, dinner (chicken with mushroom sauce and fries) and then started walking again. Happily, Bulut had shown me the Pera Hotel with the available restrooms for those in the know. I knew and wasn’t going to take a no. Not a problem at all. It really is like stepping back into the 1880’s Victorian era.
Then I started making my way home. The lights were coming on with sunset and I was looking foward to seeing the mosques lit up. In order to get to the bridge or tram or even across the street, you have to go into a shopping tunnel. So many shops, so many directions, and as anyone who knows me knows, as soon as I’m out of sight of the outdoors, I have NO sense of direction. So instead of coming out on the bridge, I came out at the tram. Ok, that works, but then it looked like the Lex at rush hour (NY) and I looked around to see if there was any way to cross the street and there was.
I started across the bridge and was in heaven. How do I get to be so lucky?! To see such different cultures, to be walking across the Bosphorus towards all these minarets of the mosques, people fishing on the left and petting the random cat (cats are EVERYWHERE) and then Kylie called!
So very fun and great timing and tech and cel worked so well, I was able to send her a couple of photos as we talked so that I could share the experience with her in real time. The best. Such a happy moment.
