Tales from the Divide

Istanbul had its ups and downs last weekend, but in general Istanbul itself is an amazing city, and I loved it. If nothing else it's just cool to be able to take a five minute ferry ride from Europe to Asia.

I was actually surprised by what I found in Istanbul. In many ways it seemed to me to be a much more European city than anything else (with the glaring exception of huge mosques dotting the skyline). It had a very cool feel. I expected it to be much more of an Eastern city, maybe a more developed version of Cairo, but I didn't get that vibe really at all.
Our hostel was right next to the Four Seasons, which was amusing, and about a block from the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, right in the middle of things. We basically did a whirlwind tour, and trying not to get lost in the process. We saw a few palaces, of course the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar (we almost got lost in that maze). The only reason we didn't get lost in the Grand Bazaar is because I happened to have taken a picture of the entrance we went in so I could see what the name of the gate was.

We took a random ferry over to the Asian side, not really knowing what we were doing. The guidebooks basically only cover the European side since that's where basically all the tourist stuff is, so we walked around a bit, had some dinner at a random kebab stand and headed back.

The nightlife is pretty cool as well. There is a street in Taksim area that is just filled with bars and restaurants, and of course, masses of people. There were also some cool clubs over by the bridge to Asia. Unfortunately didn't have as much fun at those as I would have liked. Too much drama and I'm definitely not delving into THAT here.

It's only an hour and a half flight, so maybe I'll go back sometime this summer and crash with Martin and Kels. That's if they don't make it over this way first.