The Ephesians

With this being my first set of major traveling, I had figured it would be wise to do the majority of it through a travel agent. For the most part things worked out great, but even the pros seem to get some things messed up. We landed in Izmir, expecting to have a hostel to flop down in after our flight, only to find that the agent had booked us a hotel in a city six hours away from where we were.

So we jumped in a taxi and gave him the address for a tourist help spot that I knew about, so that we could search for some super cheap beds somewhere, only to be driven everywhere that we did NOT want to go. No matter how many times we told him the address, no matter how many other taxis he asked, he couldn't get it right. So, we finally jumped out in anger, and I grabbed the bags out of the trunk while my friend refused to pay for his futile 'efforts'. Finally, after much brainstorming, we caught a bus to the tiny Turkish town of Selcuk - right next to the ruins of Ephesus.

Upon our arrival, we realized that the hotels were desperate for customers as it was still the low season, so we were able to get some rooms for dirt cheap.

The grand theatre, library, and extensive ruins of Ephesus - which is within walking distance of the town - were definitely a high-lite of Turkey. Also, Selcuk ended up being one of the friendliest towns, with enough fresh baklava to satisfy the most gluttonous of North Americans.

the Boss

 You cannot go to Turkey and not buy either a carpet or a pipe. I think it might be a law. So, where better to go than the Grand Bazaar? This place is a big deal. With over 4000 shops, it takes a real warrior to be able to come out alive. Thus, a good dose of baklava was of course necessary to start off the day, in order to nourish, energize and inspire us for the battle of the bazaar.

Istanbul is cut through it's heart by a boss of a river (the Bosphorus) acting as the border between Europe and Asia.

So, we thought it would be appropriate to hop on a boat and see what was up.

Dolmabahce Palace

The Han Hostel was great, but I figure I'll stay in this hotel next time..

My Turkish Lady

Arriving in Istanbul, we noticed a weird case of old school lifestyles mixed in with modern civilization. Also to our surprise, it was almost impossible to find anyone who spoke English, compared to Egypt where even the street kids were fluent. The huge city was difficult to tackle at first without having any communication with locals, but thanks to their super efficient tram/metro systems we conquered it pretty quickly.

I was so intrigued by this lady weaving away, I didn't notice her staring right back at me.

Fresh pom juice is delish

We spent some time in the courtyard of the famous Blue mosque before being even more dazzled by its interior. This is where we lost one of our travel mates, and spent a couple hours searching for him with no such luck.

a man washing before entering to pray

Hotel review: we spent our time in Istanbul sleeping at the brand new Han Hostel. It was the cleanest, most comfortable, and best decorated place we stayed throughout our travels. The staff thankfully spoke English, unlike the rest of the Turks, and they had a great chef. The only unfortunate part was that it is a significant distance from the interesting parts of Istanbul, so we had to give ourselves over an hour to get to/from the city center via the metro.

By the way, the travel mate that we lost eventually found his way back to our hotel, and is alive to this day.