Day 35 - Vancouver

We made it back of course!















I won't bore you with any more ramblings about Turkey, Syria or Amsterdam, but here's a map of the areas that we covered!

Day 34 - Amsterdam

How could I forget about our 9 hour layover in Amsterdam?

A month ago, when we laid over on the way to Turkey, it was cold and rainy in Amsterdam. We were tired from our 8 hour flight from Vancouver, and it was a fairly miserable experience that culminated in eating a horribly expensive and terrible tasting hamburger.

This time it was different. When we stepped out of the train station it was bright and sunny, and the morning still had its cool air. Not much was open for us to see and do, so we waited for a restaurant to open up for breakfast, and then we walked to a park and slept under a tree for a few hours.

It was the best layover ever, and it made it much easier to handle the long flight back to Vancouver!

Day 33 - Istanbul

Our last day in Istanbul, and the trip is nearly done. Farhad has a flight at midnight, Leah and I fly at 5am and Leila leaves at a very reasonable time of noon tomorrow.

All four of us hopped on the ferry to Heybeliada, an island just off the coast of the city. We rented some bicycles and rode around for a couple of hours through the quiet, pretty and hilly island roads.

That evening we packed up our things, said our goodbyes and caught the flight home.

Day 32 - Istanbul

We're making lazy starts these mornings, I guess from all that crazy traveling we are finally relaxing. So breakfast at 10am, and we start walking around by 11am. We started the day with a quick visit to the Spice Bazaar, and we bought tons and tons of Turkish delight.















We took the train to Beyolglu, a more modern and trendy party of Istanbul. We grabbed the historic underground Fenicular to Tunel - this is an underground cable car built in the 1800s. From Tunel we admired Istiklal Caddesi and walked to Taksim Square.















We checked out the military museum, which had loads of armour, swords, as well as early and modern guns and rifles. Outside the museum was a huge cannon that could spin to fire in any direction. But the real reason we wanted to go to this museum was to see the chain of Constantinople, that for many years was the city's most important defensive mechanism. It was a huge chain that could be pulled across the entry of the Golden Horn (a waterway that enters into the Bosphorus) making a naval assault on the city very difficult. Unfortunately (for Constantiniople) the Turks did something unexpected, and pulled their ships overland on logs all the way around the city and the chain, only to drop back into the water and took the city by surprise in the morning.

That evening Leah and I met with Serhat, his girlfriend and their friends for drinks and dancing. We didn't get home until 3am!

Day 31 - Istanbul

We took Farhad and Leila to the Grand Bazaar, but we were all pretty disappointed because the bazaar is much better in Aleppo, Syria. We knew this, because Farhad was saying how Turks will go to the Aleppo markets to buy stuff, and resell it in Istanbul for a huge markup.















Nonetheless, the market is right beside a bunch of other things to see so we just kept on moving. I had marked a few things in our book that I figured would be neat to see, so this is what we did. As we were wandering we found this little restaurant that really sums up the Turkish cheap-dining culture, cafeteria style food and a huge bucket of deliciously fresh bread right in the middle of every table.

We went to the Rustem Pasa Camii, and the Suleymani Camii, both built by the (historically) famous architect Sinan. Unfortunately the more magnificent Suleymani Camii was under wraps due to a huge restoration project, so we didn't really get a chance to see it.

We also visited Yeni Camii (New Mosque), which the Lonely Planet cheekily points out is 400 years old.

We checked out the Aquaduct of Valens, which brought water from 18km away in the Belgrade forests to the Basilica Cistern in the heart of Sultanahmet. Funnily enough, Serhat didn't know this structure by this name, so when I told him where we were to meet him he had to google it! He says they just call it 'the arches' - which is a somewhat appropriate name considering.

Serhat took us on a tour of his University, made up of buildings that were once a tobbacco factory. There was an interesting photo exhibit on Afghanistan, and a museum showing lots of really ancient pieces.

Serhat had to leave us to meet his girlfriend in the early evening, but we invited them to our hotel for drinks later. We made a good spread of Raki, cheese, bread, crackers and beer.

Day 30 - Istanbul

After another night on the train we finally arrive in Istanbul. We've managed to arrive in the morning and are fighting our way from the train to the ferry so we can cross the Bosporus to where we plan to find a hotel. The ferry is jam packed with people, and our big backpacks are making it a bit difficult. We decide to let them all leave the ferry before we get off, so we don't crash into so many Turks.

The hotel we had a reservation for wasn't ready for us to take a room, so we just left our bags and started to hunt for a cheaper place. Eventually we did manage to find a place that looked like good value, only the manager seemed a little crazy. Since we are crazy too this seemed like a good place for us, so we went to fetch our bags and moved in.

In the evening we met our friend Serhat at the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet, but we were too tired to do much else but shake hands and promise to meet another night.

Day 29 - The train to Istanbul

The train ride through Turkey was gorgeous! We slept through the night and in the morning the train was trundling through the mountains, and I mean through. The Turks don't mess around when it comes to trains and mountains - they just go through them. For quite some time we were in tunnels more than we were outside, and when light did come in through the windows it revealed magnificent, steep, craggy valley walls, and the sun was so bright it made every green surface glow! But then only for a moment as we are plunged into the darkness of the mountain again.

A note on the delay

Oh hi!

I've put off writing these last entries because we're actually home now, but I figure it will be good to finally get them posted. So expect a few entries to trickle in until I get to the point at which we're finally back in Vancouver.