Saturday 7/16-
Today we drove from Kavala to Gallipoli which ended up being about a 9 hour trip thanks to the border crossing. Crossing into Turkey from Greece was a very long process to say the least. We had to buy visas to visit the country and the border patrol men were very thorough. I guess all things considered it is nice to know they are protective of their country and on the bright side, I finally got another stamp on my passport! :)
When we arrived into Gallipoli we went straight into a 4 hour walking tour with a local tour guide. It was quite interesting learning the history of Anzac Cove and how Turkey entered WW2. We went all over the island and visited the Australian, New Zealand, British, and Turkish memorials. Gallipoli has some truly stunning scenery!
After the walking tour, we checked into our hotel rooms in a small city named Echebat and later had our first taste of Turkish food. So far European food has been fairly average to me but every meal I have had in Turkey has been better than the last! We all know how much of a foodie I am so you can imagine how excited I have been to find a place with AMAZING cuisines. The Turks start their meals with mezze (pronounced Mezzay) which is kind of similar to tapas but you eat these appetizer type foods for several hours and then you get your main meal. Its very fun and social! After dinner our entire group got together at the hotel and hung out before bed. It's been really nice being a group of 28 now instead of 46... We have been bonding more and more everyday!
Sunday 7/17-
We arrived into Istanbul around 4pm and had a couple of hours before our group dinner to explore. Amanda, Leisha, Keita and I took that time to go and explore the city but because it was Sunday we weren't able to see much so we simply wandered around trying learn the layout so we would be prepared on Monday. We were able to get into one attraction though which was the Underground Sistern and we found a place that we got to dress up in Arabic clothing and take pictures. It was fun!
We met up with our group for dinner at a wonderful restaurant called Doy Doy that is well known for their roof top patio facing the Blue Mosque (which is a gorgeous and very famous mosque here). We ate yet another mouth watering meal and watched the sun go down over the mosque. It was phenomenal!
After dinner we went to a hooka bar where we got to try Shishsha which is Turkish for smoking flavored tobacco out if giant water pipes. We all tried a different flavor and they were all pretty tasty. We got to try a bunch of different drinks as well and each drink came with paper turkeys and a sparkler or some other fire trick. It was quite the entertaining evening!!
Monday 7/18-
Today we did a walking tour all over Istanbul and had a free afternoon to explore. Amanda and I found a salon and decided to pamper ourselves and I ended up getting a manicure, pedicure, my hair washed and blow dried AND a massage for roughly $30 which is 50 Turkish Lira (the USD exchange rate has finally worked in my favor and I've been able to capitalize and enjoy buying things for the first time without losing money). The guy that owned the shop and did our hair seriously resembled Adam Sandler in the movie Don't Mess With The Zohan!!! He was hilarious! All in all, it was such a fun experience and it felt so nice to be pampered again. Believe it or not, that was the first time I have had my hair dried and straightened since I've been on tour! Here's some pictures from the salon.
Once we were done being pampered, we decided to go back to the hotel and relax because it is a MILLION degrees outside and we wanted to maintain our new fresh looks for dinner. Ordinarily this wouldn't be an issue but we are staying in a hotel without air conditioning and it's seriously unbearable during the day so by dinner time we were disgustingly sweaty all over again, ugh! It's been amazing being in such a good location in the city for once but I will be so happy to have AC again at our next stop! Anyway, our evening plans were to go to the top of The Galata Tower and watch a traditional Turkish belly dancing show. When we arrived it was fine dining and royal treatment the whole night which was a nice change of pace compared to our hotel accommodations! They even had each of our country's flags on every table which I thought was really cool considering our group is from so many different places. The view of Istanbul from the top of the tower was awesome and yet again I got to watch the sun set from a fantastic place. I know I have mentioned Alan, our tour leader, several times in this blog so I included a picture of us below so you can see what he looks like.
The belly dancing show was fantastic! The food was delicious and all the dancers and performers were amazing. I was not aware at the time, but they actually prefer to involve people from the crowd and Leisha, myself, and another girl Janaina were brought on stage. We watched some of it from the stage, sitting next to the Sultan (who the girls were dancing for) and then one of the dancers brought us up and had us dance along side of her. I seriously look like a giant compared to the other two girls!
Alan and another guy in our group were also brought on stage when the male dancers were done with their performances. They were forced to dance individually for much longer than we were and I was so relieved that we didn't have the same task.
It was such an amazing evening! Here are a few more pictures from dinner. The last one is with a wonderful couple, Emma and Ilija who left the tour today. We were all very sad to say goodbye to them this morning... :(
Tuesday 7/19
Today marks a month exactly since I left home as well as my last day in Turkey. I CAN NOT believe how fast time is going by and how much I have seen since I've been gone. I honestly can't believe I am writing this to you from Turkey!!! Anyway, today Amanda, Leisha, Keita, and I (we have been a pretty close foursome over the last week or so) walked all over Istanbul hoping to leave without one stone being left unturned and I am pretty sure we accomplished our goal. We walked for hours today! We found the coast and got to see locals hanging out by the water, including guys running off the piers and jumping into the river. We went to the Grand Bazaar, which is a huge outside shopping market that is very famous and we even took a ferry over to the part of Istanbul that is in Asia (well technically Asia Minor) so now I can say I have visited two continents on this trip!
This is the Turkish token that got us over to Asia and pictures of me leaving for Asia. We couldn't find anything cool on the Asia side that showed we were on another continent so I am using these to document it.
We had a wonderful day but after such a long day we were all knackered and decided to go and get traditional Turkish baths! These next pics are me all excited and ready to receive my Turkish spa experience.
I cant even describe to you in enough detail all about this experience but I'll try... And for the record, I am so pleased that I did it but it is definitely different! I'm not sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't ACTUALLY being bathed by a Turkish woman. However, just to make it perfectly clear... that is in fact, exactly what it is!! First, we were brought into a large sauna room with a big stone circle in the middle. As soon as you walk in, they strip you of your towel and lay you down on the outer ring of the circle. The women performing the baths are either in underwear, nude, or partially nude and the people receiving baths are given a pair of underwear and that's it! It was quite awkward at first but I just shut my eyes and tried to ignore my surroundings. Just as I was getting adjusted, I was splashed with a bucket of water. I was literally bathed from that point forward which included a full body wash, scrub (I can't believe the dirt that came off of me) and having my hair washed! It was weird but cool somehow all at the same time. Anyway, from there we were brought to private rooms to receive facials and massages and it was super relaxing! The lady who did my was massage was really sweet and motherly and I was very glad to have had her.
Tomorrow we are off to Bulgaria and in the morning we are meeting 11 new members of our tour. We had to say goodbye to 3 more people here which was sad but it's nice to know that we will not lose anymore people until the last day when we all go our separate ways. We have been in Istanbul for three days now which has been pretty surreal considering I actually unpacked and feel like I somewhat established a routine here. However, beginning tomorrow we are going to be spending one night only in the next several countries so I shouldn't get used to it! I'm sad to be leaving Turkey and I honestly wish we could spend a month here but I do feel that in our three days I have fully immersed myself in Turkish culture and got everything I could out of it! I'll check it with you again soon!
Love,
Lindsay
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Gallipoli and Istanbul, Turkey
Wow! Sounds auh-mazing! You now have me wanting to visit Turkey and it has never been on my list before!!! =)) ~Lisa
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