Sultanahmet Istanbul

Today was my first Sunday which means it was my first day to attemp to explore the city! (Alone mind you.) I had a general idea of the places I wanted to see and the districts they were in but was in serious need of directions on how to get there. Its very difficult to navigate through a city of 12 million people if you dont know what you are doing. Lucky for me Huma is pretty much an expert when it comes to Istanbul and there is a bus station 3 blocks from our home. I have this nifty little metal rechargable ticket thing that atteches to my keychain. Once I have charged it with some money I can ride the bus or tram or metro unlike in Portugal where each ticket could only be charged once and only on one type of line. So off to catch the tram at Kabatash for me. The tram was the easiest tram I have ever been on, or I maybe expected it to be really hard since the city is so big. It goes two ways only. So needless to say it was a piece of cake to get to the Sultanahmet tram stop and start my adventure through old town Istanbul.



I got off the tram and was immediatly awe struck by the huge blue mosque directly in front of my. The tram lets you off slightly uphill from the blue mosque so as you walk toward it it only gets larger and more sureal. It was built in the 1600s and at first its 6 minerets were controversial and seen as a satanistic symobology. Now its adored my millions who flock to see its blue tiled interior and vast gardents. I wanted to go inside and have a look around but only made it as far as the courtyard. Faceing the blue mosque is the Hagia Sophia. One of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. The Hagia Sophia mosque is over 1400 years old! Its undergoing some renovations at the moment. I took a stroll through the old city admiring the carpet shops with their coloful displays of Turkish colors and fabrics. Many shops are full of tea sets, hookahs, tiles porclain, as well as men who are the "owners" of the buisness and claim to all have "shops" in either LA or New York. I think that they just try to impress Americans or something, there was one guy who said he had a shop in Eugene before I even told him I was from Oregon, so that I somewhat believe. These men are all the same, they ask where you are from, if you are lost, what are you doing in Istanbul, I have a shop here and there, would you like tea, here is my card, we can be friends. Its kinda of exhausting because I am the type of person who doesnt want to hurt anyones feelings or to be rude. I also dont want to be tricked or taken advantage of either hence why its exhausting.

Another exhausting things is the traffic. My 20 minutes bus right too two hours!

But I am loving it here. Truely.