April 15, 2011
This morning Court and I left for Istanbul! We had to meet up with mom, Aunt Janice, and Aunt Lori to drop off all of my luggage, which was a lot. I had to send it all back with them, cause my friend Alison and I are going to be traveling for 2.5 weeks after I am done in Rome. I couldn't bring it all with me, cause checking bags would cost me sooo much! So, all I'm left with is a carry on and a backpack....Should be an interesting next couple weeks with clothing! We headed to the airport after I said my last goodbyes to them. Good thing we got there early, cause we ended up having to go through customs in Italy because we were traveling outside of the UN. We boarded our flight and were off to Turkey! We ended up leaving an hour late. We landed in Istanbul where the airport was on the Asian side, so yes!, I have been to Asia! Court's dad has part of his company in Istanbul, so we met up with one of his partners who lives there. He picked us up from the airport and brought us to our hostel. We pulled up, and he looked so hesitant about the place. While we were checking in, he went to another hotel and arranged for us to stay there in case we didn't like our place. He was so cute! We had to explain to him what a hostel was, and he was like are you sure it is okay? We said it was fine for us, and we had definitely stayed in worse! The girls that were in our room with us were so cool. They were studying in Barcelona and there for the weekend also. We headed to Ehren's house to meet his family. His wife was adorable and his kids were beyond cute! The little girl was 7 and just starting to learn English, so we tried to get her to speak cause her mom wanted her to practice. The little boy was 2 and too stinkin cute! He had red, curly, long hair and was so outgoing! They had a gorgeous apartment that overlooked the valley. We had Turkish coffee and Turkish delights, which were so good! We headed out to eat at a Turkish restaurant after that. It was only Turkish people in the place, but when they bring guests, they bring flags to represent the nationalities present at the table. There were at least 5 courses. The first was one of all dips. In Turkey, they eat a lot of bread. So, all of the dips were eaten with a flat bread that they put on our table. Next was more different Turkish foods, including their pizza. After that was all different kinds of meats and kabobs, then dessert. There was a pumpkin dessert that was amazing, baklava with pistachio, and others. Then at the end, we had Turkish tea. This was by far the best meal I had eaten in Europe!! Soooo delicious! After that, they drove us along the coast to see the Bosphourus River. They explained what everything was as we past and then they headed back to our hostel. We got there and just decided that it had been a really long day, so we were going to go to sleep. We went and check out the terrace bar for .5 seconds, then crashed in bed!
April 16, 2011
Today we woke up and Ehren and Aslet picked us up to take us to a Turkish breakfast. Once again, absolutely amazing! Court and I could not get over how amazing the food was there! The restaurant wasa right on the water, and they told us most people came here on Sunday's for breakfast. They have this cream that you eat with bread and honey that is fantastic. Cheeses are also a big thing and meats, too. After that, we went to the Grand Bazaar. It was not anything like I thought it was going to be! We walked up to it thinking it would be all street vendors.... we were totally wrong. They were legit shops all lined up, one right after the other! Jewelry, purses, shoes, leather jackets, spices, wallets... anything you could think of! We walked around for awhile and went into a store where they sold legit Louis Vuitton knockoffs. They were around 300euro though, so I happily said pass. We continued to walk around and I found a gorgeous necklace that was made with mother of pearl and had the evil eye in it. In Istanbul, they are huge believers in the evil eye to ward off evil things. Court and I told Ehren and Aslot they could leave us, because we were going to be there for quite awhile longer. We got baklava before we left them, which was amazing! Then, Court and I headed to the Hagia Sophia. It used to be a church, then it was turned into a mosque, and now it is a museum! It was massive, but so pretty! We walked around there for awhile, then headed to the Blue Mosque. We had to wear scarves on our heads and take off our shoes. When you walk in, it smells like feet. People are everywhere and people are praying in their designated areas. It was cool to see, but we didn't stay long. The inside had lights hanging from ropes in the middle and it was clearly blue inside! We headed back to the Grand Bazaar and I got a really pretty mother of pearl ring, knock off Gucci heels...which I have no idea if I'm going to be able to walk in, considering I haven't worn heels in 4.5 months! and Dad some cuff links. The heels were definitely a challenge to get. I saw them and loved them, but he wanted like 150 Lira for them, which is close to 75euro. I said noooo way, and the guy would just not give up! I ended up only having 35euro on me, and the guy insisted that he would sell them to me for that price so that I would end up happy, cause if I wasn't happy, he wasn't happy.. and that of course is not good! It was so cute, but overwhelming at the same time. I think we kind of bonded.. he showed me pictures of him in the military and his girlfriend.. and even wanted to add me on Facebook! As you can see... overwhelming, lol! We headed back to our hostel after grabbing McDonald's really quick (we were in a hurry!) and got ready. We met Ehren's cousin at at bar by the water. It was like a 30 minute cab ride, which was quite a long way, but it was nice for him to arrange it for us. We thought that his cousin was 27... but, nope, 39! We were like omgosh, what are we going to talk to this guy about... lol. He was super nice, but I was like Court, this proves we could never date a 40 year old, lol. We headed home after having a few drinks and went to sleep.
April 17, 2011
This morning Aslot picked us up to go shopping, because it was supposed to rain all day. We got to the shopping mall and went into a few Turkish stores. She brought her daughter who was happy to be hanging out with us for the day. They had such cute clothes that I wanted them all, but I refrained! Ehren met up with us and then he brought us for a boat ride along the Bosphourus River. It was so pretty to see the city, and both sides, from the water. After our boat ride, he brought us to the airport. We got there like 4 hours early, so Court and I just chilled in a restaurant, ate, and drank Turkish Tea. We went to check into our flight and headed toward the gate, but then customs took forever. We really thought we were going to miss our flight, but they pushed it back 30 min, which was good for us! This airline was the worst everrrr. They were chronically late, so I'm thinking I will never fly Blu-Express again. We got back into Rome and it was past midnight so we had to take a cab back. We were just so exhausted it was so nice to be back HOME!! It was a great trip though filled with so much culture and fun. I'm definitely happy that we went!
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