Truckin' Around In Turkey: The First Installment

Yes, it's been ages since I have had the privilege to expound life's adventures in this here social networking realm. But, now my heart is filled with joy because I once again am able to do so. Any complaints as to the ratio of pictures to text must be filed with my secretary and will be responded to within 4-5 business years.

On to the meat of the matter: Turkey

I feel as though after the ordeal in getting to Israel, airports are either a) one of my least favorite places on the planet or b) a good opportunity to get in touch with my inner zen while waiting in lines. But, gladly the group proceeded through all of the security checkpoints without much ado and boarded our plane bound for Istanbul.

Our first glimpse of Istanbul was as we drove around the Sea of Marmara on our way to the acclaimed 'Cartoon Hotel'. My face was glued to the bus window soaking in the view of all of the harbors and countless family barbecues on the grass surrounding them.

We reached the hotel and to it's name, a platoon of cartoon network classics greeted us from the corners of the lobby. Due to our late arrival, dinner was ready when we arrived and so we ascended the narrow 8 flights of stairs and came upon a ritzy (we think) restaurant atop the hotel, overlooking the whole of Istanbul.

Dinner was a barrage of courses culminating in this little masterpiece. Despite warnings of eating the fruit in Turkey, caution was thrown to the wind. Who can resist the lure of the strawberry? No one. Then a humid night was spent in an abnormally cramped room compared to some of the other honeymoon suites that of few of our group found themselves in. 

Morning dawned and with it was a Turkish breakfast consisting of bread, cheese, meat, room-temp milk, and bread (among other things). Our first stop in Istanbul was the Topkapi Palace from the Ottoman Empire. Numerous little gems are within its walls. (Actually a lot of gems, because the Ottoman sultans enjoyed that sort of thing, especially when it involved being embroidered into overly-large night gowns and ridiculous looking chamber pots. I'll spare you the pictures).

Next stop was the Blue Mosque. Scattered around Istanbul and all of Turkey are mosque's with the tell-tale minarets marking the spot as a Muslim religious building.

I find it amazing that the architecture of hundreds of years ago can strike awe in ones heart more effectively than the buildings of our modern age. Looking up to the ceiling it was easy to feel small (which doesn't happen very often...) and insignificant in comparison to the large scale construction.

Next, if this was a new post I would entitle it: My Dear Brethren and Cistern. But as it isn't, I will just explain that we visited the old basilica cistern which used to provide water to the whole of Constantinople. Today it acts as an eerie water filled cavern, attracting curious tourists from around the globe.

Onward to the Grand Bazaar, which is one of the largest and oldest covered markets known to man (and any other sentient form of life on the planet). The twenty minutes of free time granted to us gave us the chance to scratch the surface of the surprisingly redundant shops in hopes of finding 'that special something' to take back from Turkey. Three of us frantically searched in vain and eventually grabbed a few authentic Turkish Delights. And indeed, it was a delight.

The afternoon was spent on a ferry up the Bosporus Strait which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. The scenery was breathtaking and everyone soaked in the sun to their hearts content.

There was plenty of time to take pictures of ourselves and of others. What else do you do on a three hour boat ride?

We disembarked and ate lunch right along side the seashore. Those in Turkey are a fan of the family style dinners where there are a bunch of different plates of appetizers on the table and you try the ones that look less potent than the others. You can guess which one of the following was a big hit.

Onward to Troy. We were greeted by a full-scale model of the famous Trojan Horse and entered in order to fully appreciate what it was like (if it actually happened... but we decided that it did).

With 8-9 different 'Troys' excavated, there were plenty of photo ops.

While walking around, we found a little theater—perfect for acting out the pertinent scenes of the Iliad. Achilles and Hector voices were heard once again across the now dilapidated city. But, this time, things ended with

If any was wondering if the Trojan Horse used in the epic movie, Troy, it was. And it was chilling a couple blocks from our hotel, a few minutes from Troy.

It causes all who look at it to gain an extra burst of courage and heroism, as seen in the depiction below.

There's nothing like ending a day with walking along the boardwalk, eating a little bit of ice-cream, and sitting out on the 'beach' and watching the sunset. Hard to beat an evening spent pondering about life with Turkish scenery surround you. In comparison with traveling the world—who would want to stay in Utah?

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