My Turkish adventures, part 1.

Yes, it's been like three weeks since I was even in Turkey, but better late than never, right?

I got back from Jerusalem and left for Istanbul basically on the same day, giving me only a few hours in Amman. After stopping by the hostel to say hello to Nicole, I went over to my host family's house for one last iftar, and then bid them farewell and tried my hardest to express my gratitude (and to explain to my host-sister Tina, who had developed an intense love for me right before I left Amman that I wasn't coming back for a long time...)

Gwen (yet another girl from my program in Jordan) and I got to the airport in Amman at around negative two o'clock in the morning on August 23, and after staring into space for an hour or two, boarded our plane and set off on our way to Istanbul! I was beyond exhausted and seemed to have developed narcolepsy, causing me to sleep through every second of our flight, then fall asleep on the Metro, then collapse again as soon as we got to our hostel. After terrifying Gwen with my dead-to-the-world napping, I finally got myself out of bed, got my hands on a caffeinated beverage, and we embarked on our first afternoon of sight seeing.

After taking photos of some unimpressive but nonetheless famous columns, we took in the beauty of the famous and impressive Blue Mosque.

Then, we went to the Hagia Sophia, an art history dream-come-true!

We spent most of the rest of the evening lounging in a huge, marvelous park... I can't explain how exciting trees, grass, and water can be after the arid landscape of Jordan.

We finished up the day with our first delicious Turkish dinner, and then strolled along the waterfront before heading "home" (the Stray Cat, a charming hostel teeming with - you guessed it - stray cats.) A wonderful first day!