My Turkish adventures, part 2.

This is when things get a little blurry. I kept forgetting to charge my camera, so I didn't take very many pictures and, for some reason, the days kind of all blend together.

Things I do remember doing, in no particular order:

Shopping in the Grand Bazaar, at least twice.
Shopping in the Spice Bazaar and buying Turkish Delight.
Visiting the Istanbul Modern Art Museum.
Eating.
Falling asleep on the ground a lot.
Visiting the Suliyeman Mosque (its lawn being one of the places I fell asleep.)
Hanging out on (is that the right preposition?) Istiklal Caddesi a few times.
Taking a ferry to an island for the day (more on this later.)
Checking out the beautiful Topkapi Palace.
Getting lost sometimes/a lot.
Being amazed by the Basilica Cistern (I thought it was going to be stupid, and it certainly was not. Sorry for being presumptuous.)
Drinking tea in the basement of a rug store.
Going to a karaoke bar.
Seeing my cousin for the first time in over 10 years!

Seeing my cousin Mark was maybe the most exciting part of it all. He grew up in Ireland, so I'd only actually met him once before, when I was like 7 years old. We went to Disneyland and he wore a rainbow tie-dye shirt. I emailed him earlier this summer because he was living in Syria and I was seeking advice about traveling in the Middle East/I wanted to actually initiate communication. He had to leave Syria because of the increasing violence/issues with his immigration status, and ended up moving to Istanbul a few days before I got there. It was hard for us to communicate, since he didn't have regular internet access and I didn't have a working phone, but we finally met up one night and it was great, not nearly as uncomfortable as I had feared it might be. We were basically strangers, but he's just incredibly interesting and friendly (and way cooler than me) and it ended up being pretty wonderful to talk to this amazing person I happen to be related to. My friend Gwen and I met up with him again the next day (our last full day) and he showed us all around the neighborhood he was living in, which was pretty hip and young - full of little restaurants and cafes and vintage shops and record stores (not things you'd typically find in Amman.) We walked along the water, watched the fishermen, and ate some great Turkish desserts... Overall, it was an excellent family reunion.

My week in Turkey was quite a lot of fun, though it ended in disaster (more on that later as well.) I wish I had more tangible memories to share, but all I can offer you are the few photos I snapped, viewable here.

Whenever I finally see you in person, I promise to share stories!