Bosphorus by Day and Night

I have seen a lot since I last blogged. The sky cleared in time for the full moon so I walked along the Bosphorus to a little neigbourhood called Ortokoy at the base of the Bosphorus bridge. I had dinner in a lovely little outdoor restaurant under the glow of the full moon. Dad - it was very pretty but didn't come close to the Taj Mahal and certainly wouldn't make it anywhere near the list of things that I need to see before I can die happy. As beautiful as it is here, I guess cities just aren't my thing. The sunshine has continued, so today I took a boat cruise up the Bosphorus. There are lots of lovely old buildings and communities along the shoreline and what I'm guessing are fairly expensive homes built up the hills. The cruise offered some great views of the city and waterways.

The other day I visited the Topkapi palace. I spent a few hours there but still didn't get through the whole thing before it closed - I'll have to go back and finish it another day. I did manage to get through the treasury which was absolutely mind-blowing. Those sultans sure didn't scrimp on the jewels - there was a 89-carat diamond among other things. I was surprised by the seemingly light security there - lots of armed guards but the locks look like they could be picked with a hairpin. Nothing like the fortress where Britain's crown jewels are stored. I guess here they'd just take you out with an Uzi if you touched anything.

I had my fortune told by a rabbit a couple of days ago. It wasn't all that insightful, but I guess you can't expect much from a rabbit. She had an adorable little baby bunny with her, who couldn't tell my fortune but is apparently in training. (The rabbit just pulls a piece of paper off a board that has a bunch of fortunes stuck to it. I was a bit disappointed that the fortunes are similar to what you find in a fortune cookie. I was hoping to find out if I was going to marry a millionaire anytime soon - I guess that will have to remain one of life's mysteries for the time being.)

I am now the proud owner of a new passport. It is white which indicates that it's a temporary passport, but it kind of makes me feel like a diplomat or something - it looks very regal. The Syrian embassy is closed on Monday for Turkey's national day and I'm out of town on Tuesday and Wednesday so I'll have to get my visa on Thursday. I just found out yesterday that Jordan has closed its consulate in Istanbul so I won't be able to get a Jordanian visa in advance of my trip. I have been assured by the Canadian consulate that I can easily obtain my visa for Jordan at the border so am hoping that that will go smoothly when the time comes. The DFAIT website also has this information posted and they haven't steered me wrong on these types of issues before, so I'm sure all will go well.

My tour, which begins on Sunday, only takes us to Canakkale for one day, so we'll have a choice of visiting Troy or Gallipoli. I really want to see both, so I'm going to do that next week. I'll take a tour which takes me out there, provides a guided tour of both sites as well as an afternoon in the town of Canakkale and then brings us back to Istanbul the next day. It means likely repeating one of the sites with my tour a few days later, but I'd rather see something twice than not at all.

I have managed to see quite a bit of the city just by wandering around. Even if I'm going back to neighbourhoods that I've visited before, I always try to take a different route so I can see as much as possible. There are so many interesting little twists and turns, and I keep finding lovely hidden surprises. The nightlife continues to be good. I am hanging out regularly with some other travellers, most of whom are Australian but there are new people coming and going all the time. I've met a couple of young women, one American and one Australian, and I've really enjoyed the company of some chicks for a change. Last night I had my first experience with a nargile (water pipe). Given my general disdain for smoking, I was very surprised to enjoy the experience. They often don't smoke tobacco in these pipes, and the smoke doesn't hurt your throat or make you cough. It's very smooth and last night we smoked apple which was very tasty.

Well they're calling us to prayer from the Blue Mosque so I better run - don't want to be late and upset the imam :-).