Adventure #7

The next adventure is about Matty and Elsie's trip to Istanbul. Istanbul is located in Europe and Asia, surrounded by the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, and the Sea of Marmara. The city foundations began in 667 BC and was named Constantinople in 324 AD. Constantinople saw many rulers including Christians and Muslims. Istanbul did not officially become the city name until 1928. Turkey did not separate religion and state until 1922 and the country now has a prime minister. I was excited to visit a city with such a long history and mesh of many cultures and religions. After researching the city, checking the flights a thousand times, and investingating several hotels, we decided to stay for five nights. We also invited our travel pals Brent and Laura to come with us.

Our adventure begins with a stop in Las Vegas and a 6 hour layover. Sorry no picture. I do not think the Las Vegas airport is picture worthy. (Just a minor note, Matt and I fly standby so we usually are required to be creative in how we get to a destination.) Then, on to the red eye for New York City. We arrived early in the morning and took the subway into downtown. We went to Central Park and FAO Schwarz. Then on to Istanbul.






Matt finally talked me into staying at a hostel, under the condition that we had our own bathroom. Hostel Eurasia is located on a short narrow street in the heart of Istanbul. We shared a room with Brent and Laura. Laura went into the bathroom to wash her hands but no water would come out of the faucet. Matt talked to the owner downstairs who said that the water was off in this part of the city and would come back on later in the day. Ha Ha. Only in Europe. Normally this would not have been such a big deal but we had not showered in over 48 hours and during that time had been wearing the same clothes. So we toughed it out.




After getting settled we took a walk around the Hippodrome. One story of the Hippodrome told about how a fight broke out between two rival chariot racing teams. The fight destroyed a large portion of the city and only stopped when the general used mercenaries to kill an estimated 30,000 people trapped in the Hippodrome. The stadium is no longer there, however there are several columns inside the old loop. The egyptian obelisk was built in 1500 BC and is now only one third of its original height.


For dinner we went to a little place down the road from our hotel. Our server must have been excited to practice his English with us, he asked us a million questions. Then, Matt found a store that sold turkish delight and I bought baklava. I had heard mixed reviews about turkish delight. In my opinion, not good. It is something you have to try for yourself to know why. I will stick with my baklava.