Istanbul'a geliyorum

So, here I am finally in Turkiye - my father's homeland!


Landed in Istanbul after an uneventful flight...
Well, there was one interesting moment after landing... You know the bit where they say "Please remain seated until the seatbelt light disappears"? The second we land relieved applause rings out from throughout the plane and then about 60 people jump out of their seats and start grabbing their luggage hastily from the overhead compartments - all the while with the plane still hurtling at 200 kph down the runway. The businessman sitting next to me said to me "I think we Turks can be very impatient people. They probably saved themselves about 20 seconds of time!"





My first wander through the streets of Istanbul was completely surreal. 10 o'clock at night, getting off the tram by the great Blue Mosque (which isn't blue) and entering the world of Aladdins lamp - minarets and fountains, uneven streets and hassling shisha salesmen, a "whirling dervish" performing in the middle of a crowded outdoors restaurant...

Istanbul is a wonderous beast with a palpably ancient history. And unfortunately a lot of incredibly irritating tourist-hasslers and scammers which put Bangkok tuktuk drivers to shame! Wandering the completely english-free suburbs was delightful, but suffice it to say I'm glad to be a male as I wander the more touristy parts of the city...





After 4 nights in Istanbul I jumped on the bus south to Gallipoli for the first leg of my round trip of Turkey.
I must admit to never really feeling anything special regarding Anzac day before now, but seeing Gallipoli with our 71 year-old day-tour guide Submarine Captain Ali really left a strong impression of the importance to both Turkish and Kiwi/Aussie history. 8 months of staring at each other from the trenches, 8 months in which the anzacs gained a mere 1.2 kilometres of ground to appaling losses on both sides, by the end of which the young men on both sides begin to actually pass each other gifts of tobacco and fruit and finally purposefully start missing with their bullets, because who could shoot a friend?...



Later tours of Troy, Pergamum and Ephesus were amazing - to imagine yourself thousands of years in the past standing as some emperor to look out over the mountain vistas from your marble columned palaces... however the best ruin I've seen so far is definitely the castle in Selcuk, to which entrance was gained by happily climbing over a wall, sneaking around the signs which read "Access forbidden" and clambering perilously along the ancient battlements and towers for a spectacular view of the town below...





Next stop - the beach town of Bodrum. But for now, I'm going to play some poolside pool and maybe have a beer. It's way too hot here to be sitting at the internet. :P