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Still in Istanbul and still loving it...
Entry 5 of 60 | show all | print this entry |
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Thursday
I got an early start again to check out the Basilica Cistern, which is one of the most interesting sights in Istanbul . It is basically an underground cavern that was built in 532 by Emperor Justinian to store water for the Topkapi Palace and the surrounding buildings. For a century after the Ottoman conquest, they did not even know about this place's existence until it was discovered that people were collecting water, and even fish, by lowering buckets through holes in their basements. Today there are still fish swimming around in the cistern, and the lighting and gothic music creates a very unique ambience. Later on I caught up with some of the guys from the hostel and they were all heading out to dinner at Taksim and then going out afterwards. Taksim is described as the heart and soul of modern Istanbul , and is a 15 minute tram ride away from all the main tourist sights on the other side of the Golden Horn , which is a straight of water that divides the European side of Istanbul .
One of the guys from the hostel, who was also from Adelaide , arranged for someone he met on couchsurfing.com to take us out and show us around. He took us to some fantastic little bars that were tucked away all over the area. The music of Istanbul is very cool and very unique, it is usually always live and is a fusion of all different styles. It is unlike Adelaide where the only music you hear when you go out is from a cover band, top 40 or a DJ playing songs. For example, the first place we went to the DJ was mixing very chilled out beats and was playing piano melodies over the top which actually sounded really good. All in all it was a fantastic night and going out to Taksim is a must do when you are in Istanbul .
When I got back to the hostel some guys were still up drinking so I decided to join them, Before long I was drinking Raki (the national Turkish spirit - similar to Sambuca) with a Colombian by the name of Juan Pablo, who had the coolest evil South American laugh ever. I haven't heard Fidel Castro laugh before, but I am sure his laugh would be very similar. We probably both drank too much but it was good fun and a perfect night to be up on the rooftop terrace. Friday Friday was a very lazy day due to some disturbances on the Friday night. I was woken up at 5 am due to the call to prayer (which seems to be happening every day to me but no one else!) and then the Canadian on the top bunk across from me was snoring so incredibly loudly I could not get back to sleep.
Then BAM, I heard this crash on the floor and the guy fell off the top bunk! Me and the girl below me could not stop laughing. He then got up really dazed and tried climbing back onto his bunk, except he tried getting into my bed instead of his! I had to push him away from getting into bed with me. I then thought to myself "cool he must be wide awake now I can now get to sleep before he snores again". Anyway 30 seconds after he gets back to bed he starts snoring again! So I did not get much sleep at all and ended up sleeping most of the day Friday.
Nearly all of Friday afternoon involved me Google-ing like crazy to find somewhere to watch the AFL grand final at 6am on the Saturday morning. 2 hours and no luck - so we settled for attempting to listen to it live on the radio in the morning by streaming it off the internet on my laptop. Friday night involved some more Raki with Juan Pablo (those crazy South Americans!). More thumbnails ...
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| 5. | Still in Istanbul and still loving it... - Istanbul, Turkey Sep 28, 2007 (  14 ) |
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