We finally hit the trail again, this time to return to (in my opinion) the greatest city in the world: Istanbul!
Istanbul and Turkey have been in the news for all the wrong reasons this year ("don't get kersploded!" a friend helpfuly texted the day before we flew out), so we figured we would show up check it out, and if we didn't like the vibe or felt unsafe, would go to our hotel, sleep the day away recovering from our ~20 hours of travel, and fly out the next day.
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| What could possibly go wrong? Credit: www.dw.com |
So we showed up, went to our hotel, which happened to be across the street from the hostel we stayed at in 2012, and hit the streets since we were too early to check in. It was the week of Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, which is the celebration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, and we went to the Sultan Ahmet square between the Blue Mosque (above) and Hagia Sophia (top and middle), the most famous square in Istanbul, and on the short list of Brannan's Favorite Places in the World. We were both nervous but our fears turned out to be unfounded. Eid-al-Adha is the second biggest Muslim holiday ("like your Thanksgiving!" we were told by a friendly Turk) and there were tourists from all over the middle east in the square, but no one gave us a second glance or looked at us sideways, just more tourists in a sea of tourists, we just happened to be slightly more North American than most! The atmosphere was happy - lots of selfies happening, families enjoying a holiday together, and roast corn being eaten. We walked around, had some delicious lunch, and went back to the hotel for a nap. After more wandering and a delicious dinner we decided to stay another day, which we used to see Hagia Sophia and generally wander around and eat things.
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| Galata Bridge and Suleyman Mosque! |
Everywhere we went felt completely normal and similar to the last time we were in Istanbul, only a dearth of other whities being the only difference. The opportunity to be surrounded by people of a different race/color/nationality/language is one that we love and is the essence of travel in my opinion. For this reason we loved Istanbul, but being that our vacation is finite, soon enough it was time to hit the trail, destination - Athens!
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| Bring on some Parthenon! |
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| Don't forget the Romans! They loved them some theater! |
The plan for our trip was simple - visit lots of Greece and a little Turkey as we felt comfortable with, we flew into Istanbul as an hors d'oeuvre and a lovely bonus. In doing research we learned that despite ancient Athens being the birthplace of democracy, the city of Plato and Socrates, inventor of mathematics, economics, philosophy, etcetera, most of modern Athens is newer than Chicago, and not the type of place we were too interested in. So we spent an eight hour layover enjoying the Acropolis, the first gyros of many, and being amongst Greeks. That evening we left Athens our first island - Rhodes!
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| This is where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood - now just some statues of deer |
Rhodes the island is right off the southern coast of Turkey, and it's history is one of constant shift between Turkish and Greek occupation. Old town Rhodes is a crusader town, most of it built by the Knights Hospitaller, and like most cities in that part of the world, consists of many, many layers of history - in order of rule: Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Greek, Crusader Knights, Ottoman, Italian (weird but true), and most recently Greek rulers all have had their influence on Rhodes. It makes for a fascinating mix and a special place. We loved our time there wandering the medieval town, and we even spent some time on the beach and scuba diving!
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| I'm somewhere there in scuba gear! |
Our first few stops were as wonderful as they were varied: a modern Turkish metropolis, ancient landmarks, and everything in between in Rhodes. Our journeys were just beginning and we intended to sample everything that part of the world had to offer. Stay tuned for more travels and fun!
