Istanbul, not Constantinople

Our Damascus flight was routed via Istanbul (on Turkish Air), so we decided to decompress for a week here before heading on. We arrived at the airport Sunday late afternoon, and had no trouble taking public transportation to our hostel in Sultanahmet, the “historic” section of the city.

Walking through the Grand Bazaar today was quite an experience. The best line – “I need you take a look my shop, see what I have. I have everything except you!” Another good one – “You have money, I need your money. Please come inside!” One shopkeeper adopted us as his American friends, and gave us (what we think was) a decent deal on some trinkets. In exchange of course, for our promise that he could marry my middle sister! When he offered a free place to stay in Istanbul from now on, how could we resist, Amy?

Elma Çay (pronounced chai – in English, apple tea) is a wonderful drink unique to Istanbul. Josh, ever the romantic, points out that it’s very similar to those powered apple cider packets which stores sell in the US, but the small glass & gold cups and sugar lumps they serve it with definitely improve the experience for me. The picture I’m including is of a more standard cup, but you get the idea.

The pension (hostel) where we’re staying has a beautiful roof-top terrace where they serve us breakfast every morning. Josh and I are even starting to like olives.