We had an awesome guide this time. He was super funny and very knowledgeable. It was so fun to get know him and I was actually sad to leave. You get really close with people when you spend 7 days straight on a bus together.
When we got on the bus after landing Necip had Turkish Delights ready for us. There's nothing like eating a Turkish Delight while seeing Turkey for the first time.
Speaking of seeing Turkey for the first time, here are my first views!
Look! Color! We don't see that very often in Israel
So many mosques. Turkey is 99% Muslim. In Istanbul alone there are 3,000 mosques. They were everywhere!
The sides of the highway were decorated with flowers and rocks to make all sorts of beautiful pictures
We had just a few minutes to get off the bus and really see Istanbul for the first time. This is my first view of Europe!
Just some things that I never want to forget about Turkey:
Tons of birds with old ladies selling seeds. It reminded me of Mary Poppins
Dogs were everywhere. They were huge! Apparently, the state takes all the stray dogs and spays and neuters them and then puts them back out on the streets. The people love them and take good care of them. I didn't see a single dog that was skinny or looked underfed. They were very friendly too.
Aahhh Lentil Soup. I honestly don't think I'm exaggerating when I say we had this everyday for lunch and occasionally at dinner as well. You would be amazed at all the different ways you can prepare lentil soup. Also amazingly I never got sick of it! The first day back at the center the chefs made lentil soup (I don't know if it was some kind of a joke or just coincidence)
Magnum Bars! These are a favorite in Israel too but in Turkey they have so many flavors! Necip would make fun of us all the time saying that we were single handedly going to keep them in business as well as boost Turkey's economy. There were definitely some stops made just so we could have magnum bars.
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I used to think there were a lot of cats in Israel. I was wrong. The cats in Turkey were everywhere. This includes inside of mall food courts. This little guy decided to join us for dinner one night.
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Turkey just wouldn't be the same without the wind. Most of our days were spent like this: hair in your face, wind blowing like crazy, really cold. I have a whole new meaning for Cold Turkey
Shout out to the shopping! Everything was so cheap there!! It's almost worth the plane ticket just to go get clothes over there. Not to mention you can actually wear what you buy because most things are modest. One of the great perks of being in conservative countries.
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The people were great too! This guy modeled probably 20 different scarves trying to get us to buy one.
Turkey was so amazing! I loved every second of it. I couldn't have asked for a better break. This is one place that I definitely want to come back to someday. If you're looking for a fun place to visit, you should consider Turkey. You will not be disappointed.
Until my next adventure,
Lindy
Matthew says, "it was really funny. I liked the part where the cat was eating dinner with you."
ReplyDeleteI say, " yes we should go visit these places. But they are going to be in the middle of war before i ever get the chance."