In Istanbul

Hey readers, I'm in Istanbul. Got here Wednesday night after a quite pleasant Turkish Airlines flight from Athens. After the low budget fun of Ryanair and Easy Jet, it was somewhat stunning to be offered drinks without having to pay 4 euros for it. The wonders of modern air travel.

The 37 hours in Athens or whatever went fine. Hit up the Acropolis, saw the biggies (i.e. Theatre of Dionysius, Parthenon, Agora), hightailed it to the National Archeological Museum, then took Athens' very efficient metro to the airport. I must say, Athens has probably the nicest metro (subway) system you'll ever see. It's brand spanking new, immaculately clean, and quite fast. The day was slightly tarnished, as a Greek pigeon found it necessary to crap on my shoulder outside the Quick Pitta restaurant. It could be worse. Kate, another Luther traveler, got crapped on her head.

So, in Istanbul. I've built this part of my trip up so much, one would maybe expect to be let down. So far, that is not the case at all. We made it to our hostel alright, and met up with Kate. We are literally a 5 minute walk from both the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, which is amazing location. The three of us hit up both of the above early this morning. Hagia Sophia is a place I've wanted to see for a very long time, and it did not disappoint whatsoever. It's just one of those things that is very hard to describe, such is its magnificence. Photos will come next week.

Also saw the Blue Mosque. I thought it significant, as it is the first mosque I've ever actually been in. We had to remove our shoes, and Emily and Kate chose to cover their heads with a scarf, which seems like a very respectful thing to do. Once again, it was gorgeous. The interior is covered from floor to ceiling with blue Ottoman tiles, hence the name. We also saw Topkapi Palace, which was the home of the Ottoman sultans until the early 19th century. It was cool, especially the Harem, which is where the sultan and his harem actually lived. I guess, just think of your stereotypical middle eastern palace, and that's what you got. So cool. My camera is definitely getting a workout.

Besides a very unfortunate lunch incident, which basically saw us getting conned by a seemingly very nice Turkish man over kebabs, the Turkish people are clearly the friendliest I have encountered in Europe. And you know how much I love the French. But everyone is very nice, and very interested in hearing why we came to Istanbul. On our way to the Blue Mosque, a group of high school students interviewed us on tape about why we came to Turkey, what we knew about Istanbul, if we liked Muslims, what were the similarities with the States, etc. You'd be amazed at how many people just tell us "Welcome to Istanbul." It's sort of a hard city to understand unless you come. We in the West automatically tag Turkey as Muslim, which brings connotations. But Turkey is strictly secular, and this city is thoroughly modern. It's interesting, Hagia Sophia was first a Byzantine basilica, then converted into a mosque. Now it's been decommissioned as a museum, which leaves it as sort of a hodge podge of Christian and Islamic decor. I think it's a fitting metaphor for this city, which quite literally straddles Asia and Europe. It's a wonderful place and I'm loving it. We're going to go to a local teahouse tonight for some tea and trying a water pipe (that's for you Scott). Friday is the Muslim day of worship, so we're going to avoid the mosques and hit up a Turkish bath, the Grand Bazaar, and hopefully catch a Sufi mystic performance. We do go to class, really. Just not until Tuesday.