TURKEY LURKEY TIME

See those pictures down below? There are five of them. There should be fifteen. As you can see, my brilliant plan didn't work quite as well as I hoped so. At this point, it might be safe to say, if you're patient, you'll get a wide array of pictures on August 23rd. Well, it was a fluke that any got on, so I'll just bite my tongue and be happy any are on at all. Grr....

So, Istanbul (not Constantinople) is quite the city. Turkey isn't quite alight with the recent flotilla incident, but I didn't go out of my way to tell anyone I was Jewish, either. I did see some Graffiti in the Jewish quarter, considering of such sayings as ‘Cruel Israel’, or “Damn Israel’, though.

 So, what is there in Istanbul? Mosque. Lots and lots of Mosques. And they're all beautiful. You can see the minarets from any vantage point in the city. The blue mosque is the big cheese here with six minarets, and only a tiny big smaller than the mosques in Mecca and Medina. The city itself, on the inside, is beautiful. Get to the outskirts and you may be less enthusiastic. 

The bazaars are exclusively tourist traps, but you can still get a good deal. Next time you see me, make sure to let me tell you the rousing story of how I got an 11-year old to give me a 40 lira coffee pot for 20 lira. It went like that, but it was more exciting, I promise! Practice for Morocco and Egypt, where just about anything can be haggled for.

 When in the market, you may be roped in by some bored carpet salesmen. My friend and I got two cups of tea, lemonade, and a 2-hour chat with some friendly chaps in their shop in the old Bazaar without buying anything. Everyone is incredibly friendly, even if you don’t buy anything form their shops.

Women can expect some hassling to buy products, but mostly in the baffling Engrish cries of ‘Angelina Jolie, come here,” and groups may be subject to “Hey, Charlie’s Angels! Spice Girls! Yes please!” Expect to be filled up on free Turkish delight whenever you walk into the spice market – when you’re buying anything, anything at all, shop keepers just about throw the little sugary treats into your mouth.

The public transportation is very easy, though sometimes crowded. You buy tokens in machines for about a dollar a piece than can easily get to anywhere in the old city in a few minutes. There are also ferries along the Bosporus to the Asian side. And that’s Istanbul, folks.

So, some of you may be wondering what the weirdest thing I’ve encountered I my travels has been. If not, well too bad. Warning – adult content ahead. And by adult content, I mean Europe is weird.

Barcelona:
Brace yourself – bull testicles are considered a delicacy this side of Europe. Though I never encountered them, I know a few of my friends on board who wanted to, um, grab the bull by the horns. Or eat it. In hindsight, I don’t think this pun is as good as I thought it was. Anyway, apparently they are shriveled little brown strings, and you can have them served cooked or raw. Let’s move on, shall we?

Italy:
As noted before, you can find calendars with pictures of Cats at famous areas in Rome in the many souvenir shops. There were a few other calendars; next to the Pope John Paul and Benedict calendars, you would often find a quaint little calendar called ‘The Peni of Rome’, depicting the many phalluses that grace Roman art. Classy, Italy, classy.

Greece:
All of Greece was weird. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so bad – I’m a little biased right now. Actually, consumer-wise, it was pretty low-key. Olive oil was in full supply, as was the shamelessly stolen ‘Greek Delight’ (and so much better in Turkey, as expected). There was Ouzo, a very strong alcoholic beverage that tastes a bit like black licorice. Being a very good young woman (read that as: very boring young woman) I didn’t have any, but heard it was exactly as I just described. So ignore this entry. If you’ve read this far, I’m sorry. There’s more interesting stuff below, I swear!

Croatia:
The rare laundry days on board have made many students resort to washing their clothes in the sink. Blissfully unaware of how rare those precious laundry days would be, I forgot to bring a steady supply of detergent. So off I went into Konsum, the Croatia supermarket, to find laundry detergent. And boy, did I find it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to bring this home. Chocolate and Vanilla laundry detergent. Yes, you read that right. It smells like regular laundry detergent with a hint of vanilla, and has a dirty brown color. And it works. Among the other detergents were ‘health detergents’, who had such eye-catches as ‘healthy’,’ nutritious’ and ‘pure’ on their labels. Perhaps in the Balkans, detergent is an energy drink.
Also, the Pizza was better here than in Italy, save some areas in Naples. Weird, eh? Though it could be that I have no taste.

Turkey:
This is actually more of a pleasant surprise, though it may not seem so when you first read it. Among the many delicious foods and odd bazaar items, one particular item stood out in Turkey (blame my sweet tooth). As you may have read in travel wiki, the ice cream in Turkey is... strange. It’s sticky, but not. It’s stringy, too. Let me explain A common trick of the vendors was to pull out a scoop, then attach the cone. They would then give you the cone, but you would be unable to grasp it – it was still attached to the scoop!

In generals:
There is no Diet Coke, only ‘Coke Zero’ – which is coca-cola or ‘Coke Light’ which is closer to diet coke. You are expected to eat your fries with mayonnaise, and using ketchup immediately makes people realize that you are a tourist. Fanta seems to be the national drink, ad you will find it everywhere – from the dingy little street shops to high-end restaurants. Pringles are also quite big here, and come in flavors like ‘Paprika’ and ‘Soy Sauce’. 

As always thanks for reading. Internet is sparse, so expect another week before an update unless I get lucky. I’m off to Egypt! Which I can finally spell correctly!

PS - Continue sending me emails at acwyman@semesteratsea.net or just leave comments on my posts if you want to say hi. I check my posts often to help inflate my bloated ego even more.

- Weary (In arabic: Ta'aben. No arabic isn't spoken in Turkey, but I'm preparing for Egypt. Masallah Alaykum.)