We left Thessaloniki Friday night at 10 pm, and arrived in Istanbul after a long 10 hour drive around 8:30 pm. Honestly, I don't think it would've taken so long if we didn't have to stop at the border, it took forever just to check our passports! Also, we had to pay $15 for a visa to stay 2 nights?! Oh well...on the way we also stopped like 3 times to pick up people in other cities. The bus ride wasn't too bad, the only thing that really sucked was that it was SO HOT on there for some reason! I was getting crabby...but we finally made it!
As soon as we got off the bus, we asked for directions to our hostel. There were plenty of people willing to help, although they wanted money for it! So weird. Plus, we got lost like 5 times trying to listen to their directions! After awhile, a guy stopped to help us, and even called the hostel for us for directions. He was so nice, and didn't want money or anything, just a nice guy! Lucky we ran into him otherwise we would've been lost for like 5 hours instead of 45 minutes...The hostel was pretty nice, pretty clean for 7 euros a night. There was a bunch of tourists there, a lot of families too, which I wasn't expecting. We shared a room with 2 other American girls, and one French lady. One very crabby, very rude, French lady. So we got to our hostel around 10, but couldn't check in until noon. We decided to get breakfast, walk around a bit, and exchange our money. 1 euro converted into like 2 liras, which is awesome! So much better than converting dollars into euros...! We checked into our hostel then left to explore.
First place we went was the Grand Bazaar. We didn't even go there on purpose, we were just walking around and happened to stumble upon it! (We didn't even know we were there until we asked where the Grand Bazaar was & they told us we were there...must have thought we were real dumb Americans!) It was so nuts there, people just yell any words they know in English to get your attention, I swear. They loved saying "Oh, pretty Americans, come here!", flattery won't help you sir! Some of the pick up lines were pretty funny though. I, personally, got super annoyed by the end of it. I hate people yelling at me to come to their shop, all the things are literally the same. There you're supposed to haggle for everything you get. I don't know if you know this, but I SUCK at haggling, and/or negotiating anything. Luckily everything was pretty cheap anyway.
After that we went to the Blue Mosque. It is this gorgeous, HUGE church in the middle of the city. I can't imagine if you lived there. They had services running there, but we didn't get there in time for one, plus we had to wear a long skirt, something over our head, and take off our shoes. I have some pictures from there I will eventually put up. Across the street was Haghia Sofia, which was considered the greatest church in the Christian world. Now it's just a museum, and we didn't go inside. But, the outside was huge. It is supposed to be better than the Blue Mosque, but personally, I liked the Blue Mosque better. Both churches played music during church service times, and it filled the city. Gave it such an ancient feeling, I don't know if that's the wording, but I don't care, you know what I mean.
We tried getting to Taksim Square (like an outside shopping mall I'd say?), but we were so confused. Another American guy (like 30ish?) was trying to figure out how to get there too. We asked a local Turkish guy, and he helped us there. He was super nice, most people in Istanbul were really nice and helpful, actually. Probably better than Thessaloniki. We found somewhere to eat, and drank a bit. My feet were killing because the night before we went out, and I had to wear Josefina's shoes (which are size 8...I'm size 6) because I locked myself out of my room. Actually, I really blame Kosta for locking me out because I thought he was still in my room when I left. So, really, not my fault. Anyway, got reasonably drunk. The drinks were about 10 lira, which is like 5 euro, which is still not as expensive as Thessaloniki! Kosta ended up getting the girliest drink that night, I forgot what it was called, but it was hilarious. He chugged it down before anyone could see he was drinking a pink fluff drink.
The next morning we woke up bright and early to go out again. We went on a ferry for 10 Liras to Bosphorus, in other words I ended up going to Asia too! Luckily the weather was gorgeous out. We passed Rumelihisarı, known as the "fortress of Europe". From far away, one of the towers looked just like the White Tower in Thessaloniki, except that it ended up having like 5 towers, and looking like a castle. It was so pretty.
After the boat tour, we walked all the way back to our hostel. It was a long walk, but it was so pretty out, and we stopped a lot on the way to look at stores and such. Right off the boat it smelled so gross, like fish everywhere. I couldn't handle it! Yuck. We walked through a park, which I don't know the name of, but it must have been like the biggest park there. It was so pretty out too. We were going to go back to the Grand Bazaar that day, but apparently we didn't get the memo that it was closed? We ran into the guy that called the Hostel for us that day too, small world! He said he rememberd us because of my face...I'm not sure what that means, haha! Later that night we went back to Taksim Square to eat, and hookah. The hookah was huge, and the guy that worked there was really weird, but I'm not sure what you're expecting from a hookah place? As we got back to our hostel, I heard Kosta scream like a little girl as we opened the door to the hostel. A rat literally fell on his face from the building. It was disgusting, and definitely the highlight of our trip! So gross, I was so nervous for rats in the hostel after that!
We left Turkey at 10 am the next day, while it rained the whole bus ride back. Couldn't have been more perfect timing. I couldn't believe how excited I was to hear Greek again, so much better than Turkish (which I couldn't understand a word of it). We got back around 9 pm last night. I got my care packages today from Brandon and my mom! My mom sent me my computer charger (YES!!! INTERNET!! And I can finally upload my pictures! And watch tv!) and some girl scout cookies, YUM! Thin Mints, of course! Brandon sent me some socks (I was running out, I needed them...haha), some chocolates & some movies! Thank you both of you! I end up getting a bunch of junk food the day I decided I was only going to eat fruits and vegetables, guess that's not gonna happen!
Oh, one last thing, Mom I got a 47/50 on my quiz last week! I only missed one multiple-choice question, which is so stupid that every question is 3 points. But whatever, I did good.
As soon as we got off the bus, we asked for directions to our hostel. There were plenty of people willing to help, although they wanted money for it! So weird. Plus, we got lost like 5 times trying to listen to their directions! After awhile, a guy stopped to help us, and even called the hostel for us for directions. He was so nice, and didn't want money or anything, just a nice guy! Lucky we ran into him otherwise we would've been lost for like 5 hours instead of 45 minutes...The hostel was pretty nice, pretty clean for 7 euros a night. There was a bunch of tourists there, a lot of families too, which I wasn't expecting. We shared a room with 2 other American girls, and one French lady. One very crabby, very rude, French lady. So we got to our hostel around 10, but couldn't check in until noon. We decided to get breakfast, walk around a bit, and exchange our money. 1 euro converted into like 2 liras, which is awesome! So much better than converting dollars into euros...! We checked into our hostel then left to explore.
First place we went was the Grand Bazaar. We didn't even go there on purpose, we were just walking around and happened to stumble upon it! (We didn't even know we were there until we asked where the Grand Bazaar was & they told us we were there...must have thought we were real dumb Americans!) It was so nuts there, people just yell any words they know in English to get your attention, I swear. They loved saying "Oh, pretty Americans, come here!", flattery won't help you sir! Some of the pick up lines were pretty funny though. I, personally, got super annoyed by the end of it. I hate people yelling at me to come to their shop, all the things are literally the same. There you're supposed to haggle for everything you get. I don't know if you know this, but I SUCK at haggling, and/or negotiating anything. Luckily everything was pretty cheap anyway.
After that we went to the Blue Mosque. It is this gorgeous, HUGE church in the middle of the city. I can't imagine if you lived there. They had services running there, but we didn't get there in time for one, plus we had to wear a long skirt, something over our head, and take off our shoes. I have some pictures from there I will eventually put up. Across the street was Haghia Sofia, which was considered the greatest church in the Christian world. Now it's just a museum, and we didn't go inside. But, the outside was huge. It is supposed to be better than the Blue Mosque, but personally, I liked the Blue Mosque better. Both churches played music during church service times, and it filled the city. Gave it such an ancient feeling, I don't know if that's the wording, but I don't care, you know what I mean.
We tried getting to Taksim Square (like an outside shopping mall I'd say?), but we were so confused. Another American guy (like 30ish?) was trying to figure out how to get there too. We asked a local Turkish guy, and he helped us there. He was super nice, most people in Istanbul were really nice and helpful, actually. Probably better than Thessaloniki. We found somewhere to eat, and drank a bit. My feet were killing because the night before we went out, and I had to wear Josefina's shoes (which are size 8...I'm size 6) because I locked myself out of my room. Actually, I really blame Kosta for locking me out because I thought he was still in my room when I left. So, really, not my fault. Anyway, got reasonably drunk. The drinks were about 10 lira, which is like 5 euro, which is still not as expensive as Thessaloniki! Kosta ended up getting the girliest drink that night, I forgot what it was called, but it was hilarious. He chugged it down before anyone could see he was drinking a pink fluff drink.
The next morning we woke up bright and early to go out again. We went on a ferry for 10 Liras to Bosphorus, in other words I ended up going to Asia too! Luckily the weather was gorgeous out. We passed Rumelihisarı, known as the "fortress of Europe". From far away, one of the towers looked just like the White Tower in Thessaloniki, except that it ended up having like 5 towers, and looking like a castle. It was so pretty.
After the boat tour, we walked all the way back to our hostel. It was a long walk, but it was so pretty out, and we stopped a lot on the way to look at stores and such. Right off the boat it smelled so gross, like fish everywhere. I couldn't handle it! Yuck. We walked through a park, which I don't know the name of, but it must have been like the biggest park there. It was so pretty out too. We were going to go back to the Grand Bazaar that day, but apparently we didn't get the memo that it was closed? We ran into the guy that called the Hostel for us that day too, small world! He said he rememberd us because of my face...I'm not sure what that means, haha! Later that night we went back to Taksim Square to eat, and hookah. The hookah was huge, and the guy that worked there was really weird, but I'm not sure what you're expecting from a hookah place? As we got back to our hostel, I heard Kosta scream like a little girl as we opened the door to the hostel. A rat literally fell on his face from the building. It was disgusting, and definitely the highlight of our trip! So gross, I was so nervous for rats in the hostel after that!
We left Turkey at 10 am the next day, while it rained the whole bus ride back. Couldn't have been more perfect timing. I couldn't believe how excited I was to hear Greek again, so much better than Turkish (which I couldn't understand a word of it). We got back around 9 pm last night. I got my care packages today from Brandon and my mom! My mom sent me my computer charger (YES!!! INTERNET!! And I can finally upload my pictures! And watch tv!) and some girl scout cookies, YUM! Thin Mints, of course! Brandon sent me some socks (I was running out, I needed them...haha), some chocolates & some movies! Thank you both of you! I end up getting a bunch of junk food the day I decided I was only going to eat fruits and vegetables, guess that's not gonna happen!
Oh, one last thing, Mom I got a 47/50 on my quiz last week! I only missed one multiple-choice question, which is so stupid that every question is 3 points. But whatever, I did good.
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