With time to fit in extra travel running out, I contacted my friend Onurçan who I met in Austria last year and arranged to meet up with him in his home of Istanbul!
It was really great seeing Istanbul with a local, Onur knew so much about the city of Istanbul it makes me want to have the same level of knowledge about my own home of Perth. Obviously Turkey has a much more elaborate and varied history than that of Australia but still, knowing a story behind everything made the trip a hell of a lot better!
There were so many cool museums and mosques to check out around the city. I cannot even remember how many different places we checked out but all of them were so beautifully designed and built. The wealth of these Sultans during the Ottoman/Byzantine era was truly ridiculous!
It was highly irritating that in most of the museums you could not take any pictures. There was some seriously cool pieces of armour, weapons and clothing. On visit to the archeological museum was 6 of the Chinese terracotta warriors, I was determined to get a picture but typically there was at least 3 guards in that room ensuring I didn't do exactly that. I did however manage to sneak a picture of Onur with these massive Hungarian swords, I don't think you can quite see how large they are on the picture to the right but they were stupidly big. Surly they were for decoration purposes since it would be so impractical to actually use such a thing in battle?
(Onurçan on the right of me back in Halstatt, Austria)
I was really excited to venture over to Turkey as it's just completely different to the rest of Europe which can start to feel same old same old at times. You know immediately at 6am hearing the chanting from the Mosques inviting Muslims to come and pray that you are away from what you know. There are a lot of Mosques in Istanbul, looking over the city you honestly cannot miss them! Each one massive in stature and beautifully crafted.
This city is huge, no joke. The estimated population of Istanbul is thought to be around 23million which is more than the entire country of Australia! It is crazy to see how being so overpopulated makes the locals act. People are more than okay to be squished like shrimps on a bus that drives like a racing car, and cars seem to take little notice of the white lines that divide the lanes as people will cut in between just to get through quicker.
It was really great seeing Istanbul with a local, Onur knew so much about the city of Istanbul it makes me want to have the same level of knowledge about my own home of Perth. Obviously Turkey has a much more elaborate and varied history than that of Australia but still, knowing a story behind everything made the trip a hell of a lot better!
There are so many sides to Istanbul, there are the old bazaars and gathering points with the wealthier modern parts not too far away.
The different food in Turkey was really great, so much flavour in each meal and the Turkish coffee was quite interesting too. I usually cannot stand coffee without milk but this was quite nice! They serve the coffee with water as well since it leaves you really thirsty afterwards!
(Oldest bazaar in Istanbul)
Cats are everywhere in this city! They usually come up begging for food and don't mind a bit of affection either, except for the little bastard that took a swipe at me after I gave it two pieces of meat!
There were so many cool museums and mosques to check out around the city. I cannot even remember how many different places we checked out but all of them were so beautifully designed and built. The wealth of these Sultans during the Ottoman/Byzantine era was truly ridiculous!
It was highly irritating that in most of the museums you could not take any pictures. There was some seriously cool pieces of armour, weapons and clothing. On visit to the archeological museum was 6 of the Chinese terracotta warriors, I was determined to get a picture but typically there was at least 3 guards in that room ensuring I didn't do exactly that. I did however manage to sneak a picture of Onur with these massive Hungarian swords, I don't think you can quite see how large they are on the picture to the right but they were stupidly big. Surly they were for decoration purposes since it would be so impractical to actually use such a thing in battle?
So! Next on the agenda is Lappland! I am somewhat petrified of the cold that I am about to endure. I went to the Helly Hansen store and dropped some serious coin on thermals, midlayers, etc. However it seems to keep me just comfortable here in Gothenburg now we are getting temperature around the -4C mark and dropping as low as -9C at night. For now, I have to smash out one last paper for Opinions in a Mediatized Society which I honestly cannot be bothered doing but as usual I have equipped myself with a nice large Red Bull to help power through it.
So tune in next time to see wether or not I manage to come back alive from the frozen land of Lappland! Until then!
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