Experiences in Turkey

Where to begin?

The food in Turkey is absolutely amazing! My friend Miriam and I got hooked on Borek, which is pastry dough that can be filled with cheese or potatoes. It probably comes a million different ways but these are the ones that I tried. I got potato borek the first night from a vendor on the street and it was only a dollar or two. Coming from Tel Aviv, which is one of the most expensive cities in the world, this was a nice treat. We also ate Turkish meatballs, shish kebab, doner, fish and bread, and a ton of Turkish desserts. I tried Turkish coffee once and it was okay. But instead of coffee I drank this apple tea that was so unbelievably delicious! I probably had two or three cups of it a day.

What else?

We toured a ton of museums, chuches, mosques, and palaces, which were incredible. We had a boat tour on the Bosphorous and swam in the Black Sea. We rented bikes on one of the Princes' Islands and walked up an incredibly steep hill to see the Greek church, Saint George. We went to the Egyptian Bazaar, the Spice Market, and Pierre Loti. We experienced so much but still only managed to see a fraction of the city.

All of these things were incredible, but one of the most memorable experiences was Saturday night. After dinner, we walked around and found this great little place playing Turkish music. There was only one man dancing in the front and he was a big, big man. I told Evan that I would give him 20 lira to go and dance with him. Evan said he would give me 40 if I did.

Done.

We started dancing and before I knew it the whole place joined us and was dancing in the street. (I was wearing a long dress that got so filthy because the ground was wet and muddy. The next morning my feet looked like I had bathed them in mud!) Everyone danced the night away to some really good Turkish music. It was such a blast!

Another of my favorite moments was the last dinner we had. It wasn't that something extraordinary happened, except for the fact that Patrick left the table for a few minutes and came back with these ridiculous looking glasses with a nose that lit up. I think it is one of my favorite memories because it was just so much fun to sit down to a nice dinner with all of my friends in the middle of Istanbul and laugh and talk and get to know each other.

So blessed.

P.S. Visit Istanbul if you can!