Treck along to Istanbul....

Day 15/16 - March 12/13
Where was I - Marmarıs (Turkey) - Istanbul (Turkey)
Lesson Learned -Istanbul can be a little scary as a solo gal...

First of all you got to picture the owner of the hostel offered to give me a ride on his moped to the bus station for my bus. So here I am with my backpack, daybag and foodbag. I felt like I was doing some sort of balancing act. I can't even imagine what he felt like driving through the traffic with stuff like that on his moped...


Anyhow, we got to the bust station on time and no issues.The bus was a Mercedes-Benz. Sounds Posh right? Well it was. Individual televisions for everyone, plus if you wanted to listen to music you had control as to what you watch. It was great. Until we reached our first pick-up/drop-off, where the bus stalled and wouldn't start. So the driver and two other bus workers tinkered with it until it began to work. No word of a lie, we must of gotten maybe ten minutes down the highway it stalled again.By this point, my Gravel kicks in and I pass out. But they must have been tinkering for about 2-hours by the time I woke up by someone talking in Turkish. Everyone began picking up their belongings and I started to do the same. Turns out another bus was on its way to save the day. Hurray! So our trip from then on continued with basicly nothing wrong.

I got to Istanbul around 11h00'ish. where I took the Metro to the Hostel I had booked. Of course I had some help along the way from the Police that are standing almost everywhere within the subway.I got to my hostel checked in for two days, headed to by my bus ticket for the next destination and explore.

With a ticket bought and set to leave in two days I went to explore. I knew I wasnt all that far from the blue Mosque so off i went. In the middle of the square-

Me:  (standing trying to decide which building was the blue mosque)
Man: "Hello, are you looking for something"
Me: "Yes, the Blue Mosque"
Man: "Oh it's right there" (points to the blue mosque)
Me: "Thank you"
Man: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Canada"
Man: "Wow, that's far"
Me: "Yes"
Man: "Have you heard of the Turkish bath"
Me: "Yes, I've booked one already"
Man: "Oh, which one"
Me: "I don't remember which one"
Man : "You shouldnt have booked it in advance"
Me: "well I booked it through my hotel since they offer a discount for their patrons"
Man: "Did you know they have turkish baths shared by men and woman"
Me: "Really."
Man: "Ya, do you want to go with me?"
Me: "No, but I have to go to the Blue mosque" (And I continued to walk....)

So Along I went and visited the blue mosque, eye of sofia, the Basilica Cistern etc.... All along the way typical store and restaurant front personel were -

"Hey aussie Lady come talk to me"
or
"Aussie girl come make my life dream a reality" ... etc

(Why they thought I was an Aussie, I have no idea.)

But that's along the moment I started to walk towards where I bought my bus ticket to change the ticket to leave the night of March 14 and changed the hostel booking for a one-night stay.

I hung around the hostel for a bit, started to get hungry and saw an American guy that was sharing my room and asked him if he wanted to go out to eat (there was no way I was going on there alone). He agreed and met me in the lobby with our other roommate who was from Spain and we wandered Isbanbul by night. What a difference it was to walk the street with two men then walking it alone!

We got back to the hostel and they were getting ready to meet up with some people. I decided to stay in as I kind of had enough of the Istanbul shenanigans for one day. So they went out and I sat in the Hostel commune room having a coffee and I met three Spanish guys (who work in Germany). We talked, played chess and they convinced me to go for a walk in the streets at night then invited me with them then next day to tour the city the next day with them. I accepted.