Trip to Turkey
Trip to Turkey
I would very much enjoy telling you about a few of my experiences on my quite recent trip to Istanbul, Turkey. I usually travel with my entire family of six, and money permitting, we would apt to stay far from organized tourist tours simply because of their restrictions on the freedom that we loved when visiting new places. This time we had all agreed on Istanbul, the center of the once great Ottoman Empire, and we are very happy to have done so.
We flew into Istanbul and immediately I had been captured by the beautiful scenery of the cobblestone paved roads that winded through old buildings, each of which had clotheslines zigzagged through them. The various food stalls and incredible pieces of architecture, such as the Aya Sofya and Sultan Ahmed mosque, had my eyes open in wonderment. The view of the beautiful green-bluish waters of the Bosporus strait littered with improvised rafts and small boats setting out nets drew me to a fish sandwich stall. There I enjoyed a Balik Ekmek (literally meaning fish in bread, as I soon learned) enriched with various homemade sauces and garden-fresh vegetables. Soon after, another incredible wonder of this antique city took place before my eyes. Five times every day, the muezzin (or caller) sounds the Muslim call to prayer. The beautiful unison that the muezzins hold shook the city and soon enough, crowd and hoards of people filled up the street in attempt of arriving to the mosques on time. The sight of people so eager to pray and the incredible sights all come together to form a beautiful sight. A sight that I will never forget.
As our days in Istanbul passed we began a new day on the Kadikoy ferry dock before taking a road to Polonezkoy. Personally, the journey that we took to reach our destination was always part of the fun of the whole trip. We drove to the quaint village using the Bosphorus bridge, and we were marvelled by the new architectural design that was present in unique high-rise offices and complexes. We became amazed by the vastness of Istanbul on our trip there and soon made it to Polonezkoy. Almost immediately after leaving our shuttle, we were approached by a Turkish ice-cream stand that demanded we try their ice-cream, Dondurma. This ice-cream was especially special - unlike ice-cream