As luck would have it, Stacy and I ended up getting three extra days off, and were able to begin our two week semester break a few days early. We took a midnight bus and arrived bright and early in lovely Istanbul. This city loves us. The first time we were here we stayed for free and this time around we were given a free upgrade to a private three person room! We spent our first day booking our train tickets to Romania and visiting Topkapi Palace. The palace was built in 1453 and was inhabited until the 19th century. We had an early evening with dinner that included hot wine, which would end up being a staple with most meals for the rest of our trip. The next day we were up bright and early to enjoy a morning cruise on The Borsphus. Before disembarking and with some extra time to kill we enjoyed free tea at one of the numerous restaurants along the coast, as we were the first customers of the day! The cruise is a great way to see the city and though the water was a little choppy we both enjoyed numerous cups of apple tea and the scenery. We then headed to the National Palace which is only accessible by group tour, but was well worth the trip. Though we only toured half of the palace it is perfectly symmetrical. We then headed to the famous Grand Bazaar. This place is gigantic and took us back to our trips to Chatachuck in Thailand. It is also just as easy to get lost in and we did have to make a few back tracks to find our exit. We then made our way to see a traditional Turkish show: The Whirling Dervishes. This is a religious ceremonial dance were men perform a seven part ritual to obtain Sema. A ritual that is a spiritual journey, which the soul makes to God as it becomes mature and attains unity. After this journey, the soul returns to its human body and serves humankind again. It was very interesting to see something so spiritual performed in front of us. The whole performance lasted about one hour and as it is so spiritual we were not allowed to clap or acknowledge any appreciation for the performance – it ended and everyone filled out without speaking. We were both glad to have gotten a little more Turkish culture in our travel experience.
On Saturday we geared up for a 10 hour time kill before our night train to Romania. We were able to chill at our hostel coffee shop till around 4. With only school back packs and purses it was an easy walk to the exciting Taksim square for some more sightseeing and a movie (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). We then made it to the train station just in time and were escorted to our cabin. Luckily we didn’t have a third person staying with us as the room was very small with only the beds for sitting on. We both slept great and after two fairly easy border crossings we were able to sit back and relax for our 22 hour journey to Romania. The scenery consisted of beautiful mountains covered in snow and small little villages of concrete housing. The time passed quickly and before we knew it we were in Romania!
~ Randi
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