Mark and Zach and a tour of Turkey

Mark and Zach arrived in Sofia and we headed to O!Shipka - a former punk venue turned pizza place - for dinner. We would end up eating there three of our four nights together in Sofia by the time Zach left two weeks later - it was so good and cheap!! We initially stayed two nights in Sofia and then took an overnight bus down to Istanbul to begin our travels in Turkey. The bus was actually pretty horrible. We left around 9pm and hit the border about 2am. The crossing took 3 hours with us having to get in and out of the bus at least 4 times. Finally we arrived in Istanbul around 7 am and deleriously wandered our way to the Big Apple hostel. We checked in - walked around to get cash and eat omlets and then went back and slept half the day. We then took back to the streets, stopping in a corner store to check the prices of food and beer. Inside the minature shop we were addressed by a local who spoke english, asking where we were from. When we replied "the States" he pointed at the television and said "Breaking News - the US embassy was just bombed!". It turned out that it was actually the consulate and there was a gunfight - not a bomb - but quite a welcome to Turkey nonetheless.

We had planned to stay in Istanbul for 3 nights so we didn't do much sightseeing the first day and just wandered the waterfront and a huge park. We ate some roasted corn and chestnuts and sat on the street watching people go by. On our way back to the hostel we walked by a travel agency and noticed a picture of a big sailboat - "4 day 'Blue Cruise' on the coast of Turkey." We all stopped and stared thinking "how cool would that be." Someone finally suggested we see how much it was and we went inside. Turns out it was quite affordable and the agency could book all our buses, trains, flights, accommodations, etc... ahead of time. Seeing as how we had just a week in Turkey and no travel guidebook we decided to come up with an itinerary and see how much it cost. It ended up being incredibly cheap so we booked it - leaving the next day from Istanbul on another overnight bus.

That night - our only night in Istanbul - we hung out on the roof-top cafe of our hostel - sitting on giant pillows looking at the Blue Mosque on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other - sipping beer and talking with the other travelers until the sun came up. We did a little sightseeing the next day as our bus didn't leave until 9:30pm. We saw the Blue Mosque - a beautiful and monstrous domed building with nothing inside but carpets and giant pillars. We also checked out the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar - a maze of food, spices, deserts, carpets, jewlery, clothes, tools - almost anything you can think of - sold from little stands that line the road for blocks and blocks in all directions.

Our shuttle to take us to the chaos they call the Istanbul bus terminal was late. We arrived in the throng of people confused and worried we would miss our bus. We finally found our "gate" and had about 10 minutes to spare. Zach and I raced around looking for some dinner. We found a tiny window with a young grill cook inside. We eyed the stack of eggs in the back and asked for omlets. Another customer translated for us and we discovered the only thing the cook new how to make was a hamburger. Zach asked if he could go in the back and cook an omlet and surprisingly the guy agreed! So Zach ran in the back and fired up the grill while I raced back downstairs to check on our bus. It was just pulling up meaning we had somewhere around 8 minutes to go. I told Mark to load us up and try not to leave without us and ran back up to tell Zach to hurry. The omlets were nearly done and we paid the cook and looked around for some paper plates - they had none. I eyed some giant bread rolls - bought two - cut them in half and we ran onto the bus with two massive egg sandwiches in hand - just in time to pull out and on our way south.

We slept much better on this bus and pulled into Pammukale - a small town bordering a hillside filled with salt-pool formations and a bunch of ancient ruins. After spending the afternoon there we caught a few more buses down to Fethiye on the southwest coast. From there we boarded the "Blue Cruise" along with 11 other 20-something year-olds and a fifty-year old couple. Little did we know that we would be spending the next 6 days together, having a great time and forming some great friendships!