Istanbul

I'm a terrible blogger - I admit it. I'm so behind, it's not even funny. I'm in Israel at the moment, and have been for over a week, and I haven't even blogged about my two weeks in Turkey, let alone my two nights in Tiranna, Albania - all amazing experiences worth blogging about. There is some sort of  blogging equation or law emerging here - the more bloggable travel experiences one has, the less time (or inclination?) one has to actually write the blog. Andrew's Law of Travel Blogging - you read it here first.

Or maybe I'm just lazy.

Let's talk Turkey (I know, I know...): My two weeks in Turkey were split between sensory-overloading Istanbul, and the peaceful and stunning Cappodocia in the central part of the country. Istanbul did not start out smoothly as I arrived in the middle of a torrential downpour. It was during this downpour that I realized I had left the rain cover for my backpack back in Montenegro (two countries previous). I don't care if I get wet, but it would be crappy if my pack and it's contents got soaked. And I got lost on the way to the hostel (getting lost was easy to do, for me, in Istanbul). But this was when I first encountered the kindness of Turkish people. Despite not speaking English, several people helped me find my hostel - the last person walking me right up to the door. I encountered this friendliness over and over during my time in Turkey.

Plenty of amazing things to see in Istanbul: The Blue Mosque, the Aya Sofya, Topkapi Palace, to name but a few, with the Aya Sofya being my favourite. The Grand Bazaar was interesting and, not surprisingly, jammed with people - mostly tourists it seemed. It was here that I realized I had many more friends in Istanbul than I knew, as I kept hearing vendors call out to me, "My friend, my friend" and then try and get me to "just take a look" at some of their wares. I preferred the Spice Bazaar with it's awesome array of colours and smells. I couldn't resist buying dried strawberries and Turkish Delight.

It's not too often one can say that they took a day trip to another continent, but I did just that. Istanbul straddles both Europe and Asia, divided by the Bosphorus River. It was pretty easy to hop a ferry over to the Asia side - on the ride across, looking south, I saw countless number of oil tankers in the distance. It's a pretty major tanker route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

There's way more I could add, but in the interest of getting this entry posted before 2011, I'm gonna end things there. I've only got a few photos to share with you at the moment - I'll hopefully add more later. I have some issues with dust on the inside of my camera lens, so I'd like to photoshop the dust spots out before adding those photos. And hopefully I'll get my camera fixed at some point...

Near the Grand Bazaar

The Galata Tower - near where I stayed

The Aya Sofya

Aya Sofya

Kotor, Montenegro

And now, to recount my brief but enjoyable visit to a country many of you have never heard of before: Montenegro. Montenegro is a former Yugoslav republic and the last to gain independence - only as recently as 2006. So, I guess it's the youngest country I've ever visited. Or that anyone could visit, for that matter. I spent two nights in the picturesque (to grossly understate it) town of Kotor. It is located on a fjord-like inlet of the Adriatic Sea. Kotor's Old Town - where my hostel was located - has awesome medieval walls that surround the city and go up the mountainside. The highlight of my stay here was my hike up the wall/mountain, and the amazing views that went along with it. I was fortunate have excellent weather for this. Enough talk - check out my photos:

The old town and harbour, from part-way up the wall.

No, I'm not describing a fish I caught.