Istanbul, Turkey.

A pleasant surprise, to be absolutely honest, and unexpectedly so. I came here with the promise to myself: to try and see the positive sides of the city and the differences in culture, rather than be annoyed by pushy shopkeepers and fall into the monotony by comparing travels. Istanbul was the European Culture Capital in 2010. Two years later, it was the fifth most popular tourist destination. I was adamant to find out why, and I did.

This is one of the few kitty pictures I took.
I had started a collection of street dogs in Athens. But after three days the count of Turkish street dogs already exceeded the Greek counterpart. 

Byzantium,  it was first called. Constantine,  emperor of the Roman empire, wanted his City built on seven hills, just like Rome, naming it Constantinople. It carried that name till the last century. Only when Atatürk came along did the name change to Istanbul (1930). It was capital to many empires: Roman, Byzantium, Ottoman and Latin. And though it looks like one in many aspects, it is not the country's capital anymore (Ankara is. We were heavily advised against visiting it). Fun fact: During the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul had 1400 public toilets around the city, whilst the rest of Europe had none (not even in the palaces/castles of the French, for instance). 

Istanbul's population counts almost 14 million, not counting the tourists, which is more than the entire population of Belgium. 99% of the population is (officially - not perse practicing ) Muslim. Personally, I find that percentage surprisingly high, and would never have guessed it had you asked me. I did, however, find out where the Turkish way of wrapping a veil comes from. (D' oh). Turkish women have a very specific way of putting it on, and I'm still trying to figure out how it is done (so that it doesn't come undone within 5 minutes).

The Turkish people are friendly. On average, they're friendlier than many cultures I've run into, and they tend to make jokes within the first 3 minutes of them meeting you. Restaurant and shopkeepers aside (who tend to be annoying anywhere- though the Turkish have pushed it to a new level, practically dragging you to a seat in restaurant streets, pushing the menus up your nose), I haven't had any negative situations with the Turkish. They have a funny accent, though. Though their own language consists of practically all vowels (except the phonetic 'oo', possibly) including all the "special" French and Dutch sounding ones ( 'eu'. ' ui' and ''), they have a difficulty pronouncing English. (Or Arabic, for that matter. Their language isn't as throaty/deep). 

Within the first half hour of our being in the country, three different people already helped us out (specifically on Metro whereabouts and information about their tickets) 

Istanbul has a nice transportation system worked out. They have a card, that works very much like the Dutch "OV chip card" (though without the checking out part). The card can be used for all open/public transportation, including but not limited to trains, metros, trams and boats.
You buy a card (10 TL),  and it already has some money on it (4 TL). Every time you check in anywhere (which is the only way you can get on the platform - and there are supervisors at every station) you pay a small amount ( 2 TL), no matter how many stops you take. So basically, it's not about the distance so much as the amount of lines you use. Oh, and by the way: their subway is the third oldest in the world (1875), after the ones in London (1863) and New York (1868). 

Istanbul is greener and spacier than I thought it would be. I got there in the right period: All the tulips were blossoming, and Hyacinths were all around. (Both belong to my top ten flowers, the latter is where my name's derived from). I ended up doing far more walking than I expected - and got new shoes to accommodate said walking. We even walked all the way to the Taksim Square on the Asian side of the city  (Ironically Taksim means Division/Dividing), which is what all the Turkish Twitter-block commotion is about.

They have plenty of naturally coloured flowers, yet find a need to do this. 

The streets are highlighted with mosques and churches (which look almost the same, but for the added minarets, and the added moon instead of a cross on top-- because most mosques were churches up until the Ottoman empire). The hotel is quite near the Blue Mosque (which is definitely the prettiest on the outside, in my own humble opinion -- it is also the only mosque in the city with six minarets.) The Aya/ Hagia Sofia is just on the other end of that street ( which was my personal winner as far as the inside is concerned-- also, it was the largest church in the world for almost a thousand years, until the Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. The Aya Sofia was turned to a Mosque. But it is out of function now, and they turned it into a museum). Just outside the "old town" there is a Christian neighbourhood (and a Jewish one, as well), with many churches that still function as such. The Chora has the prettiest frescoes and mosaics. One thing though: Jesus looks very sad in all of them (in the Aya Sofia too).

The Blue Mosque. 

And the Aya Sofia 

The Hippodrome, looking on the Blue Mosque.

 (Including an Egyptian Obelisk)

The Topkapi Palace also has a very interesting museum. As a former palace of Sultans, it's a place complete with hamams and gardens and fountains, and at it's peak housed about 4000 people. Part of the collection  the museum claimed to own seems very questionable to cynical old me (though some might very well be honest and genuine): mainly belongings of different prophets: They claimed to have THE stick of Moses (very polished and smaller than I'd imagine), a turban of Joseph, scrolls of John (the Baptist?), a pot of Abraham, and to top it all off: beard hairs, swords (which were gold decorated and had European hilts-- hence the questionability) and a (huge!) footprint of Muhammed, who according to descriptions was but an average sized man -albeit with a strong/big presence- (PBUT). They also had swords of the different khalifas (Omar, Othman and Ali), and a few keys to the Ka'abeh in Mecca.

They also had a large (ha. Pun intended) collection of Sultans' clothes. Now, there can be only one of two deductions: Either the Sultans were all incredibly overweight, or these clothes were sown to fit their abnormally large egos... I'm rooting for the former deduction, as I could easily curl up and sleep on any of the thrones they had on exhibit (even if it were filled up with cushions).

I could fit in this three or four times. 

We also visited the Archeological Museum of Istanbul. Regrettably, they have very little that was actually found in Istanbul (or Turkey in general). There were a lot of items that were Egyptian, however, some dating back to 2 and 3 thousand years BC, and a lot of Lebanese diggings as well, mainly from Sidon. There were even some Egyptian ruins stolen by Lebanon first, and then somehow found their way to Istanbul's museum.
They did have the tomb of Alexander the Great (which was later found not to contain said Alexander, though they never changed the name of the tomb.) I think I liked that item in the huge collection most of all.

Alexander's Tomb.

The city walls are steep.
Yes. I climbed them. And almost keeled over. 

The Basilica Cistern is a definite Must-see in Istanbul. It's hidden in plain sight, across from the Aya Sofia, and is called Yerebatan Sarayi in Turkish, or the Sunken Palace (which describes it very well). It is the largest of several cisterns that lie 150 m beneath Istanbul, and used to be a Basilica (Roman Public Court Building) built in the 3rd century and contained gardens, and was later rebuilt as a cistern to provide a water filtration system for the Topkapi palace. There are two huge Medusa heads in one of the corners of the with-water-filled man-made cave, one laid sideways ( to negate the power of Gorgon's gaze) and the other is put upside down on purpose (to show the actual height of the face).
There are HUGE fish that swim in the water, which put their heads up around crowds, eagerly awaiting food to be thrown in. Talking of water reminds me: We strolled around the entire beach of the peninsula. The sea is INFESTED with jellyfish. Which makes a fascinating sight, yet a nightmare if you were to accidentally fall into the water.

The Sunken Palace. 

Medusa's head, sideways. 

Jellyfish. 

Obviously. 

We roamed about the Grand Bazaar (which is the oldest and largest historical covered bazaar in the world, with 3000 shops covering 61 streets -- it reminded me very much of Khan el Khalili in Cairo) and the Egyptian or Spice bazaar, which covers an entire area around it (Which is very much like some streets in Mansheya in Alexandria).

 Spices and Turkish Delight. 

They really sell these. Just like that. No license no nothing.
Not in the Bazaars, mind you. But in the train-tunnels. 

That and peppersprays and tasers and the like... 

We had Turkish coffee ( and even tried reading our futures -- mine had something that looked like a wolf [or Grim?] , the cup I was trying to read had a definite dragon and a huge and smiling Cheshire cat .) We had Turkish tea ( which tastes like any tea, really. Also, it's only a recent national drink, because coffee became expensive and tea leaves could be grown way more easily in the Black Sea region). And we had apple tea (which is herbal, and prepared horribly sweetly. If I had proper internet I'd've uploaded the video in which I'm attempting -and failing- to drink it without shuddering, though the flavour is quite nice).

To be honest, I don't think I'd attempt visiting Istanbul mid-summer. It is crowded and warm enough for my taste is March-April (You can only shuffle your way through the Bazaar, and though the temperature ranged between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius, I definitely got sunburn the first few days). That said, I DEFINITELY recommend this city as a destination for (short) city trips, and I think I'd like to go there again. I'll at least attempt another visit to Turkey soon, to discover the rest of its brilliance, nature and hidden culture.

Xx
The Gypsy

Cuba so far

Friday and Saturday (19/20-05: before leaving) everything went wrong. I got robbed, things got lost, Luna ran away. All in all a rather dismal start. Then, on Sunday, I got a call from the Organisation Team of Cuba: they managed to check in everyone online. That is to say, everyone but me. Horror and stress ensued, though I tried to keep calm. All I had to do was go show my face at an airport desk. As might be obvious (from my long internet silence if nothing else, which you may or may not have noticed.) I made it through.

Right now I'm typing this on my phone, taking my time , my feet in the water of the hotel's swimming pool. I'll snatch the first opportunity to post this, but I'll probably only be able to use wifi after Cuba.

When we landed, we had a very watery welcome. Rain, and lots of it. (Another stitch since the weekend?) I think I was the only one who didn't mind much, but then again I am the only one who can't really appreciate the sun. I am still grateful for every day I live in Holland.

Since the first day, there has been plenty of sun. We started our Tuesday by breakfast at our Hotel Vedado, which was surprisingly good. I remember all too clearly that food in Latvia was 'meh', and though I will repeat again and again I'm glad I eat to live, and don't live to eat, I'm really secretely relieved the food here is nice so far. (They had told us not to expect any culinary niceties, but I'll disagree. I've already had the best grilled fish I'll have in a long while)

After breakfast, it was a gathering in the lobby, to take the bus to Miramar, and the Escuela de Idiomas (or language school).
The barrio (neighbourhood) is supposedly on of the places where the really rich people lived,until everything became property of the state and the all left, either to the States, or Spain, or elsewhere.

Dick (our spanish teacher) had already divided us into groups, so we heard that morning that the class of 35 peeps had been divided into 5 groups of 4 levels: next-to-nothing, basics, two groups of 'normal' and one advanced. Was dealt into the last one, with only three other girls (Nikki, Anouk and Emma) and one guy (Tom). And Jeremias, but he was just there because otherwise he'd probably have to wait out, bored, every day of week one. Explanation: Jere is an Argentinian. He needs as much Spanish classes as I need either Dutch or English ones.

After classes (and the realization I might starve whenever a restaurant told me they had nothing but 'carne'), we went on our first ever tour: la Habana vieja. Jeremias toured us along 'el Cinco Plazas', or the five squares. We saw the cathedral, the forts built to protect Habana from the pirates harrassing the coasts (the Dutch, the English and the French).
I had my only swim in the swimming pool of this week. I think it's the only day I managed to relax.

The second tour was the day after. Gloria toured us, Hannah toured the second half of the group. On the schedule were the Capitolio (basically the Eiffel tower of Habana in terms of importance), and el Barrio Chino (Or Habana's Chinatown, only without the abundance of the Chinese themselves. The only ones we saw were tourists, and there will probably be a lot of them working in the kitchens).

We got two tours on the day of our Oral Spanish exam. (Can you say tough?). One was a tour I was looking forward to a lot: Museo del Revolucion, or, in other words, Fidel's own piece of work. His entire life, as well as parts of -mostly- the twelve survivors of the first 82 to land back on Cuban grounds from Mexico, the best 'friends' of "the Beard". Amongst them: Che Guevara, current president and his own brother, Raúl Castro, Almeida, Cienfuegos and more. It was muy interesante.

The second tour consisted of Hotel Nacional, and opposite to the hot and suffocating museum, this tour turned out to be a pleasant surprise, not only because of the airco (though it played a big part), but also because I had no idea what to expect. I knew there had been 'some' famous people visiting it since forever, but I never imagened the bulk of names that hit me: Johnny Depp (!), Louis Amstrong, Frank Sinatra (I touched his doorhandle 8D ), the first actor to play Tarzan, who used to jump off the balcony of the first floor into the 1.3m deep swimming pool, as well as LOTS of mobsters. The maffia actually held a conference there that shut down the hotel's usual running for it.
____

It's been a couple of days since I had my feet in the pool, typing out all of that. And I will give an update of everything promise, but I need to get this off my chest first:
I JUST RODE A HORSE!
Woooh!

That, and today was epic from every angle. First of all, when I woke up and opened the door, the view took my breath away and left me momentarily speechless. Pinar del Rio, and specifically Vinales, is gorgeous. It's not called Cuba's Back Yard without good reason. Nowhere else do they have scenery and greenery like here.

Stacey, with whom I had had that Storytrail workshop in the beginning of this month (May), had to tour group 2, Elise our group. I managed to tag along with the other group, for the sole reason of being intensely curious as to what Stace had created. She was awesome. Her tour through the cave of a mogote (lime stone formed mountains), with a story about Cubans first hero: Hatuey, an indian, and an interesting debate in front of Cuba's biggest (and ugly) murial was interesting throughout. 

After the storytrail we had lunch, and afterwards went to a tobacco farm. Lots of green, lots of interesting facts told by Mark and Kirsten. The entire proces was explained, from planting the seeds all the way to rolling the cigar, although we only went to the 'factory' to see it happening the day after. Mark also introduced something called Guayavita, which, as the name indicates, is a liqour-ish drink with small guavas in the bottle. Apparently there are two versions, and everybody who had a taste seemed to prefer the sweet to the dry one, judging by the looks on their faces. It all merely smelled like alcohol to me.

After we got back to our bungelows (yeees, the luxury, so much fun, your own little house) we had about fifteen minutes to get ready for the next activity, horsebackriding. I had 'stolen' some of the left-over meat off our tables to give to my new best four-footed friends (besides Luna, of course). They practically ate it without chewing, wagging their tails all the way.

Choosing horses was a tad difficult, they all looked fairly skinny and like followers. Hannah and I were silently squabbling over the most beautiful of steeds, a black one, firey and passionate. I asked for a fast one, and a fast one I got. Not our black beauty, but a greyish white horse who didn't look all that. Turned out he was far more eager to run than Blackie, which Hannah got, so I was satisfied. Hannah and I were quick to jot ahead and leave the rest of the group behind, and I tried out my steed the first opportunity I got, a meadow. Best. Thing. Ever. The horse guy wasn't too happy with me, though the old man who had assigned me the horse had twinkly eyes and the biggest smile.

After horseriding I took a swim, a shower, sang happy birthday to Emma at 18.00 exactly (midnight in Holland), admired a colibri with Stacey, and got ready for some bat-watching. The cave we had been at in the morning was full of them, and we'd been told that we could go see them. A pretty sight, but damn do they make a racket for such tiny animals. One of them, it looked like a baby still, came gliding so close to me I squealed (of happiness). Which says plenty.

---

To get back to before we left to Pinar del Rio, there's not a lot to tell. Mostly, spanish classes. The last evening in la Habana Anouk and I visited Habana vieja to eat something, though I wasn't hungry, and we ended up seeing Habana by night. Especially the Capitolio was a grand sight.

At the spanish language school we all got to prepare a little act, and after our written exam, which took place on the last day of us being in Habana, we got to watch this little show. It started out with everyone receiving their certificate, and afterwards a dance performance of a couple of children from a neighbouring school. After that, one by one we performed our own acts to each other, which was as much fun(ny) as it was good.

The bus trip to Pinar del Rio didn't take too long, two hours top. We were all pretty flabbergasted by the sights of the mogotes as we got a little talk about them and the other mountain ranges of Cuba. I personally wouldn't have minded if we had stayed here a week in the Spanish school, instead of Habana, which I had pretty much become tired of after 3 days.
________

I'll end this post here, for it's length and your tired eyes if nothing else. I'll keep on typing, of course, so stay tuned! 

Xx
The Gypsy