Thessalonica to Istanbul

I was able to get a single night train compartment all to myself from Thessalonica to Istanbul. It was an old SNCF train from the 1950s or 1960s, and all the notices on the inside of the compartment were in French. At 4:30 AM, the train stopped at a Passport Control stop in Uzunkopru. They hauled me off the train to buy a Visa stamp for 15 Euros. Sure, why not? I'm glad I read about that in the book.

After arriving in Istanbul in the morning, I hiked from Serkeci train station to just behind the Blue Mosque to find a hotel. The Dersaadet Oteli is a restored Ottoman wooden building, but they only had the Sutlan Penthouse Suite available for the first two nights of my stay (220 Euros, ouch.) The next two nights after that, they had a double (at 105 Euros), so I only get two nights as "The Sultan". [Whenever one of my tourist neighbors in the hotel said or did anything annoying, I liked to imagine what an actual sultan might have said. Maybe something like, "The Sultan is not pleased! Off with his head...and bring his wife to me." as he flashed a sinister grin.]
While I was waiting for them to prepare my room, I sat on the terrace and enjoyed spectacular views of the Sea of Marmara and the Blue Mosque. I later found out that The Sultan Suite also has a panoramic Marmara view. It was going to be a nice way to wake up. I checked in around 10:30, showered, and went to the nearby Blue Mosque.

Afterwards, I walked through the gardens next to Topkapi Palace which I will see up close tomorrow. Tulips are everywhere--from the Blue Mosque to Aya Sofya to Topkapi Palace--and a garden runs downhill next to the palace almost to the water. With the exception of the Tulip Festival near Seattle, I've never seen so many tuilps in one place. They're all in bloom right now, and there are four or five varieties. It was a beautiful walk under very large trees.

Once at the bottom, I hopped across a busy road and walked down to the waterfront at Eminönü where I stopped for a fish sandwich. The vendors throw small fish on a griddle and serve them inside bread with lettuce, tomato, onion, and lemon juice. It looked like a small mackerel and had the bones left in but was pretty good.

I walked over the Galata Bridge where everyone fishes with large rods and reels. The lure to have is two little strings about 1 inch or less long attached to the fishing line with with a little hood. Put 8 of these on a line with a lead weight, and toss it over the edge. Then just lift it up and down until you get four or five little fish and pull it up. It was working well, and most fishermen had a small bucket filled with dozens of sardines about 4-6 inches long.

I walked through Beyoglu up to Taksim Square, but I went too far east on the way and accidentally discovered a nice cafe near the square and before that, I found the nargile area. Earlier, in between the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia, I bought postcards, so I found the post office near Taksim and got stamps. Afterwards, I walked along Istiklal Cadessi and, following a walking tour in the book, tried to find the US Consulate. I found the Pera Palace Hotel instead. I needed a break, so I went to a cafe overlooking the Golden Horn and wrote my postcards.

I get the feeling the Turks are just fine without the USA. I know there are free speech issues and Islamic fundamentalists in some areas, but Istanbul has everything and everything works. [This impression turned out to be naively incorrect. In fact, Turkey has received billions in aid from the U.S. Also, demonstrations in support of secularism that occurred in April showed how turbulent Turkey's political situation can be. I was unaware of this at the time even though the protest in Ankara had occurred only a few days earlier.] It's as though it developed almost independently or in a more controlled way than other countries [It is definitely more controlled.] The people seem busy, industrious, and not at all concerned with me. Touristy areas bring out the somewhat pushy tour guides, but really that's no more than salesmanship--they're just trying to make a buck, and one of the tourists I talked to later had good experiences with a guide they met in front of Aya Sofya.

I continued on the Beyoglu walk up to Galata Tower and then broke off to walk home over Ataturk bridge. I missed a couple of mosques by Sinan though. I went over Ataturk Bridge, down Ataturk Blvd, and then left toward the Grand Bazaar, but I didn't realize that because it was dark when I passed by Istanbul University. Then I went back past the Blue Mosque and home to Dersaadet Oteli and the Sultan Suite. Earlier that evening after writing my postcards, I had a great dinner at Sofyali 9. They brought several small plates of food, and I tried greens with yogurt, garlic and green peas with olive oil, then the Sofyali salad, and several other excellent dishes.