Turkey: Week 2

With my parents gone and most of the main tourist attractions in Istanbul out of the way, Sigi and I were able to really just wing it during the last few days. One attraction we did miss, however, was the Basilica Cistern. This cistern was built underneath Istanbul in the 6th century by a Byzantine Emperor. Needless to say, it is an unbelievable feat in engineering:

The "Medusa Head" columns at the back of the cistern are of disputed  origin and purpose, but look pretty badass.

The reasoning behind their different orientations is also unknown.

Following our visit to the cistern, Sigi and I spent some time hanging out in one of the newly replanted parks in Istanbul. It wasn't really a blog-worthy endeavor but I like these two pictures haha:

The weather was beautiful in Turkey and getting increasingly hot, so at one point during the week we decided to go on an adventure to find somewhere to swim outside the city. After fairly limited planning, we found ourselves exploring what are known as the Princes' Islands. Upon our arrival, we rented half-working bikes for ten lira and set out to find a beach, a task that proved to be far easier said than done. Yet during our exploration, we saw some amazing sights and even found an old monastery at the top of one of the islands:

  

As a side note, here are two three more or less worthless videos of Sigi and I being idiots on the bikes and me playing soccer against a horse. The third is a short clip of my favorite street performer. They make me laugh so i figured I'd post 'em. Pardon the language...

Eh, they're not as funny as I remember, sorry. Well, we did end up finding somewhere to swim eventually. I wouldn't exactly call it a beach (more like a patch of dirt), but the water was crystal clear and felt great so that's all that mattered:

Huh what else..? Oh, we visited a industry/science/transportation museum but were a bit disappointed to see mostly American exhibits (after all, we were in Turkey). I think the catch was that a Turkish entrepreneur owned many of the items and opened the museum in his name to encourage technological education in Turkey. There were a few Turkish items and regardless of national origin, all of the displays were still sick.  There was also a puzzle room that Sigi and I got way, way too invested in:

Don't be fooled by the baby, the puzzles were hard.. I swear

During our last day in Turkey, we also visited a local, very small art museum and did some sightseeing from the top of the Galata Tower:

This was my favorite piece, "The Tortoise Trainer"

The uploads are being a bit funky right now so those two will be the last for this post. Remember, most of these blog posts showcase only a fraction of the photos from each visit so if you are interested in seeing more of any museum, sight, etc, let me know and I can send them via email or do another post or whatever you'd like. Anyway, similarly to South Africa, Turkey far exceeded my expectations and was a truly wonderful place. The people were nice and for the most part, thought favorably of Americans (I have actually been asking people everywhere, with complete candor, their opinion of Americans. I was curious to hear because from my prior knowledge we generally get some pretty mixed reviews haha. Most of the answers went something like, "well I like YOU but..." and then they would go on to explain some of the classic foreign policy mishaps of our history. In fact, most people I talked to, including an Iraqi dude, said the majority of Americans they meet are actually very nice, laid-back people. Yet, there was a certain reluctance when it came to their general opinion of America. To be honest, I have been torn between encouragement and disappointment and don't know what to make of all of my inquiries yet. I'm going to keep asking people's opinions as I continue to travel so I'll keep you  posted but in the meantime I figured it was something interesting to share). Anyway, we were now off to Greece!

Actually, one more thing... there was an absolutely massive peace demonstration in Taksim, Istanbul while we were there. It followed the Turkish/Syrian border tragedy to protest Turkish involvement in the ongoing conflict. I didn't have my camera with me but check out this photo from online... it was a surreal experience:

Unfortunately, however, it was slightly anti-American in that many of the protesters thought that Obama was encouraging Turkish involvement to avoid the possibility of sending American troops prior to the election. I personally don't believe it (I could certainly be wrong) and was saddened after hearing some positive views of Americans as I described above. It confuses me... more to think about though.