Istanbul by www.born2travel.it

if you want to know more or see all the photos visit:

30. 07. 2000 Istanbul (TURKEY)

We're in the heart of Istanbul at the home of sweet Ozge, a girl Rossho met some time ago in Norway and who is now very kindly hosting us. I've just woken up; a great silence reigns around me. Everyone is still asleep. I still have in mind last night's entry into this new country, so contradictory. Until the Istanbul station we passed only small stations with hundreds of people waiting for the train, red flags with the white crescent waving everywhere, the roads unpaved, you'd see small, dirty children stopping to admire the passing train and greeting us, all happy as if it were a big event; you saw poor people everywhere, but once we reached the outskirts of this great city we got to know the other side of Turkey. The industrialised area, the famous "minarets" everywhere, rich mosques, luxury cars... This morning we went with Ozge to a local supermarket to do a bit of shopping.

How strange to pay millions of Turkish lira for a bottle of water; there's considerable inflation! We had breakfast on the veranda of Ozge's house, which looks right onto the Bosphorus. A magical place; how lovely to be here and see so many mosques as a backdrop in this city of 14 million inhabitants! Right after, we started the tour; we visited the "Blue Mosque", where a giant carpet covered the whole floor; at the entrance they made us take off our shoes; the interior was marvellous, I felt as if I were in Saudi Arabia, everything was written in Arabic, Muslim faithful everywhere kneeling in prayer; then we went to the "Hagia Sophia", then an aqueduct used in Ottoman times where there was the custom of throwing a coin while making a wish....

(like the Trevi Fountain in Rome!?!), the "Galata Tower", from where we could admire a stunning panorama; you could see the whole city of Istanbul, its mosques, its minarets, its Bosphorus, its decay, its skyscrapers, its houses built without a precise "plan" like a great mosaic continued over time, the Asian and the European side. We even passed near the Galatasaray stadium, still decked out for celebration after their UEFA Cup victory. Too bad about the temperature! At 11 p.m. it was still 34 degrees! One thing that struck me a lot is that there are no rubbish bins in the streets, for fear of terrorist attacks; another characteristic thing are the sellers of a glass of lemonade or fresh water, or those who weigh you on the scales... Too bad I'm not so calm, because deep down I greatly dread the crossing from Turkey to Slovenia. We'll have some really difficult days there...

31. 07. 2000 Istanbul (TURKEY)

For the first time in my life I set foot on a new continent: we're in Asia! Today we moved to grandpa's house, backpacks on our shoulders and off through the streets of the centre. In the afternoon, on a ferry we crossed the Bosphorus from one side to the other. The Asian part is even poorer than the European one... In the evening we visited the "Grand Bazaar" and it was very exciting to get lost in those little streets that smelled of incense, among carpet sellers, hookah sellers and not-so-trustworthy people... [Ozge Ozturk from Istanbul, Turkey]: Each of us walks their own road alone... But it's a nice feeling to discover that we're not really alone at all, when our roads meet even for just a few days... Goodbye until our roads meet again!

[ continues at: ]