Fri 13/03/09 10:41

So today I did what I like to do on every trip, explore. I knew where I wanted to go, and the direction that I should head, so I headed out this morning. It was cold… let me just say that at the beginning… it was cold.

The first stop in my day was Starbucks, yep I know, but it just seems the right thing to do at least once in every place I go. Not that it matters if I don’t go to one, just seems right. :) Then it was to find the tower that stands out in the skyline. It’s in most of my photographs as the single tower, I got there and went to the top. Interesting view but not that spectacular otherwise. Then I took off for a church a ways away. I headed out and walked for about ten or fifteen minutes and guess where I ended up? Right in front of Starbucks. I don’t know what happened because it was total shock to me that I was backtracking the whole time. At least I knew which way I had to go now.

Armed with a new purpose, and the Kafiya Church as the target I redoubled my resolve and headed out once again. I walked along the river for about an hour taking some photos but mostly just admiring the landscape. The city is loaded with history, and I love history so the hour went really quickly. In the distance I could see what looked like the church that I was looking for so I kept just going towards it. When I got close I lost sight of it because other buildings were blocking the view, and then I entered a street and there it was. I honestly can’t tell you how remarkable the whole scene was, and the pics that I took really don’t relay how stunned I was. There is this cobble-stoned, narrow road, that I swear had an incline of about 70 degrees. No lie, it was so steep the the cobblestones were more like steps than the paving of a road. It was so steep that when I left I was worried that I’d fall if I went back that way. Okay, now you know how steep the road was, so I’m huffing and puffing and trying to look like I was in shape when I get close to the church it turns out that it’s not exactly a church but more of an abandoned school. How disappointing. :(

I decided that I must be going in the right direction because I do have a map, I just don’t really know where I my location is on the map, but I have an idea. After about 10 minutes I realize that I’m in the middle of a very Muslim community. Most of the men had the long beards, and all the women were completely covered. I didn’t see any European looking people anywhere. I wasn’t worried, but I did feel out of place. Anyway after about another ten minutes I hit a main street, still very Muslim, and I was loving it. I stopped in a little shop that was selling bakala (pastry). I buy it in Dubai, but at the grocery store and without a choice of kinds, but the guy sees that I’m curious about the different types so he starts giving me samples, and I end up buying a mix. While I was standing there I could hear some old guys laughing at me. I don’t think that they were really laughing at me, but more at an American. I must of heard the word “American” about 5 times and then laughing. It’s all good, and as far as I’m concerned it was fun. So I’m eating bakala for the next 10 minutes as I walked along. Then I ended up at a major street, and see tram tracks, and in the distance is an American. We really stand out from everyone else. First we almost always seem to have a backpack with water in the pocket. Usually we’re white males, and just generally just have “a look.”

So I walk up and start talking to him. That in of itself is something that I don’t think I’ve done twice in my whole life, okay maybe twice but it is rare for me to just walk up and start talking to someone. I asked him if he knew where the church was and pointed to a sign, which pointed to the church.

The church was really impressive in that it still had some of the mosaics hundreds of years old on the walls. As for grandeur the mosques completely overshadow it though. I always seem to be able to imagine what it must have been like back hundreds of years ago, I think that’s why I like history so much, I can imagine being there. For that reason the church was worth the walk.

After that I wandered around going up alleys and around mosques, if there was a street that looked interesting I went. All in all it was a good time for my last full day in Istanbul. I still have a half day tomorrow, but I don’t know what I’m going to do.