Istanbul

12th of March, 2004... My outbound flight from my home town, Madrid, was the first one scheduled the morning, so I had to weak up at 5 am. To be honest, I hadn't slept much at all as you can imagine; my mind had been working at a furious pace all night long. I mean, in few hours, my journey around the world was going to begin!

So, after a very emotional farewell with my parents and my girlfriend at the airport, I heard that melodic female voice calling me out... "ladies and gentleman, the outbound flight number XXXXXX, destination Istanbul, is ready for boarding". Oh boy, here we go...

I landed at Istanbul International Airport in the afternoon. After a 20 minutes bus ride I finally got to the Sultanahmet district, which is the 'old town', where most of the touristic sites take place. Just as I got off the bus, with my 25 kg. backpack on my ribs, I realized that I had no idea where I was. I pulled out my Lonely Planet guide and tried to read the map, searching for the Yucelt Interyouth Hostel (I read some nice feedbacks on the net about it and it was conveniently located). Well, after walking for an hour without any sense of direction, one local guy called Engin politely walked me towards the right direction. Turned out that Engin was coursing the same uni studies as I had myself, business management, so we spoke about it for a while. Thanks Engin!

Anyway, so I booked a shared dorm room at the Yucelt Hostel (which was clean enough) and dropped my backpack on the ground with relief. I was totally exhausted and sort of wondering why the hell did this crazy idea of traveling cross my mind. They were the first few hours of my one-year-long journey and I was already growing doubts and fears, missing home, my girlfriend and whatnot. Rough landing indeed, which is why the call it culture entry shock.

Barely few minutes later, one of my room mates walked in and we introduced ourselves. His name was John, from Colorado -USA-, and he was spending a short holidays around Turkey. John was a cool fellow and during the following days we had some nice chats about politics, USA vs. Europe, etc. Surprisingly, the company of being with someone together in this foreign environment chilled out my mood a big deal. Hooking up with John for the next few days in Istanbul surely had a blessing, soothing effect on my fearsome doubts. I immediately realized that one major factor in this trip was bound to be the travelers I'll befriend along the road.

Anyway, we went out to have supper, and I took my first few pictures of Istanbul's most famous sites: The Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque.

Blue Mosque late night	Blue Mosque early morning
Aya Sofia frontside
Later on I met my other two room mates, Frances and Laurance. They were from Quebec, the french region of Canada, and they were on a six months trip from Greece and Turkey all the way up across eastern Europe till Russia. Here on the right there is a photo with them all. Left to right: Laurance, Frances and John.
Anyway, on my first day in Istanbul I went to visit the Aya Sofia. This building was actually firstly dedicated as a christian church in the 6th century by roman emperor Justinian, but when the city fell to the muslims in the 15th century, it was converted into a mosque right away. The Aya Sofia had been for over a thousand years the largest worshipping building in the christian world until the St. Peter's cathedral was erected in the Vatican. The nasty pink-peeling look of the outside does not portray the enormous beauty and size of the inside. Seriously, the inner chamber is as large as a football stadium, and tall as a 8 floors building. Impressive indeed. Only one drawback: the entrance fee costs 9 euros and there's no discount for students. Pictures of Aya Sofia interior bellow.
The next day I wandered around the Gran Bazaar of Istanbul . It's a labyrinthisque (spelling?) indoor complex where 4000 thousand small shops cream one after each other selling the most diverse products: carpets, spices, leather jackets, silk blouses, chess boards, etc. Of course, it's been dulled down to cater the tourists, but nonetheless a very pleasant place to get lost in while sipping a tea and being allured in by vendors. One of my main complains about Istanbul (and Turkey as a whole), is that vendors see tourists as nothing but a walking dollar, and they tend to force way too much their sales approaches. This is an example of a conversation I have had at least a hundred of times in Turkey: Vendor (as you pass by): Hello my friend! can I ask you a question? You (stopping your pace): sure, what's up? Vendor (next to your side): where are you from? You: Madrid, in Spain. Vendor (in your home language): ooohhh Espania. Yo tengo amigos en Espania. Me gusta mucho Espania. You: Thank you, I like Turkey too. Vendor (showing you the way in): Why don't you step into my -carpet- shop and we have a tea while I show you my excellent craftsmen merchandise. You (as you resume your walking): No thank you, maybe some other time. And again, and again, and again. Eventually, you simply don't answer back and those smiling faces asking you every 100 meters "Hello my friend! where are you from?". I know it might sound impolite, but trust me on this one: after you've politely answered their sales-orientated questions and declined them down a dozen of times, you simply can't be bothered anymore.
The next day John, Frances, Laurence and I took a cruise along the Bosphorus, the river that cuts across Istanbul and links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. It was freaking cold due to the cold river winds. There are three main parts in Istanbul: the asian part east of the Bosphorus, the sultanahmet west of the Bosphorous and south of the Golden Horn (an inland spin-off of the Bosphorous), and the new city district west of the Bosphorous and north of the Golden Horn. Those three districts are linked together by huge hanging bridges. The next day over I visited the Tokpaki Palace , home of the almighty Ottoman Sultans for centuries from where they'd lead the empire. The most impressive feature of this Palace is the breath taking Harem . Here, 400 concubines (and their 200 black eunuch guards) lived and were educated in different arts. The mother of the Sultan was in charge of this place, and as a matter of fact she was one of the most powerful and influencing persons in the whole empire. Also remarkable was the so-called Cage . In order to stop the fratricide carnage that were taking place between the sultans and the princes (sultan's brothers) in order to reach the throne, this new building was erected. In here, the princes were locked in for their whole lives. They were granted with their own harem and all the luxuries you can imagine, but they could not ever leave the building. It was, literally, a golden jail. Of course, most of them ended up going nuts and eventually insane. Notorious was the case of one of the princes who, after having been confined at the Cage for 22 years, he commanded his 200 concubines to die drown in the Bosphorous. Nice dude indeed. Again, no discount for students was granted and the whole entrance fees mounted up to an outrageous 20 euros. What the hell is up with that?
Tokpaki Palace gardens	Tokpaki Palace Harem room
Tokpaki Palace yard pool	Tokpaki Palace view over Istanbul
The next day I was kinda intoxicated from such culture intake, so I decided to take it easy and walk around the newer part of Istanbul, which proved quite interesting. In many ways it resembles to many other european cities, despite being a tad messier. That night, we went to have some tea and smoke the flavored water pipes, very traditional in all the arab world. After that, Laurence and I went for a few beers at some bar before calling the night. Here goes some pictures of random scenes in Istanbul:
Istanbul is the city of street cats. Fucktons of them around, all of them well-fed by locals.	The streets of Istanbul.
The streets of Istanbul.	The streets of Istanbul.
The always busy Bosphorous	The Galata Tower
Relaxing after a day exploring Istanbul
My last day on Istanbul I met another new friend, Edmundo, from Huesca - Spain. He has been living in Dublin for the last few years but was already considering the possibility of coming back home. I could relate to this guy, having myself spent two years in London and eventually returning to Madrid. We walked around all day long talking about the newly elected spanish president Zapatero, the terrorist bombing attacks in Madrid the previous week, the false London (or Dublin) dream, the millionaire jerks that keep on waking up at 7am to go to the office every day, etc. We had a good laugh indeed. Edmundo was to be the only Spanish person I'd meet during my three weeks in Turkey, and for some reason I found myself really eager to speak my own language. Strange the things you feel when you're far away from home, isn't it? (*) Posterior note, several months later: I've met only a handful of Spanish travelers during the journey, whereas I've met hundreds of people from England, Germany, Holland, Canada, Australia, etc. Where's my people? Come on out here to see the world guys!
Selcuk
The 17th of March I arrived to Selcuk after a 12 hours long ass-flattening night bus. The reason as of why I came here is because of the ancient roman ruins near by: Ephesus Ephesus had been an extremely wealthy roman city 2000 years ago, funded by one of the generals of Alexander the Great. The city hosted over a quarter of a million population, and the ruins are simply splendid. Also, here in Selcuk lies The Artemis Temple , which was one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World (only the Pyramids still remain from those seven). Unfortunately, a earthquake destroyed and only one single column remains still of what was once the greatest temple on Earth.
The remains of the Artemis Temple	Ephesus - The Great Library (Julius Cesar's dad is buried here)
Ephesus - The Theater. While I was sitting there, one Korean woman spontaneously got up the stage and started singing the Korean hymn. She had quite a voice, and the whole bunch of tourists there burst into applause asking her to keep on singing... which she did!	The greek goddess of victory Nike , after which the sport shoes brand might have been named
Seems like romans also needed to shit	More exquisite details of Ephesus
More exquisite details of Ephesus
Fethiye Yet another 12 hours night bus nightmare, yet another wonderful destination. Fethiye is a small coast town in the mediterranean coast of Turkey. It's beautiful, and even though the tourism industry has already put its greedy eyes on this area, it still remains kind of unexploited and free of huge resorty complexes. Probably, it looks like what the spanish's Costa del Sol was alike 20 years ago. It's peaceful, sunny, cheap, and altogether an awesome destination to relax and spend your vacations. Tons of englishmen have noticed this because it seems they are buying properties like there's no tomorrow all along the coast line. I seriously hope they won't ruin it. Anyway, here I met Peter from England and Lin from Korea. We were all staying at the Ideal Pension, a hostel up a steep hill with awesome views all over the bay. We were offered by the hostel staff to join in for some paragliding action (at the price of 75 euros each, of course). But let me tell you this: it was so fucking well worthy. Flying over a beautiful mediterranean bahia 1000 meters of altitude provided me with one of the most breathtaking panoramic views I have seen in my entire existence. Don't believe me? take a look at the picture on the right.	Oludeniz beach from 1000 meters altitude You can even see my foot there as I was flying in an ackward position!
After that, the three of us visited the so called ghost town of Kayakoy . Deserted at the beginning of this century because its population was forced by the government to emigrate to Greece, it has remained absolutely inhabited. The nickname of "ghost city" is most accurate, as it does look like the town was struck by a lightning of something, smoking away all life on it. Pictures bellow.
Another hotspot in the Fethiye whereabouts is The Saklikent Gorge , which is a canyon cut thru by a river. During the summer time, you can trek up the river shore for 18 kilometers, but unfortunately at this time of the year, the waters are so wild that only the first 200 meters are walkable. Nonetheless, extraordinary views are to be found here. Picture bellow left. I also went to take a hot mud dive in the sulphur emanations at Dalyan . They say it's healthy for your skin, but it smells like cauliflower farts (due to the sulphur). Pretty disgusting stuff. Picture bellow right.
	Fancy a smelly mud bath at 38 Celsius?
Another renown characteristic of Fethiye are its Lycian Tombs . The Lycian were the local dominant society around the 4th century before Christ, and their most remarkable feature was their rock-carved tombs: huge ass temple alike tombs carved up high the mountains. Incredible what these people could achieve 2500 years ago.
The cruise I enjoyed the Lycian coast so much that not only I stayed six days in Fethiye, but I also joined a cruise that would sail for four days from Fethiye to Olympos, all along the coast side. The price was 130 euros for those 4 days, all included. At the beginning I was really concerned about my budget rocketing sky-high with all these extra costs, but eventually I decided that should I run out of money mid-trip, I'd just come back home knowing that I had a hell of a time. So we sailed off. We were a group of 6 passengers: Mark from Canada, Mark from USA, Masaki from Canada (Japanese breeded), Darren from Canada and his Japanese wife, and myself of course. That cruise ended up being the best part of all Turkey. I sure had a blast. Nothing beats swimming and sun bathing during the day, and drinking a bear onboard while chatting during the evening. Or simply playing chess with Mark (Canada), who proved being a serious contender. And, on top of all, the people I cruised with were all fantastic, a fun gang.
The boat	The pristine waters of the Lycian coast
The Lycian coast is formed by hundreds of mini islands mushrooming out along the shore, most of them inhabited. We hopped from one to another during four excellent days	Some locals and a scenic view
The gang, left to right: Mark (USA), me, Mark (Canada), Darren and wife (I cannot remember her name for the life of me). Masaki had left the cruise two days before, but we'd met him again few days later in Olympos.
Olympos Four days later, the boat arrived at Olympos , where we'd spent another two days. Here is Olympos is where the myth of the Chimera was forged due to the underground gas pools leaking out between the rock gaps. This leads to eternal flames as the gas burns up by air-contact, and thus the locals believed a terrible dragon had its dwellings under their very feet. Picture bellow left. Mark and I took quite a nasty trek in Olympos, climbing up a hill with rocks shaped as daggers. The view from up there was fantastic though. Picture bellow right.
Cappadocia Two days later, we took a bus north towards Goreme , a small town in Cappadocia . But firstly let me show you a picture from Antalya , a large city by the mediterranean sea where we stopped for few hours. The sun setting was most beautiful. Antalya looked similar to Malaga in many ways: large, mediterranean to the chore, busy, alive and kicking! Picture of Antalya's sunset on the right.
Cappadocia is a vast area in the middle of the Anatolian Plateau. It's famous because some volcano burped out ages ago splattering the whole regions with ashes and lava, which shaped up into amazing geological forms as they cooled down. They say that few scenes of Star Wars was shot in here, probably the Tatooinee outdoor landscapes. Pictures bellow.
The cause of it all?	Cappadocia moonlike landscape picture
Cappadocia moonlike landscape picture	Cappadocia moonlike landscape picture
The infamous "Love Valley" and its penis-shaped 20 meters tall pillars	Close up!
We also visited the underground city of Derinkuyu . It's a huge defense complex with over 4000 years of history. The locals built it to defend themselves from nomad invaders, and the underground kept growing and growing. Eventually, it had 8 floors one under the other and could host a whole city inside. They have 70 meters deep ventilation tunnels, and of course lots of defense and ambush meanings to defeat possible invaders. Impressive. Picture on the right of the underground city of Derinkuyu.
During our staying in Goreme, another fun group gathered up, and we'd usually have dinner together at the pension and have a good laugh. Let me introduce you to my friends in Cappadocia, check Picture on the right - The Cappadocia bunch - Left to right: Tamara (Canada), Masaki (Canada/Japan), Lin (Denmark), me and Enne (Denmark). Mark had stayed that day butt-scratching about in the pension.
Anyway, three days later we kissed good bye to each other (special mention to Mark and Masaki, with whom I had been traveling for almost two weeks already). Posterior note: I would meet Mark again in England one year later, after finishing my journey around the world! And so was how I picked up yet another exhausting night bus and I crossed the southern border towards Syria the 2nd of April 2004, after three great weeks in Turkey.
The four days cruise along the Lycian coast from Fethiye to Olympos was a delight: the scenery is beautiful, the ride pleasant and the other passengers were kickass. I had a very enjoyable time with them.
Istanbul has got tons of stuff to see and do, specially if you are into the cultural tourism scene. Very interesting city in my opinion. Turkish baths: aaahhhhh what a pleasure, never felt cleaner! Don't go to the touristy ones though as they are ridiculously overpriced. Food: mediterranean cuisine all the way baby! I loved the Lycian coast, probably because it's similar to my own country's coastline: sun, good beaches, warm people, etc. Cappadocia has some outstanding scenery worth the trip there. The buses network is simply outstanding. Overall, easy to travel about if, like me, Turkey's been your first independent traveling experience. Fairly popular destination among backpackers, so you can easily meet them up on the road.
Street touts in Istanbul might be a little bit heavy with their carpet business hawking and stuff. Affordable for the average backpacker, but not as cheap as other countries nearby. No student discounts at any sight, and entrance fees to the main sights rank over the 10 dollars mark. Bit overpriced if you ask me. It's a large country, so 12 hours night buses are a daily bread and butter.