Excuses

I promise, I have an excuse for not blogging during the entire Istanbul-5-days-of-madness.

It was insane! This isn't a joke. One day I believe we were out for 15 hours, from 8:30 AM to 11:30 PM. Let me tell you, seeing a city of 17 million people and almost 3000 years of history in 5 days is not an easy task. I can't believe that we saw as much as we did to be honest.

Here's a short list of what we saw. I won't waste your time by writing down every single detail. Doing so would 1, require much more time than I currently have to give and 2, would take so long that no one would bother to finish this blog post. Consider this an extended Details sections.

1. Turkish toilettes cannot flush paper. Yes. That does mean that all bathrooms contain a repository which you store your oh so dirty papers.
2. Tap water is not drinkable in Turkey. That was basically a huge inconvenience.
3. Turkish cuisine has to be one of the most underrated in the world. I promise it goes much further than Aladdin's.
4. Turkish men are would-be-semi-rapists. No joke.
5. Liquor is super ultra expensive (in great contrast to Italy). Think 3 TL for a beer. 60 for a fifth of Smirnoff, etc.
6. Air conditioned tour buses are now my official favorite safe haven.
7. Bogozici Univerisitizi is full of cats and kittens. Literally.
8. Turkey is full of cats (sometimes kittens).
9. Turkey is also full of dogs.
10. Turkish men will touch you.
11. All shopkeepers were, let's say, extremely proactive in getting a sale.
12. Mosques are incredibly awe-inspiring. Also, the speed at which they were constructed is also amazing. Imagine, Sinan built more than 80 mosques in his lifetime. Michaelangelo barely finished one ceiling.
13. Resat Kasaba is basically a huge baller and owns more than half of Istanbul. We ate 5 course meals everyday and went to really cool exclusive spots.
14. It's heartbreaking to say goodbye. I really hate doing it.

That's basically my recollection of Istanbul. It went by in such a blur. I don't think I had ever accomplished so much in 5 days.

More about my little trip when I have more time.