Istanbul, Turkey.

After years of hearing about the magical land called Istanbul, I finally made it there. Slowly, but surely, now I can officially say I understand a bit about the magic of the place.

Turkish baths, whirling dervishes, doner kebabs, backgammon, hookah, hot-as Turkish tea, mosques, minarets, 5x/day call-to-prayer, Ottoman empire influence, chilled yogurt sauce, baklavah, pistachios, apricots, spices.....all have been a part of my reality for the past couple of days. awesome! (interesting that I would list mostly food. see below for cooking class)

We had a 5 day stop-over in Istanbul, literally docked right in the middle of the city, under the main bridge that spanned the Bosphorus Strait. It was heavily suggested to the entire shipboard community that we wake up early on the morning we were coming into Istanbul to see the skyline. Literally, I was told, it would be one of the most memorable of the entire trip. Massive, beautiful, magnificent mosques could be seen from afar. It truly was a sight that I'll never forget.

I hit all the big sights early on in the trip, spending extra money on a tour guide through the Haiga Sophia - an interesting place that has been used as a church and a mosque in it's lifetime.

It was interesting having to cover my head to go into the mosques, along with not wearing shoes, respecting the call-to-prayer times, and having areas that only men were allowed into. There is definitely a large Muslim inflence that is felt in daily activities within the city. This was a foreign reality for me, but one that I learned to appreciate and relish--actually falling in love w/ the loud incantations during the prayer times. A sound that I can't repeat and will never forget.

A big part of the culture that I really enjoyed were all the hookah bars where large groups of friends gathered all hours of the day to enjoy backgammon and tea. It is a cool aspect of the culture that I found myself wishing that we could replicateat home. Smoking a hookah, chilling out with friends, playing a simple, yet captivating board-game and just hanging out. Some bars served beer to buy, but if it was anywhere near a mosque, alcohol could not be served. This, however, didn't seem to deter large groups from gathering at these spots. I loved it. And love that I'm now a semi-proficient backgammon player. (resume?)

The turkish bath that I went to was the coolest thing. Imagine a centuries old stone, cylindrical building. Seperate men/women spaces. Steamy & hot once you enter the bathing space. 4-5 women working all day, wearing only black bray & panties - they must literally scrub 100's of women a day. A full on loofah scrub, sudsing that was unparalleled. they wash your hair, clean behind your ears and massage the heck out of you. Gentle?, no. Awesome, yes. Then you lay on the huge, hot marble stone w/ 15 other naked women and just float away to never-never land. I loved it! Many people didn't because of the utter lack of modesty or gentleness. These two were actually part of why I loved it.

On my final morning, I took a Turkish cooking class with 5 other women from the ship. We cooked a 5 course meal and then stuffed ourselves with all the goodness, plus wine. I literally rolled myself out after it was done, but I learned alot and it was fun. score. I hope to do another cooking class (Morocco?) b/c it seems such an authentic way to learn about the history and culture of a place.

Next up tom. is Bulgaria! Things are going really fast, and I still feel incredibly blessed to have had this opportunity given to me.