Final on Istanbul & trip to Sofia

Well, I made it to Sofia, Bulgaria today. Settled into a hostel, and looked over the town a bit.

One more word on Bucharest. One of the things I liked was that it seemed there was a flower vendor on nearly every corner. There has to be something about a place I like.

Recapping the past few days: Monday was a dreary/drizzly day. I went to the Suleyman Mosque. It's the biggest in Instanbul, and second largest in Turkey. Quite impressive, in a much more subtle way than the Blue Mosque. Suleyman's tomb is on the grounds, he and more than a few relatives.

For lunch, I ate at a Turkish fast food place. It was almost a burrito, but no beans. Spicy meat, the "tortilla" was a bit tougher than a burrito, but all in all it wasn't bad.

While looking for a place to eat, I found myself in the Spice Bazaar. So named, I guess, because one in four or five of the stands, it seems, is selling spices of some sort. Not little packages, but one foot square boxes brimming with a spice. And about 30 or 40 boxes on display. The packages they walk away with astound me.

After lunch,I went to the Grand Bazaar. Blocks and blocks all under one roof, selling just about anything you can imagine that's small enough to take with you. Everything from fine gold and silver jewelry to Turkish rugs to any and all kinds of souveniers. And really busy.

I had a really great dinner Monday evening. Superb cheese plate to start things off. Then a main course based on Eggplant (Aubergine, here) Don't know what all went into it, but it was very good. They sure are proud of their beer here, most expensive I've seen on this trip. And this place was even prouder of their coffee. Two coffees cost more than two beers.

On Tuesday, I took a walk along the Marmara Sea coast, which is just down the hill from the Sultanahmet area where I stayed. Then I tried to go to the Topkapi Palace, but found out it was closed on Tuesdays. So I went to the nearby Archeology Museum. Quite a place if you have an interest in archeology, related to the middle east. Lots of interesting displays. They have displays of 10 distinct periods from the city of Troy, as an example.

I left for Sofia on Wednesday, but not until 10:00 PM, so I had the day to tour. First really nice day, sunny and a bit windy. Even wore my lite jacket for the first time in 3 or 4 weeks.

At breakfast, I had a talk with a fellow hotel guest. From AU, of course. He suggested going to the Galata tower, in the newer section of Istanbul, which I did. Great views of the city, and the day was outstanding, as I said.

On the way back, near the train station, I saw a large group of Police, with helmets and shields. There was some sort of demonstration across the street from them. I hung around for a while, but decided that being a tourist, and not speaking the language might not be a good thing if things got testy, so I took off. No idea what it was about.

This time I did get into the Topkapi Palace, which is really a museum now. Lots of Sultan lifestyle things on display. The grounds were the most interesting. I was a bit upset with one aspect, of the attendees, not the museum. One section had a number of artifacts directly tied to Mohammed. At the entrance to it, signs requested respect, and throughout there were reminders not to take photos. People flatly ignored them, and were snapping and flashing away.

I also went through the Hagia Sofia one more time. Didn't have too much time there. It is a place to just marvel at the building and what's left of the original mosaics.

Then a pretty good dinner, and waiting for the train. I stayed in the lobby of the hotel for most of the down time, rather than sit at the train station. A lot more comfortable.

Thanks to a nice ticket agent, I caught the train. I asked him what platform it would be on, and he pointed to the one I thought it was. No train yet, so I went into the waiting room. I was getting a bit nervous, as it was about 15 or so minutes till departure, and no train. He came into the waiting room, and rousted me out. Turns out it was on the platform he indicated, but a long way down, and around a corner. I probably would have found out myself, but with a lot more anxiety.

When we go to the Bulgarian border, we had to go through the passport thing again, only a 2 hour delay this time. And no need for a visa. The Turkish passport guy really looked me over. I guess 9 years, glasses, a beard and crew cut can change a person from what a passport photo shows.

Thoughts about things at random. I mentioned showers in a previous mailing. Want to make a lot of money? Follow this business plan. Get exclusive distribution rights to shower curtains and rods in Europe. Then start a campaign to convince folks over here of the advantages of shower curtains. Then start selling them and watch the money roll in. Almost all of the places I've stayed at don't have shower curtains, even on trips to Germany, France and Belgium in the 90's.

Circular stairways have really been the thing since about Hungary, if memory serves.

Small towns in Hungary and Romania almost always had a pristine church, no matter how poor the town looked. But passing through Bulgaria today, I noticed very few churches.

Turkey is the worlds worst, in my experience, for consistency on stair steps and floor levels. The height of steps will vary withing one flight of steps. The floors from room to room will vary in height as you pass through a door. Tough to get used to.

I think that's enough rambling for tonite.