Istanbul Adventure

Greetings all from Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople, formerly known as Byzantium, and in between that known as New Rome and Augusta Antonina among other monikers. Interestingly enough, despite its long history of being constantly invaded and overrun throughout history by different groups of opposing ideas and cultures, most of the ancient things in this city that were built by previous inhabitants remain here in modern Turkey. Among them are the Hagia (or Aya) Sophia and the Blue Mosque, pictured above. Also pictured is the hottest day I managed to snap a pic of on my thermometer. It topped out at 111 for a couple of days and that's as hot as it got thankfully. Also is a slightly dated picture of my cat Magnus, from back when he first showed up at my house and was all scrawny and sad looking. He's pictured here in his signature pose of incessant whining until I feed him or pet him or do whatever it is that he thinks meowing to no end will make me do.

My first day in Istanbul hasn't been too eventful, I spent half the day inside just resting after the stress of getting here from Ujar. If I had known that it would require me staying awake for almost 48 hours and paying enough to get a round trip bus to and from Tbilisi, Georgia just to get to the Baku airport I would have just gone there instead, but I've been planning this trip for a while and nothing was gonna stop me.

Of course, as soon as I got in Turkey I realized that all the stuff Azeris have been telling me about Turks being able to understand Azerbaijani and vice verse was highly exaggerated at best. Maybe it's easy for Azeris to understand Turkish because they always watch Turkish TV, but so far it seems that most people have no idea what I'm saying here when I speak Azeri and I've understood about 3 sentences that have been said to me so far. The only conversation I've had was with a rug seller who, despite being a rather kind man, was clearly trying to make a sale, which I'm sure influenced his tolerance of my language skills. From what I've gathered, when Turks hear Azeris talk they have about the same reaction as when someone from Birmingham, England hears someone from Birmingham, Alabama speak.

My hotel has internet so I will be uploading photos and blogs all week. Keep you're eyes peeled for more neat stuff from Anatolia!