ancient byzantium: free travel part I

okay- first thing's first: i know that everyone has been having problems commenting on my blog, i have no idea what's wrong. i'm doing everything right and nothing works, so here's what i'll do: down where you normally click to comment there's an envelope button if you press that you can send me an email just as though you were commenting without the hassle of running around trying to remember what you wanted to say to me. sorry for the inconvience but it's the best i can do. ONTO TURKEY!!!

turkey was amazing!

after being set free for our "free" travel, Clariece, Chris and myself (along with some other LCers including Carolyn) got on a plane at the Izmir airport and flew for 45 minutes to Istanbul. Once there we grabed a bus and directed it to our hostel. There were other people on the bus who weren't going to our hostel but the driver just dropped us off at our respective destinations.

as we drove into the city the walls of constaninople engulfed us. it was awe inspiriing to see those huge walls still standing after centuries of battle and to know that thousand died trying to breach those walls, slaughtered by the unstopable Byzantine/Roman catafrax (cavalry). the catafrax was the descimating force of the byzantine army. when the first (of three) walls were breached, the Byzantines fell behind the second. it was here, between the 1st and 2nd walls, in a grand total of approxamtely 20yrds that the catafrax caught their enemies between the walls and slaughtered them all. Byzantine history rocks! w00t!

The rest of the LC crew was staying either in the same hostle as us or veryclose to us. We stayed at the Orient Hostel- one of the best and yet still very cheap. This hostel was located approxamately a 5 mintue walk from Ayia Sofia, the Blue mosque and the bacillica cistern and then 15 minute walk to the Grand Bazaar.

Our first two days were spent in relative bliss. We hung around our hostel and surrounding areas, waiting for Melanie (our friend who's abroad in France) to get there. We spent a lot of time just wandering the back street were tourists were few and far between. there we oftne found the best deals and the best food.

When Mel finally arrived we spent the day being tourists. We saw the Ayia Sofia, Blue Mosque, bacillica cistern and grand bazaar in the span of two days. The bacillia cistern was my favorite, all nice and cool. It was really an amazing piece of roman architecture. the cistern was originally design to hold all the water that was necessary to supply Constantinople throughout a long seige or through everyday life. the interesting thing about the cistern were these two carved heads of medusa. one was completely upside down and the other was parallel to the floor. medusa heads were oringally used to ward off enemies/robbers/people who mean you harm. however, these medusa heads would have been under thousands of gallons of water where no one could see or get to... so, what's their significance? no one knows.

the hagia sofia (meaning St. Sofia) was quite a sight to behold. originally, the agia sofia was a church built by the byzantine emperor Justinian who married "Wonder Bitch" (or so she was dubbed by Prof. John Karavas.... the hot one.) her real name is Theodora and she was the true power behind his reign. words cannot describe this amazing place. it's huge and vast and is truely a wonder. go visit turkey. now. just go.

the blue mosque, while beautiful and spiritual signifcance, failed to caputre my interest. don't get me wrong it's beautiful and if you leave istanbul without seeing it you'll be an idiot, however this was not the shining moment of glory on the trip.

two full days were spent at the grand bazaar. this place is packed with people all the time, a writhing mass, all pushing and calling and cajolling. it's a headache but amazing. the vendors try to get your attention any way you can. "excuse me, where are you from? you're so beautiful." "charlies angels." "let me help you spen your money." "we've been waiting for you." are just a few of the many examples. i bought the majority of my christmas present while i was here, withdrawing over 300YTL (new turkish lira) to buy all of them, so you better like them. a few people will recieve gifts from athens/greece instead. don't hate me!

pictures and a post with the rest of trip will be forthcoming. whenever i'm not busy writing one of my four papers or practicing my lines for the play. (more on this later.)