Expedition to Istanbul

I am my way back from a journey to Istanbul. I traveled from Halkida, Greece to Thessaloniki, Greece by train and then I took an overnight bus to Istanbul, Turkey. I traveled alone for my first time and it was quite an experience - I’m exhausted...

There were several times when I got nervous that I would miss something or not get somewhere on time but things always worked out; God was good to me. On my way to Thessaloniki I met a nice Christian Nigerian guy named Michael who helped me out and made me dinner before taking me to the bus station. He was quite a blessing to calm my nerves.
Once I left Thessaloniki I was on my own again, but The Lord was still good to me. We crossed the Turkish border in a surprisingly nice bus at 3am and I was surprised at how relaxed the border was considering the two countries hate each other. There was no security, all we had to do was wait in line to get our passports stamped and I had to get a visa since I’m from the U.S. We made it to Istanbul around 8am and I spent the day walking around, exploring the city until about 5pm when I had seen all that I wanted to. I was tired and ready to go back but I had bought my ticket to leave the next day at 10pm thinking that I would want two days to explore the city. I went to the bus company and they switched the day for me so now I’m sitting in their waiting room until we leave in about an hour. They even have an internet connection but I can’t seem to get it to work so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to post this.

The city was very spectacular, I was very impressed by the beautiful mosques that are abundant throughout the city. (pictures here) I even got to witness a call to prayer which I have a short video of here. The only thing that I hold against this beautiful city is their practice of charging to use the bathroom. I refused to pay and managed to make it through the day by sneaking in a couple times.

The people here seem to have a hard life, especially the people that sell to tourists. It’s very frustrated and exhausting to have people trying to sell you crap all day and it must be even worse for them. They have to constantly put themselves out there in hopes of making a buck. (or a lira for the matter)

Check out all the pictures and enjoy the view. I’m getting ready to leave.

Dave