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Insane Istanbul!!
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Seth Familian
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Jul 01, 2001 09:13 PDT
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Hello from ınsane Istanbul!!
I wrıte to you from a small, third-floor internet cafe where techno
blares, air conditioning is a far-fetched fantasy, and the keyboard
keeps switching back to a Turkish letter set, making e-mail writing oh
so interesting. But nonetheless I'm in Istanbul, and wow is it amazing
here.
Before I briefly explain why Istanbul is one of the coolest places I've
ever been, I must first apologize--for the total lack of online photos!
Unfortunately, digital cameras and slow internet connections don't
really work well together, and so while I have tons (i.e. over 100)
amazing digital photos of the Greek Islands, the Turkish coast, and
Istanbul itself, I can't show them to you since I have yet to find an
Internet cafe that has a connection fast enough to let me upload
everything within, oh, five hours. But not to worry, I'll be sure to
figure something in Paris (where I'll be starting tomorrow evening), so
by then it'll be all good...
And now back to Turkey! Actually, I last left you all in Greece
(Mykonos, to be precise), and I sailed elsewhere in Greece (same
uber-luxurious yacht) before hitting the Turkish coast. Santorini was
by far my favorite Greek island, which I can confidently say is THE most
beautiful place I've EVER been. Take the south of France, put it onto a
tiny island in the Mediterranean island with turquoise bays, sheer
cliffs, and brilliant sunsets, build everything right into the hillsides
and you've got Santorini. My advice: go there. Now. Wow.
After Santorini we went to Rhodes (the old town of which was cool in a
medieval sort of way but eerily reminded me of disneyland--where do I
get my mouse ears embroidered, I kept asking myself), and then Bodrum,
on the Turkish coast. In Bodrum a group of eight of us from the boat
rented an 80-foot yacht for the day, which sailed us around to desolate
coves and beaches and anchored so we could go swimming in more turquoise
water. Opulence aside, that day in Bodrum was one of the most amazing
I've had in awhile. Where else can you do something like that?!?
From Bodrum we went to Kusadasi and the ancient city of Ephasus, which
was one of the most impressive cities in ruins i've ever seen. (I think
you're all starting to get the picture that this boat trip was nothing
more than a seven days of "amazings"--and it really was!) While I'd
highly recommend Ephasus, the markets in Kusadasi can be left aside,
since we were accosted so much on the way back to the way back to the
boat that I really wanted to just run, rather than walk.
After a day of sailing up the Agean, through the Dardanelles, and into
the sea of Maramara, we arrived in Istanbul, our boat's final
destination. These past few days in Istanbul have been some of the most
fascinating of my entire trip, since Istanbul itself is a remarkable
city. It's a total mixture of old and new, ancient and cosmopolitan.
You can spend days exploring the lush, overly-opulent palaces of the
Sultans or wandering for hours through the vast Grand Bazaar, and then
lounge by the Bosphorous for lunch or dinner, soaking up the almost
French Riviera feel of this town that literally divides east from west.
I'm (regrettably) off to Paris tomorrow (regrettably only because I'd
love to spend a few more days here and then go to always wonderful
Parie), and from there I'll hopefully have a faster internet connectiona
and can show you a glimpse of these amazing places with my photos. I
hope you're all doing well and please keep the responses coming--I love
reading them!!
take care,
Seth
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