Day 46: Istanbul

After 6 days, I had seen most of the sights I wanted to cover in Istanbul, so I planned for an easy day.

I spent until the early afternoon taking care of some trip planning and figuring out what to do after my trip with Mom ends. I had originally planned on a slow cruise up the Romantic Road of Germany, filled with castle sightseeing and medieval towns. As my trip has progressed, however, I've found that I've already seen a lot of castles, cathedrals, mosques, churches, towers, and medieval buildings. And while they are all beautiful, they're starting to mesh together in my head. I find the cities far more interesting and memorable, so I decided to make a change of plans. After I drop off Mom at the airport in Amsterdam, I'm going to head to Hamburg before spending a couple of days outside Luxembourg, from where I fly home on  August 13th. 

Anyway, after trip planning, I spent the afternoon cafe-hopping with a bit of baklava sampling, which I was told I had to try before leaving Turkey. The baklava was good but sticky-sweet; most of the pieces had been soaked in honey. I wasn't a huge fan; I generally prefer things a little less sweet.

After I'd gotten my fill, I returned to my hostel for happy hour to meet up with some other guests I've meet along the way. Another American and I spent a while trying to explain the currently complicated and unproductive (or just plain stupid) American political dynamics and parties to an English guest, who assured us that things were not terribly more functional in the UK. 

I was determined to find good Turkish food for my last night in Istanbul, so I pulled up TripAdvisor and found a highly rated restaurant down the street from my hostel. Thank goodness for the Internet, because the food was fantastic. I ordered a lamb isklander kebab, and it was wonderful, along with the accompanying bread. The restaurant appeared to be only full of tourists, so perhaps the restaurant was simply catering to what Westerners expect from Turkish food. The more "local" places I've found were disappointing and bland. But even if the meal was fake Turkish food, I was happy.

After dinner, I returned to the hostel where I found that Ilyse, my Australian friend, was back for the night. I happily joined her and a few of the hostel staff for a long evening on the rooftop, and had a great last night. I am going to be sad to leave my new friends, but emails were exchanged, and hopefully I'll be in touch.

I unfortunately don't have any photos from the day to share, but I had a wonderfully relaxed, final day in Turkey. It's now on to Amsterdam, where I'll be meeting Mom at the airport in a few days.