Istanbul!

It's hard to believe it's been just about a week since I left cold, snowy NH for my round-the-world adventure. In the past week I've been in 4 countries (US, Germany, Turkey, and Jordan) and seen 5 seas (Black, Marmara, Mediterranean, Dead, and Red). On the plane into Jordan on Wednesday, I had a bit of a Samwise Gamgee moment. When leaving the Shire with Frodo in the first book, Sam suddenly stops walking. When Frodo asks him why, Sam replies that his next step will take him further from home than he has ever been. While this isn't true distance-wise (my trip to Australia the summer after my freshman year of high school wins that prize), this is the longest, most in-depth trip I've ever done on my own and my first time exploring parts of the continent of Asia, the Arab world, etc.

So, I suppose you want to hear a little something about my trip thus far. I'll start with Istanbul.



Despite the cold, clouds, and little bit of rain, Istanbul was an impressively beautiful city. I've been fascinated with this city for years - the heart of the Byzantine and then Ottoman Empires, a city that spans two continents and integrates both European and Arab culture, that mixes a strong orthodox tradition with an almost completely Muslim population, etc. My co-worker Peter and his family just moved back to the states from Istanbul, so he gave me excellent advice on how to spend our short time in the city, and we were able to see a lot of the sites in a very short time.

The mosques:

This was my first time in a mosque! The historic mosques in Istanbul are strikingly beautiful. The impressive domes and minarets on the outside paired with the colorful geometric patterns covering the immense ceilings on the inside makes them some of the most stunning buildings I have ever seen. They're really breathtaking. The most beautiful (to me) is the Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet Camii, which is filled with blue patterned tiles from Iznik (what was Nicaea).





Inside the mosques, visitors (and women who come to pray) cannot go much beyond the rear entrance, so it was difficult to capture the immensity and beauty on camera, but hopefully you get the idea.

Margie and I spent most of Tuesday on a ferry boat to the Black Sea and back. Istanbul surrounds the Bosphorus, the water border separating the European side from the Asian side, and it's 13 million people are spread along the banks. The cruise gave us a chance to see much of the city and to drink lots of Turkish tea to keep warm on the chilly ship deck. Two bridges span the Bosphorus, but many commuters take ferry boats from the Asian side to the European side and visa versa.





In reality, my favorite part about traveling and cities is wandering the streets. Margie and my wandering brought us to the Grand Bazaar (a labyrinth of vendors selling everything from Nike shoes to gold jewelry to ceramics to stuffed Sponge Bobs) and the Spice Bazaar (Turkish Delight, anyone?), down Istaklal Caddesi (the Newbury Street (Boston) of Istanbul with shops and restaurants and lots of people) to tiny restaurants and expansive baklava shops, past vendors selling bagels and roasted chestnuts, and along historic streets as the call to prayer resounded from the minarets towering above our heads.

One of the motivating factors to actually book this crazy trip was a conversation I had with Mary Beth, the director of the girls' camp where I am working, about how international travel changes our lives. When we venture outside of our homeland and culture we are exposed to ways of living different from our own and are forced to set aside our own egocentric routines in order to take in the lives of others. When we travel, we see a bigger God - one who loves these other people just as much as he loves my people. It's beautiful.