Welcome to Istanubl From: Ziya

One of our favorite experiences about traveling is that initial feeling of “culture shock” and the “travel high” that inevitably follows it. Lindsay and I experienced this big time when we flew into Istanbul Turkey late one May evening. I had been reading the guidebooks and was confident that I could get us fro the airport to the center of the city just using public transportation (the subway and then some streetcars). Although I was looking forward to the challenge I was also nervous. Unfortunately Lindsay and I did not get to sit together during the delayed flight from Frankfut. However, this turned out to be a blessing as Lindsay ended up sitting next to a Turkish man named Ziya. He was working in Germany at one of the major auto makers and was on his way home to visit. Lindsay and Ziya ended up striking up a conversation and became fast friends. He even drew her a homemade map of Instanbul pointing out all the places we should go. When the plane landed we got ready to say our goodbye and he insisted that he help us get to the city. My pride was a little hurt as I was looking forward to figuring this out on my own but it ended up being a Godsend. He quickly took us to the subway and rode with us to a small station a few minutes away. From there he helped us navigate through a very crowed and busy station to find the correct little streetcar that would take us into the city. After he did this I realized that I would have been in big troube if I was trying to do this on my own. :) He helped us get on the right streetcar and we said our goodbyes…it was our first taste of Middle Eastern hospitality. The streetcar ride from this busy station on the outskirts of the city to the main square was true culture shock. We were surrounded by women in full body black burkas and very curious businessmen (they like to stare). We were the only westerners in the streetcar and as we got closer to the city it eventually became so busy that we were slammed up against the class. From there we saw the late evening streetlife of Instanbul unfold before our eyes. We passed neighborhoods full of people coming/going, street vendors selling food and children playing soccer in the street. We just kept looking at eachother with a big smile thinking…wow, culture shock! :) We eventually made it to Sultan Ahmet Square (center of the city) and existed our streetcar. We were then immediately struck with a travel high. We were in the center of Instanbul with the beautiful Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia lite up in front of us. The square was full of fountains, cobblestones, people, and the occosinal sound of the streetcar. We wondered around this beautiful area for another hour trying to find our quant little hotel (I was following my misled "travel senses") and when we did we just checked in and hit the streets again. We walked so much that night that my feet were killing! We kept seeing little stores selling a very weird looking cup of ice cream. We finally broke down and tried some and to this day we call it the “chewy ice cream.” It is almost impossible to describe but the Turks have mastered a chewy ice cream that is fantastic! We only had a short time in Instanbul but we lived it up and loved the culture shock and travel high that we experienced the first night we arrived.