Istanbul

7/18

We have arrived in Turkey! The MV is an amazing way to travel because you literally fall asleep in one country and wake up in another. This morning we woke up to the city scape of Istanbul. This is the first port where we pulled out our scarves and covered our heads before we headed out onto the streets. The city is beautiful. We had a full day visiting Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and the Roman Aquaduct.

Fun fact: Turkey passed a no smoking law yesterday and today is the first day that it is going into effect. No smoking and/or huka in restaurants.

• Noted in the bottom left hand corner of my journal: This is the first port where I feel very far from home

• I called my mom today and held up the phone so that she could listen to the call to prayer that echos out over the city. It is one of my very favorite parts of the day.

• We visited Asia today! 7/19 we rented a fishing boat and sailed over to Asia!

• We went to the Turkey vs. Italy Soccer game! Turns out that girls don't go to soccer games in Turkey and so we were the only girls in the entire stadium!

• The Turkish market is one of my very favorite places!

• 7/21- Visit to the Istanbul Modern- Incredibly inspiring where they featured a lot of digital media and sculpture
• Favorite piece- Serkan Ozkaya - Confectioners Apprentice (2006) and Nezaket Ekici- Kissing the Walls

City Observations:

• Istanbul was dirty. It is hard to know where people live as we didn't see many apartments in the city. I saw very few kids when I was out an about and wondered where they lived and went to school?