Unaffected Istanbul

I guess I’ve finally come down off my Istanbul high. At some point, every little trip we take just seems like a dream, doesn’t it? You come back, unpack, do some laundry, get back to work and all that euphoric, bouncy travel energy just floods right back out of your system as life goes back to normal.

Although, I’m still not 100% completely sober. There was just something about that city that I can’t shake. The thing that really got to me was that Istanbul was just so damn unaffected by its own beauty. Remember how I wanted to kiss everyone in Sardinia a while back? In Istanbul, I constantly felt like screaming at the swarming locals and tourists, “You guys! Look! Look at where we are! It’s all just so cool…let’s hug!”

And my excitement lasted all day long, from the moment my eyes opened until the moment my body collapsed back in our hotel room.

And, by the way, our hotel was incredible. Located in the Sultanahmet neighborhood, we had spectacular views of the Bosphorus and the Hagia Sophia. At any angle from the roof-top,  we were surrounded by coolness. (See? I’ve still got no descriptive mojo.)

I mean, just look at our breakfast view every morning:

And then, we had this on the other side. (Ignore the creepy, blurry bird.)

So, yeah, our morning view was definitely the inspiration drug that hyped us up sufficiently to go out and explore all day long. And explore we did, non stop and with an almost maniacal level of enthusiasm.

Surprisingly, if I had to pick my favorite part of the city, it would be the hyper chaotic area of the Galata bridge. Yes, I know, all of Istanbul is a little chaotic. But this area was just my type of chaos: foggy, sunny, loud, frenzied and intensified by the mosques in the background and the sun glistening off the deep blue Bosphorus.

And yes, it was a true test of my self control (along with my husband’s warning stink eye) not to hug everyone around me. This was very difficult because the nonchalance of the crowds was just driving me nuts!

And who doesn’t love fishermen? I’m a long time fisher-woman in case you don’t know and I loved watching these guys in action. We strolled along the bridge at least five or six times. Personally, I loved the rank fishy smell of the bridge. I know, weird.

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