Istanbul, day 3

Don't worry, this one will not prove as long as day 2!

Sunday we woke up and found a lovely day. Heading out to the spice bazaar, we became mildly lost and very confused. Following the theory of "walk behind the people with the obnoxious backpacks," however, worked out for us. Soon we were in the bazaar, and it was amazing. It smelled of sweet, spicy flavors, and was full of beautiful colors. We bought far too many spices, dried cranberries, turkish delight, cheese, and pastrami sandwiches, and wandered around the whole thing more than twice.

Oh, the pretty!

Then we caught a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul. This is not nearly as touristy an area, and we wandered into a few mosques and to a cemetery. My foot, though, was in an insane amount of pain here, and as Lyla said I was actually turning grey, we decided to just head back to the coast, where we sat on cushions, drank tea, and stared at Europe across the water.

This picture was not in any way staged. Definitely not.

my shoes waiting for me outside a mosque.

inside one of the Asian mosques

Just me, relaxing on some cushions... this is how life should be.

Our feet, the sea, and a man teaching his very cute young daughter to play backgammon.

What's that behind me? Oh, you know... Europe!

Heading back to Europe, we bought fish sandwiches from some fishermen. So simple, just fish and lettuce and onions on a crusty baguette with lemon juice... but so delicious!



After a brief stop at the hostel to drop off our things, it was off to the Turkish bath we had booked the night before. We arrived and were shown into a small changing room, where we wrapped ourselves in thin red towels. Then a woman silently lead us into the women's bath area. A small step circled the room, illuminated by small skylights. We squeezed onto the little step and used small bowls to pour hot (or cool, depending on your preference) water onto ourselves. After a half hour or so, and large Russian woman wearing a tiny bikini came in, asking "Soap massage?" I put up my hand and followered her into a small room containing two marble slabs. She took my towel off me, put it on the slab, and motioned for me to lay down.




I pointed at my heel and said "ouch, ouch!" She shook her head, "Will no hurt," and pushed me onto my stomach. Eeep. A bucket full of warm water slapped my back, and then I was being violently massaged with a loofah mitt. Another bucket of water followed. By this point I was shaking uncontrollably with silent laughter. Then the woman got a towel, and somehow used it to produce mountains of soap foam. The scalding hot soap foam pouring over me was a lovely, but very strange sensation, and the laughter became somewhat less silent. The woman then used her hands to basically remove my muscles from my body, rub them, and shove them back inside. When she first rubbed down my spine, I actually heard every vertebrae crack. It was fantastic. Then I turned onto my back and she repeated the process, playing the xylophone on my rib cage. When I was done, she dumped several more buckets of water over me, then washed my hair, finishing by dumping several more buckets of water over my head, wrapping me in my towel again, and swatting me out of the room.


After about an hour more of steaming, Lyla and I headed out to the lobby, pilferring extra towels to wrap ourselves in on the way. I felt, and looked, rather like Ariel when she dresses herself in a sail. We sat in the lobby, steam rising off our skin, and drank sweet apple tea.

Work it, sister.

We then returned to the tea garden from the day before for some more relaxation, finishing the day with hot meatball sandwiches from a street vendor. And finally it was back to the hostel for... well, a nap. At 2:50 AM my alarm went off, and I stumbled around getting dressed and then down to wait for the airport van, which took us to the airport, where we caught a plane that took us back to Budapest, where I caught a taxi that took me to work.

The tea gardens are very pretty and romantic.