Saturday, May 11 12:57
Weather: Partly cloudy, hazy, windy but warm.
Location: Millenium lounge, Istanbul airport.

I'm on my way... Had a nice morning this morning doing a double-time tour through the Imperial Palace. I think I saw all of the stuff that comes with the basic entry charge, and clearly didn't have time to go through the Harem or the Imperial Treasury (an extra 15,000,000 TLR each). The Sultan had a pretty sweet pad! The palace has wonderful views over the Bosphorus and the Halic, and its interior design and luxury was at a very similar level to the Forbidden City in Beijing, though not quite as large. On display were some wonderful relics (real hairs of the prophet! His sandals!), swords, paintings of the Sultans (though I thought those were frowned upon by Islam), royal robes, a collection of china, etc. The Palace was full of tourists, mostly Turkish (it is, after all, Saturday), but was plenty large enough to lose them in.

I got back to the hostel at 11am, just in time for a quick cup of tea with the young owners on their patio before the shuttle bus came to take me to the airport.

Well, it's too soon for me to do a debrief on this trip... Too much to cover, as well! I think it may take me a while to come up with a coherent view of it, except to say that it was probably the best trip I've ever done, and I really really want to come back to many of these countries and see them all on a more leisurely schedule! I'm looking forward to getting home, of course, but would visit any of these countries again in a heartbeat. And to all the people I met on my trip... tasekkur ederim! (Thank you in Turkish.) It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you. Please come visit me in Toronto!
posted by Tom at 6:04 AM | link |