Istanbul one city two continents

Not every story starts as expected.

The last couple of hours in Istanbul we spent at the airport, not knowing if the booking of the airline did work and we gonna leave in the night. We still missed the confirmation email and did not get any answers from the airline, also they did not pick up the phone, Bernd was grumbling all the time and complained that we should have stayed at the hostel. Finally they opened the counter and we got the good news that we gonna be on the flight leaving this night.

Last thing we wanted to see was the tower of Galata, not tat far away from our hostel and we still got enough time before we got to take the bus to the airport. The tower is a very massive and high building, still higher than the newer buildings around there, so everyone would go up there and take a look around. So there was a huge line of people waiting to get up the tower, after waiting several minutes and not being able to make a single step we gave up waiting and walked along the busy streets getting some good Turkish food.

After the boat trip and saying goodbye to our company we went to the Galata tower, only for taking a look at it in the night and knowing the way there and get there tomorrow. At the hostel Bernd immediately went to bed and started snoring. Cause I was not in the mood for going to bed I spent some time in the living room playing backgammon with a girl from Switzerland and having good conversations. Also I again tried to reach the airline to check for our flight, without any success.

At the bridge to get from Fatih back to Taksim we stopped by at one of this boats offering cheap trips on the Bosporus, it was really cheap and not like typical tourist traps so we decided to get aboard and we did not have to wait a minute for the departure, good timing. On the boat we met a German teacher living and working in Istanbul and learned a lot about Istanbul, it's history and about other things about the things going on. Good idea to get on boat, also to see the bridges with the lighting in the dark.

When we arrived at the first bridge at the golden horn it was almost sunset so we could see the sun going down and having a great view on the sunset, an amazing view. Again we bought some Turkish food at the street to have some dinner and strengthening us for the long way back.

So we decided to go down the hill to the Bosporus and walk along the kai. On the way down we bought at the street watermelon and ate it at the "seaside" looking around. There we were thinking of getting back to the hostel, which was still far away, so we kept on walking along the kai and have seen the way the people live her, also seeing a special kind of a cottage built out of simple material.

From Yerebatan Sarnici we went to the blue mosque spending some time in the park at the fountain, having a good time and enjoying the view on the blue mosque (Sultanahmet Camii). Maybe we should not have taken the break or a longer one, because the mosque was closed due to praying time. Bernd was not upset, he was fine with not going in there because we had already been in some mosques so we won't miss that much.

Deeper inside we got to the crying column where it's told to get luck when flipping a coin on it, so sometimes we act like all other tourists and we flipped a coin. And we got more deeper into the cistern, when we saw her, well Bernd was the first one of us who saw her. The Medusa, Bernd screamed out in panic and ran away, scared of getting petrified by her gaze. He was already up the stairs before I could tell him that it it was only a stone sculpture on the bottom of a column.

But we found our way to a very special place I wanted to see all the time in Istanbul, last time I have been in the city I could not get there because we had to spent most of the time with some guides. We went to the Yerebatan Sarnici, the underground cistern. The translation into German was quite strange, they call it "the sunken palace", that place was planned to be underground and it was used to have fresh water also when the city will be under siege. Inside of there we got to see many high columns in a big hall and were able to walk around on some wooden lathes above the water.

In the centre of Fatih we missed our destination, but that was not so bad, we walked along some old streets with nice houses and got to the old area Süleymaniye, were we visited Süleymaniye Mosque and saw some nice places and parks.

From the mosque we directly wanted to go into the spice market, a big hall next to it, because of this holidays it was completely closed so we could only walk along some small streets with shops on it.

Bernd and I got across the bridge with thousands of fishermen's on it and entered the mosque Yeni Cami next to the spice market Misir Çarsis. After seeing all the beautiful churches in Europe it was a great new experience seeing a mosque from the inside, the floor is covered with nice carpets and the walls showing good artworks, no paintings of any holy persons, a lot of lines and circles and Arabic letters.

Along the street we stopped at some stairs with street arts, it wasn't the typical thing you could see, no artists, singers or other entertainers, also no graffitis. Some guys painted the stairs leading up like a rainbow, which looked pretty cool. Later we got told that they made it without permission in the night and first the municipality let it over paint, but that could not stop the artist so he put back the colours. After a while the municipality agreed to the street arts and left it there also giving some information about the idea and the arts. Things like that should happen more often, especially when it is an idea like that.

On our way to get there Bernd got to see the first big mosque, before on the way we could only see some minarets. The minute we got there the muezzin started the praying. Bernd first thought that someone was doing some practises for a singing contest and told me that this guy would not make it through the first audition. I told him that it he is caslling the moslems to the prayers and not singing for a stupid competition.

At the Bosporus we got to see a nice building of the parliament and the Turkish Big Ben, well this Ben is also not really big, but we both got the idea of saying it's the Big Ben.

First thing we did after our first short night in Istanbul was going to the office of our airline for the next flight, we did have to change something with the booking and did not get any feedback, so we were not sure if everything worked as we expected it. The office was not far away from the bus stop we arrived the night before from the airport. Unfortunately the office was closed and at a travel agency close by we got the information that right now there is some kind of Islamic Lenten season, so the office won't be open. At least he gave us the number of the office at the airport, which opened only at night.
So more waiting to figure that out, so we went down to the Bosporus to the Dolmanahçe palace and decided to walk to Fatih and some special sights in the historical part of the city.

Visiting the Olymp

Some days were passing by until we could continue our journey, because we had to take care of some business in Hamburg. Good thing there was that we could take a tour on a boat along the river to the centre of the city.
Our journey lead us to Athens, were we met with Katia again, she was the girl we met in Cork and she invited us to visit her. After leaving the airport we went together with her to her university and being there for the introduction for the next semester. It felt like some special days at school, sitting in a class room and not understanding what the teacher is talking about. Later at the evening we got to the harbour and walked along the pear and Katia was explaining us a lot of things about the city.

The next day we all went to the Acropolis. From the city the Acropolis already looks very impressive, it's not like a castle just built on top of a hill, the Greeks built a platform and on there they built the Acropolis and some more buildings and temples.

When we entered the area around the Acropolis we got to see several ruins of old building and the biggest ancient theatre in Greek, the Theatre of Dionysus (-> wonna know more ?)

On the way up we passed by at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (-> wonna know more ?), a theatre which is still in a very good condition and what makes it even better they still use it as a theatre. But you should only get there when the weather is fine, cause there is no roof, well there is no real need for it. Also in winter there is not much rain in Athens.

We got up the path and reached the entrance to the Acropolis (-> wonna know more ?) , passing through kind of a gate, only existing of big walls and columns. I could imagine how it must have been in the ancient times getting up the hill and entering this area. This place was not built for defence or war, it was built for praying to the gods and worshipping. That's a lot better than only seeing protective walls and canons or other weapons around. And also we got a great view from up there.

For sure we took a long look at the most impressive building at the Acropolis, the Parthenon (-> wonna know more ?  ) with its high columns ruling above the city, it feels like you can see the place from every place in the city. Unbelievable how the Greeks managed to built this temple in the past.

After spending a lot of time we went down the hill on the other side to get to the Temple of Hephaestus and the old Agora with the Museum of Ancient Agora. Almost all lies down in ruins, but you're still able to see were the streets lead through and imagine how the houses looked like.

Kerameikos, ruins of some buildings and a cemetery. After Edinburgh and the stories about ghosts Bernd was scared of entering the cemetery, I whispered to him that he should not show that he is so scared during we are walking around with a girl, which helped him to overcome his fear and get in. The ruins are lying below the today's ground level and we started wondering what else would be hidden below the streets and the buildings.

From Kerameikos we walked around the hill with the Acropolis to get to the Philopappos Monument. On the way up the hill we stopped at Crito, also called Socrates Prison (-> wonna know more ?), so much history in this city and some things we find without expecting it.

A while later we arrived at the top of the hill, we had to make several breaks because Bernd got exhausted and could not walk anymore, but at the end we got up there. And it was absolutely worth getting there, on top of the Acropolis we already had great view but from he it felt even better. Especially cause we got a great view to the Acropolis and no houses or walls blocking the view. Well and also the Philopappos Monument.

Up on the hill came for the sunset, it did not look as exciting as it is on the picture, but worth waiting for.

After all this walking we were thinking to get a break but on the way back there was the Acropolis museum and we wanted to get in there, Bernd did not want to join us and no words could make him change his mind. So he stayed outside during we were looking at the exhibitions. It's a museum so it was showing a lot of ancient pieces found at the Acropolis and around there. The museum building was quite interesting, on the way in you pass by at some ruins and at the ground floor you could see through the floor also offering a view on some ruins.

Long day of walking around, we were happy when we got back home and relax. The next day we spent relaxing and having lunch and dinner with some of Katias friends, better getting to know the Greeks and get back some energy for the next day of exploration.
Our first stop lead us to the Parliament and the square in front of it, the place we could see on TV when there would be some demonstrations going on, luckily not the day we got there.

Next to the Parliament is the National Garden, a beautiful park letting you forget that you are in the centre of a town. Having a little zoo and ponds with old columns lying around.

We also took a short look at the Temple of Olympian Zeus, looking more like some columns left over and the Hadrian's Arch, because we wanted to see more of the city centre we did not stay long at the ruins and kept on walking.

From the Hadrian's Arch we went back to the Parliament and passed by to get to the University of Athens and some other nice public buildings. Also we went through the pedestrian area to get a feeling of the way it is to live in the city today, so not only ruins. There were also some old ruins between the buildings.

At Monastiraki we ended our tour for the day and went back home, it was again a lot of walking through this beautiful city and good having a great guide with us.
Thank you Katia for all the time you spent with us and the great hospitality.

Corgaigh and Blarnan

After staying one night in Dublin we took the express bus to get to Cork, a much nicer harbour town in the south of Ireland. When we arrived at the hostel we planned to walk around in town to get a feeling of Cork at night, before leaving we got a lot of good hints where to go in Cork and which places are interesting. So we went into town and walked around. First we were thinking of getting into a special pub called Sin ê (Irish for that's it), cause we already knew that there would be live music the next evening we saved the time to get there the next night. Back at the hostel we spent most of the night chatting with the other travellers we got to share our room with and got to bed in the morning hours.

The next day it was time to explore Cork, a girl from Greece joined us on the exploration, again we got some company, making the exploration even more interesting. First we went to an St. Anne's church Shandon, rather famous for the bells they got in the tower, were you able to play some melodies. They put there some kind of a song book so everyone would be able to play a melodie. Bernd tried pretty hard to pull down the robe to ring the bell, but he didn't manage to do it. From the top of the tower we got a great view above Cork and also the landscape around.

 

  

Next place we went to was the Cork City Gaol, the jail, kind of funny having a open every day in the year sign in front of it. The jail is a very old building and inside you got to read and hear about some prisoners they kept over the years. Some of them did not really have a big punishment, but others had. And well some were sent on a ship to Australia. Inside a cell Bernd sat down for a while to get a feeling who it would be to be in prison. Not a good feeling, the way it should be.

 

Lucky for us we got one of this prison free cards, so we did not have to stay there and left to see more of the town, we passed by at a brewery and some old brick houses along the river, enjoying our time and headed to the next religious building, the cathedral. The cathedral is as a cathedral should be, beautiful decorations, gargoyles and stained glass windows. We did not get inside, because Bernd got so hungry that we got to leave the place to get something to eat, all discussions did not help.

We knew that Cork had a castle, but we did not have any idea were it would be, after asking around we got the hint to take a bus and only walk a few hundred metres to it. So we got there. Black Rock Castle, a rather small but still impressive castle directly at the river, for sure it was gods for protection. Inside we asked to get a tour and got told that you do not see anything of the castle inside. The castle was changed into a science and astronomy museum, that did not stop is from getting in and learn something about our planet.

And after loitering around it got late enough to get to Sin ê, the most important thing to do in Ireland, going to a pub. There are not so many left, most of them got changed to bars and are not anymore like they used to be. In the pub we had a very very great time, listening to live music and also having this great atmosphere, it's so amazing and worth getting to a real Irish pub.

We did not only want to see one big city so the next day we went to Blarney castle (Caisleán na Blarnan). The castle was the way we expected it and it should be. The old castle is on top of a small hill and offering a great view above the woods and the green meadows, the green island. Before getting inside the castle we walked a bit around and got into the dark caves below. Some of them were very narrow with low ceilings making Bernd kind of scared and willing to leave them.
From up the tower we had an amazing view above the land, could also see another smaller castle and did not want to leave this place. Must have been great living here.

 

Cause it was said that you get the gift of eloquence when kissing the Blarney stone on the top floor of the castle we wanted to give it a try. So you not only get up there to get a great view. It felt like thousands of people fretting up to kiss the stone and a rather long line was staying there. Well at a place like this it is not a big problem waiting some minutes. When we got closer to the stone and watched others kissing it we saw a sign telling about age and height restrictions. For sure Bernd was not tall enough to get to the stone.

He was so sad and mad about that, that he was close to run away and leave this place, before he could disappear I talked to the guy there for safety if there would be a chance for my travel buddy. And he said yes, so Bernd also got the chance to kiss the stone.

Bernd was totally happy, already trying to proof his new won eloquence not stopping talking for the rest of the day. Outside the castle we went to the poison garden, saw some marijuana and opium, strange poison. And walked through the wood seeing big trees not growing in a typical way. After spending the day in Blarney we went back to Cork and were wishing to have some more days in Ireland and being able to make a trip around the island. Unfortunately we got to leave the next day.