Being a Filipina in the Philippines, I was more capable of exploring in many senses. Certainly much more than I could ever in Turkey. Needless to say, I learned a great deal. From my travel partner and dear friend Alex, I learned about my strengths and weaknesses, my inner demon and beauty. From the land, the encounters with strangers, and my family I learned that I belonged neither here nor there, a stranger in two lands, but there was a little piece of home in both places that I could share and that to them and myself was precious. In the end I was at ease, not the kind that comes with ignorance, but one that has seen a bit more of truth and has embraced it. It was my first and longest adventure. I was a young idealist exiting adolescence. Maybe I’m still an idealist. I’ll never stop dreaming. Check out the pictures Philippines.

where we finally met Berken and got settled at his place. It was so odd to hear him speak like a Spaniard but a really cool surprise. Berken is the man. He even made us dinner! Sucuk in egg with bread, biber (pepper), and olives in oil. It was goood. So we showered and hung out for a bit then we went out to the popular destination, Taxim. Berken said that you can usually find a lot of more people on istiklal Caddesi, the busy street in Taxim that everyone goes to. However, this was holiday time so lots of students were not around. There were still a lot of people there. We went to a bar that had a small private grotto in the back. We had raki and beer and then on our way back I had my first wet hamburger. GOSH…that’s delicious.

The next day Pablito and I went back to istiklal and had köfte with biber. We only had bir porsiyon (one porsion) and kept moving. We went to Balik Pazari which is off of istiklal. According to Pablo’s Picasa, the street is called Nevizade Sokak. We had midye tava. The mussels instead of stuffed, are battered, fried and served with some thick white condiment. Very nice.  Then we went and walked around the narrow, steep, cobblestone streets of Galata. At the bottom of the hill we found this strange churro like dessert that was soaked in sugar water caramel and sprinkled with pistaccio powder. We continued our paseo across the Galata bridge to Eminönü and had Balik Ekmek (fish sandwich). Another delight. We crossed Galata bridge again and walked along Karaköy harbor but we had to go back to S(h)is(h)li because Anil was to pick us up to go to our friend Neba’s wedding. He came with his sister and his mom and we drove at high speed to Düzce.

The wedding was held in the town center with lots of pretty lights, linen cloths, and ribbons. Traditional dancing, good food of which my favorite was biber dolma, and of course the lovely Neba and her groom, Alfonso.

She was so busy making her rounds that we barely got to see her. Lots of work having a wedding. We left early because we had a long ride home back to Istanbul and we stayed at Anil’s parent’s.

The next day Anil’s mom prepared a really nice Turkish breakfast which consists of sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, olives in oil with some herbs, bread, two types of cheese (one feta cheese like), homemade strawberry and apricot jams, and a hot egg tomato and biber dish. We ate slowly with refills of çay and i learned how to say plate (tabak), fork (çatal), spoon (kas(h)lk), and glass (bardak). Then Anil took us to his old university Bogaziçi. Its an old American university which was turned over to the Turkish government. Very beautiful campus! Located on top of a cliff overlooking the Bosphorus.

Anil showed us around the different buildings and took us to the Engineering building and we saw the best view on Campus. We went down the hill for a stroll along the Bosphorus and to stop and have Turkish coffee and çay. Then we walked back up to the car and drove to Sultanahmet. We walkerd around Ayasofya and Sultanahmet Camii. We went into a small camii (mosque) and saw tombs of old Sultans. Some of them were very small. Then we went into Sultanahment Camii. Its so big! Detailed designs painted on the walls, large pillars, arches and domes. Then we walked around, had awesome ice cream at Moda. The best pistaccio ice cream I’ve ever had. It was the real deal man. And its a special stretchy ice cream called maras dondurma. Then we walked around the Grand Bazaar, shared a lahmacun, and then went back to Anil’s mom’s place where we had a really good dinner with raki. I think we had Black Sea style dolma. It was like grape leaves but hairy and it was suffed with rice and a little bit of meat. We had fresh fruit for desert and then watched a movie on tv. It was really nice to hang out with Anil and his family. 

The next day Pablo and I went to Topkapi Palace but it was closed that day so we went for a walk around Galata again and went up the Galata tower. I was a bit scared because the floor was kinda slanted outward but then i got used to it. There was a really nice view of Istanbul overlooking the junction of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus. Then we continued to Eminönü area again to the Yemi Camii (new mosque) which is 300 years old. Then we walked around the Spice Bazaar had some çay and then took a ferry to çenkelköy to meet up with Anil. We all went back to Taxim to meet up with Berken and had some drinks at a terrace bar. Afterwards we made a stop at the Balik Pazaar to have some kokoreç and huge midye dolma before going back to Anil’s place.

We drove to Ankara the next day with Anil and his family and then we separated. They went to their summer home close to Antalya and we took a bus to Göreme in Kapadoya. And so a new adventure began. 

Thank you to Anil and his family for their wonderful hospitality and for sharing so much with us. It was great to laugh, dance and learn Turkish with them. I hope to see them again soon.

Destination the first: Bursa

I arrived in Atatürk Airport in Istanbul on the 7th of August. I had to wait for Pablo to arrive so I slept on a bench for an hour. I woke up from the pain in my hip and soon after found Pablo and Sevda, a friend of our friend, Erman. I gave her her laptop and she kindly escorted us to Yenikapi ferry terminal. We sat on the grass and had çay while we waited for our Ferry to Bursa. The ferry was really nice; very clean, air conditioned, complete with a food and refreshments bar (where i bet te rompen el culo pero no ví los precios) A friendly German woman sat down next to us and she later helped us get on the right bus and train to çekirge, a small quiet neighborhood in the city of Bursa. At that time we were still not communicating so well in Turkish so we were very thankful. She seemed to be equally happy to have helped us. She introduced us to her father and her other relatives, all from Bursa, and even kissed us good bye. I forget her name. It didn’t sound German nor Turkish. Anyway, we got to the train stop and had no idea where we were going so we went to a gas station and tried communication through hand signals with the cashier and tried to call the hotel. A couple overheard us and offered us a ride up the hill to çekirge. The dude was Italian so thanks to Pablo knowing Italian, we were able to communicate. It turned out to be a long uphill walk so we were saved. We walked around the small neighborhood and started our culinary quest with Is(h)kembe çorba. Its a tripe soup. Deeelish! Then we walked down the hill to the center of the neighborhood and had midye dolma (mussels stuffed with rice with a drizzle of fresh lemon juice) and afterwards çay. We were so lost with the Turkish but at least we knew what the food was called, how to say how much (nekadar), and how to say thank you (tes(h)ekkürlar). The guy who sold us the food was very nice so we decided to come back the next day to have some kokoreç. 

The next day, we took a bus to the other end of town to ride the teleferik (cable car) up Uludag (Ulu = great and dag = mountain). We hiked around for a while, climbed rocks, and watched a swarm of ants. We got to what seemed to be the summit and climbed a big rock to get a better view of the valley below. The weather was hot but the sun was bearable. There was no one around and no animals either. It was so peaceful. So we hung out there for a while, ate the sweetest juciest peach I’ve ever eaten, told some stories and went back. On the line to ride the teleferik back down the mountain, we observed such ugly human behavior of desperation. Ang gugulang nang manga tarantado. There was so much pushing and cutting as if we were all starving and had to fight for food. That day i learned about human behavior when one becomes desperate.

Pablo and Linda go to Iskender

The three reasons why we went to Bursa are (1) to see the old Ottoman architecture (2) to hike on Uludag (3) to eat authentic Iskender Kebab. Bursa is supposed to be the birthplace of the Iskender Kebab and so we wanted to have the real thing. Our friend Eyup, who is from Bursa told us that THE place to eat Iskender Kebab is in Heykel by the clock tower. So we took a dolmus(h) from the teleferik to Heykel and followed the Lonely Planet directions to THE supposed clock tower. So we went looking for a clock tower. We ended up walking for a while past Zafer Plaza looking for a clock tower. I finally saw a clock tower up on top of a steep hill. We went up there and no Iskender so we called up Eyup, who was at Bodrum at the time, and asked for some more directions. He told us to go to the statue of Atatürk on a horse and look for the clock tower. When we see both the clock tower and the statue of Atatürk in front of us, the Iskender place will be behind us on a street where no cars pass through. At the clock tower we were at, there was no statue of Atatürk and the only known statue of him was back where we started. We were tired and feeling a like we’ve been beaten. We were almost going to settle, but then we inspired each other to try one more time. MAN it was Pablo and Linda go to Iskender like Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. So we went back to the place where we started, Heykel, and looked for a the statue of Atatürk, and to our relief and excitement he was there, riding his horse. It was shameful how close the clock tower was to the statue. If this were amazing race, we’d be in last place. We found the street where no cars pass through and there it was, our Iskender. It was so close to closing time, but we made it. Oh man. It was sooo worth it. Then we went back to çekirge and had some baklava for desert. HEAVENLY! 

The next day we went back to the place where we got midye dolma to get some kokoreç. Ooo man so tasty. I could eat that everyday. The guy’s name is Ugur, pronounced something like oor. He and his friend taught us some Turkish words and i started my list of Turkish words in my notebook. Then we went to the center of Bursa to see the Ulu Camii and the Bazaar and walked around a bit more before we headed back to Istanbul.