Istanbul is one of my favourite cities. I’ve been once before for a quick overview of the bars with some very light seeing, but this was the first time properly seeing it.
I met Adil at the airport and we headed to our hotel. Unfortunately, it was lacking windows, electricity, hot water and air con.
On the first evening me and Adil one of my old colleagues, Ege. He’s now a Dad. We worked together back in 2021. They were great times, and it feels like a lifetime ago.
The next day we locked in for some serious sightseeing. It’s expensive to get into the Hague Sophia and Basilica Cisterns, but worth it. We also went to the Blue Mosque, which is still an active mosque. It’s impressive when a building can induce a modicum of awe in a 21st century brain that has been desensitised through relentless exposure to short form media over the past 10 years. It’s not necessarily the architecture or the weight of history but being in a holy place. I’ve never really been in churches or mosques, but I can see how a link to the intangible and mysterious can add substance to life that feels sterilised by consumerism. It’s cool to experience being in a mosque as well because seeing Islam in the media was my first experience of cognitive dissonance as a kid; it was portrayed as bad but a lot of my mates were Muslim – their families had respect for something g other than themselves and lived by a defined morality. It seems like it’s a personal thing and Adil’s is succinct: “things happen for a reason, and try not to be a cunt”.
We also went to the Anatolian side, Kadikoy, which I liked the most. The western side feels set up to fleece tourists, the east is much more chill. We headed back to our new hotel, with electricity, in the evening to watch the football. Afterwards, we found the best Pide – these thins can only be found on the strangest streets with no other tourists. You can reach this place only once drunk and very lost.
On our final day, I got a proper Turkish haircut. I’ve never seen such care and attention given to a moustache. We then went round antique shops and played pool before I headed to Istanbul’s eastern airport for an overnight flight to Bishkek. Solo from here on.
Planet Caravan 
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