Turkish Delight

Describing myself as a globe-trotter would be far-fetched, but I have to admit that I have already been to many countries all over the world. A journey I never ever will forget was our trip to Istanbul in 2009.

 My brother, my father and I went there by plane and for me the adventure started right at the airport of Vienna. I was very excited and looking forward to this trip so I was in a good mood. During our flight to Istanbul I made the acquaintance of a same-sex couple which were really nice people and good to talk to.

Arriving in Istanbul was like getting to know a whole new world. The smells, the people, the houses and lifestyle- everything was so different from my home country! The taxi driver who drove us to our hotel was a man in his fifties, very friendly and funny. Though his style of driving was quite adventurous and a bit risky…  ;-)

As we finally arrived at our hotel, called “The Orient Express”, we were quite tired and decided to take a nap before starting to explore the city. But we were too excited and curious to wait that long.

When first entering the city of Istanbul I was overwhelmed. “Awesome, this place is awesome!” I thought to myself, just standing there and looking at the amazing skyline with the mosques and the high-rise buildings.

 I had never been to a mosque before and I have to say that it’s totally different from our churches.  When visiting the “blue mosque”, which is the best-known mosque in Istanbul, we had to put off our shoes before entering. The floor inside the building was covered with carpets and everywhere there were people kneeling and praying. We just remained in silence and admired the special atmosphere.

We were very lucky because we got the chance to discover the city in an absolute “non-tourist” way. At that time a good friend of my father had an apartment in Istanbul with his wife, she was working as a teacher in a German school. They both knew the city quite well and so they showed us around.

One of the most amazing moments for me was enjoying the view of Istanbul by night. We had a wonderful view from the balcony of the apartment of my father’s friend, watching the ships passing by on the “Bosporus” and listening to the chant of the muezzins.

 On the last day of our journey we visited the “bazaar” of Istanbul, which seemed like a whole new world to me. I was overwhelmed by the huge range of goods and by the variety of the many different shops. Merchants were standing in front of their shops, trying to get attention of the tourists.  The smell of the spices being sold filled the air and it was stuffy and crowded.

 I was very sad when we had to leave. When thinking of our trip to Istanbul today I still feel the special atmosphere of the city- for me it was an unforgettable journey. I would love to go back to Turkey one day to feel the magic again…