It's good to be back...

... out exploring the rest of the world.

I am quite sleep deprived, so bare with me as we begin our journey to Istanbul, Turkey.

This country has drawn me to it for a couple years now, I can't say why as I know almost nothing of Turkey, but I don't usually question such things. While I'm not big on cities, I can tell that Istanbul is already gripping my heart. The cobblestone streets and alleys that take you to wondrous spots around every corner (an art museum here, a marbling class there...), the window shopping for food (especially baklava), the breathtaking buildings dating back to ancient times, the call to prayer throughout the day, the prevalence of tea, and of course the people are all invigorating my soul.

After Emily and I managed to get into the city by tram–which included an extended amount of time attempting to get an istanbulkart, at which point a man just took the 20 TLY I was holding, came back with two tens and just did it for me–we got off at the closest station to our hostel, Sultanahmet Sq. and just sat down, very non-fussed that we had no idea of how to proceed in finding Cheers hostel. A man came up to us and asked if we needed help, and we showed him the address and he just walked us to it, making friendly conversation along the way. While he may have been a scammer, as he asked us if we wanted him to show us around free of charge (an hour later, as we were walking around, a second man asked us the same thing), he was extremely helpful and made us feel welcome in the city, ultimately, we had no drawbacks from the encounter. As soon as we entered our hostel we were made to feel very welcome as well, though at this point I was quite overwhelmed and overly tired and was at the "I just want to curl up into a ball" state, but as usual, check in was later in the day. To kill some time we walked around stumbling upon amazing art, stray cats, and stray art of cats until our hostel was free to check into.

Everyone at Cheers is exuberant and ready to make sure you have a great time! We were given multiple cups of tea and therefore I had my first taste of apple tea and fell in love. And then one of the hostel owners came at me without warning with a forkful of homemade cake, I loved it so much he gave us an entire piece.
"What is this? It's so good!"
"It is love!"
Oh, I do not doubt it. That cake was overflowing with absolutely scrumptious love.

After a couple showers and some good downtime, we got ready to head to dinner, at which point our roommates showed up, asking if we wanted beer as they just got an entire keg. Certainly sounds good to me! So we headed up to the rooftop terrace with the fireplace, the bar, and the view of the Hagia Sophia to hang out. The bartender now calls me his sister and I am to call him uncle and he's declared I get free beer. And they say we need to stay at cheers while we're in the city. To go elsewhere would be absolutely silly! We then went out to dinner with the girl who also stays in our room, watched everyone else to figure out the tipping etiquette, and I'm now struggling to keep myself in bed while I hear the bar upstairs raging and I know there are good times to be had, but I know I need to sleep more, and the bar will be there tomorrow.

For now, I say ciao,

much love from Turkey,
Kelly (& Emily)