I found this fun website to pin the countries you have visited, I have not traveled extensively. According to this I have only seen 6.22% of the world but here is hoping I can see a bit more of this amazing planet earth!
visited 14 states (6.22%)
Try Neptyne, the programmable spreadsheet
You can also pin the states you have visited in the US! I have visited 42% which is not bad! It is a big country! 🙂
visited 21 states (42%)
Try it if you want! 🙂
Where to begin..?! Even though it’s been a few days since I got back from the trip, the jet lag is still making me company, and somehow I feel I am still landing from this adventure.
I will start saying that Turkey is a great country, in size and in charm. It has beautiful landscapes, delicious food, fresh, seasoned and flavored, the desserts are so rich… and what can I say about their history? They have so much history, everything has happened there, and everyone and their mothers have been there too. There is still a lot happening and I won’t get in the most recent news because that is not the point and I had no clue there were things happening until I got a message froma friend asking if we were ok. We were safe the whole time during the trip.
Anyway, I highly recommend Diana Uribe’s podcast and in her words, this part of the world hasn’t miss a thing. Istanbul was Byzantium in the early days, then it was called Constantinople, and in 1923 it was renamed as Istanbul.
Turkish people are very nice in general, their hospitality is effortless, they try to help you out, we were carrying a kind of heavy suitcase up a bunch of stairs and a group of young men hurried to help us.
People would talk to me in Turkish, I could pass for a local if I didn’t speak, and when I would say I was from Colombia, most people would say right away: Falcao! The Colombian soccer player is now part of the Galatasaray team and people like el Tigre in these magic lands.
Here are some of my impressions:
Istanbul is a weonderful city, the amoutn of eye candy is top in this place, it’s pretty from every angle you look at it, besides it’s located in between Asia and Europe and on one side there is the Bosphorus canal getting through and dividing both continents. By the way, I learned this is the only route for Russia to get ships out into the Mediterranean sea so imagine the strategic location the Turks have.
There are quite a few bridges, tunnels, ferries, trains, etc that connect both sides. The view is like a postcard, with a combination of water, boats, birds, bridges, mosques, modern and old buildings, the city feels modern, there are cats everywhere, they are the true Sultans of this land, and I didn’t see one tiny mouse, thank god!
Even though the majority of the population is Muslim, they are secular so the government is separated from religion, and they don’t discriminate against other religions. They don’t drink, although I think some do… haha, but probably very few, but they compensate by smoking like there is no tomorrow. I saw parents smoking right next to their babies and I even saw a pair of pre-teens with a cigaret and people just acted like nothing out of the ordinary. 😵🤢 I was sick of the smoke to be honest.
Istanbul is one of the biggest cities in the world and the biggest in Europe with about 15 million people. A third live in the European side. Imagine the level of energy that moves through this city. I highly recommend it.
Here are some pics:
Brownie! 