First Impressions

I have been in Turkey for 7 days. Two nights at the Orient Hostel in boisterous neighborhood of Sultanahamet, home to the Aya Sophia, Blue Mosque and countless other intoxicating sights. On the morning of my second full day, I caught a 7 am ferry down the coast, en route to soak up Troy, the Gallipoli Battlefields, and the ruins of Ephesus.I spent five days touring the Aegean Coast, living on buses and in hostels. Instead of bogging you down with details, I thought I would just briefly recount a few aspects of Turkey that stuck me as particularly pleasant, beautiful, and unsettling (at least for a woman traveling alone)during the past week.

Pleasant:

• fresh warm bread
• ferry rides across the Bosporus
• chatting with fellow backpackers
• Çay with a cube of sugar served in a curvy glass
• The breeze from the Agean Sea
• Walking along the Çannekale harbour
• Friendly Turks
• wild tabby kittens
  

Beautiful:

• the view of the Bosporus from my campus at night
  
• the golden domes of the Aya Sophia
• the sun setting over the Aegean sea
• the Great Theatre at Ephesus
• scarves in the Grand Bizarre
• the Selcuk fountain set in front of an ancient Roman aqueduct
• the view from the ANZAC memorial on the Gallipoli peninsula
  

Unsettling:

• hordes of people accosting travelers at the bus station to pursuade you to stay in their hostel
  
• dirty toilets of the squatting variety
  
• being alone
• nearly missing the ferry
• not speaking Turkish