When U Really Behind on Blog Posts...

So the great internship adventure is over, and it was a mess. But the great class adventure is about to start, and we may or may not be staying in the swankiest, cushiest dorms ever in a university the size of a small city that has three—THREE—elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. Also we get breakfast and lunch. In short, Bilkent University in Ankara is dope.

But more on that later. The important thing is that I have about 15 blog posts that my dedicated fan base has yet to see. And since I'm not Anthony Bourdain and don't have a BA editing team to do all the fancy work for me, I might have to scale down and give you the photos and clips separately rather than in cute—albeit blurry—videos. I know it may not seem like it, but those take hourrrsss. And if we wait til I have the time to make really high-quality videos about the stuff I've seen, you'll be pumpkin-carving and pumpkin spice latte'ing, and this summer experience will be long over.

So, without further ado, the less fancy version of the things that have gone on in the past three weeks begins with an R/J trip to Topkapı Palace. Cerca 2.5 weeks ago. (Just FYI, these blog posts have not necessarily been in chronological order, but you probably guessed that cuz u smart.)

Topkapı Palace was the home of the Ottoman Sultans until Sultan Abdülmecid I decided to move to a different palace in 1856. I'm trying to figure out exactly when it was constructed, but different pieces are from different centuries and the books I have are not clear. I believe the first occupants were Byzantine in like the 6th century A.D. at least. Anyway, in typical Ottoman style—and something I saw when I visited the Alhambra in Granada, Spain—the palace is a collection of many small buildings, gardens and fountains rather than one big palace.

Below is the "Gate of Salutations" or Bab-üs Salem in Turkish, which is really similar to Arabic, btw. According to "Istanbul: the Ultimate Guide", the gate was designed to intimidate foreigners, who had to leave their horses outside and whose heads might end up on spikes, Game of Thrones style.

 

 

The palace has an incredible view of the Bosphorus, which it sits directly above. If you look closely enough, you'll see a very old brick wall that I think is where the palace grounds end. The same guide book says the palace lost land over time to various nations and development projects.

 

Also pretty sure we only saw like 5% of the entire palace and gardens—and photos weren't allowed inside. But we'll be going back with the group, and hopefully we'll see some more stuff.

This last picture is of the best-selling product in Istanbul apparently: the selfie stick. R and I met the most wonderful woman on holiday from England, and she described the city's fascination with these sticks as "f***ing mental!" I think they're hysterical.

If you're still with me, then stay tuned because several blog posts bout to happen.

For more on Topkapı Palace, feel free to Google it/forget about it til we go back in a couple weeks/read the guide book by Saffet Emre Tonguc & Pat Yale.

XXOO 

Oh yeah—music is Las Minas (Tarantas) by Gino D'Auri.