Pictures are up! Added captions too, so go look (and comment?) at them, if you're thus inclined. I think I got tired of annotating as I went along, so the later photos have funnier (and crappier) comments.
A (not-so-)quick summary follows.
We were trying to save on transport costs, so we chose to leave on New Year's Day. After a doughnut toast, some snoozing, and general bumming around in the airport, Jason, Yiwen, Ailin and I were off to Istanbul.
I was actually quite excited about visiting Istanbul, since it was actually an extremely rich historical centre (formerly known as Constantinople, it was formerly the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, then the Ottoman Empire, and I'd figured it'd have a lot to offer. Alas, it seems that it has fallen to a similar fate as its Western cousin (Rome). It's somewhat run-down now, and its greatest offering to tourists would probably be its array of mosques (many of which were converted from Eastern Orthodox churches after they were captured by the Turks).
The most famous example of this would be the Haghia Sophia, which was for a thousand years the largest cathedral in the world. It was captured and used as a mosque for about 500 years, then more recently it has been secularised and converted into a museum, showcasing both Christian and Muslim elements within. The juxtaposition was quite interesting, really.
Unfortunately we were in Istanbul during the Eid ul-Adha, a Muslim festival. Apparently it's the custom for all the locals to holiday during this period, so many things were closed. One of this was the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest covered markets in the world. We probably should have suspected something when we first saw its closed gates being used to display wares.
We did manage to go for a Turkish bath, which though refreshing was somewhat overpriced. The 'massage' aspect of it seems to be somewhat overhyped as well. I suspect these Westerners simply have never met an Asian masseuse. =P
Athens was a different story, however. Maybe it was just fresher from its facelift for the 2004 Olympics, but it was a good mix of modern and new with old and quaint.
The Acropolis, basically the ruins of the ancient 'high city' of Athens, was isolated from the other parts of Athens. While this is arguably touristy, I kinda preferred it since it allowed you to temporarily forget that skyscrapers existed. It was like walking in a gigantic open-air museum.
It was also a religious festival in Athens, Epiphany, but instead of everything being closed, we got to see a parade.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Turkeys and Grease, updated
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
some very exciting and amusing pictures i see.. :)
Post a Comment