Last day in Turkey (my extended layover in İstanbul)

So it is my last day in Turkey, and I'm feeling a weird mixture of things. It's been wonderful having this sort of unexpected return to Turkey - I wasn't preparing last year to come back for a second year in a row - but I'm definitely ready to go back home. 

I treated today like a very extended layover in İstanbul. Basically, I had 24 hours in he city to do whatever I wanted. A friend of a friend put me up in her apartment right off Taksim.

So today I sat in a cafe in the bazaar beneath the Blue Mosque (the rental fees pay for part of the upkeep of the mosque), and drank çay and Türkçe kahvesi and wrote. It was a very relaxing way to spend my last day in Turkey for a while. Tough that's what I said last year too, hahaha! I think my friends and family would be peeved if I went to turkey for a third year in a row though hahaha!

İstanbul is the kind of city that is too large to even wrap your head around it, let alone experience. 2 continents, 16 million people in the city proper. It's insane. No one can see everything in the city. 

I went to Topkapı palace public gardens today which was pleasant, and something I've never done before, and then I went to get ottoman beef stew for dinner. Omnomnomnomnom! Now I'm at the apartment drinking my last Efes, and writing again. It's 1:45 in the morning and I need to be align out the door at 3:30. This could be a long night. Oh well. I'm coming home!!

Bt in all seriousness, my time in Turkey has been wonderful. It was a surprise to be able to come back so soon, and I'm looking forward to coming back. For all of its cultural insularity and weirdness, it's nice and the people are genuinely friendly. There is a lot left for me to learn, and I can't wait. 

See you state side!

Hugh