Rather than get stressed out and aggravated by the many, many, many Turks that tried to accost me on the streets of Istanbul, I turn it into a game. I did try the trick of purchasing  a cheap ring at the Grand Bizaar to wear on my wedding ring finger to see if that would act as a deterrent but it had little effect on the predators.

Tag-Along-a-Turk can be played with any number of players, from one to whatever. The objective is to collect as many points as possible.  The person with the least number of points at the end of a day of sightseeing must buy their fellow travelers drinks or dinner, depending upon budgets.  For people traveling alone, simply try to improve on your previous days score and then treat yourself to a visit to a Hammam, or a big, fat wedge of Turkish Delight if you’re successful.

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Rosie asked me in an earlier comment if I’d seen any good mosaics during my travels. This one’s for you, m’dear.

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Not to miss out on a “real” cultural experience, Holly and I enquired at the hostel front desk about visiting a Turkish bath. The Cagaloglu Hamami is one of the more famous ones listed in the guide books and has appeared in numerous movies.

“Why you want to go there?” one of the hostel staff asked. “Everyone goes there. Too many tourists and it’s expensive.” The cost is around 30 Euros. “You should go to this one.” He pointed at a poster on the wall. “It is 570 years old, very traditional, and only 15 Euros.” A free transfer by taxi was also offered.

Holly and I thought about it and decided to give the recommended hammam a go. Why go to a place that every man and his dog visits?

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When I woke up around 1930, I met one of my roommates, Holly, another Canadian visitor (there are plenty of them, as well as Australians). We took a walk over to the Blue Mosque to observe the call to prayer at 2100. For some reason, I was expecting to see a blue building (showing my ignorance once more), but it’s not, except when they turned on the light show after prayers. There are blue, green and white tiles inside, so I guess that’s where the “pet” name given to the only mosque in Turkey with six minarets, comes from.

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It’s 0530 hours and I’m wide awake, this time in Istanbul, Turkey (the European side). Not wanting to disturb my other roommates at the Sultan Hostel, I climbed ungracefully down from my top bunk—I’ve managed to avoid it so far during my trip, and this one is particularly wobbly—grabbed some clothes and came to sit in their café. For company, I have a couple passed out in a drunken stupor lying on top of each other, thankfully, fully clothed. 

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A 12-hour bus ride is hard at the best of times. It’s even harder when you’re sitting in the front row of a full bus–with no leg room–and able to see all obstacles heading towards you at a great rate of knots. It also makes it little more uncomfortable when you wake up towards the end of the journey to learn the woman sitting next to you has lost her money. Everyone was searching everywhere, speaking in Turkish, every so often looking and pointing at me, Suspect # 1.

As soon as we pulled into the station in Istanbul, before there was a chance to arrest me and search every orifice of my anatomy, I latched onto a group of travelers who were heading into the center via minibus.

(ps: it wasn’t me who took her money!)

Finally made it to the island of Samos after a 6 1/2 hour boat ride for Syros. I leave here this afternoon at 5 p.m. and will be in Turkey an hour and a half later. From Kusadasi, I’ll take the bus directly to Istanbul. Only a 12-hour trip…

To get a definitive answer on the whole Turkey thing, I contacted the Turkish Embassy and also dropped an e-mail to www.turkeytravelplanner.com yesterday. Tom Brosnahan, creator of the information site got back to me today.

“The traditional division between Europe and Asia, as far as Turkey is concerned, is at the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

The Bosphorus is the 32 km (20-mi)-long strait which joins the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea, and separates the continents of Europe and Asia.

Turkey’s two parts are eastern Thrace, in Europe, and Anatolia (Asia  Minor), in Asia.”

So there you have it! Thanks so much, Tom! If anyone’s wanting information on traveling to Turkey, be sure to check out www.turkeytravelplanner.com

There is a boat out of here early Sunday morning (0100 hours) to Samos, and from there I’ll catch a boat to Turkey. I have already bought a ticket so I can’t change my mind again.

Since it’s Europe On An Alphabet I’m doing, rather than head in to the interior of Turkey I’m going to just whiz through Izmir and Istanbul and then hop over to Bulgaria for “J.” I know that (technically) I’ve messed up the plan by not going to Ilgin, but technically speaking is, well, let’s face it, too technical. And I’m a girl who’s at the opposite end of the spectrum to that. I’m free to change her mind and the rules, if I feel like it.

Turkey

The Islamic country of Turkey is located in the Eastern Mediterranean, on two continents: Europe and Asia. I now just need to figure out the dividing line and find out which continent Ilgin is in.

Istanbul is the only city to straddle two continents and the only one to have been a capital during two consecutive empires: Christian and Islamic. The capital city is now Ankara, and as of 2005, the population was approximately 71 million. The currency is the Turkish Lira.

Three seas hug the Turkish coastline: the Mediterranean (south), the Black Sea (north), and the Agean Sea (west).

Worst case, I visit Istanbul to fulfill the “I.” It’s not what was picked out of the hat but it does begin with the right letter.

Call me completely stupid and uneducated, but I’ve spent my life believing that Turkey was part of Europe. No one has ever told me otherwise, up until now when I’m thinking of scooting out of here in a few days to head to Ilgin.

Please can someone give me a difinitive answer. Is part of Turkey Europe and part of it Asia, or does it all come under Asia? I’m so confused! And if it’s not part of Europe then I really shouldn’t be heading there for Europe On An Alphabet.

Feedback and advice would be much appreciated.

From a (obviously) no-so-savvy traveler.