My time in Istanbul is coming to a close, and it has been a whirlwind of fun and new experiences. I leave tomorrow via an overnight train to Sofia, Bulgaria. As an American, I get SO excited for trains – and I have my own cabin with a bed for 45 euros total.

I am really going to miss it here. Istanbul has a special place in my heart, especially after being my first stop and being such a blast. I have explored so many new neighborhoods, including a couple of super fancy ones on the European side at night by the Bosphorus, and a couple of very interesting and beautiful neighborhoods on the Asian side with lots of colors and lots of cats. Also loads of hills, brace yourself if you go. Here are some photos to show some appreciation for the Asian side of Istanbul, which is very affordable, walkable, beautiful, and interesting (also there was excellent Korean food and a stellar Turkish breakfast):

Fun fact/experience of the moment: Hammams are neat. I was about to write ‘Hammam aka a Turkish bathhouse’, then I looked on Wikipedia and it described a Hammam as “often inaccurately called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world.”

I decided to book one. The cooking class instructor and one of the guys at the hostel who helped me arrange it referred to the Hammam as “being scrubbed down like a baby.” Weird.

I booked a scrub, a foam massage, and a full body massage. A man in a suit picked me up on a golf cart and drove me over to the Hammam. When I got there, I was directed to what the Turkish woman called a “cabin” and given a pink and white towel, some disposable shoes, and what I thought was a disposable mesh-type hairnet. I opened what I thought was for my hair and it was not shaped for that. I thought – maybe it is a headband? But that made no sense. I peeped out from my cabin (a dressing room) and asked what it was. She gestured to me that it was underwear. I was sufficiently embarrassed. I put on my disposable underwear, my slippers, and my towel and then I was left to lie down in a hot marble sauna, alone in my thoughts (always dangerous). I supposed I was just supposed to relax.

Then the Turkish woman came and got me and took me to a different room for the scrub. She immediately began pouring hot water onto my head and all over my body. I was not prepared for that. She had me lie down on the marble, grabbed a scrubbing cloth, and she did, indeed, scrub me down like a baby. Then came the foam massage, where they use this weird contraption to smother you in foam, which smelled really good, and it felt nice. Then she dumped more hot water on my head, then lukewarm water, then some refreshing cold water. 

My one complaint is that the marble is, well, marble-y, and it hurt my bones. My skeleton felt overexposed and my bones felt pierced by the hard marble. Otherwise, it was lovely, and so was the massage that came after the scrub and foam party on my body. My skin felt so clean and refreshed. My neck felt better because the pillows here suck and my neck has been hurting. Here are a couple of photos of the Hammam, where they also brought me tea and snacks after (and then once again I was up until three in the morning because I cannot refuse their delicious but caffeinated tea and at that point it was dinnertime):

Bird(s) of the moment:

I think I will do this for my post today instead of an outfit. I do not want to bore people too much with my clothes. So, here’s the bird of the moment:

Anyways, there are tons of seagulls here. Several were taunting Mimi, the hostel cat and my #1 homie, on the rooftop the other day. Get ’em, Mimi. One of the hostel workers said that the seagulls here are mutants because they eat a lot of meat scraps. He’s not wrong. The seagulls are massive and they are everywhere. Birds are funny. I even have a tattoo of two hummingbirds, that is how funny I find birds.

Some miscellaneous musings on people that I have met in Istanbul, described in a sentence or less: cyclist German who literally rode his bike here and prefers British accents to American ones (fair), hostel worker who makes delightful shisha on the rooftop and is just one of the kindest people I have ever met, turtleneck-wearing Estonian man who also loved wine but was quite misogynistic, sweet summer child from Hawaii on his gap year before college, Canadian plant scientist who fascinates me and has convinced me to try out new places on my trip and can identify random plants from photos, worldly Aussie girl who spent two months traveling the Middle East by herself, cool German girl who is fun to talk to and I am envious of all her travels at such a young age, bizarre and off-putting Irish lad who left his family and was reported missing and is generally causing mayhem around the hostel, fellow lawyer from London who has a far cooler law job than I ever did, my gal from Eritrea who works at the hostel and spent her day off me with me yesterday wandering around new parts of the city, nice man from Azerbaijan who works at my favorite tea shop down the street, Australian retired professor couple at the cooking class who were both so adorable and loved each other so much, cooking instructor who used to work in marketing but went back to doing what she loves – cooking, Turkish Hamman spa worker who exclusively referred to me as ‘lady’ because she could not understand my name and thought it was actually ‘Adam’, grumpy Kiwi guy who loves rugby and hates Aussies but also hates New Zealand, outdoorsy Aussie guy who spent a month in Ukraine this year and has convinced me along with the Canadian to go to Georgia on my trip (and maybe Ukraine if I’m feeling bold), nice British man who works in football and I explored the Asian side with, and an extremely kind hostel worker who I convinced to watch the show Fallout on Amazon prime during his night shift. That is certainly not all of them, but I figured I would give some insight and reflect on the interesting people I have met. Hope y’all enjoyed that endless run-on sentence.

Almost every other traveler that I have met has also been traveling alone. We are all just people wandering around, trying to find connection and happiness in our own ways on this floating space rock that we call the planet Earth. It has been so cool to feel part of a community for the past week. I feel like I have really gotten to know people and that I have been open when people ask me questions. Less guarded. More smiley.

I have also made red lipstick my signature style aspect, and I will be wearing it pretty much everyday form here on out. A couple of hostel folks have said they barely recognize me if I don’t have my red lipstick on. The only drawback is that it does make me look more Russian than I already do. For example, today I went to a museum with an exhibit on the attempts at socialist influence on Turkey. The museum worker looks at me and says “you are Russian.”

“No, I am American actually,” I said.

“No, you are Russian…you look Russian” he said. Then we talked about Miami. Another rando the other day also started talking to me in Russian. Classic.

Here are a few more photos from the European side:

Cats of the moment: this is just an ode to cats. Also, I went to the Istanbul Cat Museum, because why would I not? CATS FOREVER!!!

Here are the cats (including barbed wire cat, who is hardcore):

Song(s) of the moment: Everything is Romantic – Charli xcx

Why? Because everything is romantic if you are delusional enough! Something about this city and this trip in general has put me in a daze. I find myself romanticizing interactions and just walking around with a pep in my step and a smile on my face. For those of you who have known me for a while, you know that is a strange thing for me to do (especially the smiling part). 

Featured lyrics:

Early nights in white sheets with lace curtains

Capri in the distance

In a place that can make you change

Fall in love again and again

…Okay, listen to the song!!! Everything is SO romantic, y’all.

xoxo “the girl from America who really likes wine” (what I was apparently referred to at a hostel breakfast that I did not attend, and I am unsure whether to love it or hate it).