Saturday/Sunday, June

Saturday

Today was our last day in Istanbul before our two-week excursion through the Turkey. We pretty much spent the day preparing for it, but went to Ortakoy for dinner. Ortakoy is this awesome part of Istanbul on the water, where you can get the best kumpir and Turkish waffles. These are no ordinary waffles. They are the dessert counterpart to kumpir, where the potato is completely stuffed with every kind of topping you could imagine. The toppings for these waffles include about 12 different kinds of Nutella-like flavored spreads, 6 different types of nuts, 4 different types of fruit, and of course, sprinkles and coconut. Pretty much when you go to Ortakoy, you can bet on consuming half your body weight in toppings.

When we returned to the flat it was time to pack for our trip. However, after only about an hour after being home, the power went out in our entire neighborhood, which made packing a little difficult. So of course, we lit our little Pottery Barn lanterns with tea candles in them and went outside to check things out. We made it as far as Mehmet’s pilav shop, chatted with him long enough to ensure that he thought we were completely insane, and then headed back to the flat. We tried to pack for awhile by candlelight and then resorted to the entertainment of Never Have I Ever.

It was really one of the first times that I realized we were definitely not in a first-world country – Istanbul seems so modern that we sometimes forget that. Like when they shut our water off for a few hours, the city sometimes just shuts things off if they don’t have enough. I tried to imagine what Americans reactions would be if their electricity and water were suddenly shut off for no apparent reason. I have been without power because of a natural disaster, but never because the water or electricity was just running out.

Sunday

Today was the big day! We left our flat at 6:05 AM in order to make it to the tram stop for the 6:25 tram. It was late, so we decided to take taxis to Sultanahmet instead. We got to our lovely little (emphasis on little) Fez travel bus and loaded on. Despite the slightly cramped quarters, we were excited and ready for our trip to begin. We were joined on this bus pretty much only with Aussies and Kiwis, with the exception of another two Americans, one Canadian, and a family of four Singaporians who I swear never said a word the whole trip.

And then we were off to Gallipoli, the site of Ataturk’s famous World War II victory. Along the way, we stopped for gozleme (kind of like a cheese crepe) and saw some very primitive farming methods that would definitely NOT be seen in the US. We got to Gallipoli and had a very thorough tour of all the sites. The first site we visited had a very ugly statue that looked like a 3^rd-grade art project. However, later on we saw a statue of this park ranger who had apparently stayed on the mountain during one of the big fires and died there. Instead of depicting his dedication to the park while he was alive, they instead decided to depict his horrible death by including flames lapping at his knees in his statue. Classy.

Some of the sites we saw at Gallipoli included the landing site of the ANZAC forces, battle sites and trenches of the ANZACs and the Turks, and both of their memorial sites. Interestingly, both the New Zealand and Turkish memorials had statues of Ataturk. Although I was surprised to see that Ataturk’s victory was not built up that much, but that probably had a lot to do with being respectful towards the ANZACs.

After Gallipoli, it was on to Canakkale, where we would be staying the night. After a lovely dinner with all of our Aussie and Kiwi friends, we headed to a nearby sports bar to watch the match between Turkey and the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic was the favorite for this match, and true to form, Turkey trailed 2-0 with only about 15 minutes left in the game. Finally, they scored one goal, although a victory was still looking doubtful. But in the last 5 minutes of the game Turkey scored 2 goals to beat the Czech Republic 3-2! The Turks (and the Americans!) went crazy, and there was even rioting in the streets of the tiny town of Canakkale. We saw Taksim on the news, and it was even crazier than when we rioted with the Turks after they beat Switzerland. This game was also important because it means that Turkey now moves on in the next round. Maybe they are the Cinderella team of the Euro Cup 2008...