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As you may have noticed I traveled a lot this year and to conclude my voyages, earlier this month I spent almost a week in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first trip ever abroad together with my work colleagues. The main purpose of the voyage was a Cisco Networking Academy conference, but somewhere on the way I’ve made some adjustments :).

Once I debarked the plane in Istanbul I realized I had a an absolutely wrong mindset about Turkey. It’s so different from any country I visited so far. During the days spent in Istanbul, I tried to cover as much as I could of this wonderful city. This city is unique. It’s the only city in the world that spreads over two continents. I’ve visited the Mosques, the old and new parts of the city, toured on the Bosporus, got lost, spent huge amounts of money shopping, made full use of my negotiation skills, ate the best food ever and chilled out at the river side.

The hotel we checked in wasn’t much but I enjoyed every morning a breath-taking view from the top floor of the Marmara Sea. As we arrived two days earlier we had enough time to see some of the most beautiful parts of this huge city^[1].

The very first thing we visited were the mosques. The Blue Mosque is an impressive piece of architecture centered around my favorite color: blue. For the first time in my life, I entered (bare foot) in a mosque. It kind of gave me a better understanding of Islamic culture and religion. Although I’m not a religious person I learned to respect others beliefs than my own.

Saint Sophia Mosque was tough the most interesting of the two. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the city was conquered and the Saint Sophia church was turned into a mosque. All Christian signs were brutally removed from the walls, the walls were over painted with in white, mosaics were destroyed. The scars are still very visible at every step. With the building of the Blue Mosque, Saint Helena has been turned into a museum, and nowadays a lot of effort is put into restoring some of the original paintings and mosaics.

The streets of Istanbul are turned into a huge bazaar during the day, where you can find anything you may think of. From spices to food, clothing or electric appliances. And for everything you have to bargain. From what I’ve experienced, foreigners step out easily from the crowd, and as a result the first price you get is up to 7 times higher than the right price. If your negotiation skills are good you can buy almost everything at a very good price. These people love to bargain and it’s amazing on how friendly and happy they are at the end of a good deal.

The infrastructure is among of the best I saw for a city this large. Of course you have to be mad to drive a car in Istanbul … there are no rules.

Riding on a boat on the Bosporus is a thing you shouldn’t miss if you go to Istanbul. I love the water, the peacefulness and the beauty of the riversides. If you can get a ride in the middle of the night, It’s a feeling you’ll never forget.

On the first day of the conference, we got lost and walked a lot around the city. In the end we found the conference site, but the quality of the sessions and other stuff made us loose interest very quickly. Out of the whole conference, 1 or 2 sessions were worth attending. A good thing was that we got to do some networking with some of the people there and brought back some ideas worth implementing. Overall we had loads of fun but not a real good professional experience.

Among the great stuff was the Bosporus ride at night, I really can’t describe the feeling … the conference party and the meal in at a restaurant housed in a UNESCO monument, where I ate the best food in ever. I don’t like the Turkish sweets^[2], call me crazy, but here you can eat some of the best food in the world.

Turkish people are very proud and have very strong feelings about their roots and their country. During my stay, I noticed the huge flags that are present everywhere. Although it took me a while to get used to the police and army being present everywhere, after a while it gave me an unusual good feeling of security.

Being back in Romania felt really strange. Turkey is 50 years ahead of us, we’re in the European Union, they’re not. I’m putting Istanbul on my map of beautiful cities around the world.

During this voyage I managed to get an unusual high number of photos of myself. Me me me me.

The Lion.^[3]

1. Istanbul has over 10 million inhabitants and stretches over 100 km. [»]
2. E.g. Turkish Delight. [»]
3. The song to this post is: Jason Mraz – I’m Yours. Open “Lion’s Radio” and scroll down to listen to it. [»]