so.... Istanbul

Hello guys... this is Julián writing from what was once known as Caput Mundi, (Capital of the world.... for anyone who doesn't speak latin :P). At top of the hotel's balcony I can see why... 2 continents come together here... Europe and Asia... the scenery feels just magical. We are finally here, on a country where an impossible astronomical phenomenon adorns its flag. I took some pictures of two of its more famous buildings (Agya Sophia and the Blue Mosque)... I think they speak for themselves.

Some hours later... after having a strange dream about someone giving me directions in Arabic (thanks to the call to prayer at sunrise), we headed for the street. It was Victory Day on Turkey, Zafer Bayrami, so every museum and other goverment run facilities were closed. But that did not matter, the tea made it for the lack of traditional cultural tourism. Soon after we took a train to the Fahti Neighborhood, there I felt in love... The food made me fell in love with Turkey.

We took a ferry to a mosque at the Galata Neighbourhood. It was an experience I never had before, had never seen people praying at a Mosque. A weird smell filled the scene, one of many unpleasant smell to come (I don't want to be rude... but they were feet, sweat and other bodily fluids). I guess that some of the activities of the culture and religion of the place could prone those smell. Not everything was unpleasant at the mosque, the arquitecture is amazing. The lack of paintings is something I still have to get used to, but the patterns are interesting. The eyes of some of the headscarved girls could melt any man.

I wonder if the use of a headscarf could have helped this wonderful situation. This is my theory, given that the face is the only thing that could be clearly visible (and in some extreme cases, only the eyes) body parts of a woman; could there be some positive selections towards certain gene types of eyes and faces? I guess it could be the subject to an interesting human genetics study.

Later we took the same ferry to go back. Somehow we ended up in Asia... how cool is that?. By mistake I can scratch another continent out of the list. So we decided to have dinner on Asia and celebrates Dr. Paul Mallery's birthday..... Felicidades Paul! Turkey throw off some fireworks just for you!

The way back to the hotel was quite an adventure, and of cultural clashing...

But I think that without this kind of experiences, good and bad, you have not really traveled.