First Couchsurfing Experience

After two days of sending messages to various people on Couchsurfing, we finally had one person accept to host us (though it would only be for one night since the next day we were to catch an overnight bus to Izmir).

**If you’re not familiar with Couchsurfing, it is a great invention for traveling! To put it simply, it is a website where people from all over the world offer their spare beds or couches to travelers visiting their city, for free! In reality, the purpose is to be able to stay with someone local in order to learn first hand what life is like in that country from your host. In return, you share your travel experiences or just information from your own country. It is a great tool for cross-cultural exchange, and great for traveling because it cuts down on cost! We had intended to Couchsurf a lot on this trip, but we have run into a few problems. Check it out: couchsurfing.org

We spent the morning of our second day touring the Topkapi Palace, the rooms and grounds where many Sultans have spent their ruling years during the Ottoman Empire. The architecture is again a beautiful mix of Ottoman and Islamic, and throughout the palace there are great examples of colorful mosaics and Islamic calligraphy. My two favorite parts were first the Treasury rooms of the Sultan- never have I seen so many emeralds, diamonds, and so much gold in one room! Second for me was the Harem, a separate area where you can tour the quarters where the Sultans kept their lovers. It is quite a strange and unique experience- they all seemed to live pretty comfortably in there.

That afternoon we took our bags and headed to our new host Zek’s apartment, way on the other side of the Bosphorus in Uskudar (Asian side.) We managed to figure out the tram and ferry systems and ventured to Asia. Zek had a nice student apartment with two flatmates, and they were all very nice guys. Our couch was also ironically in the kitchen.. it was a bit of a strange set up but everything worked out okay.

Our host Zek had to work nights at a hotel, but one of his flatmates offered to take us out to dinner in Taksim Square and Istiklal Street. Unfortuately he didn’t speak much English, but we managed to see this new modern are and eat some more kebab for dinner. (In Turkey, there are not many other choices than variations of the revolving kebab meat with bread- a bit of a struggle for a vegetarian like me!)

Mosaic tiling in the Topkapi Palace