Well I see it’s been an interesting few days here at Feministe, with surgeries (hope you’re feeling ok, piny!) and rape apologists and whatnot (in two days, I will be Travelling Alone With Female through Eastern Europe — start the shaming and blaming now, assholes). Anyway, I’m currently winding up my time in Istanbul, and it’s been incredible. It’s a gorgeous city, and I think I’ve walked about 20 miles since I’ve been here — which is good, since I think I’ve also eaten about 30 pounds of food. And man is Turkish food good. Today we spent the morning at the Grand Bazaar, and I treated myself to an early birthday present — a hand-embroidered bedspread and pillowcases (bedspread is red, pink, orange and gold, two of the pillowcases are the same, and two are more purple — I will post pictures at some point). I’ve been looking for something like this for my bed for a while, so I was excited. I also couldn’t resist three hand-made glass lamps (one larger red one, one small orange one, and one small gold one). And a mother-of-pearl ring. But everything else I bought was for other people, I swear.
Ok, except for that one pair of earrings. But that’s all!
Yesterday we went to a Turkish bath, which was quite an experience. They scrubbed off an entire layer of my skin, and I think I’m about five shades paler, but it felt great. Afte the scrub was an oil massage, and we walked out of there ready to fry — we must have looked like filthy greaseballs to everyone we passed, but it was definitely worth it. We spent the rest of the afternoon in a nargileh cafe, talking international politics with the Turkish owner who had a great love for puns and funny English sayings (his favorite, he said, is “She’s as beautiful as a tractor”). Then the evening was spent on a ferry, cruising down the Bosphorus over to the Asian side of Istanbul and back again.
Not sure what the plan for tomorrow is, but we’re considering taking a day trip to the Black Sea. And the day after tomorrow, I depart for Belgrade, where I will be possibly meeting some relatives. I’ll also be the first person in my family to set foot in Serbia since my grandpa left before WWII. Hopefully I won’t tarnish the family name.
However, tomorrow I’ll also be doing a guest post for the Rude Pundit. And I’m joining an all-star cast, so it should be good. I’m actually working on the post now, since tomorrow I think I’ll be out of the city (yes, blog-cheating… shhh…), so hopefully it’ll fulfill all of your wildest dreams.
There have been lots of post-worthy observations and experiences here, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get online sometime in the next week and actually write something substantial. Until then, enjoy yourselves! And as always, if you want a postcard from your blogger, feel free to email me your address and I promise I’ll send you one.