Month 5 (Part 2) - Turkey & Lebanon

Merhaba (Turkish), Salam, and Bonjour (Arabic and French spoken in Lebanon)!

I totally lied when I said I would write again in a week. It's been a month..... I'm sorry again I'm only writing this just now. For the past month or two my phone stopped working in Jordan and so I kind of just took that as an opportunity to be more present. If you have messaged me anytime in the past two months and I haven't responded, I'm sorry. It's because my phone was only working when I was connected to WiFi, so whenever I would come back home from being out all day, my phone would go crazy with all the notifications coming in at one time. This really overwhelmed me so I kind of just avoided a lot of messages and emails etc. That was probably kind of irresponsible of me, but oh well. Again, I apologize if I didn't respond, I'm slowly catching up to my emails and messages. Being disconnected actually helped me a lot while I was in Jordan because in just a month, I felt I was beginning to create a home, a life, and real connections and relationships there. 

Anyways, more on that on my Month 6 Jordan post. Back to Turkey.



After my Egypt trip I headed straight back to Turkey. This time, I was going to be staying in Istanbul, one of my favorite cities in the world (I had visited once before ten years ago). I was coming back to visit an old friend from Istanbul. I haven't seen this friend, Dilara, since 2011 when we studied abroad in Italy together, which is absolutely crazy to think of. We had kept in touch over the years and always talked about visiting each other, and I finally made it over her way. Getting to see her was like no time had passed. I arrived at her apartment at 9 in the evening and despite her having work the next morning, we stayed up for hours catching up over wine and not realizing that it had already become morning.

Re-visiting the Blue Mosque. I love this place.

This time in Turkey, I would only have 5 days before my next destination (Lebanon). The entirety of my 5 days there were spent exploring more of Istanbul (this city could use at least a week, there is so much to see, do, and taste!). My first full day there was a much needed chill day after that intense Egypt tour (many sleepless nights on the go). While my friend was at work, I slept in, did laundry, relaxed, and caught up with some life stuff  at her place while she was out at work. Other days while she was at work, I wandered the grand bazaar (market) and the spice bazaar, walked across the city's bridges crossing from Europe to Asia passing by the many fishermen, visited palaces, museums, and mosques, spent time on the ferries taking in the beautiful views, and just simply walking, exploring new neighborhoods until my feet couldn't take it anymore (literally).

Fisherman at Galata Bridge. This place is always full of people fishing.

Büyük Mecidiye Camii Mosque in Beşiktaş 

Simit (Turkish bagel) on the ferry ride 

over to the European side

Views from the Dolmabahce Palace

Fruit in the market at a juice shop

Inside the Spice Bazaar (market)

Istanbul will always have a special place in my heart. It's such a rich and magical city. Re-visiting this city wasn't just unique and interesting for me because of Istanbul being Istanbul (go there, you'll see what I'm talking about), but it brought back some kind of nostalgia and at the same time made me feel kind of old haha. It's crazy to know I'm old enough to come back to places I've been before, and see how much has changed. It was like witnessing history unfold, or a new chapter in a storybook. I can't really quite put it into words, but it was overwhelming to realize that I have seen the change that happened here. It feels different. While Istanbul will always be one of my favorite cities (because of the mix and diversity of cultures and history, cuisine, the people, the music, the colors in the markets and around the city, the mannerisms, etc.), the energy and vibe of walking around in the city ten years ago compared to walking around there now felt different. Ten years ago I remember that Turkey was working towards becoming "more European/joining the EU." Fast forward ten years to now, and if you've been keeping up with news you'd know that Turkey has reversed its focus and has been gradually shifting towards Islam, and you really feel it when walking through the city. That's all I have to say on that.

Dilara and I spent as much time as we could together. From the mornings until she absolutely had to leave for work, and from the moment she was off, we were out doing something until it was morning again. We went to the Turkish hammam together (this is my favorite thing ever, I'm now convinced I need to find a way to have this regularly accessible in my life), ate a lotttttt (Turkish food is one of my favorite cuisines), visited Galata Tower and the vibrant neighborhood that surrounds it, wandered streets and markets, and went out to explore some of Istanbul's nightlife. No matter where in the city we were, we were always out doing something, but more often than not we were probably spending time in different quarters of the city (Istanbul is MASSIVE) eating and talking. We just had so much to catch up on. Eight years having gone by, life changing so much for both of us, yet here we were. It was really incredible to be back in one of my favorite cities and to be reunited with my friend after so long. Getting to visit and spend this time with Dilara was like being reunited with a best friend, we never stopped talking. It felt so good to be back in this city and especially with her, and to be around another fellow AFSer (someone who participated in an AFS program which is what we did in Italy eight years ago). It was like no time had passed.

I'm so lucky and grateful to have friends like her. She took me in and made me feel completely at home, and happily showed me around her city. I got to see the city from a different perspective than I had when I was here last. She showed me her favorite places that are not normally on the major tourist attractions lists, and she pointed out her favorite foods and beers so I would try them all. It was also super helpful to have her around because, I simply understand zero Turkish.

All fresh and clean from the Hammam

A spectacular dinner with spectacular views of city

<3  Grazie mille per avermi ospitata, Dilara!!! Mi sono divertita tantissimo, and I had the best time in Istanbul with you. Mi manchi gia!!! Non vedo l'ora di rivederti.

Lebanon---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raouche Rocks. Beirut

Towards the end of September I left Istanbul for Beirut, Lebanon where I met up with a friend from home who I would be traveling with for the next two weeks. The first week of traveling together (last week of September) we road tripped through Lebanon. What a beautiful country Lebanon is!!!! We stayed in Airbnbs the whole time and rented a car to have flexibility. All of our Airbnb hosts were incredible, taking us out around their cities/towns, treating us to meals out at their favorite restaurants, to cooking meals together, etc. We were so lucky to have such awesome hosts.

We spent our time in Lebanon visiting historical sites, going to the beach, hiking, and eating a lot. Wow the food in Lebanon is some of the best I've ever had. I'll tell you, even their hummus is life changing. I'll just share some photos so you can see for yourself the food, and beautify and diversity of this country. I had not expected to find such diversity in such a small country.

Before the photos, let me explain a bit about Lebanon. Lebanon is a small country (you could probably drive from the Northernmost part to the Southernmost part in about three hours) in the Middle East almost entirely surrounded by Syria with a small border shared with Israel in the South. Despite Lebanon's location and its neighboring countries, it's actually quite safe, just don't go too close to the borders. I say Lebanon is quite diverse because considering it is such a small country, it's actually quite diverse in religion, language, and landscape. Though it is a country in the Middle East, actually about 40% of its population are Christian/Catholic/Maronite (mostly living in the central Mediterranean coast and in the mountains), about 50% are Sunni/Shia Islam (mostly on the edges landlocked part of the country, these also tend to be more conservative areas), and then there is a small Druze population (in various parts of the south). Beirut, however, is an exception because it is the capital city in the central Mediterranean coast with a huge diversity of people from all religions living together. Beirut is also surprisingly a HUGE party city and is quite liberal.

In Lebanon people speak Arabic, French, and English. Why? Arabic is the main official language, but French is also commonly used because of the brief French occupation from the League of Nations after World War I. French is used across the country but more commonly spoken among the Christians/Catholics/Maronite, many of who live in the mountains. English is becoming more commonly used among young people. People study it in schools just like many other parts around the world, but for some reason here I found people to speak English perfectly and without an accent. I don't know how their education system works but I was really impressed with their English. Lebanon also has many different political parties representing different religious groups. I never understood how it works there or if it even works at all because to be honest it sounded quite complicated. Aside from the demographics and politics, Lebanon is really diverse in terms of its landscape. In this small country you can find desert like terrain, rocky beaches, white sandy beaches, and mountains (they have the highest mountains in all of the Middle East) where you can even go skiing. Much of Lebanon is on a coast of the Mediterranean, meaning they get awesome beaches and awesome Mediterranean cuisine. Anyways, here are some photos so you can see for yourself.

Our first meal in Beirut

Dinner in Beirut. Crunchy Pomegranate Salad, Stuffed grape leaves (warak), and hummus

More dinner in Beirut. I forgot what these are but I promise it was all sweet sweet goodness

Road tripped to the South and visited the Tyre Necropolis

Tyre Hippodrome

Beach day in Tyre

Having a local beer at the beach in Tyre

Lunch in Tyre

More Tyre lunch

Fisherman. Tyre

Do you know what this plant is? We were wondering

Baalbek Ruins. Baalbek

Baalbek. Largest Roman temple outside of Italy

Inside the Baalbek Temple of Bacchus

Visiting the Sayyida Khawla Mosque. Baalbek

Sayyida Khawla Mosque. Baalbek

Sayyida Khawla Mosque. Baalbek

Sayyida Khawla Mosque. Baalbek

Driving up into  the mountains into the clouds (The highest mountains in the Middle East)

Up in the clouds

Tree whisperer. Cedars Forest (Cedars of God).

The melted soft sweet cheese they put in the bun. This is Knefe, a super heavy

 and sweat Lebanese sandwich often eaten for a big breakfast

Dinner in the mountains

Went hiking in the mountains in the Jabal Moussa Reserve to find this lake

Chouwen lake. 

Lebanon was such an adventure. What a beautiful country!!!!

Alright, the next post will be Jordan. I promise I'm working on it. Currently I'm in Italy where I've been for the past couple of weeks visiting my host family and catching up on a lot of emails and life things.

Ta ta for now.