I went back to Istanbul in 2008. It was still awesome.

Well, I hope you are all well, because I’m fantastic. Istanbul!

Lyrical is like a bald man’s head – it should prepare itself to be waxed.

This city is amazing. The youth hostel I am in is situated roughly twenty feet from the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, and on my first night I was fortunate enough to – by chance – be standing directly between them just as the Call to Prayer began. It occurs to me that, while Christianity shows its faith through the awe inspired by choirs, organs, heavy gilt and gothic architecture, Islam (or what I have seen of it here) relies on light furnishings, delicate buildings, and the power of one man, his voice and his soul and a big microphone, at the top of a minaret to convey their sense of the holy. Both are based ontradition, so it would be too much to try and apply these ideas to more general trends, but I do find it to be an interesting difference in approach.

Istanbul is staggering. Of all of the European cities, it is the one the wears the pomp of its glorious past most comfortably, neither ignoring it nor allowing it to overwhelm its optimistic present. The Grand Bazaar is a sensory overload, a covered market covering a square mile and packed to the brim with a mind-boggling array of colours, smells, and less intangeable concepts such as products and haggling – and, after today’s excesses, somewhat more significant overdraft withdrawl than I had hoped for – but utterly worth it. Haggling is an amusing experience for one reared in Britain’s somewhat more restrained social system. I saw a chess set which I fell in love with, but for which the asking price was 180 YTL (Turkish Lira) – about a hundred pounds. Half an hour of haggling brought him down to 100 YTL, which was more reasonable, but part of the joy was that it was a win-win situation; he enjoyed haggling, expected that to be part of the process, and inflated his initial price to adjust for that. I bought a few gifts there – not for everyone, I warn you all now, as money is spare right now, but if I’ve missed a birthday or I usually get you a christmas present then something from either Turkey or Sofia will be forthcoming.

Istanbul has its menaces, though. The most annoying is the street touts, who aren’t so much dangerous as annoyingly persistent. I am pretty much obviously a tourist in Istanbul but in general I am prepared to seek out things like taxis and restaurants for myself, and slightly resent having pushers force their paymasters upon me every hundred paces. More dangerous are the fraudsters, who will promise single men that they will take them to bars with beautiful women then stiff them for a $3,000 dollar bar tab – fortunately not the kind of thing I am succeptable to, but still annoying.

But yes. Still, I shall share stories when I get home. To tide you over until then, my flickr account has had a bit of an update, including some elusive hints of Megan from Budapest. Enjoy those.

This, of course, is my last update, as I’ll be back in the UK as of next Saturday. Hopefully I’ll see you all (or all of you for whom it is practical – i.e. not Viv, Tim, Lise etc) at some point soon and tell stories. Until then, hope you are all well. I look forward to seeing you.