What perfect weather. It hit mid 70s today with a nice breeze. It's a nice change from, what I guess most people would call pleasant, the humid 80s of the rest of the week, sweat pouring out of everywhere till it wasn't even a salty thick sweat but a slowly running faucet of clear, tasteless liquid. I can only imagine what it would be like here in the dead of summer.
I'm trying to take it a little slower as the 8 plus hours of walking are killing my feet and there really is no need, I've got the time. I headed out on a short ferry ride to Uskudar this afternoon, lunch in a sea side park and then back and a bus to Rumeli Fortress, at the mouth of Istanbul. The Fortress is by far the best deal here so far, 3 Lira. The history is that in order to conquer Constantinople, after so many tries, the invading army built this place to cut off supplies and finished it in 4 months. Amazing. And it worked.
Today I climbed up and down the handrail-less ramparts exploring all the towers and buttresses. I guess they didn't have so many safety codes back then when they were pouring molten lead on people or chucking fireballs across the moats. I'm scared of heights and the tiny crumbly staircases really did me in. Needless to say, once on top, I took my time to relax and soak it in.
In fact it was at this spot, over looking two of the fortress towers, cargo ship entering the straights, that I snapped a photo. It hit me right at that moment and really sunk in that I'm somewhere completely different and not at all in San Francisco anymore. Welcome to Turkey!
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