Between April 3rd and 4th, I spent about 24 hours traveling on trains. On the Bosphorus Express, my sleeping compartment was next to one occupied by two very large, foul-smelling, intoxicated Turks. It was highly entertaining--at first. I watched one of them try and fail to fit a large empty liquor bottle out a small window. I could hear them sing and slur along to the same three folksy songs. Then, they passed out and started snoring, which was annoying, but I eventually fell asleep. At Kapikule, or the Bulgarian-Turkish border, we physically left the train to get our passports stamped. The men were not only still inebriated, but also belligerently so. They got into a heated argument with the man stamping passports and the border police. For whatever reason, they actually let them back on the train without the proper papers and they started all over again with the drinking and loud music--mind you, this is at 3:00am.
The train was more or less on time, so I was in a rush to get ready before the train reached its destination. Honestly, I was banking on the train being at least an hour late. Drew and I made it to the hostel http://www.orienthostel.com/ several hours before we could actually check in, so we dropped off our bags and walked; even though, all we really wanted to do was shower and rest. After four hours of meandering, we made it back to the hostel, cleaned up, and if I'm remembering correctly, we played chess in the hostel's restaurant. We stopped after I lost a couple of times. Yes, I actually lost at chess. It's a tragedy, I tell you.
In the afternoon, we went to Topkapi Palace. Don't waste your money on this place. Instead, buy a pretzel and walk around the parks right outside of Topkapi. They're filled with tulips, and it doesn't cost you a thing to enjoy them. Unlike Cairo, Istanbul has plenty of public parks. If there was a nice public park in Cairo, it would be full of trash, beggars, and cat shit in less than a day. It's a shame.
The train was more or less on time, so I was in a rush to get ready before the train reached its destination. Honestly, I was banking on the train being at least an hour late. Drew and I made it to the hostel http://www.orienthostel.com/ several hours before we could actually check in, so we dropped off our bags and walked; even though, all we really wanted to do was shower and rest. After four hours of meandering, we made it back to the hostel, cleaned up, and if I'm remembering correctly, we played chess in the hostel's restaurant. We stopped after I lost a couple of times. Yes, I actually lost at chess. It's a tragedy, I tell you.In the afternoon, we went to Topkapi Palace. Don't waste your money on this place. Instead, buy a pretzel and walk around the parks right outside of Topkapi. They're filled with tulips, and it doesn't cost you a thing to enjoy them. Unlike Cairo, Istanbul has plenty of public parks. If there was a nice public park in Cairo, it would be full of trash, beggars, and cat shit in less than a day. It's a shame.
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