Kati keeps her head on straight

"I just want to be your friend. You are beautiful."

Well, what girl wouldn't be flattered, eh!
Hard to keep my head on straight here!

Thank you Mehmet, "who works under the bridge and just wants to practice English". But seriously, so far hassle has been next to none. Maybe because, as Zeynat said, I could nearly be Turkish... I guess with my dark hair and impressive nose. Even the street hawkers usually don't go into high gear when I walk on by. Which is nice!

So it's a cloudy but rainless Thursday. I woke up 11 hours of sleep later and found my soul again. Perfect day for the obligatory tour of historical sights&such. Today's entry will be monumental, since today, I have mostly been going round some of the major monuments of Istanbul. This won't go on forever, the "real" Turkey is out there somewhere in the back streets, the kebap grills and the crowded trams. But first, I'm going to catch up on some history.

Yes, Aya Sofya really IS really really wonderful!

It's not exactly a well-kept secret, however, and struggling heroically to make way between tour group 45 from Italy and group 4 from Germany, only to be cornered by group 5 from Japan, it's hard to get that stately calm zen-feeling that would go so well with seeing one of the greatest buildings in the world. I should try to adopt the in-built zen of this cat, who calmly sat on an ancient pedastel and didn't let the constant flow of tourists interrupt her meditative calm.

Despite the crowds, I ended up spending 3 hours in Aya Sofya and being in no hurry to leave even then.

A calmer, cooler and definitely damper atmosphere was awaiting me at the Basilica Cistern, built by Byzantine emperors to store water for the palace and surrounding buildings. This place has a most wonderful vibe! And the ancient medusa's heads that are placed beneath two of the statues (one placed upside down, one sideways - really, so hard to find good workers nowadays...) stared at me in a very mesmerizing way! Somehow hypnotic. As though I was petrifying. Turning to stone...

The evening sees me on the other side of the water in Beyoglu - a very different vibe, young people, shopping, mainly locals. So I'd better unplug for now and set off to investigate.