Update on the past week

Finding internet access in the Middle East has been much harder than I thought. I know I haven't updated as much as I planned, but I wrote down my thoughts on various places I saw and things that I did.

McDonald's Quest - Part One - Turkey

I have a love affair with McDonald's. It has made me more meals than anyone in the world, excluding my mother (but everyday it gets closer). My goal is to eat a McDonald's in twenty different countries on this trip. At each McDonald's, I will have the sandwich that is unique to that country or area and rate it on the McDonald's scale. The McDonald's scale is a 1 to 5 scale where 1 is the worst (Fish Fillet Sandwich) and 5 is the best (the ever elusive McRib).

In Istanbul, the McDonald's was right along the train track into the city. My eyes filled with delight as we rode by. Their special sandwich is called the McTurco. It's basically two patties (I'd guess beef, but not 100% sure) wrapped in pita bread with lettuce. It was actually surprisingly good. It had a brownish sauce that really brought it all together.

The McTurco gets a 4/5 on the McDonald's scale.

Note: This post was so enjoyable to write. I am looking forward to my McDonald's visits as much as anything else on this trip.

Istanbul - Day 2&3

On my second and third day in Istanbul, I just went around and saw the major sights, except the Palace - for some reason they wouldn't let me in. It was a lot of fun. The highlights for me are probably the Archaeological Museum and the Aya Sofya. The museum helped me realize how little I actually know of the history of this part of the world. The Aya Sofya was interesting because it displayed both Christan and Islamic images. The building was built as a church, but was later converted to a mosque in the middle of the 15th century. Before it was converted, it was the largest church in the world for 1000 years. Seeing this odd juxtaposition of art work was really very cool. Unfortunately, I only have pictures from the outside right now. I went to the Sofya with an Irish guy who has the pictures.

The night of day three was a lot of fun. Finally got to smoke Turkish Water Pipe, and had a fair number of beers with a number of other hostel dwellers. A good number of Americans came that day, so I felt like I had familiar company.

Istanbul - Day 4

I spent 6 hours at the bus station because I couldn't find the schedules online and once I got there I decided it'd be a waste to go back. I did explore the area around the bus station a little bit though. There was a number of hills and steps, which really sucked with my backpack on. I found a pretty cool looking mosque, but was troubled when I saw a man with a machine gun guarding it. I took that as my que to leave. On the way back to the station, I realized that the mosque was adjacent to a government building with several armed guards.

I will post more on my time in Aleppo and Damascus as soon as I get a chance.