An Unexpectet Trip To Istanbul

A friend and I had the more or less spontaneous idea to meet in Istanbul. Because we are both participants of a volunteering project (but in different countries) we haven’t been able to meet for a few months, so this was our chance.

I packed my bag and left Sofia by bus in the middle of the night, not knowing what to expect as I’ve never been to Istanbul before. After a sleepless night we reached Istanbul exactly the moment the sun rose and it was breathtaking to see the palm trees, the first buildings and mosques bathed in the bright orange light of the sun. 

One of the first things I noticed were all the cats that stroll around the city and because I love cats, they immediately made me feel at home. 

That evening I went to sit next to the Bosphorus strait. It was so idyllic and made me feel as if I was sitting in a painting: the slightly pink sky, the shining lights on the other side of the river, the boats passing by and a guitarist singing melancholic songs – it was perfect.

The next day my friend came and we spent some wonderful days together. We visited many mosques, the grad bazaar and of course we took way too many pictures of cute cats 🙂

Another thing I discovered is how much I like the Turkish cuisine, we tried many traditional dishes from Baklava, to Simit, Sarma and many more.

All in all, we had lots of nice and funny encounters with friendly people and the time passed way too fast.

AR