Thirty-sıx hours watching the waves passing by with not much to do than play cards between the " taste alike" meals served by the friendly staff of the ferry, was our experience crossing the black sea towards Istanbul.
We woke up the second day with the sun revealing the coastline along the Bosphorus, famous for separating Europe and Asıa... Finally here!
In the ferry we meet some fellow travellers, such as Maximo and Belen from Argentina and the funny Shev from Japan, whose helped us exploring the city in our first day.
Istanbul wakes up everyday with the mystic singing coming from the minarets of the many Mosques that you can find everywhere you look at. Some of them stunning and historical as Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque but really hard to photograph as they deserve.
Just before Christmas, Muslims around Turkey enjoy the Kurban Bayrami in which for four days they sacrifice cows and lambs to celebrate that, as the Qur'an says, Ibrahim didn't have to kill his own son as Allah asked hım to do in the first time , only changing his decision for a lamb just when Ibrahim was about to do it. All the meat afterwards it is given to charity and shared in between each family.
Luckily for us we can enjoy this celebration ın a more "tourıst friendly" place near the Suleymainye Mosque where people thought that we were press reporters covering the event.
It was also time for us to apply for our visas for Iran and Uzbekistan knowing that the city was gonna be celebrating for four days, just until before Christmas, when everybody gets back to work, making for us hardly to notice that it was the day to sit around the table and enjoy the turkey... Santa did not pass around here!
Waiting for the new years we have nearly one more week to explore the hidden places that Istanbul has to offer, realizing that Turkish driving license it is more related to lottery than their own skill.
Quiet, beautiful and welcoming Mosques make me think that maybe and just maybe Muslims are a bit more tolerant and friendly than some of our close by Christians fellows want us to believe.
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