Well, after a week in Bosnia, Abraham and I arrived in Istanbul yesterday afternoon. It really is an amazing city. We met our friend Manish, who flew in from Dubai at about the same time, at the airport, and checked into our hotel. It’s clean and modern and has a fantastic rooftop terrace/restaurant with a glorious view of the Bosphorus.

For dinner, we walked down to an area full of outdoor restaurants — mainly fish. It was a lively scene, with musicians scattered about singing and playing instruments. As we walked past each restaurant, touts tried to get us to eat in their restaurants — “Hello. Hello. Please. Try my restaurant. Good fish.” — all in a friendly unthreatening way.

Later, we walked down to the Blue Mosque, which was illuminated by the full moon. All kinds of people were walking about. Every now and then we would hear the call to prayer from the different mosques booming around in stereo. We finished our night with a hookah — water pipe — which was in a courtyard full of Istanbulis lounging about, smoking hookah and drinking apple tea. Incredibly authentic.

Now it’s Friday morning we are about to head out and explore the city. The hotel has a computer with internet, so I’ll update you later.