Istanbul - Day 4

Thought I'd do what I'd procrastinated over for 3 days: going to Aya Sofiya. At $15 I almost turned back at the entrance. But I'm glad didn't. The size has to be seen to be believed. I thought it'd take 30 minutes, but it took 2 hours. Then you think about the fact that the building is 1500 years old and it blows your thinking to strange places.

Next, I walked to Taksim to do the other thing I thought about doing in Istanbul... buying something with strings in order to make music. Walked around a zillion music shops and got people to show me stuff. Now I am the proud owner of a Cura. The smallest of the Saz family, it has 6 strings and

Also saw a Whirling Dervish ritual, at what according to the LP is the only place to see the real thing (as opposed to a bunch of trained dancers). Yes, it was beautiful - but the hordes of tourists taking pictures and people coming in and out during the ceremony ruined the effect totally.

The end of the day involved a great deal of water-pipe silliness at the hostel, as Sharif (the guy in charge) lost the plot: 'You are going to a mountain in Georgia... and I'm stuck in this fucking hole. There's too much beer in the fridge!'

10 beers later, he was in a much better mood... but in no way to help the 3 Dutch guys who had just arrived (on route to India by car).