A beautiful day/evening on the shore of the Bosphorus.  Note to self, eat more of the delicious fish sandwiches they sell here.

OK, terrible title. But as a followup, life on the road is full of ups and downs. Even though at times you find yourself at the store, sitting around with your iPod, or waiting for a bus, other times, you’re watching the sun set over a mosque, riding a ferry across the Bosphorus, or getting a tattoo. Here’s a little video I cut together from that inspiration– of course, thanks as always to the music of Tettix.

The Conrad Hotel on Victory Day

Apparently, today was a national holiday in Turkey; Victory Day to be precise. It’s a celebration of the Turkish victory over the Greeks at the Battle of Dumlupınar, the last battle fought in the Turkish War of Independence.

Although we did notice the increase in the number of flags around the city in the days prior, we might have overlooked it entirely if the sound of helicopters hadn’t caught Brian’s attention. We went out on the terrace just in time to catch 9 helicopters and the start of a parade of naval vessels down the phosphorus strait. The parade was lead by a naval destroyer, followed by four submarines, four smaller cruisers, four bigger cruisers, and then a host of miscellaneous military boats.

Enjoy the photos from the day!

A Turkish submarine on The Bosphorus

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When the Fourth of July rolled around this year, Rob and I ventured out into Seoul’s infamous foreigner district, Itaewon, hoping to eat some cheeseburgers and maybe catch some fireworks. Overall we had a good time, but the closest we got to fireworks was hearing them from somewhere deep inside the US military base nearby. Istanbul must have taken pity on us, because in the two weeks we’ve been here we’ve seen at least 20 separate fireworks displays from our balcony. Some are small and far away, while others have been almost right outside our windows, and none of them seem to correspond to any sort of holiday that we can figure out. A few friends have suggested that they might be wedding ceremonies, but nobody’s 100% sure.

Fireworks near the Bosphorus Bridge

Fireworks over the Bosphorus

Fireworks over the Bosphorus