Right now.

Two pens and a notebook. One cup of strong coffee. I collect notebooks and journals, especially from my travels. This one is from Istanbul. (my boyfriend collects magnets). Life would be very boring without paper and pens. Last weekend we were in Slovakia and I spent a good two hours on searching for a suitable diary. At the end I had to buy two of them because I couldn't choose which one was nicer☺

Istanbul Summary

According to my travel journal, these were the thoughts and reflections I took with me from Istanbul.

• The Mosques (found in every street corner) are something  of a mystery to me. They are very beautiful, grandiose even. To me they represent a reality that is very alien, and thus fascinating. 
• The stray cats are cute and (and surprisingly well taken care of). They are everywhere!

Happy cats in Istanbul

• The noise and the dirt and the steep hills are in fact a part of the city's charm. It does take some getting used to for someone like me, though. Someone like me = does not like crowds and dislikes talking to strangers. 
• It was surprisingly difficult to find "proper" coffee (now, I am aware that my understanding of proper coffee does not coincide with what most other people consider to be good coffee),
• People were extremely friendly and helpful. One example: we were strolling around a residential area when this old man (over 80 probably) started to give us directions in broken English. He wanted to assure that we were not lost!
• It was very painful to see children begging. I am aware that this is a cruel reality in many places, but as it is something you rarely see in Scandinavia, it really took me by surprise. Now imagine the reality of all those people who need to flee for their lives. And imagine that there are people who are more worried about protecting their language rights than helping people in need*. This sickens me.  
• The beginning of June is the perfect time for a visit to Istanbul. The weather was good and it was not as crowded as it has the potential to be.

The Grand Bazaar - not too crowded


* A while back, a letter was sent out in my former home municipality. The authors call for a referendum to prevent refugees from coming to the Åland Islands. The letter can be found here.

[Photo Splash] The Many Colours (And Faces) of Istanbul

Oma maa mansikka, muu maa mustikka*

Hi again!

Istanbul was fantastic, and now I'm home with a tan, sore feet and two more days to go of my summer holidays (+ the weekend). Just realized that we will be away for at least the three upcoming weekends, so I'm quite forced to do laundry. Woop!

Anyway, Istanbul. It was (in no specific order): huge, chaotic, colourful, friendly, loud, smelly, disorganized, hilly, historical, cozy, upsetting and quite amazing. I believe that I had to confront some of my prejudices as well, so it was a useful trip from that perspective. Our timing was perfect, on Sunday there were parliamentary elections in Turkey so I had the opportunity to ruminate upon the campaigns (without understanding any of it). Speaking of the language, I don't like the sound of Turkish at all when spoken. In music it is a beautiful language, and written Turkish looks like a lot of fun, but it just sounds very strange to me.  And we walked over 90K during these days, I'm quite happy I only have one blister on my left foot.

These are just some random thoughts - there will be more, so stay tuned!

The Galata Tower

* In Finnish, "home sweet home" becomes "own country strawberry, other country blueberry". I personally prefer blueberries, so I do not really get this.