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<\/a><\/p>\nWhen our food arrived it was truly stunning. Turkish food is delightfully unique compared to the Syrian, Lebanese, and Jordanian fare that we\u2019d been consuming. We hungrily dug into some sizzling cheese dip, a giant parsley salad, a fresh wavy flatbread, much thicker and chewier than we had had in a while, a chopped tomato sauce, a plate of garlicky yoghurt sauce, grilled hot peppers and tomatoes, a giant plate of meat kebabs, and of course a little Effes, the new local brew.<\/p>\n
Bellies full, we returned to the bus station, and climbed on a night bus to Istanbul.<\/p>\n We woke up the next morning on the bus, speeding along smooth Turkish highways traversing desert once again. The bus had advertised wifi on board, which was a futuristic treat that we were excited to take advantage of, but it was sadly not operational.<\/p>\n We stopped halfway through the ride at a strange tourist schlock and snack joint, where we all wandered off the bus and gawked at the bizarre assortment of products, not the least of which was giant piles of Turkish delight, a kind of jellied candy that aims to command the lion\u2019s share of the tourist\u2019s souvenir budget.<\/p>\n We finally arrived in Istanbul, and climbed gratefully off the bus. It had been quite a long ride, and it was good to stretch the limbs again.<\/p>\n We grabbed all our things and made our way across the lot to the subway, which took us into the city.<\/p>\n At the end of the line in the city, we parted ways, as Diane took a cab, and Claudia, Scott and I, on our Dahons, headed to the touristy hotel district that had been recommended to us by our special adviser for Turkey, Asher Kohn.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n