The view from the Galata Tower.
Jill’s and my true vacation, and about 100 future blog posts, starts now.
We woke up, had a nice breakfast in the little cafe right around the corner from Andac’s apartment, and headed out to see the Galata Tower, or, Galata Kulesi if you want to see the Turkish name for it. It used to be called Galatea, which is Gaelic, because the Welsh people originally settled there, built it, and named it.
Jill had been here before, since she’s now been to Turkey 4 different times to my 1, and she thought it would be a good starting point for our adventures.
We walked in and paid for our tickets.
I think it was about 9 USD or something like that.
It was worth 100x that for the view alone.
We went in the elevator and headed up.
The elevator was empty so we took a few pictures and I loved how the elevator buttons were set into a replica of the tower.
When we reached the top, we walked up a flight of stairs, and then out onto the tower ledge.
It was truly amazing.
There were only a few other people there so we had it almost to ourselves.
The Galata Tower was originally built in 1348 and is about 200 feet tall. The walls are about 9 feet thick. Just stop and think of that. It is almost 700 years old. But that is nothing compared to what we will see later on during our vacation. It is truly mind blowing to think of the history and what has happened in this part of the world.
It was used to make sure the city wasn’t attacked and also for a few crazy inventors to jump off of with either a glider on their back or strapped to a rocket. I imagine Wyl E. Coyote would have approved of this idea. Supposedly, both inventors survived and proved their products were reliable. Have to be impressed with their salesmanship if not their sense of sanity.
It was a truly wonderful way to start the day and see so much of Istanbul in one simple tower.
We stayed up there for an hour or so and just breathed in the fresh air, watched the seagulls, and remembered what it felt like to be alive, free, and have the world at our feet.
After 7 months in China, we had forgotten a lot about ourselves.
We had become somewhat unhealthy, both physically and mentally, and both seemed to be coming alive again.
Just the feeling of the people, the culture, the architecture, the country, and the ease of everything was settling back in and it felt like we were home.
Jill had lived in Turkey for 3 months, at one time, and I’d visited for 3 weeks, and it seemed like everything was just right the second we arrived.
That feeling would continue for the next month and only become more evident and more true.
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