This was originally posted on my website in February 2008, but I was asked to republish it here. It talks about how a planned 10 day trip to Istanbul turned into a three month stay, so if you go to this wonderful city, keep in mind that you might stay slightly longer than you expected, you wouldn't be the first one to do so...

Here we go for part two of my “amazing” adventures. And despite Istanbul being only the second stop on my trip, it seems like I’ll already throw my plans overboard here. In theory I will board a plane on Monday morning and go to Muscat (Oman), from where I’d head to Mumbai on the 29th. My friend Josiah already expects me there and we have a road trip to Goa and Bangalore planned.

The only problem is, I don’t see myself leaving Istanbul right now, and I don’t even really know why. Sure, there are some pretty amazing sights, but that’s definitely not what fascinates me. Plus I’ve already been to a lot of them (Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi palace, Galata Tower, the Basilica Cistern and so on). It’s more about the whole Asia meets Europe and tradition meets modernity thing I guess. And the fact that I never before stayed in a city which seems to exactly have my pace.

So? Honestly, I don’t know. The current idea is to find a cheap room in a shared flat and stay there till end of April/end of May and learn as much Turkish as possible in that time. In all likelihood India will still be there in a couple of month and my visa is valid till mid-July, so this part of my travels can easily be postponed.

---

As a reader of "I was in Turkey" you have the added advantage of finding out what happened after that, a privilege the readers of my own blog didn't get to enjoy... Anyway, I really did stay in Istanbul until end of April, and never ever regretted that decision. I found a shared room in a flat with two flatmates in Mecidiyekoy (2 metro stops from Taksim) on craiglist, which set me back roughly 230 Euro per month, all expenses included. For improving my Turkish I did a two month course (3x4 lessons a week for 8 weeks) at Dilmer, which I can highly recommend. Granted, the teaching method isn't exactly state of the art, but it did help my Turkish a lot and is a great way to meet other foreigners living in the city. On a final note, lots of people also seem to find jobs - mostly language teaching - on craigslist, so if you're short on money, that's definitely a good place to look. You probably won't have a work visa though, and Turkish bureaucracy doesn't exactly make it easy to obtain one, so a lot of people just work on tourist visas and leave the country every three month to renew them (going to Edirne and hopping over the border to Bulgaria seems to be the most popular choice for that). Keep in mind though that you are doing something illegal, so you may end up in trouble.

---