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1st June.
Spent the morning repacking and going through my shopping and bag to work out what isnt needed anymore... What to send home and what to bin. Made two trips to the post office, meet some other Aussie there mailing things back and they had worked out that going to the letters window rather than the parcel window for small boxes was cheaper... Thanks for that tip. Was also very impressed with the amount of tape used to secure the boxes... But they aren't very gentle so hopefully I have packed the glass well enough that it survives the journey.
After that wasn't really sure what to do with the rest of day... It was hot and sunny so caught the train to yedikule to go into the open air museum of the Yedikule fort. Arrived at the train station and was slightly confused as there were 3 platforms but my map showed there to be only one train line operating from this station. Asked the guy and he said they all go to stop I want, got on the train with the majority of people and ended up in the right place.On the train a girl sat down next to me with her english textbook so we talked for the 25 min ride letting her Practice speaking English. Was funny to hear that one of her favorite tv shows is gossip girl.
The fort was interesting place just an old fort in the middle of a semi industrial area that has one sign when you walk into it and the rest is open to you. I walked all over the place up and down the steps to the towers and lookout places. There didn't seem to be any restrictions on dont touch or break anything. A group of school kids were on excursion and they were loving running over the place up and down the stairs into the dark caves and alcoves.
With nothing Elsa on the plan for today I figured that with it been such a nice sunny day I would walk back to the hotel along the water. On the way to the water i passed by an old lady selling the produce of her small veggie patch. She had some berries that looked good so brought a bag. She didn't speak any English so ended up with a large amount. They were like blackberries I think. Not overly sweet and stained my fingers and mouth black from the juice. By some miracle I didn't get any on the white shirt I was wearing....Not sure how as in the heat of sun they were quickly melting and turning to juice. Was a long walk and it got fairly hot in the sun but got to watch the boat again. Also passed a fish market... It smelt bad so didn't bother to get very close.
Passed by hundreds of men out fishing and also a lot swimming and sun-baking. Some looked more tanned and leathered than my handbag!
Passed the score practice and lot of families out for a picnic and play in the parks that run along side the waters edge.
A couple of hours later reached the hotel. Flipped through some of the papers lying around my room and then remember that I wanted to see a whirling derives show. They are on a Friday night at the train station just near my hotel so walked down and got a ticket. Was a bit early so spent some time looking at the train station that was built for the arrival of the orient express. You can see elements of it former glory with large stained glass windows and grand arches but it is now used a regularly city train station so has lost some of that old world charm it would have once had.
The show started a little late with 5 musician playing traditional instruments and music. They played for 10 or so minutes then exited. A small break then a guy in a black robe entered the room and circled around placing a small red rug on floor then exited. The Band then returned dressed in black robes. They started playing the traditional music again. The leader from before along with 5 other boy dressed in black robes entered the room. The preformed the ceremony during which time to band played different tempo music and also during breaks there was singing and chanting. The ceremony was original a religious experience in which the participants believe they were connecting with a god while spinning and chanting. It was moving to watch and they had very precise arm and feet movements. After spinning for maybe 5 to 8 min there was break for circling and bowing before spinning again. This was repeated 3 times. Didn't get great photos as i could work out how to take inside movement shots. Hopefully some of the video looks ok and show the performance.
When that finished I just strolled back to the hotel.
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