Istanbul, part IX - The Bazaar, Hafız Mustafa and lots of baklawa

Dinner

I needed to buy some Turkish baklawa, and I noticed some Malaysians in my room who had bought simply buckets of Hafız Mustafa, which was a chain store I had noticed out and around the inner city, so I reckoned that would be a safe bet. I really liked the Malaysians I met there, they ordered takeaway during their second night there and asked me to join them and bought me some as well. It was very nice of them I thought. Probably doesn't hurt that I'm not a tree troll. One of the guys gleefully told me "My friend was telling me this morning, 'Do you remember that girl (me) in our room? Well I saw her at breakfast and she's actually very pretty.'" Then he turned around and hooted with laughter at his friend, and said, "You're blushing!"

I walked around the Bazaar, which was a half-hour walk from the hostel, and then went off to Hafız Mustafa to do my shopping.

The Bazaar

Bosnia i Herzegovina, part II - Mostar (ii) and on the bus to Sarajevo through the Dinaric Alps

The gorgeous old town of Mostar, lovely even through the rain

The restaurant served amazingly good food. I will come again to Mostar because I didn't catch it at a very good time, but also - the food. This. Yum. Hands down my favourite food here - it really agreed with me, and I agreed with it. Extra bonus for the cute waiters, but I think it's been established that I think Bosnian guys are.. well, let's just say that I don't find them ugly. Anyway, I got free rakija from the restaurant as well, so double bonus!

Rakija on the house

After I finished the extremely delicious dinner, I walked back to the hostel, and was soaked to the skin in the process. Good thing no one else was staying in the hostel, well apart from this Hungarian guy in my room and a Turk in the adjacent room, who were both absent when I returned. It is very uncomfortable to have loads of heavy wet clothing stuck to your skin. I peeled off my clothes and turned on the heater full wattage and draped my garments all over the heaters, then dashed into the hostel and turned on the water to full heat. Annoyingly, the hot water only lasted for 10 minutes, but it was enough. The Hungarian guy had come back by this point, also soaked to the skin, and I was deeply amused when he did the exact same thing as I had an hour ago - ie hung out all of his clothes on the heaters and proceeded to the shower.

In the hostel

There wasn't really anything to do, plus the weather was getting progressively worse, so I sat around, did some background reading on Mostar, which depressed me, and then I decided to go out and get something to drink. I wasn't keen on getting wet again, so I borrowed an umbrella from the stand and went out to the nearest supermarket, which was still a good 15 minute walk. When I got back the Hungarian dude was in a chatty mood, so I talked back to him, but, you know - footnote friends.

The supermarket

Outside the supermarket

Next morning, the weather was as dire as ever, but I was in a good mood because Sarajevo, and also because my AccuWeather app promised loads of snow there, and it had been a long time since I'd seen snow, and I'd forgotten how deathly cold the snow can be.
The bus ride was very comfy, and I put my feet on the heaters and enjoyed the view as we progressed into the Dinarics. My heart was singing and it was all I could do not to burst into actual song there.

In the autobusna stanica

More to come!

Into the Dinaric Alps