Journey to myself

I woke up at Ibrahim’s place at the outskirts of Istanbul. I felt tired, still trying to catch up on sleep, my muscles felt tight and heavy. Ibrahim cooked breakfast for us, before we went for a ride on his motorbike to explore the streets of Istanbul. We passed the tv tower on the way to the largest mosque in turkey, the Camlica mosque. The views from the mosque were magnificent, overlooking the Bosphorus and the European side. Afterwards we went to have lunch, Turkish tea and delicious desserts. Before heading to the hostel.

In Kadiköy I went to the Hamam, the Turkish bath. Originally I had planned that for my birthday on Friday, however I could feel, how I was getting restless, hence I might leave Istanbul before Friday.

I had never been before to a Hamam, so this was a complete new and interesting experience. I was told to take my clothes off and was then lead into a marble room, with multiple sinks hugging a marble bench in the middle. I was seated next to a sink, with a tap running with hot water. Unsure what to do, I started pouring hot water with a bucket over me, copying, what every body else was doing. On the marble bench in the middle a woman got scrubbed, massaged and washed by a middle aged woman wearing nothing but black panties. Everybody was wearing nothing but panties. Then it was my turn, the big naked lady with the big boobs, grabbed my hand and pointed me to lie on my tummy. She started to scrub me, pulling down my panties to scrub my bum. With big curious eyes I was watching my skin peel off. Then she tapped me to turn around. After scrubbing my complete body, she took me to the sink and poured water over me, over and over again, until all the dead skin was gone. Then she led me back to the marble surface in the middle. This time she was soaping and massaging my body, my muscles have been aching and my mind was restless, hence getting washed and pampered felt like medicine for my body and my soul. Afterwards she rinsed me again with water, before washing my hair.

Back at the hostel, I found Ibrahim, together we walked to a piercing place – another present for myself – my septum. The Septum so far has been fake, it was a test to see if I like it and during this journey, it became part of me. Getting it done in Istanbul, in Türkiye, will remind me to this journey, remind me to Istanbul. In the piercing studio, I was getting a little nervous, will I hurt? To my surprise I could almost feel no pain and it was over before I could even realise what was going on. So now I am the happy owner of my first piercing.

Later Ibrahim and me rode back to his place, were we ate pasta and drank wine.

So long – güle güle from Istanbul!

It is my birthday on Friday if you would like to support this journey, invite me to a drink or meal on my birthday, you can do this, with my gofundme account here: https://gofund.me/a32a34f9

If you don’t have a credit card and still want to support me you can use my PayPal : 0212madeline@gmail.com

Thank you so much! I am very happy about any support! Xo from Istanbul