Bosphorus River | tour guide | Istanbul | Europe | Asia

What did the harem look like?
You guys say harem. But I think it's pronounced -eem at the end, actually. Maybe it's double e. You better check. It was just very interesting to see somewhere where somebody had kept all their wives. Our tour guide told us the sultan had 300 wives, and they would all fight for the favor of the sultan. [The Palace has] an interesting archaeological museum, with a sarcophagus of Alexander the Great, which is very cool. The world's first peace treaty. I seem to remember they had Moses's staff, or so they said. It was really short, which made us think he was really tiny. They had letters from the prophet Muhammad.

Got it. What else do you remember?
Definitely, I would advise a trip on the Bosphorus River. It's very, very beautiful. Istanbul is on both sides of the river. What the Bosphorus divides is Europe and Asia. I would suggest going to smoke a nargile, which is a water pipe, which is what the Turks do. There's one great place, Corlulu Ali Pasa Medresesi, and that's a cool spot to go and smoke a water pipe. It isn't actually tobacco. I don't know what it is exactly. It's just kind of hot smoke. I think it's made from some kind of herbs. It's certainly harmless. That's a great hangout. It's in a 300-year-old former religious school. In Turkish, it's called a medrese.

Where are some good places to eat?