Turkiye!

Well, my summer is officially gone. Gone are the days of Japan, India, and Egypt. In two days my never-ending summer ended with a hail storm welcoming us to Turkey! Despite the fact that I usually hate the cold, it really made the city of Istanbul feel more authentic. This visit was a lot different than my others because it was so relaxed. I did not have any planned trips or agendas and it made enjoying the city wonderful. I could do whatever I liked and make decisions as I went along and we didn’t always have to stay together as a big group because we could always meet back up at the ship. We were docked in a fabulous location right in the city and so the ship was our hotel. From all angles of the ship you could see different areas of Istanbul. The city itself is located along the Bosphorus River and extends on either side of the River. Part of the city is actually in Europe and part is in Asia. Our boat was docked on the “Europe side” and you could walk or travel by tram/cab over the river to the “Asia side.”

I spent a lot of time on the Asian side of the city in a neighborhood called Sultanahmet. This was probably my favorite area of the city because there was so much history and is considered “Old Istanbul.” All of the streets are cobblestone and there are century-old buildings and structures all over. It has a very European feel to it. Istanbul in general, has a very European feel to it considering Turkey is considered part of the Middle East. The rest of Turkey is much more conservative than Istanbul, but Turkey as a whole is the most liberal Muslim state. Anyway, Sultanahmet is home to the famous Blue Mosque, AyaSofia (Hagia Sofia), the Basilica Cistern, and the Topkapi Palace.

The Blue Mosque is famous for its blue tiled interior. This idea came to the Sultan at the time in his dreams and so it was built. The interior is completely tiled in various patterns and all the windows are stained glass. The original lighting fixtures are still hanging. They were originally candle holders (now hold light bulbs) and hang all the way from the very high ceilings.

The AyaSofia was originally a Eastern Catholic Church built about 1800 years ago. It is a beautiful and large church and I can imagine was a huge part of that area’s Catholic religion. When the Ottoman’s came into Istanbul about 500 years ago it was converted into a mosque, not very well, if I do say so. The mosaics of Jesus Christ still plaster the ceilings and walls. Now there are Islamic plaques that look almost cut out and pasted onto the walls in the effect of a child’s art project. None of the original construction of the Church was changed, there were alters added and Islamic words were hung on the walls. It is really a beautiful building and the architecture is very unique and the designs are almost mesmerizing. The variations of stone used in the building are very distinct and the floor is marbled. This building is very monumental to any religion buff because of the fact that it has housed worshipers of two different religions over about the past 2 millenniums.

The Basilica Cistern was hard to find, mostly because none of it is above ground. This cistern was built in the 6^th century on the site of an old basilica. It was used as water storage and you are now able to walk through it on set up walkways through the open room. It is a really huge space, about 30 feet high and all underground. It is supported by many marble columns. It is low lit and feels very eerie. The water is kept low nowadays, but it reminded me of the Phantom of the Opera almost. I was expecting a masked man to float by in his small boat. The fact that such a large underground area only supported by marble columns could survive 1500 years was astonishing.

The Topkapi Palace was home to the Emperor of the Ottoman Empire during the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th centuries. The palace grounds are beautiful and resembled a fairytale castle. The views were so picturesque. The palace is placed high above the River and offers views of a lot of areas of Istanbul. Inside many of the old rooms the Ottoman treasury artifacts were housed. Many of the jewels, thrones, military paraphernalia, and gifts of the Ottoman Empire are now on display. They even have a 58 carat diamond on display!!! Quite a sight!

There was a lot more to Sultanahmet than just these sights as well. Like I said, we spent a lot of time in this area. Jess, Alex, and I stumbled upon a wonderful coffee shop in the neighborhood and Jess and I ventured there a second time for a second taste of their “banana split” (an éclair topped with a sliced banana and covered in chocolate.) I love the prevalence of coffee in Turkey. You can get good coffee anytime/any place. It made it hard not to drink it multiple times a day. I also have to admit another restaurant we found in Sultanahmet. El Torito! We flipped when we stumbled upon El Torito because we spend so much time talking about how much we miss Mexican food. It was definitely not the same, but any excuse for chips and guac or a quesadilla is alright with me!

Another really great trip we did during the day was a boat tour of the Bosphorus River. The guide book we looked at messed up the times for the government touristic ferries and a man stopped me and offered a private river tour. So we ended up on his really nice tour boat (only 8 of us) that had an outdoor upstairs and back end and indoors as well, which came into handy when it started raining. He took us up the river and hugged the coast. This gave us a great view of each of the neighborhoods of Istanbul. There are many homes, government buildings, Universities, and parks right on the water and we passed right by. This really gave me an impression of just how huge the city of Istanbul is, especially since we didn’t even traverse as far down the river as we could have. After the tour we ate lunch underneath the bridge which connects Europe to Asia. This is the only connection between the two continents besides Russia. Nearby we also visited the Spice Bazaar. This was really cool. A bazaar like all the rest but its specialty was spices, teas, and Turkish delight. There are tubs and tubs of colorful spices and candies all over the place. We spent about 45 minutes in one specific spice shop where the men who worked there were very generous and let us sample everything, of course we well made up for it in our purchases.

We also spent a lot of time in the neighborhood of Beyoglu near where our boat was docked on the Europe side. This area, most specifically the street Istiklal, is a hip shopping, eating, and nightlife district in Istanbul. Because my itinerary was so relaxed I was able to enjoy the nightlife in Istanbul for a few of the nights which is pretty trendy as far as I could tell. One night we went to a fabulous dinner, as recommended by a guide book, at a restaurant called 360. You could tell it was the place to see and be seen and offered an all windowed view and balcony overlooking the evening Istanbul skyline. It was a stormy day and the sky continued to light up with lightning which was really cool. We also had a lot of fun on the same street at “Turkish Pub” watching the soccer game our first night. The Turks are really into their soccer, just like the rest of Europe. The stadium was close and we wanted to go to a game, but the tickets were really expensive, so we opted for the pub.

My last day was really fun. I hooked up with a neighbor of mine’s daughter, Gloria, who is living in Istanbul currently. Turns out when we finally met up that she lived right off of Istiklal, the street I had been hanging out on all week. Her and her husband, Jed, have been living there for about a year and took me to a great breakfast where I had a traditional Turkish egg dish, menemen. They were great hosts and walked me around their neighborhood for 2 or 3 hours. It was great to get off the beaten path and actually experience areas of the city where people live and tourists don’t tread. We would walk for a while and I would be sure we must be far away from the water by then, and all of sudden you would walk upon yet another gorgeous view of the Bosphorus. The view from their apartment is breathtaking as it looks over a vast area of the city as well as a prime part of the River. They could actually even direct me from their balcony exactly how to walk back to the ship because their view is so broad.

I absolutely loved hanging out in Istanbul. I was just happy for the whole week. I really enjoyed playing it by ear and loved every aspect of the city that I experienced. Definitely a place I want to visit again especially because the city is so large and there are so many neighborhoods I didn’t get to visit.