Annnnnnnnd we find ourselves in Turkey! This trip was a big deal for me. Several years ago when we first moved in together, Roomie K showed me the photos of her visit to Turkey, and I've been dreaming about it ever since. Let me tell you, this beautiful country did not disappoint! Here's a rundown of Kris and my visit to the capital city:
Istanbul
We arrived in the early afternoon and headed straight from the airport to our hostel in the Sultanahmet neighborhood (the old part of town, where most of the tourist attractions are located). It turns out that our hostel was in a PERFECT location for easy access to the main sights. I guess my trip planning and choice of accommodations with the help of Google Maps turned out pretty well! :)
After we got settled in and grabbed a bite to eat at the restaurant downstairs, we headed over to the Blue Mosque. What a beauty!! Unfortunately, we arrived that day during prayer time, so we couldn't go into the mosque, but we walked around the grounds and were stunned at the size and beauty of the place.
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| Kris with awesome Turkish doors at the Blue Mosque. |
We then decided to head for the water and take in the sights along the Bosphorus / Sea of Marmara coastline. Everywhere we went, there were dozens of people fishing off of the docks! Evidently, fisherman and women are out there almost all day of every day, trying to catch fish either for their dinner table or to cook and sell on the street. Seeing all of them lined up along the water was a pretty cool sight.
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| I got the biggest kick out of the Turkish word for "Stop". |
We still had a bit of daylight left, so we decided to do a run-through of the Grand Bazaar, just to get a feel for it and see what we might like to pick up later (I already had a list of souvenirs I wanted to snag). The Grand Bazaar is huge, colorful, and busy busy busy!
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I saw this shop just in passing, but I thought
the interior was amazing! |
After being a bit overwhelmed by the maze of the Bazaar, we headed back out onto the street and tracked down some dinner and drinks before we wandered around and explored a bit more that night.
The next morning (Tues., 7 May), we made our way to the Bascilica Cistern underneath the main square by the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia. It was a creepy, drippy, and super-cool place! It dates back to about the 4th century AD and used to provide back-up water to the ancient city of Constantinople during times of war or siege. Nowadays, it's no longer used as a water source, but water still drips from the ceilings and somehow, some crazy huge carp fish found their way in there and now call the dark, dank cistern home.
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| The lighting and reflections on the water were beautiful. |
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This is one of two (big) Medusa head stones that
are at the bottom of some columns in one corner of the cistern. |
We then mosey'd over to the Blue Mosque again, this time to wait in line and actually see the interior. After queueing, making it to the front, me covering my hair with my scarf, and us removing our shoes, we made it inside. The blue tiles and decorative Arabic script that covered the ceiling were quite impressive. The history and architecture of the Blue Mosque are wonderful!
After we left the mosque, we got sucked into a touristy cafe nearby and had some delicious, if not overpriced, Turkish coffee. Gritty, intense, and quite tasty (with lots of sugar)!
We then walked through the Spice Market and through the streets behind it, discovering an additional open-air market, filled with all sorts of toys, household items, and trinkets (we figured it was more of a locals' market than a tourist market). While there, we had a fantastic lunch of lamb kebabs at this awesome hole-in-the-wall restaurant and then enjoyed a glass of Turkish tea, Çay (pronounced 'chai').
In Istanbul, there are street food vendors EVERYWHERE. Especially in touristy areas, you can find two or more every 100 square feet. They sell all sorts of food, from breads to roasted chestnuts to corn to honey and pistachio pastry treats. We tried a few different things and enjoyed everything but the corn, haha.
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| Street food vendor |
On Tuesday afternoon, we crossed the Galata Bridge and headed into the newer part of the city; up past Galata Tower, all the way up Istiklal Street, and ending at Taksim Square. Quite the hike! Although the modern luxury stores, fancy restaurants and bars, and thousands upon thousands of people milling around the area weren't quite our thing, we liked seeing boats and ferries from Galata Bridge, the fishermen fishing off of the bridge, and the statue at Taksim Square. It was very interesting to see the contrast between the older, more traditional part of town and the newer, more progressive part of town as we walked around.
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The statue dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a former
Turkish president who really secularized and modernized the country. |
We had heard great things about rooftop bars in the new part of town, so with great difficulty, we tracked down this supposedly "French" restaurant/bar with a rooftop portion. It was way more expensive than we thought, so we split an appetizer and a beer and briefly enjoyed the gorgeous views of the city. Swanky swanky! And it felt good to rest our feet after so much walking around. :)
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| The view from the rooftop restaurant! Galata Tower is on the right. |
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| Can you see the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia along the skyline? |
Later that night, we sat by the big fountain that's in the large square between the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia. Our favorite memories from our time in Istanbul happened every night when we would sit by the fountain, people watch, and listen to the beautifully haunting voices of the call to prayer echoing through the plaza. Spine-tingling-ly incredible and such a perfect memory of the city.
On Wednesday morning, we got up early and braved the long line into Aya Sophia. While the Blue Mosque is beautiful, Aya Sophia is mind-blowing. This place is 1,500 years old!! The mosaics, the contrast between its origins as a Byzantine Christian church and later usage as a mosque, the gold, the painting, and did I mention the MOSAICS?! Gah! I was in awe the whole time. Aya Sophia is without question an epic world treasure.
Below is one of my favorite pictures of Kris and I from the trip. We set up my camera on a bench, put on the self-timer, and voila! A great photo in the heart of beautiful Istanbul:
We had some down time in the afternoon, so we hopped onto a ferry crossing the Bosphorus from the European side to the Asian side (Istanbul spans the continents of Europe and Asia) and wandered around a small town on that side of the river for a couple of hours before catching a bus and metro back and ending up back at Taksim Square. Fortunately, we had the help of a sweet Turkish college student along the way; we were lost when we got off the bus in a very unfamiliar area, and she asked us where we were going and then walked with us to the metro station. She was practicing her English and we really enjoying learning a bit about her and her life in Istanbul. That's another favorite Turkey memory. :)
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Feral city cats and dogs were all over the place!
This one knows what's up; it's found a comfy spot on a display
of Turkish rugs outside of a shop. |
Since we were back at Taksim Square, we had to walk down Istiklal Street - again - in order to ultimately cross the bridge and get back to our hotel, so along the way we decided it was finally time to go to the top of Galata Tower (since we must climb all towers in Europe). Although there were no stairs and you could only take the elevator, we still felt like we had conquered the city. The views were spectacular!!
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| The lovely view from Galata Tower. |
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| A+K = European tower climbing champs |
So much about which to write! And that's only Istanbul! Soon, you will travel with us through Selçuk in south-eastern Turkey, and then onto Göreme in the central region, Cappadocia.
To end this piece, a music video for They Might Be Giants' version of "Istanbul, Not Constantinople". :)
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