Landed in Istanbul, had to purchase a visa (so I've got a new pretty sticker on my passport!), went through customs, got my bag, and then met up with Becca in the airport--we were so happy we were able to find each other, since we had been on different flights! So we maneuvered our way through the airport (luckily all the signs were in English so it wasn't too hard) and came across the machine to buy our subway tickets. We only had large bills in Turkish lira but found some random coins in the machine, but they wouldn't work. So we stood at this machine for a solid five minutes trying to get our tickets and finally we did--you put your coins in, and get a little plastic red token back, and then you put the token into this little slot, and then go through the turnstile to get to the trains. That was the only hard part though. We rode the train for a while, and at every stop it got more and more crowded. Becca felt like she stood out sooo much with her blonde hair. I've got darker features (still a complete mystery in that gene pool!) so I was able to fit in a little better. I was actually surprised at the number of women wearing headscarves. I know that Turkey is a Muslim country, but Istanbul is also a very secular and cosmopolitan city. Some parts of the city were much more modern than others, and on the subway, we were coming from the outskirts of the city, so therefore more conservative. There's also much respect for elders and women in the sense of manners. On the subway, whenever matronly women got on, they would just look at the men that were in the seats, and the men would get up and offer them their seat. When we got to the city center and were on the tram going to the hostel with all our luggage, I was stuck in the aisle--the tram was jam packed-- and there was a seat in the very corner, and obviously I can't get to the seat with all my luggage, nor do I want to, but a Turkish boy, probably my age, tapped me and asked me if it was okay that he sat there! (My first picture in Turkey, when we were waiting for the tram)
It took us quite a while to find the hostel. We got on a bus instead of the tram and then had to turn around, and then when we finally did get to the right tram stop, we couldn't find the street we needed. We would walk down a street, and I would pull out my giant map, pretending like I knew how to read it, and we probably had like 5 different people offer us directions. FINALLY, we found it! Our hostel was located in Sultanahmet, the touristy part of the city. We were right in the center, a five minute walk from the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace. Of course things were more expensive in that part of the city, but I wouldn't have traded our location. On the way to the hostel, we took some obligatory touristy pictures:
The hostel was very quaint and very clean, a nice change from our one in Amsterdam! Becca booked later than I did so she was only able to book the all-girl dorm, but they were able to move me into that room as well so we could be together. It ended up being a much better situation, because the girl-dorm was on the 3rd floor, had the best view, and had a private bathroom inside the room, whereas the other rooms didn't have views and had to use the hall bathrooms. Also, our room wasn't full our entire stay, and actually on the last day, I was the only one in it because Becca and the other two girls had to leave in the middle of the night. Here's a view from my bed!
As you can see, it was quite a gray day when we arrived. We didn't have the nicest weather during our stay in Istanbul. It was quite chilly (stayed in the 50s the whole time) and didn't have much sun at all. But on the few times we did have sun, it was amazing to wake up in the morning with a giant panoramic view of the Bosphorus from my bed!
By the time we got settled, it was already almost 6, so we decided to do a bit of exploring before the sun went down. We walked around the area just to get our bearings. Our hostel was connected to a restaurant with the same name, as we walked by, they convinced us to come sit down and have some Turkish tea. So we sat there for a bit, tried some Turkish tea and some apple tea, and were pretty hungry so we ordered a little pizza to share (yes...our first meal in Turkey was a pizza margarita) In Istanbul, there are hundreds and hundreds of stray cats. Cats EVERYWHERE. So during our little snack, we made our first friend!
Left the cafe and then walked down a little street and found a souvenir shop with some really pretty earrings (3 pairs for 5 lira, which is about 2,50 euro) we we spent a while picking some out. After being with the boys for four days, it was nice to be girly and spend an obnoxious amount of time picking out earrings! Walked down farther and we were in the search of doner (which actually doesn't really exist in Turkey in the way we think of it in Germany...) So we stopped and were looking in this cafe, and then this man comes out of his carpet store and starts talking to us (Turkish people ALWAYS ask, "Where you from?!") and of course, the second we say we are American, they know how to work with us. You're just supposed to ignore them, but being American, Becca and I had a hard time doing that, because we are just very nice and didn't want to be impolite! (We got a lot better at it at our time in Turkey went on though) So this guy says he wants to give us tea (we drank so much freakin' tea on this trip) so we go into his carpet store and drink some tea, and he starts showing us carpets. Now, he knows we're students, obviously we're not going to buy any carpets. But then Becca said she wanted a scarf so we looked at his scarfs, and Becca ended up buying two and I got one--but they are very nice scarves. So then we finally got out of the carpet store with a funny story, and then we walked through this big park that surrounds the Topkapi Palace:
Got out of the park, and now we were really on the hunt for food. Ended up walking down a touristy street full of restaurants and of course all the Turkish men stand outside of them yelling at you to come eat at their cafe, and we ended up talking to one because he was like "I remember you!" And he actually wasn't lying...we were trying to find the token machine to get on the tram and someone pointed it to us, and it turns out it was this restaurant guy. I love my bright red-orange coat, but it was more of a curse in Turkey because I was too easy to spot! So we finally got away from that guy, saying we'd come back later so he could play his guitar and sing me love songs (yeah...) and walked down a sketchy street and finally found what we thought was a doner place, but we basically just ended up with doner without the bread. It was still very tasty though. And then they came around afterwards and gave us all tea. SO MUCH TEA!!
Back to the hostel, it was probably almost 9 and we were just so tired. We went to the terrace of the hostel and met a bunch of our hostel-mates and smoked shisha for a good hour and had a nice night-cap. I think we were in bed by midnight.
Next day! Wednesday! Had a lovely Turkish breakfast of fruits and bread and cheese and coffee and...tea! The coffee and tea were free but you had to pay for the water and the next day, Becca and I didn't feel so well and then we realized we hadn't had any water in almost 48 hours so we hit up the grocery store and bought giant 1,5 liter bottles to rehydrate ourselves. So Wednesday was our tourist day. It was cold and gray so we did all the inside stuff. We went early to the Hagia Sofia with a guy we met in our hostel. Spent about an hour inside. Now, I've dreamed of seeing the Hagia Sofia since World History class in 9th grade when we learned about the Great Schism and the Byzantine Empire. It actually wasn't my favorite part of Istanbul, but it was AMAZING. Just the sheer size of the building. And just all of its history! That was probably my favorite part of Istanbul, was just the fact that it is probably the most historical city in the world. This building was first a church and then a mosque and now a museum and has been standing for over 1000 years! I said earlier that there are cats everywhere, well there were even cats in the Hagia Sofia. And lots of birds. I nearly slipped and fell on my butt when I stepped in a giant wad of bird poop in the upstairs part. So here are a bunch of pictures!
After the Hagia Sofia, we walked across the courtyard and went inside the Blue Mosque. I got awkwardly "interviewed" by these young teenage Turkish boys and they were taking a video of the interview on their camera...lots of weird and random stuff happens in Turkey! And then when we went into the courtyard area of the mosque, this Turkish man started talking to us and we were getting sick of it, so we just said we were from Germany, but of course he spoke German! And then said, oh but you sound American! HOW DO THEY KNOW?! So, into the mosque. Had to take off our shoes and cover our heads. This was my first time in a mosque, and they are just so beautiful! That was another one of my favorite parts of Turkey, was seeing all the mosques, because I had never been to a Muslim country before. It's hard to explain the inside of the mosque...so here are some pictures! Including one of me working the headscarf
After the mosque, we went on another hunt for doner, and ended up getting something more like a durum...without the sauce which just isn't that good. We went searching for the Topkapi Palace and ended up walking right by it, but found the harbor and pier. So then to the Topkapi Palace, which was the home of the sultans. We basically imagined Jasmine from Aladdin while we were walking around. The palace and all its components were beautiful, but definitely would've been better on a nice day. It actually started raining as we were leaving. The palace is now a museum and is host to the jewels of the sultans and the old robes and there is a House of Holy Relics which holds some items said to have belonged to the prophet Mohammad. When we went in the Holy Relics apartment, we had to cover our heads again, and I think Becca and I were literally the only white people. I loved seeing all of the ornaments from the Ottoman Empire though, something new! In all my guidebooks it said that you should spend about 2-3 hours walking through the palace, but we were done after a little over an hour which we thought was kind of weird. So we walked in the gift shop to get warm and I started flipping through a book and half the pictures we hadn't seen! It was fortunate we did that, because we went back to the other side of the palace and got to the terrace and the whole other section which is the most beautiful part of the palace, and we nearly missed it! I loved all the architecture and ornamentation of the palace, all from the Ottoman Empire period.
We were pretty spent and pretty hungry so we stopped at a bakery next to our hostel and asked for a loaf of bread but he thought we said five, so he handed us a bag of five loaves of bread which was really funny. But we ended up just getting one...though I probably could've eaten five. After a little rest, we went out to dinner with two other girls from our hostel. We just stayed in Sultanahmet and went to a place right on the main street and paid way too much for our meal but it was SO DELICIOUS. My other favorite part of Turkey (I know I've said this like six times) was the food. Just such AMAZING food. We started off with bread and then more bread with filling, an of course tea, and then for my entree I had "Turkish ravioli." They bring you this big bowl of just plain pasta, little tiny raviolis with meat filling, and then they pour a mint sauce, a spicy tomato sauce, yogurt sauce, and then paprika and other herbs, and they mix it all together, and it was sooooo good! We also got to sit on these big cushions on the ground with a low table. Back to the hostel for the night, just hung out upstairs on the terrace again and as I said, we went to bed early every night because we were just so exhausted.
Thursday--finally a beautiful day! We woke up the shining sun and had breakfast outside on the terrace.
Thursday was our Bosphorus cruise day. We went down to the boat with Steffi and Hannah (the girls we had gone to dinner with the night before) and about seven or so of our other hostel-mates were on the same cruise as us. We sailed for about 90 minutes and then the boat stopped for three hours on the Asian side.
It was cold and windy on the boat, but it was still a gorgeous day! Even got to take my stupid red coat off, so I've got at least one photo not in that coat! We got off the boat and immediately hiked up to the fortress that offered the most amazing views of the sea. And we were in ASIA during all of this! But seriously, the views were just INCREDIBLE.
Then we hiked back down, got a fresh fish sandwich for lunch, bought some postcards (which I still haven't sent...yikes) and tried some Turkish coffee! It comes in a tiny little cup and is really strong and grainy...and then it all settles at the bottom into this think paste stuff.
Back on the boat to cruise back to Istanbul (and back to Europe!) After we got off the boat, we went to the Spice Bazaar and bought some Turkish Delight and baklava (once again, Turkish food ftw.)
As we walked out of the Spice Bazaar, we passed another huge mosque so went inside that one. This one was called the New Mosque and we actually got to go in during afternoon prayer, and it was really cool to observe prayer in the mosque. We knelt in the back section to watch. All the men are in the front section, but the women and children, if they go to pray in the mosque, then have to stay in the back section behind a wooden shield. They actually recommend that women pray in their own homes and their own convenience, and it's more recommended for the men to pray in the mosque. I thought the New Mosque was actually more beautiful than the Blue Mosque.
After the mosque, we visited the Basilica Cistern--underground cisterns built over 1000 years ago. When you get to the bottom, you can pay 10 lira and dress up in Turkish outfits and get your picture taken, so of course Becca and I did that. I haven't scanned the picture yet so I can't post it online, but it was so ridiculous. The cisterns were pretty cool, and there are two giant Medusa heads at the base of two of the columns. I'm also getting super tired of posting all these pictures on the blog because it takes a long time for them to load, but they're all on Facebook! :)
Back to the hostel after a long day, did some chilling, and watched the sunset from the terrace.
Afterwards, we all went out for a big hostel family dinner! We were just so international! We had some Americans, some Australians, a Brit, a German, a Brazilian, and an Argentinian. Despite being in Sultanahmet, we were able to find a locally priced non-tourist restaurant that some of the boys had found the night before. Once again, DELICIOUS. I just cannot say enough about Turkish food.
FRIDAY! (gotta get down on Friiiiday!) We thought it was going to be a sunny warmer day, but then it wasn't. Trekked over to the Taksim area of the city which we hadn't seen yet. Got a little lost as usual since neither Becca nor I can read a map. But that's part of traveling, ja?! While we were searching for stuff, I got approached by a Turkish woman asking for directions somewhere. This same thing happened like a good three times, and it was always women. So maybe I look Turkish! I don't...but it was still pretty cool that Turkish women would come ask me questions. So after some trekking, we found the Galata Tower, went to the top of that which offered some awesome panoramic views of the city (once again, a little grey and cold and windy though...)
Kept walking in the direction of Taksim, down the giant shopping street that's in the European part of the city. We had walked at least a few miles so we wanted to take the subway and tram back, so we got our little tokens, but then went the wrong way, and we finally got to the place to switch trains, we had to pay again, and then we had to pay AGAIN! So that was really annoying, and I was so tired, and it was cold, and we were hungry. Grabbed some little sesame bread things they sell all over the city for one lira, and then prepped ourselves for the Grand bazaar, the biggest covered bazaar in the WORLD. We saved the Bazaar for our last day so we would be ready to haggle the prices and such. We walked around for probably an hour and bought stuff and were pretty good at ignoring shop owners. I bought two bowls and a genie lamp from one place, and I did talk him down, but I probably could've done a better job...but it's just not my nature! And as I said, when you tell them you're from America, they know they'll get a higher price from you because I think Americans in general are just bad at haggling. Bought some other little trinkets here and there, but it was fun just to walk around the giant bazaar.
We managed to exit the bazaar the same place we entered which I still don't understand! I really had to go to the bathroom, so paid a lira to use the one at the bazaar...but it was just a hole in the ground. It's not that I'm so totally opposed to the hole in the ground...but I don't know how to use one! I think it's something they should teach us in America. Because I walked in and walked right out because no way was I about to pee all over myself. Walked around more and more and more finding more bazaars and such, and then we just randomly walked into this giant shisha cafe located in between the bazaars. So they sat us down and got us a giant shisha and of course...tea. So we sat one some cushions and smoked shisha for a good two hours. Most of the people were there were men in suits, so I guess after a long week at work, Turkish men go smoke shisha at this place. I wanted a picture of me and Becca so I asked this Turkish guy next to us to take it, and he spoke really good English, so we chatted with him the whole time we were there. He and his friend were studying at university in Istanbul, but he was the only one that spoke English. It was just so nice to talk to someone who actually lives there and isn't just trying to sell us stuff! As I said, we were there for a while, then finally left, a bit buzzed from our two hours of shisha, and ran home in the rain, but the fountain was all lit up in Sultanahmet, and it was just so picturesque!
For our last night in Turkey, we went out to the same restaurant as the night before because it was so good with some hostel people again. We ate so much! Becca and I finally got our puff bread, as well as a Turkish pizza, and I don't even know what my main course was, but it was delicious. Just thinking about all the wonderful food is making me so hungry!
After a lovely dinner, we went back to the hostel and just hung out and stuff. I went to bed around midnight. Becca had to leave at 3am to get to the airport so I didn't see her til I got back to Heidelberg. As I said, I woke up Saturday morning, the only one in the room! And of course, my last day was BEAUTIFUL! It finally warmed up and there was a perfectly blue sky. I had to leave for the airport at 2 so I didn't have time to do anything big, but I just took a walk around the city and enjoyed the beautiful day. Bought some spices from the spice bazaar to use up the rest of my lira and maybe I can try cooking some new recipes with them. I actually found some parts of Sultanahmet that I hadn't see before, like the obelisk and serpent tower and some of the old sultan tombs.
Back to the hostel and sat up on the terrace soaking in the sun that had been so dearly missed. Got my last beautiful photos of Istanbul...
Got to the airport, and right before the plane took off, it started raining again. Uneventful flight... I was happy to be getting back to Heidelberg though, especially to have some clean clothes!! I liked that I was actually considering HD home. After I got my bag, it was almost 9pm. I couldn't find the airport shuttle so I went to the train station but didn't want to pay 24euro for an ICE ticket, so I thought I'd try to cheat the system and buy a 7euro ticket to go to the closest city of my Semester ticket so I could get to HD for free after that. Well I was the biggest idiot ever, and ended up in bum-fuck Germany and at town with ONE TRACK! So I had to wait there outside (luckily Germany was having a warm weather week) for an hour until the next train came, and I went all the way back to the airport...where I had just been. And then I had to take the ICE train anyways, and pay more because I was coming all the way from that little town. So instead of paying 24euro to get home by 10, I paid 7euro plus 31 euro to get home at 2am. And then I had to walk home from the HD train station. I just felt like the biggest idiot in the world! I had an angry blog post about the whole night prepared but in the end, I was just so happy to be back in my bed that I never wrote it. But these things happen, and we have to learn from them. Next time, I'll just suck it up and pay a few more euros to get home at a reasonable time.
So there it is! There's Istanbul! I have literally been writing this post for three hours and am so ready to be done with it! There was nothing life-changing that went on, I'm not rushing to go back to Istanbul, but going that far east has made me much more interested in traveling more in the Middle Eastern region. I just love the food and the architecture so much. A bunch of people we met in our hostel were all raving about Marrakesh, and I really want to go there, but flights are fairly expensive and the only other substantial break I have in my semester is next weekend which is a littttle too short notice. On Thursday I'll be leaving for my Austria tour (Salzburg and Vienna), coming back Tuesday night, and then mom comes Wednesday, and we'll be spending that next weekend in Munich. Where does the time go?!?! And then Monday is my birthday!!!!! Alright, hands are sufficiently tired, goodbye!
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