Turkey Time

Ciao everyone, and good Monday morning to you all. It's Monday morning about 6 am here, I just can't sleep anymore now matter how hard I try or how badly I'd like to, so I figured I'd get up and blog about the trip I was too tired to write about last night.

Basically, if I'd have to sum it up in one word, I think fantastic would be pretty fitting. Or spectacular. Maybe even unforgettable. I like all of them. Luckily, I don't have to use just one word, I can use thousands if I wanted, and I can use pictures and video too. And what do you know? I will do all of the above I do believe.

So on Friday, I made my way to the airport and got on my plane for Istanbul, Turkey. Alitalia was recently in talks to be bought out by another airline company, which made me feel slightly better about the chances of my flight being canceled. It was not. It was late, however, by about 40 minutes, which meant I was later getting to Kirsten in Istanbul, but we made it there not toooo behind schedule, and I got my visa (so now I have even more cool stuff in my passport!) and through control and to Kirsten. She very nearly had a bag scare, and I am glad to say it made it to Istanbul, although just barely.

We (or rather I) decided in light of the scary situation to take a taxi instead of the metro to our hotel, and I am glad we did. It was really a beautiful taxi ride to Sultanahmet, our district we stayed in, right between the Blue Mosque and the Sea. The taxi took us along the water on the way there, which was really excellent to see, along with a beautiful view of the Blue Mosque as we approached our hotel.

First impressions as we rolled in: whoa, what a clean and really beautiful city. I mean, it was infinitely cleaner than Cairo, which I can't say I was expecting entirely. I mean, I expected it to be cleaner, but not say like Portland-clean in many cases. And it was. Our taxi tour may have been through a nicer area, and I'm sure that's part of it, but it was very, very scenic and lovely, touring along the port and then up to the Blue Mosque. Nice entrance!

Our hotel was really pretty cute. We were greeted by a friendly staff who got us all checked in and up to our room. It was a little room, but nothing too small, and for what we were paying, I was more than satisfied. Surprised, almost. We put our bags down and got ready to go out and get some food, but not before we went to go check out the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, which were both so close to our hotel.

We got our bearings a bit and headed up towards the Mosque, which when we got there, they had plastic bags for your shoes (as most do), and so we de-shoed and went inside for a glimpse into the still-functioning prayer center. It was really, really intricately designed and immaculately maintained for its age, and the windows were indeed very blue. The ceiling was also decorated with a beautiful spiraling of geometric blues and reds, which made the cream-backdropped walls look alive in a way. We both were glad we'd been to Egypt before we'd come, since then we know just what to expect a bit more in terms of what to look for inside a Mosque.


We spent a good while wandering about in the Mosque, looking around and taking in the whole beauty of it all. This video is probably the least effective of the few I took on this trip, but it still shows the interior a bit better than some of my pictures do. It's difficult with just a digital camera and no tripod and no lighting to really work with, but it was very beautiful to take in just as it was and not have to worry about the pictures as much.


We took some more views of the interior before exiting out the opposite door we'd come in, re-shoed and got ready to walk to the Hagia Sophia, which is literally just about 2 blocks away facing the Mosque directly. The Mosque was built to compete with the ancient Christian, later Muslim-but-still-Christian Hagia Sophia, so their proximity and similarity in shape is very cool. We took a ton of pictures, I'm sure about 100 of which will make it to my Picasa in the coming days when I have a bit more time, hey, maybe even today, who knows?

Anyway, Hagia Sophia! We trekked past some really well decorated gardens with a huge fountain on our way over towards the next church, but the Hagia is now a museum, and closes at 5:30, and you have to pay to get in. Our time would've left us just about an hour, and we decided to just hit it Saturday morning and check out some other things that night, but we took loads of pictures to show off the area. Really cool area with lots of cool shops, and of course, the two phenominal prayer centers. The picture to the left is the Hagia Sophia, compare than with the Blue Mosque from earlier and you can definitely see the similarities between the two pretty quickly, just the coloration is really what seems all that different at first look. That and the age difference between the two.

We decided to hit up the area around the churches to see about some food and check out the local sights, but we wandered more towards our hotel since we'd seen a bunch of restaurants in that region. Looking at the menus everywhere, it made me so excited, since the Turkish Lira is about 45 Euro cents, or 2.1 Lira per Euro. It is excellent. Everything there is so cheap, it's insane. We decided on this really adorable little restaurant and we were nearly the only people in there. It was so cheap we ordered tea, water, and drinks all before dinner. We got great service, and the Turkish waiter spoke pretty good English, something else that really surprised me: so many people spoke English.

The waiter talked to us about the United States for quite a while, and then came to the subject of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which I knew (and hoped) would come up at some point. The reverence he (and everyone who mentioned him) showed was something like we'd show a mixture of Abe Lincoln and George Washington. He could do no wrong. And if his plans weren't working, the Turks weren't executing them properly. It was very interesting. The man's picture is everywhere, and in the restaurant, he watched me eat from his spot on the wall. Cool cultural moment for sure.

But the food! The food was so, so awesome. I got the Meatballs and Baked potato with a bunch of bread and spices, and Kirsten got the Saffron Chicken that smelled, looked, and tasted fantastic. We were both so thoroughly satisfied, and it was so cheap, like 50 Turkish Lira, or like 23 Euro, for the both of us, with drinks. Unbelieveably cheap.

We wandered out into the night after our meal and got some snacks for the evening, and after watching the Office in our hotel, decided to just crash and get an early jump the next day. I'm very glad we did, since we got up around 8, got breakfast on our roof-top terrace of our hotel (which had such an awesome view of the Blue Mosque!) and we rolled out to Hagia Sophia, with plans for the Grand Bazaar afterwards.

We got to the Hagia Sophia as it was opening, and we were among the first people in for the day. And it was awesome.

It's really hard to explain just how huge it is in there, and I compared it a few times to like being inside a stadium or something along those lines. Everyone who has been to a Blazers game or something along those lines, think the Rose Garden, but for God, and really, really, REALLY old. Like well over a thousand years old. It was a mixture of Byzantine, Roman, and later Islamic traditions, with the architecture reminding me sometimes of the churches in Rome, but it's so difficult to compare this church to any in Rome, as it is decidedly Eastern and Byzantine in style. So cool to see after all of my studies of Roman churches though. It's crazy to think about how much I've learned about Medieval architecture just in 3 months, and I could appreciate this church so much more having studied it now.

Anyway, it was huge, breath-taking, and as awesome as I could possibly describe a Medieval chruch to be. The Arabic signs on the walls remind you of its transitions, and the scaffolding in the center to repair the ceiling reminds you just how old it is. The mosaics are deteriorating at a rapid rate, and their repair efforts are very admirable, but sad to see them in disrepair after years of neglect, but it happened everywhere in Medieval times.




This video is from the upper level of the church, and it shows a bit, but again, it's dark. Crank the brightness on your screen and check it our, it'll be worth it (I hope). I took a load of pictures too, so if you wanna see those, Picasa later. I'll put a few more on here so you get the idea.

We hung out on the ground for a while, then decided to check out the Upper Gallery, which was more than worth the hike up this old spiraling hallway up to the top. Great stuff from up there. The views down were excellent, and they got you closer to the old mosaics and artwork, which I fawned over so much you would've thought me an Art History major. It's just cool to be able to figure things out through studies of other things and know what they really signify and represent.

I wish I could post all my pictures on here, but that would be slight overload I would imagine, but I'll squeeze a few more in before I move along; I have to at least get a few more of the interior and of the mosaics so that you know what I am raving about. I mean, these mosaics are Byzantine and so old . . . just really cool.

We walked around inside for over an hour, making sure we'd seen everything on every level in there, and finally decided to leave and head on over to the Grand Bazaar, or really the largest indoor market you could ever imagine with no posted prices, people who will do anything to get you to buy their products instead of someone elses, and more things than you could ever put in your bags home, but wish you could since they're so amazing and awesomely cool. I know that makes near no-sense, but trust me, maybe with a few pictures it will.

The walk was about 10-15 minutes long, and we made it over there pretty quickly after a Coke Light caffination break and a good long view at all of the Churches and people we'd just passed through. The Bazaar beckoned, and we'd resisted long enough. Now, Kirsten was really, really, REALLY excited for the Bazaar, and why not? It was worth the fuss, let's just put it that way. We had to make sure to not spend too much though, and we made a very complex system to try and tell each other if you really liked something or didn't, since in haggling, poker faces are essential.

We went inside and immediately, you're overwhelmed with the people, the colors, the covered ceilings, and just the sheer unique feeling you get, as it's unlike anything I'd ever seen before. We spent the first half hour or so just wandering the streets, taking in some of the FOUR THOUSAND shops that are inside, all selling different clothes, pottery, scarves, pashminas, spices, tea, magic lamps, you name it. They had it all. I took about 5 pictures since I was always on sensory overload, but man was it cool.

We were apparently on our honeymoon, according to some Turkish vendors, who were so friendly and charming but you can't buy everything. No way. It was so amazing to take a step back and just look at the sheer amount of stuff there, I mean, wow. We got some shopping done and I can't say for who, but it's pretty awesome, no doubt about it. The colors, the sounds, everything; I will never forget our time in there.

Mom, you would've died to see some of the pottery in there. I included a picture for you to fawn over the insane amount of dishes and pottery, but that's just one shops front, with about 500 others selling similar things, with the bigger plates inside. I wish I could buy it all, I know so many people who'd get so much enjoyment out of it!

We haggled. We left people trailing us giving us as low offers as you could imagine. We straight up laughed at some of the things people would try to get us to buy, but it was so much fun. We spent over 3 hours inside, and could've spent longer, but decided to bail after 3 hours inside, with a tea break, and power-shopping galore.

We crashed back at the hotel for a while and left all of our stuff there, including the duffel bag we'd got to replace Kirsten's broken one that I toted back to Rome later the next day for her. I'm a good guy.

There are more to our adventures, like an underground Cistern built in the 6th Century, another fantastic meal and a power outage that night at our hotel, but we crashed after that and had to get up early to come home. I have to get ready for school today now, but I can blog more later for sure, no worries. Just know that I always have more to share, and that I hope this gives you a taste of one thing if nothing else:

I loved Istanbul. It felt so safe, they were so hospitable and friendly, and I'd love to go back today if I could. I'd recommend it as highly as I could. But until next time my friends,

Ciao.