Traveling Turkey: Istanbul
Turkey. One of those far off places that you hear about every now and then on the news, but doesn’t come up as one of the top 5 most wanted places to visit. Istanbul and Anzac Day were two totally different but amazing experiences.
Monday 21st April
The last 24 hours have not been easy, but they have definitely been overwhelming. Visions of Turkey made me think of magic carpets and sandstone villages amongst desert, and although the carpets don’t fly they come in every size and shape you could think of.
But to be fair, our travels didn’t begin with carpets, it began the previous evening when we had to catch one of the last trains to Heathrow, which took longer than usual because the District Line had been out all weekend.
We had spent the day enjoying the city, a walk down Oxford St to get a few supplies, use our Borders vouchers to get new books, pop into the National Gallery for an hour and finish with Crispy Duck for dinner when it began to rain.
The tube got us to Heathrow at midnight, where we were amazed to find a great many people with the same ideas as us – to spend the night at the airport so we could check in at 4am for our 6am flight. I lay on my picnic blanket on the floor and Lija had her Winnie the Pooh blanket. I got broken sleep with my headphones in until half 3 when the cleaners came round to vacuum and wipe all the seats. This time it was Lija’s turn for the security feel-up, although I had a liquid test done on my hand crème.
The flight from London to Zurich was rather uneventful, we slept most of the way and woke up for a muffin and drink. I had some Euros so we had coffees and pastries in the sauvé Swiss airport, even got a free sample of the new Lindt flavour ball, before heading back through security to board the next flight straight away. Zurich to Istanbul was over two hours, but it seemed longer with the two little shits of kids sitting behind the both of us, kicking the seats and squealing, and the German man next to me who kept giving us dirty looks and sticking his nose up while reading Das Welt, dunno what his problem was.
We got to fly over Istanbul before landing, and it was just amazing – huge apartment blocks in rows and rows, all the way to the coast, a huge stadium, the business district with enormous skyscrapers and motorways swirling and straightening below us.
We got our bags okay, and had to get visas. Because I had an Aussie passport she wanted me to pay in US dollars or Euros, but I said no, I’m a British citizen, showed my Right of Abode, and said I should be paying in pounds like Lija. They tried to argue but I argued more and she ending up charging me ₤13 (Lija’s was ₤10 – the Aussie was $20US or €20). Bargain #1.
There were about 15 of us with On the Go travels, all doing different tours and staying at different hotels, so due to traffic they said it could take 1.5 hours to get to the hotel. 2pm we left the airport, we got to our hotel at half 5. The traffic was quite bad, but our big bus expertly drove through all of these tiny streets. They’re meant to be two-way, but cars park on both sides of the street and cars try to come from both ways. It usually ended up with long lines of cars sitting there delayed, and those head to head argue who has the right of way. Our big bus got to go first most of the time.
We got a good drive around the city, although unguided most of the way. We passed public buses parked with people, faces stuck at the windows for any fresh air; trams rattling along modern but dirty – also busy; when we passed a train moving quite fast most of the doors were being held open with young people hanging out of them, sitting with legs dangling off the edge. And then the rest of the traffic – motorbikes, packed cars, vans – half of them oblivious to the traffic jams, just going with the flow; others tooting, beeping, hooting, arms flailing and fingers gesturing. We even saw a man dinking someone on his bike – they were on the frame and he must have been really tall because his legs stuck out like frog’s legs on either side. We were dropping people off on this street full of Western hostels – Aussie, Kiwi, American, Saffa – and the bus could go no further, so 3 of us were transferred to a car where it was discovered we should have been dropped off over an hour ago but they missed our hotel, so back we went, around in circles, only circles are difficult because Istanbul is all hills, everywhere you walk is on a steep gradient making it twice as difficult for cars and pedestrians.
Our hotel, Valence is ****, first time we’ve been in one of those, but we had a doorman bring up our bags but we couldn’t tip him because neither of us had got money out yet – oops! With clean socks and t-shirts, and faces washed we headed out into the beautiful 18’c weather. Istanbul would be a prettier place if it wasn’t for the layer of smog sitting on the horizon. Because the population is 99% Muslim, they seem to make up for the lack of alcohol drinking with major smoking. Pollution is evident in many parts of the city.
At one stage of wandering away from the main, we ran into a real dilapidated area. Old rickety wooden houses, leaning this way and that, torn curtains fluttering in the wind, stray cats prowling around. Strays are rife around the streets, hundreds of them, they scratch through the bags of rubbish left for the evening collectors to clean the city. Or so we hope when we go out tomorrow.
Istanbul is funny, situated on the larger and smaller land masses of Turkey (the European side is 3% of the land mass) with the Asian side of Istanbul (south) connected to the European side by the Galata Bridge with the Bosphorus in between. The street sides sides of the city are always packed with pedestrians, men pull carts along selling fresh fruit or bags of nuts; they carry perfumes to sell, and in the evening they roast chestnuts and deep fry sardines. People even walk along the highway trying to sell bottles of water to re-hydrate drivers. There are many shoe and clothes shops around, and they all have men standing outside trying to get your attention to buy this or that, giving you comments from “Hello” to “I love you” to “Ladies, I have something for you over here”. That was easy to put up with, but when we went down to this big restaurant strip close to the beach, it was as bad as being in London’s Brick Lane or Melbourne’s Lygon St. We got hassled, cajoled, they don’t take no for an answer and if you walk away they try to give you their business cards.
We eventually settled on a place where our plan was to have a main and drink. Well, they brought around Mezze that we chose one each, then out main – I had sea bass, literally a fish on a plate – then Turkish coffees and a fruit platter. We had to roll home afterwards. After all that it worked out to 35YTL (New Turkish Liras – although I started calling them Yentils for some weird reason!) or ₤15, not bad at all.
Apart from all the other shops, in the bus we went down a never-ending street of wedding dresses. They were displayed in the first and second floor windows and varied in style and colour from puffy snowball dresses in yellow to green off the shoulder numbers – bright pink, red, blues – no colour was not good enough to be married in so long as it was bright. So too with all the clothes and shoe shops – plenty of bright colours, but I found myself asking who’s buying? Who’s wearing? Because all the women on the street are covered by long skirts or jeans and maybe a short sleeve top, if not then long sleeve and head scarves, in drab dull colours. I’m waiting to find out if these women have some night time underground venue to be seen in these clothes because I don’t know where they’d shop otherwise. — Later we found out that we were actually staying in the Russian part of Istanbul, which makes sense with the type of clothes there!—
When we were walking out by the water, many restaurants faced the water, while the backs were to the carpark, where we were walking, and each shop has a fresh fish stall. All the fish are in buckets kept wet, and sold or taken to use in the restaurants on the other side. One guy pretended to scare Lija with a crab, while another was showing us a sea snail up close.
Tuesday 22nd April
We spent ALL DAY at the Grand Bazaar and I was in my element bargaining with the shopkeepers. We went for two hours in the morning, to the market that has over 3000 shops selling everything from rugs, ottomans (or poufs, footstools), scarves, pashminas, jewellery, knock-off brand clothing, tea sets, and Turkish Delight. Men of all ages from teenagers to the grey haired and stooping stand outside their shops calling out to get your attention and go and buy their wares. Most would just say “Hello” “lovely ladies” “Aussie Aussie” “good price for…” But most would just stare – we were a little less modest today knowing we wouldn’t be going inside any sacred places. I was wearing my shorts and Lija had a singlet on – a combination of bare legs and bare shoulders must have equalled a lot of nakedness, and so we were stared at from the minute we left the hotel this morning.
Lija was looking for a rug and so we were asked to come in and have some apple tea, which we agreed while the owner showed us rugs – throwing them one after another on the floor at our feet. They ring a bell and the little tea men appear from nowhere, take the order and reappear a few minutes later with small vase-shaped Turkish glasses of apple tea. Each part of the bazaar is split into different sections – jewellery, books, clothing and rugs and bits.
We had a break to find Western toilets not squats, and stop for beef kebabs for lunch. The food helped give us the strength to deal with some of the hassling shop keepers. Sometimes you walk so fast you miss stalls because they are cajoling you inside their shop. Us girls are very particular and when we know what we want it can be frustrating telling them to bugger off politely! Of course, Lija found the rug she wanted before lunch, but finding the shop after lunch became an adventure in itself. The bazaar has streets and shop numbers, and we for lost going round in circles trying to find our way.
We eventually had one guy come up and snatch the business card out of Lija’s hand, we thought he was just going to help, but it turns out he had a carpet shop and said never mind we’ll show you some here. Lija and I rolled our eyes and went in, seeing as he still had the card, and he sat us down rolling out rugs, insisting the one Lija liked was there. We got away and turned right. Turns out if we had turned left we would have found him straight away. It was another twenty minutes before we found the shop with Lija’s rug man. The first guy had got his boys to go around to our guy and get a bunch of rugs to take the profit, but our guy had guessed what these guys were up to and put aside Lija’s rug. I think he was surprised but then pleased to see us and Lija was able to get him to drop the price a bit more. We sat and had tea with him, talking about London and asking about Turkey. He must have been late 40s and his grandfather had started their shop in the bazaar, but he doesn’t want his children working there. If there’s no sale for the day, there’s no money to take home. You can understand how desperate some of them are to get your business.
He also gave us a really good tip about buying Turkish Delight, saying it’s better to go to the Egyptian bazaar to buy fresh, and he told us how to get there. But first we went back to one of the perimeter shops where I had seen (or involuntarily had placed around my shoulders) a beautiful silk scarf. He began at 45 yentils for one and had dropped it to 25YTL when I left before lunch. When he saw me come back he was absolutely delighted and I got him down to 20 yentils – that’s about ₤8! My other bargain was a gorgeous leather ottoman (footstool) where Lija had paid 15YTL earlier, but I really wanted this one because of its colour scheme but he refused to drop it below 25YTL. So I began to screw up my nose and walk away, slowly! 23? 21? 20? 18? When I was almost at the next stall he calls out “Okay then, 15.” Ahah! Such a feeling of triumph – not only am I getting something practical and beautiful, but it’s at a bargain price.
In the late afternoon we took the carpet man’s advice and headed down to the Egyptian bazaar, also known as the spice market, that was once we could find our way out of the very grand Grand Bazaar. We only knew the general direction so basically had no idea how to get there. They don’t give out maps for free anywhere in Istanbul, including the hotels. It was nice and cool outside but also hot in the sun. We had to walk over a small hill and then down a really big steep hill buzzing with shops and people. The road was uneven which made it difficult for the men with carts to drag up and down, but they seemed to exert no effort – they do it everyday. Ten minutes down the hill we come face to face with a brick wall, when we found the entrance it was definitely a sight and smell to savour. Pyramid mounds of spices sat side by side in red and yellow along piles of fresh Turkish Delight powdered with icing sugar or coconut and sticks of walnuts covered with a thick honey-nut glaze which didn’t taste as good as it looked. We were watching a couple buying some delight and the seller gave us some pieces to try while I was sorting them out.
It was a box for 5YTL which was really good value, but we wanted to know what the flavours were, so when he was done with the couple he started handing them to us one at a time, we only really wanted to know the flavours, but we got the equivalent of the box to eat then and there. So we filled up a box with rose and pistachio, chocolate and coconut flavoured. He invited us into the shop because we were asking about the apple tea, so he proceeded to make us some and give us his life story.
Ramone is a short squat man, very cheeky. He’s Spanish but speaks very good English. We spent about half an hour at the shop joking around and he was giving us crap for being Aussies. He told us all about the tea and the best freshest (not the tourist stuff) comes in pellets that look like rabbit or fish food. He wrote “Best wishes from Ramone” on our box of delight, what a laugh he was!
We had to hike back up the hill, through the GB and back to the hotel with half an hour to refresh before out group meeting. Most of the group were there at 7pm, and our leader Fahrit went through our tour program a bit but Lija and I were ahead of the rest already having discovered most of the essentials to Istanbul (which when he said sounded like “Shtumble”). Fahrit’s English was good most of the time, but sometimes he spoke too fast and would lose the pronunciation or he would repeat what he was saying several times. We didn’t have dinner that night because we’d spent the afternoon eating Turkish Delight, so we headed up to our room where Lija fell asleep for an hour and I watched Pushing Daisies, luckily there were three English channels out of 26.
We went for a walk quite late and followed the tram tracks up the hill, down a hill and around to the Galata Bridge and the Bosphorus. We passed the Hagia Sofia which looked gorgeous all lit up in the evening. It was about half eleven when we reached the Galata, so we caught the tram back to the hotel. It’s 1.30YTLs a ride and you get a token to pass through the barriers. Totally stuffed, we got back and fell asleep.
Wednesday 23rd April
Wednesday morning was an early start, and Fahrit ordered wake-up calls for half seven. Have I told you about breakfast? It’s great – cereals and jams, but also cold meats, cheeses, fresh halva, cucumber, tomato, peppers, 3min and 7min (googly or hard) eggs, and not forgetting a dessert tray of cakes with a big bowl of chocolate syrup. The breakfast manager was lovely and he spoke great English. I asked him what they do with the bowl of chocolate sauce when breakfast is over, and suggested they should leave it in our room with a giant spoon, which he found hilarious.
We all jumped on the bus to go to the Blue Mosque, which takes ten minutes by tram, but more than double in the bus with Istanbul’s traffic. Both the mosque and Hagia Sofia are in the same area. Between them is the site of the old Hippodrome from 203AD, where we went first. It has two obelisks built in 1471BC – the Obelisk of Theodosius is Egyptian. It’s 26 metres tall and rests on a Byzantine base. The other obelisk, of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, had bronze plates covering it, but they were melted in 1204 and converted into metal coins.
First we went into the Blue Mosque, which is still used as a place of worship. You have to wash your hands, face and feet at the outside taps if you want to pray, and remove your shoes – we all have to remove shoes because the inside has beautiful carpet laid down. The ceiling is covered in bright blue and red patterns, and the carpet a soft red. The dome is held by four columns inside and the worship area is cordoned off from tourists (quite rightly). The women have to pray upstairs or at the back behind the men. Fahrit explained the reason like this: “How can a man concentrate on his prayers when there is a beautiful woman sitting in front of him? It would be difficult and not easy for the women, so they sit at the back.” It sounds so prehistoric, I mean, if a man need go pray he should block everything out and pray. Those who can’t I would consider absolutely sleazy, especially in a mosque.
From there we walked over to the Hagia Sofia, meaning Divine Wisdom – the museum of St Sophia. Constantine erected it in 325AD and it was destroyed several times. At the conquest of 1453 it was converted into a mosque until 1935 when Ataturk transformed into a museum. When it became a mosque the original Christian mosaics were plastered over, and since then many have been recovered and restored, so when you walk into the mosque, not only can you see the amazing Turkish architecture, but also the mosaics of Jesus, Mary and the other apostles.
From the mosque we went underground to see the water cistern, which was amazing. Even for something underground, it is an amazing site, with this multitude of columns. The water is maybe two foot high and it has fish in it. There was one special column that has the lucky eyes all over it, but they have tears flowing from them. There are also two columns with the head of Medusa, one lying on her side, and one upside down. The ceiling was constantly dripping with the condensation, so my hair got flattened a bit. From the cistern we all went off to have lunch, but I ended up having trouble with my visa card, so that took a while fixing. But Lija and I had three pieces of baklava each while walking around which left us absolutely stuffed. We met the others back at the bus, and had an ice cream waiting for everyone to return, and then the bus took us down to the Bosphorus (meaning Passage of the Cow), where we went for a cruise. There were about six bus loads of On the Go tourists. We got to know a few of the guys on the cruise; they’re all from Oz and have been living and working in London for three months. Ben and Trevor were thrilled to find out we live in “the ghetto” as they call it, just one stop away from them.
We had an audio guide over the loud speakers so they pointed out different things to see along the way, first we had to cruise out of the Halic which divides Istanbul, before we reached the Bosphorus. Istanbul sits between two continents and is central to sea and railway lines connecting north to south, and east to west. This is the reason why Istanbul has been so sought after over the centuries, and one of the reasons why Churchill thought it a good idea to send the British allies into Turkish territory. The north-western part of Turkey is European, and the other 97% is Asian. You could even see the differences between the palaces on one side of the Bosphorus and the other. Eventually it became so windy and cool out there (Lija and I were saying how we never have much luck with boat cruises and staying warm i.e. Melbourne, New Zealand, Paris, Croatia!) that we bailed and went below deck. Of course the boys were bagging us out as weak, but five minutes later they were downstairs too. Typical.
After the cruise the others went to the Grand Bazaar, but we told the boys we were going back down to the spice market, because we didn’t see it all yesterday, anything involving food and they were in. We had trouble getting Chris out of the bazaar, and eventually got split into two groups. Nick, Trevor and I had set off to the market and we thought the others were behind, but they weren’t, so I had my fingers crossed that I was going the right way and we told Lija (who was also hoping she could find it again) that we’d meet her and the other boys there. Trevor’s faith didn’t last long, until I found the shop with the big bouffy wedding dresses that looked like powder puffs. Somehow Lija and I had both come from different directions and still ended up meeting half way down the hill.
We showed the boys where we had bought our Turkish Delight, and me being cocky picked up a piece of delight from the stall and popped it in my mouth, saying, see, they don’t care that’s all you have to do, and I turned around and there was Ramone, who was stoked to see us again. He gave me more apple tea, and put several pieces of chocolate covered Turkish Delight in my hand. Trevor liked it and bought some, and then I got some too – couldn’t help myself. Ramone laughs to me and says “I put more in yours than his, but you paid less!” haha! What a pill! Then the shopkeepers next door had somehow got the boys to dress in belly dancing skirts and turned Shakira on loud. All these tourists were stopping outside the shop looking in, I was still talking to Ramone, but on the way out the shop guys also grabbed me and stuck twangy bells around my head so we all had a silly dance.
We walked out of the spice market and it opens up to the Galata Bridge, so we showed the boys how to work the tram system, although Ben was standing there asking for a ticket and we’re like Dude – the silver coin you got wasn’t change, it was the token for the barriers! We had a lie down before dinner, tonight was the Turkish experience dinner and entertainment. Almost everyone was booked on it, and it looked like it was going to be good. It was underground, but the other busloads were already there before we arrived, so we sort of got placed wherever there were seats available. Ben and Trev went to one table, and we got sat with some new friends we made. Mena and Leah (yes, Mara and Lija, Mena and Leah – don’t ask!) are living in Bristol and both were working as school teachers but Mena is now doing admin.
Our mezze was a mixed plate of a few things, the nicest part of the meal. The main was drudgy chips, some rice and two sticks of cold chicken kebab with a side salad. It was awful. And each meal we got Leah somehow ended up with less than the rest of us! The measly few pieces of fruit we got for dessert, literally about five pieces thrown on the plate, and Leah got no apple! The meal put the rest of the night on a downer, apart from the first part of entertainment, a lady in red who looked like a belly dancer but turned out to be more of a lap dancer, jumping down all the men’s pants and gesturing for money. What a skanky hoe-bag. The rest of the entertainment was nice enough; two couples who were doing some traditional Turkish dancing, and a real belly dancer who was very good, and then a freakish male belly dancer.
We all left quite early because we were bored and dissatisfied. When we left we didn’t want to go too far from the hotel because of an even earlier morning, so Ben, Trevor, Lija and I sat upstairs in an open Sheeshah café. We had apple flavour, and apple tea, and sat smoking it for several hours talking. We were back in bed by midnight though, because tomorrow’s wake-up call is 5am. Thanks Fahrit.
Tags: Travel
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