well i’m on my way…

When I arrived in Istanbul I went for some Turkish coffee with other travelers on the train-a couple from Liverpool and Nick from California.  After the sleepless night, the sludgey coffee was just what we all needed.  Nick and I were staying across the street from eachother, so we decided that after we checked in, wed check out the city together.  After I was shown to my room, the uber friendly owner took me upstairs to the rooftop terrace where breakfast was being served.  Even though I was hungry, I first took a few minutes to take in the view.  The sky was cloudless and the sun was dancing perfectly on the mediterranean, making it sparkle.  The entirety of Istanbul was laid out before me in all her beauty.  I enjoyed my breakfast of hardboiled eggs, olives, red red tomatoes,  goat chesse, and Turkish tea while I stared at my view.   It was love at first sight.

Our hostels werent too far from the main sights-the aptly named Blue Mosque and Ava (Hagia) Sofia.  Ava Sofia started out as a Christian church, became a mosque, and is now a museum.  The buidling was originally build in the sixth century AD, and it shows.  The building is painted browns and reds, and the exterior is crumbling in place, despite obvious repairs.   Its still a goregous building though.  The inside is spectacular, all huge and hollow in the middle, like a mosque should be, (except for the scaffolding taking up a good quarter of the center) , with mosaics of Jesus and Mary and other saints, which seem out of place.  I guess in the Muslim religion you arent supposed to display icons in places of worship.  The stairway at the head (?) of the building is present, with a mosaic of Jesus behind it…it was just wierd, but cool at the same time.

The Blue Mosque was built across the way from the Ava Sofia, the builders goal being to humble the church-gone-mosques appearance.  Sad to say, it does.  The Blue Mosque is indeed made of blue stone with multiple minaretes (sp?) surrounding it.  Since its these minaretes that the megaphones emitting call to prayer are on, it seemed even louder than one might imagine.  It woke me up every morning!  The interior was spectacular, but as tourists, we couldnt go in the center as it was fenced off.  It was dark inside except for the light pouring in from the high windows and the light bulbs suspended from the high ceiling dropping to only 2 or 3 meters above the ground.  We were given plastic bags to put our shoes in upon entrance, and I gasped as I realized I forgot to cover my hair before I walked in!  I felt bad, being disrespectful, but noticed other woman displaying their hair proudly.  I quickly covered my head with a scarf and walked around, just being amazed.

Nick and I parted ways in mid afternoon, as I wanted to get information on the rest of my time in Turkey.  I had 12 days before I had to meet my friend Ryan in Prague, and wasnt sure what to do with my time.  There were a few touristy things I wanted to do, like take a cruise on the Mediterranean and see some crazy natural scenery, but after a night of no sleep, I knew I was in no state of mind to make a decision.  I was so tired I was indecisive on whether or not to take a shower, or what to eat for dinner.  The hostel worker, Sherif, asked me if I would like to go out with him that night, to Taxim, the party area of Istanbul, but I was so exhausted.  I went to bed at 9pm and slept soundly until around 5am when I was woken up-startled-by the call to prayer.

The next day I met 2 brothers from Iowa, Ryan and Tanner.  I made plans with them to check out the nightlife with them,  it being Saturday.   I was glad to have a day to myself, since I really hadnt had one since before I got to Europe, and was feeling good about life, despite all the touts trying to sell me their wares and to drink tea and play backgammon with them.  As I walked by a restaurant, I saw Nick, and he invited me to sit down.  He was drinking the orangest looking orange juice I had ever seen, so I ordered one.  Although Im not a fan of pulpy orange juice, this was definately the best I have ever had.  It tasted exactly like biting into an orange, tart, pulpy, thirstquenching.  

I told Nick my plans for the day and he decided to come with me.  We took off for the spice market, since we had stumbled across the grand bazaar the previous day and werent too impressed.  We both thought the spice market better, as it felt less touristy and more aimed for the locals-but it was Saturday so that could have had something to do with it.  We crossed the bridge in search of Istiklal Cadessi, my friend Danis favourite street.  It seemed to me like the central shopping street, with lots of smaller streets branching off it.  Nick wanted to go in some shop to look for clothes.  I looked around, went outside to wait for him, and left.  I wasnt a huge fan of this guy, he was a fast walker, wanted to stop for a beer every few hours (Im on a budget!) and is impressed with things like multiple big houses in strictly white Californian suburbs, name dropping.  Not my kind of guy, so I decided to go in search of my own Istanbul experience.   I was in a peaceful solo Istanbul bliss for about an hour when I heard my name.  Nick was standing outside a restaurant, with his hands turned in a way as to say What happened?  I went over and humoured him and myself and hung out with him the rest of the day.  

On our walk up Istiklal Cadessi we saw a protest-just a bunch of university age looking people standing with red signs in this indistinguishable language.  As we walked away, we saw a ton of cops marching towards them, four abreast and about 30 rows deep-each carrying riot gear and tanks of tear gas.  As curious as we both were, we got out of there as quickly as we could.  I never found out what that was about, but later learned that protests are common in Istanbul.

We took a ferry over to the Asian side of Istanbul, nothing really different about it-just we were on the continent of Asia!  Nick wanted to get his new pants tailored, so we found a tailor, who put me in my place.  I wasnt thinking and just followed this guy in store after store in search of this tailor, wanting to see the exchange, as we didnt see any tourists, and not many people spoke English.  Nick found his man, but the tailor, seemed upset that I was present.  Another man came and ushered me to sit on a chair outside the building.  I sat with my head down, feeling silly that I had forgotten that I was in a Muslim country.  I didnt look at anyone in the face, and tried to imagine life as a Muslim woman.  No thank you.

Nick and I split ways after we got to the part of the city our hostels were in, making plans to meet later to go out.  I wasnt sure if I would meet him, as I made plans with the brothers, but everyone always ends up going out in massive groups, so I figured we would all hang out. 

As I walked back, many Turkish men tried to become my friend, trying to sell me things, hang out with me, get my name, asking why I was alone.  Upon getting to the hostel, a bit weary from my walk back, Sherif was there, all smiles, asking if we would go out tonight.  I was like, Yeah, sure whatever, and he told me he would go home at 8, be back around 930 and would I be ready?  I said sure, feeling defeated, and went upstairs to shower.  When I was in the toilet, I heard him calling my name.  Not really wanting to talk to him, I took my time.  When I got out, Sherif was standing in my doorway looking in my room.  He had come up to tell me I had the room to myself that night.  AS he turned away, he said OK see you later, and thanfully I remembered I had made other plans.  His face fell, he tightened his lips, said OK rather abrubtly and walked away.  He was cold to me for the rest of the time I was there, which made me feel uncomfortable.

I found the brothers downstairs and we went to the rooftop for happy hour.  I was supposed to meet Nick at 930, and he showed up in the bar at about 945, telling me I was late.  I almost ditched him, but for some reason he kept on finding me.  Oh well, the more the merrier.  He had an English guy with him, Lee, and after a beer the two of them left for dinner, and the brothers and I were to meet them at midnight.

Ryan, Tanner, and I started talking to the bartender and his DJ fried, and I watched and learned while the boys all played backgammon, while we all downed a few beers.  We ended up going out with them too, and met the other two on the bridge, where we headed to Taxim from there. 

We found a bar that was playing Michael Jackson that wouldnt let us in, since there were too many boys to my one girl.  We found another bar and had a beer before we moved on.  The Turkish boys took us to a traditional bar, where there was a band playing old songs, where we learned some traditional dance, which was mostly different line dances.  The music was beautiful, but sad, of course, as most traditional folk songs are, but we had a blast, learning the dances and just being in the prescense of a bunch of Turks.  We closed the bar and watched the sky grow light on our way home.