10/17/14 – 10/23/14
(excerpts taken straight from my journal I kept during my 2014 study abroad experience)
10-23-14
Friday morning we left for Turkey. We took a bus from Florence to the airport. We were a few hours early so we got food, which turned into a few more hours because our flight was delayed. Our first flight was supposed to leave at 11:35, but we didn’t end up leaving until 1:45. This meant that we missed our 1:30 connecting flight in Rome. Once we got to Rome, we ran around the airport to find a new flight. One woman helped us and said she would get us on the next flight to Istanbul (which was at 3:30 and it was 3:15 at the time). She booked our flight and we sprinted (with our bags) to the next terminal. When we got to the desk, the woman told us that we were put on the 7:00 flight.
We had almost four hours to kill, but we made some friends in the ticket line. One guy was from Brazil, and the other guy was from Medford (and his mom works at Siam Delight). That’s when I realized how small of a world it actually was. We finally boarded at 7:00 and were off.
We met my roommate’s childhood friend and went to her boyfriends, sister’s apartment for the night. The next morning, we took the ferry across the Bosphorus Straight to her apartment. There are two sides of Istanbul, the European side, and the Asian side. She lived on the Asian side, but all of the tourist attractions are on the European side.
We had “Fish Bread”, which is a fish sandwich made straight on a boat. Then we walked around the town, saw a few bars and cool stores, and then stopped for dinner. We had what they called “iskender kebap”. It’s formed from thinly cut lamb in tomato sauce over pieces of pita bread, slathered in melted butter and yogurt. We also had waffles coffered in chocolate sauce, strawberries, bananas, and peanuts.
Later that night, we bought beers and hung out on a friend’s rooftop deck. You could see a lot of the city and the water. Then, there was a “Derby”, which meant that two of Istanbul’s soccer teams were playing each other. The two teams playing were Fenerbahce and Besiktas.
We went to a local bar to watch the game (most bars you have to pay extra to watch the game. We went to one that didn’t have a cover, but we could see the TV at the bar next door). The bar we went to was called “e 5 pub” and they luckily had mojitos. The fans watching the game were going nuts, (even in the rain) and then Fenerbahce lost, which apparently was a good thing.
On our walk home, we stopped for street mussels. Guys stand on street corners with tables of mussels that are stuffed with rice and lemon juice. You eat as many as you want and then pay.
The next day, we just walked around and saw the European side and passed the Maiden’s Tower. (There’s an urban legend that there use to be an emperor who had a beloved daughter, but her oracle said she would be bite by a snake on her 18th birthday and die. Her father built her a tower to keep her away from land and snakes. On her 18th birthday, he bought her a basket of exotic fruits, but there was a snake hidden in the basket. It bit her and she died in her father’s arms.)
For lunch, we had loaded baked potatoes that you could decide what you wanted on them. I got hot dog pieces, corn, peas and yogurt/sour cream dressing.
Then we got coffee on a rooftop bar and walked around to a few more shops. In one of the shops, there was a basket of old postcards for sale. While searching for the perfect one, I found an old stamp instead. The store clerk said it must have fallen off of one of the postcards, but he sold it to me for 1 Lira.
After that, we went into the city and saw two museums. One was the “Salt Exhibit”, which was all about summer homes (I guess because they are really big in Istanbul) and the other was “The Roving Eye Art Exhibit”. The second museum had a lot cool things, such as a round ping-pong table, a room that looked like it had a mirror in it but it was just another room, and crowns made out of recycled metal.
Traveling from place to place was easy in Istanbul because of the public transportation. Especially because we had an “instanbulkart” card, to get us from place to place. It worked on the tram, bus, and ferry.
Then later that night, we went to a bar that you have to go up five flights of stairs to get to, and sat on hanging swings, drank and played scrabble. The bars in Istanbul reminded me of frat houses because there were at least 3-5 floors for each bar, but they were all different scenes and music. Our bar night was unsuccessful, so we went home, ate baklava, drank baileys and watched frozen. But on our way home, we stopped and got burgers, which were basically Sloppy Joes.
The next day, we visited the Basilica Cistern, the Blue Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar.
The Basilica Cistern is the largest cistern that lies beneath Istanbul. It was built in the 6th century to provide a water filtration system. Inside, there were two columns supported by Medusa heads. One is sideways and one is upside-down. This was said to negate the power of the Gorgons gaze. It was basically a bunch of walkways and lit-up columns over water in a dark basement, with really, really fat fish.
Next, we went to the Blue Mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. It was built from 1609-1616 in order to reassert Ottoman power. Both the inside and the outside of this Mosque are beautiful. It has one dome, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. The architect was Sedefkar Mehmed Aga. It got its name “blue” from the blue tiles on the ceiling and walls, and the blue rug on the floor.
Next, we visited the Grand Bazaar. It means “covered market” and it’s one of the largest and oldest in the world. It has 61 streets and over 3,000 shops. Construction started in 1455 for the trading of textiles. It’s basically their version of a mall.
For lunch, we had kebabs and then found a Starbucks (so obviously I got a pumpkin spiced latte and pumpkin cheesecake). I think the barista was laughing at this one.
We walked around until we got to Topkapi Palace. It was used to house the Ottoman Sultans from 1465-1856. It mean’s “cannon gate”, and was also used for state occasions and royal entertainment.
That night, we spent it watching Hocus Pocus, Keenan & Kel’s Halloween Special, and indulging in chips and beer, I couldn’t have been happier.
10-24-14
The next day, we visited the Ayasofya and the Dolmabahce Palace. The Ayasofya is a former Greek Orthodox church. It was an Eastern Orthodox cathedral between 537, (when it was constructed) and 1453. (Except between 1204-1261 when it was converted to a Roman Catholic Cathedral). It was only a mosque from 1453-1931, and has been a museum since 1935. It was dedicated to the wisdom of God (Sophia being the Greek word for wisdom). It is considered one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture and was the largest cathedral for 1,000 years. The designer was Isidore of Miletus Anthemius of Trailes.
As we left the Ayasofya, we passed the Obelisk, which is a tall, pyramid shape pillar. They were originally built by the Ancient Egyptians, but apparently no one in Turkey knows how they got there.
Finally, we got to the Dolmabahce Palace (which was extremely beautiful). It is right on the Bosphorus Strait and it served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856-1922, except between 1887-1909. The area was reclaimed to become an imperial garden, which is how it got its name. Dolmabahce means “filled-in garden” in Turkish. It was built between 1843-1856, order of the Empires 31st Sultan, Abdulmecid I. The architect was Garabet Balyan and it cost 5 million Ottoman mecidiye gold coins (around $11,000,000).
We went into the Harem and saw all of the wifes, maids, and children’s bedrooms and common areas. We also saw Attaturks bedroom, which he died in and supposedly it has been left the same ever since. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the first president of Turkey. He was in office from 1923-1938 and is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. His surname Ataturk, meaning, “Father of the Turks”, was granted to him in 1934 and forbidden to any other person by the Turkish parliament. (Everyone in Turkey is basically in love with him. His face and name are everywhere and you’re not allowed to say anything bad about him, ever.) The palace was huge, and the rooms were extravagant. The outside was beautiful and could be seen all the way across the Bosphorus.
We took a decent amount of pictures and then headed back to Starbucks (obviously). And yet again I went all out with the pumpkin.
We took the ferry back when it was dark and you could see the Bosphorus Bridge all lit up in sparkling rainbow colors. (The government is completely against gay rights but the Turks love to show it off. It’s also why they paint a lot of the stairs rainbow, and then re-paint them when the government paints over them.)
For dinner, we had what’s called “Lahmacun”, which is a round, thin piece of dough, topped with minced meat, vegetables and herbs. It is often wrapped with vegetables and lemon juice. (It was basically a salad wrapped in pizza.) Then we drank beer, ate baklava, played Apples to Apples, and watched YouTube videos.
The next morning we got to sleep in, but we had to take two busses and the tram to get to the airport. Yet again, we found a Starbucks. This time I got an iced coffee which turned out gross because I couldn’t read the milk and cream labels (I still don’t know what I used).
We flew to Paris where we had a 10-hour layover. We were planning on just staying in the airport but they told us it closed down and wasn’t safe overnight. So after some time, we finally booked a hotel and took a shuttle there. We really wanted to explore Paris but everything was too far away.
The guy at the front desk gave us a discount because we would only be at the hotel for 5 hours. We went to our tiny room with our bathroom that looked like it belonged in a motor home, and slept for about 4 hours. We woke up at 4 and took a cab to the airport. The only things I got from Paris were a sticker and a pen, which means someday I’ll have to go back and visit.
We boarded our flight and headed back to Florence. Once we landed, we took a bus to the city center; we were home, sweet home. Turkey kind of reminded me of NY, but the Mosques were like nothing I’ve ever seen before.