So, in 24 hours of nonstop travel we went from this:
to this:
Shock to the system? A bit.
We ended our time in Asia in real vacation mode. We lay on the beach, swam, snorkeled (Matt was totally into this, until little things started bouncing off us in the water), kayaked, drank lots of Thai iced tea and passion fruit smoothies; basically, we savored our last few days.
Leaving Asia felt a bit like the end of an era. It was a good era, but it's time for a new one. Now, we're in Europe! I have been looking forward to Europe since we started planning. I'm excited because we stay out of Central Europe for the most part and are going to explore the outer hinterlands of this continent. Some places I've always wanted to visit and others I've become more intrigued about as we've started planning.
Anyways, I'm ahead of myself. We're transitioning to Europe with a country that straddles both continents: Turkey.
We arrived late at night and took a taxi through cold, empty streets to our hotel. Then we took another taxi because they moved us to a different hotel. Needless to say, we were tired and ready to just sleep in a bed.
When we woke up the next morning and looked out into the street below, it was snowing! We pretty much sat in our warm bed all day as we thought about the layers we had packed and how we could get the most warmth possible once we ventured outside.
Also, we ate breakfast. I would like to describe this experience to you as it was truly glorious.
We walked downstairs to a lovely room with windows facing the garden which was filling up with snow. There were two tables flanking the door. One was full of baskets of bead: French, wheat, chocolate, pastry, everything! The other was lined with large bowls of jams, peanut butter and honey. There was also an overflowing bowl of fruit and a platter of bananas drenched in honey (everyday they switched between honey and chocolate covered bananas).
It all looked heavenly, and I eagerly grabbed a plate. It was at that moment that I looked up and across the room (probably scanning for coffee). On the far side of the room were two tables covered with cheese. My heart skipped a beat. We're not talking singles, we're talking feta, mozarella, seasoned, salty; I don't even know what they all were, but I know I savored each and every one. There were also bowls of olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, some suspicious looking meat I never tried and other delicious garnishes.
After a filling breakfast we bundled up in our lovely room and waited for our friends, Gloria and Gene to arrive. I could say we were being nice and waiting to explore Istanbul with them, but really, we just wanted warmth.
When they arrived at the other hotel there weren't any taxis available (too much snow, I think) so they had a short walking tour before we all met up. As they walked along they heard some live music. Once they settled in, we all bundled up and went out in search of the music.
When we found it, we enjoyed the most perfect welcome to Turkey dinner. We sat outside on cushioned couches, surrounded by Turkish groups smoking hookah and playing games. (The tourists were sitting inside, but we like to keep things legit.) The music was beautiful. Then a man in a long white and flowing skirt, with a tall hat stepped on stage. As the music started he began turning in a circle, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. He whirled faster, lifting his arms as he spun. It was so peaceful, this act of meditation and our introduction to Whirling Dervishes.
Over platters of meat, bread and hummus and the notes of whirling music, we transitioned into this new land.
The next morning we woke to more falling snow and another glorious breakfast. We decided to head out and explore the sights. Our hotel was nicely situated in The old part of the city, just minutes from Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, underground cisterns and the Topkapi Palace.
We put on all our layers, including plastic bags around our feet with hopes of dry feet (an attempt we would make daily throughout our stay in Istanbul).
(That's Matt's bundled up look- I think it's reminiscent of a Sultan.)
As we walked we came upon a mosque, a large mosque and as we got our bearings, realized, there she is, the Blue Mosque!
Then you turn 180 degrees and look across the lawn to a large pink done rising and lo and behold, Hagia Sophia staring back.
Maybe this is common knowledge, but they are right across from each other! The snow was cold, but it was beautiful as it slowly piled up on these two landmarks. The snow also seemed to keep more visitors indoors, so we gazed at a nearly empty scene as we took in these two beauties.
But, as cold, melting snow starts to seep into your toes, even the most beautiful scenes are not able to keep you from looking for warmth. We found a well- heated restaurant and had our first donner kebab, which is thinly sliced meat wrapped in pita-like bread. The extras vary, usually lettuce and tomatoes, sometimes mayonnaise, French fries or pickles. This was not the best one, but we continued to try them and they just kept getting better. As you read this, you can imagine us stopping for a donner kebab pretty much everyday.
Anyways, after we thawed out a bit, we decided to go into the Blue Mosque. We walked into the courtyard, then were kind of hurried towards the back. Gloria and I made sure our heads were covered and I tied a skirt on. Then we had to take our shoes off. I had expected we would need to do this for a mosque, but expectations and reality are different on a snowy day. Taking our shoes off meant taking off our gloves, to take off our shoes then unwrap the plastic bags and strips of emergency blankets (that trick worked well in New Zealand, but we got to keep our shoes on there). We were sort of pushed through the shoe take-off corridor then emerged into the grand Blue Mosque. It was certainly blue. The tiles lined the walls from floor to ceiling. The high ceiling was impressive. A rope blocked us from the center where a few men were praying. I barely walked across the hall, before we were rounded up and pushed back into the snow, almost literally, across a small platform where you sort of hopped and tried to put your shoes on at the same time as others poured out behind you. The call for prayer was about 30 minutes away, so the visiting time was over. I can respect that, but it resulted in a very short and slightly wet visit.
(I took a total of two pictures inside, so that's that.)
After that the plastic bags lost the little effectiveness they had, so we went home. We spent the rest of our evening planning out our Istanbul itinerary. Ratings and spreadsheets were involved. The planning souls of our group were really experiencing a high. After a plan was set, we went for yet another delicious dinner, on a couch (meals eaten while lounging on a carpeted couch are my favorite).
It was also here, we were introduced to the drink of choice in Turkey- I've told you every place has one. In Turkey it's Apple Tea (or tourist tea in contrast with Turkish Tea). Apple Tea is basically hot apple cider, so it's delicious and warms you up. In Istanbul, you pay 4-6 lire for one. Outside of Istanbul, they're basically giving them away. While at a carpet shop, we got 3 cups each (we were there for awhile) and while Matt got his haircut, the barber ordered some for us! There is actual tea delivery in Turkey!
But, back to Istanbul. After that evening, our days started with amazing breakfasts before we wrapped our feet up and headed out to make our way through Istanbul. We bought a five day pass to see the main sites. (The pass aligned with our spreadsheets, imagine that!) the snow started to melt by the third day, which kept us moving faster. Although, at one point, I decided to get better tread on my boots and a cobbler on the street fixed it! I love makers of all sorts.
Our first day of power touring started with the Hagia Sophia. No words to describe (also, at this point, I'm so behind blog posts, that I told Matt I'm not going out to eat until it's finished- of course he doesn't realize how many chocolate bars I've been hoarding, but for the sake of getting this done, a picture's worth a thousand words).
Who am I kidding, I have things to say. I liked being in the Hagia Sophia, but there is a sacredness missing. I have thoughts on that, but for now, I remember at one point feeling so saddened by the conversion of many churches into mosques that resulted in the masking of countless mosaics. Beautiful depictions of Christ, the holy family, the apostles and many saints. I wish they hadn't been lost.
But, they are being recovered. The Hagia Sophia was last used as a mosque, but now it is a museum in restoration. This interesting mix of Islam and Christianity adorn the walls- Jesus overlooking the Koran. It's an interesting juxtaposition that I didn't see anywhere else. Elsewhere, it's one or the other.
Anyways, those are my musings of Hagia Sophia, although she's so impressive that every time we came upon her I couldn't resist taking another picture.
After the Hagia Sophia, we went underground into the cisterns which used to hold the city's water supply. It was rows of columns standing over a pool of water. Very large fish were swimming around.
And, of course, every cistern needs a statue of Medusa:
That afternoon, we ate lunch on a terrace overlooking the Blue Mosque and went into the first carpet shop of the trip. Why can't I buy every carpet or kilim we see? The young man working there was from Syria, living in Turkey for university. You forget that Turkey is perched on top of the Middle East. Such a different view of the world, but always important to step out of our own ethnocentrism (no matter where we are from) and listen to the thoughts and questions of others.
That afternoon we went to Little Hagia Sophia, it is much smaller, but we were the only ones there when we arrived, which was amazing.
We also went to the Archaeology Museum which was far more vast than we had expected. The articles spanned from the Hittites and Nineveh (what?!) through Babylon, Greek, Roman, Ottoman history to the archaeologists who searched for these artifacts from the late 1800s onward (which included a story of the treasures of Troy being lost in Europe somewhere now).
The next day we visited the Topkapi Palace. We started in the kitchen which had beautiful dishware and cookware used by the Sultan's household. It was fascinating to read about the traditions and manners of the Ottoman Empire.
We also visited the palace harem, because kitchens are great, but I want to see what the royals were up to when they weren't eating. The rooms certainly displayed luxury, but there were no stories. Only a few short sentences were offered, like the sudden arrival of the Queen Mother and her resulting take over of the harem (I would like some details on that, please) or the holiday during which the sultan threw coins and his concubines scurried behind picking them up (seriously? That's a very troubling image). I'm glad we saw these quarters, but wish I could have learned more about their lives.
We also visited the Museum of the History of Science and Math. We all have at least a vague idea of the Islamic world making incredible progress during the European Dark Ages. However, once the Enlightenment began, many of their achievements were pushed to the side and credit given to Europeans. This museum highlighted all that they did and declared their mission of reclaiming credit for their ancestors. A noble goal, however one point really stood out for me. They felt that Muslims today do not know if their rich heritage in math and science and that they wanted to develop pride in the younger generations. The teacher in me was all over that and as we walked through model after model of supposedly incredible things (most if it went over my head) I just wanted to develop hands-on activities to get those students on field trips excited. Ah, it could be so amazing. I asked Matt if he wanted to move there and I could develop the education department at the museum.
Then there was the Grand Bazaar. We visited that evening and it was row after row of shops. They all kind of started to look the same, but whatever, it was the experience. Gloria and I bought ponchos, which are incredible. Matt bargained from 110 lire to 60 lire for two. I was impressed, but then in other cities we saw ponchos for 15 lire, which always made me laugh. Whatever, our ponchos are Grand Bazaar ponchos.
Once we finished the main sites within the Old City, we decided to spend a day on a ferry and travel up the Bosphorous Strait to the Black Sea. We stopped at the Black Sea at a small fishing town and walked up the hill to the castle before having lunch and returning to Istanbul. One of the things that stood out as we passes the city from the water were the number of mosques dotting the skyline. I think there is one every few blocks. I suppose it makes sense to have your neighborhood mosque, I just didn't expect it.
And some shameless grand-bazaar-poncho-posing, but I think it's ok if there's a historical site in the background (I tell myself that often).
That evening, after a very roundabout experience of getting tickets, which included a visit to the train station where the Orient Express went through (which is cool!) we went to a Whirling Dervish performance. I'm not sure performance is correct, perhaps in this case it is, but it is also a religious service (thus no photos). It was just as mesmerizing as the first evening, but this time there were five whirling in unison, the process was very beautiful to watch and the music was breathtaking. You certainly need to be aware of what exactly a whirling dervish show is before you go, it's not some lively folk show, but once you accept that they are going to spin for 45 minutes, it's lovely to allow yourself to experience it.
Obviously, I tried to whirl later that night in our room. I watched their feet carefully to understand how they did it. I felt sick, I'm not sure how they spin that long.
On our final day in Istanbul we took a taxi to the outer areas of the city to visit a couple more spots on our list. We started at the Orthodox Patriarchate, which, I believe is essentially, the Vatican of Orthodoxy! It was Sunday morning, so we shouldn't have been surprised, but we kind of stumbled into the church as Eucharist was being taken. Oh goodness, walking into the chanting and incense and walls lined with icons was so incredible, so familiar. I loved it. Not sure if the Patriarch was there, but it doesn't really matter, because there was the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, Peter and Paul and John the Baptist all wild in the desert. I didn't take any pictures, but you can trust me when I say it was beautiful.
From there, we visited two more churches that had been built before the Ottoman Empire. When Constantinople was taken, they were converted into mosques and plastered over. Today, the mosaics are being uncovered and restored. Beautiful images are being uncovered.
To visit these churches we walked through narrow streets I'm a neighborhood that wasn't the tourist neighborhood, but the real life neighborhoods. Don't get me wrong, I love the comforts of the tourist parts of town (and as I've said before, they're touristy for a reason), but discovering that real life happens too is always good. We saw women with varying degrees of coverings, but certainly more covered than other parts of Istanbul. The shops were just normal everyday shops.
That night we had our farewell-Istanbul dinner sitting on cushions, obviously.
I'm a little exhausted just thinking of all we did in Istanbul. It was good we had Gloria and Gene with us motivating us to get out there and see as much as possible (we get kind of lazy sometimes). And that was just one week! We have another week to write about still! However, I need to go eat and then I'll get on that. Late New Year's Resolution: don't fall behind on the blog! We just got so busy with snow, ruins, baklava and baths. I promise I'll tell you all about those after I get one of my chocolate bars....
