Ok on to the things you guys actually care about (or at least I'm assuming you do if you're reading this) last weekend I got to spend Thursday - Sunday in Istanbul as part of my Islam and the West class. We saw and did a ton while we were there so I'm going to take it day by day to make things less confusing.
Day 1 - Thursday Jan 30
Normally FIE has a very strict policy about missing class for travel (the policy being don't even think about it) however since this trip was for a class we were excused from Thursday and Friday classes. So instead of dragging myself to a 9:00 AM class Thursday I headed to Heathrow Airport to catch the 11:40 flight to Istanbul.
We got through security fairly quickly and had a few hours to kill in the airport before our flight. During these two hours I discovered that Heathrow's "free" WiFi is only free for the first 45 minutes of use, but despite this disappointing revaluation we were able to survive the wait (shocking I know). Our flight was on-time, a somewhat uncommon occurrence for Turkish Airlines I've been told, and soon enough we were en-route to Istanbul. I have to say I liked Turkish Airlines much better than British Airlines which I flew on my way here, Turkish Airlines had more leg room and better food. Of course it could just seem like this because I only spent 3 hours on the Turkish plane and 8 on the British one, but regardless it was a comfortable flight.
From the hotel we went to our for a late dinner and the food was SO GOOD!! As many of you are aware I am an amazingly picky eater, but last weekend I tried more things that I have never heard of and or couldn't identify in four days than I think I ever have in my life, and I liked a lot of it. The meal was three courses, shown below. We had a apatizer plate of dips to put on peta bread, then a choice between chicken and lamb for the main course (I had the lamb and really liked it), and a choice of baclava (layers of pastry and syrup with nuts) or chocolate soufflé for desert, obviously I choose the chocolate option, but I tried baclava later in the weekend.
We also each got two drinks with dinner, I tried a strawberry daiquiri, it was incredibly strong, you could barely taste any fruit over all the rum. We were all exhausted from traveling all day so we headed back to the hotel after dinner.
Day 2 - Friday January 31
My first full day began with breakfast (bread, the Turkish version of Nutella, and organs) on the terrance where this was my view (this is the Highia-Sophia, more on it later):
Our first activity for the day was going to see a guest speaker, just in case we had forgotten we were here as part of a class. I'm sure he was a very knowledgeable person with interesting things to say but the reality is that the room was warm and I was sleepy which is a bed combination so I spent a lot more time fighting to stay awake than I did listening. I know he talked about the governmental system they have and what party is in power at the moment but I don't remember any specifics. However I talked to the other kids in the groups (there were 16 of us and 3 chaperones in case I haven't mentioned that yet) and almost everyone had the same problem that I did so I don't feel too guilty about it.
After the lecture we went to Asia for lunch. Yes, Asia. The city of Istanbul is partially in Europe and partially in Asai, our hotel was on the European side but a short boat ride across the Bosphorus Strait brought us to Asia. Lunch was really good. One of the chaperones, Zahra, lived in Turkey until she was 15 so she spoke Turkish and she ordered us 7 or 8 different dishes to share so we got to try an bunch of different Turkish foods, all of which were really good. Once we finished lunch we got back on the ferry for a guided tour of the Bosphorus where we had all of the monuments on the shore that we were going to see in the upcoming days pointed out to us by a guide. Below are some of the pictures I took from the boat. (I took over 300 picture that weekend so only a small fraction of them will be in this post.)
These tiny cups are what tea comes in, they're super cute and the tea's really good.On the right is the ferry we took. The view was best from the upper deck but it was freezing an windy out so you couldn't stay up there for too long.
The pictures on the left are two mosques you could see from the water (I don't' remember their names we saw so many while we were there). Top right is me on the upper deck braving the cold. And bottom right are the dolphins we saw.
When we arrived back on the European side our guide from the boat stayed with us and we went to see the Haghia-Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, and the Hippodrome.
The Highia-Sophia is a 1500 year old church, turned mosque, turned museum. The fresco's and mosaic's inside are beautiful. They were covered in plaster when it was a mosque because images of people and animals inside aren't allowed in mosque's but it's since been removed so now the Highia-Sophia is the only place in the world where you can see a picture of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus with the Muslim calligraphy figured for Allah and Muhammad on either side of it.
Here are some more pictures. There's some scaffolding in some of the pic's because they were doing some restoration work while we were there.
The door used to have a cross on it but part was removed when the church became a mosque. Also I love the way they light mosque's with these low hanging chandeliers, they work really well in large spaces and the light id very soft and peaceful
I love the decorations on the ceilings, which got me into some trouble at one point, but more on that later.
This is one of the mosaic's that were covered up while the Haghia-Sophia was a mosque that have been uncovered since it become a museum.
This is the exit to the ramp that goes to the upper level where the mosaic in the picture above it. Notice how the middle is lower than the sides? That's the result of 1500 years of people stepping there and slowly wearing away the stone.
People aren't allowed in the alter, but apparently kitty's are more important than people. There were stray cats and dogs everywhere in the city, but they were pretty tame. The city tags and vaccinates them and leaves food out so they're relatively well cared for. The cats wander in and out of monuments and no one cares, the security guard whose was there to keep people from going on the alter was petting the cat a minute after I took this picture.
Our next stop was the Basilica Cistern. It was build by the same emperor who built the Highia-Sophia around the same time. It was built as underground water storage for the city in case of a siege. All of the pillars were taken from pagan temples in lands the emperor conquered and when it was in use there was water up to the top of the columns. To be honest this was possibly my favorite place we went to in the city. It was beautiful (sorry about how much I'm overusing that word) but in a more peaceful way than the other places. It kinda reminded me of the catacombs in Paris, they're both amazing, creepy, and incredibly peaceful at the same time.
As I mentioned before all the pillars were taken from pagan temples, hence the Medusa head at the bottom one.
Our next stop was the Hippodrome, or rather the cite where it used to be centuries ago when they held tournaments in it. We only stayed there a few minutes because by that point we were too cold to be outside any longer, it was in the 40s but there wasn't any sun and that combined with the wind chill made it feel like it was in the 20s and we had been either outside or in historical buildings that don't have anything even resenting heat all day. This was our final sightseeing stop for the day and we had the evening to ourselves.
Since we had free time several of us decided to go with Zehra to a traditional Turkish bath, to warm up. This turned out to be a very good decision. When you go to a Turkish bath the first thing you do is sit in a sauna for 15-20 minutes, which after our freezing cold day felt heavenly. Then you go into another warm room and get a massage and your skin exfoliated, then you wash your hair and go back to the sauna for a few minutes to make sure you're toasty warm when you leave. After walking around in the cold all day it was quite possibly the best feeling in the world to be that warm, and my skin was softer and smoother than I could ever remember it being. By the time we got back to the hotel it was getting late so my roommates and I got some dinner (lamb kabobs, really good) and called it a night.
Day 3 - Saturday February 1
Saturday's agenda was, in this order, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Suleymaniye Mosque, and the Grand Bazar.
The Blue Mosque and the Highia-Sophie are less than two minutes from each other and less than five minutes from out hotel. It was built shortly after the Ottoman's conquered Istanbul, and is stunningly beautiful. It's still an active mosque but anyone is allowed to visit when it isn't prayer time provide women cover their hair and everyone removes their shoes. (Nana and Papa Cooney were here several years ago and warned me that it would smell horribly like feet, actually wasn't bad at all, but they were there in the middle of the summer so I could understand how it could smell worse then.)
Above is a stained galls window and a picture of the dress code for the mosque. Women didn't actually have to wear skirts like in the picture, you just had to have the equivalent about of skin covered, so long jeans were fine. To the right is a picture of the inside of the mosque. All the blue tiles are where the mosque get's it's name from.
This is me with my roommates, Tara is in white, and Maria is in the middle. Oh and remember how I said my love of pretty ceilings got me in trouble earlier? Well notice how my scarf isn't covering as much of my head as Tara and Maria's? That's because I kept looking up and causing it to slip off, so I spent a lot of the visit pulling my scarf back onto my head and hoping the security guards wouldn't notice me.
From the mosque we made our way to Topkapi Palace, again only a very short walk away. This is where the Ottoman emperors lived for most of the Ottoman empire. It was beautiful but FREEZING!! If it had been warmer I probably would have explored more than I did but it was just too cold. Here's some picture I took of the heram (women's section of the palace) before we decided it was too cold to function and went to find a warm restaurant and some food.
After we had thawed out we met up with the group again to go to the Suleymaniye Mosque and the Grand Bazar. At the mosque we had to take off our shoes and don headscarves again, but I'm happy to say I did a much better job of tying mine this time so it actually stayed on my head. We were also able to observe a prayer while we were here it was really interesting, but understandably, we couldn't take pictures of the actual prayer.
After observing prayer we headed to the Grand Bazar for what can only be described as one of the worst cases of sensory overload I have ever experienced in my life. My first reaction when we arrived was relief because not only was it inside but it was either heated, or just felt warm because of the amount of people there, this feeling of relief quickly faded. There are thousands, yes thousands, of stores and vendors in a huge complex with multiple entrances and exits, most of which look fairly similar. Additionally all the vendors really really want you to look at there stuff and no one else's, and seem to think flirting will convince you that they have the best deals, and even my best "get the hell away from me" look didn't work on some of them (a phenomenon I've never encountered in the US). My roommates and their friend Christian who was with us did better at handling the vendors than I did, mostly I just hid behind them. I haggled a little and bought a few small gifts for people, but I tended to look for shopkeepers that were capable of haggling without flirting at me.
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| This is a mosaic around the fountain that's in the picture down below which shows Whirling Dervishes. |
The bazar was the last item on our itinerary for the day which meant from 3:00 onwards our time was our own. All 16 of us student decided that we wanted to see a Whirling Dervish show while we were in the country so Zerha booked tickets for us and gave us directions to the theater. We got a little turned around on our way there but we eventually made it. The show was really cool. Officially it's a religious ceremony. There are several musicians and people chanting verses from the Koran, and while they do this there is a group of 5 people (it can be men or women) in long white robes spinning in circles around each other to the beat. The idea is that while spinning they are supposed to stop thinking and achieve a meditative state. It lasted about an hour and was really cool. After the show we made our way back to the area by the hotel and broke into smaller groups to eat, shop, and take come pictures of the monuments lit up at night.
Right: Margret and Laura with the Blue Mosque in the background.
Left: Robert made became friends with one of the stray dogs that are everywhere.
Day 4 - Sunday February 2
Sunday was our fourth and final day in the city. We left the hotel at 9:30 and headed to Dolmabahce Palace. This palace was built by the Ottoman emperors to replace the old one that we swathe day before. It was built to show that they were just as rich and powerful as the other European rules during the late 1800s and early 1900s so it looks much more European than the other palace. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside but suffice to say the only way someone can built something so opulent is if they have more money than god. In fact the palace is worth so much that it isn't insured because no insurance company in the world is willing to take the risk of insuring it. (It's more of a gamble to insure it than any other palace of a similar size because most of the inside is made of wood, not stone, so one good fire could level the entire structure.) Among the many opulent furnishings is the worlds largest chandelier weighting in at nearly 4 tons and made of purest crystal.
We had to wear these plastic protecters over our shoes to protect the carpets inside from damage.
From the palace we went to the Egyptian Bazar, which I have to say I liked much more than the Grand Bazar. It was smaller and the shop keepers were somewhat more reserved. If we had gone here first as a warm up and then gone to the Grans Bazar I think it would have seemed less overwhelming. We also got lunch in a near by restaurant that had the most amazing view.
After the Bazar it was time to head back to the hotel, collect out bags, and go the the airport. We said good bye to Istanbul at 8:30 and were back in London by 10:00 local time.
Sara your weekend sounds amazing! I can't believe you went to a Turkish bath! I'm loving reading about your adventures. Love, Aunt Jean
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