Istanbul!

Istanbul is an amazing city. It is vibrant, hustling, bustling, and full of history. I arrived Wednesday at midnight and Elif and I went to her friend’s place to stay (on the Asian side). Istanbul is split by the Bosphorus, so one side is Europe and the other side is Asia. All the old historical buildings and the old city of Constantinople are on the European side. In the morning, we took a ferry to the European side. The ferries are part of public transportation and cost only 1.5 Turkish Lira, which is the same as $1. It was pretty amazing to see the amount of people that take the ferry everyday, and the view is amazing. You can see many historical buildings, the old city walls, palaces, and mosques. On the European side, we met with Elif’s friend, Otkun, and went to Sultanahmet area, which is the historical area, literally named after Sultan Ahmet. We first went to the Blue Mosque, which was built by one of the Ottoman Emperors. It is a huge mosque with beautiful decorations and six minarets. We went during the midday prayer which was a relaxing and spiritual experience, even though we didn’t pray. It was incredible to watch hundreds of people lined up in prayer, moving exactly at the same time. After the Blue Mosque, we went to the Hagia Sophia. This was originally built as a church, then converted to a mosque and rebuilt a couple of times after fires. It is an incredible place, now a museum. In Islam, you can’t portray living creatures, so all the golden mosaics were covered with plaster and paint, but are now being restored. There are some beautiful mosaics made of gold and a great mix of Islamic architecture. Next, we headed to the old cisterns, which held drinking water for the ancient city. It was a beautiful and eerily lit underground space. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Next, we stopped for lunch at a famous kofte kebab place. Kofte kebab is beef or lamb kebabs, not exactly sure, and you eat them with bread, parsley, and hot sauce. Delicious!

Next we headed to Topkapi palace which was the palace for most of the Ottoman emperors. You can see Ottoman architecture at its finest, and its built on a hill overlooking the see, so the view was gorgeous. We stopped at a café for a beer, and then headed to the Grand Bazaar. It was huge. Literally hundreds and hundreds of stalls in an enclosed space, with vendors selling jewelry, clothes, carpets, beads, etc. After wandering around for an hour, we walked down to the waterfront, checked out some local bazaars, and then headed to a small area under one of the bridges famous for its seafood restaurants. We got to pick a type of fish and how it was cooked, and the fish was served whole. Extremely fresh! With dinner, we had some Raki, which is like Ouzo, a liquorish tasting alcohol that you mix with water. It was already an extremely tiring day, but the fun was just beginning!

After dinner, we walked across the bridge and took the oldest metro in the world, which is literally only one stop, from the bridge to a neighborhood called Taksim. Taksim is an amazing area, along a street where no cars are allowed, full of shops, restaurants, and bars. We met up with a bunch of Elif’s friends at a Nargyla (hookah) place, had a couple drinks and shisha, and then headed to some bars. Most European cities have areas like this, packed with bars in a small area, and it was awesome to go out and explore. Once the bars shut down, we all walked down the street and got late night food. There was an interesting bathroom experience that I had, so if you are interested, I will tell you personally. What a fun and exhausting day!

Day 2 was a bit more relaxed, but we did almost as much! In the morning, we met up with Elifs mom and had a late breakfast at a nice restaurant overlooking the sea on the Asian side. I’d never had a Turkish breakfast before, eggs, cheese, olives, and meat, so I was pretty impressed. However, Elif and her mom told me that it was subpar. We walked around the neighborhood and went to an ice scream store and then headed to the Maiden’s tower. It’s an old lighthouse just off the shore of the Asian side with a great view of the whole city. After some tea, Elif and I headed to the European side to check out a quaint neighborhood known for its food. In the neighborhood, there are 10 stalls in a row that sell baked potatoes with every topping imaginable and stuffed mussels. I decided to pass on the potato and stick with mussels, but Elif got a potato with a crazy combination of toppings. These stalls are quite famous, and the vendors yell at you, competing for business.

Completely tired from all the sightseeing, we headed out to a Hamam, or Turkish bath, back on the Asian side. At the bath, you strip down, put on a towel, and lie down on a hot stone. All the baths in Istanbul were built a long time ago, and the one we went to was built in the 1600s. I decided to get the full works, so after 10 minutes, a guy came and washed me. They literally rub soap on you and scrub you with a rough brush that removes all the dead skin from your body. Then you get a quick massage which was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. It is meant to be tough, but man was it painful! I thought the guy was trying to kill me. I was so scared of him, especially because he didn’t speak any English and kept asking me for a tip that I ran out and hid in a mosque for 10 minutes after he followed me out of the bath!

After the bath, relaxed and refreshed, we walked around Elif’s neighborhood. To me, most neighborhoods in Istanbul felt the same. Small, curving, narrow streets packed with people, shops, restaurants, bars, and bazaars. We wandered through some spice and fish stalls and decided to pick up some fish that Elif’s mom could cook for dinner. You get to pick out the fish, then watch as they chop them up and clean them for you. We also stopped to pick up some deserts and I tried a Turkish dish that is a flatbread with lots of meat on it that you roll up and eat like a wrap.

At this point, thoroughly exhausted, and carrying a lot of fish we headed to Elif’s apartment and met her mom, little brother, sister, and one of her friends. Elif’s mom cooked an amazing dinner and we lounged around for a couple hours eating and drinking tea. Elif’s little brother, Mhmet, or Memo, is very good at English and loved talking to me to show off his English. He’s a very funny kid.

Finally I headed to the airport and took a redeye flight back to Dubai, completely and utterly exhausted.

Istanbul is amazing. It’s almost completely Turkish with no foreigners, and a huge city with over 12 million people. There are no slums in the city, which I found very surprising for a city that size. The people are very friendly, but outside the tourist areas, very few people speak English. They might be able to understand it, but they don’t give that impression. All in all an amazing fantastic trip.

I put a lot of pics up on Facebook, so check them out. There were way too many to put up on the blog.

And for the next two weeks I will be in India for Azeem’s wedding! I’ll post something about all the craziness in a couple weeks.