Istanbul, Turkey

We had been walking the streets for all of five minutes and we had already been given stares, glares, smiles and a few winks along our first walk in the biggest city in Europe: Istanbul, Turkey. Well half Europe and half Asia. It is supposedly divided into two sides. Kate, Becca and others were serving their 12 hours of dock time as Bo, Kevin, Erika and I crossed the bridge to get to the Europe side.  During our walk we saw many restaurants, men and their young boys fishing over the side of the bridge, and in the distance we could see all the Mosques. The city is definitely a different sight from the others and it is already quite interesting.

Sell! Sell! Sell! It is an epidemic. The Turks are either persuading you to eat at their restaurants, come into their stores or buy their products. Coffee, Turkish Delights, Apples, and anything else you can imagine is constantly thrown in your face with the expectation to make a purchase. This has been a norm throughout all the cities, especially amongst children, but it is very dominant here in Turkey. I really felt the heat when we made a visit to the Grand Bazaar. This crowded shopping center reminded me of a cleaner, more varied china town, only inside. It had everything from swords, to lamps to jewelry, to spices. It is a playground for women and a savior for all our wallets. Not only are the prices substantially lower, they EXPECT you to bargain with them and consider it rude if you don’t. Could you imagine lowering your shirt price from 10.00 dollars to 5.00 dollars as Erika did today? It can become stressful but at the end of the day you save a lot! I was in there for all of twenty minutes and already routing my escape. I like to have many things: clothes, gadgets, accessories etc. but shopping for them is not necessarily my forte. I detest malls and always have since I was a child. I become claustrophobic, my throat starts closing up and I plead for an ejection from this crazy zoo of bartering, selling and an insane amount of merchandise where you can’t tell one corner from the next.

“Oh my God! Michael Jackson!” One of the sellers screams as I walk by! I have no idea why he yelled this absurd statement but he continued to ask me if I could do the moon walk. I think he just wanted me to buy something, but it was a funny part of our day. So was looking out our window. Kevin and I just sat and watched as locals fished from the water right outside our boat. Also there sat a large over-weight man sitting on a yellow moped half asleep. It was hysterical as he woke up and saw us staring at him. Oops.

Our day was more than just shopping and crazy people watching; we also experienced some Turkish culture and accomplished some site seeing. We visited the Blue Mosque which is the largest Mosque in the city. A Mosque is an Islamic place of prayer where Muslims pray toward Mecca. Before entering these holy buildings you must remove your shoes and refrain from speaking. We followed the rules, but still disturbed the room by taking pictures. Don’t worry prayer time had concluded by this time. The architecture is beautiful but the prayer space seems like an open space in which a fair may take place. It wasn’t as sacred as a Christian church may be, but that may have to do with the herd of tourists flocking through the entry ways at all hours. The area outside the Mosque was beautiful with gardens, a fountain and just a nice and clean central area. 

In my opinion the most delightful time of the afternoon was our visit to the Basilica Cisterns. It was so unexpected. We came up to a building that was no bigger than a post office. “Uh Kevin? Are you sure this is it?” I asked as he was elected to lead our travels for the day. And low and behold, underneath this building was a cool sight of 336 lit columns in a large room that once was filled with water. This well-type room was cool, damp and just what we needed after baking in the 90 degree sun. It reminded me of a cave, or Howe Caverns in Upstate New York. This site used to be the city’s water supply. Now I believe it functions as a conservation of history. Also unexpectedly there were two sculptures of Medusa’s head. One upside down and one sideways that sat at the bottom of two columns. We are still not sure as to why they were in Turkey and in this Cistern but there they sat.

Food was a big part of the day. The first thing we received when we went though customs was a Turkish Delight. I enjoyed the small piece that I had. There are many various flavors and creations of a Turkish delight but so far I’m only fond of that initial one I tried. I need to find it again. While waiting in line to enter the Cistern we saw a stand with a man with a cart of apples. He used this awesome tool that not only peals the apple, but also slices it into a weaved set of slices. “I have to have one,” I announced the group. And after I did I wasn’t so impressed. This apple was beyond sour and extremely tough. Yuck! After the overwhelming visit to the Bazaar Bo and I were in a need of a snack. We stopped at a corner store and ordered, quite blindly, a barbeque chicken creation in a wrap with peppers, lettuce and tomato. It was absolutely to die for and we can’t wait to have another one. We also made a visit to the Spice Bazaar which is basically a mall of food. Kevin and Bo shopped around for tea, while I sampled Turkish delights and took in all the different types of food that were crammed into one space.

We had been walking around for 7 hours now and so we decided to sit down in this nice shaded park. This park was spacious, beautiful and complimented with fountains, children playing in the distance and people relaxing on their blankets. It made me miss Central Park in New York. How I wish that I could pack such things in my pocket and take them out whenever I missed them. It was nice to sit back and watch for a bit.

At around 6:00pm we decided to head back to the boat for dinner, yet the city was still hustling and bustling with work. People were still selling, still bargaining and still fishing. When does it stop? Well it needed to stop for me, so I took a little nap after dinner to rest up for the evening, which unfortunately not many wanted to participate in. Becca, Kate and Lindsay who had been boat ridden for the entire day still decided to stay on the boat even after their dock time had been served. It didn’t make much sense seeing as they had already lost so much valuable time in this gigantic city of Istanbul. Erika and Bo have an early hike in morning and had also been walking the city all day long, yet they still made it a priority to explore the city at night and to have a good time on the town.

Rachel, Erika and I set off to find the main street of Istanbul where a lot of  the stores, bars and restaurants are. It was so much fun! The street was really bright, really loud and extremely packed with people. I’ve never seen so many people on one street. This volume stretched as far as the eye could see. We walked the entire length of street with stops along the way. Rachel tried that same wrap creation that I had earlier. (I should really find out what its called) Erika’s eye was latching on to Starbucks, Burger King and a Mcflurry. The three of us made a stop at a Karaoke bar. Yup another one. Erika loves them. Her and Rachel contended for the worst singer and I have to say that Rachel is a good match for Ms. Morrissette and that’s a hard defeat! On our way back to the boat we bumped into our friends Eric and Lauren who we see quite consistently in each country. We chatted a bit. Erika and Rachel headed back, while I decided to chill with them some more. I don’t have a trip in the morning and I had a great night.

The morn awaits.

Today’s Expenses

……………………….....Lira………..Dollars
Cistern……………….10.00.……..6.67
Apple…………………..2.00.……..1.34
Lunch…………………..4.00.……..2.67
Drinks………………..12.00.……..8.00

Total…………………..28.00.……..18.67

Explore. Dream. Discover.

~Michael-Anthony

P.S.  I don’t look like Michael Jackson.