A complete turn around from all these Turkish small towns I visited - 13.5 million people call İstanbul home. It is a crossroads place where part of the city is in Asia and part is in Europe. Here there is an overwhelming amount of people everywhere at every given moment. If you want to see a modern Muslim cosmopolitan city - look no further than here!
All in attendance: David and Kristen!
We arrived in Istanbul quite late and walked to our hostel near the Blue Mosque/Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Hagia Sophia. We stayed at Mavi Guesthouse. We have ran into so much luck throughout our entire Greece/Turkey trip with barely full hostel rooms and sweet private room upgrades. So upon our arrival, the empty 4 person dorm seemed so much more appealing than the 22 person dorm so we just forked over the extra costs just for some space and good night sleep.
The next morning, we had arranged to meet Eric and a few of his friends from Dresden who were visiting Istanbul as well. They were friends with two people, Felix and Katja, who were doing an internship there. We took the very posh modern tram to Taxim Square but a slight misunderstanding between groups moved the plans to meet up to after dinner.
David and I walked along the busy shopping street called Istiklal Street. We happened upon the S. Antonio di Padova Catholic Church and countinues our way through the infinite maze of small shops and busy locals. The biggest surprise is just how crowded the city is - by no means what I would expect in China but there is rarely a time where you are alone on a street in central Istanbul. The streets, shops, parks and bridges are always heavily populated with cats and people.
Passing the Galata Tower, we arrived at the Galata bridge where there are Turkish fisherman there 24 hours a day! We peaked into the fish market and the fancy fish restaurants (here you can buy a great fish sandwich I'm told by the gold and black boats, we didn't and I do regret it). Across the bridge is the New Mosque/Yeni Cami and our first stop for a peak inside one of Istanbul's many Mosque.
A complete beautiful prelude to every mosque we were to see. Stunning and ridiculously un-crowded! Going to this mosque made me wish we had the time to visit the other less popularly visited mosques in the city.
We also happened upon a really nice artist studio off of the side streets. I really wish we had the money to spend on some of these paintings and sketches!
I got some over sweetened spun sugar on a stick and we went into Hagia Sophia. The biggest drag here is that information pamphlets and maps of the museum are only given to those which purchase the audio tour. This is common for most of the sites we visited in Istanbul. No matter, we will just soak up the atmosphere. The colours, the magnitude of the domed roof, the paintings and the grand atmosphere were astonishing.
Off we went across the park toward the Blue Mosque and slipped off our shoes and hid our shoulders and knees. Inside, you are shuttled like cattle and it is very noisy (from all the tourist) and near uncomfortably crowded (crowded like the streets of Venice crowded). Here we had very little time to soak up the atmosphere. Tranquility was at an all time zero.
We then went to the spice market in Istanbul. Contemplated all the different types of spices and teas as well as other knick knacks and touristy souvenirs. The haning metal and glass lamps they sell are extremely beautiful and if a 45L backpack permitted it, I would've taken one all the way home to Canada. We left with some nuts - nuts here are delicious - and munched on cashews, pistachios and other delights for the rest of our day. All the side streets around the spice market have goods to sell as well. They are really specialize stores (we went into a 2 floor store devoted completely for buttons!) and I felt comfortable haggling for the first time in my life.
David and I lounge lazily in this one giant park (special because there is a lack of green space in central Istanbul) for the better park of the afternoon where we people-watched cute Muslim couples and big family picnics. We watched old turkish men climb trees and play backgammon. We watched parents take cheesey pictures of their children. We also watched people taking pictures of us!
That night we met up with Eric and his friends and listened to some jazz music and hopped between a few cute and comfortable bars before returning to our hostel room (which was no longer fully private) to sleep.
Morning included a hostel breakfast and a day which began at Topkapi Palace. It is a bit steep to go inside ($$) but the previous day we took a look into the gift shops for photos of what the palace looked like. Beautiful mosaics, a parade of colour and a high recommendation from Felix and Katja were enough to sell us on this place. It was also bittersweet pleasant because a torrential downpour of rain occurred while we were there which chased away a lot of tourist (or immobilized them under dry cover) while two Canadians paraded about without care.
Off we went to the Grand Bazaar where I got a "handmade" backgammon set. David got a few scarves for some friends and we wandered the seemingly endless rows of shops and stalls; a parade of "where are you from" and "hello my friend" in our wake. Prices here were not necessarily better than the ones we saw in other parts of Turkey. Product selection, however, was much higher.
After we grew tired of the markets, we boarded a boat to take us all the way to Kadıköy - the Asian side of Istanbul. Here, everything is even cheaper! We got more nuts and sat in a coffee shop and played backgammon on my new set with the blurry rules that I could remember. Cue: scoffing Turkish men who knew we were doing it wrong.
That night we met up with Eric and his friends again and took a boat way up to a further district of Istanbul. Here was also very crowded and we bought kompir for dinner - crazy large backed potato with anything you could want inside. Something curious about Istanbul is that you can bring food you bought elsewhere into a different restaurant and sit down as long as you order something else.
We spent the rest of the night at Felix and Katja's apartment on their deck eating delicious snacks and enjoying the view. We took a taxi back to our hostel (met an over zealous taxi driver who got our spirits all worked up) and just like that, my time in Istanbul was up.
Things to do next time:
- Eat those fish sandwiches by Galata Bridge
- Go to a Hamam
- Buy a Turkish hanging Lamp
- See Whirling Dervishes
- See other mosque in Istanbul
- Go to the Prince's Islands
- Spend at least a week here!
Things I learned:
- People are infinitely curious about David and I - especially when we tell them we're from the same country
- The corn vendors are selling non-sweet corn
- 13.5 million people is a lot
Things I loved:
- Ridiculously large döners!
- Turkish lentil soups and Turkish nuts
- Visiting a crowded and lively city
