From Russia With Love

I love Istanbul. I just never thought about it all that much--I mean, who really just goes to Turkey on vacation? But--it was totally wonderful!

Thursday: So we left on Thursday and we had to stop in Moldova. Now, if you don't know what Moldova is, don't feel bad. I didn't either. I had to google it. Turns out it is this tiny tiny country between Romania and Ukraine. They speak Moldovan (which I read is close to Romanian) and have their own currency and everything. But it's very green and hilly and it's just a lot of little farmhouses! The airport has 4 gates. Yes, 4 (all in one big room). That's all. They have one little bar/cafe place and a duty free shop. And that's the airport. So we stopped in Moldova.

When we arrived in Istanbul, we were picked up and taken to our hotel. I had no idea what to expect it to look like--I was kind of thinking it would be a lot like Cairo, but no. Cairo was dirty and very Middle-Eastern. Istanbul was green, flowers everywhere, very clean, the sea out to one side with sailboats and other ships sitting in the bay, and on the other side hilly and twisting European looking cobblestone streets with mosques and minarets here and there along the skyline. It was amazing, like a mix of European, Mediterranean, and Middle-Eastern. We got to our hotel (which looked out over some roofs to the sea...ahhh) and then decided to find Starbucks so I could buy a mug for my collection :) We walked along the Sultanahmet which is the famous street where all the cool stuff is (we'll get into this more later, so just keep reading) and we were so tired from all the traveling and excitement so we went to bed so we'd be ready for the next day!

Friday: Friday was the big, touristy day. Gosh, I love being a tourist. People always make fun of tourists and their cameras and outfits, but I just love it. It's so fun. Anyway, so when we woke up it was bright and sunny and we walked down to Topkapi Palace. The Palace is where Sultans used to live (sooo Aladdin-ish). We looked around the garden and you can see all the Sultan's clothes and jewels and swords (which are all emerald and ruby encrusted). There was one diamond about as big as my fist--it's apparently 86 carats and the story goes that it was found in a "rubbish bin" and a street vendor bought it from someone else for 3 spoons. When they finally figured out what it was, word got back to the Sultan and he eventually got it and made it into a ring! I think that thing would break my finger if I was to wear it as a ring. Then we went into the Harem which is where the Queen Mother (who I found out is the Sultan's mother), the wives, and the concubines all lived and it was guarded by the eunuchs. It was so ornate and beautiful and everything is marble (and the bathrooms are so pretty!).
After the palace, we went to lunch (it took us awhile) and met our friend Metin who was our waiter. He kept making jokes and we asked his advice about going to a Turkish bath so he told us if we waited until he got off work that night, he would take us to a good one so we said ok! For lunch we had kebabs and humus and then Metin gave us free apple tea which is very popular there (everyone kept offering us apple tea!).
After lunch we headed to my favorite thing of the whole trip: the Hagia Sofia. It was originally a Christian church, and then a mosque, and now it's just there for tourism. It is huge--I mean enormous--inside. And the light streams in and it's cooler than a cathedral or a mosque because it's like both combined. You can go up to the second floor, too. The only problem is all the other tourists there...but anyway that's ok. So I just don't know how to describe it. Breathtaking. You just have to go see it.
After the Hagia Sofia, we headed across the street to the Blue Mosque (this is another thing I love about Istanbul--everything is pretty close together). We had to cover our heads and take off our shoes to go inside. It wasn't quite as big as I expected it to be when we went in but it was still beautiful. There was a separate women's section, too, where women can sit and talk and read the Quran. While we were in there, some men were praying, too (women don't pray in the mosques with the men). It was really cool.
So we walked from the mosque to the Grand Bazaar which is also enormous (we got a little lost...) and shopped for about an hour and a half. They had all these beautiful hanging lamps and Turkish delight and handcrafted ceramic bowls and they kept trying to get me to buy a carpet (maybe one of them was magic?!) but sadly, I didn't. But I did buy other cool stuff so don't worry. It was really busy and a lot like the bazaar in Cairo with all men selling but they have way cheesier lines than the men in Egypt--they kept saying that we were breaking their hearts and asking where we were from.
We ate some dinner and then headed to meet Metin (our friend) to take us to the Turkish bath. When we got there Metin helped us pick out what kind of "bath" to do and then he said goodbye and the lady took us to a changing room and told us to put on these cloths and that was it. We had brought our swimsuits hoping to be able to wear them but she said no. So we were led through this sort of maze of this ancient marble bath house and it was like a sauna inside and we got to this room with fountains and the lady turned on the water and pulled off our towels and made us sit as she poured hot water on us. We couldn't stop giggling and laughing. She left us to sit there for awhile to pour water on ourselves and then came back to take us one by one to get washed. I went first and we had to lay on a marble table while she exfoliated and poured suds over me. Then she washed my hair and I felt like a little kid again because I had to lean back my head while she poured water over my hair and she even scrubbed the inside of my ears! When we were all finished we sat for awhile longer and then she came and poured more water over each of us. She wrapped us up in new dry cloths and wrapped our hair and we sat and relaxed for a bit to dry off and drank apple tea. It was so relaxing and Kristin and Becca and I definitely bonded! We slept really well that night after our busy day and our relaxing bath.

Saturday: We woke up and took the tram (which is super nice) down to where the ferries are and met up with a girl from OBU who is living and teaching English in Istanbul now. We bought ferry tickets and got on this really fancy boat that took us to Prince's Island where apparently they used to exhile princes. It's really small and there are no cars except emergency vehicles so the only way around the island is on foot, riding bikes, or horse drawn carriages. It is a mountain so we opted to just walk (riding a bike would have been rough I think...). When you first get off the ferry, it feels like an amusement park or something because there are vendors everywhere and tons of people. But you walk up a little bit and it's quieter (just watch out for horses)and we walked up to the top of the mountain. The houses and buildings are all really old and they look Victorian and with all the palm trees it kind of looks like New Orleans. We stopped and had a picnic and then kept walking up to the top where there is an old monastery and an incredible view of the European side of Turkey and the Asian side (ps Istanbul is right on the border of Europe and Asia) and the sea and all the sailboats and other islands. We sat at the top in the sun for awhile and watched the wild horses eating grass.
We walked back down to the bottom and got huge waffles with lots of toppings. Becca and I had one with (get ready to be jealous) Nutella, bananas, strawberries, ice cream, chocolate sauce, and sprinkles. Then we got on the ferry to head over to the Asia side where April (our friend from OBU) lives. Once we got there we walked around a little bit and I'll admit--it didn't look as Asian as I was hoping (ok so I sort of pictured Chinatown...). But we had a genuine Turkish dinner and saw all these football fans headed to the stadium because there was a big game! After dinner we took a ferry back to the European side and saw the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia all lit up and the big bridge (which I'm sure has a name but I have no clue what it is) lit up and changing colors!

Sunday: We got up and decided to go to Dolmabahçe Palace. We had to wait a little while in line but while we were waiting they had the changing of the guard! It was so cool--they just marched out and said some stuff and passed a gun and then this guard took position and stood statue still! It was really cool. When we entered, there is this huge, grand garden with fountains and more guards and a big gate type thing that opens right out to the sea with ocean liners just cruising by. We took a tour through the palace and it was incredible. There were huge chandeliers and there is a harem and a ballroom and even a room where Mustafa Atatürk (the first President) died. If you want a good picture of the palace, think of Beauty and the Beast--ooo especially when they have the Tale as Old as Time dance and Belle wears her yellow dress! When we walked up the staircase, I pretended I was Belle. Well and I pretended I was on the Titanic because it was a grand staircase like that. Ok, and I kind of pretended I was Jasmine, too, because of all the magic carpets and sultan stuff.
After the Palace, we walked down to the wives apartments which were connected to the palace and after touring them, we found some peacocks!! And there were hens and roosters and all these birds! So we played with them for awhile and then went into the crystal pavilion which is this sunroom with all these prisms hanging up (like in Pollyanna and that old man has all those prisms...).
We left to find some lunch and made our way to Taksim Square which is the "Times Square of Istanbul." We ate lunch and then walked down the main street and it was how I picture a New York street--packed. There were people everywhere. It was alright, but too busy and too many stores. So we went back to Old Istanbul (where we were staying, on the Sultanahmet by the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque) and found this really cool cafe and decided it was time to have Turkish coffee and baklava. We sat on this second story terrace type place that looked out over the street so we could watch everything without the crowdedness of sitting on the street. Metin, our waiter friend, was on the roof of the restaurant we had eaten at before which was right next to ours so he kept saying "psst" from the top and trying to yell things down to us but we couldn't hear him. We had Turkish coffee and it was incredibly strong. Ok, it was gross. I didn't like it. The baklava was delicious but so rich I could barely finish it. We sat and enjoyed watching the people for awhile and let our food sit and then left to go walk around. We found the pillars (I don't know their official name) but we looked at them and one was built in 480 BC! It's pretty cool to be that close to something that old. Then we found another little market place that was really quiet and kind of hidden so we knew we found a little gem and looked at all the cool stuff there. Then we walked through the hilly streets through all the cafes and chatted with the people selling things. One guy told us this story about how his name was Yunus which means dolphin in Turkish. His mother was pregnant and called his father to tell him it was time. He was out fishing and came rowing back to shore and on the way saw a dolphin so they decided to name him Yunus. He said, "Luckily my father didn't see a snake." So we left the market and walked down towards the sea and when we were just across the street we saw dolphins jumping in the water! Like 20 or 25 just jumping and swimming with the boats! It was incredible because they were so close and there were so many! So we climbed on the rocks and sat and watched them for a good hour. The sun was setting and it was starting to get cold so we headed back. We stopped by the fountain in the front of the Blue Mosque again and got fruit smoothies and then went back to the hotel.

Monday: We woke up and went to a cafe for some coffee and pastries and then went to check out of the hotel. They let us leave our bags and we walked down the opposite way of all the sites and towards the sea. We walked through this park with a fountains and all these old men sitting and chatting. Then we sat on a bench in the sun and just enjoyed our last couple of hours in Turkey! There was little workout park and it was kind of funny because there were men in suits and nice clothes working out (like on workout machines but outside) and women in complete Muslim coverings. We left for the airport to head back to Moldova and finally, back to Moscow.

Here are some pictures!