Old City: Round Two

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This time on Darrah's adventures through Istanbul!

So yesterday a group of my fellow summer term students and I decided to travel into the Old City so that they (practicing Muslims) could do Friday prayer at the Blue Mosque. To start the day however, I was awoken by the pitter patter of rain against my windows. Maybe it's just the mid-westerner in me but I say it was the best present I could have woken up to here in Turkey. The rain had stopped though when we left around noon as we took a bus, then the tram, to the Blue Mosque. Getting there was easy, getting inside was the same. After covering our heads and shoulders we entered onto the mosque grounds and made our way inside. I have to say that the Blue Mosque, full of people praying simultaneously, was one of the most beautiful and moving moments of my life. I sat to the side on the edge of an alcove where people would pray individually while I witnessed my friends, and masses of people both inside and out practice the Friday prayer. Once our "wave" of people was done, we realized that the rain had picked up again. While attempting to exit the house of worship we were bombarded by the second "wave" of people who were going to attend the second prayer, and then enthusiastic umbrella sellers as we exited the grounds. We quickly ran to the nearest eatery so that the two people in our group who were not fasting for Ramadan (myself included) could eat a light lunch as we discussed the days plans.

Now for me this is where my day kind of got dicey. If it had been up to me we would have simply gone home considering the Topkapi Palace (where we wanted to go in the first place) is located mostly outdoors, and the group decided to take a rain check , literally. So we settled for the Grand Bazaar instead. Now I have heard funny stories about the Bazaar, how you are supposed to barter, see people, be ripped off, etc. My trip to the Bazaar was something I may or may not be happy to forget. At least have the memory dimmed a wee bit, as in the uncomfortable parts taken out. We entered into the Bazaar and I was immediately taken aback by how much stuff could be shoved into such tight quarters. The sights were amazing, the people not so much. We wandered in maybe 15 feet to enter our first store when this guy started to attempt tp get our attention. "Excuse me, Hallo, Miss." As we finally passed them he yelled at me "LADY!" "WHAT?" "You're from states yeah? States?" I'm just thinking seriously dude? You want to specifically yell at me? I have almost never in my life felt so targeted in all my life. Maybe it's the blonde hair and blue eyes but come on now, I was modestly dressed and I could've been from Germany for all anybody else would have cared about. The girls finally ushered around me to keep me moving but I got angry. Of course I kept it in, this was not the place to get into any kind of altercation, and when we left the store I made it a point to walk as quickly as possible to avoid the person altogether.

The rest of the walk around was okay, but here's the deal. The Grand Bazaar is NOT like a mall. It is an over priced flea market on steroids. That is what the Grand Bazaar is and do not let anybody try to convince you otherwise. Also do not attempt to walk in an organized pattern. It will not happen, and you will not succeed. Once we exited the Bazaar our group wanted to head back towards the mosque because the rain had subsided again and they figured lets give Topkapi a chance. Instead of walking the street line, one of the girls decided, hey! Lets go through the outside of the Bazaar to the other side, that should be closer to our entrance right? Wrong. This is the part of the trip that really frustrated me. As we were walking through an even more crowded line of covered sellers, some guy decided to reach out and grab my jeans and say "Jean? Buy jean?" Obviously they have never encountered an extremely protective and sassy mid-western woman because for the life of me it took every fiber in my being to not knock the guy into next week. By the time we made it out of the tight quarters I was quite... grumpy to say the least, only to then find out we were completely lost.

Our journey turned from one of aimlessly wandering to one of how the heck do we get back to the tram line and tourist civilization. Wandering around we came upon another mosque and toured it, thinking we had to be close to the others. Finding a map we realized that the Blue Mosque was nowhere near where we were located and that we were actually near the gates that exited the Old City completely. So we decided to take the metro, or subway, to a place where we at least were more familiar with. Getting on the metro we found it let out at Levent which we could then take the 43R bus straight home, but it also would take us to Taksim square where we could take the 559C back home. The same leader who chose to go back through the Bazaar to get us lost decided we should get off at Taksim. I have now mentally decided to never follow this person ever again, anywhere. When we reached Taksim we waited for our bus for 45 minutes, after which we gave up and took a cab home in some of the densest traffic I have ever been in. I was so relieved to be home by the end of the day.

I feel that every time I visit the Old City I'm going to have a new memory, whether they be good or bad. But in the end, I'm experiencing this whole heartedly. To take a vain moment I was extremely proud of myself when my anxiety didn't take over when we were lost. I kept my head. Maybe I am starting to get used to this place.

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Comments

[traveltalesofawoollymammoth]

Plenty of bargains to be had!
Your account did make me chuckle having had a similar experience at the Grand Bazaar a couple of days earlier. You can get a bargain but you have to haggle, my daughter bought a backgammon set made of good quality wood, the trader started at 350TL and she paid 60TL! One trick I have learnt living over here is that although the Turks speak many languages French is one that isn't common place and when getting hassled I use my schoolgirl french to baffle them and move on :)