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Published: June 19th 2008
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Rozy and I licked our mental wounds caused by a horrendous time in Egypt by taking turns being uber positive about our expectations of Turkey. This was a bold move as overplaying such a hand could result in unreachably high expectations, which, if unmet, could render the last portion of our travels a perceived failure. Throwing caution to the wind, we traded oddly pumped-up enthusiasm as if preparing for a workout with Richard Simmons. We touched down in Istanbul ready to receive Turkey in all its glory, but still subconsciously prepared to flinch at any indication of a scam as we were still in a recuperative mental state.
Once out of the portable airplane hallway on wheels (what are those things called?), we were pleasantly greeted with a clean, very modern airport. We followed well placed signage to the baggage carousel (which was quick), through the visa purchase (which was incredibly straight forward), on through immigration (which was indifferent and expeditious), and quickly found three ATM machines to chose from to stock up on cash. Afterwards we followed signs to the inexpensive public transport system where we boarded, rode, and dismounted precisely where we wanted to arrive without any issues.
We walked around, surveying hostels and managed to settle into one rather quickly…done. Without so much as a hiccup, or, being approached by anyone trying to rip us off, we made it to our room, relaxed and in a happy state…so far so good.
With a few hours of daylight left, Rozy and I went for a quick stroll around Sultanahmet, grinning ear to ear and ecstatic to be in a fresh, new place without hassle, crazy traffic, or oppressive touts. The streets around Sultanahmet were clean and traffic was orderly, flowers grew everywhere, the air was fresh and clean, and nobody approached us with pathetic scams or ploys to pinch our money! Carpet sellers occasionally called out to us, however, they were friendly and polite if you declined their requests to browse. This all seemed rather fairy tale when compared to our experiences in Egypt over the past three weeks. Of course, Sultanahmet was a super-touristy experience quite removed from what we assumed typical Istanbul life is like, however, we appreciated the refreshing change of pace, friendly people, flowers and warm atmosphere.
The change, however, did come at a price as our US dollars suddenly weren’t buying
a whole lot of the local currency (only about 1.25 Turkish lira for each 1 USD). On top of that, overzealous Turkey seems to already think it is in the EU and shops oftentimes quoted prices in Euro which seemed to further amplify the increase in prices over other countries we have visited (a decent lunch in India could be as cheap as $2US where a decent lunch now was about $7US). Hostels too were incredibly expensive in Sultanahmet. Our simple (but nice & clean) little room with a shared bathroom cost us 70 lira/night ($55 USD), and, after consulting our spreadsheet, was the second most expensive hotel we stayed in throughout our entire trip (second only to the piece of crap we stayed at in Mumbai on our last Indian night). Nevermind, the food and service quality was excellent, people smiled and were friendly, and we didn’t feel as if every financial transaction was covered scam.
In our Sultanahmet wanders, we did the usual sights, Aya Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace, etc. However, one of our favorite mosques was the little Rustem Pasa Camii near the spice bazaar, and tucked away in a small alley near the
Golden Horn. Small, quiet and decorated to the hilt, this mosque was absolutely covered with the most intricate Iznik tiles, beautiful arches, and a well-dressed mihrab. The Blue Mosque is amazing and much larger, however, Rustem Pasa has atmosphere, charm and detail that the Blue Mosque seems to lack.
Aya Sophia was probably the biggest jaw-dropper of the bits of Istanbul that we had the chance to visit. The place is insanely large, and, when you walk into the main hall, it seems to grow even larger as there are no columns supporting the structure at the center dome…it really seems improbable that this thing could ever withstand another earthquake! When you consider that the church/masjid is nearly 1500 years old, you really get a deep sense of the significance of the building. The inside is an eclectic mix of both Christianity and Islam paying tribute to the building’s long and conflicted history. Christian mosaics of Jesus peer from behind an intentional plaster covering while huge marble cisterns (used for ablution prior to Islamic prayer) stand proudly in the hall. The building is a pleasant walk through history and a unique mish-mash of two major religions.
At the
Hippodrome, the Egyptian obelisk has got to be on of the more intriguing monuments we have seen in a while. Firstly, the obelisk by itself is an incredibly antiquity given the fact that it is 3500 years old. Add to that the fact that it was snatched some 1700 years ago and brought all the way to present day Turkey by a Roman emperor during Byzantine times and placed on an equally impressive marble base with detailed carvings of life in Constantinople, makes this chunk of stone very thought provoking indeed. Recorded history in Istanbul (and the rest of Turkey) is not only incredibly long but incredibly layered as well. It seems like nearly every dig site is really several dig sites sitting atop one another recording the history of civilization like bands of layered stone comprising a mountain.
Nationalistic fervor hits you from all angles and comes in the form of Turkish flags waving absolutely everywhere, and, the inclusion of the word “turk” in many products and services such as Turk Cola, Turkcell, DigiTurk, Keyveht Turk, etc. It all seems very unifying and harmless in the beginning, however, a couple weeks later and we started to tire a
bit from the intense nationalism, and, it actually seemed rather inappropriate in several instances (details to come in later blogs!). Anyhow, it seems that Turkey could possibly challenge any country in the world with respect to its surface level unity, visible from the travelers’ perspective.
The Grand Bazaar was a fantastic shopping experience and, in several cases, it became difficult to keep the greenbacks firmly positioned in the wallet. The carpets, handicrafts, ceramics, fabrics, spices and foods were all too much and required at least a few purchases. Prices were pretty out of control, however, shopkeepers were keen to bargain hard (and incredibly friendly) to land a sale. Nearly every shopkeeper we bargained with kept a good attitude and happily worked with all offers much unlike Khan al Khalili in Cairo where some merchants would get pissed off if you started too low and would tell you to leave. At the Grand Bazaar, deals were oftentimes sealed over little glasses of Turkish tea, underscoring the famed Turkish hospitality and making the negotiation seem very friendly and cordial…Turks really add a touch of class to the shopping experience!
As we wandered around on our last afternoon in Istanbul, we
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Visit me at www.danielshortell.com for purchase information. couldn’t help but think about how nice it was to be at a travel destination that was so accommodating and relaxing. We walked the brilliant blue Bosphorus along the Golden Horn, got lost in the back streets in Eminönü, hit the Grand Bazaar for a final time, then headed back to Sultanahmet to watch people drinking tea and eating simit, corn and chestnuts. The flowers were in bloom everywhere, the sun shined warm on our face and the cool breeze blew in from the water as we settled into our new home for the next three weeks. Turkey starts on a high note by meeting (and sometimes exceeding) what we thought to be very high expectations. Can this sustain? …we have high hopes at this point.
STATISTICS
- Flights taken = 13
- Intercity trains rides taken = 19
- Intercity bus rides taken = 47
- Times lost = 32
- Total instances of diarrhea = 10
- Total number of requests for pictures with Daniel = 38
- Total megabytes of pictures taken = 41,100
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Harriet
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miss you guys a lot