Turkey and Stuff (ing): A great way to end the trip with a beautiful week in Istanbul

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It’s decided! Whenever you arrive after dark somewhere new, the best gift you can give yourself is a pre-hired car to take you to your destination. Kevin, Sonia, Kim and myself arrived to find a greeter holding a sign with our name on it. We promptly transferred all responsibility in getting to our apartment from us to him.

We all got in our very spacious Mercedes van and headed off. The driver had a little difficulty finding our place on a very small street that we went up and down 3 times on. Though this was not his fault, it was just hard to see.

Our place was great, the newlyweds were there, ready for us to crash their honeymoon after 2 days alone, and had already stocked up on beer, wine and nibbles (really, what more does one need?).

The next day we ventured out into the city and played the ever-elusive game of: Let’s find a bank machine that will give us money. We hit some of the Mosques and checked out some of the local shops along the water. The Mosques have amazing architecture and history. There may have also been a few kebabs in there.

If cities are living, breathing organisms, than Istanbul could also add kicking and screaming to its list of qualities. The city is happening and buzzing all hours of the day.

Here are some highlights of our time in Istanbul:

Our apartment
Amazing apartment near the Galataca tower, on the “newer” side of the city (Beyoglu). Lots of room and a crazy master bedroom that was the size of our flat in London. We had some internet connectivity issues, which thankfully were resolved before Maja and Steve found out one of their flights for getting back home was cancelled, as they had some new flights to purchase. The best part of the apartment was the rooftop patio, with 360-degree views over Istanbul. Stunning.

Aya Sofia
The first large Mosque we went to in Istanbul was Aya Sofia, the Mosque that was once a Catholic Church. We had a tour from a very colourful older man who told us lots of interesting information about the Mosque but also about his wife. It was amazing to see the Catholic images all around the Mosque being uncovered as a part of a UNESCO project.

Sultanhamet (The Blue Mosque)
I’d like to say that the best part was of the Blue Mosque was seeing Kevin in a skirt and get in trouble for showing too much leg, but the Mosque itself was so incredibly beautiful that Kevin loses out.

Lunch at the Four Seasons
After visiting the two amazing mosques, we decided it was time to eat. And where better to eat than the Four Seasons, which was nearby and has fabulous views? Kevin stayed in a hostel near the Four Seasons many years ago and always remembered the great location. It was stunning and we had an amazing lunch there on the rooftop, overlooking the Mosques and the Bosphorus. Ahh, Kevin, look how far you’ve made it in this world!

The waitress misunderstood Sonia about her water order and got pissed off, which was kind of funny. The rest of us just kept drinking our cold beers. I won’t soon forget how tasty my pasta was either (don’t ask me why I got pasta, I think I was just kebabed-out).

There’s nothing like hanging out on a rooftop in Istanbul.

Boat trip to 4th most sacred Muslim site
One afternoon we took a lovely boat ride down the Golden Horn to take the gondola up a mountain, where we had some apple tea. On our way back down from the mountain, it was prayer time and the whole area was packed with Muslims on their rugs. It was an incredible sight. Out of respect, we didn't get a picture of it but it was one of the most moving moments of the trip for me. I'll never forget seeing hundreds of Turks outside praying, eating, laughing next to the Golden Horn.

Girl time / Boy time
Girls: at various points during our 6 days in Istanbul the girls got the chance to spend some time together sans garcons. It was so nice to do some shopping, have girly chats and as per usual when we get together, shed a tear or two in a cafe. It sucks living so far away from each other. There’s no other word for it. But at least it means we get to have special moments together in rather exotic places!

Boys: The short version is beers, rooftop views, sunsets and chilling! One time while the girls were out it was our job to research a restaurant, don’t tell them, but to have extra time on the roof with beers, we randomly decided we would go to what ever restaurant was second in the apartment recommendation book. I remember dinner was actually tasty, so no harm was done.

Dinner at the top of a random building
The book in our apartment recommended a particular restaurant at the top of building close to us, supposedly known to locals with excellent food. Now that I've read Shane's boys blurb above, I see how it was chosen! We managed to find the place and had to split up to take a very small, rickety lift to the top floor. The place was packed but we did manage to find a table for six. There was basically a wall missing that mean some of the table were outside and there were lots of plants everywhere. Smoke everywhere but boy was it worth it!! Mezze platters all over the table, cold beers and lots of laughs…pretty much heaven.

Gran Bazaar
What a bright, colourful and vibrant place! You name it, they had it. Best to look at the pictures to get an idea of what it’s like. We started the tour off with some apple tea and ended up splitting up so that people could buy what they wanted. Shane and looked around for a while and then ended up finding lunch pretty far away from the Bazaar as we got a little bit lost…but it was a great lunch! We didn’t make any purchases as our bags were full enough from the summer but the others made out well.

Dinner on the last night/book club
Our last dinner together the 6 of us was a very special event: the long-awaited 1st SKMP Book Club meeting, which we’d been planning for months and months. I’m not sure we’ll have another one.

How do you have a book club when the member who recommended the novel hadn’t even finished it? When another member barely started the novel? When the few members who DID read the book never thought they’d make it to the end because it was so tedious and had developped some violent feelings towards it? When one member (one guess who) who actually read the book was too distracted feeding a stray cat in the window to fully participate? There may have even been some obnoxiously loud opinions voiced in the tiny 2nd floor room of a Turkish restaurant. And of course, add to this the consumption of an obscene amount of wine and liquor (so much so that there may have been an “incident” early the next morning at the airport--poor Kevieee). I think on the scale of book club meetings it would be considered the worst ever…but probably the most fun!

At least those of us who read it now know all we can know about 16th Century Islamic miniaturists. Go ahead, read it: My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. Tell us how your book club goes.

(p.s. For those of who thought Shane was on drugs when he wrote our Antiparos blog, he was actually writing in the style of this novel and so it’s actually quite funny—if you read the novel.)

Final Thoughts

And that was our amazing summer holiday. We flew from Istanbul to London, spent the night with Mel, and Odin, Ewa and Ewan came over to say goodbye. Then took off early the next morning on 7th September to fly from LHR to YVR, to begin the next stage in our life in Vancouver.

We’re happy to be back in Canada, so long as we don’t stop travelling!

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