A Delightful time in Turkey

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If there is one place I would recommend all European travelers go, it would be the city of Istanbul. Formerly Constantinople, the city was founded in around 324AD and despite not being the capital city of Turkey, it is largely considered the ‘commercial capital’ of the country. The tour leader had warned that with the city’s bulging population, it was highly recommended that we take up the cruise’s optional excursion of visiting a few of the big attractions. A few couples on the cruise who had visited Istanbul before warned me not to venture into the busy alone as a young woman- so I opted for the cruise-run excursion.

First up it was off to the beautiful Blue Mosque, named after the sixty-thousand plus mosaic tiles used to decorate the interior of the structure. You can see every shade of blue in these tiny tiles, from cornflower and periwinkle right through to navy. You must take your shoes off and have your shoulders and knees covered as it is still a functioning mosque. There are taps and wash bays outside the entrance for worshippers to wash their feet and heads before entering to pray. I found it very large and elaborately constructed, but when it came to the stained glass windows, they much more simplistic than other well-known churches I have visited. Nonetheless, the Eastern influence made it a unique experience.

Walking through Istanbul was very easy. The streets were quite wide and all the main tourist areas were centered around large, open spaces. Despite the Contiki leader’s warnings, I felt very safe in the city. The tour leader took us to a carpet making demonstration where the group was told how to tell the difference between a machine and hand-made carpet. The difference in quality was amazing. I touched a hand-made silk-on-silk carpet with over three thousand knots per square-inch. It took eighteen months for one woman to finish just thirty square centimeters. And this was a massive rug! The owner of the store said that ‘it doesn’t just take love to buy this carpet, it takes money- a lot of money! It is an investment’. I didn’t dare ask the price but one girl told me it was over fifty-thousand. While there, the owner also served us (all forty of Group 1) the traditional hot apple tea of Turkey. It was very sweet and tasted like warmed, sweetened apple juice. Pardon the pun, but it wasn’t quite my cup of tea.

The carpets roused my desire for shopping, which was lucky, because it was off to the Grand Bazaar next! This is definitely the most amazing marketplace I have ever visited in my life. It makes Queen Victoria markets look like a tiny, dodgy garage sale. There are literally halls and halls of stores, endless amounts of jewelry, pashminas, ceramics, leather, silks, clothing, shoes, glassware…everything and anything you can imagine. There were too many things I wanted and simply not enough time- and money- to get round and get them all. The group was given only forty minutes to browse and in that time I managed to grab a gorgeous leather handbag, a pair of silk harem pants in the traditional Turkish pattern and some jewelry for my sister. I could have easily spent an entire day there. I cannot wait to go back there in the future and properly explore! When I bought my bag I was ushered into a ‘private’ top floor showroom with ‘better quality’ bags- and they sure where better quality- but the entire time I felt safe and secure (as there were cameras and TV monitors everywhere and the area had a large glass window that looked out onto the main hall below).

After being dragged away from the Bazaar by the tour guide, I followed the group to Topkapi Palace. Until the nineteenth century, this large property was the home of the each of the country’s Sultans’ along with their families and harems. The Palace has the most amazing views of the Bosporus strait, with Asia on one side and Europe on the other. It also has a fantastic ‘jewelry museum’ which houses the eight largest diamond in the world. When you have over five-hundred concubines, I guess you have to treat your four wives with some very special gifts!

We had lunch at the foot of the Palace, giving us more time to take in the great view. Unfortunately, the lunch wasn’t anything like the Turkish food I was used to- this was either very salty or very sweet. No in-between. Perhaps we’re just used to Westernised Turkish food, but whatever that single three-course meal I had in Istanbul was, it wasn’t very satisfying. Thank God for the tour guide and her ‘special tip’ of trying the Turkish Delight from the oldest bakery in Istanbul. This wasn’t just any Turkish Delight either, it was Sultan Suleiman’s special double-pistachio recipe. It was invented as an aphrodisiac for his concubines- need I say more? I usually despise the bright pink Turkish Delight back home, but this was absolutely delicious.

After lunch it was off to the Hagia Sophia, a massive domed-church built in sixth century but turned into a mosque in the fifteenth. The medieval looking hanging lights along with the beautiful gold-inlaid ceiling were atmospheric to say the least. Not to mention the huge marble walls, archways and intricate screens and gates that left you feeling as though you were in one of the grandest churches of the sixth century. Under the alter, which faces in the direction of Jerusalem, there was even a cute homeless cat warming himself in the floodlight. I guess he was an ‘enlightened’ homeless cat. While waiting in the garden outside the Sophia, there were plenty more stray cats running around. They were far from ill health, all being quite round and happy. Like in Amsterdam and Greece, they don’t seem to be a pest but rather an appreciated part of the culture of the city.

Much to my dismay, that’s all the time our port excursion allowed us in Istanbul and we headed back to the ship in the early evening. My cruise ship, the MV Cristal, is very big; with ten decks and about twelve-hundred people onboard. There is a big eighty-one people on the Contiki cruise I am on, with most people being from Canada or America. I have met eight other Australians (all couples except one other Aussie girl, who has lived in London for the last fifteen years anyway) and two Kiwis. It’s hard to remember who’s in your Contiki group when you walk around the ship, but we do spend time together on the excursions and at the seated dinner.

I spent the first day on board sun tanning and sampling the cocktail menu- a fine way to spend your time when you’re at sea all day. After having an afternoon nap and grabbing the late sitting of dinner at 8.45pm I stayed awake until the ship passed through the Dardanelles Straits at midnight. I held onto the railing with white knuckles and stood shivering and crying as we passed the Gallipoli Peninsula at around 12.45am. As you look out at the Helles Memorial and then down into the icy black water, all you can think of it the twenty-one thousand men who died on this tiny piece of the world- most of whom had barely lived twenty-one years on this earth even. The grief overcame me and in that moment I prayed for the safety of every soldier and officer currently serving; that the sacrifice of those twenty-one thousand men give strength to theses men and their families today.

Yesterday, the third day on-board, the ship docked at the Greek island of Mykonos in the late afternoon. I caught the shuttle bus into town and spent a few hours exploring and shopping before the wind got to me. If it had have been a sunny day it would have been fine, but it was fairly overcast and you could see the rain clouds in the distance. The tiny cobblestone pathways made the island feel a lot more ‘village like’ than Santorini, but it was also a lot more expensive than Santorini. Possibly because it attracts party-goers who can flash the cash, I’m not sure. Again, there were a lot of cute cats running about; two of which were lying beside each other ‘kissing’ just outside a clothes store where I bought a silk dress for my sister. There were plenty of stores that sold a plethora of necklaces, bracelets and rings. I resisted the urge of buying an accessory just because it was from Mykonos and opted instead to buy an antique bronze owl figurine. The owl is very popular in Greece, and in most of Europe actually (it is even on the 1 Euro coin!) and like in most places around the world, it signifies wisdom. The store owner told me that my owl is a copy of a Greek sculpture from the tenth century, but is very unique because it is the only sculpture in existence of the owl where he has his eyes closed. For some reason, I just couldn’t walk away from his fat little sleeping face. Mykonian wares in toe, I had a plate of Moussaka (a bit like vegetarian/eggplant lasagna) at a nice restaurant on the waterfront and then headed back to the ship before dark (not before grabbing a sweet crepe for later though)!

As we are at sea all day today on this fourth day at sea, last night I spent some time at the casino on board and even won a bit of cash on the Roulette table while sipping a few Martinis. Hopefully today is not as overcast as the last and I can get in some quality tanning. There’s nothing like making your friends and family in Australia jealous with your bronze colour when you return in the height of winter.

Still remaining on the list of port calls are the ancient cities of Ashdod in Israel (Tuesday) and Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt (Wednesday) and as well as the Greek island of Crete (Thursday). Here’s hoping the dramas in Israel settle peacefully and we can enjoy the religious mecca without worry.

Hoping all is well back home- sending lots of love out across the seas to you all xx

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