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Published: July 22nd 2006
Grand Bazaar
Standing in front of the fabulous ceramic dishes. The man warned me its only for cold food because hot food will release the lead from the paint...I opted out of purchasing them...By far my favorite destination in my trip has been to Istanbul. From my previous blog, you can see that my trek to the Middle East was from from simple. However, upon my arrival everything was as perfect as could be....
Wednesday Morning 4:30 AM
So I had my first taste of Turkish Tea (black tea served in a tulip shaped glass with two sugar cubes absolutely delightful,) given to me by one of the bus attendents at the company office in Istanbul. Our ETA was supposed to be around 6 or 7 oclock. However our arrival 2 hours early in addition to the delays we incurred at the borders proves my point as to how crazy the bus driver was. I had arranged to Couchsurf with Ersu but told him my ETA was much later so the company allowed me to sleep on the bus for a bit. Not even 15 minutes into my sleep on the bus, I hear a ghastly chant echoing throughout the city. I hear more voices projected into the sky as if it were surround sound and I was in the middle of it... Turns out it was the Emams (sp?) chanting from
Cheers to Raki!
Raki the magical drink that turns the glass a hazy color and after enough of these will make your eyesight just as hazy the mosques. Their voices filled the air as they chanted 'allah is great' one after the other as well as in unison, the different mosques throughout the city resonated the same sound. I soon found out that this would occur exactly 5 times daily and enjoyed it every single time as if it were welcoming me to the city.
Ersu finally arrived to pick me up by taxi, and looking out the windows I already fell in love with the city. We arrived at his apartment which was straight out of an IKEA catologue, a wonderful relief to know that I would be staying in luxury! It is so fun couchsurfing and seeing the different houses and lifestyles that people lead from country to country. It is safe to say that each experience has been completely different but it has added to the beauty of travelling. It was unfourtunate, but my stomach was not feeling so hot...I attribute this to A) the food I ate in Bulgaria that was 'lamb' but could have been anything really B) they put something in my food on the bus.
Wednesday Afternoon
I slept for a bit and then headed straight
Weird Contortions
I had to twist my thumb in a certain way at the Aya Sofia. Don't know why...I just copied everyone. I should look it up. to Sultanahmet the old historic district of Istanbul. There I visited the famous Aya Sofia, a magnificent church/mosque that I walked around in for a long time. This was a delightful change from all of the cathedrals I had been seeing for weeks on end!
For some reason or another, people kept approaching me and asking me where I was from. Not really feeling the love for Americans lately in Europe, I lied and said I was from Canada...beacause A) Canada is like the kid brother of America...everyone likes the little brother B) They also speak english with barely an accent that I dont need to worry about faking C) When was the last time Canada poked their nose into worldwide politics and pissed someone off?
Next door was the equally magnificent Blue Mosque, famous for its intricate blue tiles that cover the ceilings. On my way up to the steps, an attractive Turkish guy came up to me and asked if I needed help, I kind of brushed him off a bit because I figured he was going to try to sell me something or another. We chatted for a second as I gave him my quick
Beautiful Samos Sunrise
Just a quick island hop to Samos, Greece and here I am during Sunrise on my way to Mykonos spiel about being from Canada on holiday to visit a friend. He helped me get two blue coverings to cover my arms as well as my legs as to not distract the worshippers from their duties. I exited the mosque only to be met by the same guy who introduced himself as Musa. He was a history student and was on summer break working for his family's carpet shop...he had the afternoon free so he took me on a tour of Sultanahmet explaining the history of each monument...He took me to his family's shop where I had tea a great conversation (this guy was beautiful) I don't know what it is but Turkish men have this mysterious beauty about them. Dark skin and dark hair and then gorgeous eyes that range from brown to green to blue...its really unique and terribly attractive. Unfortunately I was unable to go to dinner with him that night but I was surely going to see him the next day.
Thursday
I went to a Hammam today which is a Turkish Bath. I went to the famous Cemberlitas Baths dating back to the 1500's. I was very unsure of what to do but I went for the deluxe package at 36 YTL (25 USD) complete with a bath and a massage. I walked into the womens locker room and am given a red and white cloth and told to strip down. I hop into the special sandals they give me and then enter THE ROOM. The room is steaming hot like a Sauna, a large hectagon shaped marble slab lies in the center of the room. I'm whip my towel off and lay in the center of the slab and relax. Meanwhile the room has several naked women (the clients and then the Hammam workers who bathe us who are equally naked.) Laying on the slab I look up at the ceiling through the small holes that look like stars in the cupola of the ceiling. Finally a larger and older women who speaks no english beckons me to her for my bath. I lay on the edge of the marble slab as she takes a mitt and scrubs me up and down until I swear I don't have any skin left.... She asks me repeatedly 'good?' but in her accent in was a rough and deep 'gooouud?' To which I repeated Good everytime she would ask me. She instructs me to lay down again. She has a pillowcase and dips it into a soap bucket, she claps the pillow case together that looks like a balloon and all of a sudden I am covered in bubbles. She massages the soap all over my body (fyi it wasn't at all erotic but more of a blissful experience) She slaps my butt to signal she has finished (dont you just love cross cultural communication?) and then leads me to a fountain to which she washes my hair for me (my favorite thing in the world!) This whole experience was maybe a half hour but I felt like a brand new person already....my skin was fresh and my muscles were relaxed...I am in love with Istanbul. (Anyone that wants to give me a Turkish Bath is more than welcome to!)
I later went to a Topkapi palace...and met two Turkish guys (Ramazan and Ali) who insisted on touring me around and buying me lunch. Istanbul is an interesting place for a woman especially of asian american descent. 1) Asian women are a rareity in Turkey so I was very exotic in their eyes garnering some stares and interest (the good variety not like the kind in Bucharest) 2) Americans are also a rareity in Istanbul (which I believe is a gem!) 3) Women travelling around on their own during the daytime without a companion is also rare.
The Turkish people are known for their hospitality, however I think I got the upper end of treatment. Everywhere I went, men asked me out on dates and brought me candy, drinks and food constantly...sad to say but I had to reject a few of them because I thought I would be sick from so much food and sweets. Turkish men also know how to compliment a woman so I felt like a princess there and felt so beautiful! I think I could stay there forever (guys in America could take a pointer or two from these guys!)
Ersu and I went to dinner at an Ottoman Restaurant and went nuts with the food. We ordered an appetizer, 2 bowls of soup, 2 entrees, 2 drinks, and 2 desserts plus a coffee totalling 65 YTL (41 usd). All of this was at a very luxurious restaurant and I payed for the meal behind Ersu's back when he was in the bathroom. The guy wouldnt take my card and kept asking if I really wanted to pay. He waited to run my card and then he finally did. When Ersu returned he apologized and explained the situation to him in Turkish. Ersu explained to me that it is rude for women to pay when she goes out with a man and thats why the maitre'd refused to run my card. Oops! But Ersu deserved the meal because he's a great host!! We then went to another restaurant and had Raki, a hard alcohol of sorts that is clear and then you pour water in the glass and it turns cloudy...it doesn't taste that great but it'll hit you like a truck.
Friday
Saw more of the sights...haha and by this time I got tired of men hitting on me so...I put my engagement ring back on...which didn't deter a lot of people. (I really shouldnt take this for granted because it really is fabulous) I went to the Spice Bazaar and then walked across the fishermans bridge at Eminonu where there are restaurants and the like below. Each restaurant worker (all male of course, try to convince you to stop and dine at their respective establishments..) However I wasn't hungry and wanted to explore...finally a man said 'hey you dropped something' I stopped and then he a group of the waiters talked to me and conned me into their spiel! I can't believe I was that gullible..but for creativity points I stayed and listened..) Walking past the fisherman's bridge fresh fish was being grilled on the street and plopped into sandwiches...for $1.30 I said heck yeah not even worrying about the source of the fish or how is was handled.
I came back to the apartment and Ersu said there was a Hospitality Club Party (aka the Couchsurfing Alternative that I am also involved in) This party invited all the Balkan members to a restaurant. We met up with a guy from Macedonia and another from Greece and we entered the restaurant where there were two dozen people from all of ther world there. (One guy at the party was hosting 12 people in his home!!) We ate food, drank Raki and danced like mad until we were kicked out. We then went to 'The Roof' a bar/club on a rooftop overlooking Istanbul. We continued to dance like mad until 4am where I was starting to fall asleep at the bar (those of you who know me well...know that this is not uncommon for me)
Saturday and Sunday
My last day, so Ersu and I decided to ferry across the Bosphorous (only $1 USD) to the asian side of Istanbul (literally another continent) We walked around and took in the sights. We had a wonderful kebap lunch and dessert... I have been losing weight trip but believe I gained it all back because of Ersu and his love for food! Tonight I had to leave which was unfortunate. I hopped onto the mini bus that dropped me off at the main station. For 100 YTL or 65uSD I had a bus ticket to Kusadasi, Turkey on the Aegean Coast (absolutely beautiful and magical!) and then a ferry to Samos Island Greece for the first leg of my island hopping adventure.
Nothing on the bus was eventful except for this woman who screamed at the bus drivers to switch seats for her and then uprooted a family from their seats so she could have a specific spot on the bus. Oh and then the transvestite who was extrememly ugly and then proceeded to join us in the womens bathroom later. I arrived in Kusadasi early Sunday morning and went to the bazaar where I was accosted by more men to look at the items they had in their stores. This man dragged me to his leather shop and insisted on giving me Turkish tea...he said no pressure to buy just keep me company. I relented and then he bought me breakfast and fresh squeezed oj which was fabulous. He kept making me try jackets on and I insisted I didn't need a leather jacket until I fell in love with this one... He capitalized on my love and quoted me $350 USD and wouldn't let me leave his shop. He finally relented an hour later and said $90 USD. I was tempted but realized I still had a month left on my trip and didn't want to carry a leather jacket as much of a deal as it was. I finally and firmly said no...and then the guy yelled at me for wasting his time and hissed 'don't tell anyone you are American' Shaking that off I went to get lunch and wait for my ferry to Samos Island but my stomach was dying. My adventurousness in dining I believe was starting to catch up with me...on my ferry ride to Samos I thought I was going to die...
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Tim
non-member comment
Woah
Glad to see some pictures. You look amazing! Looks like europe has put some life into that smile! It was good chatting with you briefly the other night and I hope you're having a ton of fun in greece. Find me a beauty and ship her home for me, yeah?