Istanbul, Turkey - A Fantastic Place to Visit

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Our flight from Manchester to Istanbul was interesting because of the man I happened to be sat next to. He was a sixty-one-year old Englishman on his way to Addis Ababa to marry his second wife. “I met her on the internet two years ago!” he told me proudly. “She’s forty-six years old and although a good-looking woman, she is not a stunner. I avoid stunners for the simple reason that they do not make good wives!”

For the next hour we chatted about work and travel. He told me he’d been a photographer in the army and had continued with this in civilian life working for Saudi Arabian Airlines. “I lived in Jeddah for seventeen years, you know. Brought up my kids there; but now I find Ethiopia calling.” After landing we wished him good luck in his endeavours, happy at meeting such an interesting man.

Our hotel, the Aziyade, was located in the heart of Sultanahmet, and better still, had a terraced restaurant with an excellent view of the sea and some fine-looking mosques. “I think I like Istanbul,” said Angela as we watched the sunset from our fine vantage point. The Muslim call to prayer had just finished and out to sea the twinkling lights of the ships began to flash. “It’s beautiful.”

The next morning we headed up the cobblestoned street away from our hotel towards some of the most famous sights of Istanbul, namely the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque and Yerebatan Sarnici, an underground water complex dating from AD532.

The latter was particularly impressive, considering that from above ground it looked bit rubbish. But once underground, the place was vast, with a huge reservoir, atmospherically lit and adorned with columns everywhere. It was quite dark, but as we walked along the gangways, we couldn’t help but be impressed, even if we did get dripped on from the ceiling. “Look at the fish!” I said, pointing into the dark water. “They’re all over the place. And do you know how this place was rediscovered? Locals used to drop buckets through cracks and come up with water and sometimes fish. Eventually someone decided to dig down to see what they would find. Hey presto!”

The Hippodrome wasn’t quite as spectacular, but that was because it was no longer there. The only things that remained of the old chariot racecourse were a few columns and an Egyptian Obelisk. Mind you, it was a staggering 3600 years old and it did look amazing with hieroglyphs appearing like they had been etched only the day before.

Istanbul was clearly a popular place for tourists judging by the amount of tour groups standing around the various monuments. People were also crowding around kebab stalls and other eateries, suggesting that Ramadan wasn’t followed quite as strictly in Istanbul than in other Muslim countries. On the streets, older Turkish women wearing headscarves walked amongst younger women wearing short skirts. After a quick walk around the Hippodrome, Angela and I entered the grounds of Istanbul’s most famous sight, Sultanahmet Camii, otherwise known as the Blue Mosque.

The courtyard was impressive enough, filled with locals and tourists alike, and we joined the crowd to get in. After some hearty jostling we entered the huge interior decorated with blue tiles and colourful stained-glass windows. “I can’t believe this place was built in 1616,” I said as we admired the huge decorated dome. Angela nodded, looking at some intricately carved window frames.

Next door to the Blue Mosque was another huge building, the Ayasofya Camii, originally a church but then a mosque. The guidebook said that although a bit grubby from the outside (it was) the interior was well worth a visit. Unfortunately for us though, our arrival had coincided with about fifty separate tour groups, all forming a huge queue which in the heat of noon would have been almost unbearable. Instead we decided to head to the Grand Bazaar.

“The Grand Bazaar is closed!” said the man across the road from us, standing in the doorway of what looked like a carpet emporium. “But I am open. Come see!” We ignored him and followed a sign that pointed to where the Grand Bazaar was. I shook my head at Angela, thinking about what the man had said. What did he take us for: total buffoons? The Grand Bazaar closed! Ha: Prime Istanbullshit! We walked a bit further and another man told us the same thing. Yeah right! We brushed him off and walked onwards.

“The Grand Bazaar is closed,” I said to Angela after consulting the guide book. Though the men had undoubtedly been lying in the hope that we would visit their shops instead, I still though it prudent to check. “It’s closed on Sunday. We’ll have to come back tomorrow.” Shamefaced, we headed back up the hill, keeping our heads down and our eyes fixed firmly forward.

People who’d visited Istanbul before us had told us that a boat trip on the Bosphorus was a must and since the Grand Bazaar was closed for the day, we took a walk through Sultanahmet heading north. After clearing a slight incline, the blue Bosphorus was clearly visible in front of us. Shoe shiners plied their trade around the trolley bus station and the whole area was full of shops.

The ferry trip lasted one and a half hours and took us past grand palaces and under massive suspension bridges. There were lots of Turkish flags flying, some of them massive, and I commented to Angela that they’d probably been put up as part of the celebrations for Istanbul’s Capital of Culture 2010 award. “It deserves it though, don’t you think?” I said. “It’s a great city.”

We passed a significant amount of battlements too, and one of the Yedikule Castle, where Sultan Osman II had been imprisoned until his execution. The deposed ruler was killed in a most gruesome manner. While one man strangled him, another crushed his testicles. “What a way to go,” I said to Angela, feeling a twinge in my own crown jewels. Also in the fortification was the Well of Blood, named so because of the decapitated heads thrown into it.

After the tour, we hit dry land and Angela caught a whiff of something in the air. “Mackerel!” she said, trying to see where the delicious waft of cooked fish was coming from. It was from a nearby stall lined with filets on a large metal griddle. Angela bough one straight away and it came in a large piece of bread complete with salad. “Delicious!” she said as we headed back uphill towards our hotel. “Yum yum!”

Angela decided to go for massage in the famous Cemberlitas Hamami Bathhouse, located just near the grand bazaar. Constructed in 1584, it was apparently one of the greatest pieces of Ottoman architecture in the city and when she’d finished I asked her what it was like. “Well there were a fair few women with their boobs out,” she told me.

“Really?” I asked, getting excited. I had an image forming in my head and it was based on the large painting in the foyer of our hotel. It featured a whole platoon of bare-breasted ladies toiling over women on tables. In the background fountains gushed water and it looked like the sort of place I would like to hang about in. “Did you take any photos?”

The next day, our last in Istanbul, we finally got to visit the Grand Bazaar, and to be honest it was a bit of a letdown. We’d both expected it to be a bit like the souqs of Marrakech, but it was simply a sprawling flea market, albeit with a great range of products on offer. None of the peddlers tried to coax us into their stores and we also felt sorry for some of the ducks locked up inside tiny cages. That said, there were some goodies on offer, most notably large black leeches contained within large jars. “Jesus wept,” I said, mesmerised and disgusted at the same time. “Look at the suckers on these little bastards! And look how fast they can swim.” I’d always through that leeches were sluggish creatures, lurking in muddy water, but looking at these beasts put paid to that notion. “And who would buy them?”

We traipsed up and down a fair few alleyways and even visited the spice market where I was reprimanded for taking a photo of some saffron by the grumpy proprietor. We moved on, exiting the bazaar wondering what to do next. “I know,” I said in a nearby Starbucks. “We’ll catch a tram and go across the river and then walk to the Galata Tower. It’s got great views of Istanbul.” That settled we headed back outside to find the tram stop.

“The view is good,” said Angela as we reached the top. We could see virtually the whole city as well the mighty Bosphorus. There were three gigantic cruise ships moored up, the same ones we had passed them the previous day on our boat trip. What amazed me about the cruise ships, apart from their size, were the people sat on their cabin balconies. “Why are they sat there?” I’d said to Angela. “They should be out and about in Istanbul. They’ll only be here for a day or two. Lunatics.”

The Galata Tower was an old one, dating from the fourteenth century. It had once been a look-out post for fires in the city, but ironically had almost burned down itself. The tower was also famous for its birdman, who in 1630 had decided to jump from the top. Donning some large man-made wings, he leaped off, no doubt flapping his arms in the process, but instead of dropping like a brick (like in those comical pieces of footage showing a fool launching himself off a pier) he apparently ‘flew’ for six kilometres. Even if this were true or not, the Sultan at the time was not amused with such daredevil heroics and became suspicious of the birdman and had him arrested, possibly ordering a spot of testicle squeezing as well.

“Well I’ve really enjoyed Istanbul,” said Angela in the back of the taxi towards the airport. “And we haven’t even done ten percent of what’s on offer.” I nodded, wondering why we’d not visited the city before. If ever a place deserved the moniker, Capital of Culture, then Istanbul was it.

Strengths:
-Lots and lots to see!
-Very friendly people
-The underground water complex
-Trustworthy people at the airport (I lost my IPod and found it in a bar after it had been handed in by some very honest customers, not to mention the honest barman.)
-Delicious food

Weaknesses:
-Lots of tourists
-Some mad taxi drivers
-Rip off prices of alcohol at the airport

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Photos

Panorama of Istanbul
Taken from the Galata Tower

Yedikule Hisari Castle
Get your testicles squeezed here

Comments

[istanbul]

istanbul tours
I made a package tour reservation for 4 nights and 5 days with this Private Tours in Istanbul on the internet and ı had great days with a good price in Istanbul thanks to them. They picked me up from Airport to the hotel. They arranged me a 4 stars hotel in old city area (very close to main attractions as hagia sophia or blue mosque). www.privatetoursinistanbul.com visited a lot of places during these days and all of them were worth to see. For example Dolmabahce Palace, Hagia Sophia, Topokapi Palace, Blue Mosque and of course the Turkish night. On the Turkish night we had the chance to see the traditional dances of Turkey and the same time we could see the Bosphorus during having our dinner. If you want to see a coplex of religions you must visit the Hagia Sophia; Byzantium, Ottoman and Pagan religions are complete each other. We had different guides but all of them were very kind and knowlageble. So the tours were great the hotel was perfect. I left them to do my program and ı only applied. I had a good experiance in Istanbul.