Istanbul

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It’s funny when I sit to write my blog update I suddenly get stuck for words to describe what I’ve seen and done and as soon as I’ve posted it, whamo, I think of all the ways I could have written it differently or more eloquently. So I’ve thought about this one for a while and who knows, it may be more interesting than the last attempt or it could be just more dribble, who knows. Fortunately we are done with tours so from now the blogs are by country and more time for me to forget details..haha.

Righto, Istanbul. We spent a few relaxing days in this beautiful city that has comfortably merged the Middle Eastern culture with the western world and kept the best of each making it an extremely friendly city for tourists. You are greeted with a smile on every corner and friendly banter when bartering and both come out smiling with the result of the exchange. The city itself is extremely clean and very easy to navigate and everything is in walking distance.

We stayed in an awesome hostel, Orient Hostel in Sultanahmet, located right in the heart of the big ticket tourist sites. The cobbled streets are lined with restaurants and bars making it an awesome spot to be located. The Aya Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topiakai Palace were all about a 3-5 minute walk. The staff at the Orient are also fantastic and made everyone feel very welcome.

Our first day was really spent sleeping the morning away and catching up with Craig & Sven from the tour for coffee and cake and one of the best pieces of cheesecake I’ve ever tasted, like the rest of the Middle East the Turks LOVE their sweet foods, in the afternoon which turned into heading out to the Grand Bazaar. I remember this place being fairly big but after about 3 hours of wondering through aisle and aisle of trinkets, jewels and clothing I still don’t think we scratched the surface.

We visited the Aya/Hagia Sophia which is still magnificent in every way and I think more has been restored that when I was here last. There have been several attempts of building on this site. Originally built as a Church the first “Church” was built by Constantine the Great in the 4th Century and was subsequently destroyed and then his son, Constantius rebuilt the Church and this was burnt down in the riots of 532. What is interesting in this little history lesson is they have found remains of the second Church and have excavated some of it but cannot “discover” any further as it will jeopardise the building that was build on top of it and is what we now know at Aya Sophia.

After the fire the Hagia Sophia was rebuilt between 532 - 537 and this is the building that we have come to see. Originally an Orthodox Church for about 900 years until 1453 when Sultan Mehmet conquered Constinpole and seeing how beautiful the Hagia Sophia was converted it into a mosque which it remained as such until Ataturk made it a museum and called it Aya Sofya Museum.

Anyway, enough of the history lesson as that’s about all I can be bothered with. When Mehmet converted it into a Mosque he plastered over all the beautiful mosaic work that covered the church and this is still being recovered. Some sections are Muslim and others are the restored mosaics of the church. Looking at these mosaics this place would have been spectacular in its Orthodox hey day as they are exquisite and photos cannot do it any justice.

The sheer size of the main hall way is amazing and as your eyes adjusts to the light you see angels that have been revealed to the top of the roof, you look around a little bit more and you see massive discs with Muslim calligraphy on them hung at the same height. Everything in here is on a big scale so it doesn’t get lost in the size of the structure.

From the detailed painting on the ceiling as you walk through corridors, to the frescos on the walls and the mosaic depicting different psalms of the bible make it hard to put into words the beauty that lays before you. We spent 3 hours in here and we probably could have spent the day there just exploring the secrets of the walls that the Aya Sofya holds within.

Across the road and another day is the Blue Mosque, impressive in its size and openness to visitors. We have encountered many mosques so far on our journey and each time I’ve been made to feel “inadequate” to an extent being female and a big deal being made on the covering up etc. In Turkey they have it right. They make it very easy for Visitors to view their place of worship and make you feel very welcome. From the free headscarfs handed out, the no charge for entry and you are allowed to take photos. The only condition is that you don’t go in during prayer time. Needless to say I think this is one of the best mosques I’ve visited and Turkey has every right to be proud of this building.

Getting its name from the blue tiles used inside the building the Blue Mosque was build sometime in the 16th century and is still and active mosque. When you walk in you notice the beautiful rich red carpets with flower motifs on the floor and when you finally get to looking up there is stunning paintings in the domes. Combined the ceiling, the tiled walls and carpet combine together to be a stunning mix of textiles. An hour or so here and we had to leave as prayers were due to start.

Topkapi Palace was the next on the agenda and after about 5- 6 hours of walking around with Jay & Reece (our Kumuka tour guide being a tourist with us whilst he was on a break). One thing I would suggest to anyone looking at walking around the Palace .... Take Food! As you’ll spend longer here than you think and it’s always handy to stop have something to eat and then continue. I am speaking from experience here, as we didn’t take anything with us to eat and were quite hungry by then end of the day.

So what’s there to see here .... LOTS! Upon entering we knew it was going to be busy as there were so many school kids lining up to go in. Once entering you get a slight impression on how big this place is but after walking around you realise just how much you underestimate the size of this place and we couldn’t go into all the areas.

Righto, back to history lesson 101, Topkapi Palace. Built by Sultan Mehmet, the same guy that converted the Sofya to a mosque, decided to build a new city for his empire on the site where Topkapi Palace now stands sometime in the late 1400’s. These original buildings were later converted into the Palace and for nearly 4 centuries was occupied and constantly evolved as buildings burnt down or were destroyed by earthquakes and you can see the different architecture from these “upgrades” when wondering through. The Palace was occupied, complete with harem until the very early 1900’s when it was vacated. Left in disrepair until around 1923 when it was restored and opened to the public as a museum - cool history lesson over.

The precious stone shortage around the world is probably due to the fact that most of them are in parts of Thrones, jewelled sword sheaths or in jewellery that is located in the treasury. Along with all the wonderful artefacts that are stored here are 2 of the biggest diamonds that I will ever see in my lifetime. One weighing in at a staggering 86 carets.... yes please!

Once we’d finished wondering through the different areas open to public on your initial ticket it was time to go to the harem, an extra 15TL but worth every cent. There Harem is a whole mini city with lots of rooms and courtyards for the women of the harem to venture and all monitored by the eunuchs to ensure that only the ‘king” could view the women. This area is much bigger and more elaborately decorated that what we saw in the main area of the Palace. I suppose you have to keep the harem happy cause what would one do with a big bunch of grumpy women? Anyway as we meandered through the harem buildings we were able to get a picture of the life of the women who lived here and I would have to say that it looks like they had a pretty good life here. .

The rest of the time was spent wandering through the beautiful city full of gardens and old buildings. We made it across the river to climb up and enjoy the view from the Galata Tower, built in 1384 and is said to be the oldest tower in the world still standing. Anyway, the views from the top of the tower are amazing and it was good to look back over the city and see the main sights from afar and really appreciate how big they are.

The food in Istanbul was fantastic and we had managed to find a local stall that served 2.00TL kebabs and the freshest juices as well. We ended up eating here regularly and the host was great fun and really looked after us.

Overall, my stay in Istanbul was enjoyable and made more fun by crossing paths with people from the Tour and meeting for drinks and really absorbing the culture and environment of where we were. The Turkish people are so friendly it makes it easy to have an enjoyable stay here and they are also quite helpful as well.

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