Istanbul & Galatasaray

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Our first real stop in Istanbul was Aya Sofya(or Aghia Sophia, or Hagia Sophia depending on where you get your information)… but I digress…

Located two blocks from our hostel, Aya Sofya has been many things throughout its 1400 years of existence but to broadly give you an idea it has been a place of worship for whatever the religion-du-jour has been in Istanbul throughout its tormented past. The number of times that Istanbul / Constantinople has been overtaken by various empires and religions cannot be counted on one hand. As the early 21st century has been fairly kind to the region – it is currently a museum. The entrance was carefully guarded by dozens of “tour guides” but, fortunately for us, they were not nearly as persistent as the Moroccan ones. Lonely Planet had a good map and descriptions of what we were expecting to see so we politely declined. Inside were a number of intricate mosaics, ceramics and marble works, some of them still visible from the first incarnation of Aya Sofya around 537AD, but the majority were from the 13th Century. Annoyingly many of these are in danger thanks to tour groups and their flash photography – strictly forbidden according to the warning signs in no less than 5 languages and even in illustration for the particularly stupid. We seemed to be surrounded by the particularly stupid.

We returned briefly to the hostel to shift into a double room as there was only a dorm available when we checked in. The new joint was a good size and very comfortable although the bathroom facilities were shared.

The Blue Mosque is located right across a square from Aya Sofya and was next on our list of Istanbul “must dos”. Having missed out on Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, we were pleased to have found ourselves at one of the only other mosques that allows non-Muslim visitors just a few days later. Whilst we were not allowed inside during a formal prayer session, there were still around a hundred people praying with an Imam leading a lesson from a pulpit at the front. Men prayed at the front, by the pulpit, whilst tourists were allocated the middle thoroughfare. Women were relegated to the back of the vast area and were expected to peer through the hundreds of tourists in order to see the front. Whilst the interior of the building was decorated intricately with verse, it almost got lost in the overall size of the mosque.

Matty, from the hostel, had informed us that Galatasaray was playing at home against Kayseri Erciyesspor later in the evening and we were very keen to take in the atmosphere at a Turkish soccer match. We were told that tickets would be available on the other side of the Golden Horn so we caught a tram across the Galata Bridge to find it. We walked up the main shopping street to try and find Bilitex without success but were given directions when we stopped at a coffee shop for a rest. Crowded House played on the café’s sound system – whether someone had picked us out or if we just timed our visit well I guess we’ll never know but we did enjoy a little bit of home for just a few minutes. The tickets, when we eventually found the right shop, were YTL30 each.

While we were looking for Bilitex, we’d passed an old tower located half way up the steep walk towards Taksim and we decided to go back for a closer look. Admission to the Galata Tower was YTL10 and worth every cent. The viewing “deck” was all of half a metre wide and tilted nervously down from where it was attached to the centre structure - towards the streets some nine stories below. The 360 degree views across Istanbul, accented by its numerous mosques were breathtaking. I took several photos, leaning on the rather flimsy railing to let people by as I did.

We walked back toward Taksim Square and caught the Metro to Ali Sami Yen Stadium . As soon as we surfaced the streets were red and yellow. Hawkers selling scarves, caps, shirts, foam hats, flags and just about every other piece of Galatasaray fanwear that you can imagine. The official fanshop outside the stadium was doing a roaring trade and the team song blared out from two huge speakers emanating from the entrance. We passed through some fairly strict security in which I had to play my tourist card in order to be allowed to keep my camera and were ushered to our seats.

Whilst the stadium was only half full the chants of the home team were near fever pitch and by the time the players were introduced it was deafening. Each player was introduced by name and walked up to our stand to “Whoooooooooooooooa”, as each reached the front row they pumped their fists three times to “Oi, oi, oi” before returning to their pre-match warm-up.
Ali Sami Yen Stadium was near capacity for kick-off with the exception of the “away stand” to our left where a dozen hardy Kayseri fans sat in a thousand seat stand separated from the red and yellow army for their own safety. The whistle blew and the stadium came to its feet… they stood through almost the entire match despite most of them having spent YTL2.50 on seat cushions from the hawkers outside. We looked up to the stand above to see that the front row had broken over the barrier and were standing at the absolute front of the stand – right above our heads. It was an intense, colourful, noisy, passionate and downright dangerous experience… worth every cent of the ticket price.

Galatasaray took an early 2-0 lead but Kayseri scored a soft goal late in the first half to remain in it. The goal was met with complete silence from the crowd – a weird experience that had Jo and I looking at each other in confusion. We had seen the ball hit the back of the net but the absolute silence had us second guessing what was going on. I decided not to go ahead with my planned polite applause.

Half time gave us a chance to sit down and listen to the sound of 40,000 people eating sunflower seeds before we were back standing as the second half started with an equaliser by Kayseri. The crowd took offense to their team being level with the Turkish equivalent of Buller Rugby Union and their anger was directed with equal robustness to the referee and the stadium seats. The plastic chairs were ripped from their places and thrown onto the ground – many flying over our heads en-route to the fence or onto the playing field. I had to wonder why the powers-that-be at Galatasaray S.K. even bothered replacing the seats when this happened (as it did regularly we were told). No-one used the seats and another 15 minutes standing at half time instead of sitting munching on seeds seemed a small price to pay.

Fortunately for the safety of the officials, Galatasaray scored in the 87th minute and again in extra time to win the match 4-2. The ref and linesmen were taken away under heavy police escort as we made our way out of the stadium.
The hawkers remained outside and had been joined by a dozen food stalls. Flares were being let off and the fans were chanting and dancing amongst the traffic. This was Turkey’s oldest and richest club – in a city of 16 million people… they had beaten Kayseri (population 536,000) in a regular league match and they were celebrating like they had just won the whole tournament! I could only imagine what the scenes were like when Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup in 2000. We hung around taking it all in for an hour before making our way back to the hostel.

Our first full day in Turkey was quite incredible. We hoped it was a good sign of things to come.

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