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I am head over heels in love. Turkey is one of the most amazing places I have ever visited: a long and rich history, breathtaking scenery and the friendliest people you could hope to meet. The Turks are warm, welcoming, flirtatious, hospitable, laidback, and have a cheeky sense of humour. They truly make this country great, and one I am determined to return to.
In two and a half weeks we have had some incredible experiences, memories that will last a lifetime and see me through the duller moments. We've dined and danced with a local family in their home, partied like celebrities, bartered for beautiful ornaments in the bazaar, floated high over the fairy chimneys in a balloon and through the sparkling waters of a gorge in a tube, crawled through an underground city, feasted on kebab and sampled turkish delight, explored ancient city ruins, brushed up on our biblical stories and greek mythology, had a near death experience in the traditional Turkish baths, sunbathed and back flipped off a boat in the Aegean, watched fine art demonstrations, paid respect to our fallen soldiers, bathed in the calcium terraces....
Maybe I should start from the beginning. I will try to keep these next couple of blogs chronological but I'll make no promises; to me Turkey feels like one vibrant, busy, thrilling experience, a patchwork of interwoven images, pieced randomly and beautifully together like the mosaics of the lamps that dangle from every store and every restaurant in Turkey.
So - the beginning.
Previously, whenever someone mentioned Istanbul, all that popped to mind was my grade nine modern history teacher, bless her, making an arse of herself at the front of the class in the name of education, as she performed an over the top, tap dancing rendition of "Istanbul not Constantinople!" Unfortunately, the city's previous name was about all the knowledge I retained about Istanbul.
But now the magical city of Istanbul was coming to life in front of my eyes.
Coming into Turkey, we giggle at our first Turkish sight..about 10 metres from the border was a camel standing next to a Mosque. No. Way! Then there is nothing but flat bare land for hours until suddenly we are next to the water and the buildings stretch for miles, thin spires of the mosques punctuating the skyline amongst the high rises stacked together like lego to accommodate the 17 million strong population (some say it's closer to 20) of Europe's largest city. My jaw literally drops. I glance around at the bus, most are sleeping but a few wide eyes meet my own as we drive past the old city walls and well kept parkland by the Bosphorous river, into the cultural and touristic heart of the city - Sultanahmet.
The Aya Sofia and Blue Mosque tower over our hostel, the call to prayer echoing across the streets of Sultanahmet with its bright stalls of lamps and scarves and carpets and copper trinkets, the smell of corn cobs wafting through the air. It's atmospheric, exotic, I feel far from home and I love it. Communally cared for cats and dogs, and more cats, roam in front of restaurants awaiting their next meal or some eagerly accepted affection. A group of young boys swim and splash in a fountain until a groundskeeper marches over and they scramble for their clothes. Barefoot and dripping wet they scatter away across the road, darting in every direction between the scooters and trams that clutter the road. Men on the roadside spruik everything from bottles of water, fruit, guidebooks, roasted nuts, shoe shining and to my delight those little plastic geometric sets that we played with as children, using different coloured pens to make all sorts of complex, swirling designs.
Walking into the Grand Bazaar, we browse through stalls of carpets, scarves, jewellery, knock off clothes/bags/shoes/watches, coffee and tea sets, alladins lamps, glass mosaic lamps, turkish delight. We spend hours here just wandering. Reminiscent of Thailand, the store owners all have different lines to entice us to buy. There's the awkward "gerrrdayy skippy", flattery "hey beautiful you're an angel without wings", "you look like a professional buyer, we'll make a good deal" or my personal favourite "let me help you waste your money on something you don't need. Something for your mother in law perhaps?"
It's only on our final day, after our 12 day Topdeck tour is complete and we return to Istanbul, that we flash some cash. I honestly haven't been that tempted by the mostly tacky souvenirs through Europe, but after Turkey our bags are ready to burst and we'll be seeking out a post office in Athens! To add to the handmade pottery we picked up in Cappadocia, we bought a beautiful pashmina, a Turkish coffee set, some clothing and a whole friggen chandelier of beautiful glass mosaic lamps. Our house will be pimping, Turkish style. All that was only about 150 euro.
The night our 'Ottoman' tour ends, we farewell our group over dinner and shisha, before a few of us jump in a taxi to check out Istanbul's nightlife. The taxi ride is a sign of things to come. Absolute craziness. We hurtle through the streets of Istanbul averaging 140kms, darting through impossibly small spaces in the traffic and screeching to a last minute stop at traffic lights. I have never been so afraid for my life, as I desperately hunt for a seatbelt (failed mission) and mark rolls his eyes at me, mouthing "tourist".
We walk down the main street in the modern area of Taksim and are ushered into bars where the staff shake our hands and chat to us happily. The rest of our night is a blur: expensive beers but free shots, never-ending free supplies of nuts and popcorn and carrot sticks, dancing with a bride and groom and dancing with the barmen behind the bar as they rip up serviettes to throw over us like confetti, allow us to pour our own drinks, and pose cheekily for photos while handing the girls business cards full of xoxoxo's. Relocating to club #3 with a bunch of friendly Russians, we get a bottle of vodka to share and dance til 5am until the Russian dude with the tight yellow jeans, sleazy grin and cowboy moves starts to creep me out. Lauren is MIA, stuck in a toilet stall..I find her dangling from the door and very relieved to see me, ha! We round up the others and head for home.
It takes us another 30 minutes to make the short walk to a taxi, as we lead a growing parade of curious Turks through the city who chat and laugh with us in very broken English. Two eleven year old boys are amongst the procession, smoking and asking for more cigarettes. We tell them off, "go to bed!", but they don't understand and wouldnt listen anyway I'm sure. An older Turkish man mimes to us that if they were his sons, he'd drag them home by the ear. But they just skip happily beside us, giggling and yelling 'i love you sexy' over and over. We can't help laughing but hastily correct them when it changes to 'i love you motherf***er'. Too much MTV, gah. Finally we wave goodbye to our mob and take another crazy taxi ride home during which the driver races another taxi and gets completely lost. When we reach the hostel he rorts us by 10 lira but we are too tired to argue it and finally crash into bed.
The photos the following morning are reminiscent of "The Hangover". We don't have another big night in Istanbul. I just don't see how we could top that.
Instead we soak in the sights. We do a day trip to Asia (Istanbul spans two continents) with a few of our Ottoman buddies, where we wander randomly as there's not much else to do here. Tourists are few and far between so we draw a few curious stares. We grab a kebab for lunch...the only thing I don't really love in Turkey, surprisingly, are the kebabs - tasty enough but very simple. A good kebab, in my humble opinion, is one stuffed with salad and dripping with a creamy sauce! But, they are filling and cheap at about 5 lira (or 2.50 euro). The staff seem thrilled to have us there and give us free baklava, very generous, and it's the best I've ever had. Then it's time for final sad goodbyes to our new friends, and we continue the rest of our sightseeing on our lonesome, and then with our new tour group.
We visit the Blue mosque twice, the second time with our new tour guide Tarik who gives some insight to the religion and customs of Islam, and that hazy line where culture has permeated religion. For example he explains that men and women are equal under Islam, and it is only for practical reasons that certain rules were applied in mosques, such as separate and smaller prayer areas for women. Separate, as the movements of prayer are a little indecent if a woman sits in front of a man (as he demonstrate this, I have to agree, I wouldn't want my ass in some random guys face!) . Smaller, as it was more often men who attended prayer in the mosque whereas women often prayed at home (due to 'domestic duties', or because a certain type of prayer required men to pray in the mosque). It is only the culture of certain nations that sees women treated as inferior. Interpretation will always be different but I find Tarik's explanations interesting, and the Turks do seem to practice their religion and live quite liberally. The parallels with Christian (Protestant) beliefs, religious practice and foundations are also really interesting. Religion aside, the blue mosque is stunning, regal, beautiful.
The Aya Sofia stands directly opposite,the exterior looking a little more worn but no less enchanting. It was originally a cathedral, converted to a mosque and now a museum. The interior is impressive and you can see both Catholic and Islamic decoration, including the original Catholic mosaics that were only plastered over and have now been revealed and restored.
We explore parts of the Topkapi palace, and view exhibits of the sultans clothing, various armoury, and supposed religious relics like the sword of David, the staff of Moses and various items that belonged to the Prophet Mohammed. On our last day we finally make it to the Basilica cistern, built in the 6th century AD to store the city's water supply. Inside it is dark, water drips from the ceiling, and pillars stand in long lines in the middle of the fish inhabited water, illuminated by soft orange lights. At the end there are two carvings of the head of Medusa at the base of the pillars. I feel like Lara Croft or Indiana Jones in here. Like I need a rope and grapple and shouldn't touch the water. Just that kind of atmosphere.
Five days was not quite enough to be able to see everything - I would have liked to cruise the Bosphorous, explore the outer city a little more and visit some of the other mosques. Maybe we could have crammed more in but I enjoyed the leisurely pace, and the opportunity to enjoy the culture and the people in fabulous Istanbul. I'll definitely be returning for a few days next summer, with an empty suitcase ;-)
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