We left for Istanbul at 3:00 a.m. Friday morning and found out that staying out till 1 a.m. for a few drinks wasn't necessarily a good idea. By the time I got out of my shower it was 2:10 and only ten minutes before my alarm was suppose to go off. But we all managed to get on the bus and were able to sleep most of the way.
We eventually dropped off our stuff at a hostile called the Sultan's Hostile (or something) and got there earlier than expected so we had some breakfast there thinking it would be free but later found out it costed 9 TL. Which really isn't bad because it's only $5 or so but we just didn't expect it and I'd say we were also a bit cranky.
Soon enough met our tour guide (I'm not sure if anyone found out what his name was) and headed for the Blue Mosque which was only a 5 or so minute walk from our hostile I'd say. Our tour guide took us just inside in the courtyard and talked a lot about Turkey's history. It was kind of fine and all but it was all ready getting very hot, it was mostly stuff we knew about I'd say and he had a slow pace of talking. After waiting in a line for I'd say about 10-15 minutes we walked inside the mosque and it was crazy. I learned about the Blue Mosque in high school and knew it was very beautiful and intricate but my teacher was right- you have to see it in person to really appreciate it. Needless to say I was very impressed and had to walk around in the skirt I brought and wear a scarf around my shoulders but I didn't have to cover my head for whatever reason.
Inside the very hot courtyard
I really wish this picture wasn't as blurry because it was crazy stepping inside and seeing everything
Next was the Hagia Sophia which was pretty much "across the street" from the Blue Mosque. Hagia Sophia was built in the mid 500s originally as an Eastern Orthodox church and was later converted to a mosque in the mid 1400s. It's pretty convenient that the direction of Jerusalem and Mecca are only an 8 degree difference from Istanbul so then they only had to shift everything slightly to the right when it was converted into a mosque. But when it was converted into a mosque they covered all of the Christian related symbols as well as the mosaics of Jesus and who ever else in plaster because you're not allowed to have that stuff inside a mosque. When it was converted into a museum in the early 1900s they did their best to uncover the mosaics and whatever else but there is only so much you can do. This is why the decorations look kind of goofy because they couldn't get all the plaster off.
Only the emperor could go through the big entrance, everyone else had to go through the smaller ones
Qianqian, me, and Agne
One of the mosaics. I believe it's Mary with baby Jesus and some other guys
Next we saw the Basilica Cistern which was a huge underground area with a bunch of columns that held the water for Istanbul back in the day. It was converted into a museum after the Republic of Turkey was created in 1923 (like the Hagia Sophia). I don't have cool pictures from there because it was pretty dark but there's two columns out of over 50 columns with Medusa's head at the base and I guess it's a mystery as to why they were put there.
One of the two Medusa columns
It was then lunch time and I wanted some sort of seafood and saw seafood spaghetti and had to get it. It was very satisfying and also had some great humus before. So good!
It was then Grand Bazaar time which was an...interesting experience. It's set up like a giant indoor outlet mall and is mostly filled with the same stuff throughout more or less. If you want to find a nice scarf, bowls, glasses, t-shirts, bags, sunglasses, jewlery, gypsi outfits, rugs, or other things that's the place to go. I've had my mind set to get a backgammon board for a couple months now and I'm happy I got one there and I also got a few more gifts that'll be a surprise for the people I bought them for when I get home :) The whole process of buying things in the Grand Bazaar is too much for me. I would first ask how much, they would say a price, I would usually say something around half of it, then they'd go on and on about how it's hand made and worth more, I'd say that's all I would pay and then they would either say yes or no. One place I left and the guy shouted "okay, 25!" when I was a couple stores down from his and then I bought it. But it was annoying walking around because all the men were just saying "come to my beautiful shop," or saying how beautiful Qianqian, Agne, and I were it got old quickly. This is pretty much how everywhere in Istanbul was when it came to stores or restaurants. We were referred to as Charlie's Angels though which was kind of funny because it would kind of work if my hair was red.
We then went to the Spice Bazaar close by and bought some Turkish delight, tried some tasty apple tea and I was ready to go back to the hostile. It was quite a long day and we all pretty much didn't do anything for the rest of the night. Ross, Vince, Jake and I though decided to grab a beer and go sit by the water at night so we sat on these huge rocks on the water looking at the lights of Istanbul which was a great way to end the day.
We woke up and had the same breakfast as the day before but this time it was free. There were tomato an cucumber slices, some strong cheese, black and green olives, some cereal (which I was happy to have) and of course some bread.
We eventually got on a boat tour that lasted between 1.5 and 2 hours on the Bosphorus Strait which connects Europe and Asia. It was wonderful, relaxing, beautiful, and we really enjoyed it.
Next we had a fish sandwich which was only 5 TL and headed to the Dolmabahçe Palace. We had to wait in a super long line and it was incredibly hot and humid but worth the wait. Once we entered there was a beautiful courtyard and we waited for a tour of inside the palace. We couldn't take pictures but it was very elaborate and beautiful of course. The last part we saw was this giant room painted extremely elaborately and had a 4 ton chandelier in the center. Quite crazy. We left the palace to see a beautiful view of the Boshporus and were amazed. The inside stuff was great and all but I was most jealous of the awesome view of the water with a beautiful courtyard area.
Man, I thought I was almost done but I forgot we also walked down Istiklal (which means Independence in Turkish I guess) Street which is a long street full of a bunch of shops and some restaurants that Istanbul's known for. My dad gave me a book about Turkey for my birthday and the author was hyping Istiklal Street so I was looking forward to it but I don't think it was hype-worthy. It was cool to see but maybe I was just tired by this point in the day.
We stopped by St. Antoine's church for a bit and then went to Galata Tower. The view from the top was pretty neat.
It was then time to go home, eat dinner from the top of a restaurant with a beautiful view of the water and the Blue Mosque, freshen up, then head out to the bars back on Istiklal street for Agne's birthday!
View from dinner
Stuffed eggplant - so good!
The birthday girl!
I'm glad Agne was able to come on this Istanbul trip with us because she got screwed over by her advisor last minute by telling her she couldn't go on the 5 day trip she was planning on. We went to this place that played mostly Latin-based music and it was a lot of fun. We all had a great time, had an adventurous taxi ride, had one more beer at the hostile and headed to bead at 4:00 a.m. for about 5 hours of sleep and then slept all the way back to my (temporary) home in Eskisehir and boy, did it feel great to be home. I missed Eskisehir because the food was more expensive in Istanbul and was kind of overwhelming.
Anyway, that took forever to write so I hope you enjoy it Mom and friends and everyone else! Loving Turkey and looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow.
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