Istanbul

It's been about a week since we got back from Istanbul.  It was pretty strange that "going home" meant coming back to Israel...and even more unusual how natural it felt!  I have so many things to say about Istanbul and so many pictures to share; I will do my best to keep it short and sweet. (yeah right)


The Trip
I'll begin with the plane ride, because wow!  First, the seats were very comfortable with the head rests that fold so you can lean your head to the side without drooping or waking up with a terrible crick in your neck.  Second, we got TURKISH DELIGHT directly before or after takeoff (I can't remember which, who cares).  Third, a palatable full meal with beer/wine was still served promptly even though it was only a 2 hour flight. Also, there were free movies and again I will mention the delicious Turkish delight!

Turkish delight...this is just scratching the surface.

Jen and Greg (my cousins I am staying with) stayed in a cute Turkish hotel that was in an area only reachable by foot.  It was all cobble stone and hilly terrain surrounded by a slew of restaurants and little shops.  It had a familiar ambiance and very friendly staff.  I, on the other hand, stayed at a hostel a few blocks away.  A recent college grad can only afford so much, right?  The hostel was a great value for the money: it had hot showers and working toilets (although there were only 2 each for a coed floor of 30 people), free wifi, comfortable bunk beds, and a free pre-portioned breakfast.  My only issue was a terrible reaction my skin had to something either in the room or the water I showered with...my eczema broke out all over my face and caused it to be puffy, red, and painful for almost the entire trip.  I tried not to let it affect my experience, though I wore sunglasses almost everywhere we went to avoid showing people my eyes.  On a positive note, the weather was amazing most of our stay! I would say mid 70s and sunny for the first couple of days then it got cooler and rainy the last two.

The view from the rooftop of the hostel I stayed in.

Example of most of the streets in Istanbul surrounding the hotel.

Overall the people of Turkey are very kind people with huge hearts for babies! I mean everywhere we went there were older women, young girls, men, and even young men that awed at the sight of Gabby.  People were constantly trying to touch her face, asking to hold her, trying to give her pacifier to her; they were obsessed!  A few times boundaries were violated unintentionally due to cultural differences though mostly the adoration was sweet and harmless.

Myself standing in a window of the Hagia Sophia (below).

Touring
Luckily we stayed in places that were located perfectly for touring Istanbul! First on the list was the Hagia Sophia.  It's one of the most famous attractions in Turkey and is very well known throughout the world.  The retired mosque is now solely a museum.  Inside, we noticed there were paintings and mosaics of Christian descent which does not reflect the views of the Muslim faith.  As it turns out, the original structure was a church (of the Holy Trinity) that had been rebuilt 3 times under various rulers.  After many years standing as a church, it was remodeled into a mosque when the land came under the rule of a new sultan.  That's about all I know about the Hagia Sophia other than just how magnificent it is inside.  It's a massive structure and truly breath taking.  I really enjoyed all of the textures of the materials used to build the church/mosque so that's mostly what my pictures consist of.

A not so beautiful picture of the very beautiful Hagia Sophia.

Front end of the main worship center.  

So many textures of marble at the bottom of the pillars. 

A doorway that caught my eye.

How very old and intricate the Hagia Sophia is.

More textured marbles and my feet.

I almost missed this spectacular art on our way out.

We also went across the way to the Blue Mosque.  Wow.  The size of this place.  The main building/worship center of the Blue Mosque is not as big as the Hagia Sophia but it's surrounded by a what seemed like a fortress and a court yard.  This mosque is also still functioning, where as the Hagia Sophia is purely a museum now.  The Blue Mosque offers free tours during hours that are not dedicated to prayer.  Inside is a sea of beautiful, soft carpet from wall to wall.  The women's area is in the back of the mosque while the men can roam else where to pray.  The dome is so high that your voice would be easily lost in the air.  Detailed blue tiles cover the walls, giving the mosque it's name.  I don't think I got any pictures of the inside of the Blue Mosque because there were still a few people praying when we visited and the place was just so awesome that I spent the entire time soaking it in.  The outside was stunning as well.

View from the "courtyard" of the Blue Mosque.

The Grand Bazaar...was very grand indeed.  Once inside the main entrance you may think that what you see is what you get...yeah right!  We walked about 50 feet in and noticed smaller sections branching from the main corridor!  It was a maze.  I must have spent about 5 hours in there and I still could not find the corners of that massive market!! It was THAT huge!  I won't lie, I got lost a few times then eventually just stuck to one section that I recognized.  There is everything from ceramics, to hookahs, to Turkish tea sets, to mosaic lamps, to Turkish rugs, and lets not forget the insane amount of authentic jewelry!  I wish I could have bought SO much more than I did, but I figured I'd leave those purchases for my future travels :).

What I believe to be the main entrance of the Grand Bazaar.

This. This times 1,000 is what the bazaar looks like inside.

We visited the Basilica Cistern too.  The ancient cistern is much bigger than I would have imagined.  It has rows and rows of marble columns. Water is still held there but it is home to lots of pond fish now and not used as reserve water.  I had no idea we were walking above something so historically important; it was a very strange and amazing structure to see.

We went on a boat tour of the Bosphorus River too, which was pretty neat.  The tour company took us to the Egyptian Spice Market before we boarded the boat.  While not nearly as big as the Bazaar, it was lined with vendors in a massive indoor market.  This is where I would have loved to spent a good few hours shopping, but we were only allotted about 10 minutes.  Sad Ang.  I did get some teas there though!  I am disappointed to announce that the amazing apple tea I had been drinking every where in Turkey was apparently instant because I bought some of the "organic" apple tea only to find out it's pretty much just dehydrated apple pieces.  :( but some of the other teas I got are delicious!  We had a guide on the boat tour who pointed out most of the famous palaces and buildings and land marks along the famous for us.  Other than that, it was like most other boat tours: mostly relaxing and looking cool things.

This is mostly what the Egyptian Spice Market looked like.

Obviously with lots of spices. 

On our last day, we visited the Topkapi Palace.  Wow.  This place is massive, as I assume any "palace" would be.  It was like it's own little subdivision of the city!  We didn't even get to see the whole place due to time restraints but what we did see wore us out from walking!  There were sitting rooms upon sitting rooms, a "dorm" for the Sultan's lady friends, tulip gardens, a mosque, even a circumcision room! No details were spared in any room, on any walkway, on any wall inside or out.  It was so detailed and spectacular.

It was a rainy cool day.

Another picture of my feet on nice marble walkways.

The Harem Quarters, AKA the harlot's dorms.

Hand painted tiles are a special trade of Turkey.

Again, the textures were my favorite part.

Also on our last day, Jen and I visited a traditional Turkish Hamam, or bath house.  What an experience! I have only had one massage in my life and that was nothing in comparison to this!  No matter the treatment package you order, you are instructed to strip down to "what yo mama gave ya" (that's obviously not the way they put it, but you get the picture) and wrap yourself in the Turkish towel and put on some crazy cool wooden shoes.  You are then led into another area that leads to the hot house.  The hot house is a large marble dome with star shaped sun lights cut from the top.  There are sinks overflowing with running warm water.  A huge, heated marble slab is in the center of the room in the shape of an octagon. You are instructed to sit and relax until your masseuse comes for you.  I was serviced by a spry and funny old woman.  From here we scrubbed, given a "dry" body massage )which is not actually dry at all because your dripping in sweat), washed and rinsed, then given a foam massage, rinsed and shampooed, then you are wrapped in a warm towel and sent to either sit out in the main area or back into the sauna.  I would do it again in a heartbeat!  (I have no pictures here for obvious privacy issues.)

Oh! I almost forgot...the food.  THE FOOD.  That's about all I have to say because I have no pictures of any food because it was so good that my mind didn't have to think to snap a shot before it was all gone!  EVERYTHING was delicious.  Please go to there to eat all.

This was after a delicious rooftop dinner our second night in Istanbul.  That is the Hagia Sophia behind me.

Short and sweet didn't reallllyyy work out now, did it?