Istanbul Part 1: Hello, History!

Sunrise over the Hagia Sofia from our hostel's fourth floor bar. Thank you, Sarah, for the ridiculously incredible view.

I never did get around to talking about my trip to Istanbul, which can only be expected considering my preparations to go home for the holidays were significantly more important to me at the time. Now, however, I’ve got a little more time on my hands. I’ll be here in Georgia for another 20 or so weeks and if I can even possibly manage, I’ll put up a blog a week (a lofty goal, I’ll admit). Anyway, to Istanbul!

Our trip was, in all honestly, totally Sarah’s fault. Not that that she would complain about receiving the blame for that one, considering the trip. We’d mentioned going, but it didn’t really occur to me that it would actually happen. I always said I would go abroad and goodness knows how long that took me. But, somehow we decided that we were going, hell or high water. Because she had internet, Sarah was in charge of most of the planning. I did my best to provide the emotional support (and when you’re taking a bus/train to a city at least 1200 kilometers away to stay for a week with limited funds and no knowledge of the language of the country you’ll be traveling through, emotional support can be essential), but she did all of the work.

We both took off a week of school, packed our bags, converted money and left. It was much easier to do than I ever expected. The bus trip was incredible, from Batumi to Trabzon to Istanbul. Considering it was a grand total of 18 hours (on the way there, the way back deserves its own entry), the fact that it wasn’t a complete disaster was impressive. We were originally planning on taking the train, but plans don’t always pan out when the timetables are in a foreign language, so we just had to wing it. We wound up with a very helpful, friendly travel agent who spoke almost fluent English and who helped us catch our bus from Trabzon to Istanbul. Getting to Trabzon hadn’t been a problem, as my Georgian is tolerable and marshutkas have signs that give their destination (so helpful).

After arranging our bus, Said (our friendly travel agent), brought us a dinner of fresh fish cooked with onions, lemon slices and parsley, to be eaten with fresh-baked bread. One of the best meals I have ever had, eaten with my fingers (sometimes bones and all). For an ex-vegan, that’s a pretty big stretch. But I always was a fan of seafood.

The bus brought us into Istanbul as the sun was rising and though we knew nothing of the city at this point, the waiter on our bus (yes, waiter, he served us coffee and tea and cakes) spoke English and gave us a little information, then dropped us off along the metro line that would lead to where our hostel was, conveniently located almost on the grounds of the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. We went straight to our hostel after breakfast, helped along by another hostel owner who kindly pointed us along. (This almost disturbingly friendly behavior was to be a constant source of amazement for both of us.) We dropped our bags and since we now had an entire day extra, we wandered.

The city of Istanbul is absolutely beautiful. Over the course of our 5 day trip, I completely fell in love with it. I grew up hearing about Constantinople, the Roman Empire, the Greeks, the Turks. With a name like Helen, you can't help but know a little about Troy and the surrounds. All of these things seemed far away, though, inconsequential. When I got to Istanbul it was as if I’d been thrown into history. It was incomprehensible, at first, that the walls I could see from the grounds of Topkapi Palace were not hundreds of years old, they were over a thousand. This was a city that had seen wars, hundreds and hundreds of wars. This was a city which could be pinpointed as a place from which modern civilization grew. I could feel its age, and my god was it amazing.

Not only has Istanbul been around for centuries (CENTURIES!), but it’s in a Muslim country, which means: mosques, mosques, mosques. For those who don’t know, in the Islamic faith there are 5 calls to prayer throughout the day, in which practicing Muslims are expected to move to their closest mosque to pray or find a place in their own home/business. In Turkey, and I’m assuming most other Islamic countries, the calls to prayer are blasted through loud speakers set high up on the minarets of mosques, spreading the melodic Arabic chanting for miles around. Incredible.

We heard quite a few calls to prayer throughout our trip, but the call to prayer we heard our first night was the most memorable. We’d wandered and eaten ourselves sick all day (the coast, the Spice Market, Sultanahmet Square, the park around Topkapi palace), then ran into a couple outside of a movie theatre who convinced us we had to live in Istanbul and teach (though not much convincing was necessary). After we ran into them, we walked down to Sultanahmet Square, which is a park directly between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia. There were people everywhere, including men selling tea, coffee, corn, chestnuts and various other food/drink from trolleys, and we couldn’t understand why until the call to prayer began. It literally surrounded us. The mosques compete, it appears, because as soon as the first line of prayer was finished from the Blue Mosque it was answered by another mosque close by. The two went back and forth while Sarah and I stood in amazement, listening and contemplating a life where everyone in an entire city can hear the prayers, no matter where they are, and literally drop to their knees in the glory of their god.

The rest of the trip was a blur of movement and sites. We saw almost everything we’d planned, and even some things we hadn’t. For two afternoons we wandered through the Archaeological museum, seeing 2,500 year old sarcophagi, beautifully carved and carefully preserved. There was even a mummy, some skin and muscle still attached to the bones. We saw the University of Istanbul (pretty boring, to be honest), walked the Grand Bazaar (not nearly as interesting or fun as the back-road markets and the Spice Market), toured Topkapi Palace (Harem included, as well as the treasury which housed an 86 carat diamond the size of an egg, which was probably the most impressive thing in the whole palace), took pictures of the Basilica Cistern (creepy and amazing), took a Bosphorous Cruise, watched Harry Potter on IMAX with Turkish subtitles in one of the nicest malls I’ve ever seen (Miu Miu, Jimmy Choo, Gucci), saw people praying in Sultahmet Mosque II and toured both the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia.

To give some reference, and show off the fact that I (sort of) read signs at tourist sights, the Hagia Sofia was originally a Christian Church which was converted to Islam a few hundred years after it was built, then finally turned into a museum. I don’t remember the exact dates, because I was never good at that. The Blue Mosque, on the other hand, was the ‘response’ that the Muslims had to the Hagia Sofia being a church. It has 6 minarets, the most of any in Istanbul (possibly all of Turkey, though don’t quote me on that) and is considered one of the most beautiful. Honestly? It is breath-taking, inside and out. I would probably go at least once a month if I lived anywhere near it.

Other than all of that (this is a very shortened summary, because if I were to go into detail on everything, we’d be here for weeks), we had a Turkish bath in a 300 year old bath, played backgammon while smoking hookah and listening to the Beatles, walked until our feet were sore, took the metro from one end to the other, shopped in every obscure shop we could find, got lost more times than I can count and generally spent our entire week staring in awe at the beauty and bustle of Istanbul. We spent more money than we had, and probably wouldn’t have done that if we hadn’t eaten at every restaurant we possibly could. We tried so many dishes and desserts (and got quite a bit of free tea, wine, beer and appetizers) that we could barely button our jeans by the end of the trip. That, however, is the way we figured we could really experience Turkey.

I’m sure there are 8 million things I’ve left out, but this entry is already far too long. I will go back to Turkey someday, and I will live in Istanbul. I don't know how or when, but I will make it happen.

Next post will be about the return trip to Georgia, because that was an adventure in and of itself.