Chapter 44: "My friend owns a carpet shop..."
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2003
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44
56
Trip End
Nov 2004
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Istanbul,
Turkey
Sunday, July 18, 2004
On Friday we woke up at 5:30 and took a 6:15 cab to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which might as well be called the Singapore International Airport since it lies 75km south of KL.
01 Blue Mosque
Jonas had managed to find a cheap-ish ticket to Bali that afternoon, and he decided to come early with me and try to get on a morning flight (he succeeded, I later learned). Checking in was remarkably simple and quick. Why is it that only American airports are so understaffed that you have to wait for an hour in line to check in and then for another hour to get through the security check? The whole process took about 5 minutes in KL. Around 8am I hugged Jonas "goodbye" and headed off to my gate. The parting was rather unceremonious, partly because I suck at goodbyes, partly because it hadn't really sunk in that we were splitting after 3 months, partly because I was nervous about getting to my airplane on time, and partly because we knew there's a 99% chance we'll see each other again in a matter of weeks in Germany. It was still sad, though, and I miss him terribly already.My Malaysia Air flight was almost 11 hours non-stop, but it went by very quickly thanks to sleep, David Sedaris, my "Prizoner of Azkaban" DVD, the Delays ("Long Time Coming" is my new anthem), my new Turkey LP, and the tasty food and wine. I arrived in Istanbul at 2:30pm and got my visa immediately. If there's one thing I can thank President Bush for (and there's only one, I think), it's for making nice with Turkey so that the visa fee for Americans recently dropped from $100(!) to $20. Or maybe it had nothing to do with him, in which case I take back my thanks. Anyway, I speedily cleared immigration and customs, took the airport shuttle bus most of the way downtown, and then took a commuter train to the Sultanahmet neighborhood where most of the budget lodging and tourist sights sit.
02 Aya Sofya
I booked into the posh Side Pansiyon (25 euros/night?!) because it was central and I wanted a nice big bed and private bathroom for my "Europe adjustment" period. Plus I was tired, it looked fab, and I didn't feel up to lugging my backpack all over town looking for a cheaper bed. After a few hours of rest, I strolled out to have a sneak peek at the nearby sights: the Aya Sofya, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, and Sultanahmet Park. I immediately remembered one of the things that sucks about traveling solo... it gives random strangers free license to approach you on the street and start awkward conversations. Most of them were clearly trying to sell me rugs or tours, but one handsome 20-something guy innocently sauntered up and asked me the time in Turkish. When it became obvious that I was a tourist he introduced himself as Mustaf (or whatever) from Cyprus, and switched to English. I mentioned that my first college roommate had been from Cyprus, and we chatted and walked for a few minutes before he offered to show me more of the city if I was interested. As I noted in Asia, people in the U.S. don't just walk up to strangers on the street and make conversation unless they're obviously insane or religious freaks. I'd also just been reading on the plane about the scam of new Turkish "friends" who take you out to bars to drug you, rob you, and leave you sleeping in some back alley for days. As a result (and possibly because I was over-tired), I panicked like a trapped animal, hastily mumbled excuses about needing to sleep, and ran off leaving my gracious host looking dumbfounded.
03 Topkapi Palace entrance
I'll never know whether his intentions were honest or not (retrospective instinct tells me "not," maybe only to justify my reaction), but it's pretty sad that in a country known for its hospitality I scrambled away from the first friendly local as fast as I could. Was it common sense caution? Was I just exhausted and in a bad mood? Or am I really just that distrustful of everyone?! At any rate I went for a tasty chicken kebab (I'm sure I'll have my fill of those before long) at Doy!Doy! Restaurant, checked e-mail, and called it a night.Yesterday I woke up early and had a leisurely breakfast (included in my room rate) on the rooftop terrace of the hotel. I think I'll like the food here; the meal included delicious bread, olives, cheese, tomatoes, cukes, a boiled egg, and unlimited tea. The views of the city were awesome, too. I spent the midday exploring Topkapi Palace, which is a huge (and expensive) museum where the Ottoman sultans once lived. The high points were the beautiful Islamic architecture and tiles, the enormous jewels in the Treasury, and relics from Muhammed and his friends (including grisly bits like teeth and hair). There were also some odd exhibits, like the "circumcision room" where the young (but not infant) princes surely went through much pain, and the courtyard in the harem where the eunichs from Sudan hung out. Must have been a fascinating scene back in the day...
I left the palace with a new enthusiasm for Istanbul and Turkey in general, so I headed to the Hippodrome, which is now a track-shaped road with some ancient obelisks and pillars in the middle of it, but it used to be a great stadium for chariot races and such.
04 Topkapi interior
Next I grabbed a baklava snack and walked along Divan Yolu, the main thoroughfare of Sultanahmet. That led me to Istanbul University and the Grand Bazaar, an enormous maze-like covered market that was fun to get lost in. Unfortunately the majority of things for sale (jewelry, clothes, and more carpets) held no interest for me, but at least it wasn't too crowded and there was little hassle from salespeople. After the Bazaar I paid the 10,000,000 Turkish Lira (~$7) admission fee to go down into the Basilica Cistern. It's a huge underground water storage tank from the 6th century that's supported by hundreds of columns, and the place drips with atmosphere. The Medusa heads supporting two of the columns in the back were especially cool. *Dork alert!* - wandering around down there reminded me of playing the first Tomb Raider game years ago, and I felt like the game developers must have taken some inspiration from the place.Today I checked out the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. The Mosque was impressive, but Aya Sofya blew me away. Luckily my camera survived being thrown to the ground like a bowling ball towards the entrance (a clumsy accident), because I couldn't stop snapping photos! Actually all of Istanbul is pretty photogenic... in two days I think I've taken over 150 shots! Anyway, the seemingly unsupported dome of Aya Sofya is truly marvelous, and I kept having flashbacks to my high school art history class with Ms. Joyce. Even a huge scaffold set up in the center of the building couldn't hide the beauty of the place.
Istanbul is certainly a romantic and enchanting city with its stunning Byzantine architecture, narrowly winding stone-paved back streets, and exciting culture. The food has been excellent, and the weather has been surprisingly perfect: cool yet sunny. I honestly wasn't psyched to be here at first (I even considered tossing my ticket and staying in Asia), but now I'm looking forward to exploring more of Turkey. Chances are I'll have to come back through Istanbul on my way to my next country, so now that I've seen the major sights here I can happily move on. Tomorrow I think I'll take a bus towards the coast to see the battlefields of Gallipoli, and I'll follow that with the ruins of Troy and Ephesus. So things are good despite the facts that I'm traveling alone again and it's expensive here compared to Asia. I do feel way out of touch with people from home, though, so let me know what you've been up to if you get a minute. Hope you're having a good summer, and I'll talk to you later...
-Tim
