Istanbul Hotels
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not Constantinople (or Byzantium)
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After arriving in Istanbul (with the They Might Be Giants song playing on continuous loop in my head) I took a back-saving but money-draining shuttle ride with some fellow Americans (they're getting more numerous) to Medicikeyoy (I can't say it either) Square to meet my Couch Surfing contact. After dropping my stuff off and waiting for him to return from work, we had a dinner of spaghetti and ketchup (I declined the offer to add yogurt as well). After two disturbing and mostly sleepless nights (and showerless days since it wasn't offered... or used) I was happy to check into a hostel nearer to the main tourist areas of Istanbul with ready access to showers and a bed to myself (yes that's right). I had asked to sleep on the couch the second night, but was told it wasn't strong enough for sleeping (then how can you sit on it?) but moved there anyway. It was an interesting way to start.
Istanbul is very spread out across the Bosporus strait separating Europe from Asia and I was able to see a good portion through other couch surfing friends. I started with the Hagia Sophia, a huge structure originally built in 537 AD as a cathedral (the largest in the world for a thousand years and the fourth largest in the world even today), then converted into a mosque, and now a museum. Luckily when it was converted many mosaics were not destroyed but were plastered over allowing some to be seen today. I headed across the park to the Blue Mosque, since Turkey allows tourists in the mosques which was a first for my trip. I was struck at how austere the interior was, but learned that is very common with mosques.
There was no imagery or sculpture, carpeted but furniture-less floors, but attractive tiled or painted domes and beautiful caligraphy. The park between contained the Obelisk of Theodosius erected in 390 AD and in remarkably good condition and two other vertical structures from the same time frame. It was very cool to be surrounded by so much ancient history and the area was especially beautiful at night, especially the birds around the mosques strangely lit from below as they circled.
The second day, after I settled in to the hostel and showered, I explored the Topkapi Palace. It is a large palace from the time of wealthy sultans and their harems, with good displays on life of that period and the diamond, ruby, sapphire, and gold riches and beautiful tiling and decoration of that era. It had commanding views of the Bosporus and the Golden Horn, as well as the old city wall from the Byzantine days. But most interesting was a few rooms of religious relics (pictures weren't allowed) which included the sword of David (yes that David), the rod of Moses (I kid you not), the turban of Joseph, and the saucepan of Abraham, among others.
The turban and rod were in especially good condition for being organic objects and well over 5,000 years old- at least according to the placards. I don't know if these were taken seriously, but they were sure displayed as such, with a helpful video showing that this was indeed the rod used to divide the sea. Nearby was the understandably extensive Archaeological Museum, with some amazingly detailed tombs and an impressive collection of Roman sculpture. Unfortunately I was museumed out after about 2 hours but it must be near impossible to dig a foundation in this city without involving teams of archaeologists (and sure enough one such project was ongoing).
Had a great time and some good food at a party thrown by the local couch surfing community in very happening Taksim Square. The Turkish people are very friendly and hospitable, and two friends showed me around quite a bit and I saw and did some really cool things. I explored Ortakoy, a really cool market area with a great view of the Bosporus Bridge, and the area around Taksim Square with one. Another had me come speak to her English class (an interesting experience especially when they asked about my work, which I was honest about), and on my last evening to her marbling class and to a really good concert. It was awesome to see the marbling technique and even got to indulge my long dormant artistic side and try it out myself.
The concert was a well-known and very good guitarist, an awesome violinist, and a drummer, playing traditional Turkish music and playing their instruments in unique ways. Strangers can be especially friendly too- but as I found out they are often trying to sell you something or rip you off, and I must admit are very good at it. One guy had me into his carpet shop for some tea (and ended up selling me some pillows, which was fine) and was treated to dinner with another who was supposedly in town for work. He suggested going to a bar, so we went, suddenly had two companions, and were asked to buy them drinks. I deferred to his supposedly local experience and consented, until a couple of hours later we were presented a bill for about 4,000 dollars! Having already offered to split it and him acting suitably distressed and me getting worked up (and slowly realizing I had gotten worked over) it was getting ugly.
Supposedly the two women had each drank 5 bottles of $350 dollar champagne in 3 hours (3 glasses each bottle)- a glass every 12 minutes, which I was sober enough to realize was crazy- but luckily got away by handing over way too much cash and jumping into the nearest cab. I was pissed off at how I had been sucked in but in retrospect was lucky to get away with only losing some money.
Very close to Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque was the Basilica Cistern, and huge underground chamber where water was kept for the city's supply. It is an impressive structure hundreds of years old with some 350+ intricately carved columns spread out beneath normal city streets. Two columns had bases of the head of Medusa, one upside down and the other sideways for unknown reasons. I walked across the Galata bridge, which has restaurants underneath the bridge on both sides and fishermen on every foot of the railing above, somehow avoiding each ferry that passed under about every 10 minutes. After seeing the water and the traffic on the waterways I avoided fish from that point on, even though there must have been plenty since each guy had a bucket full. Continued on to Galata Tower a historic and very solid tower with great views. And enjoyed walking around the packed market streets selling everything there was to be sold.
One morning I took a tourist ferry around the Bosporus, a nice ride but so slow that I didn't make it even halfway (I had wanted to get up to the Black Sea) and could have seen just as much and gone farther on the regular ferries. I met some great people that were fun to hang out with, and visited a lot of mosques.
For only six days Istanbul was full of experiences, mostly good but some bad. I have definitely entered colder weather (the coldest on my trip so far, and now I'm thankful I lugged around the warmer items) but its getting warmer and I had very good weather each day. At times that was spoiled by the most smokers I've yet seen- it seemed everyone was smoking almost continuously, with the trains the only spot I found where it wasn't allowed, and good thing because at times they were packed nuts to butts.
The food was good but often simple, and they had very good teas which were available pretty much any time any place. I hope to return and see other areas of Turkey at some point- I was asked at one point if I had fallen in love with the city as others evidently had- can't say that I did (I'm not sure how you fall in love with a city anyway- every place I've been, even my favorites, still have their faults) but I had a good time, and some pretty good stories that I'm slowly learning to laugh about.
Books: Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, the third in a really imaginative and well-written sci-fi series that addresses all kinds of questions of human evolution, interaction, and relationships. Great series that has a few more that I'm looking forward to. E=mc^2, A Biography- a history of the development of Einstein's famous equation written in easily understandable form, and very interesting, especially the efforts of the Allies to prevent Germany from developing nuclear weapons. Good read, and a really good explanation of relativity and why the speed of light is a limit.
Where I stayed:
Antique Hostel
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