The Last Temptation of Kristy and Matt

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  Istanbul, Turkey
Thursday, March 16, 2006

To buy or not buy, that is the question. It is the agony every first time visitor to Istanbul must go through. You are assaulted at every street corner, tempted by every shop front, and seduced by small glasses of tea and handspun wool. Every fiber in your body says, "Yes, I want to. Yes, take my money. Yes, I want a carpet."

But do you have any idea how expensive these things are? My lord, we could go halfway around the world again for the cost of some of these carpets. But they are so nice and would look so good in our living room. (Okay - so we don't have a living room right now, but someday we will.)

So that's the torture. Are we willing to part with a month's salary to pick up a really nice souvenir? So far we have resisted

01 - Carpet Crazy

. Time will tell if we can hold out until we leave.

Impressions

We arrived in Istanbul on an ungodly early flight from Amman (4:30 AM flight, thus getting to airport at 3:00 AM and waking up at 1:30 AM). We were met by a driver from our hotel, the Ayasofya, just outside the baggage claim. As we exited the terminal, we zipped our jackets up tighter and pulled on our scarves, because it is cold here. Not freezing, just a damp windy cold that comes off the ocean and seeps through your clothes to chill your bones. Unfortunately, nobody else is to bothered by it (even other American tourists from the South!) so we have to assume that we have gone weather-soft. We used to make fun of friends who spent time in California then came back to the East Coast and complained about the cold, but now we understand and apologize.

Because of the weather, it's the off season. But that just makes the touts and their ilk that much more ravenous for business. The amount of tourist hassle here is just as bad (maybe worse) as anywhere we've been, including India. In the Sultanamet neighborhood, where all the big tourist sights, like the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, are located you can be bothered by someone every two minutes. This guy wants you to buy a carpet, another guy wants you in his restaurant, and yet another guy wants to be your tour guide. After a certain amount of hassle you can't help but crack. Kristy let loose on a wannabe tour guide outside of the Blue Mosque, telling him to "Go away and never say another word to me ever again. Ever." He went away, grumbling. Luckily when you get out of the area, the hassle almost vanishes and people are pleasant and fun to talk to, just as they are everywhere else in the world

02 - Breakfast

.

Unexpectedly, the Turkish language is quite different than Arabic. It sounds almost Russian, and walking around in the cold weather hearing the Turks speak, you can imagine you're on the other side of the Black Sea, in Odessa or Sevastopol, rather than close to the Middle East.

While other cities have packs of stray dogs, Istanbul has packs of stray cats. But they are all fat and look happy, so it doesn't make Kristy sad. We have learned that cats are revered in Islam, perhaps because of a story in which the Prophet Mohammed cut off a piece of his robe, rather than bother the cat that was sleeping on it.

The food here is good. Lots and lots of lamb and lots of kebabs (kebap). We have been frequenting a great place that serves a delicious dish of raw minced lamb mixed with parsley and spices which is served wrapped in a lettuce leaf. We call it a Turkish Taco. The downside to the restaurant, like many other places here and in Jordan, is that everyone smokes like a chimney and there's no ventilation. We are looking forward to get back to NYC's restaurant anti-smoking laws.

03 - Grand Bazaar

Speaking of America, we have met a nice American couple from Atlanta, Trish and Ted. They are staying at our hotel and we have had a few nice diners and drinks. It's great to chat with people from home and much different than talking with looney-tune long term travelers like us and our past travel companions, Rebecca and Michael (Hi guys - left Morocco yet?). We may even talk each other into braving the Hamam (Turkish Bath).

Shopping

The shopping in Istanbul is some of the best we've seen anywhere. The variety of stuff for sale, the quality of it, and the amount of shops is astounding. The Grand Bazaar, an indoor ancient mall of sorts has around 4000 shops alone. People call from every shop: you like silver?, you want a carpet?, how about my cushions? like this lamp? where are you from? you look beautiful. let me take your money. If you don't feel like participating it's torture. But if you are in the mood it can be great fun. "Sure, I'll take a look at your pillow cushions. You want how much? You're crazy! You must think I'm rich, not the poor traveler I am. If you saw my bank account, you would give me a better price." With the right haggling (lessons learned from the master, Rebecca) prices can drop in half, though of course the vendors claim you don't give them any profits. We recently heard an interesting line which described successful haggling as when both parties feel like they ripped the other one off just a little bit.

Which brings us back to carpets.

04 - Istanbul Cats

We have visited a few carpet stores, and found one that we really liked. The typical carpet buying experience is as follows: You come to the shop, either on your own initiative or because you were brought by someone (prices in these cases are inflated 30% or more). Bitter tea in little tulip shaped glasses is brought in (free, of course!. The carpets are pulled off their piles, and unrolled, dramatically, one after the other onto the floor. Details of the design or the material (wool on wool, wool on cotton, silk on cotton) are discussed. After a point, the rug salesman says, "Now, lets start eliminating the ones you don't like." So you go through saying yes or no to the carpets and end up with the final winners on the ground. Now you talk price. The less trustowrthy salesman will say something like "This carpet, in the the high season I would sell for $5000, but to you now, I offer $3000." We spit our tea on the floor and say that's much too expensive. You get the idea how it continues. In a better carpet shop they are more resonable and give you more accurate prices. How to tell the difference? We have no idea, but our gut told us that the shop we have spent the most time in (even though we have not bought) is a good place. It's called Mezopotamia and is run by a guy named Ramazan. But we would recommend to all visitors to Istanbul to stop by the Goverment run shop by the Hagia Sofia to see what the set prices are like for various pieces, before you go to a private shop.

Anyway, our incredible round the world magic carpet ride is coming to a close on Sunday when we head back to the Big Apple. Hard to believe. We'll post a big wrap up when we get back. Best/Worst lists, etc. Good fun. Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon.

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05 - The Blue Mosque	06 - Dome of the Blue Mosque	07 - All Dolled Up	08 - Haghia Sophia Dome
09 - Haghia Sophia as a Mosque

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