Warmer(ish) weather, finally!
Trip Start
May 06, 2007
1
103
166
Trip End
Jul 24, 2008
Istanbul,
Turkey
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
When the Turkish official came through the bus checking and collecting passports, I was the only non-Bulgarian or Turk and, therefore, the only one required to get off and buy a $20 visa. At least I got a pretty, multi-colored sticker for my passport, making my 20 bucks worth something more than a boring black stamp. After the passport formalities were taken care of, the bus drove to a waiting point where we sat for about 20 minutes. We then got off the bus, claimed our bags, lined up on large benches, and opened our bags. A woman came through and ran her hand through all the luggage down the line, not so diligently checking for something, though I couldn't imagine what her cursory hand check would possibly find. When she finished, we loaded our bags back on the bus and finished the drive to Istanbul. Although I couldn't feel it while on the bus, the temperature was gradually rising as we made our way into Turkey. By the time we reached Istanbul, it had even made it's way into the 50s (and this is after sunset). I was very excited to shed a few layers and no longer feel like a marshmallow walking around.
Istanbul is a very large, very metropolitan city - it felt more Western European than all of the post-communist cities I had previously visited. It also straddles both Europe and Asia, separated by the large Bosphorous River, though the country itself also feels like a combination of Europe and the Middle East. There are many women walking around wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf, while others wear stilettos and low-cut shirts. Interestingly enough, Turkey long ago decided that the best way to secularize was to ban head-scarves from Universities, meaning no religious Muslim woman could attend a University in Turkey. In my opinion this is just as bad as requiring every woman to wear one.
Most of the hostels, hotels, and main attractions in Istanbul are located in one neighborhood - a neighborhood that's teeming with an equal number of touts as tourists. Each tout tries his hardest (yes, his, I never once saw a female tout) to get you into their restaurant, souvenir shop, carpet store, etc. There are also a number of men who claim to not be touts who try to start conversations with you while you walk down the street. One guy started following me while I stupidly answered his questions as tersely as I could. I was window shopping my way down the main road while looking for a restaurant for dinner. When I stopped to look in the window of a pastry shop he looked at me and very seriously said, "You shouldn't eat dessert or you'll get fat." I looked straight at him and said a very strong goodbye before quickly walking in the opposite direction. I learned very quickly that the best way to get rid of the touts is to flat-out ignore them.
I decided to spend just a couple of days in Istanbul at first, leaving to travel around Turkey. I'll then return for a longer chunk of time before catching my flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. I figured this would allow me not to feel rushed while making my way through the rest of Turkey since one or two days more or less in Istanbul at the end wouldn't be a big deal. During this first visit I hit up the two main tourist attractions - the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia.
The Blue Mosque is very large and beautiful both inside and out. It's referred to as the Blue Mosque because of the elaborate, blue interior decorations. Everyone is required to remove their shoes before entering and girls who were wearing skirts above their knees had to use a large sarong-like cloth to cover themselves. Across the street and a large garden from the Blue Mosque is the Aya Sofia, a one-time church turned into a mosque. The Aya Sofia is massively huge and incredibly beautiful. It has a lot of intricate decorations from both its Christian and Muslim uses, including a number of frescoes. While there I met Shanaz, an Indian girl who has been living in New York for the last five years. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together and although we were heading to different places within Turkey, we made plans to meet up again in Istanbul at the end of both of our Turkish adventures.
