Turkiye
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
46
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Istanbul,
Turkey
Saturday, July 5, 2008
well. Talk to most people who've been and they have good things to say
about it. Tell anyone you are going and they tell you how badly they
want to go . You are supposed to love the place. Hmmm.
Multiple-culture-shock-time-lag therapy might describe the last two
weeks during which time I went from Phuket through Singapore, Tokyo,
Kyoto and Vienna, a total of eight time zones before hitting my first
stop on my Eastern European leg, Istanbul
My street
. A fitting first stop aswell, as it is the one city that sits squarely on the border between
Asia and Europe.
Istanbul is dazzling. Oddly it isn't at all what I had pictured,
but I'm not sure what that was. It's pace is bordering on frantic,
bussling. It is not a classically beautiful city but its densely
compacted red tile roofed buildings spread gorgeously for as far as you
can see up the hills that emerge from all sides of the intersection of
the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. The skyline is
marked by the many domed tops of massive mosques. The sky is always
blue and it's hot every day. The call to prayer flows with the ominous
mystique you imagine from the loudspeakers of the mosques at all times
of the day, adding to the already bazaar atmosphere where hawkers and
touts seemingly outnumber the tourists
The view from the rooftop terrace
. In the west we move paper,here they move merchandise. A walk through the streets surrounding the
Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market (Misir Carsisi--smells amazing!)
reveals dozens of men pushing and pulling dollies loaded with all sorts
of goods from store to store.
I decided to stay in Sultanahmet, the highly touristic area that is
home to the famous Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and Topkapi Palace and many
other famous sites. It is also home to the highest concentration of
carpet shops in the world (I don't think I'm making this up.).
Sultanahmet is probably the oldest section of the city and houses most
of the hostels and budget hotels
My girlfriend
. A bed in a dorm runs around 11 Euro,including breakfast which usually consists of five choices, one of
which is the ubiquitous Turkish breakfast--a hard boiled egg, cucumber,
onion, sometimes watermelon and other fruit, cheese spread, jam, butter
and all the bread you can stomach. My place, the Sultan Hostel sits on
a street that is lined with hostels, bars and restaurants and is just
around the corner from the Four Seasons Hotel where a room is only
around $400 a night. Most of them including mine have rooftop terraces
with spectacular views of the Marmara.
I had the better part of seven days in town and saw all the
sights
Flares for Euro 08 final
. Along with those mentioned above, I took a boat tour up theBosphorus, $16 for two hours but no guide (!?), I saw the Galatica
Tower, the archaeological museum and spent a day wandering the streets
of Taksim, the more cosmopolitan, less expensive and not as touristic
and essentially devoid of hawkers part of town located across the
Golden Horn. It was really easy to do all of this on foot.
Late one afternoon I had beers in the park across from the
Sultanahmet tram station with Aladdin, a tout for the Walkabout Travel
Agency. He has been to Calgary (of all places) and loves Canada.
He befriended me while trying to convince me that an organized tour of
Turkey would be better than going it on my own--yeah right
Watching the Euro outside
. While wewere chatting a skirmish broke out on the main road across from where
we were sitting. A woman was screaming and hitting the hood of a small
truck with what looked like a small broom. We were in Aladdin's 'hood
so he hurried down to investigate. Turns out the woman is the
president of a local animal humane society and she took exception to
these men apprehending a stray dog using some kind of stun gun.
Incidentally, these tours run at about $1,200 for 20 days, not
including beverages. I spent a little over that, including beverages.
(Yes, Turkey is not cheap...see below.)
I stopped in at a coffee shop near my hostel for an expensive cup
of filtered coffee ($5 including one refill), Java Studio, and met
Jennifer, the owner, who hails from Jasper Place in Edmonton (of all
places)
My friends
. She's been in Istanbul for two years and previously lived inThailand for seven years. We discussed importing Turkish carpets into
Canada and she introduced me to a local import/export carpet dude.
Hmmm.
Touts and hawkers. When you travel a lot, you more or less get
used to them. It's part of the gig. You come across all kinds. You
try to have fun with them and engage. Not only by virtue of their
approach and persistence but in terms of shear numbers, Turkey's are
the peskiest I've seen yet. You cannot get past them unless you are
prepared to be utterly rude and that's something I have a difficult
time doing
Sunsetting on Blue Mosque
. These guys are expert salesmen, working at buildingrelationships in seconds. They smile and extend a hand as they greet
you with the usual, 'where you from?' and an introduction. They're
really quite pleasant and affable. The carpet guys, the restaurant
guys and to a lesser extent, the leather guys. After a day of walking
around the area you get pretty sick of it and start snapping at them.
One resto guy near my hostel was relentless. After about five days he
moved to the guilt technique so I started taking different route home.
Everybody is working it. I got to know three or four of them and we'd
wave and say hello whenever I passed. Sometimes I'd stop to chat for a
minute. But I couldn't help but feel that they were only really
interested in the hopes that I might just buy a carpet or eat in their
restaurant
Euro-woman blocked every close play!
. Sometimes the guys you had to deal with were a bit on the gruff
side. The boys running my hostel were particularly so, except when it
came to serving the cute backpacker chicks. One of them would
literally scowl and slam a plate down on the table in front of me and
then turn to Julie, smiling and eyelashes fluttering and ask what
she'd like. This would be a recurring theme. Hmmm.
The food is very good. Quite a change moving from a rice, noodle,
soup and vegetable based diet to one of meat and bread
Blue Mosque
. Lots ofbread! As much as you want. No charge. I think I've even come to
prefer the former (asian) and it didn't take long for me to start to
miss it. Durum, what we call donar at home are yummy and cheap at
usually around three to five dollars. Donars here are the same only
the meat is served in a bun (sandwich style). Mains at less expensive
restaurants would be in the eight dollar range (like I say, it ain't
cheap, certainly not by comparison with where I'd been.). Beers are
not cheap either, costing as much as $4 and $5 in a bar or restaurant.
Efes is the local brand and it's good, although all to often it is not
served as cold as it should be.
I didn't take long to see that there's a bit of racket going on
here
Street vendor
. Typically hostels around the world have a common area whereguests can hang out. Sometimes they sell beers at a price comparable
to what you would pay at the local minimart. If not, you can bring
your own beers in. Not in Turkey. Almost without exception the
hostels have bars that sell beers at regular bar rates and bringing in
drinks from outside is strictly forbidden and they let you know it.
Prices for all things tourist: beers, coffees, tickets to
attractions, laundry services in particular, are inordinately priced in
relation to what other things cost, i.e. they are priced similarly to
Canada, yet meals and accommodations are substantially lower
Guy selling shirts
. Seems abit of a cash grab.
I met a transsexual from Brazil, Barcu--a backpacker who decided
to stop in Istanbul for a bit as a server at the bar across the street
from my hostel and she introduced me to an Auzie who has lived in
Istanbul for 11 years and was once a travel agent. It took him about
five minutes to help me settle on what would pretty much be
my itinerary for the next two weeks. I would essentially follow the
same path that the travel agents map out for the unwitting backpacker
who goes for the package. Next stop would be Goreme, a beautiful and
quaint little tourist town situated smack in the middle of Cappadocia.
