Turkey: Day VI (Izmir and Çeşme)

Thursday, March 24^th:

The Aegean Sea in Çeşme (With Greek Islands in the Background):

            Another wonderful (and confusing) adventure today! Jen and I caught our flight to Izmir early in the morning and arrived at the Park Hotel in Basmane around one. I should note that I finally got to try the Turkish breakfast/lunch food of Börek at the airport. This food is basically a flaky dough roll filled with cheese. The weather today in Izmir was significantly better than in Istanbul, as it was sunny and around 70 degrees (Fahrenheit… I feel I have to specify because they use Celsius here). We checked in and threw on our bathing suits to try to catch an hour long bus to Çeşme, a Turkish summer resort town on the Aegean Sea. After some more language difficulties discovering the final bus back to the city so we would not get stranded, we got our bus tickets and made our way to the small town. When we got there, the wind had picked up extraordinarily and the temperature had dropped to around 60 degrees. So much for swimming, as the water at the famous Ilica Beach was very cold too and getting wet in that wind would be frigid. We walked to the beach to discover that we were apparently way too early for beach season; the town and the beach were entirely empty. The beach was, however, a beautiful spot tucked between the sea and massive mountains rising all around.

            Since it was cold, we decided to try to find the naturally occurring geothermal hot springs of Çeşme. We learned that they were part of the ocean, tucked into breakwaters in the town’s marina, and we got the help of the receptionists at the Sheraton hotel right on the beach on how to get there. We walked about three kilometers to the breakwater, and tried to find where the water was warm. This spot was super sketchy, as there are boats in the water and it is tough to find where the hot water is coming from, all while we were getting blasted by sea water from the wind-whipped waves slamming the breakwater next to us. We noticed that there were iron stairs descending into a small ocean pool at the very end of the breakwater, so we walked down there. The adventure really started when we discovered that we had to navigate across a very sketchy bridge made of wooden planks across the deep ocean water to reach this pool, all while trying to maintain balance in the high winds. I shimmed my way across with both my and Jen’s bags, and helped her across before we dipped into the small geothermic pool. The water in there was very strange, in that waves would sneak cold ocean water in every once in a while, but other than that it was quite pleasant and warm. I even almost burned the bottom of my feet on the rocks on the bottom!

The Geothermic Hot Springs of Çeşme:

We swam in these pools for about thirty minutes, before trying to dry off and stay warm between blasts of sea water and the wind still picking up. Two local fishermen aided us back across the bridge and we went to change in a bathroom on our walk back to the bus station. On the way we stopped at a local café called Tius where we were given hot tea to warm up by a very nice worker. We chatted with him and he explained how he learned English from talking to the resort and beachgoers every summer, and told us that his name was Erkan. We had a nice chat about the importance of the English language for Turkish citizens and all people around the world as the international language, and he explained that his name meant “Soldier Blood” in Turkish. He gave us a nice discount on our tea before sending us off on our way. We made our way back to the bus station and caught a nice nap on the way back to Izmir.

Ilica Beach in Çeşme:

Izmir is a very different city than Istanbul. It is more of a resort city, and much more Western than Istanbul. After hot showers to warm us up from still being wet and cold from Çeşme, Jen and I walked over to Atatürk Caddesi in Alsancak, the main café, restaurant, and bar area of the city. The street is very long and runs parallel to the sea and a large, cozy park. We walked all the way down to the end to find the restaurant we had wanted to go to, before discovering that they literally had zero fish or vegetarian dishes on the menu. Seeing as Jen is a vegetarian, we left that restaurant and walked back to a fish restaurant called Kordonboyu Balik Pişiricisi. It was very late, after 10:45pm at this point, so the fish selection was very slim, however I got to try one of the last remaining Angler Sole fish that they had left. Naturally, I thought this was awesome, as I have always loved the look of this fish but never gotten to taste it! The dish was prepared broiled in a plate filled with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and lemons, and was absolutely delicious and very filling! I had planned on eating dessert, but did not have any room left in my stomach for it. We left the restaurant and walked back to the hotel, stopping at a bar called the Menta Bar. In here we each had an Efes and laughed at the (legal) prostitutes walking around shaking each and every patron’s hands. They also had a concert in this bar of a keyboard player/DJ, violinist (or some similar instrument that I am unaware of the name), and a singer playing traditional Turkish/Arabic music. We were entertained by this for about a half hour before heading home to get some shut-eye before another long day of touring tomorrow.

Turkey: Day V (Istanbul)

Wednesday, March 23^rd:

Topkapı Sarayı from Galata Tower:

            WOW. Today we visited one of the most incredible sites I have ever been to, the Topkapı Sarayı (Palace), but I will get to that shortly. We skipped breakfast today and went straight to the Dolmabahçe Palace for a tour of it and the Harem attached to it. The weather today was also the best we have had so far, as the annoying sprinkles of rain had given way to sun, although it was still very windy and somewhat chilly (around 50 degrees Fahrenheit). Dolmabahçe is a militarized zone, so the Turkish Army has guards with automatic rifles guarding its beautiful gates. It is a militarized zone because it is the place that Mustafa Atatürk died. A note here: Turkish people adore Atatürk. His picture is everywhere, everyone has posters of him in their homes, and the Turkish government even blocked Youtube.com for the entire country for a while because they discovered a spoof video someone made claiming that Atatürk was a homosexual. Pretty intense. I suppose that it is deserved as he was their first president and gained independence for the Turkish Republic in the 1920s. Anyways, we took a tour of the Palace which housed the last Sultans of the Ottoman Empire before Atatürk abolished Sultanship and their statuses as religious caliphs for Islam. The palace is very distinctly Western European, in stark contrast to the Ottoman and Byzantine architecture in the older part of the city. Most of the rooms have European furnishings, Baroque style paintings, and massive crystal chandeliers. It reminded me very much of some of the newer French castles I have visited. After touring the palace and its massive chambers used for ambassadorial meetings, we went into the Harem where the Sultans and their many wives and children lived. These rooms were more modest, but still very interesting to see where these powerful and wealthy men lived their daily lives. The word Harem comes from words meaning “forbidden” as women were not allowed into the actual palace, and nobody besides the Sultan and his family were allowed inside the Harem. It is inside the Harem where Atatürk fell into a coma due to liver failure and passed away. His death bed is adorned with the flag of the nation he dedicated his life to create and lead.

The Changing of the Guard at Dolmabahçe Palace:

            Following our tour of Dolmabahçe we made our way over to the Sultanahmet area to go to Tokapı Palace. On the way, we were both starving, so we stopped at a corner café next to the Hagia Sophia and both got Anatolian Pancakes called Gözleme. Mine had ground meat in it and Jen’s had nuts and honey. Hers was clearly better than mine, but both were good and we also had a Mediterranean Salad before walking over to the Palace. After some small difficulty finding the entrance—we walked through a huge park twice before finding it—we finally walked inside the outer courtyard of the palace. This place is absolutely massive. It was the location of the head of the Ottoman Empire for over 400 years, and today is a museum. We did not have enough time, unfortunately, to go to both the palace and the harem, so we just purchased tickets (again, Jen’s was free with her museum card) and went inside the inner courtyard. Seemingly everywhere you look there are the traditional blue Ottoman tiles and gold Arabic scripts decorating the buildings.

There are probably 50 different rooms to enter; libraries, justice halls, meeting rooms, armories, stables, treasuries, lounges, and even the circumcision room of the Ottoman princes is open to the public. We walked around a few of these rooms, in awe, before heading into the first of four treasury rooms. Inside these rooms the museum displays collections of Ottoman clothing, such as the caftans that the sultans wore, their suits of armor, and hundreds of jewelry items decked out in some of the biggest and shiniest gems I have ever seen in my life. We are talking rubies and emeralds the size of my fist here. In one room they have both an 86 and a 74 carat diamond. All of these gems decorate even the seemingly most useless of items—these sultans were the kings of accessorizing. There are benches, thrones, altars, Koran bindings, medals, pins, rings, earrings, and necklaces galore. Some of the coolest items, to me, were the Sultan’s swords. The Topkapı Daggar is on display, made famous by a film in the 1950s, as well as “the sword that conquered Persia” for the Ottomans. Ridiculous stuff.

Topkapı Sarayı:

            I had thought after seeing these items that I was already in awe of the lives of these Ottoman sultans and of the palace itself, but then we made our way into the Collection of Holy Artifacts room. It was in here where my jaw almost literally hit the floor at the magnitude of the significance of these items. In the first room you know the gravity of the collection, as two swords are one display belonging to two of the Apostles of Jesus. Next to them is a tall, seemingly basic rod stick. I looked at Jen wondering why this was on display next to such holy swords, and we glanced at the plaque that said “Rod of Moses.” We were immediately skeptical, as such an old, plain, and important item could not possibly still be around, let alone be validated as the actual rod. After going home for the day I investigated the legitimacy here: in one version of the Bible, the rod is said to have been destroyed. However, legend has it that the rod was passed down for generations within the community of Jews that Moses saved from Egypt. It was said to have remained in Egypt until the Ottoman sultans conquered Egypt and took the rod back to Istanbul. Frommer’s travel books also claims the legitimacy of this object, and I am still taken aback at how significant this artifact actually is. Also on display in this room are the sabers of the four original caliphs.

            Next we walked farther into the Hall of Holy Artifacts and discovered a collection of items that people were tightly and closely crowded around. I remind the reader that Turkey is an Islamic nation, and we soon noticed that there are a great number of artifacts from the life of the Prophet Muhammed kept here. Swords of the men who stood by his side are on display, as well as gold shutter pieces and locks from the Holy Ka’aba in Mecca. The sword of Muhammed himself is on display along with dirt from his grave, pieces of his beard, his footprint, and a piece of his tooth that was lost in the battle of Uhud. In another room is the first handwritten version of the Koran on deerskin. The holiest of all artifacts of Muhammed is his mantle, the Hırka-i Şharif, which is kept in a golden arc behind multiple panes of thick glass. I felt that I did not appreciate these artifacts as much as I should have, as I have a very limited knowledge of Islamic history, and the rooms were all filled with Muslims in awe of their prophet’s personal items. Perhaps I will learn more about Islam before I return to this collection later in my life.

Hagia Irene:

            We left the Holy Artifacts room and visited some of the other rooms of the palace, including the place where the sultans watched the moon over his empire every night. We walked around the palace until around its closing time before heading out, and stopping at the Hagia Irene inside the outer courtyard. This Byzantine church is not open to the public without special permission from the Turkish Tourism Police. The church predates the Hagia Sophia next door and is built upon the grounds of a pre-Christian temple. The inside is like a smaller version of the Hagia Sophia, however all of the tile mosaics have been lost save for a giant black cross on the sanctuary wall.

            I had thought that the Galata Tower had closed at five in the afternoon, as the website online had said, but we walked over to it anyways and discovered, to my surprise, that it was open until eight! I was very excited as I had thought I would miss out on the amazing photo opportunities offered on its ninth floor balcony. This building was originally constructed in the fifth century as a Byzantine lighthouse. It still stands today as a restaurant, museum attraction, and night club. Visitors take an elevator to its top floor and go onto the outside deck offering a 360 degree view of the entire city. The view towards the Sultanahmet area is absolutely stunning as you can see Topkapı Palace, the Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque all close together and unobstructed. I took a few photos from up there before heading back to the ground. From here, Jen and I walked down the road to Karaköy to catch a ferry across the Bosphorus to Kadiköy to get dinner in Asia at a Kurdish restaurant called Çiya. Another note here to travelers: this ferry across the river is the best bang-for-your-buck in the city. For just two Turkish Lira you get a half-hour ride on the Bosphorus! We also did this at sunset, and the views were awesome.

Istanbul at Sunset from Galata Tower:

            The Asian side is far more difficult to navigate than the European side, and is filled with mostly residential areas and outdoor markets offering fish, vegetables, and fruits. We wondered around for a little while before finding our restaurant, Çiya Sofrasi. Here we ordered a large assortment of foods as most of the entrees come out as half orders. I had dishes called Bozbas (beef chunks, potato, coriander, onion, parsley, and lamb), Siveydiz (Lamb, chickpeas, strained yogurt, mint, garlic) and they both were cooked as stew-like dishes. I also had a rice dish called Perde Pilavi which is made from dough stuffed with rice, raisons, pine nuts, almonds, and chicken. We also sampled different drinks of Sumac juice and a juice drink called Nevrooz made from barley and honey. This meal was absolutely excellent, and if you can afford the time to get over to try it, it is a wonderful alternative to the traditional Turkish restaurants all over the city but still offers an authentic meal from Old Turkey. Following dinner we walked around and found a bar with a band playing and had an Efes before heading back to our hotel. We had to wake up early the next morning to catch a flight to Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey located on the Aegean Coast in Asia where we would stay for three nights.

Turkey: Day IV (Istanbul)

Tuesday, March 22^nd:

The Black Sea from a Distance:

            What an adventure today! We woke up intending to go to Topkapı Palace, but discovered that it was closed on Tuesdays. We also had wanted to go to the Princes Islands in the Marmara Sea for a day, but discovered that the ferries there don’t run from March 20^th to March 26^th (literally the one week all year that they close, and the one week that I am here). So after eating the hotel breakfast, we decided maybe it would be cool to visit Rumeli Hisari, one of the Ottoman forts on the Bosphorus, and if we had time, possibly get up to see the Black Sea. We took a 45 minute bus ride north to Sariyer before discovering that we had travelled far passed Rumeli Hisari and were still a ways from the Black Sea. At least I can say that I saw it, however, as we could see the hills where the Bosphorus ended and the vast sea in the distance where all of the large shipping vessels were headed. We hopped in a cab to head back, and had our first serious problem with the language barrier. I had told the cabbie that we wanted to go to Rumeli Hisari, however I handed him the address to it and he did not know where it was. Mistakenly, I had also written down “Anadolu Hisari” on the paper, which is the matching fort on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, and he saw this and thought that we wanted to go there. After a long and painful cab ride (this cab was awful and lurched so bad we both almost threw up), we got to Anadolu Hisari. This mistake was very annoying, as the Anadolu fort is far smaller and not a museum like, and it cost us 47TL one way and another 23TL coming back after a few pictures. But besides being annoying, this was the first time in my life that I had set foot in Asia!

Rumeli Hisari:

            So we took a cab back to the other side and walked around the 500 year old fort for about an hour. It was built at the narrowest point in the Bosphorus to match the Anadolu fort and defend the Ottomans. We also met a friendly tourism policeman who played a funny joke on Jen, locking her behind a rot-iron gate in one of the towers for a few minutes. It got pretty cold in the wind walking around right on the water, so we took a bus to Taksim Square to look for the Church of St. Anthony of Padua. On the way, we discovered a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church and took our time strolling down Istiklal while hopping in a couple stores. One store was a very cool antique book store that was filled with old art and Arabian maps of the world and old books. I purchased a small original watercolor of the Hagia Sophia here, and we went to the St. Anthony Church. This church is somewhat modern but in a very cool location as it is literally in the middle of urban Taksim which hosts the most nightlife in the entire nation.

Church of St. Anthony of Padua:

            All of this walking got us pretty hungry, so we walked down Istiklal to the Galata neighborhood and got Pide for lunch, the Turkish version of pizza, and more lentil soup (everywhere has this). Ours had peppers and tomatoes on them, and Pide comes without sauce, just cheese. We also walked by the old Galata Tower, built in the fourth century on our way down the hill towards Karaköy. In Karaköy we decided to hang out at a Nargile lounge, a Turkish hookah café. Inside there is food and drink services and you can sit in comfy benches filled with pillows while you watch a personal television and play backgammon. Jen and I got a melon nargile, and the waiters bring you fresh coals every ten minutes or so while you smoke the hookah tobacco in the same manner as the Ottomans hundreds of years ago. We played a full game of backgammon and tried to decipher the Turkish news about the UN missions in Libya before heading back to the hotel for a nap, showers, and to change for dinner.

Myself and Jen at a Nargile Lounge in Karaköy:

            For dinner we had wanted to go to the Kiki restaurant in Taksim Square, however we got going pretty late and the bus took long enough in the traffic that we arrived just after the kitchen closed. Instead, we walked through Taksim and discovered an old Italian wine cellar with a restaurant in it, called Pano Sarapevi, and ate there. We enjoyed a blended Shiraz with our meals, which were mostly Italian but with a distinct Turkish flavor to them. We had rice-stuffed grape leaves for an appetizer, and I had a Steak with peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and melted cheese on top of it. We knew we had a long day ahead again for tomorrow, so we headed back to Arnavutköy for bed around one in the morning.

Turkey: Day III (Istanbul)

Monday, March 21st:

Today we awoke early enough to enjoy the (included) breakfast at the Villa Denise. Breakfast here consists of coffee, lots of bread, jam, three different types of white cheese, black and green olives, honey, butter, coffee, and a roll of salamı (like ham, but nobody in Islamic regions eat pig). After breakfast we went to the Ortaköy Mosque which is right on the Bosphorus. The mosque has a beautiful exterior, has massive minarets, and is decorated with large crystal chandeliers and baroque paintings. As we walked out of the mosque, Jen’s boot zipper broke, so we travelled to her dorm room in Etiler to get her a new pair of shoes. Following that, we took a bus to Beşiktaş to go to the Dolmabahçe Palace, but it was closed (for Mondays), so we walked to Eminönü to check out the famous Spice Bazaar!

The Ortaköy Mosque:

The Istanbul Spice Bazaar is a very cool place filled with vendors selling Turkish delights, tea leaves, dried fruits, spices, dried vegetable skins, cheese, olives, and tons of nuts. Most of the Turkish delights are filled with pistachios, which is a huge staple of the nation. It is very enjoyable to walk around because you are allowed to take small, free samples of things without buying the large quantities in which they are typically sold. At the end of the spice bazaar, we bought a Vefa drink, which tastes like applesauce mixed with yogurt with hazelnuts in it. From there we walked up a large hill to the Süleymaniye Mosque which is one of the largest in the city and most prominent as it sits on top of a hill overlooking the Golden Horn River that divides the city. The mosque was constructed for the Ottoman sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. The inside is gorgeous and decorated with typical Ottoman styles much like the Blue Mosque.

A Typical Shop-Front in the Istanbul Spice Bazaar:

After a short taxi (taksi) ride north of the city center, we arrived at the Church of St. Savior at Chora (the Kariye Müzesi). This church is a Byzantine church that is much smaller than the Hagia Sophia, but similar style and interior decoration. The church has a series of small hallways that are decorated from top-to-bottom in religious mosaics. It is absolutely beautiful, and much lower-key than the Hagia Sophia. The mosaics are of similar style but are much closer to the viewer as the building is smaller. It is one of the few remaining churches from the Byzantine era that seemed to avoid Islamic influence and the addition of minarets during their reign.

A Beautiful Mosaic of Jesus Christ at The Church of St. Savior at Chora:

After trying unsuccessfully to use the bus system to get to the Grand Bazaar, we rode a taxi to Beyazit for lunch and some shopping. At a café outside the bazaar, I tried Et Dönner, another very traditional Turkish meal. This dish is made by putting a vertical spit through a stack of red meat while it spins and roasts next to a flame. After it cooks, the chef slices down the meat to remove small chunks of the meat, which fall to a plate below and are put in a sandwich with veggies for you to eat. It is a very salty but savory lunch, and I enjoyed it with a cup of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. We went inside the Grand Bazaar after lunch and I was amazed at how crazy it was! There is a labyrinth inside of hallways, and it seems like an American mall, only almost 600 years old and every store sells the same thing. You need to bring your best skills at dodging hecklers here, as they can be very pushy sometimes. In there I purchased some backgammon pieces to go with my new board, and some Italian black leather gloves after some bargaining. It is also absolutely hilarious what you can find for fake designer wares in here, such as D&G, Burberry, Versace, Prada, etc. We left the bazaar and made a short walk to the Column of Constantine, which is nicknamed the Burnt Column for its black scorch marks from a fire centuries ago.

The 550+ Year Old Grand Bazaar:

Now the best treat of the day: we wanted to go to a Turkish Bath (or Hamam) and thanks to a recommendation by a good friend, Jesse Suchoff, we went to the world famous “Cağaloğlu Hamamı.” The place, as advertised, is apparently included on a famous “List of 1000 things to do before you die” and is very Western and spa-like in business, but fully Turkish inside. After purchasing your treatment package and undressing into a traditional Turkish bath towel, you walk inside the Hamam room. This room is basically a massive marble steam room filled with hot water sinks, a marble platform in the center, and a massive domed ceiling with star-shaped holes for natural light to feed inside. If you google “Turkish Bath,” this is the one you will see. After soaking in the steam while laying on the center platform, a Turkish masseur comes inside and hands you a pillow. I will warn people attending this, that a Turkish Massage is not for everyone, as it can be very rough but it will feel very good on the joints after. The masseur digs his elbows and hands deep into your back and legs and stretches all of your joints for fifteen minutes, before you sit next to a sink and he douses you in hot water. Following that, the masseur will take an exfoliating scrub and soap and scrub your skin on your chest, back, legs, and arms. He also dumps shampoo on your head and washes the hair, then leaves you some to clean the regions that would be inappropriate to touch (although, apparently women are naked inside their bath and these boundaries to not exist). This bath was one of the coolest experiences of my life, and after washing myself I sat again soaking in the steam before heading outside to dry off and drink a fresh squeezed fruit juice and a tea. I was basking in this feeling of bliss for hours.

Jen and I made our way back to the hotel for a short nap before heading out to dinner in Arnavutköy next to the Kuruçeşme Park at a restaurant called Marina Balik. Balik is Turkish for fish, and this restaurant is right on the Bosphorus. My brother, Brad, deserved credit for the recommendation here, as he and his wife, Laura, went here on their birthday (yes, they are both born on the same day) when they visited Istanbul. For dinner we both had Grilled Octopus and an extremely delicious Grilled Salt Fish kebap with tomatoes and peppers. We also enjoyed some Turkish white wine with the dinner, a bottle of “Bornova Misketi,” or Muscat, which was by far the best of the trip so far. We digested our food on the walk back to the hotel, and after some prodding from Jen, we took a few pre-game shots of a Turkish vodka called Binbao, flavored like blood-orange, and went to the club called Reina. Reina is apparently one of the best clubs in the world and especially Europe, and is noted as the best club in Istanbul. The location is awesome, right under the bridge to Asia in Ortaköy, however in the winter months the outside deck is closed as it is too cold. We had heard that the doormen are typically against letting Americans inside, but we got inside. I figured that it being a Monday night and being fairly empty was the reason that this was so easy. We still enjoyed the club very much and stayed dancing until it closed at three in the morning. Just a note to people who want to go here: The club is awesome, the service is great if you get inside, but be prepared for a hefty bill. We drank three gin and tonics between the two of us and it was 100TL for them. Finally it is bedtime after such a long and eventful day!

The Exterior of the St. Savior Church at Chora:

Turkey: Day II (Istanbul)

Sunday, March 20th:

            After finally waking up this morning (and by morning, I mean around 1:00pm) and learning that we had missed the breakfast hours of our Bed and Breakfast hotel, Jen and I made our way by public transportation to the Sultanahmet Area of Istanbul. This area is one of the biggest tourist areas in the city, as the major attractions of the Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya), the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed I Camii) and Topkapı Palace (Topkapı Sarayı) are all located here. The Istanbul public transportation system is fairly efficient, though crowded, as a city of 13.2 million people should be, as buses, trains, and ferries run non-stop during the daytime hours. Jen alerted me to her "Akbil" which is basicaly a microchip on a key chain that stores money to use for these transports, and all of them are under two Turkish Lira for a full ride. A note on the Turkish Lira: as of my trip time, the US Dollar trades at around 1.55 TL per-dollar, which makes transactions here very easy and relatively cheap for American travelers. Anyway, after about an hour of travelling from one end of the city to the other, we arrived in Sultanahmet and I first laid my eyes on the magnificent buildings in the area. These buildings have been around for centuries-- a common theme in this city, as it has been settled for thousands of years and was the center for both the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires.

Exterior View of the Hagia Sophia from across Sultanahmet Park:

            Being fairly hungry, we snagged a snack in the park on our way to the Hagia Sophia: a Turkish Simit. Basically this is the Turkish version of a bagel, and it is basically a large, soft pretzel in circular shape that is covered in sesame seeds. We ate this on our way to the Hagia Sophia, and went inside with an audio guide for a combined 20 TL. Another note here: Jen is an international study-abroad student through Duke University at the Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, she has a Turkish Citizen MüzeKart (Museum Card) that gives her massive discounts at all of these attractions in the city.

            My first main attraction in Istanbul might be the best one of the trip. The Hagia Sophia is now a museum, but was a Byzantine Church constructed in the late 6th century as the center of the empire's patriarch. The building was converted into a mosque after the Ottomans sacked Byzantium. This can be noticed by the four minarets that surround the outside of the holy structure. The building was later converted into a museum given its history and the absolutely beautiful sights that can be seen inside. Upon entering, one is immediately encountered with a massive colorful mosaic of Jesus Christ above the main door into the sanctuary. This is one of literally hundreds of mosaics found inside, and one of the most intriguing parts of the museum is how these mosaics are still being discovered today. When converted into a mosque, the ottomans covered all of these mosaics with plaster for their own decor. Today, archeologists are almost blindly (and tremendously carefully) scraping the plaster away in attempts to find more holy mosaics without damaging them. This is a very difficult task, as many of the damaged mosaics show inside the massive building. All over there are mosaic depictions of Byzantine Emperors, Archangels, and holy Christian persons. Seemingly everywhere one looks a mosaic can almost sneak up on you, as they are even hidden in the nooks and crannies of the semi-domes in the high ceilings. It is simply a sight to behold.

Inside the Hagia Sophia:

            After spending over an hour at the Hagia Sophia (I feel like I could have spent days there...) we made our way across the park to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. On the way we stopped at a street vendor and sampled a treat of melted, flavored sugars wrapped around a stick that is similar to a taffy treat at home. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque for the numerous blue tiles and stained glass the decorates its interior, is the national Mosque of Turkey and was constructed for Sultan Ahmed (I) during his reign over the Ottoman Empire. Funny story here, the main mosque of the holy Islamic city of Mecca had five minarets when the Blue Mosque was constructed. As the legend goes, no mosque was to have more minarets than Mecca, however some way along the construction of the Blue Mosque, this instruction was lost and six were built. Not wanting to seem more holy than Mecca, Sultan Ahmed I had two more minarets built and sent to Mecca so it would have seven. While the Hagia Sophia may have the Blue Mosque beat on the inside, the outer structure of the Blue Mosque is far more magnificent than that of the Hagia Sophia. With the six massive minarets and massive domes all over, the building is a prominent point on the Istanbul skyline. As the first mosque I have ever entered (shoes must be removed and women must wear head scarves), I was blown away by the typical Islamic designs on the carpet and domes. There are massive stained glass windows and, as the mosque is still in use, visitors may not pass a fence in the rear of the mosque so as to not disturb those who are praying inside.

The Beautiful Exterior of the Blue Mosque:

            Following the Blue Mosque, we made our way across the park to the Basilica Cisterns museum. The Cisterns is an underground museum that puts its visitors inside an ancient roman cistern that was used as a water store for the city inhabitants. Visitors enter a giant room filled with water and hundreds of Roman columns, and are allowed to walk around the structure. It is very eerie as huge carp swim around the shallow waters, the columns are illuminated with red light, and traditional Turkish music plays softly as tourists hear water drip from the ceiling. Perhaps most intriguing of all, at the far end of the walkways is steps down to the base of two special columns. One of these columns is decorated with a Medusa head upside-down, and the other depicts Medusa head on its side. Why the builders did this is unknown—quite mysterious. After we walked around the museum, we stopped for an apple tea at a café inside the cisterns, and made our way back to the shops of Sultanahmet.

The Roman Columns of Basilica Cisterns:

            For dinner we stopped at a restaurant in Sultanahmet with windows facing the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. It was a great location, and I had Köfte—Ottoman Meatballs with a yogurt sauce and an assortment of veggies. It was here that I also tried Rakı, a favorite Turkish alcoholic drink, for the first time. Rakı is flavored like anise, or black licorice, and is said to taste the best with seafood. I also got to try my first cup of Turkish Coffee after dinner: a cup of coffee boiled with the coffee grains still in it over a wood fire. Very tasty! Following dinner, Jen and I took the light-rail and metro bus back to our hotel and enjoyed some white wine from Cappadocia, a bottle of grape variety “Narince,” and heated up some stuffed mussels from the previous night. We headed to bed early, as we knew we had a long day ahead.

Turkey: Day I (Istanbul)

Saturday, March 19th:

Merhaba!

            I finally arrived in Turkey today around 2:00pm after a couple long flights overnight through Amsterdam. The Amsterdam airport may be one of the more confusing I have ever been in, but luckily that didn't stop me. My girlfriend, Jen, met me at the airport with some delicious Turkish Baklava treats, and after a long (and expensive) cab ride, we made it to our hotel, Villa Denise, in Arnavutköy. Arnavutköy is a fairly wealthy neighborhood of Istanbul that is filled with Bosphorus-side mansions and tons of fish, or balik, restaurants. Our hotel is one of these mansions, converted into an operation of five rooms with a friendly staff (at least the male desk-worker). Our room is on the top floor and offers an in-room hot-tub and a balcony with views of the Istanbul strait, the Bosphorus (or Boğaziçi in Turkish) between the Marmara and Black Seas. Unfortunately, the weather upon my arrival was not the best as it was slightly rainy and cloudy and expected to remain that way for a few days. As my birthday was March 18^th, Jen also gave me my birthday gifts: a red wine from Cappadocia decorated on the exterior with limestone depicting the ancient underground homes of Cappadocia, and a traditional Turkish backgammon board decorated with pearl. How awesome!

View of Arnavutköy from our Room in the Hotel Villa Denise:

           After a much needed nap, Jen and I made our way to Ortaköy for my first taste of Turkish cuisine and the difficulty of trying to get cabbies to take you where you actually want to go given the language barrier. After unsuccessfully trying to find the restaurant we wanted to go to, we settled upon one of the small cafes and I had some lentil soup and an authentic Turkish Lamb Kebap. I also found out here that Turkish people drink tea (çay) after nearly every meal. Before heading to Taksim Square we also sampled a local favorite: Stuffed Mussels with rice inside. With some renewed energy we arrived at Taksim Square for a long stroll down Istiklal Caddesi, one of the main urban areas filled with shops, clubs, bars, restaurants, and large crowds. We walked around for a while, dodging the typical Turkish hecklers trying to recruit you to buy their wares or food, and got a couple Efes beers and a cocktail before heading home to get some rest for sightseeing the next day. The Efes beer is a Turkish domestic beer,  is almost the only beer sold in Turkey and it is basically everywhere.

A Note on Turkish Blog Posting

I had intended to post my blog for my trip to Turkey one-day at a time, however the Turkish government has blocked all access to blogger.com. One who attempts to access the website from within the country is greeted with a blank, white page with big red letters that say, “Bu siteye erişim mahkeme kararıyla engellenmiştir.” A rough translation of this into English is, “This court decision blocked access to the site.” For this reason, I will post one day in each post, but around the day I return from the trip. Sucks for bloggers in Turkey.