Avrupa ve Asya

The past few days have been truly special. Having checked most of the must-see tourist attractions off our list, we’ve been leisurely exploring the city, revisiting favored areas and wandering through some new terrain.

On Friday, we took a ferry to the Princes’ Islands, visiting the largest, known as Büyükada, or Grand Island. There are no cars on the island, so we were temporarily free from the dangers of Istanbul traffic. The main attractions are little shops and restaurants and the amazing views. We toured the island in a horse-drawn carriage, which brought us up a hill from which there are sprawling views of the water, the coast, and even Istanbul an hour and a half away.

That evening, Tay’s cousins and their wives took us out to dinner in Taksim, one of the young and modern areas of the city. We went to a restaurant that serves small pieces of meat on skewers; you wrap a very thin, crèpe-like pieces of bread around them with one hand and use the other hand to pull out the skewer. Then you add toppings from a variety of options on the table, such as greens, diced tomatoes with pomegranate juice, an onions, fold it up, and eat it. Afterwards we went back to one couple’s apartment for wine, çay, fruit, and nuts. Unfortunately, my cold had progressed, and it’s hard to keep with five people speaking Turkish, only a few of whom are able to translate for me, so I was completely wiped out by the time we got home… after 3am.

Obviously no alarm was set for the following morning, and we spent the afternoon strolling around and checking out some stores in the old part of the city, near the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. We found a store completely dedicated to Tay’s favorite soccer – sorry, football, as everyone here reminds me – team, so he is coming home with a very sharp-looking jersey. We enjoyed lunch at an outdoor café, and the food must have fueled my brain, because when I greeted a salesperson in the next store we visited, he asked if I was Turkish! I had to admit that I am not, but I was able to explain (in Turkish) that my husband is. This put a big proud smile on my face. :)

Outside, we heard music and stumbled upon a concert by a traditional military band for the national holiday celebrating some aspect of the formation of the Turkish Republic.


Then we continued our meandering, stopping to purchase fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice by the side of the road and some much-needed decongestant at a pharmacy, and eventually met up with Tay’s friend from college who lives here. He has season tickets to one of Istanbul’s main soccer (I mean football) teams, Galatasaray, and had offered to bring us to a game. We had been disappointed that Tay’s team, Beşiktaş, had games scheduled for one day before our arrival and after our departure, but he likes this team as well, and it would be a fun opportunity for me to experience a European football match.

I had a great time – when I told Tay how much fun I was having, his eyes lit up like he’d won the lottery :) - mostly because the fans are hilarious. They come all decked out with their team’s jerseys, jackets, and scarves. I never understood what the scarves were for, but they swing them around over their heads. Right from the start, entire sections were cheering and chanting together, jumping up and down in sync. The funniest part, though, was that with every call against their team, the fans all made the exact same hand motion (arm sticking straight out at about 45 degrees from the front of the body, with the hand out like Hey, come on!) and shouted the same things (not that I knew what they were saying). It’s exactly what I see Tay do whenever he watches a game on TV; now I know that he’s not crazy, he’s just a typical Turkish fan.


Today we did some last strolling and shopping, then took a ferry across the Bosphorous to Asya (Asia, as you probably guessed). Many Turks live on the Asian side and commute to Avrupa to work. The ferry only took about 15 minutes, and two bridges also connect the two parts of the city. There, we met Sumru, a friend of Tay’s from our Boston days; she’s an ophthalmologist who did a uveitis fellowship at the practice where he worked. She and her husband are incredibly sweet people, and took us to a fish restaurant right on the water. I tried a number of different foods (some of which I might not have tried had they told me what it was first, such as sheep’s liver) and different ways of eating them (one small fish can be eaten whole, except for the tail; you can swallow the bones). Another type of fish – shield fish, which was my favorite – is only caught during a certain season, and Turkish fishermen apparently cross into Russian waters to catch it. If they are found doing this, they can be jailed for 6 months, yet they still go back and do it again the next year because the fish is so good. Being the incredibly thoughtful person that she is, Sumru had bought us the special kind of tea kettle needed to brew the Turkish çay that I love, as well as another set of tea cups and spoons, so now we are coming home with everything we need – plus extras – to make çay. I hope you are all ready to try some the next time you come over!

You can imagine the challenge posed by packing up all of our goodies in preparation for tomorrow’s flight. We wish we could stay longer; I feel very acclimated to the city and am able to learn bits of the language pretty quickly and Tay feels a great sense of belonging with the people here. (The other day, he had to leave a message for his cousin, and when he gave his name, the person taking the message just wrote it down, spelled correctly, with no quizzical look or questions asked. How often do you think that happens to him at home?) Tomorrow we will say goodbye to Istanbul, but only for now. I’ll leave you with one more shot of the unmistakable skyline:

Güzel Bir Gün!

A beautiful day!

Today’s weather was exactly what we have longed for – fantastic sunshine! We headed up to a different part of the city, Ortaköy, where we met up with another of Tay’s cousins for lunch. We had a local specialty, kumpir, which is a baked potato topped with butter, cheese, and anything else you want. (Choices include olives, corn, carrots, mushrooms, pickled red cabbage, chopped hot dog, ketchup, and mayonnaise.) Then we enjoyed the requisite post-meal çay at a café right on the water.

Istanbul straddles Europe and Asia, with the Bosphorous Strait dividing the two continents and connecting the Sea of Marmara to the south with the Black Sea to the north. (We are staying on the European side, where most of the sites are; sometime in the remaining few days, we hope to go over to Asia!) After wandering the cute, cobblestoned, shop-lined streets for a bit (and possibly buying some books and a pair of earrings…) we took a sight-seeing cruise on the Bosphorous. The views were really spectacular, and it was a perfect day to be on the water. The shot below shows the mosque right on the water (on the European side) and one of the bridges spanning the Bosphorous.


Next we strolled for quite awhile and returned to the tram, taking it to an area called Nişantesı, which boasts some of the city’s higher-end shopping. Also on the European side of Istanbul, it is separated from the section where we are staying by a bay known as the Golden Horn. We spent a few hours browsing, still enjoying beautiful sunshine, and finding a really pretty long flowered dress. :)

For dinner, we headed back across the Golden Horn and, along a different stretch of water, got some delicious fish sandwiches. Men dressed in black uniforms with gold decorations cook the sandwiches on these ornate little boats that bob right at the dock and then pass them up to you when you order. They only make one simple kind, so all you have to do is tell them how many you want and then go grab drinks from a freezer. For dessert, we grabbed a few of a pastry that I hadn’t yet had, which I call baklava balls; sort of like baklava but spherical and lighter. I guess today’s themes were sunshine and special Turkish treats, as we grabbed little cones of maraş dondurması, a type of ice cream that’s kind of sticky, on the way back to the hotel.

So what happened yesterday? Well, it rained. But we still saw some pretty amazing sites, starting with the Hagia Sophia. Originally a church, it was converted to a mosque during the time of the Ottoman Empire, and then became a museum after the Ottoman Empire became Turkey. Because of this, there is the interesting juxtaposition of a mosaic of Christ and Madonna flanked by two large medallions with words written in Arabic. The whole thing was literally breathtaking. See for yourself:


Then we checked out Topkapı Palace, former home of the sultans. It’s absolutely huge, but we visited the Harem (where apparently the concubines were supervised by eunuchs), a display of the sultans’ clothing, and the treasury, which contains dozens of amazingly ornate goodies, including the famous Topkapı Dagger (set with 3 enormous emeralds in its hilt) and all 86 carats the Spoonmaker’s Diamond (so called because it was originally found in a garbage dump and sold for 3 spoons).

After making our way back to the hotel, we met up with one of Tay’s friends, whom he met it college, but who is Turkish and was raised and still lives here in Istanbul. He drove us to yet another part of the city that we had not seen: Bebek. It was truly amazing! Just when I thought that I had gotten the picture that Istanbul has a number of modern sections, the areas he showed us blew my mind! They were so chic and upscale, with gorgeous views of the Bosphorous. This city is truly a marvel.

Tomorrow our plan is to take a ferry to the nearby Princes’ Islands and then to go out with both of Tay’s cousins and their wives (2 of whom speak English; yay!) My goal is that, the next time we come back, I will be able to chat with them in Turkish. I’ll keep you posted, both on tomorrow’s adventures and progress with Türkçe.

Alış Veriş Istanbul’da

The theme of the day was shopping! After sleeping until a slightly more normal time of 6:45, we enjoyed breakfast and then headed out on the tram again, intending to see the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace... but the first had a huge line and the second is closed on Tuesdays. So we improvised, spending several hours in the Istanbul Archeology Museum, which has an impressive array of artifacts, including some enormous sarcophagi decorated with ridiculously detailed carvings.

From there, we wandered back to the area of the spice market, but stayed on the surrounding streets, where things are cheaper. We bought some apple tea since we had enjoyed it so much when one shopkeeper shared some with us yesterday. Walking by the water, Tay got us each a simit, or a circle of sesame seed bread. (Yes, it’s pretty much a sesame seed bagel, just proportioned differently.) We wandered through mazes of cobblestoned side streets lined with shops, taking advantage of the fact that the weather forecast was wrong and we actually had no rain today. We found our way to the book bazaar, which is one of my favorite experiences so far. As soon as you climb a few steps onto this street, the world is suddenly quieter, and the bazaar has a cozier feel, shaded beneath trees and the side of a mosque.


We made a few purchases – when can Tay and I ever pass up books? – and, on a whim, decided to enter the mosque. We were met with fantastic mosaics of bright red and blue; it was our favorite mosque thus far, even over the famed Blue Mosque. Just beyond this was the impressive entrance to Istanbul University.

Taking advantage of the surprisingly dry day, we decided to head up to Taksim Square, on the other side of the city, where Tay’s cousin and his wife had taken us for dinner on our first night. They had showed us around a bit, but we wanted to explore for ourselves. We walked partway, stopping to purchase a set of Turkish tea cups so we can preserve our daily ritual of sipping delicious tea from the special glasses once we are back home. Due to tired feet and no nearby tram stop, we took a cab the rest of the way and were greeted by an impressive statue depicting Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, leading the military and then emerging as a statesman.


Prior to our trip, I had read and heard that Istanbul is a city that embraces both the old and the new. Though I had been warned, the stark contrasts between Taksim and the parts of Istanbul we had previously seen shocked me. This section is incredibly modern, with trendy clothing stores and Westernized restaurants. The architecture is more similar to that seen in other European cities; in fact, we could easily have been exploring Paris or London. The people who frequent this area are, in general, younger and less conservative; brightly-dyed hair, piercings, and trendy styles of dress abounded.

We finished the day browsing the main thoroughfare and a number of smaller offshoots (and, yes, made more purchases… you know, to support the economy) and enjoyed a delicious dinner before taking the tram home. Tomorrow we will attempt to see the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace, but with all the things to see here, we never quite know where each day will lead us.

İyi akşamlar

…or good evening! We had another somewhat quirky but really wonderful day.

Our sleep schedules are still not adjusted, and even though we are exhausted at night, our long afternoon naps fill our sleep tanks enough that we don’t sleep through the night. Around 3:30 this morning, we were both awake; tired, but somehow unable to sleep more. We read and watched TV, and at 5 I wrapped myself in the comforter and leaned out our window into the chilly air to take a short video with the camera recording the sound of the morning call to prayer. Each mosque starts within a few minutes of one another, so the one nearest us is heard the loudest while the others form a sort of canon in the background.

We stayed awake; I studied some Turkish and we got to breakfast right when it started at 7am. Most Turkish people can tell by looking at us that Tay speaks Turkish and I don’t; however, today several assumed I spoke German, so that was entertaining. (Tay maintains that I look like I would fit right in with the large German tour group staying at our hotel. It’s probably due to my hair cut and color, but I’m going to go ahead and say that I really appreciate Germans’ organization and orderliness, too.)

Our hotel is one block off of a main road, down which the tram runs. We hopped on and rode seven stops (~15 minutes) to the old section of the city and walked around for a bit, stopping into the New Mosque before making our way to the Grand Bazaar. It’s a must-see anyway and, since it’s an enclosed structure housing 4000 small stores/stalls. You end up seeing a lot of the same things (especially touristy trinkets) over and over, but it’s certainly entertaining to wander through. One shopkeeper invited us in to sit down when he found out Tay is Turkish. He went to a little intercom on the wall and ordered us each a cup of apple flavored tea. (Have I mentioned how much I adore Turkish tea – çay - and the adorable little glass cup – bardok – from which you drink it?) He and Tay chatted while I picked out a necklace and earrings.

After a few hours of wandering through the bazaar, we felt that we had gotten the experience we’d hoped for and decided to brave what had turned into a torrential downpour. Under umbrellas we navigated to the spice bazaar, and then to a little place for lunch. From where we sat, I spied a baklavacı across the way, so went and had some baklava and çay before moving on to the Sultanahmet, or Blue Mosque. Tay talked them into letting us in through the front entrance – free, for Turks only – and we marveled at the amazingly intricate and deeply colored mosaics in this enormous, elegant structure.


To finish the day, we walked over to the Basilica Cisterna, and underground cistern built in the 532AD – yes, the 500s – to collect and house water for a palace during the Byzantine era. It contains 336 columns in 12 rows, through which a walkway winds. Fish swim in the water, and the columns are lit by orange lights that give the whole place a glow that photos can only partially capture.


We swore we wouldn’t nap so that we could go to bed tired and get a full, normal night’s sleep, but we caved once we finally escaped the cold, wet, windy weather. We meant to limit our nap to an hour, but of course woke up three hours later, still tired but now hungry as well. Luckily, we found a little casual dinner place several blocks away. Now we’ll see what kind of sleep tonight brings! Here’s hoping tomorrow morning’s call to prayer awakens us rather than us waiting in the predawn for it to begin.

Merhaba Istanbul!

Two days into our honeymoon, we are starting to adjust to the time change. We hit the ground running yesterday; after a nearly 10-hour flight, Tay’s cousin and his wife (who are our age) and an aunt met us at the airport and brought us back to their apartment for lunch. We also visited with his grandfather. Gung ho, I greeted each of them with a nice big “Merhaba” (hello) and kisses on both cheeks. This might have misled them a bit, as they then answered in Turkish, and I replied with a completely blank look. I have been studying some Turkish, but there is little use for numbers, dates, or phrases such as “the old house is big; the new one is small” in everyday conversation. Shocking, I know.

They dropped us off at our hotel around 2pm, where we discovered that they did not have our exact specified room prepared, and gave us one with two twin beds. We were too exhausted to care, and promptly dropped our stuff and napped for several hours. After showering and changing out of our traveling clothes, we met Tay’s cousin and his wife, who took us out for the evening. They showed us some streets with very good shopping and took us to a delicious restaurant with live music and, starting at 11pm, belly dancers. Oddly enough, the women in the restaurant were more into the belly dancers than the men, getting up to dance with them and continuing to dance near the tables even after the dancers had moved on to (and I do meet up onto) the next table.

It was a lot of fun, although the jetlag and language barrier made things more difficult. Tay is very attentive to me and translates as much as possible so that I can take part in the conversation, but this becomes incredibly difficult when multiple people are speaking at once; by the time I get the translation, I have no idea which of their gestures accompanied which words, and the laughing over a joke is over.

We had trouble sleeping through the night despite our exhaustion because our body clocks were so off. We were laying awake at 5am when we heard the muezzin doing the call to prayer. It’s done in Arabic, and the sound, especially in the otherwise-silent night, is haunting. A few hours later, the cousin and his wife picked us up again this morning and took us to a park with a 6km trail running through the forest. It felt quite remote, but was technically still part of Istanbul. We walked and ran. It was beautiful, with occasional water fountains with water from mountain streams. Running isn’t that big in Turkey, and everyone who looked serious and wore running tights seemed to be of different nationalities – American, Scandinavian, etc. A lot of people were out, though, especially the middle-aged.

Afterwards, we went to breakfast at a famous place right on the Golden Horn. A typical Turkish breakfast consists of tomatoes and cucumbers in olive oil, various types of cheese, bread, eggs, honey and very sweet cream, and, of course, tea. I love Turkish tea and the adorable little teacups.

We returned to the hotel and sat in the lobby and they gave Tay about 2 hours’ worth of information on how to spend our time, going over the things we had planned to do and giving us advice on what to skip, how much time to spend at different sites, and some new suggestions we hadn’t known about.

Luckily, at that point the hotel had a new room for us, so we moved all of our stuff and crashed once again, with no alarm set this time. Around 6pm, we woke up, showered, and unpacked everything and got settled into our room. Then we went out strolling and found a little place for dinner. Now we are back at the hotel, me writing and occasionally translating bits of the movie playing on the French TV channel.