Buckle up cause this is gunna be a long one. I have combined the last couple days into one blog because they all take place in Istanbul and because when I started writing this I decided to make it 7 days and I don’t want to go back and change the title sequence for each entry.
I awoke on the bus as we entered the famous city of Istanbul. A brief lesson is in order. Though not the capital, Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey at 14m. The first known name of the city is Byzantium, founded around 660 BC. After Constantine the Great made it the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD, the city became widely known as Constantinople. Constantinople remained the most common name for the city in the West until the establishment of the Turkish Republic, The use of Constantinople also referred to the city during the Ottoman period (from the mid-15th century). By the 19th century, the city had acquired a number of other names used by either foreigners or Turks but finally settled on Istanbul.
I got off the bus and worked my way into the Metro system. I had arrived during rush hour in this massive city so there was a lot of jostling. Fortunately I was a monster in size compared to the locals
I had a rough idea of the historical section of the city as seen below on the map. I would find a hostel in this area and spread out from there to explore the city
Something I realized earlier was that there were not a lot of hot women in this country which is always a disappointment. I was kinda surprised because I thought there would be tons of tall exotic Turkish beauties. Not sure where I came up with that. Of course I probably imagine this for every country before visiting.
I got off the metro at the main stop near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. I walked toward all the backpacker hostels and somehow ended up outside the walls of the city and along the Bosphorus River
I eventually found a road back into the city and ended up in the dead end of an alley. I was asked to leave.
I eventually found all the hostels. I skipped all the teenage youth hostels and found one on a dead end street called Metropolis Hostel.
This is the main drag of hostel and bars in the tourist district.
I dropped my bags and begin exploring. My plan was to see the following today:
• Topkapi Palace
• Hagia Sophia
• Sogukcesme Sokak
• Baths of Lady Hürrem
• Blue Mosque
• Sultanahmet Park
• Byzantine Hippodrome
• Basilica Cistern
• Grand Bazaar / Spice Bazaar
• Suleymaniye Mosque
• Chora Church - option - far out west
I got to most of them. I couple shots of some monuments from days gone by. I could explain each of these and their historical significance, but I don’t want to.
My first stop was the Blue Mosque, or Sultan Ahmed Mosque. It was built from 1609 to 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. It contains a tomb of the founder. While still used as a mosque, it is primary a tourist destination.
The second I hit the main drag, I was accosted by locals trying to sell me crap. I could go 10 seconds without picking up another salesman. They were like those pilot fish that swim around the shark’s mouth, or more accurately mosquitoes just slowly sucking the blood out of its victim until the frustration reaches a fever pitch. I knew that Istanbul was famous for carpet sellers but this was ridiculous. Instead of just acting like your typical beggar on a street and getting to the point they start with a greeting and an attempt at small talk. And if you try to force the conversation by saying, “I am not interested in buying a carpet.” They will say something about how you are insulting them and they are not attempting to sell a carpet only to welcome you to their city. Once you lower your guard they then begin talking and after about 30 seconds say something about their many carpets. Not asking you to buy them but only to join them for tea and to look at them as friends. I was not sure I could deal with this for 3 days. On my way into the Mosque I encountered one man who I could not shake. Like a homeless man who tries to get money for directing you into a free parking spot he showed me the entrance to the Mosque even though I was already walking that direction. He started talking about the history of the Mosque and I did not respond as the impromptu tour began. I had to pay to get in so he said he would wait for me by the exit. I did not care.
I had to take my shoes off as I entered. I had only flip flops on so I was barefoot, which I really wasn’t happy about.
Real quick; The majority of Turkey follows the teachings of Islam and prays in Mosques. Islam is not that different from Christianity. They read the Koran and believers are called Muslims. They have 5 pillars to their faith:
1. belief
2. worship
3. charitable giving
4. fasting during the month of Ramadan
5. the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.
It was somewhat interesting, but not really that big of deal. As I exited, my friend regreeted me and tried to get me to go to his shop. I told him I don’t give a shit about his carpets and he seemed to get the undertones of my subtle message.
The next stop was Hagia Sofia. This place had history as both a church and a mosque depending on who was ruling the area at the time. It was constructed in 537. Now it functioned purely as a museum.
Below is called the wishing column. There is a column with a hole in the middle covered by bronze plates. The legend has it that, Emperor Justinian wandering in the building with a severe headache leaned his head to this column and after a while he realized that the headache was gone. This story had been heard among the public and the rumor regarding the healing effect of the column got around. Hence, people believed that they would get better if they put their fingers into that hole on the column and then rub them to the place where disease is felt.
It was better than the Blue Mosque that was for sure. The salesmen returned when I exited and from then on I only spoke Spanish and was from Mexico. If you ever want to hire salesmen for your company. Take a trip to Turkey and bring back a bunch. I promise it will be worth it. Although annoying they were good at their trade as I will discuss at a later time.
I was walking to my next stop when I passed a blind man sitting next to a scale. He appeared to be willing to guess your weight and then his assistant would confirm with you stepping on the scale. I really wanted to both take a picture and experiment but I was done talking to people I did not think it right to take pictures of blind people.
Next up was the The Basilica Cistern . It was basically an underground water storage tank for Constantinople. Now it had been drained and took on this eerie museum atmosphere.
There is some mystery to the above shot. To complete the cistern a Medusa head was used. Various stories, but it was probably like someone using a block of wood to level something off. My guess is that they were standing around and said, “Damn it we are short one piece of stone. Hey go grab that Medusa Head and let’s see if that fits.”
Next up was the Topkapi Palace . It was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years (1465-1856). It was not overly impressive and by this time I was getting kinda tired of shelling out Lira and getting bumped into. I know I probably should not write tour books as no one would visit that place.
I started moving into the business distract of the city in search of the Grand Bazaar. It is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops, which attract between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. I am not sure what I was thinking. I was walking into the belly of the beast. I was surrounded by salesmen all day and know I was gunna go where they live!
It was just tons of carpets, which I will get into later, and various jewelry and spice shops. I will admit it was better than most countries where they sold T-shirts and trash made in China. You really could not browse without being hounded. I stopped and talked to one guy who sold carpets who actually did not care if I bought anything. I will say that he talked perfect English and spent much of his time in the US selling to high end clients. He was eager to get at my connections to University of Michigan doctors. I did not have the heart to tell him I knew few, so I took his card and gave him my email address. Thankfully I have not heard from him yet.
I did like these mosaic glass lights though
I had been seeing them throughout the country, often asking prices so I had an idea of what they are really worth and where the bartering started at. I have said before that I do not like to barter, but in this country they are such Shylocks that you can’t take the asking price because it is often double what they are worth.
After a long day of walking I headed back to the hostel as I was crushed from the last night’s overnight bus ride. As I got close to my place this guy called me in to look at his carpets. I figured for the sake of the blog I should give this a shot.
I really did not want the carpets, but I did want one of the lights. He talked to me about his store and how he was losing business and did not know how much longer he would stay open. He had 4 mouths to feed back home. It started feeling like the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry is helping the Indian guy who opens a restaurant on his block. We bartered on the lights and I felt like I got a good deal, roughly $70 for a chandelier with 4 lights on it. He told me to come back at 9pm and we could celebrate our friendship over a glass of wine.
I was feeling good so after a nap I returned. He locked the shop, got out a bottle of wine and thus began the dance. He began to show me carpets.
I said I was not interested in carpets, but he said, “I know you are not interested in carpets but if you were what color would you choose.” I said I liked red, but I was not going to buy. “So between these 3 red ones which is better?” I replied that I liked one but it really did not matter as I was not going to buy. Then he said, “I know you will not buy but if you were going to would you pay cash or credit?” I told him I did not want a carpet but I guess I would pay cash. He asked me what I think it was worth. I said $1000 as a joke. He said no, but let me tell you a story about this carpet. He talked about the tassels, the silk; he held a lighter to the carpet and showed its resilience. So next thing I know I was walking back to my hostel with a carpet under my arm that I really did not even want. That was just the beginning to this story.
sidebar: Let me get a drink and gather myself as even recounting this story has got me all stressed out.
Ok, I am back.
A quiet night from that point on. The next day I got up with plans to explore the Bosphorus river and another district of Istanbul which is more modern. While eating my usual Turkish breakfast I ran into some other travelers. Per usual they had been there for like 10 days and had seen what I had in 1 day. What do you do all day!
Some of them had scheduled a trip to a Turkish Bath. This is where a hairy man beats the crap out of you (deep tissue massage) for an hour after you get naked and oiled up. Oh ya then you pay him for that. I live in Ann Arbor I can could probably get that treatment for free if so inclined. Needless to say I skipped it. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
I walked a couple miles down to the Bosphorus river. This river is important because it is actually the dividing line between Europe and Asia. The majority of Istanbul sits in Europe while the majority of Turkey sits on the eastern shore of the river in Asia. People take river cruises and see the sites along the river, but I don’t do well on boats because I don’t like being contained and my propensity to throw up with an undulating set of waves below me.
I walked across the Galata Bridge into the modern section of the city. It is basically a bunch of slums with one main Rodeo Drive of Westernized shops. A few nice shots I grabbed before it got too Americanized
This is the main drag that leads to Taksim Square.
Here is the Square. As I write this there are huge protests going on in this area (June 4th) and it is looking like Turkey may be the next domino to fall in the Arab Spring. I am glad I made the trip when I did because it is chaos in this exact spot.
I worked my way back through the main artery taking various offshoots to go exploring
I stopped at a high end carpet store where they feed me tea and laid about a bunch of rugs. They started at $1000 dollars and were all hand made. I told them I got a carpet down the street for $100 and the guy said it was hand made. These guys were cool and explained to me how to tell the difference between a hand made carpet by looking at the knotting. They suggested to me that mine was probably, read definitely, machine made but did not want to come out and say it because they thought it might come across as an insult. I did not care that much knowing that there was really no way I could afford the real thing and I could always lie to people who came over to my place back home.
I headed back to the Hostel after stopping for a couple meals. On the way back to the hostel a guy stopped me. He mentioned that he saw me buy a carpet from another seller and wondered if he could show me some of his own. I was in a decent mood so I decided to see what his prices were compared to what I spent. We went into his upstairs store and he was asking a bit more for the lights so I was happy about that. Then I saw the exact carpet I bought and asked him how much. With very little arm twisting he offered 75L. WTF! I paid 220L for the same thing and nearly had the man in tears crying about taking food out his babies mouths.
I left all pissed and walked back to the other guys store. On the way I saw my carpet used as upholstery on a bar couch. Dammit! I calmed down and walked into the store with a smile on my face. He beamed and thought he was gunna take me for another ride. I imagined I was sitting talking to my Russian spy counterpart. We danced through conversations for a bit and then I began the interrogation. “You know, I was just down the street and saw a carpet that looked a lot like the one I bought and they were offering a lot less. What do you make of that?” He said it must be a different carpet. I said no it was pretty close, most would say exactly the same one.
He asked who it was that tried to sell it, and I told him. He began bashing the guy’s family. Now this guy is Kurdish and the other guy is Muslim. Theses people don’t like each other much and I had just created something of a Holy War. I left quickly.
The next morning I was stopped on my way out by the Muslim guy asking if I went to the Kurdish guy (where I bought the original carpet, that wasnotthatoriginal) last night and told him anything. I said I did not know what he was talking about. He followed me yelling something and I literally began to jog away. I had to keep a low profile until my am departure the next morning.
I walked back across the bridge after snapping a few tourist shots
The below image was funny.
Similar to in the US, poor people like to wash the windshields of cars at stoplights and then demand money. This guy told the homeless guy to get away, but he cleaned it anyway. When the guy in car would not pay, a couple homeless cleaners gathered and a serious yelling match ensued. These are really passionate people
You have probably seen the movies of scenes in the Middle East. The Mosques have this little towers around them called minarets. It was where the prayers get blown out on loudspeakers 5x each day. Well these so called prayers just sound like someone yelling. I know I should show respect but it was really annoying.
Anyway, about this time I got lost in some slum
I took about 3 hours to work my way back to civilization when I j-walked across this freeway
I ended up in a bar as it was my last night and I wanted to reflect over a few cold drinks. I went to take a piss and ended up in the women's restroom. I was escorted out. It really was not my fault and I was not drunk. You know how in America bars think it is cute to put some phrase or images on bathroom doors like “dames” or a picture of cowgirl instead of just saying Ladies Room. Well that is annoying and this bar was doing it, but it was done in Turkish with Turkish images. Like I said, not my fault.
The trip was done. I will spare you the long painful trip home, especially about the bus I took home from Chicago after 36 hrs of travelling and having it break down. Then when another bus came to replace it in the middle of nowhere, it also broke down.
I would consider the journey a success, but I made 3 realizations.
- I don’t think I will be going to the Middle East anytime soon. The people were not that friendly, not that attractive and incredibly annoying as they harassed the hell out of me. It was nice to see some ancient ruins and such, but that really is not my bag
- I realized that I really like to plan elaborate trips with nonstop movement, but when it comes time to actually take the trip, I would like a bit more R and R thrown in. Unfortunately my Travel Planner career creeps up and I can’t hold it in check very well.
- Finally, though cities are nice, I do not need to cross the world to get what I really enjoy, and that’s natural beauty and physically challenging adventures. I want to do more trips like Alaska, Iceland, Colorado and maybe New Zealand.
Until Next Time
Darren
