Turkish Delight

The other weekend I went to Asia.
I'm talking about Istanbul.

I was there for less than forty-eight hours and the weather was absolutely wretched (freezing rain), and still I had a wonderful time. Strolling around freezing in my inadequate cloth footwear, I kept thinking, "I've gotta come back here when it's warm again." I sure hope I get the chance to.

It was really f-ing cold

In 324,  Emperor Constantine I defeated Licinius, and came to effectively rule the entire Roman Empire. Shortly thereafter, he decided to build a new, Christian city to replace Byzantium: Nea Roma. Most people simply called it Constantinople. The city became a center of Greek culture and Christianity, and shifted Roman power eastward.

For a while, the city's seafront and its walls protected it from invaders from the east and against the advance of Islam. But things started to go sour after the Fourth Crusade. The city was sacked and pillaged in the early 1200s, and unfortunately never quite bounced back. In the mid 14th century, the Ottoman Turks began taking small towns and cities one by one, slowly strangling Constantinople by cutting off its supply routes.

Finally, in May of 1453, the last Roman Emperor (Constantine XI) was killed, and Sultan Mehmed II captured the city and declared it the new capitol of the Ottoman Empire. Hours later, the sultan rode to the Hagia Sofia and summoned an imam (islamic priest) to proclaim the Islamic creed and convert the cathedral into an imperial mosque. 

And still, all my students refer to it as Constantinople. Get over it, Greece, it was over 550 years ago.

 Check out this song about it:

 Istanbul - They Might Be Giants

(Originally written by "The Four Lads" but I like this version better.)

Mandee, Whitney and I left Athens two Fridays ago around 7 pm, and arrived at our hostel by 10. Living conditions certainly colour an experience, so I think "Bauhaus Hostel" deserves a large amount of credit for my enjoying Turkey so much. Immediately upon our arrival the man at the front desk told us there was a "bellydancing show upstairs!!!" and that we had better "run!!" in order to catch it before it ended. We climbed three flights of stairs to increasingly loud music and came upon a pretty happening bar on the top floor. A gorgeous young Turkish woman, clad rather scantily in a sparkling bellydancing costume, shook her booty in front of roughly thirty young beer-drinking onlookers. Aside from the bellydancer, it felt more like Brooklyn than Istanbul - the audience looked out from behind many a pair of horn rimmed glasses and flannel shirts.

After we changed and freshened up, we went back upstairs for another drink. There we met two American boys, Zach and David, who decided to join us for dinner. That's one of the (only) great things about hostels - everyone knows no one knows anyone, so everyone hangs out. We ventured out into the cold Turkish night and found a kebab joint. The old Turkish owner brought us chicken skewers and rice and repeatedly referred to us as his daughters.

Bauhaus is located in the Old City, right by the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia. The streets are entirely cobblestone. People had told me that Istanbul is a crazy busy place, like New York, but our section of the city felt quiet and calm.

On Saturday morning we first set out for coffee, and settled upon our location based on the lights. Here we had our first taste of apple tea; apple tea is delicious, especially on such a miserable day, but it's basically just hot koolaid. (I bought some at the airport- ingredients= sugar).










Perhaps I oughtn't judge a city by it's stray animal population, but I was struck by how good lookin' the stray dogs in Istanbul were. They just looked so dignified. The ones in Athens are so FAT - these were some lean, adoptable, playful lookin pooches.

Check out those crossed paws 

Hagia Sofia

                                                                                                                                                             The Hagia Sofia as we see it today was commissioned (for a third time) by Byzantine Emperor Justinian. He was determined that it be ENORMOUS, and ordered that only the richest materials be used.  It was decorated over a period of 26 years, with precious gold, silver and marble, taken from far away lands. Hollow bricks from Rhodes were used to construct the domed ceiling.

Everything in Istanbul is very ornate - I loved the colourful, finely detailed glass lamps on the ceilings of all the restaurants we ate in, the handpainted dishes, the intricate wall paintings in the mosques. I especially liked the walls of the Blue Mosque. I was surprised to feel so drawn to an Islamic aesthetic, because I usually think of Islam as so foreign, and as something that makes me uncomfortable. Similarly, the call to prayer: I thought it would kinda freak me out. I loved it. It's fascinating, haunting, beautiful.



I really liked the Turks I met on this trip. I found them very friendly, and that they had quite a sense of humour. People had told me that the men there would be incredibly aggressive, and I did find this to be true, but not in the way I expected. In Greece, you have to put up with a lot of stares and hearing how beautiful you are. (I read somewhere that Greek men rank #1 in the world for sleaziness. Woo!) In Turkey, the only men who really hassled me were those who wanted me to buy something - the men in the bazaars and standing outside restaurants. They really, REALLY want YOU to buy their product, and they let you know it. They shout after you loudly if you walk away, as though they're incredibly offended. It's pretty annoying, and a terrible sales tactic, but hey: at least there was no groping.

Lights in the Grand Bazaar

My favourite part of the trip was wandering through the bazaars, (Grand Bazaar and Egyptian Spice Bazaar). Here you experience a sensory overload - the smells of spices and apple tea, the free samples of Turkish delight, the bright warm light of countless lamps, the shouting after you as you walk away from a stall in an attempt to bargain. Bargaining is expected. You certainly hear a lot of, "This? forty, but for you, 25," and wonder for whom the price ISN'T specially discounted. Still, it's a fun game to play. I think I also loved the Bazaars because they were such a nice warm refuge from the horrible wintry mix outdoors. I kinda went overboard on the scarves.

Teas and Spices

I also quite enjoyed the Basilica Cistern, or "Sunken Cistern," the largest of several hundred cisterns that lie beneath the city. It is close to 10,000 square meters, and can hold 80,000 cubic meters of water. Large fish swim in the water, their scales reflecting the orange glow from the sparse lighting. A forest of columns extends from below the water to the ceiling. I put on my ipod, and as I listened to Beethoven, I tried to imagine that it was just me and the fish.

Basilica Cistern

Our Restaurant Saturday

Aladdin

Saturday lunch was delicious. Hummus, Turkish ravioli, some kinda eggplant thing, and more apple tea. And of course, lamps galore overhead. The owner then insisted we go visit his "museum" upstairs, which looked much more like an opium den. Totally bizarre - there was a girl typing away on her macbook on one couch, and what looked like an older version of Aladdin lying on some floor pillows. Costume clothing everywhere. I couldn't tell if he wanted us to buy drugs or what, but it certainly seemed like an inviting space to just lie down and sleep.

We went to the other side of the Bosphorus, Taksim, on Saturday night for dinner. THIS was the NYC, super hyped happening city I had heard of. It was nuts. Unfortunately for us, we didn't realize that Turks don't eat as late as Athenians do - showing up at a restaurant at eleven pm for dinner didn't really fly. So we had to settle on fast food. Good all the same.

Fruit Market on the Asian Side

On Sunday we awoke early and hit up the blue mosque, then went down to the water to take the ferry over to ASIA! The Asian side wasn't nearly as nice, in my opinion, but we also didnt really have a clue where we were going. The weather was also terrible.

Speaking of weather, we're having a snow day today in Greece. :)