Istanbul, Turkey
1/20/06 - 1/25/06

so apparently we managed to come to turkey right in the middle of the worse snow storm in a hundred years. of course this was told to me buy a Canadian backpacker who also kept apologizing for babbling too much claiming one too many drinks with a bunch of aussies so I’ll take it with a grain of salt

i have to say Istanbul, city of two continents, has stolen my heart, this place has so much history, so much culture, old buildings and bloody good food that it puts Kuala Lumpur to shame ...

Day 1, Friday 20th January, 2006
we arrived at Attatürk airport after a 12 hour flight in a cramp old Airbus 330 (was expecting a nice new 777), how does anyone survive a long trip without on-demand entertainment? unfortunately my plan of grabbing a window seat to have a nice incoming view of Istanbul didn’t work since the aircraft veered away from the city approaching from the other side. I have to say the first thing i noticed when boarding was the complete lack of anyone looking like a tourist apart from ourselves and a little Japanese looking guy. heck, who on earth visits turkey in the winter anyway except for psychos like us. Airport's pretty clean though, finding the tram was no problem. Istanbul I have to say has an amazing transportation system, although made up of a few different systems, is still all accessible under one card (Akbil) system.

Tram ride was uneventful, aside from the locals staring at us (probably thinking, who the hell visits Turkey in the winter), until we pulled into the Sultanahmet (Old Istanbul) area, and you turn your head and you see the silhouette of the Hagia Sofia right across from it the Blue Mosque. Sultanahmet is the center of old Istanbul, who's history dates back millennia and covers multiple empires from the Byzantines to the great Ottomans, complete with cobbled streets that reminded me so much of the little alleys of Paris. The cityscape of Istanbul is amazing, there are about 6 or 8 large ottoman mosques with their graceful domes and minarets that will catch your eye.

We stayed at the Istanbul hostel, decent place with a nice warm basement bar/cafe. apparently there's a nice terrace restaurant that is only open when it’s warmer. Oh yeah it was chilly. I have to say there was nothing more romantic than wandering the streets of old Istanbul, especially the park and square between the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, which is officially my favorite spot in the world. I wonder if the people of Istanbul feel what I feel living in the shadow of these great structures, probably not, being numb to their existence, just like the people who live at the base of the pyramids at Giza. I did note the turn of heads of the locals as they pass Sultanahmet on the tram....

After checking in we had to go out and take our first breaths of the city. We stood at length between the two mosques basking in their presence before following the tram lines down towards Sirkeci Station. I was hoping to catch the Sufi Sema (Whirling Dervish) performance that is held there on Fris, Suns and Weds, but unfortunately for some reason the show wasn’t on for tonite. They told us we could buy advance tickets for Sunday, but we planned to head to Edirne for the day and I didn’t think we would be back in time. Hopefully we'll be able to catch something before we leave...

Day 2, Saturday 21st January, 2006
On the second day we started our day with the Hagia Sofia (aka Aya Sofia/Sancta Sofia/Church of Divine Wisdom), built as a church, converted to a mosque by Mehmet the Conqueror, and finally turned into a museum by Attatürk. Now I have to add that the Hagia Sofia has been an obsession to me since my days of art history back in college, and walking into it in person has reaffirmed to me that it is the greatest building ever constructed. It is amazing how huge and spacious it is on the inside, unfortunately marred by scaffolding reaching up to the dome for restoration. Standing in Justinian's great creation, one feels small, almost insignificant; I can understand his exclamations when he first entered it when he said "Glory to God that I have been judged worthy of suck a work. Oh Solomon! I have outdone you!" referring of course to King Solomon's great temple. Its amazing that this building has survived so many destructions and reconstructions, it almost has a soul of its own, a will to survive. Or perhaps it inspires as much in the people around it. On the upper floor was a photography exhibition on mosaics and space and lighting, which was quite captivating. And from the there you get a closer look at the massive 19th-century black medallions with gold Arabic calligraphy with the name of god, the prophet and the caliphs, side by side with mosaics of Christian scenes. Quite amazing. I've got a nice shot of a large medallion with the name Allah next to a mosaic of the baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

We lucked out by going early, just as we were leaving throngs of tourists poured in from the various tour busses parked outside and we sorta lost a bit of the mystical atmosphere of the place, so we made a hasty exit.

Next was the Blue Mosque, which I have to say, what the Hagia Sofia is on the inside, the Blue Mosque is on the outside. The Blue Mosque has six minarets and the story goes that Sultan Ahmet had told the architect to build the minarets out of gold, and the word for "gold" was similar to the word for "six". Luckily for the architect, the Sultan liked the effect, but he got heat for it for attempting to rival the only other mosque with 6 minarets, the al-Haram Mosque in Mecca. Apparently to shut everyone up he sponsored a seventh minaret for the al-Haram. The interior of the mosque is beautiful of course with its blue tiles and lofty dome (thought i have to say, I ignorantly assumed it would be a little more ... well ... blue), but after the Hagia Sophia your expectations are hyper elevated. The interior lacks the sense of spaciousness due to the use of four massive support columns that cut into the central space. Less elegant than its neighbor.

Took a walk down to the Grand Bazaar, which is a maze, had a peak at the Beyazit Camii and the Istanbul University (what a cool name, I’d love to say "I'm studying at Istanbul University"), munched on delicious roasted chestnuts and strolled over to the Süleymaniye Camii, the mosque of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, the greatest emperor of the Ottomans, considered the greatest work of the greatest Ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan. The Sülmeymaniye Camii houses his tomb as well, and apparently the tomb of Miner Sinan, which we couldn’t find. Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent was the greatest of the Ottoman Sultans, who was also affectionately known as "Kanuni" (Lawgiver) by his subjects. Not only was he a great military commander, under his rule the Ottoman empire grew to its prime covering most of Hungary, the Balkans, Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsular and North Africa, even reaching the gates of Vienna, he was also a great spiritual leader, visionary and poet. It was under Süleyman that his architect, the great Mimar Sinan perfected the design of the Ottoman mosque (among other things) and commissioned many of the great mosques you see today.

I have to say I love Ottoman mosques, magnificent from the outside with the slender minarets and domes that point you up to the heavens, and their overwhelming interiors.

We walked around the Grand Bazaar next, that place is massive ... just to get a feel (saving all the shopping for before we leave for home), already set my eyes on several items to take home with me. I like the Bazaar, the alleys are spacious and not too cramped, and being a covered structure keeps you away form the elements, especially in the cold Winter. Compared to the Cairo bazaar, that place is a maze and utterly claustrophobic. And the people are a lot nicer, they aren’t as pushy. Next we walked over to the Spice Bazaar and popped into a stall with a very helpful guy who sold use some yummy Turkish delight and assorted types of tea. We also ended up buying some "Turkish Viagra", which turned out to be just a baklava type thing with pistachios, honey, cinnamon and other stuff (there was one type for men and one for women!). Was a little different from the usual stuff (figs with walnuts), our friendly stall-guy ensured us that its "much more power". We shall see heh...

We had dinner at a stall by Eminönü ferry terminals, just a guy selling really yummy grilled fish sandwiches for 2 YTL. Definitely a much try.

After, we walked across the Galata bridge over to Beyoğlu and walked up the hill (damn what a steep hill, should’ve taken the Tünel), stopping at Galata for a climb to the observation deck (which turned out to be a really narrow balcony on the top floor). Beautiful view of Istanbul at night. Continued our clime to the top and walked along Istiklal Caddesi (aka Independence Avenue), the center of modern Istanbul. Throngs of people were out on this Saturday nite, quite a cool street with shopping and cafes, reminds me of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Definitely the place to be at. We stopped at this weird modern art exhibit, which, among other things, had three or four screens in the back playing over and over again different videos of a man doing weird things, including screaming, stripping to take a bath (urgh…). Walked up to Taksim square and were tired out, so we took the antique tram down to the Tünel station, and underground train with two stops connecting the top and bottom of the hill. Apparently built by the rich people who lived on the top of the hill so they wouldn’t have to make the climb (lazy asses!)

Ended the day chilling out at Cafe Meşale for tea and really good nargile (Turkish shisha). This place has everything, live traditional Turkish, location at the foot of the Blue Mosque (lovely view), cushioned seats, and I like how they keep coming to refill your charcoal for you. We joked how this was probably a Turkish mafia hangout, since most Turkish men look like they are in the mafia (no offense :), at which point Nazilla picked one guy who she swears is the perfect example. Until he got up and sat down at the stage and started playing some instrument.

Cafe Mesale is definitely on my favorites list.

Day 3, Sunday 22nd January, 2006
Jumped on a bus to Edirne, a little (big significant in ancient times) town up closer to the border of Bulgaria in European Turkey. Visited two significant sites up there, the II. Beyazit Kulliyesi (nice stroll away from the city center, with the silhouettes of mosques in the city line), and Selimiye Camii, which Miner Sinan himself considered his greatest work (despite popular belief of the Süleymaniye Camii in Istanbul). I'm beginning to really like this Sinan fellow. I think I see why he feels this to be his greatest work, it may not be as large or as grand as some of the others, but there's something about it, especially not that I look back at the pictures, something extremely harmonious and symmetrical about it. The interior is quite amazing as well.

And had the best köfte (grilled meatballs) EVER ... unfortunately the name of the little restaurant eludes me right now but it’s around the Park near the Selimiye Camii. We also sampled some delicious börek, pastries stuffed with in this cased kilmayi (minced meat), good and cheap.

At this point I have to digress to give my review of the Turkish bus system that is quite amazing. The Istanbul Otogar (bus station) is a massive maze of bus counters, but its a lot better than our Puduraya, most of it is outdoors, most bus companies have their own little office and the bus platforms are outdoors instead of in some dodgy basement like Puduraya. Turkish bus lines are for the most part new, modern, clean and very comfortable buses, and they eve serve you tea or coffee or soda and little snacks as you please. Definitely rivals most budget airlines. Heck the seats are more comfortable and spacious than most airplanes I’ve been on.

More to come ...