Istanbul Trip- the details

Sorry for the delay on the details of my trip to Istanbul but when I got back to Ghana I ended up in bed with a really bad cold and I am just getting back on my feet. I guess that it what I get for going from temperatures being over 90 everyday to it being less than 30 in Turkey. Not that I am complaining, the trip was great and the break from the heat was much needed.

Well I arrived in Istanbul around 6am on Wednesday and the hotel was there to pick me up. It was so nice that everything worked out. When I got to the hotel the room was not ready (but I was not expecting it to be) so the desk manager told me where I could get money out of an ATM, and a SIM card. I decided to walk around the area around our hotel. I could not believe how centrally located our hotel was, right behind the Four Seasons and within walking distance to almost all of the major sites. Leave it to me to find the Starbucks within the first 10 minutes. I felt like I was back in America. I actually saw the McDonald's first but could not bring myself into going there so I went into the Starbucks and got a Venti Earl Gray tea and loved it. Since it was so cold outside it was nice to have something warm to drink. I walked around the area for a little while longer and then went back to the hotel to wait for our room to be ready.

While I was sitting and talking to the desk manager I started talking to John from Hawaii. He thought it was funny that I came all the way to Istanbul for Starbucks. I explained that I was living in Ghana and how long it had been since I had seen a Starbucks and he laughed. I then met his fiance Natalie and we talked for about 30 minutes. Little did we know that they were the couple in our room, once we found out they were great about getting ready and moving to their new room. We agreed to meet for dinner that night.

Georgette got in a few hours later and the first thing that she noticed when she walked into the room was my Starbucks cup. I think that we went to the Starbucks everyday that we were in Istanbul. It is a good thing that the dollar was so strong in Turkey. So the first day we just walked around so that we would not get too lost and get ready for the rest of the week. We met John and Natalie for dinner and sat and talked to them for about 2 hours and agreed to meet them the next day to go to the Asian side of Istanbul.

On Thursday we got up and had our first breakfast at the hotel and it was great. Homemade yogurt with preserves, fresh bread, olives, cheese and veggies. I am still dreaming about it. We then met John and Natalie and took the ferry to the Asian side. The main difference between the Asian side and the Sultanan area that we were staying in is that there were fewer tourists and fewer people spoke English. We resorted to the universal hand gestures to communicate. We walked around for a few hours, I bought a hair straightener and then we had a great lunch at a local place. We did not know where the place was so we asked an older couple on the street and they walked us over to the restaurant. I will have to say that it was one of the best meals that I had in Istanbul. I am not sure what I ate but it was great!

We got back to the European side and then went to the Spice Market for the first time and after living in Ghana the market was tame to me. The men (all of the vendors were men) asked what we would like and when we said that we were just looking they would say that they were just selling. They would answer any of our questions and truly try to have conversations with us without the pressure of selling us things. On several occasions I told them that this was our first day in Istanbul and that we would not be buying anything for a couple of days and they would give us their card and say to please come back when we were ready.

After the Spice Market we did another "American" thing, we ate at Subway. I know that it is hard to believe that I flew half-way around the world to eat at American restaurants but it is hard to get cold-cuts in Ghana so a turkey sandwich was like heaven to me. When we finished dinner we walked back to the hotel and Natalie was able to negotiate the best buy of the day. She got a "Prada" bag for 47 lira, the store wanted 150 lira. I thought that I was a good bargainer but she had me bet on this day. We wished them safe travels and said good night.

The next day was New Years and we decided to start to see some of the more tourist places like the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and the Cistern before we went out to dinner. I am surprised to say that we were able to do all four in one day.

The Hippodrome is just really two things, the German fountain and the Obelisk and then we walked to the Blue Mosque but when we got there it was the start of afternoon prayers so we went over to the Aya Sofya (which is across the park). The Aya Sofya was great, it is amazing how much history that is in that one building. For it to have been a church, a mosque and now a museum and have such little destruction is truly amazing. We went back to the Blue Mosque and respected their request to remove our shoes and cover our heads (which I will say not all Western women did) and went in to see the mosque. This was the first mosque that I had been in and it was quite peaceful and beautiful. The painting on the ceilings and walls were amazing and I can see how they could help one meditate on God. We were very careful not to take any pictures of people praying just out of respect for them. The mosque was as quiet as any church I have ever been in, although it did feel odd to have my head covered.

The Cistern was interesting because the whole thing is underground and the bottom of it is full of water. The site was found and then lost two or three times before it was finally restored to its current state. In Ottoman times it was how part of the city would get its water. The really interesting thing is that two of the columns have the head of Medusa as the base. No one really knows how they got there but they are there.

By the time we finished visiting these sites it was almost time for dinner so we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We went to a seafood restaurant for dinner and while the food was good, I don't think that it was the best meal that I had in Istanbul. I hate to say it but I was in bed by 9:30pm on New Years Eve, but I did wake up when the fireworks went off outside our hotel.

On New Years Day we went to Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. I hate to say it but I was not impressed with the Palace. It was the most expensive of the tourist sites that we went to and a good portion of them were closed. According to the placards in the Holy Relics room the Place has the staff that Moses used to part the Red Sea, the head of John the Baptist, the foot print of Mohammad and several bead hairs from Mohammad. I will say that I saw these things but they would not let us take any pictures and I will not say that I believe what the placard says. the best part was the Harem (which you had to pay extra to see). It was set up like it would have been during the Sultan's day and it was well preserved.

When we finished with the Palace we went to the Grand Bazaar. Like the Spice Bazaar I did not find the vendors to be too pushy but rather polite and informative. It was here that we ate our first kabob sandwich. It was so good that it was the only thing that we ate for lunch for the rest of the time we were there. The sandwich was like a gyro (either chicken or lamb) with french fries, lettuce, tomatoes and sometimes a cream of some sort. It was on either a pita bread or a wrap. I could not get enough of them.

We spent half the day in the market but I did not buy much, for the first time in my life I kept my impulse buying to a minimum. I knew what I wanted from Istanbul and that was the only things that I bought.

I got us lost getting back from the Grand Bazaar and so by the time we got to the hotel we were cold and tired so we decided to just eat at the restaurant on the corner and it was a good choice. This place had the best tomato soup and pizza and we ended up going back 2 more times.

The next day we went to another neighborhood on the other side of the Bosporus and just walked around. We also got our hair cut and it was a real treat to have my hair cut and then blown straight. By the time he finished it was so straight I could have been an actor. It was great.

On our last full day in Istanbul we went to the Chora Church/Museum and I have to say that this was my favorite place that we visited. The church is out of the way and we used the public transportation system and managed not to get lost. The murals in the church were so pretty that I ended up buying a book about them. I just could not believe how well preserved they were.

We finished up the day by buying any last gifts that we needed for friends and family.

The week that I spent in Istanbul was great. The weather was both rainy and sunny but it was cold the whole time but that is what I was looking for, or so I thought. If I had more time I would have loved to take the bus to the ancient city of Troy and to see more of Turkey outside of the city. I know that Turkey is not all like Istanbul but if the rest of the country is as welcoming as Istanbul than it is a country worth visiting.