On Sunday we flew out to Istanbul and had a quick bus of Istanbul. We saw the city walls built by Constantine, the Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque that night. It was surreal to be driving by that much history and have it be no big deal for our guide. After we checked into the hotel, we went out to our very first Turkish meal - deeeeeelicious. We ate so much we named our food babies. And we were happy, happy kids.
Monday morning we went to the Istanbul Interparish Migrant's Program which helps support refugees because there is no official structure in place by the government to do that. Unfortunately, while it was nice to hear American accents again from the volunteers who talked to us, they didn't really know much about their organization or Turkey in general. They did, however, have an adorable dog named Snuggles who we all played with after the talk. Then we had a few hours to wander the main walking street, shop, and eat. My friend and I spent about a dollar for a very tasty lunch. Love Turkey. The afternoon was spent at a lecture which I do not remember because I fell asleep. My bad. But none of that really matters because in the evening we went to ASIA for dinner. It really wasn't too terribly exciting, but hey, I went to Asia.
Tuesday morning we learned about the Armenian minority problem in Turkey. They're still dealing with the after effects of the genocide in 1915 and the assassination of Hrant Dink in 2007. This was outside and wonderful. And one of the few lectures I didn't fall asleep in. After some tasty lunch and wandering about in the pouring rain, we went to see the Hagia Sophia. It was originally a Byzantine church, for lack of a better word, then converted into an Ottoman mosque, and now it's a museum. Due to my incredible nerdiness, this was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. Everything was gilded and big and old and I loved it. The dome is actually too heavy for the building to support so the building is being torn apart. It's really sad because of all of the history inside, but they're trying to keep it together.
Later that day we went to the Basilica Cistern which is where the Byzantines held their water due to an ironic shortage of water in the city. It was really hard to get a picture because it was really dark with red lights, but it was still cool.
After that my friends and I decided to go to the Çemberlitas Hammam which is one of the most famous Turkish baths in the city. Important fact: there are separate areas for men and women. I decided to go for the middle package which included a traditional massage by a Turkish "mamma" as my tour leader called them. First, I strip down to a little bikini bottom given to me by the bath with only a little towel to cover up. Then I walked to a large room with a large slab of heated marble in the middle to relax on before the massage. After that, the mamma came over with an exfoliating mitt and some soap to scrub me down. At first it was a little awkward, but really quickly I felt relaxed and really didn't care anymore. After washing my hair and rinsing me off, the mamma told me to go relax in the hot tub in the adjoining room. It felt so good and was so relaxing. Despite the relatively high cost, it was definitely worth the experience. That night, adding to the longest day ever, we had a lecture by a Danish journalist living in Istanbul about the current politics in Turkey. We were mainly upset because they didn't feed us until about 10pm. Oh, and it was still raining and I wiped down a set of marble steps and have the most fabulous bruise. Which you will never see.
Wednesday started out with a lecture at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) which does really interesting work relating to minority issues in Turkey. Our lunch afterwards was in a gorgeous restaurant overlooking the Golden Horn with the Hagia Sophia in the distance. This picture doesn't show the Hagia Sophia, but it's just to the right of it, I promise.
Gorgeous. We then trekked over to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar where we looked at spices, teas, and different varieties of Turkish Delight. The afternoon was spent at a local university with Turkish sociology students discussing the differences between Turkey and the US, as well as some of the more pressing issues in Turkey today. At least, that was the game plan. The Turkish students weren't really that interested so it wasn't as successful as it could have been. Good idea though.
Thursday was a day completely dedicated to cultural visits, which was amazing. We started off at the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet in Turkish), which was, again, gorgeous. Not only is the outside impressive (google it - my little camera can't do it justice), but the inside is as well. We were supposed to meet with the Grand Mufti of Istanbul which would have been incredible, but unfortunately there was a communication mixup so that fell through. It was still impressive just to look around and hear our tour guide give us the background of the mosque. Nifty fact: it's the only mosque in Turkey (maybe the world) with six minarets.
Later we went to the Topkapi Palace which was the official and primary residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans, from 1465 to 1853. Everything was really pretty and ornate.
We then went to the harem of the palace which housed the enslaved concubines of the Sultan. It wasn't nearly as exciting as we had anticipated, but it was still interesting to see how lavish everything was for slave girls.
We then finished off the day by shopping at the Grand Bazaar - the largest one in the world. It was extremely stressful finding not only what you wanted, but a decent price for it as well. But in the end, I think we were all more or less successful.
And to conclude my grand tale, I'm sure you're all wondering WHY it's Istanbul instead of Constantinople. Well, I asked our tour guide the last night and he explained that while Constantinople was the official name of the city during Byzantine times, the people had begun calling it Istanbul (bul = ople). Then when the Ottomans took control, they officially changed the name. Thus concludes the grand mystery given to the world (most popularly) by They Might be Giants.
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