**Just as a warning, I haven’t finished the blogs for my first two days here, but generally I went to the Mehmet II Mosque, Hagia Sohpia, Basilica Cistern and Blue Mosque the first day and Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, and Taxim Square the second day. More details to come soon, I promise!
7/31
After a restful morning (spent asleep…no breakfast for me today), my friends and I walked the two minutes to the ferry boat station (in Turkish: “ferriboat”) to take the ferry over to Asia for lunch. No big deal.
When we got there, I of course photo-journalized my first step on the Asian continent, much to the frustration of the frequenters of the Asian continent walking down the gangway behind me. It looked pretty much like the rest of Istanbul…but I was still happy about being on a new continent. We stopped in at a little café for lunch. We had a meat and yogurt dish, which was tasty, and kadayif, a baklava-like dessert made with stringy pastry rather than flaky filo dough and topped with chopped pistachio.
After our lunch, we made the trek back to Europe, about a fifteen minute ferry boat ride that cost 1.75 TL (Turkish lyra).
One of the most highly recommended activities in Turkey is pretty opposite from visiting the Blue Mosque: a Turkish bath. I had been planning on getting one ever since the preport before Turkey, and today was the day. I took the tram from Karakoy, our stop near the port, to Cemberlitas (pronounced chember-lee-tosh, again there should be some symbols on the c and s, but I don’t have a Turkish keyboard) stop. Right across the street is the Cemberlitas Hamami historical Turkish bath, originally built by famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in 1584. So, this was much more a historical and cultural enrichment experience than a self-indulgent, exfoliating spa treatment (wink). The bath offered several different treatments, and I opted for the one with the oil massage, which is of course necessary for the historical and cultural enrichment experience. The bath is separated into a men’s side and a women’s side, and after I ordered my treatment the woman gave me a little package of goodies and I went into the locker room to change into my towel, bath underwear (one of the goodies), and bath shoes. From there, I went into the bath. It was beautiful: a spacious, gray-white marble room with high ceilings, alcoves lining the side of the room and a large, octagonal marble platform in the center of the room. Everything was wet, and the marble platform was covered in other bathers. When I walked in, a large Turkish woman who spoke only a few words of English took me by the hand, laid my towel (which was very thin) down on the platform and motioned for me to lay down also. I did, and she went into one of the alcoves, which had a faucet running water continuously into a marble basin, which was overflowing onto the marble floor and into the many drains around the room. She dipped a metal bowl into the basin of water and threw a few bowlfuls of lukewarm water over my body and left me to lay there and sweat for about fifteen minutes. The room was warm, but not uncomfortably so, and I found myself wishing I could just lay there for hours. When I was sufficiently sweaty, the woman came back and scrubbed me down with the special exfoliating glove in my goody bag, sluffing all the dead skin off my body and leaving my skin feeling like new. She threw more water onto me, and then worked some magic with soap and a towel that made what felt like a thick blanket of soap suds cover me and scrubbed me down again. She walked me into the alcove with the faucet, washed my hair and rinsed me off and told me, “Finish! Jacuzzi” and pointed through a door. So I soaked in the jacuzzi for awhile until another woman came in and asked if anyone was ready for their oil massage. I was, so I went with her into a brightly lit, small room full of tables of other women (about half SASers as this was a very popular activity with the girls on the ship) getting massages. After my massage, I walked back out into the main room feeling like a queen. Rather, during the bath part of the Turkish bath I felt somewhere between a queen and a small child, so I guess that would make it a princess.
I joined a few other SAS girls in an apple tea in our towels in the lounge room in the bath, which tasted even more delicious than usual. So if and when you go to Turkey, make sure to put “get a Turkish bath” right after “see the Hagia Sofia” on your priority list.
I was so relaxed after the bath I did nothing for the rest of the afternoon, which felt great, but went out for tea and chatting with a girlfriend after dinner. We found a great café along the water a short walk from the ship where you sat on beanbags on the floor and where they had a huge selection of teas. I had a hot chocolate (this was the first time since Italy it had been cool enough to order one) a rose tea, and a Turkish grilled cheese, which at that moment was the most satisfying thing in the world since I had been craving a grilled cheese for weeks.
8/1
I can’t believe it’s already August! This trip is flying by…I feel like we could have been to only a port to two so far but we’re already at the second to last day of our second to last port. Of course, that means there’s still plenty of time for more adventures.
This morning, I almost accidentally slept through my SAS-organized boat tour of the Bosporus. I wouldn’t have done so on purpose…but after waking up at 7:45, tuning off my alarm and deciding to get up in five minutes, I fell back asleep and woke up at 8:21, nine minutes before our bus was leaving. So I may not have looked super cute and may not have showered since my Turkish bath the day before, but I made it.
The thirty or so of us were the only ones on the boat, so we could spread out on the deck and all have prime locations for picture-taking. The Bosporus the seventeen mile long natural waterway connecting the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea and separating the European continent side of Istanbul from the Asian continent side. We passed under the two suspension bridges, both of which are beautifully lit up at night. The entire waterway was lined with buildings, most coming right down to the water’s edge and bustling with activity. Ferry boats pass between the European and Asian continents in about fifteen minutes, and large private and commercial ships pass through the straight on their way to the Black Sea or the Mediterranean. I was surprised by how many schools and universities were situated on the prime real estate at the water’s edge, but our guide pointed out at least five, two of them art schools with giant windows looking out at the strait. Less surprising were the Yali (the “I” shouldn’t have a dot over it as it’s pronounced “uh”, but I don’t have a Turkish keyboard), the mansions lining what felt like half the Bosporus on the Asian continent side. They were fantastic: right at the water, many with their own private yacht in front, and in all different styles from Neoclassical and possibly dating back to the 1800s to sleekly modern. It reminded me a bit of Newport Beach on steroids, and the minimum for these houses was $8 million. Most of the houses were two or three stories tall, and in some of these, each floor would belong to a different family, but in that case the one floor was still $2-3 million. The oldest Yali was from the 1600s, where it housed a prominent Ottoman dignitary. It was under restoration when we passed by, and I’m assuming they will make it into a museum once the restorations finish.
We also passed the huge fortifications built by 21-year-old Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror (of Constantinople) in just 115 days. I’d probably get my papers done faster if my professors threatened to behead me if they were late, too. We saw several fabulous palaces from the 17-1800s along the water’s edge. By then, European styles had become fashionable in the Ottoman Empire, so the sultan moved out of Topkapi palace and into one along the sea built especially for him. This one, along with others, are now museums, but one of the giant palaces along the water was converted into a hotel, which now costs $11-12,000 per night to stay in. As we came closer to the end of the channel, the buildings began thinning out to be replaced by lush green woods covering the hills. Also, further away from the center of Istanbul there were coves in the Bosporus that looked like little marinas: full of motor and sailboats waiting to be taken out for the weekend by the Istanbulu mariners. We passed two green hills and a palace between them with the EU and German flags flying out front. When I first saw this I found it odd, but our guide told us that this portion of Istanbul had been a present from the Ottoman sultan to Kaiser Wilhelm and still was a little piece of Germany today.
I had an apple tea on the boat, which was delicious as always. Turkish flags became even more apparent during this ride than they had been in the city so far. Istanbul is definitely the most well-flagged city I have ever been in: there are giant Turkish flags on every hill and major monument and smaller ones everywhere else. I took a ton of pictures during the tour, so I’m hoping they will come out ok…but it just won’t be the same looking back at the Bosporus on a computer screen.
After our tour of the waterway, we went to the Sadberk Hanim Museum. Sadberk Hanim was the daughter of Vehbi Koc (pronounced Kosh), something of a Turkish Rockefeller. He began in foodstuffs, then bought a grocery store chain, then got into textiles, then industrial stuff like car parts, then founded a bank and finally founded a university. The house they lived in was converted into a museum and named after the daughter, who was very intelligent and passionate about giving the museum a collection respected nationally and worldwide. It was a small museum, and we weren’t allowed to take pictures, but the ethnographic area showed beautiful traditional Ottoman clothing, interior decoration, jewelry and ceramic work. There was also a small but attractive collection of Chinese decorative plates and vases (not sure how that got there). One collection, part of the Roman archaeological section, was touring, so we didn’t see that but we did see plenty of Roman jewelry, coins, pottery and glass containers. I’m amazed at how many Roman artifacts each country we have visited has, and it really solidifies just how large the Roman Empire was and how strong an influence it had (has) on so many civilizations throughout the Mediterranean.
On the way back to the ship, we passed several consulates (not embassies because those are at the capital in Ancara), including the Chinese consulate. When we passed by, our tour guide said to us, “Have you heard? Sweden has declared war and invaded China! All 1.4 billion people in China knew this except one: the president. The prime minister met with the president to let him know, and the president asked, ‘How many are they’ to which the prime minister said, ‘8 million’ and the president asked, ‘In which hotel are they staying?’”
Apparently our guide was amazed at how many people live in China.
This evening, I went on a SAS lead trip to watch a Sufi Dervish ceremony. Sufis are part of a sect of Islam which was a reaction against the earth-centered view of Islam at the time (1300s). They strive to make an individual connection with Allah through the dervish ceremony, where they essentially spin in circles in a trance-like state. It was held in a circular, stone walled and high-ceilinged room dimly lit with a few black lights. We sat in four rows of chairs surrounding the circular stage in the center of the room and a raised, tiered stage for the musicians off to my left. We were all warned not to take pictures, video or clap as this was a religious ceremony and not a performance.
When the seven musicians, seven men and one woman, began processing slowly and with purpose into the room, the room fell completely silent. They wore long white dresses with black robes over and a tall, reddish-tan felt hat that reminded me of a brimless “cat in the hat” hat. They played Turkish music with drums, singing, flute and string instrument for about fifteen minutes, and then dancers entered. They were dressed the same, and after laying prayer rugs on the edges of the stage, four white and one red (the red one as for the master of the four pupils) and much bowing, they removed the black robes (removing the “death” from their body to become “immortal”) they began to spin. They revolved both in place and around themselves, mimicking the movement of the planets in the universe. They spun for a long time, and their long white dresses fixed at the waist with a black belt flew around them like a ballerina’s skirt. They would start spinning with both hands crossed at their chest, then slowly drop their arms to their waist and then lift them back up above their heads and then let them fall, the right pointing up to receive power and the left pointing down to give it to the rest of the world.
I’m glad I went, but I wouldn’t say it was entertaining or a performance. It was definitely meant to be a religious ritual, and felt that way. When they finished, they walked out in procession again, and everyone in the audience just got up and left, no clapping or anything else.
Also, today was the first day of Ramadan. Since 99% of Turkey is Muslim, this means that a lot of people in Istanbul began fasting from sunrise to sunset today. That also meant that after sunset, there was a huge festival in the area in front of the Blue Mosque. We got there a little late for the music, but before we were there, a huge stage that a band had been playing music on was still set up. There were little stalls everywhere with all different kinds of delicious Turkish street food, and we all bought a few different types of Turkish delight to share. I liked the pomegranate the best, but I would definitely prefer baklava or a brownie to Turkish delight. The marshmallow texture is just not my favorite, but I do like having a dessert full of almonds, walnuts or pistachios. There was a long string of outdoor fair-style booths selling jewelry, art, clothes, all different kinds of food, furniture, and other Turkish keepsakes. The space between the booths on either side were strung with lights, so it was a really fun place to walk down, and the whole area was packed with other shoppers and browsers. I was wearing a ¾ length sleeve shirt and jeans, but one of the girls I was with was wearing a knee-length skirt whose sleeves didn’t cover her shoulders, and she actually got yelled at by one man and rudely elbowed in passing by another. You really have to be aware and careful how you dress walking in Istanbul, especially during Ramadan, because people will do more than just give you dirty looks.
I’m a little rushed to post this blog (that I haven’t finished writing) before I have to get back on the ship, so I’ll definitely be writing more about the feeling in Istanbul in general and on my first experience in a primarily Muslim country later.
Love from Istanbul,
Ginny
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