Brace yourself. Long post coming.
Even though I was expecting it and despite the fact that I was wearing ear plugs, I awoke at 5:50 to the haunting cry of the sunrise call to prayer. I was back in Istanbul, the Gateway to the East and the first Islamic majority country we would cross during this trip. I was back in a country that many Americans are hesitant to travel to. It’s neighbors include Syria, Armenia, Iraq, and of course Iran. Needless to say there is a lot of unrest and conflict in the area. That, coupled with the fact that the government doesn’t exactly have the best reputation when it comes to human rights, causes many tourists to look elsewhere when planning their European adventures. The U.S. State department ranks it as a 3 on it’s 1-5 rating of countries, which earns it the highest ranking of any country on our adventure (5 being the North Koreas of the world). Hell I was even tear gassed the last time I was here (wrong place wrong time). But as the chanting ended and I drifted back to sleep, I couldn’t help thinking to myself just how glad I was to be back in this beautiful city.
Istanbul (and Turkey in general) has a rich rich history. The Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantiums, and Ottomans have all left their mark on the city, it’s architecture (it has more Roman ruins than even Italy), it’s food, and of course, it’s people. Like any great southern Mediterranean culture, the people are loud, vibrant, and extremely friendly. There is no better place to experience this than the chaotic Grand Bazaar.
The Grand Bazaar is an absolutely massive covered market in the Golden Horn of Istanbul (think old town). It has over 4,000 shops, selling anything from knock off Gucci products to authentic Iranian Saffron to the famous Turkish rugs. If you can google it, you can probably find it in the Bazaar. It naturally draws tons of visitors every day, making it the most visited attraction in the world. We were just four of the 90 million or so people who visit every year. We wandered through the maze of shops and throngs of people for awhile before searching out some street food. Dan found some place for us to try. Not knowing what we were ordering, we pointed to a random line on the menu and hoped for the best. We lucked out. Turns out it was Kokoreç, a sandwich made of chopped lamb’s intestines and peppers and onions. It had a bit of spice and it tasted incredible. After grabbing a coffee and some underwhelming baklava, Mike found us one hell of a kebab at Donerci Sahin Usta. Highly recommend to any future visitors. We followed the juicy sandwiches with a glass of Ayran. Ayran is a cold, yogurt-based drink mixed with salt. It’s apparently very popular in this region as well as Central Asia. It must be an acquired taste, but I’m glad we tried it.
Donerci Sahin Usta, since 1969, slinging some of the best kebabs in a shop no larger than a closet.
Kebab and some sour, salty yogurt milk.
The Sultan Squad
After the bazaar, we checked out the Basilica Cistern, a massive 6th century underground cistern used to store fresh water for the city. Unfortunately, it was being renovated so we could only see a portion. Fortunately though, it gave us a great opportunity to take a photo dressed as Sultans. Please ignore the fact that none of us look Turkish.
Later that day and a couple of much better baklavas later, we decided to try a Turkish bath. We didn’t know what to expect. We just knew they were famous and probably stemmed from the ancient Roman baths. It’s basically the Turkish spa, if spas were a bit more violent. The bath we went to was beautiful. Clean. Relaxing. After a welcoming tea and a quick change into our towels, we were taken into the Hamam where our bathers were awaiting us.
While a secular country, Turkey is still vastly an Islamic culture, albeit more akin to the average Chriester (as our guide mentioned later in the weekend). The typical Turkish bath is not co-ed. Men and women have different bathing times. The same goes for our bathers.
Four, older Turkish men in towels directed us into the Hamam where we were told to sit. All of a sudden, one took some sort of pan, dunked it in water than threw it on me. He proceeded to do the same to each of us a couple of time. We were then led to a hot stone in the middle of the circular room to lay down for what must have been 15 minutes or so. Felt similar to a steam room, just much less humid. They then led us each to a separate station where they proceeded to dump alternating hot and cool water on us. This was followed by a massage that can only be described as abusive. After the bathers finished bending our bodies into inhuman positions with their quick jerky motions, they proceeded to exfoliate our dead skin by scrubbing it with what may have been sandpaper. The bathers then dumped mountains of soap bubbles o us and proceeded to wash us down. Finally, after a few more rinses and quick jerky body bends, we left cleaner than we probably have ever been in our lives. Getting the opportunity to experience such an important part of the Turkish culture was definitely worth it. I couldn’t recommend trying a Turkish bath more.
The night ended with the team trying a fantastic restaurant specializing in Ottoman cuisine (complete with flaming kebabs cooked table side in a clay jar). We met a few teams for a couple of beers on some rooftop and then called it an early night. We had arranged a private tour for Sunday and needed to be out the door by 9:30.
Our guide, Ümit Özipek, met us early in the morning to take us on our day long tour. He was fantastic. We took the Tunel (world’s second oldest subway) to the Golden Horn (old town of Istanbul) to begin our tour at the Hippodrome. Ümit expertly walked us through site after site, explaining how each culture (Greek, Roman, Ottoman) had left their mark on the city. In the interest of brevity, I’ll skip the detail on each, but we saw the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace (palace of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire), the Pudding Shop (restaurant where the Hippies used to meet before starting their journey across Asia), the magnificent Hagia Sophia, an authentic Turkish rug shop where we got to watch the famous rugs being made and learn how to spot a fake, and finally the Spice Bazaar where we tried various teas, Turkish delights, candies, and spices. The sites were impressive and memorable.
Our guide was very knowledgeable, and it was interesting to hear his passion for each culture present throughout Istanbul’s rich history. The last couple of years have been rough on Turkey’s tourism. The unrest in the area coupled with the political climate in the country has caused tourism numbers to plummet, which is a shame given the beauty of the place. The city itself is no more dangerous than any other big city. I hope the tourism recovers.
We ended our last night in Istanbul trying two additional kebab styles, each just awesome. The street food in the city is just superb. We tried some hookah and had a few beers and called it a night. -FWY
Inside the Hagia Sofia
A mosque at sunset