Mosques, Museums, and Mangled Toes

Hagia Sophia

       After a surprisingly pleasant overnight bus ride (at least compared to our other overnight experiences) Sofia and I arrived in Istanbul early in the morning on Friday the 29th. Shuffling to a free bus to a convenient metro stop, we made it to the neighborhood of Sultanahmet, the main tourist area the all of the old sites, and also where our hostel was located. Upon arriving to our hostel, we wondered at the incredibly cheap price of our hostel in terms of its location. Literally 50 meters from the Hagia Sophia (pronounced Aya Sofya) a beautiful once Byzantine church, later a mosque, and now a museum, you couldn’t beat this kind of location! We got up to our room, which was actually just the roof of the hostel with a tent-like structure placed on top of it, and decided to nap. I awoke around noon to the beautiful sounds of the call to prayer. Ever since Egypt, where we would hear the call to prayer five times a day, this ritual is imbued with the feelings of happiness, tranquility, and comfort that I experienced in Egypt. It was so wonderful to hear again.

            After we awoke we made our way to the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul which is located in the Topkapi Palace complex, mere steps from our hostel. Here we saw a lot of great antiquities, including the Kadesh Peace Agreement, the first known international peace treaty in history. This took place between the Egyptians and the Hittites during the reign of Ramses II. The writing on it was miniscule! Subsequently we walked through the adjoining gardens, which were magnificently kept with beautiful tulips and lawns. I always like to see the rivers or seas that adjoin cities that I visit, so we walked down to the rocky shore of the Sea of Marmara and planned out our days in Istanbul.  When we had finished planning, we decided to treat ourselves (especially because the exchange rate was in our favor) to a nice dinner, and so walked through the winding streets to the nearby train station. This was the exact train station that was once the terminal stop of the Orient Express. There’s a restaurant in this train station that had been there from the days of the Orient Express, and I couldn’t resist going.

Topkapi Palace

Me and Gardens

Orient Express restaurant

Hagia Sophia out of my window

            The restaurant (aptly named the Orient Express) was very beautiful inside, harkening back to the turn of the century. Pictures of Agatha Christie and the luxurious train line decorated the walls  along with a few delicate stain glass windows. The dinner was delicious (I got a traditional Turkish kebap), although a bit pricey, but I think it was worth it. After dinner we walked back to the hostel and treated ourselves to a long night’s sleep.

            The next morning we got an early start, wanting to go to a lot of the major sites that day. Our hostel provided us with a breakfast of a hard boiled egg, bread, cheese, cucumber, and tomato, and with that we were on our way.  Our first stop was the Hagia Sophia. This enormous church was built by Justinian in the 5^th century CE. Later during  Ottoman era, the church was changed into a mosque. Then, in the early 19^th century Ataturk, the great general and first president of modern Turkey, changed the building into a secular museum.  I had read about this structure in my art history classes, but I had no way of expecting what I saw. The building, while grand and on the outside, is staggeringly beautiful on the inside. The architecture of the dome (which uses two half domes as buttresses) allows for virtually uninterrupted open space. The ceiling is decorated with arabic calligraphy, but the area at the end of the church above the mihrab (area showing the direction of Mecca) contains the image of the Virgin and Christ. The mix of Christian and Islamic art and imagery was fascinating and beautiful. The whole main hall is lit by beautiful chandeliers, floating close to the ground. It’s hard to describe the feeling of being in the Hagia Sophia, so I highly recommend going and feeling it for yourself!

Me and the Hagia Sophia

            After the Hagia Sophia we went to the Basilica Cistern. This was a water storage system built by Justinian to supply his basilica with water. It has been cleaned up and fitted with boardwalks that hover above 3-5 feet of water...where gross ugly fish swim. It's really dark down there and so it was a really cool experience to walk around in. The cistern is known for its strange upside down Medusa heads that are at the base of two columns. Those were so odd to see, clearly having been yanked off of some previous structure and then placed upside down and sideways on the base of these columns.  

Basilica Cistern

Medusa Head

   Following the Basilica Cistern, we went to the Blue Mosque. This was the first mosque that I had ever been in. We had to remove our shoes, and we were supposed to be wearing skirts and covering our hair, but they seemed pretty relaxed on those rules. The Blue Mosque is so called because of its beautiful blue tile interior and its bluish gray exterior, both of which are quite striking. It was very interesting to be inside as a tourist. Men were praying in the main hall area in a closed off section, and women were praying in smaller rooms along the walls.  I thought that it was interesting how informal prayer was. There was no leader or sermon or anything like that. People came of their own desire to pray during the day. This was very different from my experiences with other religions that have had highly structured religious programs.

Blue Mosque

            After the Blue Mosque we walked down a short ways and experienced our first Turkish Bazaar. This is an experience, and not always a pleasant one. This bazaar is called the Arasta Bazaar, and is much smaller than some of the others, but it was a good way to start shopping. There were stores that were stacked full of beautiful scarves, pillows, bags, shoes, jewelry, and regular souvenirs. Sofia and I bought Hamsa’s, also called the Hand of Fatima (by Muslims), and the Hand of God (by Jews). I had wanted one ever since I learned about them in Arabic class/ from Jewish friends. It’s essentially a charm that is in the shape of a hand with two thumbs, with an eye in the center. They are meant to protect the wearer from the Evil Eye. They are also very beautiful, and so Sofia and I splurged a bit and got Turkish silver Hamsa necklaces.

            After we left the Arasta Bazaar we made our way up to the Grand Bazaar. This was insane. For starters, it is one of the largest Bazaars in the world. This place is enormous. The whole thing is covered, so you’re inside, and the aisles are sort of in a grid, but not really, so you never know exactly where you are, or how to get out. Thousands of small vendors line the aisles, seemingly selling the exact same array of products. However, when you spend enough time in there, you can detect the difference in quality and originality of the products they sell. Most of it is typical touristy stuff: fez’s, fake scimitars, and dinky key chains. They also sold belly dance attire, and I was extremely tempted by some of the skirts. There were also instrument stores, spice stores, sweets shops, ceramics vendors, chess set vendors, lamp vendors, and pillow shops. It was crazy. To top it all off, almost every single store owner or shop keeper would harass you as you walk through the aisles, trying to get you into their shop. This became a bit much when they would physically touch you or get in your face. But most of it was harmless shouting or cat-calling.

            We left the Grand Bazaar a bit frazzled and oriented ourselves, since we weren’t sure as to where we came out, and made our way to the Whirling Dervish show that we had booked for that evening. I had been a bit hesitant to book the show, since coming from Maui, I kind of get to see the other side of the tourist world; I know that some shows are not as authentic or worth the money as others, or that certain activities are simply tourist traps. However, Sofia really wanted to go, and I knew that I would probably regret it if I didn’t, so we bought the tickets.  Now, I am quite glad that we went. The show was pretty great. It began with about a half an hour of traditional music, and then a half an hour of dervish whirling. The whirling dervishes whirl as a part of practicing Sufism, a sect of Islam. To them, the whole world is turning, and in mimicking that in somewhat of a trance-like fashion, they can reach God. The true masters are able to spin for hours. These dervishes whirled in 10 minute intervals, but it was still impressive. It seemed like they just were turning on a point. Their foot work was so smooth that they didn’t move up and down with their steps! Enchanted, we left the show, grabbed a sandwich called a Doner (shaved chicken slices with lettuce and tomato on a roll) and went home to sleep.

Whirling Dervishes

            We had a fairly relaxed plan for the next day, so we took our time getting up, got breakfast, and checked out of our hostel (we were heading out to Ephesus that night). From our hostel we walked across a nearby bridge to the Galata Tower. This tower is a major part of the Istanbul skyline, and resides in the Jewish quarter of Istanbul. We didn’t go into the tower, but it was a nice walk. From there we decided to walk along the streets, trying to find another bridge. On our way, we saw a huge pack of policemen and police cars, heard drums, chanting, and shouting. For a split second, I feared that we had encountered another revolution or riot. But soon we saw huge hordes of people with banners, drums, instruments, and food. This was clearly some sort of political holiday. We watched for a bit, and then continued on our way.

People marching

            Finding the bridge we needed, we crossed back to our original side of the river and walked north to get to St. Stephen’s, one of the only wrought iron churches in the world. I was expecting a church the color of the Eiffel Tower, but instead we found a white church, with small rust stains on the corners. It seems that they had painted it white to avoid the rust color. The inside was all decorated in wrought iron as well, and was really cool to see.

St. Stephen's

St. Stephen's interior

            After we left St. Stephen’s we decided to find our way to the Chora Church, which is famous for its beautiful mosaics. It wasn’t on our map, though so it was going to be a bit of a challenge. As we were walking, I being my usual klutzy self, stubbed my toe on the corner of an asphalt sidewalk. I was wearing my slippers (flip flops for mainland readers) so I essentially sliced off the top layer of skin on my pinky toe. Blood was everywhere, and all Sofia and I had was a single bandaid. However, two men who were walking through the nearby park trying to sell tea and shoe shines saw my plight and went and got me wipes and tissues. I was so amazed by their kindness. They even tried to give me free tea, but I refused. They had already been so nice! After bandaging me up and thanking the men profusely, we were back on the road again.

Nasty toe chunk

            We took it fairly easy the rest of the day. We saw some more churches, went back to the Arasta Bazaar so that Sofia could get a scarf she liked, and sat on the lawns in front of the Hagia Sophia for a bit eating Turkish Delight. Turkish Delight is basically mochi in smaller squares, or for non-Hawaiian readers, it's a very doughy treat covered with powdered sugar. Yum! We made it by 8pm to our bus, and were on our way overnight to Ephesus.

Just chillin

            The bus ride was fairly pleasant for being 10 hours. We slept a lot, and were pretty ready for the day by the time we got to the town of Selcuk (pronounced Selchuk) which is 3 km from the ancient site of Ephesus. We decided to walk the 3km rather than wait and pay for a shuttle there. It was a really nice walk along country roads. I had become a bit tired of constant cities, so this was a nice change. After a half an hour or so of walking we had arrived, paid the entry fee, and explored. I knew that Ephesus was once a large and bustling city, and a major Early Christian center from my studies in Egypt, but still it impressed me with how much was there and the extent of the site. The most impressive parts of Ephesus were the Library, which was been greatly reconstructed, and the theater. This was an enormous theater! Definitely the largest ancient theater I had seen on the trip yet. I had always expected that the Athenian theater would be the largest.

On the theater seats

The library!

            We left the site after an hour and a half of exploring, shuttled it back to Selcuk and then visited the Artemision. This site, once a temple to Artemis, had been listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, along with the pyramids at Giza. However, almost nothing remains of the temple at all. It’s quite shocking to imagine so large and famous a structure could be literally reduced to a two columns and a pond full of blocks. Still, we knew it would be underwhelming, so we were able to sit and really appreciate the inherent beauty of the ruins, imagining their former glory.

The Artemision

            From there we went to the beach! Sofia had been craving it all trip, and since our Greek island beach ambitions had been dashed, this was a nice surprise. We lay out on an almost deserted beach for maybe 3 hours. I didn’t go into the water for fear of getting my toe infected, so I just read my kindle. Sandy and sweaty (there weren’t any public showers like I’m spoiled with on Maui), so being kind of gross we took a shuttle back to town, grabbed a dinner of Turkish pizza, and waited for our night bus to Troy.

Turkish Pizza

            The bus to Troy, or to the nearby town of Canakkale (pronounced Chanakkaley), was supposed to drop us off at 7:30am. The man selling the tickets told us this, and while I was happy it would be a totally overnight bus, I was a little suspicious. It took us 10 hours to get to Ephesus from Istanbul, and I knew that it was supposed to take 5 and a half to get to Troy from Istanbul, so therefore the bus from Ephesus to Troy should only be about 5 hours. This turned out to be the case. We were dropped off in Canakkale at 4:30am. Cursing the man who lied about the times, we bundled up and sat on the curb near where we were dropped off. Luckily, a wonderful shop owner called us over to his café and covered us with blankets and gave us free tea. He was so kind, letting us remain there until around 8am, when we set out to get to Troy.  However, upon finding the bus we found out that we would have to kill a bit more time. So we wandered through the streets of this small town, looking for a park to sit in, and ended up awkwardly sitting in a schoolyard for about a half an hour while the kids played some early morning soccer before their classes. 

            Finally we had killed enough time and hopped on the shuttle to the site.  Troy is similar to the Artemision in its underwhelming state of preservation. However, I was completely thrilled and entranced by the place. From reading the Iliad, I could imagine scenes from the book everywhere we went. From the hill you can see the shoreline of the sea. I could picture thousands and thousands of Greek triremes lining those shores, then the thousands of men swarming the plain that separates Troy from the water. I could imagine people running frantically along the tops of the walls, watching the battle. Priam, Hecuba, Cassandra, Achilles, Odysseus, all characters I knew so well, may very well have walked where I was walking. This was where Columbia’s Core program began, with the Iliad, and with Homer! Needless to say, I was elated to be there.

Troy ruins!

Troy

            The site was also fascinating in terms of archaeology. It had been dug up long ago by a German named Schleimann, who dug an enormous trench through the whole site, finding artifacts from many different eras of occupation. He called his findings “Priam’s treasure”, but it dated from about 200 years before the Priam occupation. Now we know that Homer’s Troy exists in layers 6 and 7 of the site, layers which show signs of violent destruction. The site had all of the layers labeled extremely well, so you could see how the city literally built itself on top of its own past generations.

             We left the site after about 2 hours, after taking some requisite photos with their reconstructed Trojan horse and browsing the gift shop. Getting back to Canakkale, we booked the next bus to Istanbul, and hung out until it was time to go. Arriving back in Istanbul that night, we got to our hostel (we were at a different one for convenience) and rapidly fell asleep.

Horsey!

            Our last day in Istanbul and in Turkey was great, although the weather could have been better. We awoke to rain, lots of rain. We ended up purchasing cheap umbrellas on the street, and making the soggy walk to the Dolmabace Palace (pronounced Dolmabachey). This had been the home of about 6 Turkish sultans and of the first president Ataturk. The palace was resplendent in every way. It contained many crystal staircases and chandeliers, the largest chandelier being 4 and half tons. We saw the baths of the sultan and of his harem, along with his gardens, which contained some beautiful peacocks, along with some very strange hunchback chicken-like birds.

Dolmabace in the rain

            After Dolmabace, we walked around town a bit, arriving at the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar. Both markets were much easier to deal with that day, presumably because it was a Wednesday and not a Saturday, which is when we last went. We shopped around in a relaxed manner under these less pressured conditions, and got some last minute souvenirs we had been eyeing the whole time.

            After some nice bazaar time we went back to our hostel and prepared for our 3am flight out of Sabiha International Airport. To get there we had to take a ferry to an area called Kadikoy, then a bus from Kadikoy to the airport. This took about an hour and half and so we got to the airport around 12 and checked in. We had a bit of trouble at the passport desk because the passport control at the border of Greece and Turkey had apparently failed to give us an entrance stamp to Turkey. However, after a few phone calls and questions, we were allowed through. Our flights went pretty smoothly. We flew from Istanbul to Cologne in Germany, then from Cologne we flew to Lisbon. Those flights made me realize that I like train travel much much more than flying, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.

            We were very excited for Portugal, looking forward to the 70 degree weather and the sunshine. Istanbul despite the last day’s rainy weather, was definitely one of my favorite places that we had visited. I look forward to my inevitable return!