İstanbul - Gün 2

An amazing view of the clouds over the Bosphorous


Istanbul cityscape

So, today I visited the Blue Mosque. The interior was really beautiful. I would have photos, but I feel sacriligious taking photos of operating mosques. It's disgusting when tourists take photos of people praying (without permission). It shows no respect for other people, and it's seriously annoying. Tourists! (It's good to be a backpacker/student traveller).


Also, I saw the Basilica Cistern. This place was the main water source for Istanbul for awhile, and it's really quite beautiful. It's basically a large, underground open area with lots of columns to hold it up. The columns have been taken from various old temples, so many are mismatched (or two even have Medusa heads at the bottom). They've dimly lit up many of the columns, and water is leaking from the ceiling- making it seem to drizzle. Fish swim around in the foot-deep water, hovering around the lamposts. We had to compete with a group of Turkish school children to see the sites.


Aftwerwards, we headed to the Hippodrome, and saw the two obelisks there. You can see the older one above. The other was sort of basic looking- its iron sides had been ripped off, leaving the stone bricks uncovered.


A typical Ataturk statue found in Taksim Square
Later we headed to Taksim Square (at the end of Istiklal Caddesi), to meet up with the rest of the exchange students. We found a bus, and headed to a Türkiye-Almanya (Turkey-Germany) Futbol Match.

At the gates, they confiscated all lighters, many people's coins, checked purses, padded people down, threw tickets to the ground (no assigned seating), and they took the top off my unopened water bottle. At the end, I emerged with my purse clutched to be chest, all its belongings in my hands, and an open bottled water.

The game was a uneventful half-attended game, but that was okay. Turkey won 2-1. We got to cheer along with the Turkish fans, and we could understand them, most of the time. This really is a singing-culture.


Above you see the aftermath of a fan waving a flare in the air. Ah, police and security guards.


I spotted this Engrish sweatshirt from my seat: "The Bigger Player: Choice Your Game".

İstanbul - Sabah 2

And so begins the day, forever known as the date on which Iris ate 4 Dunkin Donuts.

I'm just so sick of Turkish cuisine! There's no variety! No diversity! How much köfte can one woman eat? How much kebap does it take for you to be sick of food entirely? YARGH!

In other news, those donuts had either Hazelnut filling, or they were decorated with pistachios. A Turkish twist to an American favorite. Irresistable at 1.75 lira each.

İstanbul - Gün 1

Istanbul (the side with Istiklal Caddesi) at sunrise from the Ferry
After having my plans for Mt. Nemrut and Urfa cancelled at the last moment, I tagged along on a journey to Istanbul. We left Thursday night and took an overnight train. I've determined never to take the train again- especially not without a sleeper car. The ride took twice as long, and the lights were never turned out. Upon arrival in Istanbul, we took a ferry from the Asian side to the European side, and checked into our "Chill Out" Hostel and Cafe.


The place was colorful, but the bathrooms weren't very clean. The definition of a "shower" was a showerhead over a squatting toilet that was never cleaned. Ah, Turkey! So, we changed to a hotel of the same price (about 12 USD a night per person) the next day.


The Aya Sofia
Today's agenda consisted of some site-seeing. We visited the Aya Sofia (above), the Spice Market, and the Grand Bazaar. It was quite beautiful, if a bit expensive and tourist-y. The salesmen in the bazaar call to you in as many languages as they can, until you respond. They'll grab you, talk to you, and do anything to grab your attention and pull you into the store.


The Virgin Mary with Jesus, and an Islamic decorative circle saying "Allah"
The Aya Sofia was interesting, because of the two religions showing so prominently. There was much restoration being done, but I'm not sure which art they were recovering- the Islamic or the Christian.


Yellow, Islamic-folk art beside jewelled Byzantium mozaics


A view of the Blue Mosque through a window in the Aya Sofia


A piece of a mozaic in the Aya Sofia

On the way to meet some of the other exchange students, a man called to Katie and I saying, "Excuse me. Excuse me! You dropped something." We turned around, and he said, "You dropped my heart." So, we turned back around and continued on our way. Hitting on foreign women by using cheesy lines from 80s movies seems to be a national hobby.


The sunset on Sultanhamet
We spent much of the day wandering around and getting lost to/from Sultanhamet. The city seems to be arranged in a way that stores of similar types (i.e. hardware, music, etc.) are all clumped together. Sometimes, we're lucky and stumble upon a residential section where the children are playing in the streets. After a day of much walking, we retired to the Bean Bag chaired cafes on Galata Bridge to watch the sunset.


The sunset on Istanbul (the side with Istiklal Caddesi)

The rest of the night was spent at a restaurant and then a small Reggae dance club.

Hastayız

Below is a list of all exchange students that I know of, that have contracted some sort of stomach/digestive illness since we've arrived.

Shammara (USA)
Iris (USA)
Sharon (USA)
David (USA)
Lisa (USA)
Gaurav (USA)
Jason (USA)
Amzie (USA)
Archeta (India)
Mat (Australia)
Frederick (Germany)
Hannes (Germany)
Lisa (Germany)
Laura (Holland)

Perhaps it is really not so many.
Antibiotics are our friend.

The medical system here is quite different. I never filled out any forms. All I did was get a blood test and wait in lots of lines. My drugs cost next to nothing.

Parti

To top the night off, we headed to a party hosted by two of the exchange students. We walked through Uzungil in the dark with some shady directions, but found the apartment anyways. We entered and found many of our exchange student friends (with some Turkish students, of course) sitting about smoking, drinking, and talking.


Generic party photo of people sitting in an apartment

The traditional Turkish music was pumped up, the cymbals were brought out, and some Turkish dancing was done.


Dancing exchange students and friends

One of the guys who walked us home, sang some Turkish songs for us. He had a beautiful voice, and it was really nice.

I broke curfew. Take that conservative, privacy-breaching dorm rules!