Istanbul

Throughout our travels and even before they began people had been telling us we needed to see Istanbul. It is split in two, a European side and an Asian side and the convergence of cultures has created a hybrid society in the bustling city of nearly 16 million.

We arrived on a Thursday morning after a 12+ hour bus ride from Antalya that was anything but comfortable. From the bus station or “otogar”, we caught the bus to Taksim square, which has the same buzz and masses of people as Times Square minus the skyscrapers.

Taksim Square!

Leading out of the square is a paved road, closed for vehicles but that doesn’t mean it’s without traffic. The beginning of the street is elevated giving you a good vantage point to the thousands and thousands of people walking it. The street is lined with shops and restaurants, but not exactly the touristy kinds. And for those not up for a long walk, running down the center of the street is an old school trolley car.

Old trolley

Our hostel was at the very end of the street, nearly 2km in the blistering heat with backpacks on. We were in desperate need of sleep but decided to push through the day and not mess up our internal clocks. So, we figured since it was so hot and we were too exhausted to site see, we would see a movie. The only two movies playing in English were Robin Hood, which we had just seen, and Sex & the City 2.

And my amazing boyfriend that he is took me to see it!! It was interesting though because the movie had a lot of Muslim references in it, and being in a predominately Muslim country, i had to look around to see if any girls seemed upset…but…none around!

It was a good date movie, that killed a few hours and when we got out, the temperature had dropped a bit. We regrouped at the hostel for a few minutes and finished the day with a grilled fish sandwich from one of the famous boats on the other side of Gallata Bridge. It was damn yummy, but I was so tired I almost couldn’t enjoy it. As soon as we got back to the hostel I passed out fully clothed not to awake until breakfast the next morning.

Fish sandwich!

After breakfast we rode the trolley to Taksim Square to meet our VERY FIRST couchsurfing host Mine. It was our first time ever couchsurfing and we were not sure exactly how it would go, but it was so smooth, before we even could think about it we were hanging out in her house getting tips about seeing Istanbul. She had put together quite a nice afternoon for us informing us of the good places to go on a budget aka free places that were must sees.

The Spice Bazaar was first on the list. It was a treat for the senses providing amazing smells from the bakeries and mounds of spices; the sounds of the crowds and shop owners trying to bait you in and the spectacular colors of the lights, shops and foods as well as the heaps of people.

Spice Bazaar

Next we were off to the Grand Bazaar. This massive establishment took a lot longer to walk through than the grid formation avenues full of vendors. As lonely planet points out, you could spend a 3 hours or three days in here. Unfortunately or fortunately for us some of the shops were closing up. Otherwise we may have been tempted to buy things. There are shops as far as the eye can see, which can be placed into a few categories: souvenirs; clothes; hookah & accessories; Turkish delight and tea; mostly copycats of one another but still interesting to see and good if you are in the mood to shop around. There were fountains at the exits for washing hands and feet, we think it was for the Muslims to clean up before prayer but not sure.

After the bazaar, we made our way to the famous blue mosque, which really was very marvelous! Outside of every mosque are these tall minarets…some have only one or 2 of them, but the blue mosque has 5 of them, so it really stands out! Tourists walk in the back entrance, and everyone takes off their shoes and puts them into bags that are offered at the entrance. Women then also must cover their heads – I had my own scarf since I knew this going in, but just in case, they have scarves they lend unprepared tourists! I kind of thought it was just a respectful thing to do, but when we inside, we saw a uniformed man confronting women who were uncovered to cover up! Inside though, it was very beautiful – HUGE! The pictures really do not do it justice at all!

Inside the blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque

Right across from the blue mosque with a nice courtyard and fountain in between is the Hagia Sophia, which is also beautiful, but costs money to get in, so we opted for the external view! We continued walking around town for a bit and found a little place that serves huge bowls of pasta for 4 Lira! SO CHEAP and LOTS of food!

Hagia Sofia

And so we ate and drank some Raki that we brought with us in our purse and headed back to Taksim to meet Mine and her friend! When we got to Taksim, it was unreal! There were these little windy strips of bars and cafes FULL of people enjoying their night out! We went to one of Mines favorite spots to get some “nut” vodka shots, which taste just like hazelnut (YUM!) before we headed to Faces, which is supposed to play 80’s, but really was in a 90’s mood that night! It was a fun night and great to see the nightlife in Istanbul!

Out with Mine

The next day was festival day!! Yay! First we went out to a late breakfast with Mine,which was similar to the Turkish breakfast we had in Olympos, minus the omelet, but with some delicious Turkish sausages and of course, some Cay tea! Before we left, Mine let brad bring back his bartending days and mix us up some pre-game drinks! The festival was called Efes (The local beer) One Love and had a really colorful theme, which excited me! When we got there, we got away with getting student tickets YAY, got ourselves a beer, and made it just in time for  “Whitest Boy Alive” a funky German band of truly really white white guys!

One Love Festival

When they finished, Brad and I explored the grounds and found some fun free activities! One was a before and after dress up picture, but the next was a free carictature, and the guy drew Brad to a TEE! We didn’t even exchange words with him about traveling or anything, but the now hippie looking Brad must look like a true traveler now because the guy drew him with a backpack..bum roll and all! He did a pretty terrible job of me L but I was so ecstatic about brads I didn’t even care.

Our FREE Carictatures

The next band was FischerSpooner and they were so eccentric and entertaining! Basically it was this one guy singing, but he had 4 or so dancers in weird outfits that did really interesting dance moves and faces and such! I definitely enjoyed the show and really enjoyed some of the songs too!

Finally it was Groove Armada! and they were amazing!! It sounded like several bands in one – ¦they had a girl singing, and then would switch off to a reggae rap guy! The best part though was their laser show! A band I will look out for in the future at festivals! They were the headliner, and next were the DJ sets, which excited brad and I, but unfortunately the police showed up and made them stop because the music was too loud for the city!

Groove Armada

After the festival, we took a supposedly free shuttle to Taksim, but the driver decided he was going to TRY to charge people, and all the students were furious so they started just jumping off the bus in traffic (including us) and actually the whole shuttle emptied except for 2 people by the time we arrived! Then on the way to the bars, stopped at this place called Patata! It is a shop that only serves fresh French fries topped with any topping you want to get! YUMMMM! We got this cheddar sauce and it was so delicious we got it the next day too!

Patata!

Our final day in Istanbul was spent relaxing around the city before we left to take our bus to Bulgaria!

When we left the Greek Island we had almost no idea of what to expect of Turkey. I can not remember any significant history, no cultural practice that stands out or recall some pop culture that country has offered up. We went in with a clean slate and left with a full plate. We both equally loved Turkey and were sad to say goodbye, but it will definitely not be our last time passing through this culturally explosive country!

Gobble Gobble