Turkey

Well, we ported in Istanbul, formally Constantinople, named after Constantine who declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire, last Monday. Istanbul is a huge Megalopolis of 15 million people, the only city in the world to span two continents- Europe and Asia. Many people describe Istanbul as where the East meets West, and I found this to be true. Situated on the Bosphorus, the waterway that connects the Black Sea with the Agean Sea, Istanbul’s skyline is dominated by the domes and spires of its many mosques. My first day in Istanbul, we decided to explore two of the more famous mosques, the AyaSofia and the Blue Mosque. It was an easy metro ride to the “old city”, formally Byzantium, where we found most of the tourist attractions. The Blue Mosque was our first stop. It is a gigantic, beautiful structure with six spires and multiple domed ceilings. In order to enter, we had to take off our shoes and the women in the group had to cover their heads with shawls. The mosque is a functioning mosque, and so we were able to observe many Muslim men and women praying on the intricate Turkish carpets. Inside were huge candelabras and breathtaking mosaics. Outside of the Blue Mosque, we found obelisks from 300 BC as well as the serpent column, a column made out of Persian weapons when the Turks defeated the Persians. After the mosque, we visited one of my favorite places in Istanbul, the Basilica Cistern. This is an underground Basilica that was built around 500 BC, but wasn’t discovered by archeologists until the 17th century when an archeologist wondered how locals were catching fish in holes in the ground. He found a flooded cathedral under the ground and excavated it. Underground we found a floor of water about 5 feet deep full of fish, a large hall filled with large columns, and carvings of medusa. It was both beautiful and eerie, I could picture ancient sacrificial rituals or occult practices taking place there long ago. We then walked around the outside of Haggia Sofia before heading to Taksim square, the hipper part of town for dinner. Taksim actually reminded both Chrissy and I of Grafton Street in Dublin- lots of lights, upscale shops and live music. I forgot! The entire morning the first day was spent at a bilingual school called Kent-Koleji. We were able to dialogue with teachers there, I even made a friend out of the gym teacher there named Eg. We played socoer with the children there and had a delicious lunch of kofte (meat patties), yogurt, chicken, and sausage.

On the second day, I went to Asia! It was on an SAS sponsored hike in the rural area of Balikaya. After a three hour bus ride, our guide took us on a 2 ½ hour hike through the mountains of Northern Turkey. We hiked to a local swimming hole where a beautiful waterfall was our backdrop for lunch- it was funny, two stray dogs followed us the whole time to wait for our scraps. After the long hike, I had the best experience on the trip yet- a Turkish bath. The bathhouse we went to was built in the 1500’s and hadn’t changed since. The boys and girls were separated into groups and were led to changing rooms, where I was given a towel and slippers. After changing, I walked into the men’s bath, a large, round room with a domed ceiling that had lightholes in it. In the middle of the room was a large round marble slab. I laid on the slab with the other men in the room and began to “sweat out.” The marble was heated in order cause the pores to open and sweat, much like a sauna. Then, Mustafa, my Turkish bather, gave me instructions to lie on my back. Mustafa looked like a burlier, Turkish version of dad. He began by lathering me up with pillow case full of suds. Then he scraped layers of dead skin from my body with a mit. He kept cracking my back and throwing cold water over my head. It felt like I was a piece of meat he was kneading and washing over and over. After Mustafa was done with me, he pointed me in the direction of the massage room, where I received my first massage of my life. Amazing. The guy took thirty minutes squeezing my pressure points and kneading out knots in my back. Awesome. Then I showered and headed back to the steam room where Mustafa gave me another bath cause I still had oil on my body from the massage. The whole thing took about 2 hours. Afterwards, I drank orange juice and water on the roof while I waited for my friends. My group of friends (Chrissy, Serena, Tanya, and Bri) and I set out for food and found a great place near Topkapi Palace. It was right by a mosque, and so we had to hide the wine we had with dinner in between menus, because in Muslim countries it is not allowed to serve alcohol near mosques. It was a great day.

The third day was dominated by a trip to the Grand Bazaar, a huge trading center in the middle of the old city. Bargaining is an art in the grand bazaar, and while I was buying a present for one of you, had a very long conversation with a local shop owner. He served me apple tea and we played chess for a while as he told me about his brother who attends Boston University. I think I bargained well, and was happy with my product and price. We then visited the spice bazaar before dinner. Also, in the morning, I forgot, my friend Tanya and I went inside Aya Soia. Aya Sofia was originally built as a Christian cathedral during the Byzantine Empire. Then it was turned into a Mosque once the Turks conquered Istanbul and was finally turned into a museum once Atatturk created the secular state of Turkey in 1922, effectively ending the Ottoman Empire. Ayasofia was beautiful inside, a combination of Christian mosaics and Islamic writings on tile.
We then met up with Chrissy at Topkapi palace, the palace of the Ottoman emperors and their harems. I didn’t know that the treasures in Topkapi even remotely existed in the world. We saw the third largest diamond in the world- it was found on a trash dump by a merchant and then appraised as a real diamond before being bought by the emperor. We saw solid gold thrones encrusted with gems, solid gold armor, and many royal Ottoman robes. My bronchitis was getting really bad that day, so I actually stayed in during the night and rested.

The fourth day we decided to get out of the city and explore one of the Princes’ Island. We took a two hour ferry down the Bosphorus to a rural island that does not allow any automobiles. The Princes’ Islands are where many Turks go on day vacations and picnics. We toured the island in a horse-drawn carriage and saw a cool area where Turkish families were camping and picnicking. We bought some fruit (the best peach I have ever had) and walked back to the forest to picnic. There we played games and watched locals cook food over fires and ride horses. We then grabbed some Turkish pizza and hopped back on our ferry. That night, we headed to dinner with our friends Raj and Rachael in Taksim before heading to some bars and clubs. We got back to the ship around 4 in the morning, so didn’t get up until around 11 the next day.

My last day was just a quick trip to the Bazaar and lunch before on ship time