Our travels to Istanbul were off to a rocky start as we stood on the plane at the Athens airport, realizing we needed a Visa to get into Turkey. The flight attendant asked “Visa?” as she looked at my passport. Assuming she was inquiring about my Italian Visa, I nodded and boarded the plane. Her comment stayed with me and I grew paranoid, so I texted my cousin Jake who visited Istanbul a few years ago. He told me I needed a Visa. I have never felt a greater jolt of panic. I was boarding a flight to a country that I did not have legal access to. My fingers have never shaken so vigorously as they did when they stumbled across the keyboard of my phone Google-ing the Turkish Visa application process. I found a link online where it was available electronically, and my fingers scrambled to fill out the form before having to turn my phone on Airplane Mode for our flight. I completed the form and received the Visa in my inbox just in time, but even that couldn’t calm my shaking body. Luckily, I enjoy flying a lot, so all I could do was sit back, look out the window and think about my mother’s reaction as she reads this in my blog (sorry mom). Not even a week later, I can already laugh about it.
We were picked up from the airport by our hostel’s transport car. The driver left the windows down because the weather was so beautiful (sunny and 75). When we checked into our hostel, the manager Olga greeted us with a free cup of tea and an orientation to the city. We were also shown the bar upstairs, which had a stunning view of the Hagia Sophia.
From the hostel, we headed straight to our first destination: the Spice Bazaar. Even after seeing the rest of the city later in the week, this remained my favorite place in all of Istanbul. I have never had all of my senses stimulated the way they were in the Spice Market. The smells were exotic, the sights were colorful and the sounds were chaotic. The vendors of each stall were charming, knowing exactly what to say to bring you in. Ashley, Sarah and I got called the Spice Girls and Charlie’s Angels, in addition to a plethora of other (respectful) names. We began speaking to a young man whose shop offered a variety of teas and traditional Turkish tea glasses. His name was Omar, and he was actually born in Italy. He spoke 7 different languages, and taught us how to say thank you in Turkish. He talked his way into selling me both a glass and some tea.
We had a quick dinner of pide before meeting back up with Olga who took us out to her favorite place. I looked around, noticing that the four women at our table were the only four women there, but Olga told us that she comes here at least twice a week and the staff knows her pretty well. She told us about growing up in Russia and wanting to get out as soon as possible. She ended up in Istanbul 3 years ago (much to her parents disappointment) and has loved it ever since. Her happiness and spontaneity certainly made me reevaluate my life plan. Corporate America sounds fun and steady and everything, but wouldn’t it be more fun to move to a foreign country and open a hostel? Later we returned to the hostel and had ourselves a Turkish beer at the bar overlooking the mosque.
The next morning we woke up early and went straight to the Hagia Sophia: a Christian church turned Muslim mosque turned museum. This is a level of cultural palimpsest that Rome will never achieve, despite its age. This one building has seen so many rituals of different faiths, and its flexibility is easily seen in all areas of the building, layered with different ornament and furniture. Because it is currently a museum, we weren’t required to wear a headscarf, so we tucked them away for our later mosque visits. The Hagia Sophia was beautiful, as expected. The gold and black color scheme was a nice change from the colorful baroque interiors of Rome. The chandeliers hung low, adding to the flooding of light coming from the windows surrounding the base of the imperfectly round dome. Everything was so light. Another major difference between this and Roman churches was the severe lack of ornament. There were several portions of Christian mosaics still on the walls, but that was it. No sculpture, none. We wandered around, exploring both the lower and upper levels of the museum. Sadly, the entire left side of the church was covered in scaffolding. Ashley described it as “the saddest of all scaffoldings.”
After crossing a small (and very green) park and passing the Hippodrome, we arrived at our next destination: The Sultan Asmed Mosque, more commonly known as the Blue Mosque. Here we were asked to wear a headscarf and put on a long skirt. We removed our shoes before entering the mosque, which I forgot was customary. My socks had llamas with red lipstick and pearls… I was pretty embarrassed. I slowly stepped into the carpeted space and suddenly remembered how great carpet feels. Since being in Rome, I haven’t been around carpet at all… it’s been months. I wiggled my toes and smiled, forgetting for a moment that I was in a mosque because I felt so at home. Unlike Christian churches, mosque visits don’t allow much access. We were only permitted to stand in a specific area and crane our necks to see around the great pillars. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful space full of rich décor and colorful paints.
After leaving the Blue Mosque, we stopped by a small bakery that Olga recommended to us. Walnuts are a pretty big deal in Istanbul, and they are in almost every delicious pastry. We ate our pastries while wandering the streets of Istanbul, before ending up at the Grand Bazaar. Perhaps I had too high of expectations, or perhaps I bought into the movies too much, but it felt like a mall more than the cultural experience I was expecting (one like I experienced at the Spice Bazaar). The shopkeepers used similar tactics to bring us into shops, which offered a huge variety of goods. Many shops were selling beautiful stained glass chandeliers. I wanted one so so so badly, but knew I couldn’t afford to ship it home.
As we passed one shop, I found a beautiful pair of shoes that the man kindly let me try on and fall in love with before telling me the price, which was 180 Turkish Lira (about 60 USD). I followed Olga’s advice and bargained, eventually getting the price down to 50 Lira (about 17 USD). I think I have Ashley to thank for getting the price that low, because the shopkeeper kept calling her beautiful and asking her out to dinner. He probably only cut me a deal because he was in love with her. “I really can’t fit these in my suitcase,” I whispered to myself as I pulled 50 Lira out of my wallet.
We continued on to the Suleymaniye Mosque, where we also had to cover our heads and take off our shoes. I was reluctant to allow the llamas to make a second appearance, but I didn’t want to offend anyone, so the shoes came off. The mosque is on top of a very steep hill, so the courtyard around the mosque provided stunning views of Istanbul. We were able to see to Asia across the water, and we were determined to get there at some point during our stay.
For lunch, we ventured across the bridge to the other European side of the city. Next we were determined to get to the top of the hill to see Galata Tower. For studio research purposes, we took the funicular up the hill to the tower. Galata Tower was an old lighthouse, and it now has some of the best views of Istanbul. Honestly, Istanbul isn’t a very pretty city, collectively. Individually, everything is beautiful, but the view from the top of the tower was pretty average (in comparison to say, Greece where everything was heavenly). What really made the experience amazing, however, was hearing the call to prayer echoing from all the mosques across the city at prayer time, which was a welcome change from the church bells of Christian Europe. This was the most foreign that a city had ever felt to me, and I loved that I was getting to experience a very different culture from my own.
As we descended from the tower, we walked along one of Istanbul’s main shopping roads. The only thing preventing me from buying everything I saw was the fact that my suitcase was already about 5 pounds overweight and stuffed to the brim. Our walk ended at Taksim Square, which was fairly anticlimactic compared to the way everyone talked about it (were we missing something…?).
Sarah, Ashley, Robby and I decided to descend the hill on the road less traveled, hoping to distract ourselves from the shopping temptations we had seen earlier. We stumbled upon a small Turkish coffee shop that had a Khave Fali, which is a fortuneteller that uses the coffee grounds from your cup to tell your future… something we had been looking for this whole trip! We sat down, excited to have our fortunes told. I hate coffee of any kind, but I dealt with it just to have my grounds read. Our Kahve Fali told me that I would have the opportunity to go west when I return to the United States, and that I should take it. He also told me that I would find a new relationship soon with someone older than me, who I would meet near a river and have good, intensive conversation with. He warned me that it would be short, but that it would end amicably. He predicted that I had a younger sister that missed me very much, and that I had a headache (which I did). He told me to let go of some negative energy that day (which was causing my headache), because it was a new moon and anything is possible. Sarah was predicted to have good fortune in the work force, and the next morning she got an email stating that she had been selected for an internship competition through school! Ashley was told that she would be going to an island country, which she is doing this summer. She would also have an old, forgotten wish come true soon. Robby was told that he would have good luck with relationships, but not until later, and that a baby was involved (yikes). Our Kahve Fali offered us free tea and Turkish Delight while he read our grounds, and we stayed for almost 2 hours. This was one of my favorite things that we did in Istanbul.
After our fortunes were predicted, we made our way back down the hill, excited to fulfill our prophecies. We started with dinner along the waterfront, eating fish sandwiches that were made on a boat. Sadly, I was not approached by any men, but I guess there’s lots of other rivers to check in the world. Istanbul is much prettier at night than it is during the day. All of the mosques are lit up beautifully, highlighting their minarets and domes perfectly. We were determined to go our and experience nightlife that night, but we were so exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel that we ended up falling asleep very early.
Day 2 started with Topkapi Palace, which was the palace of the old sultans that is wedged between the Hagia Sophia and the water. This palace was huge, and put even the most ornate Italian Villa to shame. There were quite a few exhibits within the palace, so we stayed for a while to explore Ottoman history. There were beautiful jewels and relics in every room. Outside, the courtyards contained massive trees with bold green leaves, something we greatly appreciated after being stuck in a paved Rome for months. Laura Terry told us we would miss trees, and she was right.
Our next stop was the Basilica Cistern, which is an unbelievably cool underground hypostyle hall full of water. Sadly, the columns were too far away from the raised walking path, making them impossible to hug. The lighting was perfect and the ambience was calm and quiet. There are two columns in the back that have Medusa head bases, and no one really knows why they’re there, adding to the eerie atmosphere.
For lunch we found a small restaurant selling sea bass, which was delicious. We followed lunch up with a chocolate truffle dessert at a local café before heading to our next mosque. This mosque was recommended to us by Olga, who said it was her favorite in the whole city. Unlike the others, it was not a tourist destination, so we were a bit hesitant to enter. It wasn’t prayer time, so we followed the typical protocol of removing our shoes and covering our heads. It was a smaller mosque than the others, and the stone carving detail looked like white lace. I’m really glad we went.
We visited the ancient Roman aqueducts of the city, which don’t have the same majestic appeal as the ones in Rome. Nonetheless, we felt like Rome was following us, no matter where we went.
It was now time for the main event: ASIA. We excitedly walked to the ferry dock to catch the water taxi to the Asian side of Istanbul. The ferry ride only took about 15 minutes, and it felt great to be on a boat out on the water on a warm day. As soon as we stepped off the boat, we squealed at the thought of crossing continents… but then realized shortly thereafter that we didn’t know what there was to do there. We meandered along the riverfront, stopping at a restaurant for some sweet desserts (I swear all we did in Istanbul was eat). I ate my slice of cheesecake slowly, enjoying my view of Europe across the water. The sun began to set behind Europe, so we got up and found the perfect viewpoint along the pier. The colors of the sunset were beautiful, rivaling those in Santorini just a few days prior. As the sun sunk behind the land, it aligned perfectly with a mosque, making the silhouette of the domes and minarets (towers) stand out boldly in black among the pink sky. We were only in Asia for about 2 hours, and I don’t think we strayed more than 50 feet from the water’s edge, but the important thing here is that we went to Asia.
For dinner I had traditional Turkish lintel soup with a side of pita bread before heading back to the hotel to prepare for our early morning flights. We all split up the next morning: I was going to Prague to meet up with Caity, Ashley was flying to London, Robby was traveling to Berlin and Sarah was headed to Venice.
Getting into and out of Istanbul was pretty stressful (I went through security 3 times and got the most intense pat down of my life), but my time in the city was nothing but calm and enjoyable. Not once did I feel threatened in any way. I’m not trying to suggest that there aren’t bad things happening in the world, but I am trying to suggest that those things can’t prevent you from experiencing different cultures. I am so glad I went to Istanbul, no matter what the US State Department says about safety. The Turkish people are wonderful, and very proud of their beautiful country. Interestingly, they seem to care more about the natural areas of the country, insisting that cities like Istanbul aren’t all that great (opposite of the mentality of most other places I’ve been thus far). I wish I had more time to explore more of Turkey, but I suppose 3 days was enough for this round… and for my mother, who was happy to have me back in the EU as I flew to Prague.
Number of Columns Hugged: 5
Days Since Mexican Food: 82
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Read more from Haley at https://haleywalton.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the U of A Rome Center semester program for Architecture, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/romecentersemester/
