We learned they were doing much the same as us, renting out there home in San Fransico and spending a whole year traveling! Ruth was keeping a blog as well, however it was somewhat manditory as it was the sole requirement for her being able to take a year long sabbatical. We gathered some much needed information for travelling in S.E. Asia as Edward had some experiences there. Alas our comfortable private cabin on the train (shocking) was soon calling us and we said goodbye. Although we swapped contact information we didn't know if we would ever see them again face to face.
The cabin was quite roomy, it was only Mich and I in it and the sheets and pillow were top notch. Plus there was our very own sink right in the room! Much better then the last overnight train that we had taken. We knew we would be awakened at some point by Greek customs/immigration officers, and so we attempted to get as much sleep as possible. Alas at about 2am we were awakened by someone collecting our passports. Then about an hour and a half later Turkish passport control officers borded the train. We had to get off to purchase our visa. Still in our PJ's we walked off the train at 4am. The Turkish officer in chrage was talking to a fellow Canadian when it was our turn to enter his office, we overheard him telling her it would be 45 Euro, each! My first thought was that he was quoting her for two people, or that he meant dollars. Our guide book (2007) told us to expect to pay $20 USD for a multiple entry visa. We had Euro's, but not much as we had spent most of them, being that were leaving the EU.
I said nothing as she paid him what looked to be 90 Euro's and after he grabbed a few stickers and put them in her passport, he moved it to the finished pile, and she left his office. When it was our turn he again told us 45 Euro, each. We protested, and asked what the cost would be if we paid in US dollars, he wrote down $60. That was slightly better but we didn't have enough. We told him we expected it to be about 15 Euro, and he simply shrugged at us, his English was very limited. We certainly felt like we were being conned but didn't have much choice, we needed the Visa to enter Turkey. So we paid him, and somehow we had enough Euro's, although we gave him coins for the last 10 Euro. Back in our cabin on the train we pondered what had gone wrong, perhaps the guide book was incorrect and that we were supposed to pay 15 Euro for single entry. Whatever the case it was too late, and we eventually fell back asleep to enjoy the rest of our journey.
About 4 hours later we were awakened by one of the train employee's yelling something. It sounded like he was yelling in Turkish. Michelle asked what I thought he was saying as he walked past our door and I said "what do you think he's saying, coffee is ready? Obviously we're arriving at Istanbul right away". To that end we both got out of bed, got dressed, brushed our teeth, put away our folding beds and sat in the chairs. About 5-10 minutes had passed and the guy started coming around again, this time with a tray and .. you guessed it, a kettle! With our door open 
and earplugs out we could hear much more clearly "tea, coffee!". We had a good laugh, but not after finding out we were still an hour away from Istanbul.M Once in Istanbul we started toward our hostel, following the tram line. We didn't have any Turkish Lira, and thought it would be better to walk to the hostel and get an idea of the area. We were of course approached several times by people wanting to give us a great deal on carpets. None of them were advertised as flying carpets so we decided to wait and walked onward singing tunes from Disney's Aladin. Not only were people trying to sell us carpets, but one "nice" gentlemen tried to point us toward 
our hostel. Fortunately Jesse had been following the map and knew better, and we headed in the opposite direction than he suggested, and were at our hostel a minute later, and not his hostel.
our hostel. Fortunately Jesse had been following the map and knew better, and we headed in the opposite direction than he suggested, and were at our hostel a minute later, and not his hostel.We settled in our 6 bed dorm, in the bugs bunny room! We went for a walk in search of a booth that sold an AKBIL key, which allowed us to store Lira on it and saved us money when using the trams or buses. Plus there is a tram stop right in Sultanhemet which is the area our hostel was in. On the way there we were stopped by a guy selling boat tours. Our guide book had said not to pay more then 20 Lira for the boat tour. His starting offer was 20 Lira, so when we got him down to 15 we thought it was a steal of a deal. We sat on the boat deck, extremely cold, determined not to go downstairs like most of the other people had done, all the while thinking 'we can take it, we're Canadians'.
The boat was almost full but hadn't left the dock yet, when all of a sudden a bunch of fog started to roll in. We realised we wouldn't be able to take pictures in it. An announcement was made over the P.A. system, but of course it was in Turkish and we didn't understand it. Slowly people started to go below deck, we assumed they were wimping out, until Jesse saw the salesmen giving people their money back as they disembarked. So we followed suit and happily got our money back. All boat rides had been cancelled due to the fog.
So we went off to get this AKBIL key, and with it in hand, jumped on a tram to explore some more of the city. As we crossed the Galata bridge we saw dozens of people fishing off the edge, we had never seen so many people fishing at one time! We got off at the end of the line and got lost wondering around the streets of the commercial area. We did find a great fresh Juice bar and Jes had one last Gyro. We saw a little girl selling packages of tissues (kleenex), she was so cute plus we needed some, so we stopped. There was actually very little begging in Turkey, we didn't see any adults begging in the tourist areas at all. It may be illegal. 
We were tired by this point, and despite many buses we had no idea where they went and didn't want to have to use our AKBIL twice, so we walked quite a distance and finally arrived back at our tram station. After a stop at the hostel we went out to dinner at the restarant affiliated with the hostel and were plesently surprised as the food was amazing. It was late, so off to Bed.
On our first full day in Turkey was great fun. We went to the Hagia Sofia, which like many churches, used to be a Christian one and was convered into a Mosque. 
It was very large, and very beautiful. Although in the early 20th century when they started to find that behind the concrete there were Christian tile mosaics, the government decided to change it into a museum. We were just finishing up at the Hagia Sofia when we ran into none other but Edward and Ruth our American friends we met two days earlier! They were just getting there, and we made plans to meet up with them in an hour. We then headed over to see the Blue Mosque. It was our first Mosque which was neat. Everyone has to take off their shoes, and I had to cover my head, which is fine as I had bought a bandana. Inside we saw the men praying and at the back there is a room for the women, which we could not see into well. It was beautiful. Unlike the Catholic Churches there are no picture of bible stories, or of people. Just beutiful tile work. The Blue Mosque was huge, but we were a little disapointed as the area that tourist are alowed to enter is not very big considering the size from the outside.
It was very large, and very beautiful. Although in the early 20th century when they started to find that behind the concrete there were Christian tile mosaics, the government decided to change it into a museum. We were just finishing up at the Hagia Sofia when we ran into none other but Edward and Ruth our American friends we met two days earlier! They were just getting there, and we made plans to meet up with them in an hour. We then headed over to see the Blue Mosque. It was our first Mosque which was neat. Everyone has to take off their shoes, and I had to cover my head, which is fine as I had bought a bandana. Inside we saw the men praying and at the back there is a room for the women, which we could not see into well. It was beautiful. Unlike the Catholic Churches there are no picture of bible stories, or of people. Just beutiful tile work. The Blue Mosque was huge, but we were a little disapointed as the area that tourist are alowed to enter is not very big considering the size from the outside. 
We then met up with Edward and Ruth at the Hippodrome, which has 2 obelisks, and went out for lunch. We enjoyed chatting with them for quite some time over lunch. We then headed off to the famous Grand Bazaar, hitting 2 more mosques along the way. The Grand Bazaar is a huge covered market selling everything from jewlery to clothing to food and much more. Ruth was quite funny, as they have an imaginary container that they put things into, too expensive, too heavy.. into the container! lol 
Ruth would see somthing very beautiful and breakable and say "I'd like to have that to put in the container to ship home". Of course the venders get very excited when they see someone looking at their items. Walking through you hear over and over again, "hello my friend, you want to buy___, I have a special deal, where you from?" and so on. Once the shops started to close down we left. The Grand Bazaar is huge, most people get lost, our guide book suggested we don't attempt to keep our bearing. So when we ended up exiting the Bazar we were a little lost. The men would not have been happy admitting we were lost, so we wandered for a bit before we stumbled upon an area we recongnized.
After parting ways we went back to our hostel, and we met a girl in our room, Natalie, from Australia. We decided to go out for dinner with her. As we walked down the street in our tourist zone we were constantly bombarded by people asking us to come see there menu. We finally gave in to a guy, Beck, who was quite funny. He called Jesse a Sultan as he was being escorted by two women. Beck was happy to find out that we were married and Natalie was single. He chatted with us for a bit during and after our meal, as Jesse coaxed him into waiting on us, despite the fact that he was a greeter/bringer. After the meal he invited us to join him for a game of backgaman and a water pipe, but it was 11:30 at night and we were tired and Natalie was leaving very early in the morning. Beck walked us home and unbeknown to us was hitting it off quite well with Natalie. 
J The next day we went to the famed Topkapi palace, which for a long time was home to the Sultans. It had an impressive display of linens, rugs (of course), and impressive jewelry. There was a chest full of emeralds, and an amazing 68 caret diamond, which had been found in a rubbish pile, but eventually made it's way to the Sultan/King, once he heard about it. The grounds were impressive, and it had a very nice view of the bay. Unfortunately no pictures were permitted inside, so you'll have to go to Istanbul yourself to see that diamond.There was also a whole section devoted to relics, including moses staff, and John the baptists arm. and relics related to the prophet Muhammed and the Islamic faith. We were impressed to see that the singing/music we heard while in that exhibit was being done live by a gentlemen reading from the Koran.
After a bite to eat we headed out in search of the Spice Bazaar which we had heard about, but could not find on our map. We spent some more time walking through the Grand Bazar, but like our American friends put most of the items we saw in our "container".
After attempting to read a few signs and asking the locals (who were never happy to give you directions away from their store) we
headed out in search of the Spice Bazaar. The first exit we took led us to the University and a book Bazaar. Mich bought a notebook, but the price was so low we didn't even haggle. After a few minutes walking through the streets around the Grand Bazaar we finally found the Spice Market! We took some pictures and bought some Turkish delight. We had spent most of the afternoon window shopping and wanted to make it back to the hostel for the 5 o'clock festivities. So we jumped on a tram and headed back. At the hostel we enjoyed some free pasta (better then the stuff in Rome), and watched the movie Gone Baby Gone. That evening we hung around the hostel utilizing the free internet, before heading to bed early. We still had a lot of things we wanted to do, and the next day was our last full day in Turkey...
Although we attempted to get up early, like many days, I was less eager to do so in the morning. After breakfast on the roof-top terrace we headed off. It was a miserable day, raining lightly on and off, so we concluded the boat trip idea was off. We were really shocked at how cold it was outside, 5-7°C I imagine, and to think we were going to ditch our warmer clothes back in Greece.
headed out in search of the Spice Bazaar. The first exit we took led us to the University and a book Bazaar. Mich bought a notebook, but the price was so low we didn't even haggle. After a few minutes walking through the streets around the Grand Bazaar we finally found the Spice Market! We took some pictures and bought some Turkish delight. We had spent most of the afternoon window shopping and wanted to make it back to the hostel for the 5 o'clock festivities. So we jumped on a tram and headed back. At the hostel we enjoyed some free pasta (better then the stuff in Rome), and watched the movie Gone Baby Gone. That evening we hung around the hostel utilizing the free internet, before heading to bed early. We still had a lot of things we wanted to do, and the next day was our last full day in Turkey...
Although we attempted to get up early, like many days, I was less eager to do so in the morning. After breakfast on the roof-top terrace we headed off. It was a miserable day, raining lightly on and off, so we concluded the boat trip idea was off. We were really shocked at how cold it was outside, 5-7°C I imagine, and to think we were going to ditch our warmer clothes back in Greece.We headed off to the Archelogical Museum, it was pretty impressive, full of statues, sarcophagi, pieces of potter and tools/jewlery from ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia. There were also many, many, tombs/sarcophagi including the Alexander sarcophagus, which although impressive looking was dissapointingly not that of Alexander the great. All these sarcophagi made me realize where all the tomb robbers apparently were from, although most often I believe they call themselves archeologists. lol
After leaving the Museum we stopped outside and made friends with the locals. The locals being the resident felines that had made the area outside the museum their home. At one point I took a short video that showed 12 different cats! The school children visiting the museum made sure they were fed for the day, giving up morsals from their bagged lunches before hurriedly following their teachers into the waiting school bus.
From the Museum we went to an underground cistern (the Basilica Cistern) which was made in 532 AD during the rule of the Ottomans. It had 336 columns and was at least 25-30 feet in height. It still contained a few feet of water which was home to some fish. The pillars/columns were illuminated, but other then that it was dark, which made it quite an errie adventure. Not wanting to make it too errie though, upbeat Turkish music was played in the background.
As we slowly walked around, avoiding the dripping water from the ceiling far above, we saw a sign with an arrow.. Medusa! As we turned the corner we saw her (and no we didn't turn to stone) actually we found two Medusa's, which were sculptures of Medua's head, attached to the bottom of two pillars in the far corner of the cistern. One head was turned sideways, and one was upside down. A whole area of the cistern was sectioned off, sure it was probably a section that had collapsed, but not being able to see what was behind the wall allowed your imagination to run wild. We only spent 15 minutes down there, but alas there wasn't much to see. Had it been a sweltering hot day outside, I'm sure we would have made it a one hour affair.
After visiting a bit more of the city and getting frustrated with how crowded the trams were on a Friday afternoon. We headed back towards home. We spent an hour on the computer and made plans for getting to the airport the next day. We still had enough money on our AKBIL device and found that we could take 1 tram and 1 metro to the airport. There were still a few things that we had to get done though and the day was only half over, so we left the hostel and went off to say hello to our friend Beck. We found him at the restaraunt sitting with two foreginers he had reeled in. He grabbed us some drinks and arranged for a water pipe to be brought over from one of the neighbouring establishments.
Although he still had to watch the street to go out and intice peole to come in (every restaraunt does this in Istanbul btw), he spent some time with us and even introduced us to the favorite pastime of the Turks, Backgammon. I smoked the majority of the Apple flavored tobacco in the water pipe and even Michelle took a puff to say she had done it. After learning how to play we enjoyed a game of our own before saying goodbye to our new friend, and heading out. We still had one more traditional Turkish ritual to attend to.
We headed back to the hostel and grabbed our swimsuits, we were going to a Hamami, in other words the authentic Turkish bath! The bath we chose was the 267 year old Cagaloglu Hamami. One of the most prestigious and oldest baths in all of Istanbul. I had quite the different experience then Michelle, and needless to say I shouldn't have bothered bringing the bathing suite. An hour and a half later we walked out of the building, both of us feeling much cleaner. lol
We went out for dinner again to the Sofa Cafe, the restaraunt affiliated with our hostel. The menu prices were fair considering the quality of the food and the restaraunts decor, plus as we were staying at their hostel we got 20% off which made eating there a no-brainer. We dicussed our travel plans for the next day, and the interesting time we had at the baths, we also chatted shortly with a guy from our hostel who had just ate and was heading off to the baths. We wished him a pleasant time, and suggested he not bother putting on the bathing suite. lol
The next morning we were off to the airport, we made it there with plenty of time to spare, but annoyingly (and despite information given to us at the last AKBIL counter) we could not return the AKBIL device at the airport. So after attempting to pawn it off to the locals waiting to get into the metro station I decided to keep the device as a momento of Turkey. Perhaps I'd make use of it on my next trip to Istanbul.We made it through security, bought another Sudoku book and a newspaper, and waited for our flight to board. We found out that we were to be seperated on the flight out of Istanbul however, despite the fact that our booking was done simultaneously, but probably because Royal Jordinain allowed us to specified one window seat and one isle seat. Yes that's correct, our connection flight to Bangkok was in Jordan, right smack dab in the Middle East. But that my friends is another post. İyi geceler (good night) from Turkey.
P.S. Pictures from our last two days in Turkey to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment