Schmidt Adventures: Turkey on Thanksgiving Part 2: Grand Istanbul

Hagia Sophia

Turkey is the first country we’ve visited that spans two continents: 3% of the country is in Europe, while 97% is in Asia. Cappadocia is solidly in the Asian 97% (called Anatolia) whereas the massive city of Istanbul straddles the two continents, making it a meshing point of cultures and ideas historically and presently. We were struck by the uniqueness of Istanbul. Firstly, it’s an incredibly old city. It was first known as Byzantium in the 600 BC, then as Constantinople in 330 AD, and most recently as Istanbul in 1930. It’s situated in such a strategic place that it was the capital of four empires in its lengthy history: the Byzantine, Roman, Latin, and finally Ottoman Empire that only ended in 1922 with the conclusion of the First World War. Secondly, even though Turkey is 99% Muslim it is a uniquely secular state and isn’t run by Sharia, or Islamic law. I think because of this, Turkey had a much less conservative feel… some women wore headscarves but almost none were in burkas. The cars were big, most people wore jeans, and stores had a Western feel. Lastly, we were incredibly impressed by all the new infrastructure: bridges, roads, and apartment complexes seemed all to have just been built.

Our hotel was in Sultanahmet, the ‘old town’ peninsula of Istanbul on the Europe side. Most of the city's tourist sites were within walking distance, including the Aya or Hagia Sophia, which is where we headed right after checking in to our gorgeous hotel.

The Hagia Sophia was built in 532 AD and was used as a church for A THOUSAND YEARS until Constantinople was taken over by Sultan Mehmed who turned it into a mosque in 1432. It was used as a mosque from then until 1932 (a 500-year stint) when Ataturk, the first president of the Republic of Turkey, turned it into a museum. It’s incredible to think of this magnificent building as being so old… how did they build such a masterpiece without today’s materials and techniques?

Walking inside, it was obvious the building had been both a church and a mosque. There were frescoes and gold tile mosaics of Biblical scenes above an off-centered mihrab (the niche in a mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca, to which Muslims much face when they’re praying.) We had never seen anything like it!

Look at that huge, seemingly unsupported dome.

Virgin and Child next to Arabic script, both above the off-center mihrab.

It's truly magnificent, isn't it? The people look so tiny down there. Hard to believe it was built in the 500's!

One of the gold-tiled mosaics.

We stopped for a quick snack of roasted chestnuts before heading to the Grand Bazaar. Istanbul has the healthiest street food we’ve ever seen: roasted chestnuts, corn, and pumpkin seeds along with a great variety of dried fruits, and fresh grilled fish sandwiches. Is this where the whole foods craze originated? There certainly weren’t many overweight people…

A different and delicious take on street food.

One of hundreds of corridors in the Grand Bazaar.

Anyway, we ate our snack and wandered to the Great Bazaar, the largest and one of the oldest souks (markets) in the world. Surely anyone could find something to buy in one of its 3000 shops! You could get anything including spices, tea sets, rugs, inlaid chess sets, ceramics, fine jewelry, etc. There was even a MAC cosmetics and Godiva store in there!

Just before walking into the Bazaar we stopped in a nice store and saw a gorgeous hand-painted vase we both really liked. We weren’t going to buy it then, as it was our first stop, but did ask the price which was 180 Lira. Saying “maybe later”, we continued into the bazaar. We glanced at things here and there and finally saw a similar vase we also like. The price tag on the bottom said 700 Lira! Thus begins the story of the “accidentally brilliant bartering”. The shop owner was in full-pressure mode so I agreed to let him line up the three similar vases so we could compare them. After a few minutes I said “Thanks, but no.” and he said “No, name your price.” Chris was just honest: “We saw a better one for 180." We walked towards the door. “Well, 170, then. I’m going to lose money.” Me, “Sorry, we don’t like it as much as that one.” and kept walking. Guy, “150. Final offer.” We then really started walking out the door and along the covered alley of the bazaar, apologizing that we weren’t more interested. The guy literally shouted to us as we were half a block away. “130, one time offer!” (We kept walking.) I can’t imagine paying the full 700, knowing he would’ve sold it for 130! Finding our way back to the first store wasn’t easy, but we made it and bought the vase we loved for 140. I’m so pleased with it! Merry early Christmas to us J

That evening we watched hundreds of men and boys fishing off the Galata Bridge that connects Old Town across the Golden Horn to the other part of European Istanbul. The guys were pulling up 4-inch fish with 10-foot poles, which were then either grilled and served right there on a piece of bread with onion and lettuce or sold to the fish market at the end of the bridge. The lower level of the same bridge is also open and lined with touristy seafood restaurants. We braved a walk along it and were accosted by the doorman of every restaurant along the way. We know the language, though, and I don’t mean Turkish. You don’t ever, I repeat, ever say “no” to any sort of spiel like “Sir, Madam, please look at this menu, great fish tonight, please, come in.” You just can’t, because “no” somehow means “I’m playing hard to get and am on the verge of this decision. Please convince me in as best a way you know how and harass me until I realize I do in fact want to spend money here.” You can also never say “I just ate”, even if you have just eaten, because it somehow translates into the above statement. You have to say “maybe”. “Maybe later” or “maybe tomorrow” or “maybe I’ll come back in two minutes” lets them save face and like magic, they smile and walk away. We discovered this in Egypt and it worked in Turkey as well, so we’re sticking with it!

Galata Bridge. On the top level are the fishermen, on the lower level are all the restaurants.

Past the fisherman we could see the Bosporus Bridge connecting Europe and Asia. It was lit with LED lights that changed colors in cool light show at the top of the hour.

We walked from there back to the green space surrounding the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. The stretch just out the Blue Mosque’s front gate is called the Hippodrome, which the Byzantines used for chariot racing and other such raucous activities since about 300 AD. Now it’s just a nice quiet square with a few monuments, including one from Ancient Egypt erected in the square in year 390.

Our last day in Istanbul was finally sunny! We walked to the Galata Bridge at sunrise, just as the fisherman were starting to cast lines, then made our way back to the hotel for breakfast.

New Mosque just after sunrise.

Fish market at the end of Galata bridge.

From there we went to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, or Blue Mosque as its more widely known because of the tens of thousands of blue tiles lining the inside walls. It was completed in 1616, one thousand years after the Hagia Sophia. It’s still an active place of worship, so protocol had to be followed to enter. We removed shoes, I covered my hair with a scarf, and we walked in to the amazingly bright and colorful central worshiping area. Photos don’t even do it justice but here’s a go at it:

Looking up from the entrace.

In the courtyard of the Blue Mosque.

Gorgeous interior of the Blue Mosque.

This doesn't even do it justice.

Such a vast space.

Prayer rug.

Next we walked a few hundred meters to the Basilica Cistern, one of many underground reservoirs lying beneath Istanbul. It was built during the 600’s and still looks sturdy despite weathering many earthquakes! It can hold 100,000 tons of water… pretty impressive, right? There were pathways above the water (now only a few feet deep) to explore the columns and vast space.

Basilica Cistern. See the carp?

We decided against going into the Topkapi Palace and instead made our way to the Spice Market. Remember how good we were at haggling over the vase? Well I’m not sure what happened but we apparently turned Western, polite, and into suckers! Looking back makes me realize what fools we were to pay full price (shame on us) for the teas and spices we purchased. The extra $10 spent bothers me way less than knowing we failed miserably at the game.

Spice shop.

Spice stall. We skipped the Natural Turkish Viagra and went instead for some tea!

Baklava

We decided against going into the Topkapi Palace and instead made our way to the Spice Market. Remember how good we were at haggling over the vase? Well I’m not sure what happened but we apparently turned Western, polite, and into suckers! Looking back makes me realize what fools we were to pay full price (shame on us) for a few of the teas and spices we purchased. The extra $10 spent bothers me way less than knowing we failed miserably at the game.