Istanbul, part one.

Here’s your first installment of my Istanbul adventures…

So, one time, when I was twenty, I went to Istanbul for a long weekend. We took a bus there, which was cool because it was a double-decker bus (I had never been on one of those before), but wasn’t cool because we were on this double-decker bus for twelve hours. Yes, twelve hours. Plus, some people had the brilliant idea of getting drunk before getting on the bus– twelve hours on bus+drunken, obnoxious people= not so pleasant. Good thing I brought my iPod and got to tune them all out . The bus trip was relatively uneventful until we got to the border, where they kicked us all off the bus and we had to kill about an hour roaming around in no-man’s land. After getting our Turkish visas and getting back on the bus, we crossed into Turkey just as the sun was coming up. We arrived in Istanbul around 10 AM.

Now, a couple of quick facts about Istanbul. Istanbul is the fourth largest city in the world, spanning two continents– Europe and Asia. The two halves are split by the Bosphorus Strait, and connected by two large bridges. It’s gone by several names in the past– Byzantium and Constantinople being the two that come to mind. And, they speak Turkish. Considering all of these things, you can imagine how much of a culture shock going into Istanbul was with my suburban Midwestern background. Even having adjusted to living in Thessaloniki (which isn’t small by any means) didn’t help me much here. It was completely foriegn… and I loved it. Even before we got into Istanbul, as we were driving through the countryside, I knew it was going to be great. Small towns dotting the horizon with minarets instead of church towers. Being immersed in another new language, street signs and billboards totally incomprehensible again. I love that kind of thing. Anyway, back to Istanbul.

As soon as we got into Istanbul, we started a bus tour of the city. Problem was, the tour guide only spoke Greek. So basically, for the first half of the tour, we didn’t know what was going on, but I was fine with that because there was so much to look at. We were headed to the historical center of Istanbul, home of the Hagia Sofia church museum and the Blue Mosque.

We pulled up and got off the bus, were introduced to our (thankfully) English-speaking tour guide, and headed for our first stop, an obelisk from Egypt that was a gift to someone whose name I can’t remember– it might have been Constantine? I could be making that up. We then moved over to the church of Hagia Sofia (Saint Sophia). Hagia Sofia, if you want to get all technical about it, is the first Christian church– it was the first church built after the early Christians decided to adopt a monotheistic (one-God) tradition. And, it’s still there today. When the Ottomans invaded the area, bringing Islam with them, they turned it into a mosque. But, instead of destroying the murals and mosaics like they did in a lot of churches in Thessaloniki, they just added Islamic art. So, walking in, you get a sense of the building’s full history, with the Christian and Islamic influences still intact. I took a few pictures (on Flickr), but photos can’t really do it justice. It’s huge and every surface is covered in something beautiful, whether it be marble slabs or golden mosaics or intricate frescoes. We spent some substantial time wandering through the museum, and then headed over to the Blue Mosque.

The Blue Mosque was, in short, the highlight of my trip. Built in the 17th century in honor of the Sultan Ahmed I (it’s also called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque), it’s one of the grandest mosques in Turkey. According to our tour guide, it was controversial when the plans were revealed because there were to be six minarets (the pointy things that surround the mosque where the muezzin does the call to prayer)– the same as the most holy site in all of Islam– the Ka’aba. Sultan Ahmed solved that problem by financing the addition of a seventh minaret at the Ka’aba. Anyway, enough history– I think I’m the only one who likes that stuff .

In order to enter the mosque, we had to remove our shoes and cover our heads. As we entered through a small passageway and a covered opening in the back, we could hear that one of the daily prayers was underway. As you enter, you pass under balcony on the second floor, which makes it look kind of ordinary. It’s only when you emerge from under the balcony that you can see how spectactular it is. Every inch of the walls (except where there was decorative woodwork) was covered in mosaics of blue and white tiles– hence the name the Blue Mosque. It was massive– there were hundreds, if not thousands of people there at the same time we were, and there was still room to move around easily. Once again, I can’t think of the right words to describe it– it’s such a cool feeling to know that I got the chance to witness something that takes even my words away The pics are on Flickr– but they don’t do it justice. Again.

After we left the mosque, we headed toward the hotel. Our hotel was comfortable– the highlight was definitely the flat-screen tv’s with cable. I got to watch CNN again! And MTV –which after watching for five minutes, I decided I didn’t miss at all, after all. Also, I think the Turks have some weird fascination with Michael Jordan– I had several people ask me about him, and both nights we were at the hotel, they were showing vintage Chicago Bulls games. Who knew?

Anyway, I have to go catch the bus home. Be on the lookout for part two– bellydancers, Kenny Roger’s clone, and yes, those crazy Turkish merchants.