Turkey
We caught the Metro from Istanbul airport and then hopped on a Tram ... we are so proud of ourselves ... we did it all by ourselves! I thought it was easy enough. The Tram was packed ... I have never been so up close and personal in a public space before in my life! I can hear Mike, Mack, Chris and lucy saying ... 'they haven't been to China or Asia'. We got of at our designated stop and then it took about an hour to find our hotel, which was only 5 minutes away from where we got of ... everybody knew where it was but no one could give us the right directions ... it was hot ... we were exhausted and still doing our fruit fast, I start to get feral when I am hungry ... we finished our fruit fast that day. Things were a little tense by the time we got to our hotel. We found our first day here overwhelming and exhausting. So many people ... everything seemed so much more expensive than Bulgaria and we were exhausted. My eyes start to play up when I get really tired, which was not helping ... they get dry and gritty ... a menopausal thing, they become very sensitive to light, very uncomfortable and stressful. Our hotel, Meddusa, was right in the middle of old Istanbul ... walking distance to everywhere a perfect location, thank you Steve & Tanya ... and we have walked everywhere!
I have never seen so many tourists in one place, not even in Italy when we were there in the 90's, but that may have changed now. Istanbul is swarming with them and September/October is meant to be their down time. There are people here from all over the world. Heaps of Muslims ... I am guessing that Istanbul is a Spiritual pilgrimage for them ... particularly coming to the Blue Mosque. Pete and I have had fun people watching and we have got pretty good and picking what part of the world people are from. Australians stand out because they swear a lot, Americans wear baseball caps, Eastern European men and women dress impeccably and often look very expensive, NZrs dress the worst of all, European mainly German, Dutch, Swiss can look a little unco in the way they dress, I can finally tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese, or maybe I am confusing Korean with Japanese. These Eastern Eruopean women have beautiful skin and they dress very femininely ... there are so many young tourists, looking tanned and beautiful, we look a little out of place.
There are Hawkers everywhere ... the best groomers for a sale are the Carpet sellers ... they keep an eye out for someone who is looking a little lost or confused and come up to offer help and then they move in for their sell/kill. Mike and Chris ... Steve and Tanya ... warned us about carpet sellers and told us to stay away from them ... so we just keep on walking. There are lots of beggars, mostly children ... they come up and hold out their hands for money. Hard to know if they are gypsys or refugees. Pete gets really upset with their parents ... he doesn't quite get how they can train their children to beg.
Istanbul is a fascinating meeting place of Christianity and Muslim ... of course it is predominantly Muslim now, but it has an interesting history of Christian ... the Byzantine era and Muslim, the Ottoman Empire which lasted for 100s of years. It is all here in the architecture of their old Palaces, Churches and Mosques. The contrast between the Byzantine era (which we also saw a lot of in Bulgaria) and the Ottoman Empire is really noticeable in the way these buildings are decorated/built ... the Byzantine buildings seem more cluttered in their art and decoration in comparison to the Ottoman Empire ... the Blue Mosque in particular seems light and spacious ... a beautiful building outside and in. There is so much here I gave up taking photos after a while I found it too overwhelming ... there are some things that simply cannot be captured in a photo ... but we have been really moved and completely blown away by what we have seen. The depth of history and culture that comes out in these building and their art is mind blowing.
We really like their 'call to prayer' ... about 5 times a day ... people rush to the nearest Mosque and there is plenty to choose from, to pray. The men and women pray separately ... the men in a large open space and the women behind a partitioned off area. There is something quite nice about being called to pray ... people drop what they are doing and of they go to prayer. Pete finds it quite poetic and likes how it penetrates their everyday life ... a reminder to remember God.
We tried booking bus tickets online the other day ... it took nearly two half days ... we tried their website we tried calling them ... after nearly throwing the computer through our bedroom window we asked the person at the front desk of our hotel if they could book them for us and discovered the bus company we were trying to book with does not take international visa cards ... can you believe it. Pete was so mad he left some very robust feedback on their website something like 'your website is useless!' In the end we had to catch a tram and find a Metro Bus office and buy our tickets with cash ... again people knew where it was but no one could give us the right directions. I find the best way to manage these moments is to relax and go with the process ... these are the moments when we really engage with the culture of a country and people, when trying to engage with their systems and procedures.
Today we are heading of to Cappadocia ... we are taking the overnight bus ... 11 hour drive and will arrive tomorrow morning sometime around 11am. We gave ourselves plenty of time to find the bus depot ... 4 hours actually! Now we are sitting at the bus depot waiting for our bus. I am not sure we will come back to Istanbul, it is expensive here.
Somedays travelling is hard, there is absolutely nothing romantic about it! Today was one of those days, ... I had a sick stomach on and of throughout the day ... we were both feeling tired ... I was asking myself what have we done ... why have we done this and why am I here with you? We are tired of being hassled to buy something ... food ... carpet ... boat ride ... stolen after shave ... candy ... we just wanted to be left alone. We have been travelling for nearly 4 months ... there are days when we miss NZ ... when we miss our family, extended family and friends. Some days I miss standing under a hot shower, or the convenience of a washing machine rather than the bathroom sink and working out how many days I will have to wear my smelly dirty cloths before their next wash. My body cream has run out ... it was just a cheapy but a good one and I am coming to the end of my favourite shampoo ... letting go by degrees. I have become attached to some of these things over the years and have seen them as very important to my quality of life ... how conceited is that!! Kind of says how small my world had become in some ways ...
There is something decidedly uncomfortable about being a tourist ... there seems such a high level of consumerism with tourism ... Pete and I really don't want to be that kind of tourist ... we are here to enjoy the experience, discover the world in new and exciting ways. We are definitely not in the market for an international shopping experience. I am sure there are different and more environmentally friendly ways of approaching our tourist experience. Visiting the Topaka Palace, AyaSofya and Blue Mosque was an incredible tourist experience ... these places get so busy it is really difficult to walk around and impossible to take photos without a random person being in the photo. These buildings have 1,000's possibly millions of people going through a year. I find that incredible. But we are tourists ... there is no getting around that, so I guess we have to swallow our pride and own it.
We have been on the receiving end of random acts of kindness ... someone noticing on the tram or bus that we are not sure where we are going and helped us ... the young man on the Metro to the bus station tonight ... the man at the cafeteria ... these are small acts but they make a big difference to our experience. I have learnt a lot from these people ... you do not need to do or say much to make a difference in someone's day or life ... or make their experience better ... I am really grateful for these moments and have made a promise to myself to be more attentive to opportunities and ways that I can be of help to someone.
Have I mentioned how incredibly comfortable our Luna Sandals are ... they are the most comfortable shoes we have ever worn. We wear them every day and we walk miles in them ... they are amazing! Check them out if you have not already.
Points of Interest ...
1. There are cats everywhere in Istanbul ... not sure what that is about. Some of them look pretty sick, some of them are busy breeding, but they seem to be looked after but not owned.
2. The younger Turkish men are very good looking ... and they smell yummy too.
3. I have not noticed any tattoos on men or women from Turkey ... from other parts of Europe and the world though.
4. Nearly every man smokes here and they look really unhealthy at an older age.
Here come our photos ... I will do a bit of a dialogue as I go ... I have really been trying to focus on the composition of my photos ... I used Youtube to get some helpful hints ... I am not sure if you will notice anything different, but I am trying to improve our overall photography skills.
Our Room ... approx $E54 pn
Turkish Delight
I just put my camera up and took a photo ... we were squeezed in tight!
Spice Market ... don't go at 5pm at night ... 9am is better
Nuts, dried fruits, sweets and spices galore .... the aroma ...
Turkish Candy ... vendors mix this ... people pick their colours and it is wound on to a stick ... voila a candy treat.
What they use for juicing ... the best orange juice we have ever had.
Blue Mosque Shots ...
This is where the men have their purification wash before going into the Mosque for prayer.
One of the calling towers of the Blue Mosque...note the men preparing to go in to pray.
Aya Sofya Chapel Shots
Look up ... that is where it is all happening ...
I love their detail ... how did they do this ... the art work in these buildings is mind blowing.
Looking Up ...
The Big Bazaar ... the colours and textures are amazing ...
I could not resist ... the shoes and boots are made from material ...
These plates remind me of visiting the Pink Room with Chris and Mike in 2004, just before their wedding ... which is just over the boarder of New Mexico, in Mexico ... they do the same thing with colour ... but not in Mosaic style. Too big to fit in my pack so I had to say no! The Bazaar goes for miles and is easy to get lost in ... lots of rugs, leather, pottery etc. There is a real community of people that work here, mostly men. In the morning they sit around together eating breakfast and getting ready for their day of wheeling and dealing. Men deliver small tumblers of hot tea and cubed sugar on a tray to the vendors, their job. We had a lot of fun walking through here and browsing.
This looks magical ... if I was buying at the Bazaar I would have bought material ... cushion covers, a runner for our table a new soap dish and of course a shawl.
Boat trip ... Bosphorous Tour
An afternoon meeting with Ryan Scott ... we really enjoyed meeting up with him. We walked over the bridge ... away from old Istanbul and it is quite different there. A lot more Turkish people and a lot less tourists ... we got more of a sense of the real Turkiya here. We took Ryan out to lunch to a nice little cafe that he and Yamore (I hope my spelling is right) frequented when they lived on this side of town and we had a yummy lunch for a fraction of the price we had been paying on the other side of the bridge. I could browse through the shops without being accosted ... a lot more relaxing. Ryan was able to educate us on life here and politics ... very interesting. We had a fun time with him. I think the last time I saw Ryan was in Takaka when lucy, Chris, Jonelle, Alice and I walked the Abel Tasman ... how many years ago was that ... maybe 10+! Ryan is a real blend of John and Joanne in looks .. John's eyes and Joanne's mouth. A really nice moment for us to catch up with him again after all these years. A flood of memories of our Scott Cammock years came back ... really good memories.
Ryan Scott, all grown up ... old Istanbul in the background.
We walked past this church while out walking with Ryan and I loved the colour blue in the windows...had to take a photo.
Some random shots that I liked ...
We were walking along the road and I saw these women dressed in what looks like might be traditional dress ... I thought they looked so good ... I tried to take this photo very discreetly, I did not want to offend anyone. I love the purple and yellow scarf ... I wish I could wear something like that on my head.
Pete found this little gem ... he was unsure what sort of car it was but it looked good...it certainly stood out with all these very late model and bland cars all around.
Second attempt at a comment. Love the photos, love that you met Ryan Scott in Turkey after all these years and I am beginning to like your sandals: ) Huzzah to more amazing times.
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