Turkey
Istanbul
9/7/2002 - 9/13/2002 (Tam) As we got off the plane and made our way to Cem's grandmother's house by way of taxi, I remembered thinking that Turkey does not seem as foreign as I'd imagined it to be (just a notch or two above South Beach, Miami on the culture shock scale). This does make sense. After all, Istanbul is a large, cosmopolitan city on the Mediterranean coast with all the features of a modern city, such as banks, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, apartments, office buildings, paved roads, etc. - everything I would need during my stay here. Also familiar are the kebab stands. However, after several days, I would have to revised that initial impression. Istanbul is foreign. Where else do men ride motorcylces on the highways while talking on the phone? Where else do girls dressed in village garb sit weaving a rug with a cell phone on their lap? A skyline comprising of modern buildings and domed Byzatine & Ottoman mosques and churches? Turks everywhere? And who has a language in which an "O" with dots sounds like an "uah" sound and an "I" without a dot sounds like "uuah". (argh!) And my favorite - waking up to morning call for prayer before sunrise. I should have been warned; after all, Cem has to write the pronunciation on his business cards and email correspondence (Cem "Gem" S**y) - something his colleagues at Salomon has been riding him about for the last 3 years. Anyways, Cem so far has buffered me by handling all the interactions and transactions. He has explained things to me, translated and shopped for me, and basically been my personal guide. No hiccups, just smooth sailing. Thus, I've been able to enjoy Istanbul without the language or cultural barriers (and soon Cem's mom will lend me an old cell phone, so I will fit right in).
I met Cem's extended family and been fortunate to have been extended the "Turkish hospitality". Everyone has been warm, kind, and gracious, trying not to leave me out since I don't speak the language. And they are always insisting to take us out to extremely nice restaurants or cook a traditional meal for us, which is quite unfortunate for Cem's girlish figure. The food has been amazing! And extremely varied. Also interesting of note, the Turks drink as much tea or perhaps even more so than the British.
Interesting sights around Istanbul:
Internet cafes - you might laugh, but we have been so Net-prived that we've been trying to outdo each other in spotting Internet cafes. Also nice is the access rate - less than 1USD an hour.
Sultanahmet skyline - Cem's grandmother lives across the Bosphorus strait, so we cross over by ferry when we want to tour the historical city and Taksim area, which are on the European side of the Bosphorus. No matter how many times we go by Topaki Palace, the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, and Suleymaniye mosque, I always catch my breath in awe.
Sultanahmet area - The views of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya from Sultanahmet park are pretty amazimg too. And from Topkapi Palace. Not to mention the decor inside. The restoration work at Aya Sofya is so painstakingly slow - they have to scrape off the plaster and restore the tile mosaics (and there are over 30,000 gold ones alone!) We were able to see some pretty cool, very old and massive mosaics. Definite thumbs up for Suleymaniye Mosque. Turkish Arts & Crafts museum had a fabulous collection of ancient rugs and pottery. And the humungous Grand Bazaar had old and new arts & crafts and rugs. I fell in love with an antique wooden handgun lavishly inlaid with mother-of-pearl and gold (about 200 USD) and 2 antique silver tea pitchers minutely engraved with old Ottoman designs (about 350 and 800 USD). Totally out of my price range, but if not out of yours, my birthday is coming up next year in May and if you like, I have the shopkeepers' cards.
Taksim area - Lots of Turks, mainly younger ones since school has not started, roaming the Istiklal Street in search for good sales or hanging about on the side alley restaurants, cafes, and bars. Taksim square is a large chaotic roundabout. Took one of the oldest subways for the same reason they built it in the 1890's - to avoid walking up a really steep hill.
Kadikoy area - where we're staying. Hardly a single tourist but me. Nothing noteworthy but we enjoyed wandering the streets and checking out the local shops and Turks.
Misc.- Gotta watch the traffic. Green doesn't mean go. Almost got mangled a couple of times because I wasn't careful about looking both ways before crossing, rightfully earning lots of very harsh scolds from Cem.
- Turkish women/girls can now be seen sporting tank tops and tight clothing, some somewhat revealing. However, only tourists wear shorts.
- Got hooked on Turkish drama/soap opera. Mondays, 9-11pm on ATV. Very melodramatic and a bit over the top. Even Cem's grandmother got tired of the drama/intense moments. However, we (including Cem) were still hooked.
- Cem's 80 some-odd-years-old grandmother is so cute. When she watches television, she puts on Sony headphones so she can hear better. Once she puts them on, she's in her own little world; it's very hard to break in. And she usually has a big grin on her face. She's similar to the granny they show rocking on the chair at the end of the credits on some TV shows in the US.
- It has been really hazy for the past several days, so we haven't been able to take good pictures of the bridges or skyline. A shame really.
- Lots of satellite dishes. Infact, some apartments actually have more than one in the their balconies
All in all, we've had a fabulous week in Istanbul. Our next stop Bodrum, on the Mediterranean coast.
