Istanbul – where East meets West

We flew from Cairo to Istanbul via Turkish Air.  It was only a 2.5 hour flight but it was awesome.  Not only did we get drink service, wine was also free, and we got a full meal (pretty tasty too for airplane food) and snacks at the end too!  Air Canada should be ashamed, tsk tsk tsk.

After moving around from place to place for short stays in the past 2 months, we were feeling a bit tired so we decided to stay in Istanbul for one full week in a furnished rental apartment.  The last time we stayed in a rental apartment was in Seville, which also means that the last time we had a washer was almost 2 months ago!  Yes, we have been hand washing our laundry for almost 2 months and trust me, it is not fun at all.  We were so happy to have a washer again we did 3 loads of laundry the first day.

The apartment we stayed at was in a perfect location in an area called Beyoglu (thanks to Brooks for his suggestion).  Beyoglu is across the bridge from Sultanahmet where most of the main sights are.  We were within walking distance to the attractions without the crowds of tourists.  We were close to the Galata tower and less than 50 metres away from the most famous thoroughfare of modern Turkey – Istiklal Caddesi.  Eug met a Turkish guy at George before our trip and when he found out we were going to visit Istanbul he told Eug about Istiklal street and that ‘Istiklal is like Robson but way cooler’.  He was absolutely right.  The street is packed with locals every day and night.  It has shops, embassies, churches, movie theatres, restaurants, bars, street food vendors, a fish market, street performers, and a tram that runs up and down the boulevard.  There was so much to explore here that we stayed around the area for 2 days before crossing the Galata bridge to visit the main sights.  We also had to run around between the Syrian and Canadian embassy a few times to replace our Syria visa the first 2 days and we ended up discovering another nice area Nisantasi where there are more embassies and some upscale stores, it almost felt like Paris.  It was really nice just to be in a modern city again.

We went to Sultanahmet the next day and checked out Topkapi Palace first.  Ottoman sultans lived in this palace until the 19^th century.  The guide book said the must sees here are the Harem and the Treasury.  Oh I did ‘wow’ at the ridiculously huge 86 carat diamond in one of the Treasury rooms.  Eug said he’d buy my one that was 860 times smaller.  I’m a lucky girl.  And seriously, do you really need a Quran casing made out of gold and covered with emeralds and diamonds?  I guess I don’t understand since I’m not a sultan.  Though Eug thought the Harem, or maybe more the thought of it, was pretty awesome, we both found the Privy Chamber to be the most interesting.  The Privy Chamber houses what are considered to be the most sacred relics of the Muslim world.  It had an interesting collection such as a small strand of the prophet Mohammed’s beard, bowl, turban, Moses’ walking stick etc.  It also had the Muslim interpretation of the bible stories.  Neither one of us is religious, but we have been asked numerous times already if we believe in God on this trip.  It’s especially fun for me to hear what Eug has to reply to whoever asks us the question (evil laugh).  It definitely raised our curiosity and interest and we both agree we wouldn’t mind reading more about it in the future.  We moved onto Aya Sofya after.  From the outside, this religious building (church first under the Romans, mosque later under the Muslims) didn’t look as impressive as what the book described – one of the world’s most glorious buildings.  But once we walked in, we couldn’t stop staring at the incredible dome hovering above our heads.  The architecture was magnificent, as were some of the mosaics.  The history of the building was extremely interesting as well.   We then went to the Blue Mosque.  It was simply breathtaking.  There’s something about the Turkish Mosques, especially the Blue Mosque that you can’t really describe.  They look much more serene and graceful than the other churches and mosques we’ve seen so far.  You just really appreciate looking at it and you can take pictures from every angle and not get tired of it.  The last sight we visited was the Hippodrome.  It’s an open area in front of the Blue Mosque where chariot races took place.  There’s a stolen (er… I mean transported) obelisk from Karnak temple in Egypt here.

We also visited the Basilica Cistern, the Grand Bazaar, and checked out another fish market in the Kumkapi area.  The Basilica Cistern is this underground reservoir built in 532 AD to hold up to 80000 cubic metres of water.  We walked by it not thinking much of it, but luckily we decided to go in because we really liked it in there.  It was like a dark cave supported by Roman columns with eerie lighting.  What made it even more memorable was just outside of it I got pooped on by a stupid pigeon!  Obviously Eug thought it was hilarious and stood there laughing instead of cleaning it off me.  Thankfully it was just a small amount that landed on my shoulder and he wiped it off after he regained his composure.  See, I am a lucky girl!  On another day we took a cruise up the Bosphorus, a body of water that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and is the dividing line between Europe and Asia.  The sights are impressive on either side, and we got off at the last stop on the European side and took a bus back to the centre of town stopping at cute suburb Ortakoy on the way back.

There are tons of places to visit in Istanbul.  One week may not be enough for those who want to see everything.  There is also a lot of food to try; I wish I had an extra stomach to taste them all.  We thoroughly enjoyed Istanbul and will definitely come back again.  This time of year is perfect as well as it’s been nothing but blue skies and warm weather all week.  Life is good.