Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Istanbul, Turkey

We set off from Loughborough to London on the 11:40 am train. Luckily, the Gods were with us and we arrived at Heathrow with a couple of hours to spare. As we walked to our gate we were passed by a man running through the airport (reminiscent of OJ Simpson in the 1970s Hertz commercials.) Lynda swears it was Brad Pitt. A search of the current gossip web sites failed to confirm nor deny his presence at Heathrow airport on March 10, 2010. Either way, it is exciting to think that it could have been him. After a very comfortable (and short) flight on British Airways we arrived at Ataturk airport. The process for entering Turkey is very simple. You walk up to the Visa station at the airport, pay your 90 Euros and the Immigration officer places a sticker in your passport. You leave his booth and go to see a Customs official. He examines your passport for a visa sticker, stamps it and you are on your way. No words, other than thank you, were spoken. We pre-arranged a pick-up with the hotel and by 11:30 pm we were in our room getting ready for bed.
Istanbul is definitely the most exotic place we have been so far on our journey. Here are some of the delightful highlights:
The Pension
The Sebnem Hotel is located in Sultanahmet, near the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya. We were conscious of the 5 am call to prayer, which seemed much louder on the first day, but we had no trouble rolling over and going back to sleep. The hotel serves a lovely breakfast on the roof-top terrace. Some of the tasty treats include: yoghurt, fruit, cheese, deli meat, boiled egg, cucumber, tomato, rolls and a HUGE selection of fresh pastries. We must not forget to mention the freshly squeezed pitcher of apple, orange and pomegranate juice. Along with the coffee, it was a wonderful way to start the day. We cannot say enough good things about the staff at the Sebnem. They were hard-working, conscientious and always willing to provide help when it was needed.
New Friends:
Over the last six months, we have discovered it is the people you meet who make a big impact on your impression of a place. In Istanbul, we were blessed. Firstly, in the morning on day one, Lynda had been doing some research on Trip Advisor. She read a rave review about a Canadian woman who had a shop in the Arasta Bazaar. Later that afternoon as we were walking around, we stumbled upon the Arasta bazaar and were making our way through it when we were stopped by a Turkish man who saw the Canadian flag on Lynda's backpack. This is not unusual because it seems that every store, restaurant, and tea shop has a salesmen out front trying to hustle you in. They all have a friend or relative in Canada that they want to start talking to you about. Anyway, this man told us we had to go in because the shop was run by a Canadian woman. Lynda instantly knew this was the woman she had been reading about and before we knew it the door opened and out walked Jennifer Gaudet, former resident of Edmonton, Alberta. Even though she was busy serving customers, we had our first taste of Turkish hospitality - "Come on in. Would you like some cay (chai)?" Jennifer became an excellent resource for us in Istanbul. Secondly, on the evening of day one, we went for a simple dinner at a restaurant called Doy Doy which Jennifer had recommended. While we were there we met Sandra and Andreas, a German couple, who were just starting a year long trip along the old Silk Road route. A conversation ensued and we became dinner companions for the next few days.
Tourism:
We must confess that we did not spend a lot of time visiting tourist attractions. One stop was the Topkapi Palace, a symbolic and political centre of the Ottoman Empire for nearly four centuries. We spent several hours wandering through the courtyards, the harem and the Treasury. We were awestruck by the collection of treasures on display, from the jewels to the weapons to the thrones. Another morning we walked across town, across the bridge, over the Golden Horn and up the Galata Tower. From there, you have 360 degree views of Istanbul. Our walk took us through four or five market districts, where several city blocks are dedicated to a specific trade such as suit tailoring, tools, socks, underwear, the Spice Market, and the Galata Bridge itself where everybody seemed to be fishing for a living.
Shopping:
We had heard about the shopping in Turkey, but we were only planning on looking because we still had several months of traveling left and no room to carry anything. After spending a few hours in Jennifer's Hamam shop and looking at the towels and the silk scarves, Lynda weakened first. However, we did not rush in to making a purchase, as we were trying to figure out how we could manage to buy the towels and not pay a fortune to ship them home. On every corner in Istanbul, there is a carpet store. Every time you walk by one, the pressure from the salesmen is immense. We were interested in learning about Turkish carpets, but we had no interest in buying one. Jennifer offered to take us to the store of a friend and after some consideration, we agreed. The next morning Jennifer, Craig and Lynda went to meet Murat. After the introductions, we all sat down and Turkish coffee and/or tea were ordered. We chatted for about fifteen minutes before Murat got down to business. He gave us a rundown of the history of the carpets, kilims, camel blankets and the styles that were available. Then the samples started to be placed on the floor. The carpets are amazingly beautiful and it was not difficult to see the difference in the quality and workmanship. Somehow along the way our disinterest turned to interest and we began to visualize them in our house. We narrowed it down to three carpets, but we were not confident that the sale was going to happen because we had started the negotiation process. Bartering is such a foreign concept for North Americans. We are not used to negotiating the price of purchases. To make a long story short, we are now the proud owners of a Turkish carpet which we will take delivery of when we return home in June. The benefit of this purchase is that shipping is included in the price and there is room in the container for any other purchases we make. After that we purchased the towels and some Turkish pillow covers. We are very pleased with our purchases and are looking forward to seeing them in our house.
Hamam:
We heard there were several touristy hamams around town, but we were keen to have a true Turkish bath experience. Jennifer directed us to her neighbourhood hamam so off we went on our last afternoon in town. Craig's experience was quite different from Lynda's. Lynda was alone with the two Turkish ladies who were working there. Neither of them spoke English so other than some hand gesturing it was quiet and relaxing. On the men's side there was Craig and nine other Turkish men. None of them spoke English either, but the mood was loud and boisterous and authentically Turkish. For about $15 we were steamed, bathed, scrubbed down, lathered up, massaged and rinsed off in rooms full of marble. The whole process took about two hours. We can easily see how it could become a weekly ritual.
Cats:
After months of being surrounded by dogs in England and kangaroos in Australia, Lynda was thrilled to find a cat friendly country. The Turkish streets are filled with stray cats. Some are straggly and forlorn and others are healthy and well-groomed. They are also suprisingly friendly. While we were the Topkapi Palace, we saw a tabby cat sitting on a stone wall. Lynda went over to the wall and sat down. The cat immediately crawled into her lap and settled in. At the Arasta Bazaar there was a mama cat with six adorable kittens who were a month old. Every other street, lane or park area has a resident cat or two. Good thing we don't live here because Lynda would be rounding them up and opening an cat shelter.
We cannot believe our time in Istanbul is over. We have barely scratched the surface of things to do. The weather has been perfect - sunny and cool. We know that we will definitely come back and it will be at a time when we are heading directly back to Canada so that Lynda can do more shopping!

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2 comments:

  1. Aren't hamams the best?! I wish I had a local one in Boston!

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  2. I'd love to go to Istanbul! I'm thinking maybe in Sept if the stars align. Thanks for the post!

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