Istanbul: Day 2

The following morning I was awakened with chants of the Quran from a mosque up the street. Every day I was in Istanbul I was awakened in the morning by Quran chants summoning followers to early morning prayers. It is quite a distinguishing factor Istanbul brings to the table. Throughout the day each mosques Imam uses the sound speakers within each minaret (towers surrounding mosque) to summon Muslims five times a day to pray. As an outsider I have not experienced such a difference in culture and I feel quite blessed to have experienced it. There hasn’t been a place in the world I’ve been to so far that has this occur which makes it quite a scene to experience. Although, I did not like it waking me up at 6am in the morning each day though!

We began Saturday going to the underground Basillica Cicern. This is an underground water storage facility that was built in 500’s by Emperor Justinian. It was a massive room with large Roman columns holding the ceiling up. They had lights on the columns lighting up the water creating a mirroring effect on the water. It was quite the experience! I have never seen anything like this before. You will be captivated by the pictures below.

 Once we finished with the Cicern we walked over the Galeta bridge to the European district of Istanbul. This district can also be considered Old Town Istanbul but has its own European element. This is because throughout history Italians, Spaniards, and European merchants have always occupied the district.  The architecture of the Galeta district reminds me of being in Eastern Europe. The major site in Galeta is the Galeta tower. This tower was built in 526 AD and remained one of the tallest towers in the world until 17^th century. We ascended the tower and at the top got an amazing view of much of the city. Like I said in my earlier blog, the magnitude of Istanbul’s size needs to be described. It has a total population of 13 million. 8.8 million people live within its metro area making it extremely crowded, however, urban sprawl extends the city for miles and miles. From what we saw at the top of the tower we saw multiple large sky lines of skyscrapers in each direction alongside the compacted smaller buildings. Here are the pictures I took of the tower and the skyline around the tower:

Once we finished seeing Galeta tower we walked through the European district and eventually found ourselves on the coast. We decided to go to a restaurant where we enjoyed our first Turkish omelet. This omelet was very unlike because of the cheese and meat used. The cheese reminded me of Gouda while the ham used was very fresh and tasty. This combination of cheese, ham, and eggs created an awesome omelet. It tasted amazing but quite different than omelets I eat back home. I can’t really explain why this the case but it does! It definitely is an dish I could recommend getting if you come to Turkey.

Our next destination was Dolmabahce Palace. This palace was built in the 18^th century by the ruling Sultan. During this time the Ottoman Empire was modernizing and westernizing. The palace reminded me of a typical European palace but seemed to be much bigger. Compared to the palaces I’ve seen in Vienna, this palace is the size of both of them combined.  The architecture style of the palace embodied Baroque,  Rococco, Neoclassical, and traditional Ottoman styles. It was a unique blend of the west and east when analyzing the architecture, furniture, and paintings inside the palace. We were able to go on two walking tours of the palace. One tour was through the living quarters of the Sultan and his family and the other tour had to do with the state/ceremonial section of the palace. We were not able to take pictures inside the palace so I cannot show you the inside. However, from what I saw within the state section of the palace it beats much of what I’ve seen in Europe. I will hopefully find a link for you to see what I am talking about! It took about 2 hours to see much of the palace. We saw around half of the rooms the palace had to offer. It was a cool experience to see such a grand palace. I never would have expected to see such a grand Europeanized palace located in Istanbul.

After finishing the tour of the palace we walked back up near the Galeta tower since we saw earlier in the day a few restaurants that may look good for dinner. We settled on one a few blocks away from the tower and were treated to a superb meal! I ordered lamb chops for dinner. When I first tasted them I knew they had to be some of the best I’ve had in my life. They were super tender literally falling off the bone. Alongside the lamb chops I had some of the best coos coos  I’ve ever tasted. Overall dinner was great! However, right after dinner we spotted a street food stand that smelled so good I had to try it. I ordered cut up seasoned intestine with spices all on a toasted bun with peppers. It melted in my mouth and had to be put there with the best food I’ve had so far in Europe.  I cannot explain how good this sequence of meals was. During a trip to Istanbul, if you’re a willing eater, you will never eat something that doesn’t taste good here!

On our last day in Istanbul we decided to head over to the Asian side of the city. Istanbul lies on the European plate and Asian plate. Therefore, I was able to step foot in Asia yesterday for the first time! We took a ferry over in the morning and saw a bunch of jellyfish in the water along the way. We were amazed at how many we saw.  Once we got over the Asian side we took yet another boat to a lighthouse on an island very close to the Asian side. The lighthouse dates back to ancient times and was still in use up until the 19^th century. It now has turned into two restaurants as well as a coffee shop. We just walked up the top and got some good views of the harbor before coming back done. Even though it wasn’t the best weather we enjoyed the views of the harbor and the bosopherus (the natural canal linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea).

 Once we finished our lighthouse tour we went to a few street food vendors for lunch. I had a Donor Kebab sandwich. I have had some of these in Vienna but the one I had here destroys the one’s I’ve had in Vienna. Also, I bought a French fry sandwich which also tasted good as well. When we were eating our food we took a walk up the Asian side until we got very close the bridge that links the European and Asian side of the city together. We walked through several suburbs and towns lining the coast. It did not feel like I was in the same city on the Asian side. One of the nestled towns reminded me of Santa Barbara for some reason. It gave me a flashback of the experience I had in Santa Barbara a few years ago. After we looked around a bit we walked back to the ferry and rode back to our side of the city.

After we got off the ferry we decided to do some shopping before it was too late. I bought several of my family member’s gifts at the spice market. I will not clarify what I bought here but I bought some pretty cool things. Hopefully they will like them. Once we finished shopping we went to dinner for our last main meal here in Istanbul. We went to a place where they served us a traditional Kurkish meal. This meal involved eggplant, onions, cheese, and peppers surrounding beef. It was accompanied by rice and roasted potatoes.  It tasted amazing, I loved it! I’m glad I had this as one of my last meals here in Turkey.

I am really glad I went to Istanbul. I loved the city and enjoyed my time here. The food was amazing and the cultural experience is second to none. I think everyone who has a chance to come here should come! You will not be let down on the experience you have here. I am truly blessed to have this opportunity to come here and experience this place. I hope you enjoyed reading about my travels to Istanbul. Hopefully my narration and pictures give you a great insight of what this place is like!

Side story: I had some problems getting out of Istanbul. The stupid hostel/pick shuttle company really screwed John and I. We got picked up late from our hostel by the shuttle company resulting in us missing our flight and having to spend 9 hours in the airport before being able to catch the next flight out Vienna. Also, we had to pay a large fare for our flight. Really frustrating and we were both outraged! However, I am not going to let this experience ruin my past four days here in Istanbul. It’s just sad we were guaranteed by the hostel and shuttle company we would make it to the airport in well before our flight left to check in. If we weren’t given this guarantee we would have gotten a cab much earlier. Oh well, shit happens I guess :/

Istanbul: Day 1, part 2

Day 1: Part 2

Once we were finished lunch we walked a few blocks up the street and into the same plaza as Hagia Sophia. Right across from Hagia Sophia is the Blue Mosque. The Blue mosque was built in the 1600’s trying to mirror Hagia Sophia. Before we went inside we were required to take off our shoes and put them into a plastic bag. It was quite weird at first but I soon remembered their religious custom of going bear foot on holy grounds. Once we walked in we saw a large domed empty room with geometric patterns painted on every wall. It was pretty simple other than the large dome. I felt the architecture outside the mosque was a lot grander than inside the mosque. However, the experience was interesting since it was the first mosque I’ve ever been in. I do not believe I will be going into a mosque soon so it was well worth going in.  

When many people think about Istanbul they think about the Grand Bazaar. It is one of the world’s oldest and largest closed air markets. It was built in the late 400’s and 500’s by the Romans/Byzantines and has continued to be in use since. When we arrived at the Grand Bazaar we experienced much of what we saw at the spice market. However, this market was at least 20 times bigger than the spice market we saw earlier in the day. Throughout the Bazaar there are endless mazes of tunnels of stores/shops selling anything from food, electronics, to suitcases, suits, clothing etc. I believe anything can be bought at this bazaar if you know where to look and who to talk to. My experience in the bazaar was overwhelming due to its size and magnitude. Also, during our time we were constantly approached by merchants asking us if we wanted to buy certain items. Sometimes it felt like a plea for us to venture in their shops to buy something. However, I realized these people are some of the best barters I’ve ever seen and can be negotiated with. On some items I was able to negotiate 20 dollars less than the marked price before I walked away. My friend John was able to buy several items for at least 20 to 30 Turkish dollars cheaper than the price listed. I didn’t buy anything because I was planning on doing all my shopping the last day we were in the city. I think if anyone wants to do cheap shopping in Europe must come to Istanbul. It was 50% or more cheaper than everywhere else I’ve been so far. The best representation of the Grand Bazaar I can compare to in the states is the LA garment district. Although, the bazaar is covered unlike the LA garment district and has many more shops. I suggest everyone to stop here on their trip to Europe. It is quite the experience and you will not miss out!

For dinner that night I decided to have a lamb shish kebab with rice, vegetables, and bread. It was quite an awesome dish; the meat was so tender it melted in your mouth. The sides always go very well with the meat in Turkish cuisine because they compliment the meats with spice as well as adding a unique flavor blend.

What can I say; the first full day in Istanbul was awesome!  While it almost took me 2000 words to explain the day, it was quite fun reliving the experience through the words I typed! I am going to have cut this blog into a few sections due to the size. I will have another section coming out the day after I post this blog. I hope you enjoyed reading day 1 of my Istanbul blog! Check back soon, day 2 will be posted soon!

Istanbul: Day 1, part 1

During my stay in Europe I contemplated going to an exotic location that usually isn’t on the normal set of locations tourists visit during the stay in Europe. This location would have some of the same characteristics as Europe but would completely be different unique. When Istanbul, Turkey came to mind I jumped at the idea. I really wanted to go somewhere that would fulfill the void of something different and a little beaten off the path. In mid October I booked my trip to Istanbul and finally got to experience it this past weekend!

My friend John and I left Vienna early on Thursday morning. After a short 2 hour flight we arrived in Istanbul a little after lunch. We had to take a subway and a tramway to get to our hostels location in the Golden Horn which is Old Town Istanbul. It took around an hour and a half so we didn’t arrive at our hostel until around 3:30pm. Our hostel was located in a perfect location for our long weekend. Every major site within the area was only around a good 10 to 15 minute walk. At first, we walked around the main sites getting to know the area before we ate dinner. We had a chance before it got to dark see all the major mosques in our vicinity. We got to see Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and a large Egyptian Obelisk in a large plaza. It reminded me a bit of my travels in Rome, but architecturally, every site we saw in Istanbul is a mix between late Roman style, late Greek, Byzantine, and Ottoman. It’s really interesting to see this blend because there aren’t many places in the world where you can see all these major differences.

Once it got dark around 4:45 we started to look for restaurants to go eat at. Throughout the streets there are hundreds o f restaurants ranging from street food, sit down, and fine dining. We decided to go to a smaller sit down place that only had 4 to 6 tables. For dinner I had an awesome beef kabob with lamb. It was accompanied by rice, peppers, onions, and sauce.  Alongside with the dish was large blown up bread. It’s hard to describe but it looks like a large inflated balloon. Dinner was quite delicious and that trend would continue for the rest of the trip. Later that night we went to a local bar and watched some Euroleague basketball. It was a refreshing experience since I haven’t had a chance to watch much basketball this entire trip in Europe.

The next day we woke up very early with a busy day of things to do ahead of us. Before we went into any museums or sites we decided to go see Istanbul’s famous spice market. Outside the spice market there are stores, restaurants, and merchants everywhere. Let me tell you, Istanbul is one crowded city. No matter where you go there will be people, stores, shops, and restaurants. Throughout my entire trip I did not run into any problems finding such things.  The spice market can be characterized as a very large ceilinged market. Each store/shop had a variety of spices from Europe and the Middle East. Also, these stores/shops had fruits, meats, fish, candies, jewelry, shoes, electronics etc. Basically, these stores had everything you needed at insanely low prices. Going into the spice markets first was a great way to start our day. We were able to experience the culture here in Istanbul and learn how people operate. Also, we encountered crazy store vendors along with dealing with massive crowds of people. It was a good thing we encountered this first so we were able to brace ourselves for the entire weekend to come.

The first major site we ventured to was the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. This museum encompassed 3 massive buildings that displays nearly 1 million artifacts. Inside the buildings were large collections of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman art, sculptures, mosaics, busts, and sarcophagi. These collections were absolutely awesome. There were so many cool pieces of art ranging from 2000 BC to the 18^th century. It was super intriguing to see the intricate designs, craftsmanship, and stylization of each of the major works I saw. Here are a few examples of what I saw at the Archaeology Museum:

Right after we finished up the Archaeology Museum we went right down the way to Topoki Palace, home of the Ottoman Sultan (King) until the early 18^th century. This palace was absolutely massive; it encompassed 3 large courtyards and took up a large part of the peninsula we were on. Inside we saw the treasury, weapons used by the Sultan, his bedroom, and personal mosque. Inside the personal mosque we saw several Islamic relics given to the Sultans over the years. Many of these include pieces of the Kabba (Islam’s most holy shrine) and supposed body fragments (teeth, and hair) of their prophet Mohammed.  Also, in that room we constantly heard the Quran being sung by an Imam. On display they had a screen that translated Arabic verses of the Quran into English. It was interesting to see the English translated verses of the Quran. It reminded me of the Biblical book Psalms due to its poetic structure. On our way out we got to see a great view of the European and Asian side of Istanbul. Its size is mesmerizing. I will later describe this. Here are some pictures of Topoki Palace:

Following our visit to Topoki palace we walked only a few minutes to get to our next destination; Hagia Sophia. I have always wanted to see this church/converted mosque. I studied its architecture in art history and learned a great deal about it. It was originally built in 300’s by Constantine and was rebuilt in the 500’s by Emperor Justinian. It is the largest domed church in the world. Being inside such a structure was amazing. It reminded me being inside a large basketball arena but it had a large dome instead of a roof above. I was quite astonished when I entered the church because I have never been in such an imposing structure. Inside it is lit by a variety of lights hanging from the ceiling lighting up the massive room’s ceramic designs and patterns put in by the Ottomans after it was converted into a Mosque in the 1500’s. However, since it was turned into a museum when the Turkish Republic was founded some of the patterns have been removed uncovering beautiful Christian mosaics depicting Jesus, Mary, Emperor Constantine, and Justinian. Throughout the entire structure we found several of these mosaics. Don’t worry, I took picture of them. After walking around the bottom part of Hagia Sophia we walked up an interesting ramp like staircase going up to the second level of the church. This level was around 20 meters or so above the first story. This second story led to balconies overlooking the great domed room of the church. This allowed us to see the artwork better since we were closer to the roof. Overall Hagia Sophia didn’t disappoint. It is a must see church, only the Vatican and St. Peters can be compared to this church in scale and architecture mastery. Here are the pictures:

After we concluded our stay at Hagia Sophia we went to lunch and got the tradition Turkish Pita. The Turkish Pita is an elongated pizza dish. Our pita had tomatoes, cheese, salami, and lamb on it. It was quite delicious. It somewhat tasted like a pizza but had its own distinct flavor because of the bread, cheese, and lamb. Alongside our dish we had Turkish Black Tea. Once I finished my tea I fell in love with it. It is the best tasting tea I have ever drunk. With a few additive sugar cubes with the tea it makes it to die for. From this point onward on the trip I always got Black Turkish Tea to accompany my meal.

Day 1 will be continued in part 2. Check back for my next entry on part 2 of Day 1!

A Short Trip to Graz

This past weekend I took a short train to Graz, Austria with my Austrian girl friend Monika. She wanted to take me somewhere in Austria, so we decided to go to the second biggest city. Graz is a very historical city, in 1128 the Slovene castle was founded. It was the first time in historical records the city was called "Graz". Through the ages it was ruled by the Habsburg family (who ruled the Austrian Empire). The city was the residence of their Austrian lineage. They lived in the Schossesberg castle on top of the highest point in Graz. This prompted in the 16th century Renaissance inspired architecture from Italy (due to the fact it is very close to the Italian border). Some of the Renaissance architecture remains, much of the Old Town remain in tact, but much of Graz was bombed by the allies in World War 2.

Monika and I began our trip Friday afternoon arriving at about 5pm in Graz. The train ride there was beautiful. Our train traveled through a very hilly section of Austria. It reminded me of Northern Vermont mountains and that region in general. There were still fall colors remaining on trees which made it a spectacular view. During the ride I thought about my year of school in Vermont since the environment gave me flashbacks of the time I had there.

Once we arrived in Graz Monika and I found our hotel and went to Old Town Graz for dinner. For dinner we went to a traditional Austrian Restaurant. I had a version of Schnzeil (fried meat) that had a variety of different meats inside of it along with potato mixed salad. It was very good, it had its own distinct taste from Vienese schnzeil which made it memorable. After dinner Monika and I walked around Old Town and lost our way to the hotel. After about 30 minutes of wandering we found our way and headed back to the hotel. What made being lost annoying was that temperature outside was under 30 degrees. Her and I were freezing! Luckily we found our way back!

Graz is known for being picturesque. The Mur river is flowing through the center of the city. With fall colors and the old buildings along with the artsy post modern buildings it made it a treat to walk through. When Monika and I ventured through the town on Saturday we enjoyed the scenery. She first took me up to Schlossberg castle on the large hill in the center of the city. It is known for having a clock on the center of the building dating back to around the 11th century. Along the way up the hill her and I saw a 50,000 person bunker built into the hill during World War 2. It was quite a massive structure! I've never seen such a large underground bunker. Once we were on top of the large hill where the castle is we had a great view of the city of Graz. It was a beautiful day with barely any clouds in the sky. We ventured around the top of the hill and descended down the hill on a huge stair case. It felt like I went down around 500 or so stairs before I got to the bottom. At the bottom we were outside of a very famous historical site. It was the site where Hitler came into Graz in 1938 after Germany annexed Austria. He promised the people of Graz with 1000 years of prosperity. When it in reality, 8 years later much of the city was destroyed by allied air raids.

After we finished Schlossberg castle we went to the modern contemporary art museum called Kunsthaus. Graz in 2003 was formally awarded with the title European Capital of the Culture due to the large art movement in the city. This was exemplified in the Kunsthaus. The building itself reminded of a very futuristic glass enveloped space ship. Inside it contained a very modern art exhibit. Most of the art had to do with moving pictures as well as changing pictures. It was quite a different experience than any other art museum I've ever been to. We spent about 2 hours in the museum and before we knew it was time to head back to the station to head back to Vienna!

The trip to Graz was a very fun trip. I'm glad I got to go with Monika. She served as great tour guide and spoke German. Due to this we didn't have any awkward moments. Usually when I travel there is always a few instances where the language barrier results in an awkward moment. However, in this case it didn't happen! I definitely am going to miss her when I travel to Germany the first week of December. Overall it was a great short getaway from Vienna. Both of us had a good time!

This Thursday I am off to Istanbul Turkey for 4 days. It should definitely be interesting! It is somewhere I've always wanted to go. I will definitely will highlight my trip there, so look for the blog next Monday or so!