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.
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 18th 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 18th 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!
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