The Greatest City on Earth: İstanbul

We came into İstanbul on an overnight bus from the town of Ayvalık. It was a long drive, and slept most of the way. Jess nudged me awake at one point because we were on a ferry, crossing the Sea of Marmara. But I was so tired it didn't even really register and I sunk back asleep. When I awoke again, it was around 5:30am. We were whizzing on the highway past misty hills and apartment buildings. I checked our real-time map: we were in the suburbs of İstanbul.

Immediately, my stomach leaped with excitement. Finally, I was here.

It feels like I have been waiting my entire life to come to this city. As child (read: nerd), I remember reading about this city. The Crossroads of Civilizations. The Gateway to Europe. The Gateway to Asia. The end of the Silk Road. Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire. Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire. And now İstanbul, the beating heart of Turkey. There is so much history in this city, more than I can possibly ever fully comprehend. For four months I was living in Turkey, and this was my first time getting to İstanbul. Not because I didn't want to go, of course, but I think more because I wanted to save it for the right moment. I didn't want my first visit to be rushed or not do justice to the city. That just wouldn't do. I needed my first visit to İstanbul to be at a time when I had the time and freedom to explore it at my own pace.

And now that time had come.

It was still early morning in İstanbul (probably around 6:15am or so), so the subway downtown wasn’t busy. We had to transfer to a tramway, which might have been a little confusing (the stations are actually a 7 minute walk from each other, something that isn’t clear from transit maps) except that a friendly man who was also transferring at the same place led us the right way to the right station.

The tram took us right to the core historic (and tourist) area of the city, known as Sultanahmet, after the Sultan who built the famous Blue Mosque in this neighbourhood. Our hostel was in this neighbourhood, just steps away from grand sights such as the Blue Mosque, the Aya Sofya and Topkapı Palace. Despite being on an ultra-touristic street (filled with overpriced restaurants and carpet shops, none of which we ever visited), our hostel was comfortable and cheap, and some interesting people from around the world hanging around. Heading to our hostel, we walked through the open area between the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya. It was beautiful.

One single man snoozes outside the Blue Mosque in the early morning - so peaceful and still.

The Aya Sofya, looming largely in the morning quiet.

We couldn’t check in yet, because it was still so early in the morning, but we were able to drop our stuff, collect ourselves, and hit the city in order to be first in line. This was great, because we were some of the first people let into the Aya Sofya (later that day, we'd see a massive, endless line of people waiting in the hot sun and barely moving ahead). I'm really glad we picked this place as our first place to go. Visiting the Aya Sofya (which, yes, for the record is also spelled Hagia Sophia, I'm just using the Turkish spelling) was probably my number one priority for this city - the history in the building is so incredible and extensive, and the way it has meant so many different things to so many different people through the course of history, and all of this combined to make it one of the main attractions for me in İstanbul. And since we were there so early, we sometimes got corridors and rooms to ourselves (or at least with minimal other tourists).

The Aya Sofya was constructed as a church in the year 537 by the Emperor Justinian I, one of the most famous Byzantine emperors (and - fun fact - the last Byzantine Emperor to speak Latin as a mother tongue). Over 900 years later, Mehmet the Conqueror - the Ottoman sultan who conquered Constantinople, thus ending the Byzantine Empire - converted it into a mosque. Then in 1935, Atatürk converted into a museum, preserving the building as a cultural icon of the overlap of civilizations in İstanbul throughout history.

The inner narthex of the Aya Sofya.

Looking up at the second floor and ceiling of Aya Sofya.

Of course, there is a cat licking itself in the Aya Sofya.

The Imperial Door, from the inner narthex into the main space. You can see from the fellow tourists in the foreground (despite their blurriness), how huge the doorway is.

Looking up at the nave of the Aya Sofya, A mosaic (9th century) of  the Virgin and  Christ Child can be seen on the apse wall. The lighting was just beautiful in the morning, and with a limited number of tourists still, it was also quite peaceful for a tourist attraction.

The hallway along the edge of the main area of the Aya Sofya.

The dome!

The Weeping Column: apparently it was blessed by St. Gregory the Miracle Worker (I wish that was my nickname) and now if you you stick your finger in that hole and it comes out damp your ailments will all be cured. I'm pretty sure your finger will always be damp, since the metal is cold, but I'm not sure which "ailments" of mine were cured.

Corridor where the Weeping Column is held. THERE ARE NO PEOPLE HOW COOL IS THAT.

The second floor of the Aya Sofya - pretty ceiling paintings.

Looking down from the second floor of the Aya Sofya. So beautiful and grandiose! (And you can also see how much more its filling up)

What's left of the Last Judegment mosaic - still pretty in its old age. That's Jesus in the middle, the Virgin Mary on his left, and John the Baptist on his right.

Another stunning mosaic, and much better preserved. It depicts, from left to right, Emperor John Comnenus II, the Virgin Mary, and Empress Eirene.

And the third incredible mosaic - Christ Enthroned with Empress Zoe and Constantine IX Monomakhos.

The Aya Sofya lived up to all of my expectations. It was truly so beautiful, even more than the pictures can ever convey. I also felt it was really great at illustrating some of the ways in which the great religions of Christianity and Islam - so often portrayed as opposing, hostile forces - have much in common. Mosaics of Christ sit alongside Ottoman medallions bearing the names of Allah and Mohammed in Arabic script, and both religions appreciated the beauty of the high dome and carefully directed sunlight. I think recognizing and valuing these similarities is important in this day in age - it helps us to keep in mind how much we have in common with our fellow human beings, despite what our differences might be.

From the Aya Sofya, we were still energized and itching to explore, so we headed down closer to the waterfront, near the Galata Bridge across the Golden Horn, to check out the Yeni Camii, or New Mosque. The name is a bit - ok, a lot - of a misnomer, because the mosque was built in 1597 and can hardly be called new anymore. Regardless, it's a beautifully imposing building, a classic of the İstanbul skyline, and I really enjoyed visiting. I actually think it is one of the prettiest mosques in İstanbul, with a certain simplicity to its grandeur.

The outside of the New Mosque. It's so big, I could only fit in a single minaret into the photo.

The dome of the New Mosque - beautifully tiled.

The New Mosque, peaceful and regal.

The New Mosque is located just beside the famous Spice Bazaar, so that's where we dove in next. Not to be confused with İstanbul's Grand Bazaar (read on for that later), the Spice Bazaar is still a chaotic, colourful, and deliciously-scented market. The salesmen there were rather forward, calling out to us and trying to get us to take their free samples of lokum (Turkish Delight) so that we'd be lured by its deliciousness into their actual shops. We weren't interested in buying anything, so it was kind of fun to listen to the salesmen's calls. "Spend some money on your honey!" shouted in my face was probably my favourite. I didn't take too many photos, because stopping for any amount of time meant an instant surge in getting pestered, but most of the shops were selling the same things anyway - spices, tea, Turkish delight, or a combination of those. Anyway, it all felt very much like the (good, exciting) stereotypes I imagined about İstanbul before I came.

A spice display in the Spice Bazaar.

Somehow, our energy was still not sapped and we headed further into the city. I loved the narrow streets and the bustle - again, it was exactly as I had dreamed, and this was about the time I really started having my "OMG I'M IN İSTANBUL" feeling. It's also around this time that we realized how hilly İstanbul is. I had never heard much about the topography of the city, and while I had no reason to believe it would be flat, I had no idea how many ups and downs there were.

Narrow Istanbul streets, filled with locals.

We headed up (up, up, up) to the Süleymaniye Mosque, which is a beautiful and huge mosque overlooking the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn (a channel cutting through the European side of İstanbul). The size of the mosque awed me, but so too did the fact that it holds the tomb of Süleyman the Magnificent, the great Ottoman sultan who is known for being the longest reigning sultan on the Empire and leading it through its Golden Age of arts, literature and architecture.

Süleymaniye Mosque

We entered the tomb of Süleyman and his wife Roxelana, just outside of the mosque, and marveled at the prettiness of the walls and ceilings, and the interesting way in which the tombs are presented, with tall turbans on the tombs of the king and his close male relatives. I think this was especially interesting to me because I’ve read/learned quite a bit about the sultan, and I find him to have been a fascinating man. Being in the presence of him humbled and awed me.

A graveyard just outside the mosque. The domed building in the background is the Sultan's tomb.

The tombs of the Sultan and his family. Note the turbans on the ends of the three tombs shown here.

The mosque courtyard was expansive and beautiful, a huge open space which seemed as large as the mosque itself. The whole mosque complex was designed by Mimar Sinan, the most famous architect of the Ottoman Empire. Inside was again simple. but beautiful (and again, massive).

Wall of the mosque from in the courtyard - note the men washing their feet, as Muslims are expected to do before going to pray in the mosque.

The massive courtyard.

Inside the Süleymaniye Mosque.

The view from the Süleymaniye Mosque down towards the Golden Horn. The numerous domes you see here are part of a hamam (Turkish bath), which was built as part of the mosque complex. In imperial times, mosques were meant to comprehensively serve the community - not only did they have the mosque itself for religious and community gatherings, there was often also a hamam, a library, and kitchens that served food to the poor.

At this point in the day, we finally started to feel the effects of our early morning and overnight bus (but kudos to us, eh? Not a bad amount of stuff packed into a single day). We headed back to the hostel and chilled out for a while. A little later, we decided that a nice way to end off our first day in İstanbul would be with a nice Turkish bath. We found an historic hamam, and walked over to it. It was a bit more expensive than the hamams I had been to before, but the building was quite grand. The sauna was especially hot, and the scrub down quite good. The massage was not the best one I'd had at a hamam in Turkey, but Jess loved hers and since it was her first hamam, this is what was important. The hamam also had a beautiful cave-like cool water pool, which was eerie and cool and which I had all to myself. It was awesome to relax in what felt like an underground lake, and that was certainly a highlight of the hamam for me.

When we were finished, we took the free shuttle back from the hamam back to our hostel. The shuttle was actually supposed to pick us up from out hostel in the first place, but couldn't because traffic was disrupted by a visit to the city by President Erdoğan (which is why we had walked, which was fine). But now that we were super relaxed and chilled out from the hamam, we really wanted the shuttle back. So driver started driving us home, but after a while, the traffic got congested and he seemed to just give up. He told us he couldn't make it to our hostel, and basically just dumped us unceremoniously at the side of the road. Oh well.

The next morning, day two in İstanbul, we got up in decent time, wanting to get to the Blue Mosque before it got too busy. Sadly, we weren't quite early enough, because it was already packed by the time we got there, and the wait in line was long, and in the sun.

The name the "Blue Mosque" is actually just a colloquial name, given for the fact that it is tiled inside with blue İznik tiles. The actual name of the mosque is Sultan Ahmet Mosque, named after the same sultan who gave name to the entire neighbourhood, and who's buried on-site.

From the outside, the Blue Mosque is without a doubt one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. It's the kind of building you just want to take a billion pictures of, it's just so photogenic.

The Blue Mosque.

Jess entering the grounds of the Blue Mosque, covering her head as she enters.

From the courtyard of the Blue Mosque.

Already form the outside, while we wait in line, you can see how beautiful the ceilings are.

Inside the mosque, I was a bit put-off by how touristy it is (but that's rich for me to be saying that, considering I'm a tourist too, eh?). There are so many tourists trying to get in, that they control entry, but even so it remains rather wild. It wasn't quite at all, with a lot of people apparently not doing much to keep their voices down. Thankfully, for the benefit of actual worshipers, tourists are also restricted in where they can go in the mosque, and the main area is gated off for them.
We were also both surprised at how the interior wasn't SO blue. I mean, sure there were blue tiles, but not all tiles were blue, and I wouldn't say blue was the most dominant colour. But there is some really amazing patterning with the tiles, often in hard-to-see corners, and the more carefully I looked the more I appreciated the beauty of the place. (I apologize for the blurriness of the many of the photos - I guess with the darkish lighting, I didn't realize how some of the photos were turning out).

A huge column in the Blue Mosque.

Tiled dome of the Blue Mosque.

Some of my favourite patterning, up in the top left.

You wouldn't know it, but there were a bajillion people behind me.

So many carefully placed tiles.

Another one of my favourite patterns, up in a corner near the ceiling.

Even when they are physically closer - just overhead as we left the mosque - it's hard to see the individual tiles for the larger pattern.

One more photo of the Blue Mosque, just being so beautiful.

From the Blue Mosque, we headed to the Basilica Cistern, which was a great place to escape the heat. Originally built in 532 by Emperor Justinian (the same guy who had the Aya Sofya built), the cistern could hold 80 000 cubic metres of water, delivered via aqueduct from near the Black Sea to north, in order to service the royal palace of the Byzantines. After the Emperors moved their palace, it was forgotten for almost a millennium, until many years after Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans, who then used it to serve their own palace nearby.

Today there is a decently-extensive boardwalk through the cistern, allowing you to walk among the columns. Most of the columns were scavenged from destroyed pagan temples, so a lot of them are way fancier than you'd expect for a structure designed purely to store water. There are also carp swimming about in the water - whether they are there naturally or they were introduced, I have no idea, though I suspect the latter - which are lit up eerily.

The Basilica Cistern

Carp swimming in the darkness.

Note the detail on the columns - and also the fact that they are not all the same. That's what happens when you scavenge, I guess.

The Basilica Cistern contains some particularly interesting oddities among the columns. One is the especially fancy and detailed "Column of Tears" or "Hen's Eye Column". It appears to have engravings of crying eyes on it, and legend says that it is a tribute to the vast number of slaves (somewhere in the hundreds) who died in the construction of the huge structure.

Column of Tears

The other oddity is two Medusa heads that can be found at the base of two columns off in one corner. One is flipped completely upside down, the other, a few feet away, is on its side. Though we an be fairly certain they were also scavenged from destroyed Roman temples, it's uncertain which ones, and why this is the only case of statues being used anywhere else in the cistern. We also don't know why they are tilted the way they are - some legends say that doing so negates the power of Medusa to turn people to stone, so maybe it was superstitiously motivated.

Overall, the Basilica Cistern ended up being one of my favourite İstanbul sights - it was just so cool to be exploring underground the city

Upside-down Medusa.

Sideways Medusa.

Coming back from the Basilica Cistern, we decided to hang out a bit in the Hippodrome, a long park area that runs along one edge of the Blue Mosque. There are some interesting monuments in the Hippodrome, which we checked out one by one. First there is the German Fountain, a gift from Kaiser Wilhelm to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1901 as a sign of friendship. I guess that’s the friendship that brought them into WWI side by side (whoops). Next is the Obelisk of Theodosius, brought back from Egypt in the year 390, though it dates from as far back as the 1500 BCEs. Then comes the Spiral Column, a strange monument that once stood at the front of the famous Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Apparently it used to have snake heads at the top. I have no idea why it’s in a hole. And then finally, the Rough-Stone Obelisk, once covered in gold-covered bronze, which was stripped away by European Crusaders who thought they were pure gold (whoops).

Kaiser Wilhelm's Fountain

Beautiful gold roof of the Fountain

Looking down the Hippodrome - Obelisk of Theodosius in the front, and you can see the Rough-Stone Obelisk in the back.

The Spiral Column

Rough-Stone Obelisk

The park was such a nice place to hang out, so we sat at a picnic table and chatted away for a while, before finally deciding to head out. At the edge of the Hippodrome, Jess stopped into a public washroom, and I took the chance to take a glance at our Lonely Planet. Only to realize the Lonely Planet was not in the backpack. Panic settled in immediately. Honestly, I cannot tell you how important my Lonely Planet is to me. It helps me decide where to eat, where to sleep, what to see, how to get from point A to point B. Maybe I'm a little bit TOO dependent, sometimes, but I think I've reached a point where I can't really imagine traveling without it. And now I thought I had lost it. As usual, Jess was much more relaxed than me. "Let's just retrace our steps - you probably left it on the picnic table". We went back. It wasn't there. The panic was real now. What would I do without my Lonely Planet?!!?! Jess told we'd by a new one. BUT WHAT WOULD WE DO IN THE MEANTIME. Of course, I was overreacting, but still. But then, as we were walking back out of the park, we spotted a family sitting at another picnic table. Speaking German. Reading an ENGLISH Lonely Planet. Ready to fight if I had to, I approached them - "Excuse me, did you find that book on that table over there?" I hope I was that polite, my blood was boiling. Of course, despite my darkest fears, they were super polite and said yes and laughed and passed it to us and explained how they were just discussing how sad it would be for the person who lost it, considering how many memories a Lonely Planet carries with it, Certainly true. We thanked them, ultra-graciously, and since then I have been opening my backpack in panic quite regularly, whenever I don't have an explicit memory of returning my LP (it was about this time that the book got this official nickname) to its rightful spot.

The next thing on our agenda was a really fantastic reminder of home and of Ottawa for me. My scholarly friend Jonah, a uOttawa grad a year ahead of me, was in İstanbul with friends, and we had arranged to meet up on a Bosphorus cruise. We met down by the water, near the Galata Bridge and Jonah (who didn't recognize me with my travel "beard" - HA!) introduced us to his two friends Cliff and Rachel (sp?). We haggled a bit with some salesmen by the water, and finally agreed to a satisfactory price for a two hour cruise along the Bosphorus. The cruise itself was admittedly uneventful. There was no guide to explain what we were looking at, and the map they gave us was basically garbage. Looking at the buildings going by was still sometimes interesting, but the best parts of the cruise were without a doubt being on the water, with a nice breeze to cool us off after being in the hot, windless streets, and, more importantly, the chance to catch up with Jonah and chat with his friends. Jonah is certainly one of my most philosophical friends (and he had good politics, too), so it's always bound to be a good conversation. And I'm not sure the last time we had even had a real conversation. Plus Rachel had been living in İstanbul for a few weeks, so it was neat to compare experiences of living in Turkey.

Pulling away from the shore. New Mosque on the left, Süleymaniye Mosque in the distance to the right of it.

Looking down the Bosphorus. The Sea of Marmara is out that way.

Interesting buildings on the water.

Waterfront mosque.

Passing under the Bosphorus Bridge

The farthest point we went along the Bosphorus - Dolmabahçe Palace.

More interesting buildings - I have no idea what it is, though!

More waterfront mosques. I think that's so neat.

When our cruise was over, we parted ways so that Cliff and Jonah could see the Aya Sofya (they were on a strict timeline, only being in the city for a few days, and couldn't waste time), but with plans to meet up again later, and so Jess and I returned back to the hostel. Jess wanted to Skype her parents, so I headed out on my own for a bit to explore the nearby Museum of Islamic Arts. It was a really fascinating place. The displays were beautiful, with excellent labeling (not something you can take for granted in Turkey) and I learned a ton about the numerous Islamic empires that have stretched through the Middle East, the Caucasus, Europe, Africa, and Asia. To be honest, I'm frustrated how little I've learned about the Islamic world from living in Canada. Not only in school and university, but also in pop culture and the media. For centuries, the Islamic world was at fore of knowledge and innovation, and the "West's" interactions, exchanges and confrontations with various empires and sultanates and states were incredibly important for the development of the world as we know it. And I wish I knew more about that. And maybe if more people in North America and Western Europe knew about it, there would be less hate and fear of the religion and its people. I dunno, just thinking out loud. Anyway this "historical frustration" seems to be a theme of my larger trip, but perhaps that's what has brought me to this part of the world anyway.

Didn't take too many photos in the museum, but I thought this Qu'ran was beautifully decorated. Calligraphy and patterned decoration of books are certainly places where the Islamic world has excelled.

When I was finished at the museum, I returned to get Jess and then we met up with Jonah and the others again, and took a ferry across the Bosphorus to the Asian side of the city. By most definitions, Jess and I had been only in Asia up until we arrived in İstanbul, so "going back" shouldn't have been such a big deal. But I think there is something particularly cool about crossing between continents, especially when it happens in just a few minutes. Plus, I had been asleep on the way over to Europe on the bus. The ferry was great - in a classically Turkish manner, there was a çay salesman - and not an overpriced one, either! - and we were able to enjoy a hot cup on our way over.

Asia immediately had a different feel, in part just because we left behind the touristy areas and were surrounded by all locals. We ate dinner in a lokanta, a traditional Turkish eatery with ready-made food. Across the road, street performers played traditional songs, and the waiters and passerbys sang along. Rachel led us down some interesting streets to see some murals she knew of - there was some great art around, to be sure.

A fantastic mural on the Asian side.

We stopped for tea and more great conversation at a hip little place - parts of the Asian side of İstanbul are starting to gentrify, attracting hipsters and young people, and we could certainly see that.

By the time we headed back across to the European side, it was dusk, and we had a beautiful view of the city lit up as the last colours of the sunset disappeared into the deep blue of the night sky.

The city at night.

We decided to find a place for a beer, so Rachel led us up along İstiklal street, perhaps İstanbul's most famous street. It was incredibly lively, with lights and shops twinkling everywhere. Given that it was Ramadan, I suspect it was especially lively after dark. We walked some ways down the street, and Rachel got an ice cream so that we could see the "ice cream show". I had seen it plenty of times all over the country, but it is especially popular in İstanbul, and it's a novelty to see. The ice cream salesmen make such a scene of serving you ice cream. They use their serving scoops (scoops is the wrong word, they are like long metal rods with a flattened bit on the end) to whip the ice cream around, banging things and ringing bells and flipping the cone out of reach of the customer when they finally go to grab it. I'm not sure I explained it very well, you really just have to see it!

İstiklal street by night.

We finally moved off of the main street in order to find a bar, and spent quite some time navigating the narrow streets trying to find a good place. There were so many bars to choose from, and such a lively nightlife atmosphere, even during Ramadan. But some of them were quite overpriced - we almost stopped at one bar, until we learned that the prices were double what I'd pay for a beer in Ankara. Finally we decided on a smaller place with an eccentric owner who poked fun at us until it got kind of weird. Anyway, we enjoyed a lovely evening, sipping our beer, but finally we had to call it a night. I said goodbye to Jonah and his friends - I hope I'll see Jonah again soon! - and Jess and I made our back through the city.

The next morning, I made an unfortunate but inevitable discovery - I would need to make a detour back to Ankara in order to sort out some visa things for countries I hope to be visiting later in my trip. And I would need to do so sooner rather than later in order to get to the relevant embassies on days in which they were actually open. So much for "not being on a timeline" here in İstanbul.

We spent the rest of that morning visiting Topkapı Palace. It was super close to our hostel, but it's just one of those sights that you need to devote a good chunk of time to because it's so extensive! Topkapı Palace is fascinating because it was the seat of the Ottoman government for ages (15th to 19th centuries, to be more precise). It's kind of like the Turkish version of Versailles - wildly opulent, and a fascinating insight into how royalty lived at its heyday.

The Palace has four courts, which just in itself should give you a sense of how massive this place is. The first court is just an airy, green area which was used for parades and military things.

The Church of the Divine Peace, a Byzantine church that now stands within the walls of the first court.

From the first court, we passed through the Middle Gate to the second court, which is where the palace proper really starts. Here, we explored the palace kitchens, which have essentially just been turned into a big food-themed museum. It was pretty fascinating stuff though, such as the special porcelain plates the sultan would eat off of, as they would supposedly crack or change colour if they held poisoned food. We also marveled at the equipment used for making desserts, since they were just so massive. I guess Turks have had a sweet tooth for all of eternity.

My favourite part of the entire palace, though, was what came next: the Imperial Council Chamber. It's the place where virtually all of the important decisions of the Ottoman Empire were made by the council, with approval by the Sultan. As the poli-sci nerd I am, the weightiness of that history was incredible to me. Not to mention that it was beautiful!

The Middle Gate, leading into the second court.

Entrance to the Imperial Council Chamber.

While the cabinet was meeting and discussing the workings of the Empire, the Sultan would come and listen through this grill which led to his private quarters. Therefore he could be engaged without exerting himself too much. And when he tapped on the grill, the council knew it was dismissed for the day.

Trying to capture the beauty of the Imperial Council Chamber ceilings, while being pushed along by the endless crowds.

We then visited the Outer Treasury, which now holds fascinating Ottoman weapons, and a collection of clocks from throughout the Ottoman ages. I happen to really like clocks, so I thought it was pretty cool, but I couldn't take photos so I have nothing to show you. We also took a stroll through the ultra-pious Sacred Safekeeping Room, which holds a bunch of relics important to Islam, including parts of the Prophet Muhammad's beard, an impression of his footprint, a miniature of the Kaaba at Mecca, parts of the doorframe from the Grand Mosque at Mecca, etc., etc. Needless to say, given that this is Turkey and the value of these artifacts is still very important to people, there were also no pictures allowed there. But it was a pretty neat place, especially since there was a live prayer chant going on, broadcast to every room in the museum. Eerie!

Looking back down the length of the second court - kitchens on the left, Imperial Council Chamber on the right, but still lots of beautiful green space.

We wandered next through the third and fourth courts, which were both private areas and so the most aesthetically complex, beautiful, and over-the-top. The third court is where the Sultan would grant personal appointments, and then the fourth court is all just "pleasure pavilions" - basically where the Sultan and his fam and friends would just hang out, being all rich and lazy and stuff.

Passing to the third court - the Sultan's private area- via the Gate of Felicity.

The Palace holds a commanding view of the Bosphorus, and Asia on the other side.

A 'Pleasure Pavilion' of the Fourth Court - the Revan Kiosk

Lilly-pad pool under the Baghdad

Baghdad Kiosk and the surrounding rose garden.

Again, the Baghdad Kiosk. This was my favourite pavilion.

The inside of the Baghdad Kiosk.

The Marble Pavilion.

Jess looking in awe at the tilework of a pavilion.

After Topkapı, we headed across town a bit to finally take a look at the (in)famous Grand Bazaar. Today, the Bazaar sells all kinds of modern trinkets and goods, especially clothing and souvenirs. It also wasn't as pushy as I had expected it to be, which was both nice (because it's never fun to always feel like you have people in your face) but also a little bit disappointing, because I had heard stories of the Grand Bazaar being wildly crazy and overwhelming. To be honest, it didn't quite live up to that. Maybe I'm just comparing it to Indian markets in my head, and that's just not a fair comparison? I don't know. Anyway, what did live up to my expectations was the building itself.

One of many entrances into the Grand Bazaar.

We entered the Grand Bazaar by this elaborate shown above, and immediately I felt swept back in time by the architecture. The curved ceilings of the bazaar, painted in traditional colours and motifs was in stark contrast to the bright skies outside in the city. Everything was suddenly more intimate, for better or for worse.

Vendors in the Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar is a huge maze, and we happily got lost, picking our direction at a whim, and not paying attention to where we were headed. We bought a few souvenirs, but weren't headed anywhere particularly fast. Past the flashy stalls, there were cool little tidbits in the architecture all along the way - for example, you can see loops in the walls where merchants would tie their horses and camels. Our wanderings eventually brought us to a caravanserai, known as a han in Turkish. It's basically an old inn where Silk Road travelers would stay. Despite the painted pink walls and the fact that it had all been converted into administrative offices, it was still pretty neat to imagine someone having come all the way from China with a caravan of silks and spices and finally resting their head on a pillow here in the han. I intend for my later travels to include a lot more exploration of the Silk Road, and this was perhaps the first real taste of the excitement that exploring the Silk Road gives me.

We stopped for a Turkish coffee somewhere in the middle of the bazaar, and Jess tried to get me to read her fortune. A young woman at the next table over heard us, and recommended putting a coin on top of the cup, both as a way to tie the reader to the fortune personally, and the help dissipate the heat quicker - you can only read a fortune once the cup has cooled! We soon got into the conversation with the young woman, who was having a drink there with her father. She was from İstanbul, visiting her family from Washington, D.C. where she lives now. She gave us some fantastic recommendations on cool venues to visit in İstanbul and was super genuine and friendly in wanting to help us out. It was a really great interaction - while we've have personal interactions throughout Turkey, İstanbul's bustle sometimes loses that, but it was nice to know it's still there among the Turkish people, no matter where you are.

When we finally tried to leave the Bazaar, we started to realize how convoluted the place can be. We ended up walking around in a big circle, trying to follow signs to the exit we wanted, which ended up being just behind where we started! Again, that's all just part of the fun.

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A han, or caravanserai, built into the Grand Bazaar.

After finishing at the bazaar, we returned to our hostel and prepared for the evening. We really wanted to spend a night out "on the town" in İstanbul, and figured this would be our night. We bought some wine and headed up to the infamous Gezi Park, just beside Taksim Square, the initial cause and the location, respectively, of the major protests that rocked Turkey in the past couple of years. We enjoyed our wine and some great conversation in the park, and the temperature was delightful. There was a lot of activity around, especially kids from the nearby residential areas playing in the park. It seemed pretty late for them to be up, but it's probably just because it was Ramadan, and things would just be getting exciting around this time.

After a bit of time in the park, we headed down bustling İstiklal street, in the hopes of finding a good nightclub. We had marked a few recommendations on the maps on our phones, but either our recommendations were outdated, the bustle was just too much, or the wine was affecting our ability to locate things, but we couldn't find any of the places we were looking for. Instead, we just wandered into a couple clubs where music was playing loudly. We visited two clubs, and frankly they were both a little disappointing. Sure, it was a Monday night - not the best choice for a night out, to be sure. But we had also heard that İstanbul is one of those cities which never sleeps, which always has something going on. I have no doubt it did have something, even that night, but sadly we didn't find it. We ended up dancing in two mostly-deserted bars while locals sat awkwardly off to the side, but we didn't care. Make the most of things, right?

The next day we got a slow start, with me booking a bus ticket back to Ankara for that night, and us waiting out some rain that was coming down (our first bad weather since Cappadocia!). When we finally emerged into the city, we took a bit of a walking tour to explore some of the corners of the city we hadn't seen fully yet. We crossed Golden Horn via the Galata Bridge, and then made our way up towards Taksim Square again, taking our time to check out little shops and such along the way.

Looking across the Bosphorus to Asia from the Galata Bridge.

We walked up past the Galata Tower, which was built in 1348 and which is an iconic part of the skyline, visible from many parts of the city. We didn't go up, though, because there was a long line and the entrance fee was pretty steep and the Lonely Planet said it probably wasn't worth it (and I always trust my LP).

Galata Tower

We eventually joined up with İstiklal street, and we were finally on it for the first time in daylight. Even on an overcast day like this one, it was still a busy, hopping place, and I feel like you could easily describe it as the single most important street in the city. Off of İstiklal, we popped into a pretty church, which was an interesting change-up from all the mosques we'd been seeing.

We stopped for some food at a vegetarian restaurant, something that is a bit of (ok, a hell of a lot of) a novelty in Turkey. It was a little expensive (water was outrageously priced) but the building itself was quite interesting and the food was indeed pretty good.

Finally, we emerged at the top of İstiklal street back into Taksim Square, also our first time seeing it in daylight. I tried to take a deliberate moment to think about everyone who had been protesting here in the past few years, and about what they were fighting for. I feel a solidarity with those protesters, who want a more liberal, transparent government to replace the tired conservatism of the current ruling AK party. As I write this, I think about the future of Turkey's politics - when we were in İstanbul, it was shortly after the election, which had brought exciting changes with the loss of the AK party's majority control, and a significant rise in the support of the pro-Kurdish HD party, bringing them into parliament for the first time. Now, however, President Erdoğan has called new elections for the fall, after parties were unable to form a coalition government. I hope that this new election does not signal a return to the old ways.

Sent Antuan (or Saint Anthony) Church

The vegetarian restaurant definitely had a very cool aesthetic.

Taksim Square. Not amazing beautiful, except in what it represents for contemporary Turkish politics.

Gezi Park, the park that famously instigated the protests in Taksim Square when the government planned to replace it with a shopping mall.

Anyone who's been following this blog knows that a post just isn't complete without a good dose of cats. Luckily, my last evening in İstanbul delivered that for me. From Taksim Square, we decided we'd head down to the water via the neighbourhood of Cihangir. It's a mostly residential area, but we had heard it was kind of pretty. It indeed was - and seemed very livable, too - and it had the added benefit of being infested with kitties.

Kitty on a car.

Another kitty on another car.

A cat house in the Cihangir! Someone pays for these house things!

Li'l guy!

We emerged from Cihangir in the neighbourhood of Tophane, just along the water. Here is a quiet relaxing neighbourhood, known as being a student hub for nargile - shisha - cafes. We found one such nice cafes with a rooftop patio, where we enjoyed a nargile and a couple games of backgammon.

From tree-lined Tophane, looking off towards Galata Tower.

Evening was soon upon us, so we headed back to our hostel, and I made sure I had all of my things together. I said goodbye to Jess - we'd meet up again in a couple days, but it felt weird leaving the city without her - and headed to the tramway on my way to the bus station. This last tram ride would prove to also be interesting. I had my pack on my back, and of course the streetcar was jam-packed, so I was cramped into that part between tramcars where there are no seats, just those accordion walls, you know? Behind me was big group of young boys - maybe 15 of them or so, and they were maybe 12 or 13 years old, max. Of course, my Turkish isn't great, but I could pick out from their giggly conversation that they were making fun of my backpack. Now I can certainly take such criticism - it is unwieldy to the point of humour, to be sure - but I thought I'd have a bit of fun. So when the "leader" of the boys next made a comment about my backpack and I saw from the corner of my eye that he was looking in my direction, I whipped around and met his gaze coldly. But then I smiled, and I watched his shocked face also turn to a smile and all the boys laughed and started asking me questions. They asked who I was and what I did, and I was able to reply, at least haltingly. And not only the boys, but the entire tramcar seemed to find this humorous and giggled along with my answers (the only time things got tense was when a boy asked if I was Muslim - another man in the car snapped angrily at him for asking the question). Suddenly, though, I realized I had been caught up in the conversation, and not paying any attention to the tram stops! I panicked a bit, and asked the boys, but they didn't know either. Luckily, another person in the car overheard, and assured me it was the next stop. Close call!

When I got off the tram, to switch to the subway, I had more trouble. Turns out that the even though there is stop with the same name - Aksaray - on both the subway and tram lines, and that Aksaray is the transfer station on the subway line, they don't actually match up to each other. Aksaray on the subway line matches with the stop after Aksaray on the tram. So I had, in fact, gotten off at the "wrong stop". I now had to find my way to a subway station, but had no proper sense of where I needed to go, and ended up getting lost in the dark, busy streets of İstanbul, at night, during Ramadan. Anyway, I finally asked directions from a restaurant waiter and he seemed to find it just fantastic that I could speak Turkish and he very helpfully pointed me off in the right direction. I finally made it, and sat down on the bus 7 minutes before it pulled out of the station - cutting it a bit close! But now I was headed back to Ankara, my Turkish home.


Real Time Update: Gosh, this blog has gotten severely behind. But I'm going to keep plowing away, and I thank those who do read whenever I finally get a chance to post.
I am currently writing this from Baku, Azerbaijan, a truly fascinating city which I have loved exploring and getting to know. I'm actually finishing up my time in Azerbaijan, however, and in the next day or so I plan to cross the Caspian Sea by ferry to Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan. I'm pretty excited and nervous, as it will be quite the adventure, and it will also be the start of my adventures in Central Asia. I think things will be very different than anywhere I've been yet. It's all very exciting!