Istanbul, Istanbul, Istanbul

*Disclaimer: This is really long. But it's broken up by days, so you can read just one day at a time. Or skip through it. Or don't read it at all. Whatever makes you happy. Also, pictures are still uploading, so I'll post a new blog with a link when they get done. Enjoy :)

Here it is. Long promised and probably highly over rated. It's hard to describe Istanbul because so many of the things that happened there were significant only for the mixture of sights, sounds, smells, and the way they made me feel. But I did my best and I hope you find it to at least be interesting, if not inspiring and world changing, as it was for me.

Day 1 (Wednesday):
We arrived at Sabiha Gökçen Airport at 5:30am. There are two airports in Istanbul. We flew into the one on the Asian side of the city because it was cheaper. So it was ridiculously early, we had both worked full days before, and we had only managed to doze during the two-ish hour flight from Berlin. Good way to start a vacation, right? I had written down which public transportation to take to our hostel, but when we got there all the things that I thought I had carefully planned just flew out the window. We ended up taking a bus to a ferry to a tram. We took the tram up to the stop that was supposed to be closest to ours, but must have looked super confused from there because multiple people tried to give us directions to the hostel. We ended up wandering around mildly lost for ages though and didn't actually find the hostel until 10:30am. The staff was nice enough to let us check in even though it was an hour before check in time started so we lugged all of our stuff upstairs to our room, which was on the 5th floor. Also known as the roof. Our room almost seemed to be an afterthought, just a hastily constructed room with 10 sets of bunks beds and two constantly flooded bathrooms. We did have an absolutely amazing view of both the city and the ocean though. And there were chairs and tables up there so we could just sit around and enjoy the scenery or the breeze. From here we went on a hunt for food. We had packed snacks for the plane, but I needed real food. And unfortunately for Martina, I was too hot and too hungry to make a decision on anything. We ended up wandering all the way back to the beginning of the tram line, where we finally bought döner that we ate in a park filled with what looked like dogs dying of heat exhaustion. After eating our extremely disappointing food, we wandered down towards the waterfront. There we got stopped by an Australian girl who had a question about something or other. We actually ended up running into her again after a little bit and so we ended up hanging out and spending a bunch of time together. Her name was Jess and she was (much to our jealousy) just traveling the world with no definite plans. She had been in Istanbul before, but wanted to go do something new, so the three of us took off to find the Galata Tower. We had to walk up some ridiculously steep hills through some shady back alleys, but we found it and I even braved my way to the top. The view from up there was wonderful and definitely worth the terrifying heights. We actually went at the perfect time because we got to watch the sunset over the city. After the tower we went back to Martina and I's hostel for dinner. I ordered the chicken curry, which started my obsession with curry that I still can't seem to kick. Then we went out to have drinks with Orhan, a friend of Jess's that she was staying with. He works in a travel agency and was able to tell us all about the best deals and things to do in the city. It was, all in all, an  awesome, but exhausting, first day.

Day 2 (Thursday):
We started the day by meeting Jess for the free breakfast at our hostel. We had the same breakfast every morning that we were there, so it was a good thing it was delicious. It included a kind of soft white cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, bread with jellies and honey, cornflakes or muesli, and coffee or tea. After breakfast we decided we'd go to the Spice Bazaar, where we experienced true Turkish salesmanship in all it's glory. Luckily for us, Martina and I are both really good at 1) saying no and 2) making the locals more uncomfortable than they make us, lol. So we wandered the Spice Bazaar. We of course bought Turkish Delight, as well as some honeycomb and what I can only describe as nut logs on a string. I thought they were going to be delicious but.... not so much. Then we went to a cafe to sit down for lunch. While we were having lunch a huge rainstorm broke out. It was great because we were safe and sound under the awning. Or so we thought. The awning started to collect water and bend dangerously inward. The staff had to poke it with a stick to push all the water up an out. Unfortunately (though I think it was secretly on purpose) the man pushing the water out did so right as a woman walked by and completely soaked her. It was really interesting to see the man with her just jump into action to defend her. Not that there's really much you can do at that point, lol. After the rain let up we thought we'd go to Topkapi Palace. We were lazy and cheap though, so we only managed to wander the palace grounds. Then we sat in a tea garden and looked out over the ocean while drinking delicious tea and feasting on Turkish Delight. After a while we finally decided to keep walking. We walked all the way up the tram line past the stop for our hostel. We were waiting to hear from Orhan, so we sat down for awhile. I walked over a bit to buy some corn on the cob (they have vendors all over the place that sell it there) and while I was gone some guy named Muhammad from Iraq came over to talk to Martina and Jess. Because people there just do that. It's obvious that we're foreigners and they just really wanna talk. So while we were waiting we went to find a post box so that Jess could mail some things. We finally found one, in the basement of some souvenir shop. As we were standing down there in the dark sifting through the postbox to make sure that she had the right amount of postage, a voice came out of the dark and nearly scared us to death. There was a man asleep on the couch under a pile of carpets. He told us he was an Olympic weight lifter and that he had competed in Sydney. (We looked him up afterward, he was probably lying as far as we can tell.) Then he tried to convince to eat at his sister's restaurant, as everyone does. We decided to pass when he said that we'd just have to get in the car that would come pick us up there, lol. After that we headed back to the area of our hostel. We decided to have dinner at the place across the street, which was called the Just Bar and had some really great music (they even let Martina and I make requests!). But we waited forever and ever for our food. That's when we realized that they call it the Just Bar because it is, apparently, only a bar. The food actually came from a restaurant down the street (I'm pretty sure every place on the street was related. They all knew each other and were good friends.). I had the manti, which is a kind of Turkish ravioli. It wasn't half bad, though I think I prefer good old Italian raviolis.

Day 3 (Friday):
Jess left on Friday to work at a super sweet treehouse resort thing somewhere else in Turkey. So we said our goodbyes in the morning and then Martina and I decided to take a boat tour up and down the Golden Horn. We are super cheap though, so we just took the public ferry instead of paying for a tour. It was nice to see, but we didn't really know what we were looking at so we didn't learn anything. And I learned something about the Turkish that made me really mad. They just don't care about the environment at all. As we were sitting on the ferry this old man told this little boy (probably his grandson) to just throw his trash overboard, even though there was a garbage can right behind them. I can't understand why he would have done that. Partially because I'm used to Germany where it's all environmental awareness all the time, and partially because it's just stupid. So that was that. We also had Turkish ice cream that day. It was strange stuff. Almost chewy in a way. Not my favorite at all, and I am a huge lover of all ice creams. After the ferry ride we were both a little cranky from lack of sleep, so we went back to the hostel and took a nap. It was a pretty lazy day. We actually spent quite a while just lounging in the park between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. We probably would have stayed longer, but there were these two men there who refused to leave us alone. The one guy kept telling us he had a friend with a boat and that if we came at night he'd give us a free boat tour. All I wanted to ask was who actually fell for that sort of thing. I mean, come on. Anyway, I was still stuck on my curry kick and that evening we ended up wandering the city looking for curry. All I wanted was a decent curry. One man finally directed us to a place called Dubb. When we got there we were a little unsure (mostly because of the prices), but it turned out to be the best decision of our whole trip. The food was AMAZING. We ordered a chicken curry and sweet and sour chicken, which we split. I had an amazing Anatalyan lemonade and then we even got the dessert platter where I tasted the world's most amazing ice cream. I'm pretty sure nothing will ever live up to it. And if the delicious food wasn't enough, we had a wonderful waiter (who might have also been the manager). He was so good to us and talked to us the whole time. He told all sorts of things about Turkey. He was really the person I'd want people to meet upon going to Turkey, because he gave us such a wonderful impression of the place and the people. After Dubb we wandered back to our hostel where we had planned to go straight to bed because we were so satisfied with dinner that we didn't even want to move anymore. But we had made friends with the hostel staff by this time and they begged us to stay downstairs and hang out. They even offered us free hookah, probably because they knew free anything would win us over :) I'm glad we stayed though, since we ended up having a great time and meeting some really strange people. There was a Brazilian man who seemed depressed about life and insisted that it was normal for grown adults to pee the bed. And then there was the Turkish man who worked at the airport who just wanted us to get in his van. He tried so very hard. He even drove by like six times, just hoping we'd change our minds. Sadly for him, vans with pimp lights are just not my thing.

Day 4 (Saturday):
We slept in Saturday because, well, we were on vacation. And I wanted to. Then we took a really old train line that runs along the coast and went to the aquarium. I know, I know. We're just big kids, after all :) The aquarium was amazing! It's the world's biggest themed aquarium (a distinction that I think is silly, because aren't all aquariums sort of fish themed?) Every room was full on decorated to fit the fish that were kept there. You'll have to look at my pictures to understand how cool it was. They'll be posted in another post, as soon as they finish uploading. So anyway, after the aquarium we hustled back to the hostel to clean up and change because we had booked a night dinner cruise. It sounded like a good plan but ended up being really disappointing. I did learn one important thing though. In Turkey, always pay close attention to what currency prices are in. I thought the cruise would only be 50 Lira but it was actually 50 Euro, which is more than twice as much. So the reasons that the cruise wasn't very good were that first of all, the bus that picked us up was late. Then, the food (at least my chicken) was really bad. Martina got the fish though and even figured out how to de-bone it! Because all of the buses had been so late, dinner was not served to everyone on time. We ended up being some of the last ones to get our food, which meant we weren't able to go out and get spots for the performances. We watched them from the upper deck, which didn't work well at all, but at least the performances were really good. They did this once dance that was supposed to be an interpretive dance about dwarves. Martina absolutely loved it :) We didn't get back to the hostel until really late though and we were absolutely wiped out.

Day 5 (Sunday):
We truly didn't do much on day 5. Our one attraction on the list to see that day was the Basilica Cistern. It wasn't a big attraction time wise, but it was one of our favorites. It was so cool to go down inside the old cistern and just think about the sheer enormity of the architecture and the science behind it. Plus I loved the Medusa heads that were hidden down there, not to mention all of the other detail work that they builders put into something that was at the time intended to just be underwater forever. After the cistern we went to get some lunch. As we wandered in the general direction of the hostel a man called out to us that if we were interested he would show us the underground palace beneath the restaurant he worked at. Normally, I'd say no, but it was the middle of the day and it seemed pretty legit. Thankfully for us, it was. We got to see (for free!) the rooms of an old palace that his boss was slowly excavating. It had been on the History Channel and everything! And he didn't even pressure us to eat in their restaurant, something I found to be both strange and refreshing. He was just really, truly interested in sharing his wonder with archaeology and the palace. I even let him hold my camera long enough to take a picture of Martina and I together. We did end up eating there anyway and it was actually quite good. I had a pide, which is a Turkish pizza sort of thing. So after that we had nothing planned. We went back to hostel to sit on the roof and relax while we worked on our tans. Also, my feet had swelled up to crazy sizes at this point, so I really need some sitting down time. Unfortunately this group of Australian boys with what seemed like no real life experience showed up and were being loud and just plain stupid. But then another couple showed up, Andre and Kate from South Africa. They were really awesome. We ended up hanging out the whole night, first up on the roof and then down in the restaurant/bar/lounge area. I haven't met a whole lot of people from South Africa, so I had a great time talking to them and learning about what brought them to Istanbul (it was a stop on the way to visiting family in England) and about what South Africa had to offer and everything.

Day 6 (Monday):
On Monday we checked out the Grand Bazaar. I personally preferred the Spice Bazaar, but this was pretty awesome too. It was so big and easy to get lost in there. Martina, being the friendly person she is, kept attracting people, so we made some cool friends there too. Like the shop owner who bought us tea and showed us the factory next to his store where they make what looked like thread. Or the jewelry sales man that just loved old psychedelic rock and was amazed that us young people knew and appreciated it. That evening we went across to the Asian side of the city (if you don't know, Istanbul is the only city in the world that is situated on two contents). We did a little bit of exploring and saw some cool park thing that I never caught the name of. We got back to the hostel area really late and were starving. Luckily one of the places across the way still had their kitchen open and we got some food there. We talked to the two men who worked there for awhile. They were both really cool. It was really just a chill day.

Day 7 (Tuesday):
One of the things that all the tourist guides say you should do in Istanbul is to see the Princes' Islands. We took the ferry out to one of the islands for the day. We were all prepared for beaches and cute little towns and everything. But we got there and there was hardly anything. We wandered the islandf or awhile and it seemed like we just walked uphill the ENTIRE time. We came across a military area and an old cemetery. We got approached by a group of Turkish girls who were super interested in us. We had really bad burgers for lunch at this one place. I was also eating Doritos out of a bag in my purse and as we were talking to the waiter he just reached into my purse and ate one. It was so strange. We did finally find a beach, but it was absolutely covered in trash. And when we walked out there some men told us we'd have to pay to use the beach. We refused (I wouldn't pay even if it wasn't full of trash), but as we walked away they came running after us and said we could go for free. We still didn't. The island was pretty, but other than that, it was really just a bust. We ended up just spending the rest of the night chilling at our hostel, being friends with the staff and enjoying being on vacation.

Day 8 (Wednesday):
By this time we had two tourist attractions left on our list of must-see's. So we used the day to see the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. What was interesting to me about the mosques was how disrespectful the tourists who visited them are. I mean, it's not my religion, but I'm still respectful of it. We made sure to cover our hair, shoulders, and knees, as is customary, whenever we went into a mosque. Especially at the Blue Mosque, which is still in use. They ask you to take off your shoes at the door and they will give you wraps to put around your waist if you're wearing shorts. But people would just go in the door and then take the wraps off as soon as they were past the personnel there. I found this to be incredibly rude and upsetting. The mosques though, they were absolutely gorgeous. I loved the art and history and everything. Which reminds me of another thing. The call to prayer. It is done five times per day and it is beautiful and serene to here. It's interesting to see how even the non-believers in Turkey turn off their music and get a little more reverential when it is played. So anyway, that night we once again didn't do much. We hung out at the hostel. Had some drinks and some hookah. We made friends with the travel agency guys from next door and with an Indian architect who lives in Istanbul. And we savored our second to last night of vacation, pretending all the while that we wouldn't really have to go back to work in two days.

Day 9 (Thursday):
This was our last day in Istanbul, so we had to take care of all those essential touristy things that you always do. We went back to the Spice Bazaar so that I could buy the last few souvenirs I wanted. We took one last look at all of the beautiful sites we'd come to love and all of the friends that we'd made. And then we did one final Turkish thing, which turned out to be my absolutely favorite part of the trip. We went to a hamam. A hamam is a Turkish bath. You go in and they give you a towel, a pair of bikini bottoms, and a scrubber. We paid for the full treatment, so we also had tokens for a traditional scrub and a full body massage. You get completely naked except for the bikini bottoms and then you go into this bath room. There is a big stone slab in the middle of the room and everyone lays on it and works up a sweat. When it's your turn a Turkish women will call you over to the edge of the slab and scrub you down from head to toe. It's crazy to see all the dead skin and dirt that they just slough off of you. Then they wash your hair and rinse you off and send you to the hot pools to sweat some more. After awhile the masseuse comes to get you. I had never had a professional massage of any sort before and I was truly in heaven. It was so relaxing. So cleansing. It was perfect. Choosing to do the hamam on our last day was definitely the right idea. After the hamam we wandered contentedly for a bit and actually ended up back at Dubb. We had loved it so much the first time that we just couldn't think of a better place to follow up the hamam with. And yes, it was just as good the second time. Then all that was left to do after that was to hang out at the hostel and wait. We had one last night with all of new friends. In fact, we're told that they still talk about us at the hostel because we were some of the most fun guests they'd ever had. We also even managed to make some more friends that night. We met some crazy guys from Canada and one from California (who sounded exactly like Crush from Finding Nemo). It was a great way to end the trip. We stayed up basically all night because our shuttle was picking us up at 7am anyway.

So that was Istanbul. I know it was long, but I wanted it all in writing as much for me as for anyone else. It was nothing like I expected. I honestly think I had a picture of India in my head. But I learned so much and I think I grew as a person. Maybe someday I'll go back, but in the meantime I have tons more world to explore. Oh, and one more thing. In fact, one of my favorite things about Istanbul that I just didn't know where to fit in.... The cats. They're everywhere. And they're not treated like a nuisance. They are just there. It really didn't help my cat lady-ness, but I loved it all the same. So that's Istanbul. Cats on every corner, more apple tea than you could ever drink, hospitable people hidden by pushy sales people, and too many mosques to keep straight.