Constantinople

First off, I'm super excited that I learned how to link websites to everything, so now if you want to learn more about the things I talk about, I have attached a link to their names!

It's been quite some time since I posted. This is partly because this past week was finals week so I was caught up in the craziness that finals demands. However, part of it was also because I needed time to digest everything.

This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The culture was so foreign from my own but also so close to my heart. I know this has to do with the city being a mix of the western and eastern worlds. You go there and you feel like you're in a different world. The eastern influence is felt immediately. However, once you get on the road, it's hard to miss the ruins of a fallen western world. The old walls that once surrounded Constantinople still stand around the city in most places. It's just incredible.

When we got off the plane in Istanbul, I remember being amazed at all the English. There is so much more English spoken there than in all of France. Perhaps this is because the French are just weird about speaking English, but it is definitely the second language of Istanbul. We had no problems communicating the entire trip. The hostel sent someone to pick us up form the airport (thank goodness), and it was neat driving in and seeing the ancient ruins I knew I would learn about in the days to come. As we approached our hostel, we first saw the Blue Mosque. It was beautiful and we were naturally in awe. But a discernible gasp escaped from my mouth when I saw the building that I have been dreaming about for years: the Hagia Sophia. The driver noticed my excitement and told me to close my eyes. I did and after a few moment of driving around, he told me to open them... before my eyes was an amazing view of the Hagia Sophia. It literally brought tears to my eyes.

The next day we went on a tour of the city. First stop was the Hippodrom of Constantinople. It was so cool. 

The Walled Obelisk or the Constantine Obelisk

The Serpent Column

Me with the Obelisk of Tutmoses III

Then we made our way to the Blue Mosque. It was interesting because it is still used as a mosque, so we had to be extra respectful by taking off our shoes and making sure our shoulders were covered and whatnot.

The entrance

Me, Val, and Michelle

Next we headed across the street to the most awe-inspiring sight in Constantinople (Yes, I now it's Istanbul, but I refuse to recognize the Ottomans taking over Constantinople due to my obnoxious love of the Romans.): Hagia Sophia.

Me with one of the great loves of my life.

The apse.

The Loge of the Empress. This is where she sat during church. There's a spot on the floor to mark where her throne when.

This is the "Sweating Column". It's made of porous marble which absorbed water from a cistern below. The damp absorbed by the column can be felt by placing the hand in a hole in the shaft. Even in Byzantine times this pillar was considered miraculous. Now, it is believed that if you put your thumb in and can turn your hand in a full circle, your wish will come true. I think I did it. Elliot says I didn't.

Next the tour guide took us to this rug shop. However, we didn't just go in the rug shop, we went beneath it. Beneath it was a Byzantine cistern. It was so hot outside, but it was nice and cool down there. It was really dark so the pictures are a bit fuzzy.

If you look to the left, there's a Corinthian column. It would make no sense to put something like than down here where no one would see it. However, this is simply an example of re-using columns from fallen temples.

After we were done down here he took us back up where the guy who owned the rug place told us about how Turkish rugs were special and showed us how they change colors and all kinds of neat stuff. They also served us Turkish Apple Tea. It was amazing!! Almost tasted just like cider.

Then we headed out to our first turkish meal, which was excellent. I loved the food in Turkey. Nothing that crazy. 

Then we went to Topkapi Palace. The complex is surrounded by high walls, some of which date back o the Byzantine acropolis. 

The walls surrounding the palace. Inside was the common courtyard where everyone was allowed to walk around in. There were four courtyards, the fourth being the sultan's private courtyard where very few people were allowed to go. 

This entrance lead to the courtyard that only turkish nobles could enter. 

This is the building that the grand vizier (Think Jafar from Aladdin. lol) and others made important decisions about the empire before bringing their decisions to the sultan.

This was the window that the sultan could us to spy on the meetings. They could never tell whether he was there or not, so they always had to make sure they were saying anything that would upset the sultan.

This is in the sultan's private courtyard. Here he would sit on this throne and have extremely private meetings. They had faucets for water surrounding the building and inside. This was to create noise so that no one could hear what they were discussing.

The palace had a great view! But I guess that's to be suspected.

This is where the sultan usually had breakfast. It looked out to the Golden Horn.

The library. I loved all the tile in this palace. Beautiful.

After the palace, we went to the Spice Bazaar. 

Turkish Delight! It was so good. And there were other yummies.

Then we headed on over to the famous Grand Bazaar.

This was in the antique section of the bazaar. These are old coffee mugs that you drink Turkish Coffee out of!

This was the last stop on the tour, so we headed home to our hostel. We grabbed some dinner down the street and then got dressed up to go see the "Bourbon Street" of Istanbul. It was across the Bosphorus on the Asia continent. I can now say I've been on 3 different continents! 

It was a neat street. Then we went down one of the side streets and it was packed!! Like Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras. There were live bands everywhere and people dancing. There were little tables everywhere with little chairs that everyone sat on. We sat down, grabbed a drink, and soaked up some culture.

The next day we went on a boat tour down the Bosphorus. One of the first places we stopped at was Beylerbeyi Palace.

Next we visited the Remeli Fortress.

The theater. It is still used some times. 

We got back on the boat and they grilled some fish (They left the head on... I stuck to the bread.) and stuff for lunch. Then we got to a beach in the Black Sea and went swimming. It was absolutely frigid!!!!! But I had to jump in.

You can tell you're a dancer when you jump into the water with your feet in first position. ... And I look like a penguin.

That was the last stop on the tour. We walked around the city that night and when we got back, we decided to go up on the rooftop place they had at our hostel. The view was stunning. We also decided to get a hookah. It was my first time smoking anything in my life! But I decided I should do it so I could fully immerse myself in the culture. I mean, the sultans did it... I think I needed to. It was ok. I don't see what all the fuss is about, but I'm glad I tried it.

Istanbul from our rooftop.

Me trying the hookah. It kinda looks like I'm playing a musical instrument.

For our last day in Istanbul we decided to go to a Turkish Bath. What an experience!!! First we went and changed into a towel. 

The turkish dude wasn't the best photographer.

Then we were escorted to the back area which was kind of like a sauna. Well, I was the first one into the room, with my roommates trailing behind me and Elliot being escorted into the men's room. As soon as I got in there, the lady took off my towel, sat me down, and started splashing me with water from one of the three basins. I was sitting there in my birthday suit getting splashed by some random turkish lady! It was crazy. Then my roommates came in and got the same treatment. It was hilarious and so awkward. The lady splashed all of us and then told us to bath ourselves. The water and the room was hot so it was kind of relaxing, though I must admit it was a bit odd sitting there naked with my roommates for a good 30 minutes. 

The lady came back in and then escorted me to the message room. I laid down on the marble table of sorts. She had this exfoliating mitt on and exfoliated my skin... all of my skin. She wasn't shy, I'll say that. Then she soaped me up which was nice and relaxing. A message followed but that wasn't so relaxing because she was rather aggressive. Afterwards she rinsed me off, flipped me over, repeated the process, then washed my hair. I literally got a bath. lol. Afterwards, we were toweled off and lead to the sitting area and they gave us some lovely apple tea. Yum! All in all, it was definitely a crazy experience. lol

We then just walked around and bought souvenirs. I got a bracelet with the evil eye on it, which is supposed to ward off the curse of the evil eye. 

This was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I loved everything: the food, the history, the culture. I feel like the blog can never truly express my feelings about this trip. Perhaps that's another reason why I took so long to write it. I felt somewhat intimidated by it. How can I possibly give due credit to such an amazing city? But I need to go get some rest. I'm making a day trip to Paris early in the morning to see the things I missed last time. Allahaismarladik! (That's turkish for "goodbye.) :)