γνῶθι σαυτόν

This last weekend I finally got to go to Istanbul, Turkey and visit one of my friends from high school, Deniz. My brother visited her and her family a few years ago, and I was incredibly excited that it was my turn to go and experience Turkish life! I just returned from spending a couple days there, and I think I got to do the most cool stuff possible in the shortest amount of time one could spend in a 15 million person city that straddles two seas, a river, and two continents. Whew! It was a busy two days.

First off, I think I fell in love with Turkish food. Everything I ate there was delicious. Kebaps, lamb meatballs, eggplant, mushrooms, pasta, baklava, you name it! I ate it, and it was so so so good. Deniz’s mother was an excellent cook so we ate most of our food at home, which was easy on my pocket money, and all of the food was just too good. I was a happy happy tourist, and I feel like I really got to eat traditional and real Turkish meals. It was delicious.

My first day there was the touring day. Deniz lives on the Asian side of Istabul (so I really did eat my meals on two different continents throughout the day!!!), so we ended up taking just about every form of public transportation to get to and explore the European side of Istanbul. First were the Doksham (I am not sure how to spell it…) which are basically public taxis. They carry about 8 people and for a set price they will take you down their pre-determined path. The one we took picked us up right by Deniz’s apartment and drove us all the way down to the Bosphorus where we caught a ferry across to Europe. Then we took the metro up to Sultanahmet, which is the neighborhood where Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque are located. First we went and looked at the Roman Hippodrome there, which is now basically a plaza that people can walk around in. There were two towering pieces within though, an Obelisk given by Egypt to the Roman Empire from Tuthmosis III and the column that the chariot racers turned around at the end of the hippodrome. The obelisk had hieroglyphics on it (so that was a nice taste of Egypt, since I can’t go there now) and is so incredibly tall. I can’t even imagine what a ship would look like to be long enough to carry it and people and food across the sea to Istanbul. The same goes for the column. Both are so incredibly large.

We then started towards the Blue Mosque, which is right next to the hippodrome, but we had to divert since it was the mid-day prayer time and so closed to visitors. Istanbul is mostly Muslim and so there are ginormous and little mosques everywhere. They all have at least one tall tower that has speakerphones on it that the prayer caller sings out from 5 times a day, in accordance with the 5 prayer times of the day. When the prayer is sung, the rest of the city does continue on, but there is a sense of peace and calm that settles itself in the city, to listen or at least show respect for the few minutes it takes for the crier to sing the prayer. I had never heard the prayer sung before, and I have definitely never been in a Muslim-dominated city before. I actually really appreciated existing in such a foreign environment. It was a nice change to hear the Muslim prayer sung rather than church bells ring through out the day.

We went to the Hagia Sophia first, and it is astonishing how Christianity and Islam compete for space within this one church/mosque/museum building. The church Hagia Sophia (Saint Sophia) was rebuilt after a fire burned it down in the 5^th century AD by Justinian (Roman Emperor) when Constantinople (Istanbul) was the capital of the Roman Empire. The empire was Christian by then and the Hagia Sophia was built to be bigger than any church in Israel, as per usual of Roman pompousness. It remained a church throughout the fall of the Roman Empire and through the later Byzantine empire. However, in the 15^th century, when the Ottoman Empire conquered the Byzantine, they were too poor initially to erect a mosque over the Hagia Sophia, so instead they converted it to a mosque. They plastered over the beautiful iconographic mosaics within and created beautiful eastern tile mosaics, added a few extra rooms and towers for the prayer caller, and then wrote new signs in Arabic over the church. The Hagia Sophia remained a mosque until the Turkish Republic was established in 1923 and Ataturk (the revolutionary leader) decided that the building should be made public since it was such a historical site for both religions and turned it into a museum so all religions could see inside. In recent years, some renovation work has begun to remove some, not all, of the Ottoman plaster to reveal some hopefully well preserved iconography from the Byzantine empire underneath. The museum pieces (basically plaques explaining certain areas) tries focus on both sides, but actually tells more about the Roman and Byzantine empires since the building is clearly a mosque on the inside. It is harder to see the Hagia Sohpia as an early cathedral when it is still covered in Arabic, mosaics, and the altar is off-kilter so as to phase truly east towards Mecca. Visiting there was a good way to look at how Christianity and Islam always seem to be in conflict. It was beautiful, but there was definitely a sense of tension within the building due to its long history of use, rather than its patrons.

Next, we went to the Blue Mosque. This mosque is what the Ottoman Empire built when they finally did have money. It is the biggest in Istanbul and has 6 towers that the prayer is sung from. We had to remove our shoes and thought it would be respectful to cover our heads to enter, and when we did it was so beautiful on the inside. The insides of mosques are so much prettier than the insides of churches. I am not sure if it has to do with the mentality of the religion (I don’t know too much about Islam) or just a different paint palate, but the inside of the Blue Mosque (and Hagia Sophia) were incredibly bright. In the Blue Mosque the ceiling is white and blue and the lanterns hang very low to the ground to help illuminate the prayer towards the east. There isn’t really an altar in this mosque, so it made me think that the Hagia Sophia’s was basically just a conversion. The mosque leaders pray in front, I think, but there isn’t really a division between them and the people like there is in a church. It was incredibly different, but still so cool to observe and appreciate.

Afterwards we went to a famous meatball place in Sultanahmet, where the cooks let me in behind the grill and turn over a few meatballs! I think that Istanbul still has a real sense of Turkish hospitality even though it is a huge city. It was unexpected to see this extent of hospitality, but I appreciated it very much.

Deniz’s parents took me on a drive of the city after we got home, ate dinner, and rested a bit, and I got to have a super cool dessert on this drive! They took me to a waffle stand in Bebek (“Baby”-that’s the neighborhood’s name) and it was sooooo DELICIOUS. They basically make a waffle and then put all kinds of chocolate or sauces on top with fruit and nuts and just deliciousness. I got a waffle with white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate sauces, with strawberry, banana, and kiwi within. You wrap it up and eat it like a taco. It was mouth-watering good. 

The next day was also a super exciting day as I got to go to a Hamam (Turkish Bath) with Deniz and some of her friends. It was pretty much exactly like you would see in 1001 Arabian nights or some other movie depicting a westernized stereotype of Turkish or Arabic bathhouses. The bath was divided by sexes, the lounging areas each had a marble fountain in the middle, and there were private rooms to put your things in before the bath. The actual bath itself was basically like a huge, circular marble steam room with sinks filled with hot water on the side and warm stones in the middle to lie down upon. The actual bath part is when another woman scubs you down, removing all of the dead skin and dirt from your body, on one of the warm stones in the middle, and then rinses and washes you with delicious smelling soap. They also massage all of your muscles and wash your hair. After your bath and massage are done, you sit in a sauna for a few minutes to sweat out the rest of the gunk in your system, and then rinse off at one of the many sinks after. You then get to relax in the bath until you no longer can stand the heat, where upon your exit you get a fizzy sugary lemony drink to rehydrate. It took us about 2 and half hours. I felt so clean and soft afterwards, and I smelled amazing. When you’re done, you get dressed and can dry out your hair before going outside again. 

We were so relaxed after the bath though that all we could do was eat! We had slept in a bit and had a late breakfast and walk by the sea before the bath so it was time for dinner. We crossed to city again to the neighborhood of Taksim, which is a young and happening metropolitan area. We ate really traditional Turkish food: Kebaps, eggplant salad, tomato and bulur soup, a raw wheat and pepper lettuce wrap thing (sorry, I forgot the name), and a pepper and lamb toasted pizza thing (also…forgot this name), which all came with puffed up bread and white cheese. It was a feast, and it was so good. Afterwards, we took a walk through Taksim and did some jewelry shopping, where I got some nice gifts for myself and people back home. We also stopped into a little dessert café where we got a really fancy baklava with pistachios and cheese inside and a creamy milk hardish pudding dessert to share. The traditional Turkish desserts are also, obviously, delicious.

For the rest of the evening, we met up with my roommate Jenna from CYA (since CYA had an optional trip in Turkey this weekend too!) and Deniz showed us where the young turks go out. It was a 6 floor bar down a sketchy side street, with so many spectacular drinks and singing turks. The top floor was like an enclosed terrace and everyone in the bar knew all the words to Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Madonna. The Turks have good taste in American music, that’s for sure. And the Turkish rock and bellydancing songs that they played were also super upbeat and fun, it made me wish I knew all of the words. We also took a shot of Absinthe that was on fire. I have never before heard of this being a thing, even in Athens, and it was so cool! The bartender lights the Absinthe for you at your table and then you sip it up quickly through a straw! By the end of the shot you’re eating fire!!! It was so cool! Now I can say that I’ve eaten fire, in TURKEY no less!

This morning I left for Athens again. It was sad to leave Deniz and her family, but it was such an amazing time. I cannot wait to got back to Turkey again to see more and stay for a much longer time. It is a place that I will definitely need to return to. Maybe in 2020 if Istanbul gets the summer Olympics? What a fun time that would be!

Love, Rachel