Retracing my steps in the land of disciples and sultans...

This will be just a brief recap of my time in the fantastic country of Turkey. I'll break it up in a day-by-day fashion to keep it easy on the eyes.

Tuesday, June 2
I took the metro to downtown Cairo in order to defray the cost of a taxi to the airport. I flew out in the early afternoon aboard a Turkish Airlines flight. We were in the air for only two and a quarter hours but we were served a pretty impressive lunch. Two thumbs up for Turkish Airlines.

After landing in Istanbul, I made my way through customs and then attempted to locate my father, who had arrived at the Ataturk International Airport a couple of hours before me. I panicked a little when I couldn't spot the restaurant where we had agreed to meet, but I finally saw him lounging on some couch, eating a cheese sandwich and drinking Turkish coffee. As I told him at the time, he looked like a "hippie statesman." He was wearing a blue blazer and slacks, but his hair was long and somewhat unkempt, and it seemed like he'd dyed it with some blonde highlights or somethings. Anyway...

Our hotel provided transportation from the airport, and soon we were on the road, driving along the Sea of Marmara. My first impression of Istanbul was highly favorable, as I saw more green and blue than I have in four months in Cairo. There were nice looking parks, fish markets, beautiful stucco buildings, and the transportation infrastructure was top-notch. People stayed in their lanes, obeyed traffic signs, and even used turn signals! How refreshing!

We arrived at the hotel (Antea Hoteal, a fine place) and checked in. We were both fairly beat, as I hadn't slept the night before and my father had just endured trans-Atlantic travel, so we rested for a bit before venturing outside in search of dinner. We wandered around a bit before finding a nice seafood place called Agop. Here, we enjoyed some mezze, fresh bread, fish, and of course, some raki, the licorice-flavored liquor that I mentioned in a previous post (by the way, the bottle was 34 Turkish lira, so Robin wins the prize!). After dinner, we strolled around the cobblestone streets, adorned with all kinds of pretty lights and lined with packed restaurants. The breeze coming off the sea was cool and refreshing and their was a kind of vibrancy in the air. I wasn't in Cairo anymore.

(Oh, and of course it was William's 20th birthday).

Wednesday, June 3rd
On this day, our aim was to cover most of Sultanhamet, the area of Istanbul that houses most of its well-known attractions. Our first stop was the Topkapi Palace, a huge royal complex that served as the Ottoman sultans' primary home from 1465 to 1856. Today, Topkapi serves as a museum and recreational area for many Turks. It's sprawling lawns and beautiful flower beds were finely maintained. The buildings of the palace complex were also pretty impressive, including the esteemed harem, which we paid a separate fee for admittance into. The Topkapi Palace also houses some of the most impressive items remaining from the Ottoman treasury, including golden swords and diamond encrusted crowns. Conveniently enough, there was also an exhibit featuring royal treasures from Imperial Russia being displayed at the time, so we were also able to check that out. As we left through the Gate of Felicity, there was some sort of traditional performance going on, which involved reenactors gathering around some guy who was banging on a big drum. Given the a church like building to the left, the crowds gathering around it, and the quad like grassy expanse it was performed in front of, it's no wonder this display struck me as Istanbul's version of ND's Drummers Circle.

Following Topkapi, we retraced our steps and entered the grounds of the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia is quite simply put, an amazing, historically-laden building. Constructed in 532 AD by Emperor Justinian it was the largest church in Christendom until it was converted into a mosque, following the 1453 conquest of Constantinople at the hands of the Seljuq Turks. It served as Istanbul's primary mosque until it was dedicated as a museum in 1935. The place is pretty astounding. I can't recall ever being in a place quite as vast and architecturally impressive, yet simultaneously so old. How did the Byzantines construct this nearly 1500 years ago? The beams of light filtering through the darkness gave the place a sort of mystical vibe, making it easy to imagine what some sort of Christian Mass would've been like back in the day. Also of note were some of the impressive icons still remnant from Byzantine days. Interestingly enough, the Turks had incorporated much of the preexisting artwork in the building when they converted it into a mosque, but had painted over images of human faces. As Muslims, they were prohibited from having art that depicts the human body.

I considered Hagia Sophia to be one of my must-see-sites during my time out in these parts. I've been fascinated with the building itself, as well as the rest of modern day Constantinople, since the good ol' days of Age of Empires. It's one thing to read about something and see it on a computer game- it's something completely else to actually experience it.

After the Hagia Sophia (or Ayasofia as the Turks call it), we traversed beneath the streets of Istanbul into the other-worldy Basilica Cistern. The Basilica Cistern was also commissioned by Justinian, and served as Constantinople's primary water reservoir, capable of holding 2,800,000 cubic feet of water. It's name is derived from the fact that it was originally beneath a basilica, which was subsequently dismantled when the Turks took over. The Basilica Cistern is an eerie place. It's a half submerged room, completely dark except for some dim lights that illuminate some of the pillars holding up the ceiling. Visitors make their way through the forest of pillars via long, wooden walkways, allowing for unobstructed views down the length of the cistern. Pretty neat. One of the main attractions within the cistern itself are the two Medusa column pillars. These are basically what they sound like: the bases of pillars carved in the shapes of Medusas. One of them is tilted at a 90 degree angle, while the other is tilted upside down. They're kind of way back in a corner so I'm not really sure why the Byzantines decided to chisel them into the shape of Medusa heads, but they're still pretty cool nonetheless.


I'll update this more in a bit...

Bunun fiyatı ne kadar? - RAKI

Well, as I can't bring myself to actually write a blog about my travels here in Turkey just yet, I figured I'd do the next best thing and have a "guess the price" contest. And since I'm in Turkey, I can't ask you "بكم?"; I have to ask you "Bunun fiyatı ne kadar?", which means "How much is this?" in Turkish.

The subject of our contest is raki, Turkey's national drink (which is a little odd considering it's alcoholic and, well, Turkey is made up almost entirely of Muslims). Anyway, it's a clear liquor made from distilled suma mixed with ethanol (what the heck? I'm just writing what wiki tells me). When mixed with chilled water (which is how one drinks it), it takes on a cloudy consistency. It's anise-flavored. In other words, it tastes like liquid licorice- the black kind. I'm not a big fan of it.

Anyway, our first night in town, we ordered the small bottle that you see above to accompany our seafood dinner. I think we got five or six drinks out of it. My question for you is, how much did this sucker cost us? Yah, same old same old right? But now with a twist! Instead of guessing in Egyptian pounds, you have to guess in Turkish liras! The going rate right now is about 1 lira to every 60 American cents. So 2 lira is a little bit more than 1 dollar. Easy enough, right?

And finally, here's the last little Turkish twist, one you might like quite a bit. Instead of some crappy Egyptian cookies, the winner of this contest gets their very own box of Turkish delights! Yes, that's right, that mysterious candy that Edmund from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe can't get enough of! The best part is you don't have to betray your siblings to get them! All you have to do is guess, in Turkish lira, how much did our bottle of raki cost? Closest guess wins. In the event of a tie, the person who guessed first will be the winner. Answer in the comments, and if you don't have an account, you can just enter your name.

Alright, get to it! You know you want those Turkish delights just as much as Edmund...nasty little kid.