Istanbul/Constantinople

Istanbul is not easy to get to. Not too many American tourists book their vacations around a trip to Istanbul, Turkey. Very few airlines in Italy fly there. In a sense, it's a hidden treasure. And that's exactly why we went.

It is one of the most interesting places I've ever been to. Tunisia was a Muslim country, but in Istanbul, you could just feel it more. There were huge mosques everywhere you looked, by the time the weekend was over, I was used to the loud call to prayer. There were just about no women out on the streets...I think that most of them stay inside and work all day. It's definitely a different way of life. The people were very friendly, although most of them just wanted us to come into their restaurants or buy their rugs.

We arrived late Thursday night, so our "Middle Eastern Adventure" didn't really begin until early Friday. Granted, Instanbul isn't really that "Middle Eastern," but it's probably the closest I'll ever get. We started things off with a bang by visiting the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia, which was once a Byzantine Church but then turned into a mosque when the Turks took Constantinople, was the most amazing church I've ever been in only second to St. Peter's. There were many elements of Muslim religion, such as large paintings of script from the Qur'an on the walls. But the things they had painted over from the old Christian cathedral were the most fascinating. There were several large Christian murals from around the seventh century that were absolutely stunning. That church (or mosque) alone made the trip to Turkey well worth it. The Blue Mosque and Sulleymon's Mosque were also interesting, and their exteriors were more extravagant than the Hagia Sophia. That afternoon we strolled through the large market, and much like in Tunisia, the vendors flocked to us, trying to sell their goods. In Istanbul, carpets were the hot product, and they did all they could to try to get you to buy their handmade rugs. That night we went to a religious ceremony called the Whirling Dervish dance, which was pretty interesting. The music was good and the dancers ceremoniously spun around for a really long time. I was pretty impressed with their ability to refrain from either falling over or throwing up during the performance.

Our hostel wasn't anything special, but we had a four-man bedroom to ourselves. It was just me, John, Matt, and Conor, and we spent each night like a bunch of thirteen year olds, throwing stuff at each other, staying up late talking about nothing, and just having a great time. I loved it.

Saturday we accidentally slept in a little, mainly because we were on Miller Time (relying on Matt's faulty alarm clock), but we hit the road early enough and headed down to the water to try to see some of Istanbul by boat. A guy who spoke no English whatsoever approached us and, using nothing but old business cards and advertisements, convinced us to pay him to take us around the Bosphorus on his boat. We negotiated a decent enough deal and hopped on board. It was a great day out, fairly warm with no clouds in the sky. The Black Sea looked clean enough, but in some parts there were thousands of jellyfish, as far as the eye could see. Needless to say, I didn't do any swimming this weekend. We cruised through the bay, seeing many extravagant palaces and mosques. We actually crossed into Asia, adding another continent to my list.

After the boat ride, we went and got a Turkish Bath. The place we found was over 300 years and supposedly one of the nicest ones in Istanbul. Wearing just a towel and some very uncomfortable wooden sandals, we walked into the large bath, which was basically a very big humid sauna. It was a large stone room with many pillars, surrounded by marble sinks. We washed ourselves and then relaxed in the hot room until four big Turkish guys came in. I received a very rough massage in which the man cracked many parts of my back that had never been cracked before. Afterwards he brought me over to one of the sinks, washed my hair, and said, "Good massage, good tip, okay." Though it was a good, I didn't consider what had just happened a massage, because he mainly just beat the crap out of me for 10 minutes. I walked out of that Turkish bath more relaxed and refreshed than I had felt in a long time, and it was a great experience that I'm glad I did.

The next day we killed some time by walking around town and checking out some of the shops. We went down into an old Roman cistern, a dark underground reservoir with many old pillars. There was still some water in it, but there were many strange large fish swimming in it. It was a really cool place, kind of eerie in a way.

Our trip home was a little bit shaky because we got to the Milan train station too late (just like our journey home from Ireland) and there were no more direct trains to Florence. So we ended up taking a late night train to Bologna (the night trains are no fun at all) and then sleeping in that station for a few hours. We finally arrived in Florence at 7:30 a.m. after literally 14 hours of traveling. I walked back to my pensione, took a shower, and then turned around and headed right to class. It was a rough day.

Istanbul was an experience like no other I've had this year and I'm really glad I made the trip. This weekend it's off to Venice to party it up at Carnevale. Non vedo l'ora!

Notes from Istanbul

• The people were very friendly. Most of the time, they just wanted us to come to their restaurants or buy their rugs, but they were still good sports even when we turned them down. Many of the guys we met were Kurds from near the Syrian and Iranian borders.
• The Kebabs. Since many of the kebab places up here have "Istanbul" or "Turkish" in their names, we figured that this would be the Kebab Mecca. The kebabs in Istanbul were decent, but they didn't use the red and white sauces they use here, so they're missing something. But the meat's definitely better there and you can't beat the prices. Plus one time we had one with mashed potatoes in it...interesting and outstanding.
• The call to prayer. Five times a day, loud speakers would blare the voice of a man singing verses the Qu'ran throughout the city. It was captivating and a strong reminder that we were in a very Muslim country.
• Traveling with Matt, Conor, and John was awesome and I really feel like they're my brothers. We got along very well and I can't even put into words how fortunate I am to have such great friends.