Istanbul, Turkey, Country 13, Stop 31

The view from the terrace at our hotel.

September 20

We are back in Europe, as we are staying on the European side of Istanbul. From the airport, we head to our place, the Agora Life Hotel. We check in and then walk around to familiarize ourselves with the area. We seem to be in the center of it all, just a few minutes' walk to Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. What's new for us is listening to the call of prayer. Hmmm, it's VERY loud. It's an early night for us after a day of travel.

***Dmitri: At the risk of the obvious, Muslims pray five times a day, toward Mecca. Once is before sunrise because they believe you should enjoy praying more than sleeping. That's not me editorializing, but is actually the reason. So, the calls adjust by sunrise around the calendar, but whenever it is, it's stupid early, like 4:30 or 5:30. I call BS, and will continue to do so for the next 3-4 weeks as we work our way through the Muslim world.

To announce this, their calls to prayer go out. Traditionally this was done from the tops of the spires you see around the Hagia Sophia above, with a priest chanting out essentially, "Time to pray, come and join." Over time, though, they don't walk up there anymore because they use loudspeakers. And they really put the loud into loudspeaker. They are everywhere around every city and they are loud. There's no true separation between church and state in this part of the world, so these are public speakers run by the government. Imagine if Pat Robertson was on a speaker run by your town and you couldn't avoid hearing him five times a day. Look, I'm an agnostic, so admittedly I have little patience in general, but this is like a circle of hell for any reasonable non-Muslim.

Lastly, they, like the Catholics, seem to want to find the oldest, gnarliest and most warbly men possible to be their singers. These calls to prayer are like old angry men trying to beat Mariah Carey at the octave register. It's not working, and I'm not having it. They sound like hell.***

Sept. 21

We have a tour today but it doesn't start until 1 so we don't have to be up and out of the hotel. We eat the hotel breakfast, which is a traditional Turkish breakfast. Tea and juice, cheese, olives, meat, green peppers, tomatoes. After breakfast, we head out to find a replacement Insta 360. We have the address of a shop about a 9 minute walk from the hotel. Off we go. On the way, we pass many shops with gorgeous displays of Turkish delights and baklava. I mean, WOW.

We find the shop, which turns out to be a consortium of shops selling all kinds of camera and video equipment. After visiting several floors worth of shops, we return and get the best price, which is still a pretty big mark up from the US price. Ah, well.

We return to the hotel and have a snack before meeting our guide. We meet up with him and he is very nice, but he is a low talker and also masked and also has an accent. Which means that we end up missing a lot of what he is telling us. No matter. It's a beautiful day. He doesn't actually bring us in the mosques but shows us where they all are and tells us quite a bit of information about each so we know what to look for when we return on our own. We walk by the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, the German fountain.

We see the old Roman hippodrome and some statues from Roman times. We walk through the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar.

At the Grand Bazaar, we are taken to a stall and given tea and many tastings of Turkish delight. I have never liked Turkish delight. Until now! Oh my goodness. We try all different kinds--mulberry and cinnamon and pistachio and pomegranate. It's all SO good. In addition to the small gelatinous squares most people normally associate with Turkish delight, they also have these wraps that when you slice them, they look like pieces of sushi. We are then offered the most delicious tea! We learn a lot on the tour and are a bit overwhelmed after the bazaars. Poor Dmitri's back is killing him! On the walk back, we spot a hammam near our hotel and go in to get some more information, as Dmitri is very much in need of a massage.

The view from from our hotel room, overlooking the hammam. The circular holes on the domes are called elephant eyes and they let light into the hammam.

They have space for us and since we are only a 2 minute walk from the hotel I rush back to drop my things and pick up Mia--the kids have walked ahead of us in a hurry to get back. I know she will NOT want to miss a hammam. Luckily for us the one we stumbled into is one of the most beautiful in the city. It's over 300 years old. It's called Cagaloglu. The men and women are separated and Mia and I are taken to the changing rooms where we are given peshtemals, Turkish towels, to wrap ourselves in. Then we are taken to a room that's like a sauna for about 15 minutes. After that we are taken to this large round marble and scrubbed and soaped using this big bubble pillowcase thing and massaged. Then they wash our hair. Mia says she feels like a 4 year old being bathed. It's so relaxing and we are clean as a whistle. They then wrap us up in towels and bring us to another room where they massage our feet and give us almonds and apricots and tea. We meet up with Dmitri, who has had a similar experience, and we float back to the hotel, totally blissed out.

***Dmitri: Yeah, I am not a massage guy, but this was pretty great. Giant mounds of warm soap bubbles were poured over me and it was super fun. I left a couple hours later feeling like Jell-O, in a good way. We've been walking a lot and my back has been flaring up, so the massages are very welcome. Time to get some core exercises back in my routine...

The walking is showing us the city up close, and it's a pretty amazing place. It really is a weird blend of Europe and Asia, or more specifically Europe and the Arab Middle East. It's a unique culture, driven by an Arabic religion even though no one here speaks Arabic. It reminds me of Catholics and Latin.

The streets are dingy and crowded but not sketchy. It's very down to earth, very vibrant. It's our first exposure on the trip to loud hawkers and pushy sales techniques and trickery (but tame compared to what's coming). The Grand Bazaar is huge and just full of Turkish men yelling at us to buy stuff we don't want, but some that we do. Rugs, Turkish delight and a million commodities, spices, souvenirs and housewears overwhelm us, and we have to go back and do it in pieces.

And I echo Cindy's discovery of real Turkish delight. I always thought it was just the cubed rose-flavored jelly squares, but no, it's pretty amazing. It's more like nougat consistency, with a huge variety of outside toppings and flavors. I could eat a ton, and I did. And I have to start watching my weight because ug, it is hard to eat well on the road!***

Sept. 22

Today is the day we return to all the cool places our tour guide showed us. We find a cool place a block or so from our hotel for breakfast, Foodie-ist. It has a view of the Hagia Sophia and Jack makes a friend when a kitty wanders up to our table.

Jack making friends with one of the fluffy residents of Istanbul.

After a delicious breakfast, we make our way to the Hagia Sophia and visit the inside. It is spectacular. We are a bit amused that it started out as a Christian church, then was turned into a mosque then was a museum for awhile and now it's a mosque again. Basically here is this church and minarets were added and then it was a mosque! It's gorgeous inside and we check out the various things that we learned about the previous day on our tour.

Then it's off to the Blue Mosque. Unfortunately, it's being renovated so we can't see all the blue on the walls and ceiling that gives the mosque its nickname. Jack sees a cat inside the mosque so he's all good! Funnily enough, cats are considered clean animals and are welcomed in mosques.

The Basilica Cistern is also being renovated so we can't see that. This is a huge bummer as it was high on my list of things to see. Fortunately there is another cistern we can visit--the Serefiye cistern. They let people in on the hour and we have gotten there a bit early so we find a coffee shop and get some chai.

Jack makes a friend while we wait for our chai.

After the chai we head to a store that sells Turkish delight and MY OH MY. More Turkish goodness awaits. As soon as we walk in, the store worker comes right up with a plate of yummies to taste. He offers Jack a taste of something that is not Turkish delight but is a sweet. Jack says no thank you and turns away but the store guy is NOT having it. The guy says in a very nice tone, "no no no, it’s new. You will try it" and makes basically stands there with the sample held out in Jack's direction until he takes the piece. Not really knowing what to do, Jack eats it and actually likes it! Score. After buying more Turkish delight, we head to the cistern. It's really very interesting inside. It's not very big and we pretty much see the entire place in about 5-7 minutes. However, they have a big music and lights show. It's a bit odd, but it's all good.

Sept 23

***Mia: One morning at breakfast mom bit into this long green pepper, similarly to how she had done the day before with no problem, except this time the pepper was extremely spicy. We don’t know why it was more spicy than the day before, but for the next 20 minutes, she sat there sweating and crying with her mouth on fire. After drinking lots of water and juice, she asked me to google remedies for getting your mouth to cool down, and the internet said to put spoonfuls of sugar on your tongue. So, that’s exactly what she did.***

I work on the blog for a bit and then Mia and I are off to get our hair done. We have found a place that has gotten amazing reviews on tripadvisor, especially for this one hair stylist, Sevgi. It's only about a 10 minute walk. We arrive and I get my hair done and Mia is up next. She is thinking she will get maybe 3 or 4 inches taken off the length. Sevgi tells her, "no no no short. Long hair is beautiful." She heads to another part of the salon and Mia turns to me and says, "well, I guess I'm not getting my hair cut short." It's pretty funny. Sevgi has also told me that I will be getting hair botox. I have no idea what this is but she insists I get it because it makes your hair soft and shiny. She really is giving me no choice and tells me that it is her gift and she will not charge me. Once a week she gives this wonderful deal to the 4th person who comes into the salon. Something is definitely getting lost in translation but she insists that she will not charge me for it. She does a beautiful job with both of us and we leave the salon feeling pleased and happy. The prices were ridiculously low by US standards for what we had done and she did not charge me for the hair botox so all is good. We can 100% vouch for Sevgi at Salon Kadir for anyone who needs a hair cut or color in Istanbul!

The lovely and talented Sevgi.

Hagia Sophia selfie!

Later in the day, I head back to the Grand Bazaar with Mia and Dmitri. We are a bit over all the hawkers trying to get us to go in their shops. Even in the streets they are after us. One time while walking down the street a guy tries to get our attention and says, "Don't worry. I'm not one of those tourist guys. I just want to sell you a rug." Sigh. We take a break and get some pide and it's pretty yummy. We perk back up and wade back into the chaos. It really is quite the scene.

Sept. 24

Dmitri needs to get supplies for his CPAP machine so we are going to head to the Asian side of Istanbul. But first, we take a trip to Jennifer's Hamam, a store that sells all kinds of Turkish towels and such. It's a store owned by a Canadian woman and it's not in the Grand Bazaar. They have fixed prices so that means no haggling and over the top attempts to sell. We find many gorgeous things and have them shipped home. Christmas is coming early this year!!!

After a successful shopping trip, we are feeling pretty good and it's just a short taxi ride over to the Asian side. However, there is some miscommunication with us and the taxi driver and we don't tell him that we will pay more to use the tunnel and go a more direct route. So we take the long route and it takes about 45 minutes rather than the 20 it would have taken via tunnel.

***Dmitri: So I use a CPAP machine to sleep better and not annoy others. It's not critical, but it's good for me to use and so I've been porting around equipment. One piece is a cleaner and it just broke. So what does one do when you need a highly specialized piece of equipment and you're in a foreign city? You spend hours googling dead ends until the piece shows up as available in a shop 15 minutes away! And it's on the Asian side, so that will be cool.

Except this is travel and things don't always go as planned. First, we get in a cab for the 15 minute ride and instead of taking us there via the underwater tunnel, he decides to drive around the harbor and over a bridge. I guess he saved $4 on the tunnel (which we would have paid) but suddenly it's taking us 45 minutes to get there. And he can't find the right exits. Eventually I hand him my phone with a map and he follows it. Confidence is not high!

And then he takes us into a suburban area with a couple of apartment complexes and drops us off. We are just nowhere near any shops or main streets. There's certainly no CPAP supply store, as noted online and on our map app. There's a hairstylist and a mini mart and apartments. This doesn't seem like a medical supply store kind of area. I approach the mini-mart and ask for help because unlike stereotype, I am not a guy who won't ask for directions. I'm pantomiming medical stuff and trying to use my Google Translate app and he says "Medikatek!" then takes us outside and points down the block to an apartment building.

And although we feel very stupid walking up to it, there is indeed a sign saying medikatek, and a panel for calling up that we can't read.

I call an apartment that 'm pretty sure is not the right one, but in the spirit of all apartment dwellers who can't be bothered, the door buzzes and we get in. Up on the second floor is indeed a medical supply office that is 99% there for Internet orders. They're shocked to see visitors, let alone clueless Americans, but they speak English and have my device in stock. I love it when a plan comes together!

Now that we're on the Asian side, I want us to go check out the non-touristy neighborhoods there I've been reading about. No hawkers, and a chance to see how the locals actually live.***

We call an Uber to come get us from the suss apartment/office building and he drops us off at the bull statue. Seriously, a bull statue is a landmark! We walk around the areas of Moda and Kodikoy, which are super cute and not at all touristy. No one is calling for us to come and take a look at the rugs they have in their shop. No one is offering us samples of Turkish delight. It's a hipster area by the water. And they are selling yummy fresh nar (pomegranate juice) and I am happy to partake.

We eat lunch and have the most delicious vegetable pide and doner and I finally get to try lahmacun. Turkish food is really wonderful. After lunch we get "self serve" bubble waffles, which are NOT self serve.

We walk along the water and head to the ferry and for $.80 US EACH we ride back across to Europe.

We visit the Spice Bazaar again and get chocolate and pomegranate covered almonds which are like the best thing I have eaten in Turkey!

We head up this hill and visit the Süleymaniye mosque and head back to the hotel to pack.

***Dmitri: It's easy to get sick of churches/mosques/museums and we generally don't focus on these, but Istanbul's are so exotic to us that they are worth it. This one is not next to the Hagia Sophia or Blue Mosque and is a hike from the tourist areas so it's relatively deserted yet still massive and impressive. Again, I'm agnostic and basically think everyone is worshipping magic, but I am still impressed with the architecture and culture.***

Sept 25

Mia and I take one more trip to the Grand Bazaar in search of a peshtamel that is a silk and cotton blend and SCORE--despite the chaos, we manage to find the store we want. We head back to the hotel and pick up our bags and hop in a taxi to the airport. Goodbye, Istanbul.

The city symbol of Istanbul is the tulip. Who knew? And the domes and minarets in the symbol are pretty easy to get. The 7 triangles are for the 7 hills of Istanbul.

Dmitri at the smallest basketball court we have ever seen!

So little time, so many yummies to eat!

This is the largest, fattest mannequin we have ever seen. It's right in front of a 3XL store!

***Dmitri: Our neighborhood in Istanbul is home to traditional "testi," which besides being one of the more unfortunately named food preparation methods ever, is pretty great. They cook a mix of meat, veggies and sauce inside a clay pot. Then they bring it over on top of a bed of salt that's on fire and literally crack the pot open. This guy talked to us for quite a while and was a real card. Once past the annoying hawker stage, the Turks we have met have been warm and genuine.***