As I mentioned, my wonderful Mom came to visit a little more than a week ago. It was really great to see her! We spent the week hitting up the many sights in the Old and New City, and even made a trip up to Sarıyer. We saw: the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Topkapı Palace, The Grand Bazaar, The Spice Bazaar, The Basilica Cistern, Dolmabahçe Palace, and Gülhane Park. It was the first time that I had been to any of the last four sights. The Spice Bazaar was as beautiful as everyone had said, if not more. Here are some photos of the displays:
Notice the guy at the stand sticking his tongue out:
The streets around the Spice Bazaar are filled with local goods and treasures. I can't wait to go back - I think that's where I'll buy my juice press (I don't know if these are special presses or not, but the fresh juice here is so good, I hope to continue drinking it when I get home), and probably a bag of Turkish coffee and/or tea to bring home.
The next place we visited was Dolmabahçe Palace. Dolmabahçe was large and extravagant. You are not allowed to take any photos inside the buildings, but below are some from the outside. We saw the great halls, one of the largest crystal chandeliers in the world, and the bed in which Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (founder of the Republic) died.
It was beautiful, but very ironic. The palace was built by Abdülmecid II to demonstrate to the world that the Ottoman Empire was not having financial problems. The issue was, that they really were in deep financial trouble, and the building of such a large and expensive palace (obviously) didn't help... The Empire collapse following World War I, less than 100 years after the building of Dolmabahçe.
Another place that we visited was the Basilica Cistern. I had mentally written-off this sight as not high on my priority list. I don't really even know why, it just didn't sound that impressive in the guide books, especially when there are so many other sights that are better known and publicized. I was so wrong, this is something that everyone who comes to Istanbul should see. It's not that expensive to visit, and is in the center of Sultanahmet (the center of tourism). Essentially, it was a water holding well for the city during the early Byzantine time (during the 6th century). It was covered at some point, and not re-discovered until recently (early 1900s, if I remember correctly...). It was really neat - they have built a set of elevated walkways through the cistern, as there are still a few feet of water remaining. It's pretty dark (as the whole thing is underground), but every pillar is lit up, creating a really cool effect.
There are some fish that live in the water, it's really hard to see them, but here is a photo:
In one corner of the cistern, there are two pillars that have carvings of Medusa at the bottom. The museum is unable to explain why they are there, just that they are. It was kind of cool, but a little creepy too.
Speaking of creepy, there is a cistern monster sculpture that is lurking in one area of the building. It lights up, and makes an eery noise that resounds throughout the cistern. The music is creepy, but oddly calming.
The last place that was new for me was Gülhane Park. It was a large, gorgeous, green park hidden in the streets of Sultanahmet. It was originally part of the grounds of Topkapı Palace, but was opened to the public. On the last day of my Mom's visit, we stopped there and read in the park for a good chunk of the afternoon. There were a ton of families spending the afternoon together, too - it was so nice to see kids! Obviously, there are none at school, and you don't see a lot of kids out and about in the city. One adorable little Turkish boy ran up to me an handed me a daisy (which happens to be my favorite wild flower), smiled at me and ran back to his parents. I almost died. Here's the daisy (unfortunately I didn't get a photo of him - just imagine the cutest little Turkish boy, then multiply by a sweetness factor of 3203948320498).
I was sad to see her go, but glad to be back and school and retire my tourist hat for a bit. With the sun comes visitors, and noticeably more crowded streets.
Last week I had two exams and a paper - so life was pretty boring. Study, eat, exam, study, sleep, exam, and so on... However, last weekend the whole CIEE group ventured to Bursa, a Turkish city on the other side of the Marmara. It was a great, albeit whirlwind, trip. We set our alarms bright and early Friday morning, so that we could be pulling out of Koç by 7:30am. We rode the bus across the Bosphorus to Asia, then boarded a ferry to cross the Sea. The ferry was great, we'd all had a little time to catch some more sleep, and were able to enjoy the sun a salt air - something that I and another student from the northeast had been craving and appreciated greatly!
Our first stop was lunch. We tried the dish that Bursa is famous for - İskender (a type of döner). It consists of pide bread squares covered in tomato sauce and the meat of sheep that occupy the mountains near the city. It's served with yogurt, and is very delicious and filling. We all ate a ton, and paid for it during the walking tour!
Once we arrived in Bursa, after a beautiful drive through the mountains, we checked into our hotel and set out for a walking tour. One of our first stops was the Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) (pictured above). It was beautiful, and one of the first times we had seen people actually praying in a mosque. The inside was simpler than many of the mosques I'd been in, but still very beautiful. It is one of the few mosques that have a fountain inside. It was placed there to calm people while they were in the sanctuary. Here is a photo of the inside:
Next we walked through the local spice and food bazaar. Here is a photo of a beautiful fruit market:
Here are some different types of Turkish tea. I need to figure out which is used most commonly, so that I can bring it home! Turkish tea is so good because it is meticulously made. The leaves are steeped in the top pan of a double boiler until the liquid is the right color. The tea is then cut with some of the water from the lower pot and - viola! - you have Turkish tea! I don't know what about the process makes the tea so smooth and amazing, but it is. I don't know how I will live without it!
Finally, here is a spice shop. These owners were much less outgoing than those in İstanbul, which makes them much more approachable.
We also climbed some of the city walls. Here is a view from the top:
On the grounds of one of the many complexes in Bursa, there was a sign pole (like that in Maine) that showed the distance and directions to many important places in the world. We were only 565km from Tunis!
In the late afternoon, we volunteered at an English speaking club with an organization called BurSanat. They also set up a scavenger hunt around the city for us. We were all exhausted, and finally decided to pop a squat and grab some ice cream in stead of completing all of the tasks. Even though we were tired, we had tons of fun! Here are some photos of our shenanigans.
This is Alex and Terry showing that we had found someone who was walking their dog!
We had to find someone who was over 65 years young - This is Isaac and our guy. He was also born in June, so we killed two objectives with one stone!
We asked this woman if she had a one kuruş piece, yet another task on out list. She said she didn't, but gave us a one lira piece and chatted us up for a bit. She was a sweetheart! She told us about a village nearby that we need to visit if we come back.
That evening we had dinner in a small cafe and went back to the hotel to hang out. Amy had brought baklava from the most famous bakery in the city, and we had a few bottles of wine for the group. It was a relaxing and fun night!
This is one of the sights we saw the next morning. We were up and out early, and ready for another day of sight seeing. This is the largest tree in... somewhere. Okay, I was having a hard time paying attention... It was at least the largest in Bursa, and maybe Turkey... Anyway, it was a really big tree, and the tea garden surrounding it, and the view from the park were amazing. The weather wasn't too bad, either!
After the tree we went to a covered bazaar to see a production of Hacivat and Karagoz. These are two hand puppets that originated in Bursa. The story goes that they were real men who worked in construction and were very unproductive because they were constantly joking with each other. The puppets are all handmade from camel skin that's stretched and colored. They are them held behind a white curtain with a light shining on them. There's much more to the story, but those are the major points... Here is a clip of the show we saw. It was in turkish, so we didn't understand all of it, but the puppeteer used the names Koç University and Kathryn (the CIEE's director's name), so we thought is was funny.
Another famous Bursa sight! This is one of four bridges like it in the world - over water with shops extending all the way across. There is another one in Florence (The Ponte Veccio) and two in Sofia, Bulgaria. Most of the shops were local artisans. Too expensive to buy, but looking is free - and there were a lot of beautiful pieces!
These were really just the highlights - it was a jam-packed weekend in a wonderful city! I hope to get back some day to explore it at a slower pace. Finally, a funny photo. One of my friend somehow locked herself in the bathroom right before we were about to head back to İstanbul. This is us trying to pick the lock from the outside... Eventually we had to get someone from the cafe to break her out by prying the door open with a screwdriver. We all laughed harder than we had in a while, especially once she was out. It's been a great few weeks with wonderful people! Here's to a few more!
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