Chag Sameach! Happy Hanukkah! It's been a busy past week or so, and now Mom and Dad are here. I want to catch up on the past week before I talk about my adventures with them, so here goes.
The Cultural Delegation. I believe I mentioned this before, but the Cultural Delegation of Israeli Theatre and Music, as well as the International Exposure for Israeli Dance took place this past week. The Delegation was a 5 day presentation of theatre pieces, (professional, independent, in progress, student work, all sorts) from all throughout Israel to an audience of theatre artists, festival directors, critics, and writers from all over the world. We had around 30-40 guests from Japan, Turkey, Korea, Philippines, Netherlands, Germany, Bulgaria, Canada, and the US among others. Since EVE, my company represents a lot of fringe and independent productions, a large percent of the presentations were artists and creators we work with. Instead of going into the office for those few days, Tomer and I helped facilitate events and introduce productions, and help keep things moving. The cultural differences I have noted in Israel became even more apparent in this professional atmosphere. Israel has a severe lack of formality, which is all good, but in some instances (like this one) it was noticeably missing. The Canadian clan tended to flock to me with questions and frustrations, many of which I shared. Although it was a tough position to be in, wanted to organize where there was a severe lack, it was fun to play hostess for a while. In doing so I got to see all the shows being presented. Many of the pieces were half hour sections from larger pieces, with a few full shows thrown in. I watched as much as I could.
I saw Hamlet, in Hebrew, at Cameri to open the week. I felt as though I knew the show relatively well, so I tried not to follow the subtitles, but instead just watch and take it all in, and check in every once in a while with the projected translation. I loved it. Such a great take on the show. The audience sat in swivel chairs, in two sections facing each other, separated by an aisle. The action took place in the aisle as well as on both sides. The audience would simply shift focus and move their chairs to see the scene taking place. It was so cool. Hamlet was incredible as well. It was nice to see the famous "to be or not to be" speech and not focus on the words, just on the emotion. Refreshing. I also really enjoyed the student work from the School of Visual Theatre in Jerusalem. One pair did a object theatre piece using apples as puppets, cutting them and manipulating them throughout the piece to tell their story. Awesome. I also got to see a lot of the pieces I have been marketing live for the first time. I have felt a severe lack of theatre going since I've been here, because its harder to find things in English or that I will understand. A cutback from my show a week habit in Boston. This week made up for it. In addition to the Delegation, my siyur that week was to see a show at Cameri. We saw Johnny Walked, with english subtitles. I liked the play overall, but the lighting was very stark and the subtitles were very hard to read. It was a little more of a challenge than it was worth. Unlike Hamlet, I couldn't just watch and take it in. Oh well. It was cool to experience it with the whole WUJS group.
Adding to my incredibly cultured week, the week continued with the International Exposure for Israeli Dance. Many of the guests from our exposure stayed through for this one as well, so I made sure to be a part of it as much as I could. Chelsea works as an intern at Suzanne Dellal, the dance theatre hosting the events, so I had an official name tag. We had to wait until all official guests and ticketed patrons were in, but if there were remaining seats our staff tags got us in. We saw a lot a lot a lot of dance. Many of the shows were 1 hour shows divided into 3 segments to showcase 3 difference choreographers. We saw a few of these sampler platter shows, as well as some full dance shows. One was Trout, a modern dance piece that took place on a stage covered in 3 inches of water. The piece was nightmareish, and mentioned it took place in a world like the bottom of a well. It was some weird stuff, but a cool concept. I was in the front row, which I soon discovered was what they refer to at Sea World as the "splash zone". Except this time it was without warning, and they didn't hand out ponchos... It was all good, I only got a few splashes, but I have to say it was the first dance show I've seen where I walked out damp. We saw Vertigo, another dance troupe as well, which was probably the best of the pieces I saw. There was one I really wanted to see, called Quiet or Sheket in Hebrew, but it was full. The good thing about this exposure as a promotional event though, is that every group had videos! I picked one up and can now see the piece from the comfort of my own home. Between the Theatre Delegation and Dance Exposure I left with a good amount of swag, and lots of DVDs to watch. Bonus! Plus we got a lot of interest, so I am looking foreward to talking with the people I met and sending our work abroad. Successful week I'd say.
Adding to the awesome long and busy but cultured week, it came time for Hanukkah. My first Hanukkah in Israel has certainly been amazing. Sufganiot on every corner. Dreidels with פ instead of ש. Everyone, and I mean everyone, storeowners, etc, saying chag sameach. Love it. We had an awesome group Hanukkah party as well. For the first night, we all got together in our apartment and had a whole evening of festivities. It started with a Latke Contest. Each apartment would submit an entry, and our guests would judge. We decided to enter a trio of latkes as our entry. Michal, culinary expert, designed the menu. We made traditional potato latkes with applesauce, sweet potato latkes with cream and fried sage, and zucchini/potato latkes with dill sour cream sauce. Yummy. Someone else entered a chili sweet potato recipe, some traditional potato recipes, and one with red peppers served with hot sauce. It was awesome. We grated potatoes for hours, but it was worth it. Our sweet potato entry tied with the other sweet potato entry as the winner. Yay! Next part of the evening was a potluck style dinner. We ate well let me tell you. Salad, meatballs, eggplant parm, rice with broccoli, and of course latkes. Next was a gift exchange. Organizing that was my assigned role for the evening, so we did it white elephant style like at Nicolet. Everyone brought a wrapped gift valued between 20 and 25 shekels. I bought a collection of games and puzzles. We played by choosing hebrew letters from our aleph bet magnet set out of a hat, and then going in order. Each person could either choose a wrapped gift from the middle, or steal. Someone got a toilet plunger gift set, someone a viking hat and beard, a few people chocolates and candy, and I ended up with a dollar store collection of games and things including a ping pong set, a chia pet, and a bright orange Athens Olympics 2004 hat. Quite a success I must say. We intended to end the evening with a dreidel game and an 8 bar pub crawl, but we only ended up at 2 due to rain and us being tired. It was also Michal's birthday at midnight, so we turned it into a celebration for that. We also went out for her b-day the next day, starting the day as we do every Saturday with challah french toast, and then seeing some dance pieces from the Exposure and having an incredibly decadent dinner complete with sparkling wine at a great restaurant in quaint Neve Tsedek. Mmmm. I love birthdays. Happy Birthday Michal!
The week was jam packed, but really awesome. Seeing theatre, and spending time with friends. What more could I ask for. I also started teaching the theatre class for Year Course, which I'll talk more about later. It seems like its going to be great, and its nice to be teaching and lesson planning again. More on that later. Now, I'm gonna head to bed and wake up early tomorrow to head up North and meet Mom and Dad. Can't wait to tell you all about it.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Links
Hey all!
Sorry its been a while since I've written anything. I've been crazy busy with the Cultural Delegation/International Exposure. Can't wait to tell you all about it. Until then, check out my Turkey pictures - finally posted - but not sorted or captioned yet. Sorry. I ran out of room on the old photo site, so catch the link to the new one to the right of the posting. I'll let you know when they are organized!
Also enjoy more video updates:
WUJS Video 7 - but they forgot to mention Turkey!!
WUJS Video 8
Sorry its been a while since I've written anything. I've been crazy busy with the Cultural Delegation/International Exposure. Can't wait to tell you all about it. Until then, check out my Turkey pictures - finally posted - but not sorted or captioned yet. Sorry. I ran out of room on the old photo site, so catch the link to the new one to the right of the posting. I'll let you know when they are organized!
Also enjoy more video updates:
WUJS Video 7 - but they forgot to mention Turkey!!
WUJS Video 8
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thanksgiving Break in Turkey - Part II: Escape to Cappadocia
Day 1 in Cappadocia:
We pulled into a parking lot in what we assumed was the right place, and just as confused as before, showed people our tickets. We got sent to a minibus. It took us somewhere, and we unloaded and went to a tourism office. The guy there gave us a map, circled our hotel, and the Flintstones Cave Bar he recommended we visit later, and called us a ride to our hotel in Goreme, the Local Cave Hotel. Because it was still just 8:30 our room wasn’t available for check in so we left our stuff in the lobby, changed in a bathroom, and waited for our tour group to pick us up. We ate breakfast there too, not sure it was for us, but they didn’t stop us.
Our tour van picked us up, we met some others we would be spending our day with, and hit the road. The landscape in this place is jaw dropping. An entire city, literally carved out of the rock. Our guide Fahti led us through Devrent Valley, to see the fairy chimneys. Fairy chimneys are formed from the settled volcanic dust, formed into tower, and then topped by harder rock that settled. Over time, the lower rock has been shaped by the wind, leaving pyramids with caps. You have to see it to understand, just check out the pix. He showed us cave churches, houses, castles, the unbelievable city formed by stone. Just awe inspiring. We had a nice lunch, included in the package, at a cave restaurant. Three courses including soup, pottery kebab, and dessert options, of which I chose more rice pudding. In the afternoon we toured the Goreme Open Air Museum, which is a reserve of more rock formations and houses, and saw some beautifully painted church caves. More lookouts, more stops, and a visit to a pottery shop where we learned how to make pottery the traditional Turkish way, then spend way too much time trying not to spend money in the endless ceramic shop. Hallie won a prize for guessing what the man was forming on the wheel, and Jaks got to make something herself. Unfortunately she didn’t get to keep it.
We were dropped back at our cave hotel, and this time were able to check in. Our bags were still in the lobby, exactly how we had left them. They unlocked our rooms, and despite the fact that we had asked specifically for 1 room for all of us (to save money, and avoid splitting up) and him telling us it wasn’t possible, the first door opened to reveal 2 twin beds and 1 double bed. We looked around, saw the other room, and just decided to all stay in one. Bummer he made us pay for 2 even though we specifically tried to avoid it. We claimed beds, Jaks and I ended up in the double, and promptly all fell asleep for a good 2 hours. Guess we needed it. We woke up, showered, and got dressed for dinner. We walked through the town of Goreme, looking for some cheap local eats in the tourist town. It was the off season, and extremely dead. A ghost town. Except for the restaurant owners who, as in Istanbul, harassed us with deals and offers as we passed their restaurant. We finally gave in to one of them and had a nice Turkish meal. Jaks and I shared Turkish ravioli with yoghurt sauce and a meatball dish, and Ellen and Hallie shared a chicken something and pottery roasted veggies. Yumm and yumm again. The ravioli were tiny and triangular. And delicious. I have eaten more meat this week than in the entire past year.
After the restaurant, we decided we had to take the man’s advice and check out the Flintstones Cave Bar. How could we not? It was super cute, with a fire place and little tables, across from a stone bar. We ordered a bottle of local wine to share and a nargila, and the man we soon recognized as the guy who suggested the bar to us, joined us at the table. Our first thought was that he came to see if we had taken his advice and to join us. Ick. Then he told us our nargila was on the house. Uh oh. We found out pretty quickly through conversation then that he owned the place. Oh, thanks for the suggestion. He very quickly fell in love with Ellen as well. This would become an interesting night. We played a game of shesh besh,, me against Ellen (who had never played) and the owner (who was really good). Awww, just like Israel. Soon, A little guy, probably 20 something, hopped up and started dancing. Like Michael Jackson. The soundtrack of this bar was mostly oldies American music, with an eclectic mix of modern English pop. Jaks joined him before to long, and next thing we knew the 4 of us, and everyone else at the bar was up on their feet. We started a mega dance party. Because of the owner’s little crush, our glasses never seemed to get empty, and we drank at least 2 bottles and a few beers. After several attempts to drag her outside, he finally gave up and sat all sad in the corner. We felt bad, but its not like we asked him to get us drinking for free all night. We met some Australian girls, a group of International students studying in Turkey, 1 American. Turned into quite an adventure. Needless to say, we were glad we napped that evening. Before it got too late, we hit our very comfortable cave beds and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up, packed up, and went to the lobby for another breakfast spread. Unlike the morning before when we had snuck meals from the buffet, this time they brought us pre made plates. Just not the same. And no eggs. Oh well, we ate our fill and met our tour van again at 9. They picked up our luggage and dropped it at the fancy hotel in Urgup (the other town) where we picked up more group members since it would be easier for us to get it there later. Fahti and our adorable driver led us through another exciting adventure through the valleys and caves of Goreme and Urgup. The morning started out with a 4k hike through Red Valley, White Valley and Rose Valley. Named for the colors of the rock of course. The Moroccan Man from our group kept wandering off, and quickly became the joke of us as well as the guide. He kept popping up in random places. We passed the time talking with a couple we met, around our age. Holly from Australia, and Dan from New Zealand had met in Greece sailing. They had since lived in England, 3 more years in Greece sailing, and were now working on week 3 of their “one week” trip to Turkey. I would have loved to live their lives. Here begins the adventure of the sunglasses. Ellen had in her bag a pair of turquoise sunglasses she had borrowed from Justin. They were falling apart, the turquoise color chipping off leaving paint specs on the wearer, and just kinda gross. Jumping off of Holly’s idea, we decided it would become the new project of the trip to get pictures of as many people we met as we could wearing the glasses. This included various group members, our guides, and basically everyone we could convince. When lunch led us to eating at a long table in the hall of the Culture Museum, our sunglass adventure began to include manikins as we snuck into exhibits to snap a shot. Awesome.
We saw more churches and houses, and then explored an underground city. Tourists were only allowed to explore 4 floors. That’s okay though, that’s more cave village than I’ve seen before. We crawled through tunnels and passageways, saw stone doors as we entered wineries, stables, living rooms, etc all carved in the underground stone. I could live there! Well, except for the cold and fact that it was underground and stone. There were even chimneys for fresh air and ventilation. Too cool. We got a few sunglass shots in various cave crevasses, then returned to the surface. We stopped for some more free time at a few more lookout points as we worked our way back.
The last stop of the day was the Onyx factory. Again, a cheap plea to get us tourists to spend money, but we just watched the demo and then tried on the biggest and most expensive rings and bracelets they had. Holly kept making Dan uncomfortable talking about them being too small. Love these guys. From there Fahti and our driver, who we now knew was named Numan, started the rounds of drop offs. Since we had a few hours to kill before our night bus back, and no hotel, we asked nicely if they could drop us in the city of Urgup at the Turkish Bath. Ellen had been talking about getting one since day one in Istanbul, so we decided this was our chance. The bath, or Hamam, was not quite what they had described in the books. We asked if they accepted women, since we had heard there were separate sections in most hamams, and they said yes. They gave us keys to changing rooms and handed us red plaid cloths to put on and green croc like sandles. The first time my passport had left my body since we arrived in Turkey, we locked them and all of our belongings into the rooms and strapped the keys to our wrists. Wearing our new garments, and matching the men up front, they lead us in. We found ourselves in a big hot room, with several smaller rooms off of it. They took us to one side, and asked us to rinse off in the shower. We did. Then they showed us the sauna and told us to get comfortable. We all awkwardly sat down in there together, not quite sure what to do, and decided that we might as well get the real hamam experience and dropped the towels to our waists. It was just us after all. And then through the window of the sauna we saw another couple walk in. A couple we recognized, from our tour group. We gathered our cloths back up, and all awkwardly greeted each other. Hmm, maybe that’s why this one was so cheap, its coed. They laid down on the stone block, steaming, waiting for us to finish. When we had had our fill, we traded places, relaxing on the warm stone, waiting for someone to tell us what was next. The hamam man, not large hamam woman as we had expected, came to take the first 2 for the massage. Ellen and I stood up and followed them into a different section where they laid us down on more stone tables. I started at the washing station, Ellen at the soapy massage. Again, didn’t know this was a group project. My guy began scrubbing me with an abrasive cloth to remove dead skin. It was disgusting to see what came off of my body. I guess I needed this. He washed me, washed my hair with bar soap, and rinsed me with little bowls. Weird. Then Ellen and I switched and I began my soapy bubble bath massage. This guy was good. He cracked my back so hard, I giggled. Seriously though, after sleeping on a bus, I needed nothing more. In heaven, Ellen and I were sent back to the hot stone room while Jaks and Hallie got their treatment. We laid there blissfully until they returned, then went to cool off and get our towels. I have never felt so clean. We dried off, went back to our rooms to change back, and received our nice free glasses of apple tea. The amount of free glasses of apple tea we have received on this trip cannot even be counted. I love Turks. We dried our hair, bundled back up for the cold, paid our 20 lira, and ventured back outside, refreshed.
We walked around Urgup, found a doner kebab place to get food, and then walked back to the Cappadocia Palace Hotel where our luggage was being held. Again, we walked in and it was sitting there piles up just how we had left it. Numan, our driver, and some other guys we had met along the way were waiting for us. We changed in the bathroom and drank, yes, more free tea. They made more jokes about marrying us, which we started to realize may not have been a joke. We were a perfect Harem of 4 after all. They all got excited when we asked to become facebook friends. I seriously gained a whole crew throughout the week.
We got a ride to another strange parking lot, where we boarded a bus. Our tickets were close to the back, but not quite as bad as last time. There were tons of people gathered for what we discovered was a send off party to the army. He was probably the only kid to leave this tiny town, and everyone was there to say goodbye. The kid and some others boarded the bus, and as everyone cried and waved we pulled away. The bus seemed really empty and I was excited again to move up and spread out. We stopped at the bus station to pick up more people, and once everyone was settled we spread out a bit. After about 40 minutes of driving, the bus stopped in another small town, and we looked out the window not just to see tons of people waiting, but men and women loading our bus with giant sacks of potatoes. What? They were angry there was too much luggage and were all crowding around shoving at the sacks, loading the carrier. Apparently we were on the food transport to Istanbul. I have to move back to my original seat next to Hallie as a small child was placed next to me and the mother yelled at me in Turkish. The older daughter, looking so excited to use her English, saw my confusion and said “Seat. Me.” I moved, all four of us in a row, and we curled up as comfortable as we could on the bus and tried to sleep the night through. We stopped again at the pay to pee in a hole place, and got to Istanbul in the morning.
When we got off the bus, we were expecting to see someone from our travel place with a van, as we had been informed. After exploring and not seeing anyone, we got in a shuttle to Sultanahmet, the center of town, with another couple who were even more lost than we were. Thankful it was actually free, we arrived back in town, and went to the travel agency to leave our bags, as they had also told us we could. No one there. So, we went back to Alkan’s shop around the corner. He wasn’t there, but we told the guy there the situation, and he called our friend. Waking him up as we later learned, Alkan gave us permission to use the basement as storage again. Since nothing was opened yet, we went to Starbucks across the street to change and get a hot drink. Like any good American tourist. As if by perfect chance, what other American tourist do we see with the same plan? Will, our San Francisco friend from the tram a few days back. He had also just come in on an overnight bus, and had a few friends with him he’d met along the way. We discovered he was on the same flight as us back to Tel Aviv, so we decided to spend the day together. We waited a bit, but he had to go fight with the agent who booked his tour and try to get some money back for things he didn’t receive. After things weren’t going his way, we exchanged numbers and left him behind to go to the Bazaars.
We got directions to the Grand Bazaar to do some last day shopping. This place is a giant, covered, street market, with stands and stores selling jewelry, lamps, scarves, souvenirs up the wazoo, basically anything you could imagine. I tried to avoid spending money, and did pretty well. Ellen bought lots of jewelry, and Jaks and Hallie got some things as well. I just enjoyed the bargaining. Someone offered to “change my life” if I entered their shop. No thank you. One guy offered me a deal because it was his birthday. I wonder if he says that every day. Will called us and asked where the shop was so he could leave his stuff there and meet us. When he finally found us in the Bazaar, he informed us he had met Alkan and gotten a full breakfast spread. Maybe we should have waited for him! Will showed up with the crazy Mohawk man from the shop, who proposed marriage, then pointed us out the path to the Spice Bazaar. Now a team of 5, we trekked for more shops and more bargaining. This Bazaar had spices, teas, and tons of Turkish delight. We again sampled as much as we could, and bought from the cheap one to take home. Will decided he would send us on a mission. He wanted a half kilo of instant apple tea, and a half kilo of natural. For 15 lira. We decided to divide and conquer. Most places would give us a full kilo of instant for that, but not the combo he wanted for less than 20. Hallie finally got an offer of 16. We all rushed over, and Will said he would take the deal if they threw in the teacup set for 25. They said 30. He said 25. They said 27. He gave them 25 and they reluctantly handed over the bag. Well done. Well done.
Souvenirs in tow, we made our way to a food stop. Jaks, Hallie, and Will wanted fish sandwiches again from the boat. Ellen and I got chickpea/rice/chicken on the street on the way. We of course stopped for more mussels. I should mention that our count for the whole trip, between the 4 of us, had now reached 59. At 50 cents each though, I was okay with the 10 or so I had eaten over the 6 days. We boogied back to Alkan’s to gather our stuff, a little later than we had planned. He said he would call his taxi friend for us. Another helpful friend of Alkan’s. I love our fated meeting. We ran into Will’s friend at the airport, mailed our postcards, and got settled at the gate. At this point we decide Will would come back with us and sleep on our couch, and that some of us would show him around Jerusalem the next day. Unfortunately I had to go to work. Our gate changed a few times, the plane was an hour delayed, but despite expected travel hitches flying into Israel from a country they don’t like, we made it home safe and sound by 8:30ish.
Overall, the trip was an incredible experience. Fate, luck, and a ton of friends along the way really made for an awesome time. With most of the people we met, we avoided telling them we had come from Israel, due to the political unease. We had gotten caught up in extensive lies at one point, but it made us feel better so it was ok. Spent a lot of money, but saw some incredible things, ate great food, and really got a taste of the culture and language. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my break.
Now, its back to work, and the Cultural Delegation for Israeli Theatre and Music coming quickly next week. Can’t wait to tell you all about it. As they say in Turkey “bye bye!” I’m serious. That’s what they say. See you next time!
We pulled into a parking lot in what we assumed was the right place, and just as confused as before, showed people our tickets. We got sent to a minibus. It took us somewhere, and we unloaded and went to a tourism office. The guy there gave us a map, circled our hotel, and the Flintstones Cave Bar he recommended we visit later, and called us a ride to our hotel in Goreme, the Local Cave Hotel. Because it was still just 8:30 our room wasn’t available for check in so we left our stuff in the lobby, changed in a bathroom, and waited for our tour group to pick us up. We ate breakfast there too, not sure it was for us, but they didn’t stop us.
Our tour van picked us up, we met some others we would be spending our day with, and hit the road. The landscape in this place is jaw dropping. An entire city, literally carved out of the rock. Our guide Fahti led us through Devrent Valley, to see the fairy chimneys. Fairy chimneys are formed from the settled volcanic dust, formed into tower, and then topped by harder rock that settled. Over time, the lower rock has been shaped by the wind, leaving pyramids with caps. You have to see it to understand, just check out the pix. He showed us cave churches, houses, castles, the unbelievable city formed by stone. Just awe inspiring. We had a nice lunch, included in the package, at a cave restaurant. Three courses including soup, pottery kebab, and dessert options, of which I chose more rice pudding. In the afternoon we toured the Goreme Open Air Museum, which is a reserve of more rock formations and houses, and saw some beautifully painted church caves. More lookouts, more stops, and a visit to a pottery shop where we learned how to make pottery the traditional Turkish way, then spend way too much time trying not to spend money in the endless ceramic shop. Hallie won a prize for guessing what the man was forming on the wheel, and Jaks got to make something herself. Unfortunately she didn’t get to keep it.
We were dropped back at our cave hotel, and this time were able to check in. Our bags were still in the lobby, exactly how we had left them. They unlocked our rooms, and despite the fact that we had asked specifically for 1 room for all of us (to save money, and avoid splitting up) and him telling us it wasn’t possible, the first door opened to reveal 2 twin beds and 1 double bed. We looked around, saw the other room, and just decided to all stay in one. Bummer he made us pay for 2 even though we specifically tried to avoid it. We claimed beds, Jaks and I ended up in the double, and promptly all fell asleep for a good 2 hours. Guess we needed it. We woke up, showered, and got dressed for dinner. We walked through the town of Goreme, looking for some cheap local eats in the tourist town. It was the off season, and extremely dead. A ghost town. Except for the restaurant owners who, as in Istanbul, harassed us with deals and offers as we passed their restaurant. We finally gave in to one of them and had a nice Turkish meal. Jaks and I shared Turkish ravioli with yoghurt sauce and a meatball dish, and Ellen and Hallie shared a chicken something and pottery roasted veggies. Yumm and yumm again. The ravioli were tiny and triangular. And delicious. I have eaten more meat this week than in the entire past year.
After the restaurant, we decided we had to take the man’s advice and check out the Flintstones Cave Bar. How could we not? It was super cute, with a fire place and little tables, across from a stone bar. We ordered a bottle of local wine to share and a nargila, and the man we soon recognized as the guy who suggested the bar to us, joined us at the table. Our first thought was that he came to see if we had taken his advice and to join us. Ick. Then he told us our nargila was on the house. Uh oh. We found out pretty quickly through conversation then that he owned the place. Oh, thanks for the suggestion. He very quickly fell in love with Ellen as well. This would become an interesting night. We played a game of shesh besh,, me against Ellen (who had never played) and the owner (who was really good). Awww, just like Israel. Soon, A little guy, probably 20 something, hopped up and started dancing. Like Michael Jackson. The soundtrack of this bar was mostly oldies American music, with an eclectic mix of modern English pop. Jaks joined him before to long, and next thing we knew the 4 of us, and everyone else at the bar was up on their feet. We started a mega dance party. Because of the owner’s little crush, our glasses never seemed to get empty, and we drank at least 2 bottles and a few beers. After several attempts to drag her outside, he finally gave up and sat all sad in the corner. We felt bad, but its not like we asked him to get us drinking for free all night. We met some Australian girls, a group of International students studying in Turkey, 1 American. Turned into quite an adventure. Needless to say, we were glad we napped that evening. Before it got too late, we hit our very comfortable cave beds and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up, packed up, and went to the lobby for another breakfast spread. Unlike the morning before when we had snuck meals from the buffet, this time they brought us pre made plates. Just not the same. And no eggs. Oh well, we ate our fill and met our tour van again at 9. They picked up our luggage and dropped it at the fancy hotel in Urgup (the other town) where we picked up more group members since it would be easier for us to get it there later. Fahti and our adorable driver led us through another exciting adventure through the valleys and caves of Goreme and Urgup. The morning started out with a 4k hike through Red Valley, White Valley and Rose Valley. Named for the colors of the rock of course. The Moroccan Man from our group kept wandering off, and quickly became the joke of us as well as the guide. He kept popping up in random places. We passed the time talking with a couple we met, around our age. Holly from Australia, and Dan from New Zealand had met in Greece sailing. They had since lived in England, 3 more years in Greece sailing, and were now working on week 3 of their “one week” trip to Turkey. I would have loved to live their lives. Here begins the adventure of the sunglasses. Ellen had in her bag a pair of turquoise sunglasses she had borrowed from Justin. They were falling apart, the turquoise color chipping off leaving paint specs on the wearer, and just kinda gross. Jumping off of Holly’s idea, we decided it would become the new project of the trip to get pictures of as many people we met as we could wearing the glasses. This included various group members, our guides, and basically everyone we could convince. When lunch led us to eating at a long table in the hall of the Culture Museum, our sunglass adventure began to include manikins as we snuck into exhibits to snap a shot. Awesome.
We saw more churches and houses, and then explored an underground city. Tourists were only allowed to explore 4 floors. That’s okay though, that’s more cave village than I’ve seen before. We crawled through tunnels and passageways, saw stone doors as we entered wineries, stables, living rooms, etc all carved in the underground stone. I could live there! Well, except for the cold and fact that it was underground and stone. There were even chimneys for fresh air and ventilation. Too cool. We got a few sunglass shots in various cave crevasses, then returned to the surface. We stopped for some more free time at a few more lookout points as we worked our way back.
The last stop of the day was the Onyx factory. Again, a cheap plea to get us tourists to spend money, but we just watched the demo and then tried on the biggest and most expensive rings and bracelets they had. Holly kept making Dan uncomfortable talking about them being too small. Love these guys. From there Fahti and our driver, who we now knew was named Numan, started the rounds of drop offs. Since we had a few hours to kill before our night bus back, and no hotel, we asked nicely if they could drop us in the city of Urgup at the Turkish Bath. Ellen had been talking about getting one since day one in Istanbul, so we decided this was our chance. The bath, or Hamam, was not quite what they had described in the books. We asked if they accepted women, since we had heard there were separate sections in most hamams, and they said yes. They gave us keys to changing rooms and handed us red plaid cloths to put on and green croc like sandles. The first time my passport had left my body since we arrived in Turkey, we locked them and all of our belongings into the rooms and strapped the keys to our wrists. Wearing our new garments, and matching the men up front, they lead us in. We found ourselves in a big hot room, with several smaller rooms off of it. They took us to one side, and asked us to rinse off in the shower. We did. Then they showed us the sauna and told us to get comfortable. We all awkwardly sat down in there together, not quite sure what to do, and decided that we might as well get the real hamam experience and dropped the towels to our waists. It was just us after all. And then through the window of the sauna we saw another couple walk in. A couple we recognized, from our tour group. We gathered our cloths back up, and all awkwardly greeted each other. Hmm, maybe that’s why this one was so cheap, its coed. They laid down on the stone block, steaming, waiting for us to finish. When we had had our fill, we traded places, relaxing on the warm stone, waiting for someone to tell us what was next. The hamam man, not large hamam woman as we had expected, came to take the first 2 for the massage. Ellen and I stood up and followed them into a different section where they laid us down on more stone tables. I started at the washing station, Ellen at the soapy massage. Again, didn’t know this was a group project. My guy began scrubbing me with an abrasive cloth to remove dead skin. It was disgusting to see what came off of my body. I guess I needed this. He washed me, washed my hair with bar soap, and rinsed me with little bowls. Weird. Then Ellen and I switched and I began my soapy bubble bath massage. This guy was good. He cracked my back so hard, I giggled. Seriously though, after sleeping on a bus, I needed nothing more. In heaven, Ellen and I were sent back to the hot stone room while Jaks and Hallie got their treatment. We laid there blissfully until they returned, then went to cool off and get our towels. I have never felt so clean. We dried off, went back to our rooms to change back, and received our nice free glasses of apple tea. The amount of free glasses of apple tea we have received on this trip cannot even be counted. I love Turks. We dried our hair, bundled back up for the cold, paid our 20 lira, and ventured back outside, refreshed.
We walked around Urgup, found a doner kebab place to get food, and then walked back to the Cappadocia Palace Hotel where our luggage was being held. Again, we walked in and it was sitting there piles up just how we had left it. Numan, our driver, and some other guys we had met along the way were waiting for us. We changed in the bathroom and drank, yes, more free tea. They made more jokes about marrying us, which we started to realize may not have been a joke. We were a perfect Harem of 4 after all. They all got excited when we asked to become facebook friends. I seriously gained a whole crew throughout the week.
We got a ride to another strange parking lot, where we boarded a bus. Our tickets were close to the back, but not quite as bad as last time. There were tons of people gathered for what we discovered was a send off party to the army. He was probably the only kid to leave this tiny town, and everyone was there to say goodbye. The kid and some others boarded the bus, and as everyone cried and waved we pulled away. The bus seemed really empty and I was excited again to move up and spread out. We stopped at the bus station to pick up more people, and once everyone was settled we spread out a bit. After about 40 minutes of driving, the bus stopped in another small town, and we looked out the window not just to see tons of people waiting, but men and women loading our bus with giant sacks of potatoes. What? They were angry there was too much luggage and were all crowding around shoving at the sacks, loading the carrier. Apparently we were on the food transport to Istanbul. I have to move back to my original seat next to Hallie as a small child was placed next to me and the mother yelled at me in Turkish. The older daughter, looking so excited to use her English, saw my confusion and said “Seat. Me.” I moved, all four of us in a row, and we curled up as comfortable as we could on the bus and tried to sleep the night through. We stopped again at the pay to pee in a hole place, and got to Istanbul in the morning.
When we got off the bus, we were expecting to see someone from our travel place with a van, as we had been informed. After exploring and not seeing anyone, we got in a shuttle to Sultanahmet, the center of town, with another couple who were even more lost than we were. Thankful it was actually free, we arrived back in town, and went to the travel agency to leave our bags, as they had also told us we could. No one there. So, we went back to Alkan’s shop around the corner. He wasn’t there, but we told the guy there the situation, and he called our friend. Waking him up as we later learned, Alkan gave us permission to use the basement as storage again. Since nothing was opened yet, we went to Starbucks across the street to change and get a hot drink. Like any good American tourist. As if by perfect chance, what other American tourist do we see with the same plan? Will, our San Francisco friend from the tram a few days back. He had also just come in on an overnight bus, and had a few friends with him he’d met along the way. We discovered he was on the same flight as us back to Tel Aviv, so we decided to spend the day together. We waited a bit, but he had to go fight with the agent who booked his tour and try to get some money back for things he didn’t receive. After things weren’t going his way, we exchanged numbers and left him behind to go to the Bazaars.
We got directions to the Grand Bazaar to do some last day shopping. This place is a giant, covered, street market, with stands and stores selling jewelry, lamps, scarves, souvenirs up the wazoo, basically anything you could imagine. I tried to avoid spending money, and did pretty well. Ellen bought lots of jewelry, and Jaks and Hallie got some things as well. I just enjoyed the bargaining. Someone offered to “change my life” if I entered their shop. No thank you. One guy offered me a deal because it was his birthday. I wonder if he says that every day. Will called us and asked where the shop was so he could leave his stuff there and meet us. When he finally found us in the Bazaar, he informed us he had met Alkan and gotten a full breakfast spread. Maybe we should have waited for him! Will showed up with the crazy Mohawk man from the shop, who proposed marriage, then pointed us out the path to the Spice Bazaar. Now a team of 5, we trekked for more shops and more bargaining. This Bazaar had spices, teas, and tons of Turkish delight. We again sampled as much as we could, and bought from the cheap one to take home. Will decided he would send us on a mission. He wanted a half kilo of instant apple tea, and a half kilo of natural. For 15 lira. We decided to divide and conquer. Most places would give us a full kilo of instant for that, but not the combo he wanted for less than 20. Hallie finally got an offer of 16. We all rushed over, and Will said he would take the deal if they threw in the teacup set for 25. They said 30. He said 25. They said 27. He gave them 25 and they reluctantly handed over the bag. Well done. Well done.
Souvenirs in tow, we made our way to a food stop. Jaks, Hallie, and Will wanted fish sandwiches again from the boat. Ellen and I got chickpea/rice/chicken on the street on the way. We of course stopped for more mussels. I should mention that our count for the whole trip, between the 4 of us, had now reached 59. At 50 cents each though, I was okay with the 10 or so I had eaten over the 6 days. We boogied back to Alkan’s to gather our stuff, a little later than we had planned. He said he would call his taxi friend for us. Another helpful friend of Alkan’s. I love our fated meeting. We ran into Will’s friend at the airport, mailed our postcards, and got settled at the gate. At this point we decide Will would come back with us and sleep on our couch, and that some of us would show him around Jerusalem the next day. Unfortunately I had to go to work. Our gate changed a few times, the plane was an hour delayed, but despite expected travel hitches flying into Israel from a country they don’t like, we made it home safe and sound by 8:30ish.
Overall, the trip was an incredible experience. Fate, luck, and a ton of friends along the way really made for an awesome time. With most of the people we met, we avoided telling them we had come from Israel, due to the political unease. We had gotten caught up in extensive lies at one point, but it made us feel better so it was ok. Spent a lot of money, but saw some incredible things, ate great food, and really got a taste of the culture and language. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my break.
Now, its back to work, and the Cultural Delegation for Israeli Theatre and Music coming quickly next week. Can’t wait to tell you all about it. As they say in Turkey “bye bye!” I’m serious. That’s what they say. See you next time!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thanksgiving Break in Turkey - Part I: Misadventures in Istanbul
Wow. Just wow. This trip was incredible. Maybe it was the travel bug I caught at the Castle having been stifled all this time, coming back out to play, but whatever it was, Turkey was amazing. This is gonna be a big one.
Hallie, Ellen, Jaks and I left early Friday morning, the 27th. We knew we were off to a great start when our cab driver looked at us and blasted club music at 7:30am. The flight there was relatively uneventful, 2 hours, smooth, and we arrived at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. We waited in line for our visas, which cost us $20, but Jaks, the Canadian of the group, had to pay $60. Isn’t it usually Americans that get the bad travel name?? Whatever. We went outside, grabbed a cab, and the driver looked exactly what I imagined a Turkish man to look like. Exactly. He had long curlyish hair, and leather jacket, like a Turkish Uncle Jesse. We sat in traffic for a while, maybe because of the Feast of the Sacrifice starting that day. Our book had recommended not traveling the first few days of the Holiday, and we were hoping we wouldn’t regret not listening. The cab driver didn’t speak English, and didn’t know where the hostel was, and we had the phone number but not the address, so Uncle Jesse called from his cell phone. Next thing we knew, a large Turkish Man met us on the street and walked us there. How sweet! He was the owner of the Chambers of the Boheme, and he turned out to be a great asset on our adventures. We dropped off our bags, and set out on our first adventure in Istanbul.
Because of the Feast of the Sacrifice, we had been informed most things would not be open, so we didn’t have much of a plan for day one. We had also been told that families sacrifice goats and sheep on their lawns to commemorate the day, and we half expected to run into a sacrifice. Good news though, the ritual indicated that the family eats 1/3, shares 1/3 with neighbors, and gives 1/3 to strangers and the poor. We could have ended up with a goat sandwich! But we didn’t. Instead we ate every, and I mean every street food we passed. This included Doner Kebab (Turkish showarma), Mussels stuffed with seasoned rice, which the guy shucked and fed us, roasted chestnuts, popcorn, chocolate fountain dipped fruit, all cheap and (almost) all delicious. We walked the trek from our part of town South across the bridge into the old city, just exploring along the way. We walked through alleys covered in graffiti of fists and eyes, across the bridge full of fisherman selling their catch, and just explored the city at sundown. Looking for a Turkish Bath, we ended up in a rather sketchy part of town, so we turned back and just went to see the Mosques in the dark. We stumbled upon a Mosque accepting visitors, and took off our shoes to enter just in time for prayer. It was beautifully tiled and decorated floor to ceiling. We watched a bit, then left as the place closed after prayer. We found out later it was the New Mosque. We walked down the main streets of the city from there, sampling Turkish Delight at every store with a tray out, but not buying anything. Rude? Maybe. Cheap. Certainly. On the way home, through the streets of Istanbul, we had more mussels, which quickly became a trend on the trip, some honey pastry stick things, stopped to use the McDonalds bathroom, and walked back across the bridge home to Taksim Square.
Back in Taksim, the restaurant, shopping, and bar centre of city on the North side of the bridge, we decided to find a place to go out for some food. Yes, more food. No judging. We were experiencing culture. We got a apple/mint nargila and an appetizer platter of traditional Turkish snacks. The guys working there spent most of the evening in the upstairs section with us, telling us about the country and what we should see. They invited us to come out the next night, which didn’t happen, but it was still the first impression we got of how nice and friendly Turkish people were. Another trend we would discover.
Day 2, Saturday, we woke up to our free breakfast in the Café Boheme next to our hostel. Sufficient meal, certainly, of hard boiled eggs, bread with various spreads, and some veggies and olives. We decided to take the shuttle/tram into the old city this time, with the goal of first visiting Topkapi Palace. We asked an orange vested man in the station, and he circled Topkapi Station for us and told us how to get there. We got off at Topkapi, a lot further down than we thought it was, and a nice man approached us asking if we needed help. When we said we were looking for the Palace, he laughed. We were in the completely wrong place. Fortunately, he was headed the direction we were supposed to be going, so he offered to lead the way. On the way, we mentioned we were thinking of planning a few days in Cappadocia or Ephesus and asked if he had any suggestions which. He said his friend was a travel agent, and he would take us there. We got off the tram, stopped by the gift shop he owned, and then he took us to MYSIA Travel Agency to introduce us to his friend. We told him what we were thinking, and $230 later we had booked a travel package to Cappadocia. It was fate. 2 overnight busses, saving us both plane fare and 2 nights of hotel, 2 full days of tours including lunch, 1 overnight hotel in Cappadocia, exactly what we needed. A lot of money, but based on the circumstances that had led us there, we knew we had to go for it.
After that, Alkan, our friend from the tram, led us to the visitor sights in the old city. Instead of Topkapi as we originally planned, we decided to first visit the Blue Mosque, which had been number 1 on my list. He took of his shoes and joined us inside! “Don’t you have to go to work” we asked? No! It’s a holiday! Perfect, our own private guide. The mosque, called Sultan Ahmet to the non tourist crown, was incredible. Large, gorgeous, again floor to ceiling decorations. Alkan led us through the square, pointing out monuments, then went on his way, leaving us at the entrance to Aya Sofia, telling us to meet him at his store later. Aya Sofia, or Hagia Sofia is the Church of Holy Wisdom. The others talked me into paying an extra 10 lira each to get a guided tour. A nice Australian family joined us, as our guide, a history teacher, led us through the church converted to a mosque , telling us stories of the artists, designers, and worshippers along the way. Turns out it was the world’s largest Christian place of worship for a while, before converted in 1453 and the artwork covered over by Islamic work. When the place was declared a museum, the work was uncovered, perfectly preserved by accident. Cool.
After the tour we went back to the gift shop, where Alkan took us to meet another friend of his, a restaurant owner. Is there anyone we need on this adventure that he doesn’t know? He joined us, and got us a 7 lira price special for a sampling of everything the guy had made hat day. We ate in style, nice home cooked comfort food. Its nice to be full on a budget! After our late lunch, we went to the Basilica Cistern, since we didn’t want to limit our time at the Topkapi Palace and put that off for the next day. It turned out to be amazing. An underground cistern, full of red lights illuminating pillars, and this dark, wet, eerie air. In one corner was 2 Medusa heads, one on its side and one upside down. No one knows why apparently. It was really one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen, not sure I can even place why.
After the old city, we headed back to Taksim area to do some shopping and walk the streets. On the train we met a guy from San Francisco, who we chatted with for a bit and found out he was visiting Turkey after a wedding in Tel Aviv. He was overnight bussing to Cappadocia that night, as we were doing the next day. More on him later. In Taksim, again, the streets were packed with people, mostly men. We stopped at the hostel for a nap, then went to meet Buket, a friend of Hallie’s from her study abroad in Australia who lived just outside of Istanbul. She took us to a restaurant she would have gone to with her family, good, classic, Turkish cooking. We had beef in this cream and eggplant sauce that was so rich and sooo delicious. Dessert was rice pudding and shredded wheat pastry with pistachio and cheese. Wow. We ate well that night, and like a local. Buket then took us to the bar area of Taksim and we hopped a few different places trying local beer and wine. Pretty tired, we said our goodbyes and went back to the hostel.
That wasn’t the end of that night though. Hallie crawled into bed, and on the way to the bathroom to get ready for bed, we met the boys across the hall at the hostel, whom we had said hello to earlier. Jarkko from Finland, Egert from Estonia, and Gabriel from Italy, all studying together in Ankara. We referred to them as Finland, Estonia, and Italy, and they called us Chicago, Texas, Canada, and New York respectably. They were about to head out, and wanted us to come with. Because Hallie had already turned in, we convinced them to stay in the hostel and they went out to get beers and snacks. We ended up staying up crazy late talking Israeli Politics (one of them was in a class and studying the topic on the plane), and life. At almost 3:00, I decided since we were planning to wake up at 8 that I would head to bed. Sometimes I hate when people aren’t smart, because Ellen and Jaks stayed up almost all night with them. In the morning, at 8, Hallie and I woke up and started getting ready. When they weren’t moving, we told them they were leaving without them and they both slept an extra few hours. Hallie and I trudged through the rain to Dulmabahce Palace, on our side of the bridge. We had student ids, so we got in for a full guided tour for 1 lira, as opposed to the usual 15 I think. Nicely done. We saw incredible chandeliers made of red crystal, crystal staircases, and some gorgeous curtains, rugs, and wall décor. The tour lasted an hour, and we had a ways to walk to meet them again, so we had to skip part 2 of the tour, the Harem and family quarters more in depth. For 1 lira, though, a-ok with me. We walked back, uphill this time, and met Ellen and Jaks just in time for the end of our free breakfast.
We found the boys again, woke them up, and said we would be back to pick them up to go to Topkapi Palace (finally) in 45 minutes. We went shopping. Over an hour later, we were still trying to pick out which lanterns we wanted to take home. I settled on a purple/blue/white one that glowed red. Jaks and Ellen both got different shades of browns and golds, and Hallie got a small yellow one. Can’t wait to have a nice place to hang it. Late, we headed back to find the boys, feeling kind of bad but toting our new souvenirs. We ended up running into them on the street, and they informed us they had left us a note saying they wouldn’t have time for the palace since their flight was earlier then they thought. We took a group shot, said our goodbyes, and went home to pick up our stuff. We lugged our suitcases (glad I had my frame pack) on the tram back into town, and left our stuff in the basement of Alkan’s shop. Again, quite a helpful friend we made. We spent around 2 hours in Topkapi Palace (a 20 lira ticket : ( ) but didn’t do any guided tours or anything, just walked around the grounds. Huge, could have been an all day endeavor. We saw the treasuries, gardens, lots of rooms across the grounds, but unfortunately again didn’t have time to tour the Harem and family quarters before they closed. Oh well. Really pretty regardless.
We stopped for dinner along the bridge at the boat we had been saying we should eat at since we first passed on day 1. These boats lined the shore, rocking back and forth, full of grills where men in funny outfits cooked fish, allll day. They passed the fish, in a hard roll with lettuce and onion, across the gap from water to land, to more men who served them to customers at little tables. For 4 lira, we ate fish sandwiches with lemon juice. Mine had a lot of bones. But that’s ok. For 4 lira, it was wonderful. And quite an experience.
In a bit of a hurry, we went back to the Alkan’s shop, and changed for our overnight bus. The travel agent met us there, walked us around the corner to his shop, where we played with his cats, and one tiny baby kitten, while waiting for the shuttle to come get us. The shuttle dropped us off in a random parking lot, where we, very confusedly, loaded our luggage and ourselves onto a coach bus. We found out we had the back seats, which for a 10 hour bus ride did not excite little carsick me. Once we had stopped at multiple pick up points, I found an empty seat close to the front and fortunately was able to spread out across two seats. The other spread out in the back. I took a Tylenol PM, and attempted to sleep my way to Cappadocia. Didn’t do too badly actually, despite the fact that the bus stopped every 4 hours for a bathroom. A bathroom that we had to pay for… And that wasn’t a toilet… Just a hole in the ground in the stall… Whatever, it was the last bathroom for a while and we had to make due. Passed out again on the bus, and at 7am arrived in Cappadocia.
TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO BECKY, HALLIE, JAKS, AND ELLEN NEXT, TUNE IN NEXT TIME! THANKSGIVING IN TURKEY PART II – CAPPADOCIA, COMING SOON!
Hallie, Ellen, Jaks and I left early Friday morning, the 27th. We knew we were off to a great start when our cab driver looked at us and blasted club music at 7:30am. The flight there was relatively uneventful, 2 hours, smooth, and we arrived at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. We waited in line for our visas, which cost us $20, but Jaks, the Canadian of the group, had to pay $60. Isn’t it usually Americans that get the bad travel name?? Whatever. We went outside, grabbed a cab, and the driver looked exactly what I imagined a Turkish man to look like. Exactly. He had long curlyish hair, and leather jacket, like a Turkish Uncle Jesse. We sat in traffic for a while, maybe because of the Feast of the Sacrifice starting that day. Our book had recommended not traveling the first few days of the Holiday, and we were hoping we wouldn’t regret not listening. The cab driver didn’t speak English, and didn’t know where the hostel was, and we had the phone number but not the address, so Uncle Jesse called from his cell phone. Next thing we knew, a large Turkish Man met us on the street and walked us there. How sweet! He was the owner of the Chambers of the Boheme, and he turned out to be a great asset on our adventures. We dropped off our bags, and set out on our first adventure in Istanbul.
Because of the Feast of the Sacrifice, we had been informed most things would not be open, so we didn’t have much of a plan for day one. We had also been told that families sacrifice goats and sheep on their lawns to commemorate the day, and we half expected to run into a sacrifice. Good news though, the ritual indicated that the family eats 1/3, shares 1/3 with neighbors, and gives 1/3 to strangers and the poor. We could have ended up with a goat sandwich! But we didn’t. Instead we ate every, and I mean every street food we passed. This included Doner Kebab (Turkish showarma), Mussels stuffed with seasoned rice, which the guy shucked and fed us, roasted chestnuts, popcorn, chocolate fountain dipped fruit, all cheap and (almost) all delicious. We walked the trek from our part of town South across the bridge into the old city, just exploring along the way. We walked through alleys covered in graffiti of fists and eyes, across the bridge full of fisherman selling their catch, and just explored the city at sundown. Looking for a Turkish Bath, we ended up in a rather sketchy part of town, so we turned back and just went to see the Mosques in the dark. We stumbled upon a Mosque accepting visitors, and took off our shoes to enter just in time for prayer. It was beautifully tiled and decorated floor to ceiling. We watched a bit, then left as the place closed after prayer. We found out later it was the New Mosque. We walked down the main streets of the city from there, sampling Turkish Delight at every store with a tray out, but not buying anything. Rude? Maybe. Cheap. Certainly. On the way home, through the streets of Istanbul, we had more mussels, which quickly became a trend on the trip, some honey pastry stick things, stopped to use the McDonalds bathroom, and walked back across the bridge home to Taksim Square.
Back in Taksim, the restaurant, shopping, and bar centre of city on the North side of the bridge, we decided to find a place to go out for some food. Yes, more food. No judging. We were experiencing culture. We got a apple/mint nargila and an appetizer platter of traditional Turkish snacks. The guys working there spent most of the evening in the upstairs section with us, telling us about the country and what we should see. They invited us to come out the next night, which didn’t happen, but it was still the first impression we got of how nice and friendly Turkish people were. Another trend we would discover.
Day 2, Saturday, we woke up to our free breakfast in the Café Boheme next to our hostel. Sufficient meal, certainly, of hard boiled eggs, bread with various spreads, and some veggies and olives. We decided to take the shuttle/tram into the old city this time, with the goal of first visiting Topkapi Palace. We asked an orange vested man in the station, and he circled Topkapi Station for us and told us how to get there. We got off at Topkapi, a lot further down than we thought it was, and a nice man approached us asking if we needed help. When we said we were looking for the Palace, he laughed. We were in the completely wrong place. Fortunately, he was headed the direction we were supposed to be going, so he offered to lead the way. On the way, we mentioned we were thinking of planning a few days in Cappadocia or Ephesus and asked if he had any suggestions which. He said his friend was a travel agent, and he would take us there. We got off the tram, stopped by the gift shop he owned, and then he took us to MYSIA Travel Agency to introduce us to his friend. We told him what we were thinking, and $230 later we had booked a travel package to Cappadocia. It was fate. 2 overnight busses, saving us both plane fare and 2 nights of hotel, 2 full days of tours including lunch, 1 overnight hotel in Cappadocia, exactly what we needed. A lot of money, but based on the circumstances that had led us there, we knew we had to go for it.
After that, Alkan, our friend from the tram, led us to the visitor sights in the old city. Instead of Topkapi as we originally planned, we decided to first visit the Blue Mosque, which had been number 1 on my list. He took of his shoes and joined us inside! “Don’t you have to go to work” we asked? No! It’s a holiday! Perfect, our own private guide. The mosque, called Sultan Ahmet to the non tourist crown, was incredible. Large, gorgeous, again floor to ceiling decorations. Alkan led us through the square, pointing out monuments, then went on his way, leaving us at the entrance to Aya Sofia, telling us to meet him at his store later. Aya Sofia, or Hagia Sofia is the Church of Holy Wisdom. The others talked me into paying an extra 10 lira each to get a guided tour. A nice Australian family joined us, as our guide, a history teacher, led us through the church converted to a mosque , telling us stories of the artists, designers, and worshippers along the way. Turns out it was the world’s largest Christian place of worship for a while, before converted in 1453 and the artwork covered over by Islamic work. When the place was declared a museum, the work was uncovered, perfectly preserved by accident. Cool.
After the tour we went back to the gift shop, where Alkan took us to meet another friend of his, a restaurant owner. Is there anyone we need on this adventure that he doesn’t know? He joined us, and got us a 7 lira price special for a sampling of everything the guy had made hat day. We ate in style, nice home cooked comfort food. Its nice to be full on a budget! After our late lunch, we went to the Basilica Cistern, since we didn’t want to limit our time at the Topkapi Palace and put that off for the next day. It turned out to be amazing. An underground cistern, full of red lights illuminating pillars, and this dark, wet, eerie air. In one corner was 2 Medusa heads, one on its side and one upside down. No one knows why apparently. It was really one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen, not sure I can even place why.
After the old city, we headed back to Taksim area to do some shopping and walk the streets. On the train we met a guy from San Francisco, who we chatted with for a bit and found out he was visiting Turkey after a wedding in Tel Aviv. He was overnight bussing to Cappadocia that night, as we were doing the next day. More on him later. In Taksim, again, the streets were packed with people, mostly men. We stopped at the hostel for a nap, then went to meet Buket, a friend of Hallie’s from her study abroad in Australia who lived just outside of Istanbul. She took us to a restaurant she would have gone to with her family, good, classic, Turkish cooking. We had beef in this cream and eggplant sauce that was so rich and sooo delicious. Dessert was rice pudding and shredded wheat pastry with pistachio and cheese. Wow. We ate well that night, and like a local. Buket then took us to the bar area of Taksim and we hopped a few different places trying local beer and wine. Pretty tired, we said our goodbyes and went back to the hostel.
That wasn’t the end of that night though. Hallie crawled into bed, and on the way to the bathroom to get ready for bed, we met the boys across the hall at the hostel, whom we had said hello to earlier. Jarkko from Finland, Egert from Estonia, and Gabriel from Italy, all studying together in Ankara. We referred to them as Finland, Estonia, and Italy, and they called us Chicago, Texas, Canada, and New York respectably. They were about to head out, and wanted us to come with. Because Hallie had already turned in, we convinced them to stay in the hostel and they went out to get beers and snacks. We ended up staying up crazy late talking Israeli Politics (one of them was in a class and studying the topic on the plane), and life. At almost 3:00, I decided since we were planning to wake up at 8 that I would head to bed. Sometimes I hate when people aren’t smart, because Ellen and Jaks stayed up almost all night with them. In the morning, at 8, Hallie and I woke up and started getting ready. When they weren’t moving, we told them they were leaving without them and they both slept an extra few hours. Hallie and I trudged through the rain to Dulmabahce Palace, on our side of the bridge. We had student ids, so we got in for a full guided tour for 1 lira, as opposed to the usual 15 I think. Nicely done. We saw incredible chandeliers made of red crystal, crystal staircases, and some gorgeous curtains, rugs, and wall décor. The tour lasted an hour, and we had a ways to walk to meet them again, so we had to skip part 2 of the tour, the Harem and family quarters more in depth. For 1 lira, though, a-ok with me. We walked back, uphill this time, and met Ellen and Jaks just in time for the end of our free breakfast.
We found the boys again, woke them up, and said we would be back to pick them up to go to Topkapi Palace (finally) in 45 minutes. We went shopping. Over an hour later, we were still trying to pick out which lanterns we wanted to take home. I settled on a purple/blue/white one that glowed red. Jaks and Ellen both got different shades of browns and golds, and Hallie got a small yellow one. Can’t wait to have a nice place to hang it. Late, we headed back to find the boys, feeling kind of bad but toting our new souvenirs. We ended up running into them on the street, and they informed us they had left us a note saying they wouldn’t have time for the palace since their flight was earlier then they thought. We took a group shot, said our goodbyes, and went home to pick up our stuff. We lugged our suitcases (glad I had my frame pack) on the tram back into town, and left our stuff in the basement of Alkan’s shop. Again, quite a helpful friend we made. We spent around 2 hours in Topkapi Palace (a 20 lira ticket : ( ) but didn’t do any guided tours or anything, just walked around the grounds. Huge, could have been an all day endeavor. We saw the treasuries, gardens, lots of rooms across the grounds, but unfortunately again didn’t have time to tour the Harem and family quarters before they closed. Oh well. Really pretty regardless.
We stopped for dinner along the bridge at the boat we had been saying we should eat at since we first passed on day 1. These boats lined the shore, rocking back and forth, full of grills where men in funny outfits cooked fish, allll day. They passed the fish, in a hard roll with lettuce and onion, across the gap from water to land, to more men who served them to customers at little tables. For 4 lira, we ate fish sandwiches with lemon juice. Mine had a lot of bones. But that’s ok. For 4 lira, it was wonderful. And quite an experience.
In a bit of a hurry, we went back to the Alkan’s shop, and changed for our overnight bus. The travel agent met us there, walked us around the corner to his shop, where we played with his cats, and one tiny baby kitten, while waiting for the shuttle to come get us. The shuttle dropped us off in a random parking lot, where we, very confusedly, loaded our luggage and ourselves onto a coach bus. We found out we had the back seats, which for a 10 hour bus ride did not excite little carsick me. Once we had stopped at multiple pick up points, I found an empty seat close to the front and fortunately was able to spread out across two seats. The other spread out in the back. I took a Tylenol PM, and attempted to sleep my way to Cappadocia. Didn’t do too badly actually, despite the fact that the bus stopped every 4 hours for a bathroom. A bathroom that we had to pay for… And that wasn’t a toilet… Just a hole in the ground in the stall… Whatever, it was the last bathroom for a while and we had to make due. Passed out again on the bus, and at 7am arrived in Cappadocia.
TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO BECKY, HALLIE, JAKS, AND ELLEN NEXT, TUNE IN NEXT TIME! THANKSGIVING IN TURKEY PART II – CAPPADOCIA, COMING SOON!
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