If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
After a whirlwind trip through Western Europe (see pictures here), I was lucky enough to have a little over 2 days back in Istanbul again. I got to say a proper goodbye to my favorite products of Kansas (and Oklahoma/Portland/wherever you consider yourself from, Shakira), eat some delicious food (to see my food album, click here), and ensure that my last memories of Istanbul would be good ones.
They are.
But I suppose this is my “goodbye for now” post.
While staying in a hostel in the city I’ve lived in for four and a half months doesn’t make much sense, I ended up staying near Sultanahmet, right in the heart of the touristy part of Istanbul. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sultanahmet and the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, etc, but I don’t really love tourists.
In some ways, I feel like this city is mine. It’s my home, I cheer for its sports teams, and its citizens are like family. I have favorite restaurants whose waiters know my order, I can use its public transport like a pro, and it’s a place I’m proud to call home. While I appreciate tourists for pumping some life into Turkey’s economy, I feel like they’re invading. And it’s personal.
People come to Istanbul and see the aforementioned touristy things and leave with the impression that Sultanahmet and Taksim are Turkey. They’re not. Turkey is just as diverse as America in some ways. There is abject poverty and extreme lavishness. There is delicious food, and some…not so delicious food. There is kindness, a genuine sense of caring for fellow man despite being in a city of upwards of 15 million people, and yes, there is also crime. There are beautiful buildings and views of the Bosphorus, and there are slum neighborhoods.
Sure, Turkey is also different than the United States.
There are very few single-family homes in Turkey (but really, why do we need so much space if not to separate us further?).
Turkey is also a predominately Muslim country. America is still a majority Protestant country, but what does that have to do with anything? One of the most frustrating things about talking to people about my study abroad experience is dealing with their preconceived notions about Islam. Yes, the terrorists who were responsible for 9/11 followed Islam, but they were radicals. Let’s not forget that there are radical Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, etc everywhere. Religions teach about love and acceptance, but hatred breeds hatred. And Turkey is not hateful.
Turkey may not have reached the level of modernization of other European nations, but it’s getting there. Its public transport system seems to grow by the day and there are very few (if any) homeless people. They take care of their own. The city is meticulously cleaned throughout the day as well. A city of 15 million people sees it as a job to maintain the city’s honor by not littering. Novel concept, right?
Yes, Turkey shares borders with Syria, Iran, and Iraq. America shares borders with Canada and Mexico, so what?
Turkey also has its faults, too.
Problems with the Kurdish population remain a huge issue (somewhat comparable to Native Americans in the USA).
Gender inequality remains stark on some level. The glass ceiling is still in place.
Being gay is still practically a crime. Obligatory military service for males does not allow for gays to serve, but forces those who consider themselves to be gay to “prove” it in a humiliating manner.
There are few people with obvious mental retardation or birth defects. I’m not entirely sure why this is-if those people are hidden away from the public, if the defects are found before birth (and thus, the pregnancy is terminated-but this is not allowed under Turkish law), or if these defects are just extremely rare. It’s hard to classify this as a bad thing, but I’m just very unsure as to what the deal is.
Turkish bureaucracy remains entirely impossible to navigate, even for the Turks.
And after the elections of June 12th, the democratic future of Turkey under PM Erdoğan remains unclear with attempts to change the constitution being the focus of his campaign.
But despite its faults, I can honestly say that this has been one of the best experiences of my life.
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Coming into this experience, people couldn’t understand why I wanted to come to Turkey, and honestly, I didn’t really know either. At first, I thought of studying in London, but my older (and sometimes wiser) sister told me to pick somewhere different. Things just fell to random chance in picking Istanbul. Yes, I’m a history/political science double major, but I had not once taken a class on anything remotely related to Turkey. In the end, I still don’t know how I ended up here, but I’m glad I did.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
I came into this experience with a lot of fears and preconceived notions of Turkey and its people, especially with having not lived in a big city in my life. I only knew how to say “hello” in Turkish (and have only progressed to ordering food), feared for my safety in such a large city, and was afraid that the city would swallow me whole. I wondered what the experience of being an ethnic minority would be like. Instead, I found a city that welcomed me with open arms and took care of me like I were its daughter, despite the fact that I look nothing like a Turk (they consider themselves to be what we could call “white” by the way. Some food for thought).
Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is about as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.
There is a tendency for us to get lost in the shuffle of a big city, allowing ourselves to just be a nameless face. But sometimes that’s necessary. Sometimes we need to see that the world is bigger than just us, just our wants, needs, desires, worries. Having grown up in smaller areas my entire life, I needed to see that the world did not revolve around me, and it was humbling. Sure, I still worried about problems in my own life, but there were millions of people around me who have the privilege of seeing the same city I did every day, and it made me not feel so alone.
Travel.
It’s hard to pick a favorite part of my experience, or something that I will miss the most. The truth is, I will miss all of it. I’ll miss the crowded buses and trams, the car horns, and the crazy traffic. I’ll miss the call to prayer, the city’s landmarks, and my favorite restaurants. I’ll miss walks along the Bosphorus, being on the continental divide, and my walk to school. I’ll miss the food, the people, and even the smell. Most of all, I’ll miss feeling at home.
Advice is a form of nostalgia.
Writing this blog has been an experience as well. At times, I didn’t take pictures of things because I wanted to keep that moment to myself. The blog has shared the past four months of my life with you and sometimes, I just needed moments to myself. I didn’t write about everything here, either. I hope that one day, you get the opportunity to travel to Turkey and can experience the things that I never told you about. Sometimes, you just need to see and do things rather than reading about them. Try Istanbul out, and you’ll see what I mean.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Well, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back on photos of yourself and recall in a way that you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you.
I remain grateful for the days I had in Istanbul, the travel around Turkey and Europe I’ve been able to do, and the memories I’ve made. I left with no regrets of places I wanted to go but never got around to, foods I wanted to try but never had the courage, or time I wish I had cherished. Instead, I left with promises to return, a carry on suitcase, and a few kilos of baklava.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Adventures on the Aegean
When my parents came to visit, they were kind enough to take myself and several of my friends to Bodrum, a very cute resort area on Turkey’s Aegean coast. We ended up staying a bit outside the city.
It was the first weekend we had where we were able to relax and sit on a beach (or a quasi beach) and not have to worry about where we were going to travel to next. It was a really great luxury.
Alongside sitting on the beach, we also traveled to the Greek island of Kos, about 4km away from Bodrum.
Kos was a very pretty island with lots of Roman ruins as well as lots of things dedicated to Hippocrates as that was his birthplace. We ended up walking around the city for a bit until starting our (what else?) food tour. We had some gyros, Greek baklava (which is incredibly inferior to Turkish baklava) and iced coffee. It was a very nice, short day trip.
I know this blog entry is incredibly short, but we really didn’t do much that weekend. It was, like I said, a very relaxing time that was pretty necessary for all of us before we started exams.
To see pictures (they're in the same album as my Assos and Antalya pictures): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1408720983311.2035681.1391040260&l=9b0e5229b7
It was the first weekend we had where we were able to relax and sit on a beach (or a quasi beach) and not have to worry about where we were going to travel to next. It was a really great luxury.
Alongside sitting on the beach, we also traveled to the Greek island of Kos, about 4km away from Bodrum.
Kos was a very pretty island with lots of Roman ruins as well as lots of things dedicated to Hippocrates as that was his birthplace. We ended up walking around the city for a bit until starting our (what else?) food tour. We had some gyros, Greek baklava (which is incredibly inferior to Turkish baklava) and iced coffee. It was a very nice, short day trip.
I know this blog entry is incredibly short, but we really didn’t do much that weekend. It was, like I said, a very relaxing time that was pretty necessary for all of us before we started exams.
To see pictures (they're in the same album as my Assos and Antalya pictures): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1408720983311.2035681.1391040260&l=9b0e5229b7
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Saying goodbye to Istanbul...
for now.
Before my update on the bombing here, my parents were in town for roughly ten days. I acted as a tour guide (yay) and showed them some of my favorite parts of Istanbul. They then treated myself and several of my friends to a very chill weekend in Bodrum, a town on the Aegean Sea. It was really nice to just have a weekend to relax. Oh, we also went to Greece for the day (the island of Kos).
I am hastily writing this entry and failing at being any sort of descriptive due to the fact that I leave in less than 24 hours for a 10 day excursion to Western Europe (UK, Ireland, Spain). Really not excited for the pound/euro but it will be really cool to see where some of my ancestors are from (hello McCormick, Johnston heritage!).
I will return to Istanbul for 2 and a half days before saying my final goodbye. I don't even want to go there. Expect some updates on Western Europe adventures followed by a very sappy, emotional goodbye to Istanbul (as well as pictures when I get around to it).
Can't believe I'll be waking up in America in 2 weeks. I'm so thankful for every single day I've had here.
Iyi akşamlar!
Before my update on the bombing here, my parents were in town for roughly ten days. I acted as a tour guide (yay) and showed them some of my favorite parts of Istanbul. They then treated myself and several of my friends to a very chill weekend in Bodrum, a town on the Aegean Sea. It was really nice to just have a weekend to relax. Oh, we also went to Greece for the day (the island of Kos).
I am hastily writing this entry and failing at being any sort of descriptive due to the fact that I leave in less than 24 hours for a 10 day excursion to Western Europe (UK, Ireland, Spain). Really not excited for the pound/euro but it will be really cool to see where some of my ancestors are from (hello McCormick, Johnston heritage!).
I will return to Istanbul for 2 and a half days before saying my final goodbye. I don't even want to go there. Expect some updates on Western Europe adventures followed by a very sappy, emotional goodbye to Istanbul (as well as pictures when I get around to it).
Can't believe I'll be waking up in America in 2 weeks. I'm so thankful for every single day I've had here.
Iyi akşamlar!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Just a quick update...
For those of you who have seen it in the news, yes, there was a bombing in Istanbul on Thursday. Yes, it did go off very near to where I live. Yes, I am fine. (Read an article here. The NY Times also covered the bombing). Yes, things like this are scary, especially when in a foreign country. Yes, Turkey is a predominately Muslim country. No, that doesn't have anything to do with anything. There is no al-Qaeda, no Hezbollah; this has nothing to do with jihad. There is, however, Turkish hospitality, Turkish food, Turkish culture, Turkish life...and it all goes on.
Before you start jumping to conclusions about life in Turkey, remember that there are bombings, attacks, violence, petty crimes, etc going on right now throughout the world, in your backyard, in your nation, in your city. There are also fringe groups who do things like this every day, but when it happens in America (or wherever you may reside), does it change the way you view your own country; does it not usually make you more patriotic? This is the world we live in. I urge you to read some of my previous blog posts about Istanbul to try and understand how much I love this city and the way it has treated me for the past four months.
No, this is not how Istanbul is. This is not the welcoming city I have come to know and love. This is not indicative of the wonderful time I've had here. This is not usual or normal in any way. I came here for a challenge, wanting to go some place that would put me far out of my comfort zone. In reality, I found the place that truly put me in my comfort zone. Istanbul is my home, no matter where I was born.
Before you start jumping to conclusions about life in Turkey, remember that there are bombings, attacks, violence, petty crimes, etc going on right now throughout the world, in your backyard, in your nation, in your city. There are also fringe groups who do things like this every day, but when it happens in America (or wherever you may reside), does it change the way you view your own country; does it not usually make you more patriotic? This is the world we live in. I urge you to read some of my previous blog posts about Istanbul to try and understand how much I love this city and the way it has treated me for the past four months.
No, this is not how Istanbul is. This is not the welcoming city I have come to know and love. This is not indicative of the wonderful time I've had here. This is not usual or normal in any way. I came here for a challenge, wanting to go some place that would put me far out of my comfort zone. In reality, I found the place that truly put me in my comfort zone. Istanbul is my home, no matter where I was born.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
"My Passport Says 'HAHA'"
I know I keep only updating about my adventures outside of Istanbul and I am indeed sorry for this fact. It’s nothing against Istanbul, just writing about Istanbul makes me sad.
I remain so very appreciative for the time I’ve had here and the opportunities that studying abroad have afforded me, but my flight back to North Carolina is in a month and I just don’t want all of this to end. Going back and working at the grocery store is nice and all, but nothing will ever really compare to the view of another continent I get from my window every morning. If home is where the heart is, Istanbul is truly home.
That being said, I headed out of Istanbul again this past weekend to Budapest. Well, we intended it to be only Budapest, but I’ll get to that.
We flew out early Friday morning and got into Budapest mid-morning. I was super excited about the Hungarian currency (they’re in the EU but not on the Euro…thank God). The Hungarian forint is pretty cool but also very confusing. I’ve never carried around a 10,000 bill of anything before so having thousands of forints was somewhat amusing.
Anyways, after making our way from the airport, we (Emily and I, surprise, surprise) headed to our hostel and checked in. It was very nice and spacious with no bunk beds at a really reasonable price. I think my standards for places to sleep may have entirely dropped on this entire 5-month excursion I’ve been on, but this truly was a nice hostel.
We decided to head over the Danube to Buda (the city is actually split by the river into two cities-Buda and Pest) to explore Castle Hill. On the way we stopped to take many a photo of Parliament, the second largest in Europe in neo-Gothic style. Very pretty. We ended up walking around Castle Hill for a little bit before walking across the Chain Bridge to get dinner (and gelato) and calling it a night after being up since 5am.
The next morning we got up early and went to Parliament to get our tickets for the afternoon tour. You’re only allowed to tour Parliament under guided tour in French or English, but the opportunity to get in is one you should definitely take if ever in Budapest. By this time it was only about 9am so most things were not open. We stopped by a small coffee shop where Emily got a pastry and I stole their free internet to look up options for going to Bratislava, Slovakia the next day. Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Slovakia, why would you want to go there? Well, there was a poster in our hostel that advertised Bratislava and Emily and I just decided to have the one spontaneous moment in each of our lives occur in making the decision to go.
After checking visa restrictions (yay for the Schengen agreement) and cementing our decision on Slovakia, we walked around for a while until the church opened. St Stephen’s Basilica is the largest in the city and he is considered the founder of the state. The basilica was very pretty of course could not compare to that of St. Peter’s. On a creepy side note, you can pay money to see St. Stephen’s hand in the basilica but I was just not down for that.
We decided to go to the local market afterwards, which was full of different levels of producers. By that, I mean that the top floor was all handcrafts and souvenirs, the middle floor was produce, white meat, and some red meat, and the bottom floor was fish and game. I love the institution of a fresh food market (you know, especially with my grocery store background) and wish that people would embrace it more in the US. I like the idea of buying what you need only for the day so things are fresh, but I also understand the reasons why people come in with $800 grocery carts at work every week (hint: sarcasm).
We decided to then buy our tickets to Bratislava for the next day ($25 round trip…what) before getting necessary pastries for the next morning as well. We headed back to St. Stephen’s to climb to the top of the dome, one of the highest points in the city (and trust me, my legs would agree with you) before getting lunch and heading to Parliament for our tour.
While our access was fairly limited to one wing inside of Parliament, it was a very cool experience and piqued my polisci-nerd curiosity. My history-nerd curiosity was piqued by the mention of a WWII memorial on the shore of the Danube near the Parliament. This was honestly one of my favorite moments of the trip. The monument just looks like a bunch of shoes (metal) sitting on the shore, but it’s actually really powerful if you know the back story. The shoes represent Hungarian Jews killed assassination-style by Nazi forces as the Nazis entered the city. The bodies fell into the Danube and it’s overall just a pretty powerful thing. We actually saw these on the way to meet up for a Communist-themed walking tour, which segways into more recent Hungarian history.
Several people who grew up under communism in Hungary led the walking tour and hearing their personal stories about all different aspects of life was really an experience. We walked by random buildings that they pointed out for their communist-style architecture or importance to the regime at the time. As well, they pointed out a bunker (opposite the Vatican Embassy, randomly) that at one time served as an escape route for all the important communist leaders and their families. Afterwards we headed to Heroes’ Square and the castle nearby before heading to dinner.
Dinner consisted of two different crepe-style things (Hungarians call them pancakes) at a place run by Turkish people. We started laughing when they relayed the order to each other in Turkish and awkward conversations ensued. Nevertheless, my ham, mushroom, and cheese crepe was delicious, but not as delicious as the cinnamon-sugar, chocolate-sauce-covered one I had after it. All for under $3. Did I mention how much I love the forint?
The next morning we woke up and caught our train to Bratislava, seeing GORGEOUS Slovakian/Hungarian countryside on the way. Once in Bratislava, people of all different nationalities who were there for the International Hockey Championships greeted us. Completely random. We then headed in to the center of Bratislava to wander around for a little while. We ended up seeing St. Elizabeth’s church (CAROLINA BLUE, nonetheless), all the random little sculptures in the old city, and then ended up going to get really amazing goulash. I’m so serious. It was amazing and delicious but oh-so-filling. Never fear, it wasn’t filling enough to prevent me from getting chocolate mousse-cake. We wandered around the old city a little more, stopping to see this extremely narrow house/building/whatever, St. Michael’s gate, and a cool dial that listed the distances from important world cities from that very spot. No Chapel Hill, NC listed unfortunately. Afterwards, we caught our train back to Budapest, going through gorgeous countryside again on the way back. All in all, totally worth the $25 splurge to see Slovakia.
Unfortunately we had to get up at 3 am (…) the next morning to catch our 4am train to the airport for our 6am flight. However, the best part of the day occurred when my passport was stamped. Both of my Hungary stamps sit next to my Austria stamps. You know what that means? HAHA. Okay, so maybe only I get a kick out of that but oh well (I was also hoping for a stamp in Slovakia to go next to my Italy one-Si, si!).
All in all, Budapest and Bratislava were great cities and one that I would be really interested in going back to in the future to see how they’ve changed. Yet again, this trip just cemented how much I love living in Istanbul. It was just nice to come home here.
My parents will be here for the next week and a few days. We’re going to Bodrum and hopefully Rhodes this weekend with some friends for what will hopefully be a very relaxed weekend in the sun. I’ve done my fair share of traveling but have not really had a single day of just vacationing and I think I’m just due for one.
Anyways, you can check out my pictures here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1428007185454.2036642.1391040260&l=5f7459aa10
Starting the count down for Emily and I’s visit to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Madrid, and Barcelona (18 days)! Not starting the count down for my return to North Carolina ):
I remain so very appreciative for the time I’ve had here and the opportunities that studying abroad have afforded me, but my flight back to North Carolina is in a month and I just don’t want all of this to end. Going back and working at the grocery store is nice and all, but nothing will ever really compare to the view of another continent I get from my window every morning. If home is where the heart is, Istanbul is truly home.
That being said, I headed out of Istanbul again this past weekend to Budapest. Well, we intended it to be only Budapest, but I’ll get to that.
We flew out early Friday morning and got into Budapest mid-morning. I was super excited about the Hungarian currency (they’re in the EU but not on the Euro…thank God). The Hungarian forint is pretty cool but also very confusing. I’ve never carried around a 10,000 bill of anything before so having thousands of forints was somewhat amusing.
Anyways, after making our way from the airport, we (Emily and I, surprise, surprise) headed to our hostel and checked in. It was very nice and spacious with no bunk beds at a really reasonable price. I think my standards for places to sleep may have entirely dropped on this entire 5-month excursion I’ve been on, but this truly was a nice hostel.
We decided to head over the Danube to Buda (the city is actually split by the river into two cities-Buda and Pest) to explore Castle Hill. On the way we stopped to take many a photo of Parliament, the second largest in Europe in neo-Gothic style. Very pretty. We ended up walking around Castle Hill for a little bit before walking across the Chain Bridge to get dinner (and gelato) and calling it a night after being up since 5am.
The next morning we got up early and went to Parliament to get our tickets for the afternoon tour. You’re only allowed to tour Parliament under guided tour in French or English, but the opportunity to get in is one you should definitely take if ever in Budapest. By this time it was only about 9am so most things were not open. We stopped by a small coffee shop where Emily got a pastry and I stole their free internet to look up options for going to Bratislava, Slovakia the next day. Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Slovakia, why would you want to go there? Well, there was a poster in our hostel that advertised Bratislava and Emily and I just decided to have the one spontaneous moment in each of our lives occur in making the decision to go.
After checking visa restrictions (yay for the Schengen agreement) and cementing our decision on Slovakia, we walked around for a while until the church opened. St Stephen’s Basilica is the largest in the city and he is considered the founder of the state. The basilica was very pretty of course could not compare to that of St. Peter’s. On a creepy side note, you can pay money to see St. Stephen’s hand in the basilica but I was just not down for that.
We decided to go to the local market afterwards, which was full of different levels of producers. By that, I mean that the top floor was all handcrafts and souvenirs, the middle floor was produce, white meat, and some red meat, and the bottom floor was fish and game. I love the institution of a fresh food market (you know, especially with my grocery store background) and wish that people would embrace it more in the US. I like the idea of buying what you need only for the day so things are fresh, but I also understand the reasons why people come in with $800 grocery carts at work every week (hint: sarcasm).
We decided to then buy our tickets to Bratislava for the next day ($25 round trip…what) before getting necessary pastries for the next morning as well. We headed back to St. Stephen’s to climb to the top of the dome, one of the highest points in the city (and trust me, my legs would agree with you) before getting lunch and heading to Parliament for our tour.
While our access was fairly limited to one wing inside of Parliament, it was a very cool experience and piqued my polisci-nerd curiosity. My history-nerd curiosity was piqued by the mention of a WWII memorial on the shore of the Danube near the Parliament. This was honestly one of my favorite moments of the trip. The monument just looks like a bunch of shoes (metal) sitting on the shore, but it’s actually really powerful if you know the back story. The shoes represent Hungarian Jews killed assassination-style by Nazi forces as the Nazis entered the city. The bodies fell into the Danube and it’s overall just a pretty powerful thing. We actually saw these on the way to meet up for a Communist-themed walking tour, which segways into more recent Hungarian history.
Several people who grew up under communism in Hungary led the walking tour and hearing their personal stories about all different aspects of life was really an experience. We walked by random buildings that they pointed out for their communist-style architecture or importance to the regime at the time. As well, they pointed out a bunker (opposite the Vatican Embassy, randomly) that at one time served as an escape route for all the important communist leaders and their families. Afterwards we headed to Heroes’ Square and the castle nearby before heading to dinner.
Dinner consisted of two different crepe-style things (Hungarians call them pancakes) at a place run by Turkish people. We started laughing when they relayed the order to each other in Turkish and awkward conversations ensued. Nevertheless, my ham, mushroom, and cheese crepe was delicious, but not as delicious as the cinnamon-sugar, chocolate-sauce-covered one I had after it. All for under $3. Did I mention how much I love the forint?
The next morning we woke up and caught our train to Bratislava, seeing GORGEOUS Slovakian/Hungarian countryside on the way. Once in Bratislava, people of all different nationalities who were there for the International Hockey Championships greeted us. Completely random. We then headed in to the center of Bratislava to wander around for a little while. We ended up seeing St. Elizabeth’s church (CAROLINA BLUE, nonetheless), all the random little sculptures in the old city, and then ended up going to get really amazing goulash. I’m so serious. It was amazing and delicious but oh-so-filling. Never fear, it wasn’t filling enough to prevent me from getting chocolate mousse-cake. We wandered around the old city a little more, stopping to see this extremely narrow house/building/whatever, St. Michael’s gate, and a cool dial that listed the distances from important world cities from that very spot. No Chapel Hill, NC listed unfortunately. Afterwards, we caught our train back to Budapest, going through gorgeous countryside again on the way back. All in all, totally worth the $25 splurge to see Slovakia.
Unfortunately we had to get up at 3 am (…) the next morning to catch our 4am train to the airport for our 6am flight. However, the best part of the day occurred when my passport was stamped. Both of my Hungary stamps sit next to my Austria stamps. You know what that means? HAHA. Okay, so maybe only I get a kick out of that but oh well (I was also hoping for a stamp in Slovakia to go next to my Italy one-Si, si!).
All in all, Budapest and Bratislava were great cities and one that I would be really interested in going back to in the future to see how they’ve changed. Yet again, this trip just cemented how much I love living in Istanbul. It was just nice to come home here.
My parents will be here for the next week and a few days. We’re going to Bodrum and hopefully Rhodes this weekend with some friends for what will hopefully be a very relaxed weekend in the sun. I’ve done my fair share of traveling but have not really had a single day of just vacationing and I think I’m just due for one.
Anyways, you can check out my pictures here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1428007185454.2036642.1391040260&l=5f7459aa10
Starting the count down for Emily and I’s visit to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Madrid, and Barcelona (18 days)! Not starting the count down for my return to North Carolina ):
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Waddling through Italy
It’s been quite a whirlwind two weeks but I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder to call Istanbul home.
Melanie and Ian came to visit for a week so I got to act as their tour (food) guide in the city. Hopefully I was successful in conveying my absolute love for Istanbul and baklava. It was good to see them again and show off the city.
This past week was our spring break at school and my two good Kansas State-ians Beth and Shannon and I went adventuring in Italy (insert thousands of exclamation points here).
If you know me at all, you know that I love food and Italy was just the apex of everything delicious that I love (gelato, pasta, tiramisu, gnocchi, etc).
Before leaving, we decided to get out and go see the wonderful tulips of Istanbul in bloom. The tulip festival is going on right now and there are thousands upon thousands of all different types/colors/shapes of tulips throughout Istanbul. The tulip is actually native to the Ottoman Empire and was popularized after northern Europeans brought them back and began to grow them. A lot of Ottoman symbolism and sultan’s patterns incorporate tulips as it was indicative of royalty.
The park we went to (Emirgan) was just a short walk and bus ride away from our neighborhood. It is also one of the most well-known locations in Istanbul for tulip-appreciation. I can only really say that it definitely lived up to that stereotype and was absolutely gorgeous. I was just overwhelmed with all the tulips and was impressed with the red and blue tulips planted in the shape of Turkey with the Turkish symbol inside. Clever.
After the park, we made sure we were all packed and headed to Italy(!)
We arrived fairly late Saturday night and received a lame, faint passport stamp (I was not satisfied with my life) before heading to our hostel. We had booked 3 beds in a 6 bed room but when we showed up, there were only 2 empty beds (keep in mind that it was about 1 am). The hostel staff had to wake up the people in the room and kick a girl out. Her friend was in the room and they just decided to move her from another room. Talk about seriously awkward.
We woke up Sunday (Easter) and attempted to head towards the Colosseum, only to find that the line to get in for tickets was about two hours long. We decided to put that off for the following weekend and headed instead for a walk around town. We stopped in the Piazza Navona and had some pizza before heading on a walk to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, St. Peter’s Square (we were curious about Easter crowds…and wanted to see the Pope), Piazza del Popolo, and Pantheon. Lots of walking was involved but absolutely worth it. Seeing the things you see only in pictures in movies and don’t think you’ll get to see until you’re old and on a tour bus was really incredible. I can only really say that the pictures don’t do any of them justice…my pictures especially. We stopped for dinner near the Pantheon where I had a typical spaghetti dish (but with bacon…I’ve missed pork. Sue me) and some really great bruschetta with amazingly fresh tomatoes. After dinner, we hobbled/waddled (only the beginning of a wonderful food journey) over to Giolitti-the gelato chain that fell from heaven. There’s actually a branch in Istanbul but of course it does not measure up to the glory that is Giolitti in Rome. We made a pact to eat gelato at least once a day. My first Giolitti creation consisted of Gnutella (t was like cold, creamier Nutella. Love.), white chocolate, and dark chocolate. If I was waddling after dinner, trust me, I was waddling around after gelato…but it was all worth it. The waddling quickly turned into a face-paced walk as we headed to our hostel to collect our bags, check out, and head to the train station for our over night train to Venice. We got a sleeper car because it was the only option but it was actually a good night’s sleep before arriving in Venice at…
5:30am. Sounds awful, yes, I know. However, we got to walk around in Venice when it was empty as we headed to check in. It was kind of refreshing and a really nice perspective on the city to see the Venetians going to work and going about their daily lives outside of all the tourists that visit. After leaving our bags at the hotel, we went off to explore Venice. We went to the Rialto bridge and Saint Mark’s square, where we saw the processional for what appeared to be a celebration for St. Mark’s day (coincidence). We went up the tower and got a really amazing view of Venice and were also up there when the bells went off which was fun. We decided to get sandwiches at a place called “Sandwich Row” which were delicious and cheap, always a good combination. After lunch, we went to mass inside the church which was interesting to say the least. Hearing everything read/said/sung in Italian was kind of hard to follow but was totally made up for by the extreme ornate-ness of the church (imagine gold tile EVERYWHERE). We then got the necessary gelato (dark chocolate and strawberry) before taking a water taxi to the island of Murano. The island is famous for its glass-blowing factories. We didn’t get to see any glass-blowing but lots of amazing shops with really cool (but expensive) jewelry and other things.
After heading back to Venice from Murano, we were hungry and searching for some good, non-touristy food places. We ended up stumbling down a side-alley to a place with a different menu everyday that was handwritten on a piece of paper. Really good sign. We entered and decided to just go all (okay kind of) out and order several courses. I ordered the beef carpaccio as my first dish and the gnocchi as my second dish. Both were amazing and delicious beyond words. The three of us decided to split a tiramisu for dessert. Shannon had never had tiramisu before and I think her bar was probably extremely high after this. After dinner, we waddled (again) back to the hotel, which was situated on a nice, quiet side street with a really pretty garden in the background. Possibly one of the soundest nights of sleep I’ve ever gotten.
The next morning we woke up to a buffet breakfast in the garden at the hotel before going to buy train tickets for Florence in the afternoon. We bought tickets on a 4pm train and had plenty of time to just get lost in Venice. We wandered down random side streets and alleys, taking artsy photos along the way (or I tried to, at least. Beth and Shannon are much better than I am). I bought two small paintings from a local artist after deciding that small paintings would be my souvenirs from each city. We had sandwiches again for lunch (fresh mozzarella and salami) and more wonderful gelato (dark chocolate and a stracciatella mixture with tiramisu) in a cup made out of cone-like material. Nifty! After wandering around, we headed to our train and made the journey to Florence, passing through some pretty scenery on the way into Tuscany.
After arriving in Florence, we met up with Shannon and Beth’s friend who is studying abroad there. She ended up showing us around for the next 3 days and was very nice and helpful. I’m excited to return the favor when she’s in Istanbul. We dropped our bags off at our hostel and set off to have a picnic at the Piazza di Michelangelo overlook, where we got to see all the lights in Florence light up the night sky. Cliché, but very pretty.
We woke up the next morning and booked tickets to see the Statue of David. Beforehand, we headed to the famous duomo in Florence, which was a lot less ornate than the church in Venice, but a very welcome change. We grabbed lunch at another place with a handwritten daily menu, where I got pasta al pomodoro, which was actually really mushy bread that kind of looks like smushed cous cous with onions and tomatoes. We also all split a caprese salad that had amazingly fresh mozzarella. So much food love. I enjoyed a lemon-chocolate pastry after lunch and then headed to go see the David. No pictures were allowed inside but it was incredibly realistic. I thought he was going to just get off the pedestal and go Hulk on the annoyingly loud tour groups that came through, but alas, he did not spare us of that misery. We headed to meet Beth and Shannon’s friend afterwards for gelato and crossing the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge riddled with jewelry shops that were once leather shops. My daily gelato consisted of dark chocolate (of course) and a sweet cherry and plain gelato mixture that became my favorite fruity gelato. We sat on the riverbank and just had some quiet time in the city, which was much appreciated. After sitting and people watching for a while, we headed to dinner at a famous local pizza place. I got their special pizza: arugula, fresh cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella. Mouth watering. We headed back to our hostel after the really long day in preparation for the next day.
The next morning we woke up and met our “tour guide” across the bridge at a BAGEL PLACE. Seriously. I have not had a bagel in four months and if you know me and my food, this was just an amazing surprise. I got an everything bagel with plain cream cheese and fresh strawberries. Heavenly. Beth and I then wandered around the local market (crafts and food) before heading to look for paintings. We ended up talking with this Italian woman who lives outside of Florence and has lived there her entire life. The painting I bought is a Tuscan scene that’s literally just outside her back door. She was so passionate about her art and told us all about the different techniques she used. It was one of the coolest experiences of the trip. Afterwards, we met up with everyone and had lunch inside the fresh food market at a famous cafeteria-style place. I got their freshly-made pasta which was mouth-wateringly delicious. We then took a bus up to the town of Fiesole, a nearby town up in the hills of Tuscany with a gorgeous overlook of Florence. It was very peaceful and kind of easy to get lost in your own head looking out at the countryside. When I imagined Italy, I imagined the amazing countryside, and I definitely was lucky enough to see it. After heading back into Florence, we headed to dinner where we had “aperitivo.” The system works where if you pay for a drink, they allow you a plate and you get as much as you can eat appetizer-like food included. Lots of little finger foods that ended up being very satisfying.
The next morning, we caught the train back to Rome, passing through some really pretty small Italian towns. We left our bags at the train in Rome and went to go explore the Vatican, stopping to get another delicious salami and fresh mozzarella sandwich on the way. We got to the Vatican Museum to find no lines whatsoever to get in (and got student discounts…wooo!). It was honestly one of the most ornate things I have ever seen in my entire life. I am still kind of in brain shock over the Sistine Chapel because I can’t seem to convince myself that it was real. You see pictures of it growing up but I never thought I’d see it and so I can’t quite grasp the fact that I was indeed there. After the museum, we headed to St. Peter’s, entering the Basilica with perfect timing as the sun was shining through the windows. It was massive and ornate (duh) but also kind of creepy. There were two bodies that had gone through the beatification process into sainthood that were just on display in little wings of the Basilica. I was kind of creeped out. However, this was redeemed as I got to see the College of Cardinals file out after the mass that was going on while we were inside. Afterwards, we headed to dinner at a place that didn’t even have a menu. You sat down and they served you 5 courses of whatever they wanted to. We got bread, lentils, olives, and fresh-sliced salami and prosciutto as the first course. I was fairly full afterwards and was getting worried that my third stomach would not expand in time for the next four courses. The next course consisted of freshly made pasta of both the red and white-sauced varieties. Delicious. Course number three was pork (yum!), fresh mozzarella, and a squash dish that was amazing. Course number four was dessert: a cake that literally just tasted like peach cobbler. Finally, course number five was mandarin orange juice. Sounds weird but was amazingly delicious. We then headed for our gelato of the day necessity at where else? Giolitti, of course. I attempted to mix it up a bit and got regular chocolate and a sour cherry mixture. More wobbling ensued. We had some trouble finding our hotel since it was a bit out of the city but it’s done and over with so not much else to say about that.
The next morning we woke up and headed into the city. Beth and I got pastries and café con panna (coffee with whipped cream) before eating some cannoli in front of the Trevi Fountain. We also got small paintings in the Piazza Navona before splitting mushroom risotto and gnocchi with clams and mushrooms for lunch. We met Shannon and wandered in and out of shops to avoid the rain. We also had a final stop at Giolitti where I concluded my gelato-a-day lifestyle with a stracciatella and nocciola mixture-going real Italian. After walking around some more we then headed for dinner (our last meal!) which consisted of bruschetta and gnocchi in a white sauce for me. We decided we wanted to see Rome at night before we left, so we went to St. Peter’s as the sun set. The beatification of Pope John Paul II was the next day and crowds had already begun to camp out for the night. There were so many different nationalities and languages around us. It was a fairly powerful thing to see all of these people coming together for one thing, despite all of their differences. After leaving St. Peter’s (not before grabbing the free beatification program and newspaper among other things), we headed to the Piazza del Popolo, where we saw a man playing the sax and just listened to him for a bit. Next on our list were the Spanish Steps, ending by the Trevi Fountain (complete with a tiramisu dessert). We headed back to our hotel before having to wake up early to catch our flight.
I have to say that I was very impressed with Italy. It was cleaner, more welcoming, and an overall better experience all around than I had expected. As well, it just made me appreciate the fact that I’m studying abroad in Istanbul more. Our friend studying in Florence had many negative things to say about it: natives hating Americans, tourist haven, etc. I’m so grateful that things are the way they are here in Istanbul and that I was given the opportunity to study here.
This weekend, Emily and I are heading to Budapest. My parents will be here in about two weeks as well! Getting very excited.
For Italy pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1421036371188.2036438.1391040260&l=07c335019c
For tulip pictures (same album I posted before, just updated): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1408739663778.2035682.1391040260&l=5594f32fa6
Sorry for the LONG post!
Melanie and Ian came to visit for a week so I got to act as their tour (food) guide in the city. Hopefully I was successful in conveying my absolute love for Istanbul and baklava. It was good to see them again and show off the city.
This past week was our spring break at school and my two good Kansas State-ians Beth and Shannon and I went adventuring in Italy (insert thousands of exclamation points here).
If you know me at all, you know that I love food and Italy was just the apex of everything delicious that I love (gelato, pasta, tiramisu, gnocchi, etc).
Before leaving, we decided to get out and go see the wonderful tulips of Istanbul in bloom. The tulip festival is going on right now and there are thousands upon thousands of all different types/colors/shapes of tulips throughout Istanbul. The tulip is actually native to the Ottoman Empire and was popularized after northern Europeans brought them back and began to grow them. A lot of Ottoman symbolism and sultan’s patterns incorporate tulips as it was indicative of royalty.
The park we went to (Emirgan) was just a short walk and bus ride away from our neighborhood. It is also one of the most well-known locations in Istanbul for tulip-appreciation. I can only really say that it definitely lived up to that stereotype and was absolutely gorgeous. I was just overwhelmed with all the tulips and was impressed with the red and blue tulips planted in the shape of Turkey with the Turkish symbol inside. Clever.
After the park, we made sure we were all packed and headed to Italy(!)
We arrived fairly late Saturday night and received a lame, faint passport stamp (I was not satisfied with my life) before heading to our hostel. We had booked 3 beds in a 6 bed room but when we showed up, there were only 2 empty beds (keep in mind that it was about 1 am). The hostel staff had to wake up the people in the room and kick a girl out. Her friend was in the room and they just decided to move her from another room. Talk about seriously awkward.
We woke up Sunday (Easter) and attempted to head towards the Colosseum, only to find that the line to get in for tickets was about two hours long. We decided to put that off for the following weekend and headed instead for a walk around town. We stopped in the Piazza Navona and had some pizza before heading on a walk to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, St. Peter’s Square (we were curious about Easter crowds…and wanted to see the Pope), Piazza del Popolo, and Pantheon. Lots of walking was involved but absolutely worth it. Seeing the things you see only in pictures in movies and don’t think you’ll get to see until you’re old and on a tour bus was really incredible. I can only really say that the pictures don’t do any of them justice…my pictures especially. We stopped for dinner near the Pantheon where I had a typical spaghetti dish (but with bacon…I’ve missed pork. Sue me) and some really great bruschetta with amazingly fresh tomatoes. After dinner, we hobbled/waddled (only the beginning of a wonderful food journey) over to Giolitti-the gelato chain that fell from heaven. There’s actually a branch in Istanbul but of course it does not measure up to the glory that is Giolitti in Rome. We made a pact to eat gelato at least once a day. My first Giolitti creation consisted of Gnutella (t was like cold, creamier Nutella. Love.), white chocolate, and dark chocolate. If I was waddling after dinner, trust me, I was waddling around after gelato…but it was all worth it. The waddling quickly turned into a face-paced walk as we headed to our hostel to collect our bags, check out, and head to the train station for our over night train to Venice. We got a sleeper car because it was the only option but it was actually a good night’s sleep before arriving in Venice at…
5:30am. Sounds awful, yes, I know. However, we got to walk around in Venice when it was empty as we headed to check in. It was kind of refreshing and a really nice perspective on the city to see the Venetians going to work and going about their daily lives outside of all the tourists that visit. After leaving our bags at the hotel, we went off to explore Venice. We went to the Rialto bridge and Saint Mark’s square, where we saw the processional for what appeared to be a celebration for St. Mark’s day (coincidence). We went up the tower and got a really amazing view of Venice and were also up there when the bells went off which was fun. We decided to get sandwiches at a place called “Sandwich Row” which were delicious and cheap, always a good combination. After lunch, we went to mass inside the church which was interesting to say the least. Hearing everything read/said/sung in Italian was kind of hard to follow but was totally made up for by the extreme ornate-ness of the church (imagine gold tile EVERYWHERE). We then got the necessary gelato (dark chocolate and strawberry) before taking a water taxi to the island of Murano. The island is famous for its glass-blowing factories. We didn’t get to see any glass-blowing but lots of amazing shops with really cool (but expensive) jewelry and other things.
After heading back to Venice from Murano, we were hungry and searching for some good, non-touristy food places. We ended up stumbling down a side-alley to a place with a different menu everyday that was handwritten on a piece of paper. Really good sign. We entered and decided to just go all (okay kind of) out and order several courses. I ordered the beef carpaccio as my first dish and the gnocchi as my second dish. Both were amazing and delicious beyond words. The three of us decided to split a tiramisu for dessert. Shannon had never had tiramisu before and I think her bar was probably extremely high after this. After dinner, we waddled (again) back to the hotel, which was situated on a nice, quiet side street with a really pretty garden in the background. Possibly one of the soundest nights of sleep I’ve ever gotten.
The next morning we woke up to a buffet breakfast in the garden at the hotel before going to buy train tickets for Florence in the afternoon. We bought tickets on a 4pm train and had plenty of time to just get lost in Venice. We wandered down random side streets and alleys, taking artsy photos along the way (or I tried to, at least. Beth and Shannon are much better than I am). I bought two small paintings from a local artist after deciding that small paintings would be my souvenirs from each city. We had sandwiches again for lunch (fresh mozzarella and salami) and more wonderful gelato (dark chocolate and a stracciatella mixture with tiramisu) in a cup made out of cone-like material. Nifty! After wandering around, we headed to our train and made the journey to Florence, passing through some pretty scenery on the way into Tuscany.
After arriving in Florence, we met up with Shannon and Beth’s friend who is studying abroad there. She ended up showing us around for the next 3 days and was very nice and helpful. I’m excited to return the favor when she’s in Istanbul. We dropped our bags off at our hostel and set off to have a picnic at the Piazza di Michelangelo overlook, where we got to see all the lights in Florence light up the night sky. Cliché, but very pretty.
We woke up the next morning and booked tickets to see the Statue of David. Beforehand, we headed to the famous duomo in Florence, which was a lot less ornate than the church in Venice, but a very welcome change. We grabbed lunch at another place with a handwritten daily menu, where I got pasta al pomodoro, which was actually really mushy bread that kind of looks like smushed cous cous with onions and tomatoes. We also all split a caprese salad that had amazingly fresh mozzarella. So much food love. I enjoyed a lemon-chocolate pastry after lunch and then headed to go see the David. No pictures were allowed inside but it was incredibly realistic. I thought he was going to just get off the pedestal and go Hulk on the annoyingly loud tour groups that came through, but alas, he did not spare us of that misery. We headed to meet Beth and Shannon’s friend afterwards for gelato and crossing the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge riddled with jewelry shops that were once leather shops. My daily gelato consisted of dark chocolate (of course) and a sweet cherry and plain gelato mixture that became my favorite fruity gelato. We sat on the riverbank and just had some quiet time in the city, which was much appreciated. After sitting and people watching for a while, we headed to dinner at a famous local pizza place. I got their special pizza: arugula, fresh cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella. Mouth watering. We headed back to our hostel after the really long day in preparation for the next day.
The next morning we woke up and met our “tour guide” across the bridge at a BAGEL PLACE. Seriously. I have not had a bagel in four months and if you know me and my food, this was just an amazing surprise. I got an everything bagel with plain cream cheese and fresh strawberries. Heavenly. Beth and I then wandered around the local market (crafts and food) before heading to look for paintings. We ended up talking with this Italian woman who lives outside of Florence and has lived there her entire life. The painting I bought is a Tuscan scene that’s literally just outside her back door. She was so passionate about her art and told us all about the different techniques she used. It was one of the coolest experiences of the trip. Afterwards, we met up with everyone and had lunch inside the fresh food market at a famous cafeteria-style place. I got their freshly-made pasta which was mouth-wateringly delicious. We then took a bus up to the town of Fiesole, a nearby town up in the hills of Tuscany with a gorgeous overlook of Florence. It was very peaceful and kind of easy to get lost in your own head looking out at the countryside. When I imagined Italy, I imagined the amazing countryside, and I definitely was lucky enough to see it. After heading back into Florence, we headed to dinner where we had “aperitivo.” The system works where if you pay for a drink, they allow you a plate and you get as much as you can eat appetizer-like food included. Lots of little finger foods that ended up being very satisfying.
The next morning, we caught the train back to Rome, passing through some really pretty small Italian towns. We left our bags at the train in Rome and went to go explore the Vatican, stopping to get another delicious salami and fresh mozzarella sandwich on the way. We got to the Vatican Museum to find no lines whatsoever to get in (and got student discounts…wooo!). It was honestly one of the most ornate things I have ever seen in my entire life. I am still kind of in brain shock over the Sistine Chapel because I can’t seem to convince myself that it was real. You see pictures of it growing up but I never thought I’d see it and so I can’t quite grasp the fact that I was indeed there. After the museum, we headed to St. Peter’s, entering the Basilica with perfect timing as the sun was shining through the windows. It was massive and ornate (duh) but also kind of creepy. There were two bodies that had gone through the beatification process into sainthood that were just on display in little wings of the Basilica. I was kind of creeped out. However, this was redeemed as I got to see the College of Cardinals file out after the mass that was going on while we were inside. Afterwards, we headed to dinner at a place that didn’t even have a menu. You sat down and they served you 5 courses of whatever they wanted to. We got bread, lentils, olives, and fresh-sliced salami and prosciutto as the first course. I was fairly full afterwards and was getting worried that my third stomach would not expand in time for the next four courses. The next course consisted of freshly made pasta of both the red and white-sauced varieties. Delicious. Course number three was pork (yum!), fresh mozzarella, and a squash dish that was amazing. Course number four was dessert: a cake that literally just tasted like peach cobbler. Finally, course number five was mandarin orange juice. Sounds weird but was amazingly delicious. We then headed for our gelato of the day necessity at where else? Giolitti, of course. I attempted to mix it up a bit and got regular chocolate and a sour cherry mixture. More wobbling ensued. We had some trouble finding our hotel since it was a bit out of the city but it’s done and over with so not much else to say about that.
The next morning we woke up and headed into the city. Beth and I got pastries and café con panna (coffee with whipped cream) before eating some cannoli in front of the Trevi Fountain. We also got small paintings in the Piazza Navona before splitting mushroom risotto and gnocchi with clams and mushrooms for lunch. We met Shannon and wandered in and out of shops to avoid the rain. We also had a final stop at Giolitti where I concluded my gelato-a-day lifestyle with a stracciatella and nocciola mixture-going real Italian. After walking around some more we then headed for dinner (our last meal!) which consisted of bruschetta and gnocchi in a white sauce for me. We decided we wanted to see Rome at night before we left, so we went to St. Peter’s as the sun set. The beatification of Pope John Paul II was the next day and crowds had already begun to camp out for the night. There were so many different nationalities and languages around us. It was a fairly powerful thing to see all of these people coming together for one thing, despite all of their differences. After leaving St. Peter’s (not before grabbing the free beatification program and newspaper among other things), we headed to the Piazza del Popolo, where we saw a man playing the sax and just listened to him for a bit. Next on our list were the Spanish Steps, ending by the Trevi Fountain (complete with a tiramisu dessert). We headed back to our hotel before having to wake up early to catch our flight.
I have to say that I was very impressed with Italy. It was cleaner, more welcoming, and an overall better experience all around than I had expected. As well, it just made me appreciate the fact that I’m studying abroad in Istanbul more. Our friend studying in Florence had many negative things to say about it: natives hating Americans, tourist haven, etc. I’m so grateful that things are the way they are here in Istanbul and that I was given the opportunity to study here.
This weekend, Emily and I are heading to Budapest. My parents will be here in about two weeks as well! Getting very excited.
For Italy pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1421036371188.2036438.1391040260&l=07c335019c
For tulip pictures (same album I posted before, just updated): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1408739663778.2035682.1391040260&l=5594f32fa6
Sorry for the LONG post!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Hills are Alive...
...with the sound of music, of course!
This past weekend, Emily and I (...have you noticed that we spend a lot of time together yet?) made the hop, skip, and jump to Austria to spend some time in Vienna. Unfortunately, no time in Salzburg, but that's just another reason to go back to Austria one day.
We left on Friday from SAW (the airport on the Asian side of Istanbul). From where I live, it's kind of a trek (a two hour tour, to be exact) to get over there, but we made it using public transport, only spending 5TL getting there. I do love cheap transport with our IstanbulKarts.
Emily, being the sneaky person she is, got her bottle of water through both security lines until after the second one, the security man took the cap off the bottle. No, didn't make her drink it, just took the cap. Very strange.
Anyways, the flight was relatively smooth and took about 2 hours. There was hardly anyone on the flight so Emily and I each got a row to ourselves and were able to stretch out and look out the window (we flew over Budapest...where I will be in 3 weeks!). What was really surprising was the meal we got on the flight. We booked using a cheap airline carrier and were completely surprised that they served us food, first of all, and second of all, that the food was actually quite good. I'm not sure if my standards for non-Turkish food have dropped while being in Turkey, but I was fairly impressed with the rice-chicken-veggie combo we were served.
Upon arrival in Vienna, we quickly headed through customs for an entry stamp. No questions asked. They actually didn't even look at the photo on my passport to see if it was actually mine. Excellent sign. We found the bus our hostel told us to take towards the city center, and set off. Our hostel (Hostel Ruthensteiner, if you're curious) was located on a quiet side street but very close to one of the main roads of the city. It was a very clean hostel with very helpful staff and fairly inexpensive as well.
After checking in and dropping our bags, we decided (okay, I used WikiTravel and wanted) to see the famous cathedral in Vienna-Stephansdom. We first stopped off and got our first meal in Austria-a chicken schnitzel sandwich, followed by a glorious cup of gelato. Apparently, Vienna has the highest concentration of gelato places outside of Italy. Judging by all of the places we saw while there, I don't doubt it. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hostel to the old city of Vienna, where all the picturesque (okay...everything is picturesque) buildings are. We stopped by to take pictures of the giant Mozart statue in front of the Hofburg Palace and the public library as well as the famous Vienna Opera House (Staatsoper). We also passed by many outdoor cafes in the old city and plenty of chocolate/pastry shops. I knew I made the right decision in visiting Vienna. Once we arrived at the Cathedral, we did the tourist-photography thing but were unable to go up towards the altar as mass was in session.
After heading out of the cathedral, we checked out some local chocolate shops to ensure that we could find good chocolate before we left. After that, things turned into a "oh, that street looks pretty, let's go there!" This led us to the other side of the Hofburg Palace, the building where the Vienna Boy's Choir is, and the famed Spanish stables as well as some other buildings, namely the state building. Needing a potty break, we saw a huge crowd in front of the state building and headed towards it. Turns out, we ran into a national alcoholic beverage fest. Everyone had a beer or wine in their hand, and some people were dressed in what we would see as traditional Austrian garb. Oh, to be in Austria. We also spotted several random people with ski poles/hiking poles/extreme walking sticks.
By this time, we were feeling the pangs of hunger, and ended up having a few photo moments in front of the Austrian Parliament before going off in search of dinner. It was only about 8pm at that point, but most things seemed to be shutting down and my stomach was not happy. Finally, we stopped at a place called "Schnitzelhaus" and gorged on what else? Schnitzel (of the chicken variety). It came with fries and real ketchup, two very rare commodities in Istanbul. Props to Vienna for that. After demolishing our food, we headed back to our hostel and pretty much passed out.
The next morning, we woke up with plans to head to the famed Schönbrunn Palace, a 20 minute walk from our hostel. Before this, we went to the pastry shop near our hostel and tried their version of an apple jelly-filled doughnut. I don't think I can look at a doughnut the same ever again after devouring this glorious object. At the palace we got wonderful student discounts and were able to enter the palace with a complementary audioguide. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures in the palace, but I recommend you use Google Images to supplement your imagination. It was one of the most ornate places I have ever been in my life (including the Ottoman Palaces of Istanbul). After exploring the palace, we walked around the grounds before walking up to the Gloriette, a viewing point that gave us a view of all of Vienna. It was gorgeous! We went to go find our way through the maze on the palace grounds and rewarded ourselves with a bredzel (pretzel) the size of my face. Really. Following this feast, we made our way to the kitchens on the palace grounds. We attended a strudel show, got a free sample of apple strudel (no words. None.) and even got the recipe (Patty-I'm saving this one for you!).
Now that I felt significantly heavier and my jeans were fitting a little tighter, we decided to use the free bike rental system that Vienna offers to get to our next destination-Belvedere Palace (have you noticed the trend?). While I enjoy biking and the city was glorious, only having one gear setting (the highest) and minimal bike lanes did not really make me all that satisfied with my life. Nevertheless, we reached Belvedere, gladly ditching our bikes in favor of our feet. We did not pay to tour the palace but were able to freely walk around the grounds and snap some pictures.
After seeing so many delicious cakes and pastries the day before, we headed back towards the old city and dined on glorious chocolate mousse cakes. Mine (called the Schokobombe) entailed a chocolate cake crust, chocolate mousse, chocolate icing, and chocolate shavings. It was love at first sight. After this, we realized it was nearing dinner time (if we wanted to see the opera later) so we headed for what else? Chicken schnitzel. You really don't understand how much I've missed fries and real Heinz ketchup.
We then headed to the opera house (Staatsoper, legit) and were able to purchase tickets for a mere 3 euro. Okay, so they were standing room only...but still! We were able to attend an opera in one of the most famous opera houses in the world. I am thoroughly impressed with myself here. In between getting our tickets and the start of the opera, we made sure to make chocolate purchases, the real reason for coming to Vienna. The opera itself was sung in Italian and it was entitled "The Elixir of Love." If you know me at all, I'm sure you can tell that I was absolutely a fan of this. The standing room only section actually gave you railings to lean on with translations of the lyrics on a little screen above you which was quite nice. Not bad for 3 euro! After the opera, we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hostel.
The next morning, we got up and made plans for the day: pastry hopping. We started off where we got our doughnuts the morning before. This time, I opted for a croissant which was drizzled in dark and white chocolate and filled with Nutella. Delicious. Emily was not so impressed with her sweet cheese and powdered sugar pastry. I also ordered an espresso, which came with a glass of water. This was my first double shot of the day. Second breakfast consisted of a pastry filled with cheesecake-esque cream cheese and fresh strawberries. Heaven. On the way from first breakfast to second breakfast, we encountered a large pack of people with the strange walking poles I mentioned before. Several of the side streets were barricaded off and the people in this pack were all wearing numbers on their chest (like people in marathons do). Apparently, Vienna just likes to house power-walking races from time to time. After second breakfast, we ventured to third breakfast, where Emily somehow found room in her stomach to eat an apple strudel and homemade hot chocolate. I opted to get a(nother) espresso, this one came with a healthy serving of whipped cream. I suppose I was up to 4 shots of espresso by then and would hate myself later. Oh well, it was delicious and worth it.
Unfortunately, our time in Vienna had to come to an end as our flight left mid-day. We did not have a lot of time in Vienna but I saw all the things I wanted to see with good food. All in all, it was an excellent weekend.
You can check out pictures from Vienna by clicking here
This weekend, my big sister is coming to visit me! Very excited to see her and Ian and show them around my favorite city in the world. After that, I head to Italy for Spring Break, have a week of class, and then go to Budapest for a weekend. Moral of the story: I won't be updating this blog until hopefully after Italy.
Hope everyone is enjoying the (apparently) nice weather back home. I can't wait until it gets to be 70 and sunny everyday...!
This past weekend, Emily and I (...have you noticed that we spend a lot of time together yet?) made the hop, skip, and jump to Austria to spend some time in Vienna. Unfortunately, no time in Salzburg, but that's just another reason to go back to Austria one day.
We left on Friday from SAW (the airport on the Asian side of Istanbul). From where I live, it's kind of a trek (a two hour tour, to be exact) to get over there, but we made it using public transport, only spending 5TL getting there. I do love cheap transport with our IstanbulKarts.
Emily, being the sneaky person she is, got her bottle of water through both security lines until after the second one, the security man took the cap off the bottle. No, didn't make her drink it, just took the cap. Very strange.
Anyways, the flight was relatively smooth and took about 2 hours. There was hardly anyone on the flight so Emily and I each got a row to ourselves and were able to stretch out and look out the window (we flew over Budapest...where I will be in 3 weeks!). What was really surprising was the meal we got on the flight. We booked using a cheap airline carrier and were completely surprised that they served us food, first of all, and second of all, that the food was actually quite good. I'm not sure if my standards for non-Turkish food have dropped while being in Turkey, but I was fairly impressed with the rice-chicken-veggie combo we were served.
Upon arrival in Vienna, we quickly headed through customs for an entry stamp. No questions asked. They actually didn't even look at the photo on my passport to see if it was actually mine. Excellent sign. We found the bus our hostel told us to take towards the city center, and set off. Our hostel (Hostel Ruthensteiner, if you're curious) was located on a quiet side street but very close to one of the main roads of the city. It was a very clean hostel with very helpful staff and fairly inexpensive as well.
After checking in and dropping our bags, we decided (okay, I used WikiTravel and wanted) to see the famous cathedral in Vienna-Stephansdom. We first stopped off and got our first meal in Austria-a chicken schnitzel sandwich, followed by a glorious cup of gelato. Apparently, Vienna has the highest concentration of gelato places outside of Italy. Judging by all of the places we saw while there, I don't doubt it. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hostel to the old city of Vienna, where all the picturesque (okay...everything is picturesque) buildings are. We stopped by to take pictures of the giant Mozart statue in front of the Hofburg Palace and the public library as well as the famous Vienna Opera House (Staatsoper). We also passed by many outdoor cafes in the old city and plenty of chocolate/pastry shops. I knew I made the right decision in visiting Vienna. Once we arrived at the Cathedral, we did the tourist-photography thing but were unable to go up towards the altar as mass was in session.
After heading out of the cathedral, we checked out some local chocolate shops to ensure that we could find good chocolate before we left. After that, things turned into a "oh, that street looks pretty, let's go there!" This led us to the other side of the Hofburg Palace, the building where the Vienna Boy's Choir is, and the famed Spanish stables as well as some other buildings, namely the state building. Needing a potty break, we saw a huge crowd in front of the state building and headed towards it. Turns out, we ran into a national alcoholic beverage fest. Everyone had a beer or wine in their hand, and some people were dressed in what we would see as traditional Austrian garb. Oh, to be in Austria. We also spotted several random people with ski poles/hiking poles/extreme walking sticks.
By this time, we were feeling the pangs of hunger, and ended up having a few photo moments in front of the Austrian Parliament before going off in search of dinner. It was only about 8pm at that point, but most things seemed to be shutting down and my stomach was not happy. Finally, we stopped at a place called "Schnitzelhaus" and gorged on what else? Schnitzel (of the chicken variety). It came with fries and real ketchup, two very rare commodities in Istanbul. Props to Vienna for that. After demolishing our food, we headed back to our hostel and pretty much passed out.
The next morning, we woke up with plans to head to the famed Schönbrunn Palace, a 20 minute walk from our hostel. Before this, we went to the pastry shop near our hostel and tried their version of an apple jelly-filled doughnut. I don't think I can look at a doughnut the same ever again after devouring this glorious object. At the palace we got wonderful student discounts and were able to enter the palace with a complementary audioguide. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures in the palace, but I recommend you use Google Images to supplement your imagination. It was one of the most ornate places I have ever been in my life (including the Ottoman Palaces of Istanbul). After exploring the palace, we walked around the grounds before walking up to the Gloriette, a viewing point that gave us a view of all of Vienna. It was gorgeous! We went to go find our way through the maze on the palace grounds and rewarded ourselves with a bredzel (pretzel) the size of my face. Really. Following this feast, we made our way to the kitchens on the palace grounds. We attended a strudel show, got a free sample of apple strudel (no words. None.) and even got the recipe (Patty-I'm saving this one for you!).
Now that I felt significantly heavier and my jeans were fitting a little tighter, we decided to use the free bike rental system that Vienna offers to get to our next destination-Belvedere Palace (have you noticed the trend?). While I enjoy biking and the city was glorious, only having one gear setting (the highest) and minimal bike lanes did not really make me all that satisfied with my life. Nevertheless, we reached Belvedere, gladly ditching our bikes in favor of our feet. We did not pay to tour the palace but were able to freely walk around the grounds and snap some pictures.
After seeing so many delicious cakes and pastries the day before, we headed back towards the old city and dined on glorious chocolate mousse cakes. Mine (called the Schokobombe) entailed a chocolate cake crust, chocolate mousse, chocolate icing, and chocolate shavings. It was love at first sight. After this, we realized it was nearing dinner time (if we wanted to see the opera later) so we headed for what else? Chicken schnitzel. You really don't understand how much I've missed fries and real Heinz ketchup.
We then headed to the opera house (Staatsoper, legit) and were able to purchase tickets for a mere 3 euro. Okay, so they were standing room only...but still! We were able to attend an opera in one of the most famous opera houses in the world. I am thoroughly impressed with myself here. In between getting our tickets and the start of the opera, we made sure to make chocolate purchases, the real reason for coming to Vienna. The opera itself was sung in Italian and it was entitled "The Elixir of Love." If you know me at all, I'm sure you can tell that I was absolutely a fan of this. The standing room only section actually gave you railings to lean on with translations of the lyrics on a little screen above you which was quite nice. Not bad for 3 euro! After the opera, we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hostel.
The next morning, we got up and made plans for the day: pastry hopping. We started off where we got our doughnuts the morning before. This time, I opted for a croissant which was drizzled in dark and white chocolate and filled with Nutella. Delicious. Emily was not so impressed with her sweet cheese and powdered sugar pastry. I also ordered an espresso, which came with a glass of water. This was my first double shot of the day. Second breakfast consisted of a pastry filled with cheesecake-esque cream cheese and fresh strawberries. Heaven. On the way from first breakfast to second breakfast, we encountered a large pack of people with the strange walking poles I mentioned before. Several of the side streets were barricaded off and the people in this pack were all wearing numbers on their chest (like people in marathons do). Apparently, Vienna just likes to house power-walking races from time to time. After second breakfast, we ventured to third breakfast, where Emily somehow found room in her stomach to eat an apple strudel and homemade hot chocolate. I opted to get a(nother) espresso, this one came with a healthy serving of whipped cream. I suppose I was up to 4 shots of espresso by then and would hate myself later. Oh well, it was delicious and worth it.
Unfortunately, our time in Vienna had to come to an end as our flight left mid-day. We did not have a lot of time in Vienna but I saw all the things I wanted to see with good food. All in all, it was an excellent weekend.
You can check out pictures from Vienna by clicking here
This weekend, my big sister is coming to visit me! Very excited to see her and Ian and show them around my favorite city in the world. After that, I head to Italy for Spring Break, have a week of class, and then go to Budapest for a weekend. Moral of the story: I won't be updating this blog until hopefully after Italy.
Hope everyone is enjoying the (apparently) nice weather back home. I can't wait until it gets to be 70 and sunny everyday...!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Well, I told you that I would fail at updating this
I would start off with an apology for not updating my blog very frequently but I have to say, I did already warn you guys.
That being said, I've been fairly busy with school (gasp. Yes, I actually attend a university) and more traveling/exploring.
The weekend before last (March 25) I did indeed visit Topkapi Palace, the Archaeology Museum, Galata Tower, and Dolmabahçe (Dohl-muh-bah-che) Palace. Topkapi Palace was gorgeous and amazingly extensive in terms of size and the tiles (especially the ceilings) that were housed there. They also supposedly had the Staff of Moses and other religious artifacts that we weren't allowed to take pictures of. Can't say I particularly believe they were able to keep a bunch of bark in pristine condition for several thousand years (especially when it's only been a museum for less than a hundred years). The Archaeology Museum was very interesting but also very extensive. It was kind of like an overload in my brain of artifacts that I wasn't exactly sure of what they were/what context they came from. At least it was free to get into! Galata Tower may just have the best panoramic views of Istanbul and we were lucky enough to go on possibly the best weather day Istanbul has seen since I've been here. I honestly have no words and my pictures probably can't do it justice. Dolmabahçe Palace was different from the stereotypical Ottoman Palace that was Topkapi. It was built at the end of the sultanate in a more European (think of Versailles) style. We weren't allowed to take pictures in it but I highly suggest clicking here to learn more. I also ended up going on a cruise up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. We stopped at a cute little town (that was obviously infested with tourists) and ate some good, fresh seafood. I still don't understand why they leave the bones in, though. Hello, health hazard. Anyways, we trekked up a very steep hill towards a castle for some more exploring only to find out that the castle was closed. However, the views from the top of the hill were gorgeous and there were hammocks nearby. Rough life.
This past weekend I went with Shannon, Emily, and Kayla (a friend of ours from Columbia) to Antalya, a gorgeous coastal town. We flew (yay no overnight busing!) on Thursday night and had two great days in Antalya. We stayed in the old city which is paved in cobblestone-esque streets and a very touristy, but gorgeous area that seems like it's been pulled out of a movie. We spent a lot of time just exploring the area which was fun.
Friday we were able to walk down to the beach (okay, we actually walked what felt like the entire length of the Antalyan coast..it was several miles). It was about 80 degrees which was a very welcome change from the weather we had been experiencing in Istanbul. The beach was actually made of rocks but it wasn't uncomfortable. Antalya is a very unique beach in that the mountain range behind it literally just drops right onto a beach surrounded by gorgeous cliffs. We were able to spend a couple hours with our feet in the Mediterranean. I got a really cute farmer's tan and Emily, well, Emily may have resembled a tomato for a bit there. We had dinner overlooking the harbor surrounded by cliffs and watched the sun set.
Saturday was a bit rainier which limited our options. We tried catching a bus to a supposedly nearby area with Lycian tombs but because of the windy coastal roads, it would have been a 3 hour bus ride. We decided to instead visit Duden Falls, which were beautiful but somewhat commercialized. It kind of looked like the place where they film those cheesy Irish Spring commercials. Afterwards, we headed back into the old town and did homework on a ledge overlooking the sea. Really the best place I've ever done homework. Not sure anything can come close to that one. We got cheaper dinner and baklava (cause you can't have a day without baklava) and ended up walking down to the harbor to watch the sun set. It was overall a really nice weekend to get away from the hustle and bustle of Istanbul and just be carefree for a bit.
Next weekend (aka this weekend) Emily and I are heading to Vienna for some delicious chocolate and fun shenanigans. The weekend after, my sister and her boyfriend are coming to visit so I finally get to be her tour guide after the time she spent leading myself and my parents around Honduras. After that, it's spring break and I'll be off to Italy! I honestly don't know where my time here has gone but I'm clinging to it. I really am going to miss Istanbul. It will be hard to go back to life in Chapel Hill (though I do miss Chipotle probably more than is humanly possible).
I'll attempt to update this after Vienna with pictures and hopefully good experiences to share!
To check out my Assos (last blog post) and Antalya pictures, click here
To check out updated photos of Istanbul (including things from the last post), click here
That being said, I've been fairly busy with school (gasp. Yes, I actually attend a university) and more traveling/exploring.
The weekend before last (March 25) I did indeed visit Topkapi Palace, the Archaeology Museum, Galata Tower, and Dolmabahçe (Dohl-muh-bah-che) Palace. Topkapi Palace was gorgeous and amazingly extensive in terms of size and the tiles (especially the ceilings) that were housed there. They also supposedly had the Staff of Moses and other religious artifacts that we weren't allowed to take pictures of. Can't say I particularly believe they were able to keep a bunch of bark in pristine condition for several thousand years (especially when it's only been a museum for less than a hundred years). The Archaeology Museum was very interesting but also very extensive. It was kind of like an overload in my brain of artifacts that I wasn't exactly sure of what they were/what context they came from. At least it was free to get into! Galata Tower may just have the best panoramic views of Istanbul and we were lucky enough to go on possibly the best weather day Istanbul has seen since I've been here. I honestly have no words and my pictures probably can't do it justice. Dolmabahçe Palace was different from the stereotypical Ottoman Palace that was Topkapi. It was built at the end of the sultanate in a more European (think of Versailles) style. We weren't allowed to take pictures in it but I highly suggest clicking here to learn more. I also ended up going on a cruise up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. We stopped at a cute little town (that was obviously infested with tourists) and ate some good, fresh seafood. I still don't understand why they leave the bones in, though. Hello, health hazard. Anyways, we trekked up a very steep hill towards a castle for some more exploring only to find out that the castle was closed. However, the views from the top of the hill were gorgeous and there were hammocks nearby. Rough life.
This past weekend I went with Shannon, Emily, and Kayla (a friend of ours from Columbia) to Antalya, a gorgeous coastal town. We flew (yay no overnight busing!) on Thursday night and had two great days in Antalya. We stayed in the old city which is paved in cobblestone-esque streets and a very touristy, but gorgeous area that seems like it's been pulled out of a movie. We spent a lot of time just exploring the area which was fun.
Friday we were able to walk down to the beach (okay, we actually walked what felt like the entire length of the Antalyan coast..it was several miles). It was about 80 degrees which was a very welcome change from the weather we had been experiencing in Istanbul. The beach was actually made of rocks but it wasn't uncomfortable. Antalya is a very unique beach in that the mountain range behind it literally just drops right onto a beach surrounded by gorgeous cliffs. We were able to spend a couple hours with our feet in the Mediterranean. I got a really cute farmer's tan and Emily, well, Emily may have resembled a tomato for a bit there. We had dinner overlooking the harbor surrounded by cliffs and watched the sun set.
Saturday was a bit rainier which limited our options. We tried catching a bus to a supposedly nearby area with Lycian tombs but because of the windy coastal roads, it would have been a 3 hour bus ride. We decided to instead visit Duden Falls, which were beautiful but somewhat commercialized. It kind of looked like the place where they film those cheesy Irish Spring commercials. Afterwards, we headed back into the old town and did homework on a ledge overlooking the sea. Really the best place I've ever done homework. Not sure anything can come close to that one. We got cheaper dinner and baklava (cause you can't have a day without baklava) and ended up walking down to the harbor to watch the sun set. It was overall a really nice weekend to get away from the hustle and bustle of Istanbul and just be carefree for a bit.
Next weekend (aka this weekend) Emily and I are heading to Vienna for some delicious chocolate and fun shenanigans. The weekend after, my sister and her boyfriend are coming to visit so I finally get to be her tour guide after the time she spent leading myself and my parents around Honduras. After that, it's spring break and I'll be off to Italy! I honestly don't know where my time here has gone but I'm clinging to it. I really am going to miss Istanbul. It will be hard to go back to life in Chapel Hill (though I do miss Chipotle probably more than is humanly possible).
I'll attempt to update this after Vienna with pictures and hopefully good experiences to share!
To check out my Assos (last blog post) and Antalya pictures, click here
To check out updated photos of Istanbul (including things from the last post), click here
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
So if you've a date in Constantinople..
So I know this update is quite long and I apologize in advance. I’ve been trying to update here for ages and Blogger has not been cooperative (see post below).
First, just a quick recap of my everyday life here in Istanbul:
Classes have started (cannot believe it’s the 5th week already!) and I’ve decided to take Ottoman Cultural History, Legacy of Alexander the Great, Museums and Cultural Heritage, and a course on the History of Philanthropy. My courses are fairly interesting but require a lot of reading which is never all that enjoyable when I could be out exploring one of the greatest cities in the world.
In terms of things I’ve done around Istanbul, a group of friends and I went to see the local football (real football, not American football) team play on a drizzly Sunday night. The game was crazy and pretty raucous as they were playing the number one team in the league whose fans are known for being even more raucous. The fans lit flares and never stopped cheering/standing up and screaming and it’s really how I think a football match should be. I never felt unsafe or anything of the sort, but it was certainly an experience.
Last weekend I made a trek to obtain my student discount travel card, which makes transit around Istanbul much easier (and cheaper!). I also got to make a journey out to the customs office to pick up a package. Let’s just say I would hope to never make it back to that part of Istanbul, though I did have baracklava. No, I spelled that right. The Turkish love Barack Obama and call their chocolate baklava baracklava. Clever, right? The next day we got our discount museum cards, which essentially makes all Turkish museums free. We ventured to the Aya Sofya and I honestly have no words for how gorgeous it is. It’s very weird to be inside a church that was converted into a mosque from roughly the 6th century.
Prior to last weekend, Emily and our two Kansas State friends (Beth and Shannon, for future reference) made a trip to the coastal city of Assos. We took an overnight bus to Cannakkale (where we had previously stopped to go to Troy). The bus was only 6 hours and I barely slept. I ended up waking up in the morning with a migraine, which was bad news. However, we ended up heading to Assos fairly early that morning (quite a good decision, I might add). I can honestly say is one of the most beautiful and serene places I’ve ever been. Friday we walked down towards to Aegean Sea and had a nice lunch. The water is so clear with no pollution or anything of the sort. It stretches on for miles with some gorgeous mountains/hills in the background. It’s not a large town but it’s a very relaxed place, which has a very calming effect. The next morning we woke up and had a homemade Turkish breakfast (tea, bread, honey, hard boiled egg, olives, cheese, and sometimes jam) at our pension. Afterwards, we headed towards the ruins near town, where the Temple of Athena was located. It never ceases to amaze me that you can just walk all over the ruins here. There are no guardrails that prevent you from experiencing something. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of walking around something that is more than two thousand years old. Just another reason to love Turkey.
This weekend I will finally get to see Topkapi Palace and some other museums in Istanbul (Archaeology Museum, Istanbul Modern). We only paid about $7 for our discount museum cards and they get us into all these great places for free. What a novel idea. I will also be going on a Bosphorus cruise that will take us up near the Black Sea (very far north from Istanbul) so that should be very exciting. Next weekend, we will be heading to the coastal city of Antalya for some sun and relaxation. Istanbul has not been particularly warm yet (60 has been the high, but it snowed for about a week two weeks ago) and I am really dying to be able to not wear a jacket everywhere. It’s really rough living in one of the greatest cities in the world.
I am starting to cement my spring break plans for Italy, which is very exciting. My K-State friends and I will be heading to Rome, Venice, Florence, and possibly Pisa on our excursion. We will also be in Rome during Easter, which should be an experience in itself.
Unfortunately, my sickness really did not allow me to take many pictures in Assos. I will edit this post and add a link to my photos once I upload them as well as links to some of my friends’ pictures. I’m also going to be a lazy bum and wait to upload pictures of the Aya Sofya until I go sightseeing this weekend so I can just do it all at once. I’m really only using writing this post as a tool for procrastination and not doing homework that I maybe possibly should be doing.
Anyways, expect an update to this post sometime early next week. I know you guys were just dying without my regular blog updates. So sorry!
First, just a quick recap of my everyday life here in Istanbul:
Classes have started (cannot believe it’s the 5th week already!) and I’ve decided to take Ottoman Cultural History, Legacy of Alexander the Great, Museums and Cultural Heritage, and a course on the History of Philanthropy. My courses are fairly interesting but require a lot of reading which is never all that enjoyable when I could be out exploring one of the greatest cities in the world.
In terms of things I’ve done around Istanbul, a group of friends and I went to see the local football (real football, not American football) team play on a drizzly Sunday night. The game was crazy and pretty raucous as they were playing the number one team in the league whose fans are known for being even more raucous. The fans lit flares and never stopped cheering/standing up and screaming and it’s really how I think a football match should be. I never felt unsafe or anything of the sort, but it was certainly an experience.
Last weekend I made a trek to obtain my student discount travel card, which makes transit around Istanbul much easier (and cheaper!). I also got to make a journey out to the customs office to pick up a package. Let’s just say I would hope to never make it back to that part of Istanbul, though I did have baracklava. No, I spelled that right. The Turkish love Barack Obama and call their chocolate baklava baracklava. Clever, right? The next day we got our discount museum cards, which essentially makes all Turkish museums free. We ventured to the Aya Sofya and I honestly have no words for how gorgeous it is. It’s very weird to be inside a church that was converted into a mosque from roughly the 6th century.
Prior to last weekend, Emily and our two Kansas State friends (Beth and Shannon, for future reference) made a trip to the coastal city of Assos. We took an overnight bus to Cannakkale (where we had previously stopped to go to Troy). The bus was only 6 hours and I barely slept. I ended up waking up in the morning with a migraine, which was bad news. However, we ended up heading to Assos fairly early that morning (quite a good decision, I might add). I can honestly say is one of the most beautiful and serene places I’ve ever been. Friday we walked down towards to Aegean Sea and had a nice lunch. The water is so clear with no pollution or anything of the sort. It stretches on for miles with some gorgeous mountains/hills in the background. It’s not a large town but it’s a very relaxed place, which has a very calming effect. The next morning we woke up and had a homemade Turkish breakfast (tea, bread, honey, hard boiled egg, olives, cheese, and sometimes jam) at our pension. Afterwards, we headed towards the ruins near town, where the Temple of Athena was located. It never ceases to amaze me that you can just walk all over the ruins here. There are no guardrails that prevent you from experiencing something. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of walking around something that is more than two thousand years old. Just another reason to love Turkey.
This weekend I will finally get to see Topkapi Palace and some other museums in Istanbul (Archaeology Museum, Istanbul Modern). We only paid about $7 for our discount museum cards and they get us into all these great places for free. What a novel idea. I will also be going on a Bosphorus cruise that will take us up near the Black Sea (very far north from Istanbul) so that should be very exciting. Next weekend, we will be heading to the coastal city of Antalya for some sun and relaxation. Istanbul has not been particularly warm yet (60 has been the high, but it snowed for about a week two weeks ago) and I am really dying to be able to not wear a jacket everywhere. It’s really rough living in one of the greatest cities in the world.
I am starting to cement my spring break plans for Italy, which is very exciting. My K-State friends and I will be heading to Rome, Venice, Florence, and possibly Pisa on our excursion. We will also be in Rome during Easter, which should be an experience in itself.
Unfortunately, my sickness really did not allow me to take many pictures in Assos. I will edit this post and add a link to my photos once I upload them as well as links to some of my friends’ pictures. I’m also going to be a lazy bum and wait to upload pictures of the Aya Sofya until I go sightseeing this weekend so I can just do it all at once. I’m really only using writing this post as a tool for procrastination and not doing homework that I maybe possibly should be doing.
Anyways, expect an update to this post sometime early next week. I know you guys were just dying without my regular blog updates. So sorry!
Finally! An update!
So I know I've been remiss in updating my blog, but seriously, I've had a great reason. Turkey banned Blogger (and I think it's still banned. I really have no idea how I was miraculously able to access this site) for some legal reasons that I don't particularly care to explain. But you can read them here:http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=blogspot-is-banned-2011-03-02
Hopefully I'm able to access this site again tomorrow and I will therefore make a real update of what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks. Hope everyone is well!
Hopefully I'm able to access this site again tomorrow and I will therefore make a real update of what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks. Hope everyone is well!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Every gal in Constantinople lives in Istanbul
While writing this blog entry this time, I am not on a bus or on a bus on a ferry or anything of that sort of level of excitement. No, I am in fact in my dorm room in Istanbul, attempting to recover from my first week of class.
The week started out well (as I do not have classes on Mondays/Fridays...it's a hard knock life). Unfortunately, my schedule did need a lot of add/drop work and I ended up sitting in on several random classes. Tuesday began as I sat in on Ottoman Cultural History which I was later able to add. It covers a huge range of topics in both Ottoman culture and Ottoman history which are things that I haven't even thought about/had the opportunity to learn about before. Next I went to my Turkish for foreigners class where she began to speak in Turkish on the first day. I had been excited to learn Turkish but expecting us to speak Turkish back to her when we have no idea what's going on seems like a little bit too high of an expectation. I'm probably going to end up dropping the class in favor of something a little more exciting. After a nice lunch break with some friends from the great state of Kansas, I headed to a history course on the legacy of Alexander the Great, which proves to be very interesting considering my current geographical location. The professor seems very nice as well and some of my friends are in the class which is always nice.
Wednesday I decided to sit in on a politics class regarding the issues in Turkish foreign policy. I got accepted into the class (teachers here must give consent for some classes based on quota or department restrictions) and will probably add it although it is entirely presentation-based. I sat in on an afternoon class about Museums and Cultural Heritage which is taught by the woman who runs CAMOC (or something to that effect-an international body that governs UNESCO museums). She also worked on Istanbul 2010 and really has just a very interesting career. I will hopefully be able to get into that class to learn about the museums here and go on some fun field trips.
Thursday I had the Ottoman cultural history course again, Turkish, and an afternoon seminar on the History of Philanthropy. I am one of 5 students in the class, and the only one whose first language is English. The rest of the students are Turkish and most are graduate level. The professor is one of the preeminent scholars on the history of philanthropy and is very interesting. The class is also participation-based which puts me a little ahead of the pack. It's definitely a class to keep.
Friday, three friends (2 friends from UNC and a friend of theirs) came to visit from their study abroad in Spain. The weather for their weekend was awful-rainy and cold, which is really unfortunate. This is the first week that I've been in Istanbul that it hasn't been gorgeous and sunny all the time. Regardless, we took them around to our favorite places to eat (including waffles) and other delicious Turkish foods. Really, we just made sure they were well-fed and mildly interested in what they saw. Food is really the most important, though.
Throughout the week, I've been attending practices for the women's varsity futsal team here. Futsal is like indoor soccer except the ball is a little smaller and heavier, and you can't use the walls. I suppose you can now say that I'm playing a varsity sport in college. Hopefully, I will travel with the team to Antalya in two weekends for a tournament. Antalya is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey that is well-known for being a resort town. It would be a free trip and I really love free travel so keep your fingers crossed!
This week has made me realize a few things about my study abroad experience:
1. I am not actually studying abroad. I'm really abroad, studying. There's a huge difference. I place a high value and priority on my studies but this experience is really about learning about a new culture, not at a different school that happens to be in a different country.
2. I have a love/hate relationship with Turkish time. I love that we randomly take breaks in the middle of my 2+ hour long courses that last for half an hour at times. It's nice to have professors that aren't obsessed with teaching for every single minute that they have class. On the other hand, Turkish time means that people are never in any rush to do anything here (however important those things are). We've been waiting for our student IDs here since we got here and they probably won't be done for another two weeks. Those IDs would get us discounted travel within the city, free museums around Turkey, and also within Istanbul. We haven't seen a lot of the important museums and attractions here as we're waiting on those IDs. Can you tell I really just want my ID?
3. Turkey is nothing like I imagined. I told people I was coming to Istanbul for a myriad of reasons and there are a myriad of reasons why I could live in Istanbul for the rest of my life. People here are some of the most hospitable that I've ever met and will stop whatever they're doing just to help you. Most people in America would never do that for people. We're too engrossed in our Crackberrys and iPhone4000s to look up and see the world around us. It's kind of sad and despicable.
I suppose this is a really random blog with no fun pictures to accompany it, but I mean..this whole school things for 3 days a week is really getting to me and tiring me out. I hope you guys can sympathize and forgive me. I'm just exhausted from the amount of homework I have to do during my agonizingly short four day weekends. Really, I'm inches from passing out due to exhaustion. Keep your fingers crossed that I can make it through.
..anyways, I hope everyone at home is doing well and are actually enjoying reading my somewhat nonsensical ramblings. I think this may put an end to my idea of being a journalist as a career...oops.
Have a good week!
The week started out well (as I do not have classes on Mondays/Fridays...it's a hard knock life). Unfortunately, my schedule did need a lot of add/drop work and I ended up sitting in on several random classes. Tuesday began as I sat in on Ottoman Cultural History which I was later able to add. It covers a huge range of topics in both Ottoman culture and Ottoman history which are things that I haven't even thought about/had the opportunity to learn about before. Next I went to my Turkish for foreigners class where she began to speak in Turkish on the first day. I had been excited to learn Turkish but expecting us to speak Turkish back to her when we have no idea what's going on seems like a little bit too high of an expectation. I'm probably going to end up dropping the class in favor of something a little more exciting. After a nice lunch break with some friends from the great state of Kansas, I headed to a history course on the legacy of Alexander the Great, which proves to be very interesting considering my current geographical location. The professor seems very nice as well and some of my friends are in the class which is always nice.
Wednesday I decided to sit in on a politics class regarding the issues in Turkish foreign policy. I got accepted into the class (teachers here must give consent for some classes based on quota or department restrictions) and will probably add it although it is entirely presentation-based. I sat in on an afternoon class about Museums and Cultural Heritage which is taught by the woman who runs CAMOC (or something to that effect-an international body that governs UNESCO museums). She also worked on Istanbul 2010 and really has just a very interesting career. I will hopefully be able to get into that class to learn about the museums here and go on some fun field trips.
Thursday I had the Ottoman cultural history course again, Turkish, and an afternoon seminar on the History of Philanthropy. I am one of 5 students in the class, and the only one whose first language is English. The rest of the students are Turkish and most are graduate level. The professor is one of the preeminent scholars on the history of philanthropy and is very interesting. The class is also participation-based which puts me a little ahead of the pack. It's definitely a class to keep.
Friday, three friends (2 friends from UNC and a friend of theirs) came to visit from their study abroad in Spain. The weather for their weekend was awful-rainy and cold, which is really unfortunate. This is the first week that I've been in Istanbul that it hasn't been gorgeous and sunny all the time. Regardless, we took them around to our favorite places to eat (including waffles) and other delicious Turkish foods. Really, we just made sure they were well-fed and mildly interested in what they saw. Food is really the most important, though.
Throughout the week, I've been attending practices for the women's varsity futsal team here. Futsal is like indoor soccer except the ball is a little smaller and heavier, and you can't use the walls. I suppose you can now say that I'm playing a varsity sport in college. Hopefully, I will travel with the team to Antalya in two weekends for a tournament. Antalya is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey that is well-known for being a resort town. It would be a free trip and I really love free travel so keep your fingers crossed!
This week has made me realize a few things about my study abroad experience:
1. I am not actually studying abroad. I'm really abroad, studying. There's a huge difference. I place a high value and priority on my studies but this experience is really about learning about a new culture, not at a different school that happens to be in a different country.
2. I have a love/hate relationship with Turkish time. I love that we randomly take breaks in the middle of my 2+ hour long courses that last for half an hour at times. It's nice to have professors that aren't obsessed with teaching for every single minute that they have class. On the other hand, Turkish time means that people are never in any rush to do anything here (however important those things are). We've been waiting for our student IDs here since we got here and they probably won't be done for another two weeks. Those IDs would get us discounted travel within the city, free museums around Turkey, and also within Istanbul. We haven't seen a lot of the important museums and attractions here as we're waiting on those IDs. Can you tell I really just want my ID?
3. Turkey is nothing like I imagined. I told people I was coming to Istanbul for a myriad of reasons and there are a myriad of reasons why I could live in Istanbul for the rest of my life. People here are some of the most hospitable that I've ever met and will stop whatever they're doing just to help you. Most people in America would never do that for people. We're too engrossed in our Crackberrys and iPhone4000s to look up and see the world around us. It's kind of sad and despicable.
I suppose this is a really random blog with no fun pictures to accompany it, but I mean..this whole school things for 3 days a week is really getting to me and tiring me out. I hope you guys can sympathize and forgive me. I'm just exhausted from the amount of homework I have to do during my agonizingly short four day weekends. Really, I'm inches from passing out due to exhaustion. Keep your fingers crossed that I can make it through.
..anyways, I hope everyone at home is doing well and are actually enjoying reading my somewhat nonsensical ramblings. I think this may put an end to my idea of being a journalist as a career...oops.
Have a good week!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
This time, as I sit writing this blog entry, I am on a bus from Cappadocia to Istanbul. Possibly not as exciting as being on a ferry on a double decker bus but I’m excited to go back to Istanbul. It’s really my home now and I long for its delectable food and comforting feeling. Though my room at the Superdorm is reminiscent of a prison cell with a rock-hard bed, I really love the neighborhood I live in (Etiler) and all of the different things to do in Istanbul. That being said, this past weekend was quite an adventure in itself (though it’s impossible to compare this weekend and last).
Tuesday night we (5 of us this time) left the European side of Istanbul on a ferry to the Asian side where we caught an over night train to the capital city of Ankara. We arrived in Ankara before 7am on Wednesday which, if you know me, you know I do not enjoy being up before 10am. This travelling is making me get used to sleeping wherever I can whenever I can. Once in Ankara we walked around and decided to stop in a nice-looking hotel to ask for directions to the main bus station to buy our tickets to Cappadocia for the evening. The hotel staff pointed us to the metro station where we rode several stops towards the end of the line and purchased our tickets to Göreme (Grr-em-ehh). After purchasing our tickets, we found breakfast and delicious tea in a café in the bus station where I ordered kasharlı tost (kash-ar-luh toast), which is basically like a Panini-grilled version of a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s always cheap but is always delicious. I ended up getting a tea as well. I came to Turkey with a bit of a bias against tea, thinking it was something that people with British accents (and my sister) like to drink. However, Turkey has completely changed my biased perspective in that all of its many flavors are just too delicious to turn down for any reason-especially if they’re free. My current favorite is apple tea, which is kind of like apple cider/apple juice but even better. It’s just beyond words. Aside from my tea rant, we left the bus station and went back to near where our train took us. We walked around and asked several very nice Ankarans (I probably made that term up) where we could find Ataturk’s Mausoleum. This was actually a very stupid question as Ataturk’s Mausoleum was in the direct middle of the city on top of a giant hill, several hundred feet above the tree line. The mausoleum had a gorgeous view of the city from all sides and contained a very interesting museum chronicling Ataturk’s life. The Turkish nation was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after World War I. The Turkish found a long war against several different nations (UK, French, mostly) with Ataturk being their hero. As a side note, he chose Ankara as the capital as it is a lot easier to defend than Istanbul (which is easily accessible by sea, land, and air). There was a movie at the Mausoleum which basically just said how awesome Ataturk was, which does make me somewhat question the cult of personality that the Turkish have for Ataturk. On the day of Ataturk’s death, everything stops. At the exact time of his death, cars stop in the middle of the street, people stop breathing; it’s just something that is completely unparalleled in the US. Maybe if you combined Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Jay, Franklin, and the Adamses, you would get maybe half an Ataturk. Ataturk himself actually did very well with the country, I think. The movie stressed that he was not a dictator despite a 15-year term until his death. However, despite the length of his rule being close to what we might consider dictatorship, the social programs and equality efforts brought about by Ataturk completely defied the stereotypes of a dictator. Ataturk gave women equal rights, expanded education efforts, opened up the Turkish economy to foreign trade, and started a period of slow but steady growth for the nation. Conclusion: Ataturk was pretty bad ass. The tomb itself is in a giant hall reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial but gold-plated and 10x larger. The entire area is guarded by different members of each military branch and some of them are in glass cases (a friend thought they were fake and got a little too close to the case which made for a good laugh). The guards are kind of like a mix of those at Arlington Cemetery and Buckingham Palace. It seemed like a very big honor to work and guard Ataturk’s grave. After leaving Ataturk’s grave and the rest of the museum, we got a guard to take a picture with us, which was a bit terrifying with his sword and machine gun. It was also kind of creepy but in reality, he was kind of just a creep. Creeper magnet is apparently still going strong here in Turkey. Our journey continued towards a place for lunch where my friend Emily and I split a pizza, which was unfortunately not delicious. I guess somehow they interpreted sausage as bologna. Bologna pizza is never okay. After lunch we ventured on towards Kocatepe (Koh-ja-tep-eh) Mosque near the business district in Ankara. The mosque is supposedly modeled after the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. It’s very similar in size but nowhere near as old or touristy. The centerpiece of the mosque had this giant hanging golden ball (kind of like the size of the ball they drop on New Year’s). We never figured out where that came from but it was very interesting nonetheless. After leaving the mosque, we took the metro back to the bus station again where we stopped for ice cream sandwiches. My friend Emily and I got dark chocolate with brownie while others opted for caramel or pistachio. Obviously we chose the superior option. After scarfing down our ice cream, we got on our bus to Göreme, which is a little more than a 4 hour bus ride from Ankara. I dozed off a bit and was not woken up to see the sun setting over a gorgeous lake. Some friends! We arrived in Göreme and headed to the pension I had booked for us ahead of time. It was super nice and heated and quite a wonderful find. We dropped our bags and ran to the nearest place for dinner. I got the local special called guveç (goo-vech) which was beef cubes, tomatoes, and green peppers in a wondrous broth in a pot cooked over a fire. It was served with bread for dipping which was quite excellent. After dinner was bed time after a nice warm shower. Having heat was much appreciated and I slept like a rock.
Thursday began after a wonderful night’s sleep. We all got dressed and went to breakfast together. The five of us ended up being able to stay in the same room with a shower and bathroom inside the hostel dorm. Breakfast happened to be included in the fee and I chose French toast as my delectable option. It was of course delicious and made to order, which is appreciated (and wonderful for the price we paid for the room). After breakfast, our “mother” Zeyda (or Zaida, not sure, but pronounced Zey-duh) gave us a lot of travel and sightseeing options for the day. She works at the reception desk of the pension and is from Durban, South Africa (the Turkish accent and South African one mixed together make for a very cool combo). We headed out towards the Göreme Open Air Museum where we were able to convince them that we were all students so they let us in for free. The museum is a group of rock dwellings you can explore. The majority of the ones you could walk into were churches which generally outdated the spread of Islam. They were very well-preserved for being thousands of years old. Coincidentally, we saw the same Canadian/Belgian (I can’t remember his place of origin) who was at our hotel last weekend at the open air museum. Small world. After leaving the museum, we headed for a leisurely hike through the muddy, icy hills of the Cappadocian valleys. My Sperry’s were definitely not equipped for the terrain but I managed. I really didn’t think I’d be hiking through muddy, gross hills. However, the views from the tops of the climbs were completely worth it and absolutely gorgeous. Cappadocia is one of (if not the) prettiest places I have ever been in my entire life. After competing our hike, the owner of the restaurant we ate at the previous night randomly happened to be driving along the main road we were on (we were waiting for a local bus). He stopped and offered us a ride back into Göreme in his very nice car despite the fact that we were sporting muddy shoes. I suppose I have now hitch hiked. One more thing off the bucket list, really. In Göreme we hung out around the hostel/pension for a bit before getting dinner at a place Zeyda recommended. The place served börek, which is philo dough stuffed with different options (chicken, veggies, sauces, dessert items) and fried lightly until crispy. I had tavuk gozleme (chicken) which is the same consistency but kind of egg-roll shaped. It was served with the yogurt they eat here as a dipping sauce and was quite delicious. The five of us split a chocolate gozleme for desert which was magnificent. The owner of the shop spoke to me in Spanish (he spoke 8 languages) which was enjoyable (a foreign language I do understand!). We had an early night because we had to wake up early for…
Hot air ballooning! We woke up around 5:45am and were picked up from the hostel around 6:30 to head to the fields (which happened to be across from the Open Air Museum). There were more than 20 different balloons there preparing for take off. The five of us were also in a balloon with a group of South Korean tourists but the basket was compartmentalized so that the 5 of us had our own space together. The balloon took off and flew around the area for about an hour. The pilot was excellent, flying between rock formations and even touching the ground momentarily before lifting off again. His favorite phrase was “Don’t worry! Be happy” which kept that song in my head for the duration of the day. I honestly cannot describe how gorgeous the flight was but hopefully my pictures (and my friends’ pictures) will do it some justice. The flight was a little pricey but absolutely worth it. We landed after about an hour and were greeted with a celebratory glass of champagne mixed with peach juice as well as flight certificates for successful completion of our hot air balloon ride. We then had to trek up another muddy field (my shoes were about 2 pounds heavier after this trek) to get to the van that would drive us back to the hostel. It was only around 9am. We had another bout of French toast before heading out to rent a car for the day. Emily was the only one who knew how to drive stick shift and thus became our driver for the day while I served as navigator. The rental company asked for no proof of insurance, driver’s license, passport, or anything. Amazing how things are different in Turkey. We drove towards Derinkuyu, one of the underground cities in the area. We explored the 8 underground floors they excavated within the area. The underground city itself was apparently supposed to hold almost 20,000 people. It was very interesting to see how they lived and very cool to explore around (though most things were very well lit). In Derinkuyu we stopped to eat lunch (delicious pb&j’s). We accidentally sat outside of a middle school where the boys opened the windows and started yelling “I love you!” and then proceeding to throw rocks at us. Needless to say, we departed very quickly from Derinkuyu after that. Eventually we made our way to Urgüp (Er-goop) and parked (after some help). The area is well-known for its wine and a group member wanted to go to a wine tasting in the area. The wines that were tried included pomegranate, cherry, mulberry, sour grape, a white wine, and strawberry. After the wine tasting, we headed to a baklava place that Zeyda recommended where we had pistachio baklava (which is traditional Turkish baklava. I prefer walnut, which is more Greek-style). We left the town and headed back to the hostel, stopping to race up a hill to watch the sun set. We got there about fifteen minutes before the sun went down and we watched its progression. It was definitely the best sunset I have ever seen. Again, no words to describe it. We then headed back to town where we went to dinner at the same place from the first night. I had pide this time rather than the house special (I mentioned pide in my previous post-it’s the Turkish pizza equivalent but without sauce). I really love me some Turkish food. So delicious.
Saturday began with French toast for breakfast again (it was just that good!). Three of us decided to go to the nearby city of Kayseri (kaiser-ee), which houses an immaculately preserved 14th century house. The house also had coins and paper money from the 600s in great shape as well as some papyrus scrolls from the time period. They were so well preserved which is amazing. After the house, we went for waffles, which I don’t think I’ve explained yet. The Turkish enjoy taking a Belgian waffle, covering it in nutella, chocolate sauce, fruit slices (banana, apple, kiwi, strawberry-today’s even had pomegranate seeds which were amazing), and sometimes a pistachio spread. At times they put chocolate/vanilla ice cream on top. If not, the waffle is wrapped up like a pizza and shoveled into one’s mouth. It is beyond delicious. I could eat a waffle a day because they are just so amazing. We took a taxi back to the main bus station where we caught a bus to Avanos (a city to the north of our hostel). In Avanos we caught a bus back to the hostel, said our final goodbyes to Zeyda (she’s like my adoptive mother), and headed out for dinner. I got a cheese gozleme but this time it was not fried, rather, it was cooked in a pan and was extra crispy. Kind of like a quesadilla. After dinner, we got baklava for the road (don’t judge me) and now here I am, writing this in the mountains of Cappadocia.
I know this entry was very long and probably a little more information than you wanted about my journey but oh well. I start classes this week (after being out of school for about two months) and hope my classes will be interesting. As of right now I have no classes on Mondays and Fridays but my schedule does need a little tweaking.
Anyways, moral of this story: Cappadocia is amazing. Go there if you ever get the chance. You really won’t regret it, no matter what kinds of things you like to do while traveling.
Transportation recap: total number of modes of transport: 10 (bus, feet, ferry, train, metro, mini-bus, “hitch hiking,” hot air balloon, rented car, and taxi).
Hope everyone is well and enjoying the wonderful weather I’m hearing about back home!
Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034813&id=1391040260&l=91e2a908ec
Tuesday night we (5 of us this time) left the European side of Istanbul on a ferry to the Asian side where we caught an over night train to the capital city of Ankara. We arrived in Ankara before 7am on Wednesday which, if you know me, you know I do not enjoy being up before 10am. This travelling is making me get used to sleeping wherever I can whenever I can. Once in Ankara we walked around and decided to stop in a nice-looking hotel to ask for directions to the main bus station to buy our tickets to Cappadocia for the evening. The hotel staff pointed us to the metro station where we rode several stops towards the end of the line and purchased our tickets to Göreme (Grr-em-ehh). After purchasing our tickets, we found breakfast and delicious tea in a café in the bus station where I ordered kasharlı tost (kash-ar-luh toast), which is basically like a Panini-grilled version of a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s always cheap but is always delicious. I ended up getting a tea as well. I came to Turkey with a bit of a bias against tea, thinking it was something that people with British accents (and my sister) like to drink. However, Turkey has completely changed my biased perspective in that all of its many flavors are just too delicious to turn down for any reason-especially if they’re free. My current favorite is apple tea, which is kind of like apple cider/apple juice but even better. It’s just beyond words. Aside from my tea rant, we left the bus station and went back to near where our train took us. We walked around and asked several very nice Ankarans (I probably made that term up) where we could find Ataturk’s Mausoleum. This was actually a very stupid question as Ataturk’s Mausoleum was in the direct middle of the city on top of a giant hill, several hundred feet above the tree line. The mausoleum had a gorgeous view of the city from all sides and contained a very interesting museum chronicling Ataturk’s life. The Turkish nation was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after World War I. The Turkish found a long war against several different nations (UK, French, mostly) with Ataturk being their hero. As a side note, he chose Ankara as the capital as it is a lot easier to defend than Istanbul (which is easily accessible by sea, land, and air). There was a movie at the Mausoleum which basically just said how awesome Ataturk was, which does make me somewhat question the cult of personality that the Turkish have for Ataturk. On the day of Ataturk’s death, everything stops. At the exact time of his death, cars stop in the middle of the street, people stop breathing; it’s just something that is completely unparalleled in the US. Maybe if you combined Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Jay, Franklin, and the Adamses, you would get maybe half an Ataturk. Ataturk himself actually did very well with the country, I think. The movie stressed that he was not a dictator despite a 15-year term until his death. However, despite the length of his rule being close to what we might consider dictatorship, the social programs and equality efforts brought about by Ataturk completely defied the stereotypes of a dictator. Ataturk gave women equal rights, expanded education efforts, opened up the Turkish economy to foreign trade, and started a period of slow but steady growth for the nation. Conclusion: Ataturk was pretty bad ass. The tomb itself is in a giant hall reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial but gold-plated and 10x larger. The entire area is guarded by different members of each military branch and some of them are in glass cases (a friend thought they were fake and got a little too close to the case which made for a good laugh). The guards are kind of like a mix of those at Arlington Cemetery and Buckingham Palace. It seemed like a very big honor to work and guard Ataturk’s grave. After leaving Ataturk’s grave and the rest of the museum, we got a guard to take a picture with us, which was a bit terrifying with his sword and machine gun. It was also kind of creepy but in reality, he was kind of just a creep. Creeper magnet is apparently still going strong here in Turkey. Our journey continued towards a place for lunch where my friend Emily and I split a pizza, which was unfortunately not delicious. I guess somehow they interpreted sausage as bologna. Bologna pizza is never okay. After lunch we ventured on towards Kocatepe (Koh-ja-tep-eh) Mosque near the business district in Ankara. The mosque is supposedly modeled after the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. It’s very similar in size but nowhere near as old or touristy. The centerpiece of the mosque had this giant hanging golden ball (kind of like the size of the ball they drop on New Year’s). We never figured out where that came from but it was very interesting nonetheless. After leaving the mosque, we took the metro back to the bus station again where we stopped for ice cream sandwiches. My friend Emily and I got dark chocolate with brownie while others opted for caramel or pistachio. Obviously we chose the superior option. After scarfing down our ice cream, we got on our bus to Göreme, which is a little more than a 4 hour bus ride from Ankara. I dozed off a bit and was not woken up to see the sun setting over a gorgeous lake. Some friends! We arrived in Göreme and headed to the pension I had booked for us ahead of time. It was super nice and heated and quite a wonderful find. We dropped our bags and ran to the nearest place for dinner. I got the local special called guveç (goo-vech) which was beef cubes, tomatoes, and green peppers in a wondrous broth in a pot cooked over a fire. It was served with bread for dipping which was quite excellent. After dinner was bed time after a nice warm shower. Having heat was much appreciated and I slept like a rock.
Thursday began after a wonderful night’s sleep. We all got dressed and went to breakfast together. The five of us ended up being able to stay in the same room with a shower and bathroom inside the hostel dorm. Breakfast happened to be included in the fee and I chose French toast as my delectable option. It was of course delicious and made to order, which is appreciated (and wonderful for the price we paid for the room). After breakfast, our “mother” Zeyda (or Zaida, not sure, but pronounced Zey-duh) gave us a lot of travel and sightseeing options for the day. She works at the reception desk of the pension and is from Durban, South Africa (the Turkish accent and South African one mixed together make for a very cool combo). We headed out towards the Göreme Open Air Museum where we were able to convince them that we were all students so they let us in for free. The museum is a group of rock dwellings you can explore. The majority of the ones you could walk into were churches which generally outdated the spread of Islam. They were very well-preserved for being thousands of years old. Coincidentally, we saw the same Canadian/Belgian (I can’t remember his place of origin) who was at our hotel last weekend at the open air museum. Small world. After leaving the museum, we headed for a leisurely hike through the muddy, icy hills of the Cappadocian valleys. My Sperry’s were definitely not equipped for the terrain but I managed. I really didn’t think I’d be hiking through muddy, gross hills. However, the views from the tops of the climbs were completely worth it and absolutely gorgeous. Cappadocia is one of (if not the) prettiest places I have ever been in my entire life. After competing our hike, the owner of the restaurant we ate at the previous night randomly happened to be driving along the main road we were on (we were waiting for a local bus). He stopped and offered us a ride back into Göreme in his very nice car despite the fact that we were sporting muddy shoes. I suppose I have now hitch hiked. One more thing off the bucket list, really. In Göreme we hung out around the hostel/pension for a bit before getting dinner at a place Zeyda recommended. The place served börek, which is philo dough stuffed with different options (chicken, veggies, sauces, dessert items) and fried lightly until crispy. I had tavuk gozleme (chicken) which is the same consistency but kind of egg-roll shaped. It was served with the yogurt they eat here as a dipping sauce and was quite delicious. The five of us split a chocolate gozleme for desert which was magnificent. The owner of the shop spoke to me in Spanish (he spoke 8 languages) which was enjoyable (a foreign language I do understand!). We had an early night because we had to wake up early for…
Hot air ballooning! We woke up around 5:45am and were picked up from the hostel around 6:30 to head to the fields (which happened to be across from the Open Air Museum). There were more than 20 different balloons there preparing for take off. The five of us were also in a balloon with a group of South Korean tourists but the basket was compartmentalized so that the 5 of us had our own space together. The balloon took off and flew around the area for about an hour. The pilot was excellent, flying between rock formations and even touching the ground momentarily before lifting off again. His favorite phrase was “Don’t worry! Be happy” which kept that song in my head for the duration of the day. I honestly cannot describe how gorgeous the flight was but hopefully my pictures (and my friends’ pictures) will do it some justice. The flight was a little pricey but absolutely worth it. We landed after about an hour and were greeted with a celebratory glass of champagne mixed with peach juice as well as flight certificates for successful completion of our hot air balloon ride. We then had to trek up another muddy field (my shoes were about 2 pounds heavier after this trek) to get to the van that would drive us back to the hostel. It was only around 9am. We had another bout of French toast before heading out to rent a car for the day. Emily was the only one who knew how to drive stick shift and thus became our driver for the day while I served as navigator. The rental company asked for no proof of insurance, driver’s license, passport, or anything. Amazing how things are different in Turkey. We drove towards Derinkuyu, one of the underground cities in the area. We explored the 8 underground floors they excavated within the area. The underground city itself was apparently supposed to hold almost 20,000 people. It was very interesting to see how they lived and very cool to explore around (though most things were very well lit). In Derinkuyu we stopped to eat lunch (delicious pb&j’s). We accidentally sat outside of a middle school where the boys opened the windows and started yelling “I love you!” and then proceeding to throw rocks at us. Needless to say, we departed very quickly from Derinkuyu after that. Eventually we made our way to Urgüp (Er-goop) and parked (after some help). The area is well-known for its wine and a group member wanted to go to a wine tasting in the area. The wines that were tried included pomegranate, cherry, mulberry, sour grape, a white wine, and strawberry. After the wine tasting, we headed to a baklava place that Zeyda recommended where we had pistachio baklava (which is traditional Turkish baklava. I prefer walnut, which is more Greek-style). We left the town and headed back to the hostel, stopping to race up a hill to watch the sun set. We got there about fifteen minutes before the sun went down and we watched its progression. It was definitely the best sunset I have ever seen. Again, no words to describe it. We then headed back to town where we went to dinner at the same place from the first night. I had pide this time rather than the house special (I mentioned pide in my previous post-it’s the Turkish pizza equivalent but without sauce). I really love me some Turkish food. So delicious.
Saturday began with French toast for breakfast again (it was just that good!). Three of us decided to go to the nearby city of Kayseri (kaiser-ee), which houses an immaculately preserved 14th century house. The house also had coins and paper money from the 600s in great shape as well as some papyrus scrolls from the time period. They were so well preserved which is amazing. After the house, we went for waffles, which I don’t think I’ve explained yet. The Turkish enjoy taking a Belgian waffle, covering it in nutella, chocolate sauce, fruit slices (banana, apple, kiwi, strawberry-today’s even had pomegranate seeds which were amazing), and sometimes a pistachio spread. At times they put chocolate/vanilla ice cream on top. If not, the waffle is wrapped up like a pizza and shoveled into one’s mouth. It is beyond delicious. I could eat a waffle a day because they are just so amazing. We took a taxi back to the main bus station where we caught a bus to Avanos (a city to the north of our hostel). In Avanos we caught a bus back to the hostel, said our final goodbyes to Zeyda (she’s like my adoptive mother), and headed out for dinner. I got a cheese gozleme but this time it was not fried, rather, it was cooked in a pan and was extra crispy. Kind of like a quesadilla. After dinner, we got baklava for the road (don’t judge me) and now here I am, writing this in the mountains of Cappadocia.
I know this entry was very long and probably a little more information than you wanted about my journey but oh well. I start classes this week (after being out of school for about two months) and hope my classes will be interesting. As of right now I have no classes on Mondays and Fridays but my schedule does need a little tweaking.
Anyways, moral of this story: Cappadocia is amazing. Go there if you ever get the chance. You really won’t regret it, no matter what kinds of things you like to do while traveling.
Transportation recap: total number of modes of transport: 10 (bus, feet, ferry, train, metro, mini-bus, “hitch hiking,” hot air balloon, rented car, and taxi).
Hope everyone is well and enjoying the wonderful weather I’m hearing about back home!
Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034813&id=1391040260&l=91e2a908ec
Monday, February 14, 2011
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
As I sit here typing out this blog entry, I am legitimately on a ferry from the Asian side back to Istanbul. No, really. I’m on a double-decker bus aboard a giant ferry across. It’s kind of trippy being inside a bus, on the second floor (first class is below-with a kitchen and a bathroom), and on a ferry going from one continent to another. This will hopefully conclude a very successful weekend with newfound international friends (okay, so we’re all Americans) and a very enlightening journey throughout a large part of Turkey.
We left Thursday night at around 6 from our dorm. I decided around 5pm to go ahead and attend the trip, thinking it’d be a great way to see a huge part of Turkey and also meet new people who would also want to travel in the future. We caught the bus from around our dorm to the tram that I had previously taken to visit Sultanahmet. From there, we took the metro to the otogar (bus station) in which we were shepherded around by several men who essentially stole our planned itinerary and made us chase after them until they eventually booked us (all 13 of us) on a bus to Denizli. The men left us alone after they got their cut of our ticket sales under the table but did not actually receive payment from us. They enjoyed calling the girls “baby baby baby” on a repeated basis, making me question the reverberating presence of Justin Bieber worldwide. All in all, the men were actually helpful in securing such a large group a spot on the bus.
Friday began after a ten hour long bus ride from Istanbul to Denizli, where one of my compadres made a Turkish sister on the bus, as they exchanged multi-language conversation over the duration of the ten hour bus ride. The majority of us attempted sleep in cramped spaces that could have been much worse. A cart with juice, tea, coffee, soda, and small snacks was brought around to everyone twice on the ride and I have definitely found a new favorite in a Turkish peach juice. After getting off the bus, our Turkish sister helped us find a bus to Pamukkale, a nearby town famous for its deposits (travertines) with hot springs as well as neighboring Roman ruins of Hieropolis. We took many a picture in the ruins of the ancient Roman city as there were no guide rails or signs to indicate that this was bad behavior. I did not participate in the antics as the majority of Hieropolis was centered on death and burial. Many Romans thought that the hot springs of Pamukkale had healing powers and came to Hieropolis for treatment but based on the number of graves, this whole “healing” thing didn’t work so well. The ruins were surprisingly well preserved and the amphitheater was one of the largest in the ancient Roman world. We ventured over to the travertines, which also contained hot springs (I have no idea how that is actually possible, but oh well). We had to take off our shoes and socks in order to walk on the travertines which was somewhat painful, but the majority of it felt like cool, wet sand (but even softer than that-it’s like walking on one of those memory foam beds). There was a small waterfall over the deposits, which was absolutely gorgeous but hard to capture by picture because of the reflection of sun on the white travertines. The amount of walking by around 3pm that day was somewhat ridiculous but I find the walking to allow more baklava than my normal quota. We eventually made our way down the side of the limestone deposits and into the town of Pamukkale where we began our journey of odd Turkish interconnection. We were directed to a bus company that then took us to Selçuk and pointed us to a hotel that they promised had central heating (a very important asset of sleeping). At the bus station in Selçuk, a man from the hotel met us and fed us a schpiel about how amazing the hotel is (Hotel Artemis…if you have the name of a deity, your hotel really should be divine). He said he would give us a group rate with breakfast and transportation to Ephesus, which, after a very long day and with very hungry people, sounded great. We then took a tour of the hotel, sat and had some tea (apple tea…mmmm) and then dropped our stuff and semi-sprinted to dinner. We had Turkish pizza, which is a lot like the lahmacun I’ve previously described, but is more oval-shaped with different dough. It was a pleasant meal completed with baklava and a cake bought for a group-member’s birthday. We went back to the hotel where a Canadian, a Belgian, and a Slovene had already checked in and were included in our birthday festivities for said comrade. Though the hotel advertised a central heating system, I do not believe I have ever woken up (violently shaking) in the fetal position like this before. Providing us with two scratchy blankets and non-working heating was really a downer. We were also situated right next to a mosque, so hearing the call to prayer at 5am was rather unpleasant.
Saturday began in shivers and curses at false promises of central heating. I think over the course of the night, myself and my roommates got up several handfuls of times to put more clothing on (more than the pants and long sleeved shirts we already had on) to attempt some legitimate sleep. We went downstairs and had breakfast in front of a roaring fire (…why couldn’t that have been in my room?) which consisted of bread, jam, butter, cucumber (uh), hard boiled eggs, and more apple tea. My bread intake for the weekend really has been rather phenomenal. This really is Turkey in the off season. We decided to check out and depart for Ephesus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus). What we thought was going to be a bus ride to Ephesus turned out to be a 10 person group (not including myself) piled into a large pick up truck and myself and two other girls in a small sedan. I must say that I am quite glad that I was not in said pick up truck. Ephesus was only about 2km away from the hotel so the ride wasn’t very long. We started at the top of Ephesus where we haggled with a tour guide to get the price to be about 5 lira for all of us. His name was Nail (nah-eel) and he had been giving tours for the last 40 years (apparently). He was very informative about all the different parts of the ruins and even told us where to stand to get the best pictures. At the end, we went in another giant amphitheater, which seems to be our trend). After Ephesus, we walked back towards Selcuk and stopped at the Temptle of Artemis, one of the 7 wonder’s of the ancient world but all that was really standing was one very long pillar. Kind of sad how much everything has been destroyed over time by the elements and the non-Greeks. Still, I suppose I can now claim to have seen one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 6 more to go..! After returning from the Temple of Artemis, the group decided to find a place to eat in Selçuk, and our guide from earlier (who met us at the bus station and took us to the hotel) magically appeared and found us a nice place to eat. We all had a variety of things but splurged on some wonderful çips (French fries) to quench of American hunger pangs. Selçuk was in full market swing so we took advantage of the multitude of fresh fruit, veggies, nuts, cheeses, etc that were offered and scored some sweet snacks for the road. We then trekked back to the main area of town and then basically walked up a mountain to a castle that once guarded the city and the mosque next to it. We strolled around the courtyard of the mosque and then watched the sunset near the mosque and then headed back into town. We stopped for wondrous baklava (you don’t even want to know how many pieces of baklava I had on this trip) and then made our merry way to the bus station. We took about an hour long bus ride into Izmir (one of the largest cities in Turkey behind Istanbul) and then proceeded to find dinner (I had a lamb, lettuce, tomato, hot sauce, and pita wrap) and some çay. We waited until about 12:30 to get on our bus to Cannakkale which is near the ancient city of Troy.
Sunday began with a jolt, as our supposed 7 hour bus ride arrived at an astounding 5:15am into the bus station at Cannakkale. I was violently awoken by the bus…steward. I’m not quite sure what to call him, but he brought drinks and such on a little trolley like on a flight so…steward for now. I do believe I was slapped (or love-tapped as I like to call it) in the face in order to wake me up from my deep sleep in order to alert the group that we were indeed in Cannakkale. We rushed off the bus and into the warm bus depo where several of the group members fell asleep again but being the protective soul I am, I couldn’t allow my group-members’ baggage to go unlooked after. After watching the sunrise, team bonding via card games, and wondrous pastries, we walked towards the water to see where the horse used in the movie Troy was located. It’s huge and it’s hard to think about the amount of work that went into making it. We then took a smaller bus to the actual ruins of Troy, where we all climbed up into the wooden horse there and took photos as well as walked around the ruins. It is very interesting to think about the Homeric epic and how that translates to actual history for the city of Troy. After Troy we headed out towards the bus station again where we took the bus that I am now sitting on.
I think a lot of the time it sounds like I’ve been complaining about things that have happened on this trip, but I legitimately cannot express the wonderful things I have seen or people I met. People here in Turkey are so friendly and willing to help at the drop of a hat and legitimately never ask for anything in return. Hospitality and kindness are the norm here, not the exception. You could never just walk up to random strangers on the street in the US and ask for directions or help like you do here. People here can sense that you are lost or need help and really go out of their way to help you. Travel in Turkey is extremely inexpensive as well, as the buses we took were very high class and no more than $20 for a very nice ride. The things we saw differ so much from what we have seen in Istanbul. Turkey is an amazingly diverse country with so many different attractions for people of all different preferences. Even just being in smaller towns and villages was an experience, with the stories from these experiences definitely something for another time.
A lot of people tend to lump Turkey into one general category under the umbrella of Istanbul, but it’s really not. Turkey cannot really be defined by one city, albeit a large one as my many adventures throughout Turkey have proved this to be false. More adventures to come after this upcoming weekend in Turkey before classes start. Hopefully I will be heading off to Ankara and Cappadocia this weekend for more adventures.
Pictures from this weekend can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034746&id=1391040260&l=0e11adc407
Hope everyone is well!
We left Thursday night at around 6 from our dorm. I decided around 5pm to go ahead and attend the trip, thinking it’d be a great way to see a huge part of Turkey and also meet new people who would also want to travel in the future. We caught the bus from around our dorm to the tram that I had previously taken to visit Sultanahmet. From there, we took the metro to the otogar (bus station) in which we were shepherded around by several men who essentially stole our planned itinerary and made us chase after them until they eventually booked us (all 13 of us) on a bus to Denizli. The men left us alone after they got their cut of our ticket sales under the table but did not actually receive payment from us. They enjoyed calling the girls “baby baby baby” on a repeated basis, making me question the reverberating presence of Justin Bieber worldwide. All in all, the men were actually helpful in securing such a large group a spot on the bus.
Friday began after a ten hour long bus ride from Istanbul to Denizli, where one of my compadres made a Turkish sister on the bus, as they exchanged multi-language conversation over the duration of the ten hour bus ride. The majority of us attempted sleep in cramped spaces that could have been much worse. A cart with juice, tea, coffee, soda, and small snacks was brought around to everyone twice on the ride and I have definitely found a new favorite in a Turkish peach juice. After getting off the bus, our Turkish sister helped us find a bus to Pamukkale, a nearby town famous for its deposits (travertines) with hot springs as well as neighboring Roman ruins of Hieropolis. We took many a picture in the ruins of the ancient Roman city as there were no guide rails or signs to indicate that this was bad behavior. I did not participate in the antics as the majority of Hieropolis was centered on death and burial. Many Romans thought that the hot springs of Pamukkale had healing powers and came to Hieropolis for treatment but based on the number of graves, this whole “healing” thing didn’t work so well. The ruins were surprisingly well preserved and the amphitheater was one of the largest in the ancient Roman world. We ventured over to the travertines, which also contained hot springs (I have no idea how that is actually possible, but oh well). We had to take off our shoes and socks in order to walk on the travertines which was somewhat painful, but the majority of it felt like cool, wet sand (but even softer than that-it’s like walking on one of those memory foam beds). There was a small waterfall over the deposits, which was absolutely gorgeous but hard to capture by picture because of the reflection of sun on the white travertines. The amount of walking by around 3pm that day was somewhat ridiculous but I find the walking to allow more baklava than my normal quota. We eventually made our way down the side of the limestone deposits and into the town of Pamukkale where we began our journey of odd Turkish interconnection. We were directed to a bus company that then took us to Selçuk and pointed us to a hotel that they promised had central heating (a very important asset of sleeping). At the bus station in Selçuk, a man from the hotel met us and fed us a schpiel about how amazing the hotel is (Hotel Artemis…if you have the name of a deity, your hotel really should be divine). He said he would give us a group rate with breakfast and transportation to Ephesus, which, after a very long day and with very hungry people, sounded great. We then took a tour of the hotel, sat and had some tea (apple tea…mmmm) and then dropped our stuff and semi-sprinted to dinner. We had Turkish pizza, which is a lot like the lahmacun I’ve previously described, but is more oval-shaped with different dough. It was a pleasant meal completed with baklava and a cake bought for a group-member’s birthday. We went back to the hotel where a Canadian, a Belgian, and a Slovene had already checked in and were included in our birthday festivities for said comrade. Though the hotel advertised a central heating system, I do not believe I have ever woken up (violently shaking) in the fetal position like this before. Providing us with two scratchy blankets and non-working heating was really a downer. We were also situated right next to a mosque, so hearing the call to prayer at 5am was rather unpleasant.
Saturday began in shivers and curses at false promises of central heating. I think over the course of the night, myself and my roommates got up several handfuls of times to put more clothing on (more than the pants and long sleeved shirts we already had on) to attempt some legitimate sleep. We went downstairs and had breakfast in front of a roaring fire (…why couldn’t that have been in my room?) which consisted of bread, jam, butter, cucumber (uh), hard boiled eggs, and more apple tea. My bread intake for the weekend really has been rather phenomenal. This really is Turkey in the off season. We decided to check out and depart for Ephesus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus). What we thought was going to be a bus ride to Ephesus turned out to be a 10 person group (not including myself) piled into a large pick up truck and myself and two other girls in a small sedan. I must say that I am quite glad that I was not in said pick up truck. Ephesus was only about 2km away from the hotel so the ride wasn’t very long. We started at the top of Ephesus where we haggled with a tour guide to get the price to be about 5 lira for all of us. His name was Nail (nah-eel) and he had been giving tours for the last 40 years (apparently). He was very informative about all the different parts of the ruins and even told us where to stand to get the best pictures. At the end, we went in another giant amphitheater, which seems to be our trend). After Ephesus, we walked back towards Selcuk and stopped at the Temptle of Artemis, one of the 7 wonder’s of the ancient world but all that was really standing was one very long pillar. Kind of sad how much everything has been destroyed over time by the elements and the non-Greeks. Still, I suppose I can now claim to have seen one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 6 more to go..! After returning from the Temple of Artemis, the group decided to find a place to eat in Selçuk, and our guide from earlier (who met us at the bus station and took us to the hotel) magically appeared and found us a nice place to eat. We all had a variety of things but splurged on some wonderful çips (French fries) to quench of American hunger pangs. Selçuk was in full market swing so we took advantage of the multitude of fresh fruit, veggies, nuts, cheeses, etc that were offered and scored some sweet snacks for the road. We then trekked back to the main area of town and then basically walked up a mountain to a castle that once guarded the city and the mosque next to it. We strolled around the courtyard of the mosque and then watched the sunset near the mosque and then headed back into town. We stopped for wondrous baklava (you don’t even want to know how many pieces of baklava I had on this trip) and then made our merry way to the bus station. We took about an hour long bus ride into Izmir (one of the largest cities in Turkey behind Istanbul) and then proceeded to find dinner (I had a lamb, lettuce, tomato, hot sauce, and pita wrap) and some çay. We waited until about 12:30 to get on our bus to Cannakkale which is near the ancient city of Troy.
Sunday began with a jolt, as our supposed 7 hour bus ride arrived at an astounding 5:15am into the bus station at Cannakkale. I was violently awoken by the bus…steward. I’m not quite sure what to call him, but he brought drinks and such on a little trolley like on a flight so…steward for now. I do believe I was slapped (or love-tapped as I like to call it) in the face in order to wake me up from my deep sleep in order to alert the group that we were indeed in Cannakkale. We rushed off the bus and into the warm bus depo where several of the group members fell asleep again but being the protective soul I am, I couldn’t allow my group-members’ baggage to go unlooked after. After watching the sunrise, team bonding via card games, and wondrous pastries, we walked towards the water to see where the horse used in the movie Troy was located. It’s huge and it’s hard to think about the amount of work that went into making it. We then took a smaller bus to the actual ruins of Troy, where we all climbed up into the wooden horse there and took photos as well as walked around the ruins. It is very interesting to think about the Homeric epic and how that translates to actual history for the city of Troy. After Troy we headed out towards the bus station again where we took the bus that I am now sitting on.
I think a lot of the time it sounds like I’ve been complaining about things that have happened on this trip, but I legitimately cannot express the wonderful things I have seen or people I met. People here in Turkey are so friendly and willing to help at the drop of a hat and legitimately never ask for anything in return. Hospitality and kindness are the norm here, not the exception. You could never just walk up to random strangers on the street in the US and ask for directions or help like you do here. People here can sense that you are lost or need help and really go out of their way to help you. Travel in Turkey is extremely inexpensive as well, as the buses we took were very high class and no more than $20 for a very nice ride. The things we saw differ so much from what we have seen in Istanbul. Turkey is an amazingly diverse country with so many different attractions for people of all different preferences. Even just being in smaller towns and villages was an experience, with the stories from these experiences definitely something for another time.
A lot of people tend to lump Turkey into one general category under the umbrella of Istanbul, but it’s really not. Turkey cannot really be defined by one city, albeit a large one as my many adventures throughout Turkey have proved this to be false. More adventures to come after this upcoming weekend in Turkey before classes start. Hopefully I will be heading off to Ankara and Cappadocia this weekend for more adventures.
Pictures from this weekend can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034746&id=1391040260&l=0e11adc407
Hope everyone is well!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Take me back to Constantinople
I apparently have been quite busy since the last time I blogged. I no longer can remember when I did certain things and am surprised I have almost been here for a week. It seems like longer than that but oh well. I'll go ahead and give you a synopsis of the shenanigans I've gotten up to here.
Sunday: Walked to Ortaköy, a 40 minute walk from Bebek along the Bosphorus. It was a gorgeous day but kind of windy which kind of took away from the beauty of walking along the Bosphorus. Ortaköy is located right near the bridge to Asia and every Sunday they have a market where "locals" (it's kind of an ambiguous term) come and sell their wares. We stopped and ate kumpir (koomp-ear) which are giant baked potatoes that they basically pile whatever you want on them. They mash the actual potato part a bit but it's not as soft as mashed potatoes (though they melt cheese and put that in there-delicious!). I had corn, peas (...sorry, mom), lots of cheese, and some kinds of sauces that I have no idea what they were but they were indeed delicious. We ended up shopping at the little market where I bought a very nice, hand-stitched scarf that is (of course) Carolina blue and white and several other shades of blue for about 8 lira (less than $5). We ended up taking the bus back to Bebek and stopping at a delicious dessert place where they make their own chocolate. It is the oldest pastry shop in the area and possibly the entirety of Istanbul-it was founded in 1923. We had a delicious tiramisu and gawked at the chocolate. I was internalizing my desires to drool over the dark chocolate selection. We met a Turkish man there who was also an American citizen who goes to Miami when it gets too cold in Turkey. He was very nice and not in a creepy way, either. He told us rules about tipping here-very rarely do you tip more than 5% but at most places, you do not tip more than 10% and it is perfectly acceptable to not leave a tip. Very different from the US.
Monday: Went to pre-registration and got my student ID # but not the ever-important student ID (travel is cheaper in the city with an ID). Very simple and kind of a waste of time. Found the good coffee/pastry shops on campus but they are probably relatively over priced. I met with a bunch of other exchange students from around the world but there were too many to list here. We walked down the giant hill from Etiler (my neighborhood) to Bebek (...I seem to spend a lot of time in Bebek) where we took the bus to Ortaköy again. We ended up taking a cruise (like an hour long boat-ride) on the Bosphorus which was gorgeous with the sun setting. Ortaköy has a very beautiful mosque that I have taken many pictures of but have not actually been inside. Go figure. After getting off the cruise, we took the bus back to Bebek and thought it would be a good idea to walk up a giant half-mile+ hill with a steep incline back into campus. It had a gorgeous view but my calves were not very appreciative. We had dinner at a local bar/cafe/restaurant near campus that is located at the top of a building and has very gorgeous views but is over-priced.
Tuesday: Went to breakfast (...at noon?) and had tost, which is similar to grilled cheese but with crispier bread and is cooked more of a panini style. You can get it with spicy sausage or without, and I went without. It was delicious and cheap, which is always a good find. We took the bus to a metro-bus (kind of like a tram) stop where we went to Sultanahmet, a very old part of the city. The infamous Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (pronounced Aya Sophia) are located there. We entered the Blue Mosque and had to remove our shoes and carry them in a plastic bag as well as wearing head scarves (though this was a bit more arbitrarily enforced). I legitimately have no words to describe how gorgeous the Blue Mosque is-inside and out. Pictures do not even come close to summing it up, either. You'll just have to go for yourself and see! After going to the mosque, we stopped to get some döner wraps (I got chicken-tavuk) and baklava. I think this may as well be my last blog entry as I will gladly become a homeless peddler in exchange for eating delicious baklava all day for the rest of my life. They seriously do not even come close to making baklava like this in America. After gorging on baklava, we headed for the Grand Bazaar. It is indeed quite grand and a giant maze. All the different shops were selling similar things-knock-offs, lamps, bowls, scarves, and the random gold shop here and there. I bought a small hand-woven change purse (as my wallet is too bulky) for 2 lira (less than $1.50) and a small keychain for the same price. Another person haggled at a scarf shop for 3 100% cashmere scarves for 70 lira (less than $50). I remember where that shop is and will undoubtedly return if you'd like to put your orders in (seriously. It's low tourist season now and things are cheap so...if you want souvenirs, let me know). After leaving the Grand Bazaar, we took the tram and the bus back to campus (...almost 2 hours worth of travel due to awful traffic-should have been maybe half an hour). We got back to campus and had dinner near where we had breakfast. I found another cheap staple called lahmacun (lock-muh-joon-the c is equivalent to the j sound). It's almost like pizza-crust dough with mixed herbs, spices, tomatoes, and other crushed up things spread on top. They give you tomatoes, lettuce, lemon juice, and parsley to garnish it with. You wrap it up and eat it wrap-style. It is definitely one of my favorites.
Today (Wednesday): Took a friend to try lahmacun. Always good to spread the word about cheap, good eats (especially if you get similar knowledge in return!). We went to orientation which was very self-explanatory and kind of pointless as they directed all questions to their website anyways. We went to an exchange student dinner that was kind of cafeteria style but was held on top of a building with one of the best views of Istanbul. The sun was setting and I kept internally berating myself for not having my camera on me. Travesty!
I uploaded photos from the above antics to the link that I posted last.
I really love it here. Given, there are things that are very different from Chapel Hill but it's been so fun to explore around the city and meet new people. I think things will be nice when classes start, though. Very few Turkish students are here and my apartment area (it's prison-like, really) is empty.
I hope everyone at home is well (and watching the UNC game...so jealous)! Feel free to Facebook me/Skype (kellyyahner) for more stories/updates and things as updating this blog regularly probably will not happen. And really, if you guys want things from here, let me know. I'm awful at giving gifts and you're all going to get something so you might as well tell me what you want (especially pattern/color-wise for scarves). That's for you, Gretchen.
İyi geceler!
Sunday: Walked to Ortaköy, a 40 minute walk from Bebek along the Bosphorus. It was a gorgeous day but kind of windy which kind of took away from the beauty of walking along the Bosphorus. Ortaköy is located right near the bridge to Asia and every Sunday they have a market where "locals" (it's kind of an ambiguous term) come and sell their wares. We stopped and ate kumpir (koomp-ear) which are giant baked potatoes that they basically pile whatever you want on them. They mash the actual potato part a bit but it's not as soft as mashed potatoes (though they melt cheese and put that in there-delicious!). I had corn, peas (...sorry, mom), lots of cheese, and some kinds of sauces that I have no idea what they were but they were indeed delicious. We ended up shopping at the little market where I bought a very nice, hand-stitched scarf that is (of course) Carolina blue and white and several other shades of blue for about 8 lira (less than $5). We ended up taking the bus back to Bebek and stopping at a delicious dessert place where they make their own chocolate. It is the oldest pastry shop in the area and possibly the entirety of Istanbul-it was founded in 1923. We had a delicious tiramisu and gawked at the chocolate. I was internalizing my desires to drool over the dark chocolate selection. We met a Turkish man there who was also an American citizen who goes to Miami when it gets too cold in Turkey. He was very nice and not in a creepy way, either. He told us rules about tipping here-very rarely do you tip more than 5% but at most places, you do not tip more than 10% and it is perfectly acceptable to not leave a tip. Very different from the US.
Monday: Went to pre-registration and got my student ID # but not the ever-important student ID (travel is cheaper in the city with an ID). Very simple and kind of a waste of time. Found the good coffee/pastry shops on campus but they are probably relatively over priced. I met with a bunch of other exchange students from around the world but there were too many to list here. We walked down the giant hill from Etiler (my neighborhood) to Bebek (...I seem to spend a lot of time in Bebek) where we took the bus to Ortaköy again. We ended up taking a cruise (like an hour long boat-ride) on the Bosphorus which was gorgeous with the sun setting. Ortaköy has a very beautiful mosque that I have taken many pictures of but have not actually been inside. Go figure. After getting off the cruise, we took the bus back to Bebek and thought it would be a good idea to walk up a giant half-mile+ hill with a steep incline back into campus. It had a gorgeous view but my calves were not very appreciative. We had dinner at a local bar/cafe/restaurant near campus that is located at the top of a building and has very gorgeous views but is over-priced.
Tuesday: Went to breakfast (...at noon?) and had tost, which is similar to grilled cheese but with crispier bread and is cooked more of a panini style. You can get it with spicy sausage or without, and I went without. It was delicious and cheap, which is always a good find. We took the bus to a metro-bus (kind of like a tram) stop where we went to Sultanahmet, a very old part of the city. The infamous Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (pronounced Aya Sophia) are located there. We entered the Blue Mosque and had to remove our shoes and carry them in a plastic bag as well as wearing head scarves (though this was a bit more arbitrarily enforced). I legitimately have no words to describe how gorgeous the Blue Mosque is-inside and out. Pictures do not even come close to summing it up, either. You'll just have to go for yourself and see! After going to the mosque, we stopped to get some döner wraps (I got chicken-tavuk) and baklava. I think this may as well be my last blog entry as I will gladly become a homeless peddler in exchange for eating delicious baklava all day for the rest of my life. They seriously do not even come close to making baklava like this in America. After gorging on baklava, we headed for the Grand Bazaar. It is indeed quite grand and a giant maze. All the different shops were selling similar things-knock-offs, lamps, bowls, scarves, and the random gold shop here and there. I bought a small hand-woven change purse (as my wallet is too bulky) for 2 lira (less than $1.50) and a small keychain for the same price. Another person haggled at a scarf shop for 3 100% cashmere scarves for 70 lira (less than $50). I remember where that shop is and will undoubtedly return if you'd like to put your orders in (seriously. It's low tourist season now and things are cheap so...if you want souvenirs, let me know). After leaving the Grand Bazaar, we took the tram and the bus back to campus (...almost 2 hours worth of travel due to awful traffic-should have been maybe half an hour). We got back to campus and had dinner near where we had breakfast. I found another cheap staple called lahmacun (lock-muh-joon-the c is equivalent to the j sound). It's almost like pizza-crust dough with mixed herbs, spices, tomatoes, and other crushed up things spread on top. They give you tomatoes, lettuce, lemon juice, and parsley to garnish it with. You wrap it up and eat it wrap-style. It is definitely one of my favorites.
Today (Wednesday): Took a friend to try lahmacun. Always good to spread the word about cheap, good eats (especially if you get similar knowledge in return!). We went to orientation which was very self-explanatory and kind of pointless as they directed all questions to their website anyways. We went to an exchange student dinner that was kind of cafeteria style but was held on top of a building with one of the best views of Istanbul. The sun was setting and I kept internally berating myself for not having my camera on me. Travesty!
I uploaded photos from the above antics to the link that I posted last.
I really love it here. Given, there are things that are very different from Chapel Hill but it's been so fun to explore around the city and meet new people. I think things will be nice when classes start, though. Very few Turkish students are here and my apartment area (it's prison-like, really) is empty.
I hope everyone at home is well (and watching the UNC game...so jealous)! Feel free to Facebook me/Skype (kellyyahner) for more stories/updates and things as updating this blog regularly probably will not happen. And really, if you guys want things from here, let me know. I'm awful at giving gifts and you're all going to get something so you might as well tell me what you want (especially pattern/color-wise for scarves). That's for you, Gretchen.
İyi geceler!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Just a quick note..
If you're looking for photos, I will try to update them to my facebook on a daily basis. I will link each album here. My internet is a little slow so it's easier to just upload once rather than repeatedly.
First album: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034591&id=1391040260&l=6cc4df4c85
Let me know if you guys have any problems seeing the photos or if you want to know what they are. Usually I try to put a caption on the first photo of a sequence but not the ones following.
First album: https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034591&id=1391040260&l=6cc4df4c85
Let me know if you guys have any problems seeing the photos or if you want to know what they are. Usually I try to put a caption on the first photo of a sequence but not the ones following.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Now it's Turkish Delight on a moonlit night
Speaking of Turkish Delight, it's really not as delightful as the multitude of other things I've eaten so far. I've had Turkish food for every meal and am making it my goal to stay away from American food for as long as possible. They have things like Burger King, Pizza Hut, etc all over the place here. Most frequently seen are Starbucks, though. For some reason, whenever we go to a Starbucks, someone seems to try to talk to us in line and we have to say that we don't speak Turkish. Most of the time they are not actually talking to me because it is relatively obvious that I'm not Turkish (light hair and eyes) but those with darker hair are easily mistaken.
Things have gone well so far. I've moved into my apartment and my room is tiny but it just makes me want to get out and explore more. I had to go out and buy sheets/towels/blankets/pillows/etc which was quite an excursion but only aided my attempts to learn how to get around.
Public transportation here is huge. Istanbul has a really clean Metro, bus, and tram system that is really cheap. To go anywhere on the Metro is about a dollar (1.75 Turkish Lira) for one way and you pay with little tokens that look like poker chips. The bus and tram systems are just about the same but they are usually a lot more crowded all the time.
Yesterday we walked around near my apartment and the university to kind of get acquainted with the neighborhood. It's one of the more upscale neighborhoods in Istanbul and is considered very safe. Many people here speak some broken English since all students at the University are required to know English and speak it in class.
Today we took the Metro to Taksim Square which has a lot of older buildings, embassies, and churches. It is a very nice part of town but the prices are very reasonable and it is very easily accessible from the Metro. I will post pictures when I get a chance.
We have been keeping very busy walking around and exploring but many people automatically try to speak to us in English so it is very frustrating when we are trying to practice. However, I only know how to say polite things (please, thank you, etc), numbers, and some other random things so English is good for now.
A couple of weird things unique to Turkey/not in the US:
-Many restaurants have locks on the bathrooms and will give you the password on your receipt when you buy something (i.e. Starbucks).
-You seat yourself at restaurants and have to call the waiter over when you need help.
-No YouTube ):
-Saying things like "um" and "uh" are actually bad slang words in Turkish. People here look at you like you've just said the worst thing they've ever heard when you say them, even though it's accidental.
-People working in shops (like at a mall) just stand around most of the time. There are so many workers in comparison to customers. In one store we went into, there were employees just standing every few feet from each other looking extremely bored. If you look interested in an item, they will rush towards you and sometimes fight amongst themselves to help sell you something as a lot of their salary is commission-based.
There are probably more but I will list them as I remember them.
Hoşçakalın
Things have gone well so far. I've moved into my apartment and my room is tiny but it just makes me want to get out and explore more. I had to go out and buy sheets/towels/blankets/pillows/etc which was quite an excursion but only aided my attempts to learn how to get around.
Public transportation here is huge. Istanbul has a really clean Metro, bus, and tram system that is really cheap. To go anywhere on the Metro is about a dollar (1.75 Turkish Lira) for one way and you pay with little tokens that look like poker chips. The bus and tram systems are just about the same but they are usually a lot more crowded all the time.
Yesterday we walked around near my apartment and the university to kind of get acquainted with the neighborhood. It's one of the more upscale neighborhoods in Istanbul and is considered very safe. Many people here speak some broken English since all students at the University are required to know English and speak it in class.
Today we took the Metro to Taksim Square which has a lot of older buildings, embassies, and churches. It is a very nice part of town but the prices are very reasonable and it is very easily accessible from the Metro. I will post pictures when I get a chance.
We have been keeping very busy walking around and exploring but many people automatically try to speak to us in English so it is very frustrating when we are trying to practice. However, I only know how to say polite things (please, thank you, etc), numbers, and some other random things so English is good for now.
A couple of weird things unique to Turkey/not in the US:
-Many restaurants have locks on the bathrooms and will give you the password on your receipt when you buy something (i.e. Starbucks).
-You seat yourself at restaurants and have to call the waiter over when you need help.
-No YouTube ):
-Saying things like "um" and "uh" are actually bad slang words in Turkish. People here look at you like you've just said the worst thing they've ever heard when you say them, even though it's accidental.
-People working in shops (like at a mall) just stand around most of the time. There are so many workers in comparison to customers. In one store we went into, there were employees just standing every few feet from each other looking extremely bored. If you look interested in an item, they will rush towards you and sometimes fight amongst themselves to help sell you something as a lot of their salary is commission-based.
There are probably more but I will list them as I remember them.
Hoşçakalın
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