ISTANBUL

I spent the past weekend in Instanbul with a few friends from my program, so here’s a brief account of everything!

We had all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so it was ample time to explore, see the tourist hot spots and some other things we hadn’t heard about before.  

On Friday, we walked from our hotel down the main shopping/walking street called Istaklal Street to get to the other side of the bridge where the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque are.  From the bridge we could see about 5 mosques, and guessed that one was the Blue Mosque.  It wasn’t the Blue Mosque (should have guessed by the lack of tourists), but we got to explore the Suleymaniye Mosque instead!  We passed through the Egyptian spice market on our way to the actual Blue Mosque after, and saw the Blue Mosque as well as the Topkapi Palace.  We went out to a Turkish dinner, then went to bed early since we were exhausted from a 7 am flight and walking all day!

On Saturday, we spent hours in the Grand Bazaar, being shouted out by the merchants to buy things, pick up the things we had supposedly dropped, and being called, “Spice girls!”  I thought some shopkeepers in Athens were pushy… The six of us went to another Turkish restaurant for lunch, then I went off with my fiends Catherine and Lucy to go to a Turkish bathhouse.  That was QUITE an experience!  The hamam was built in 1481, and we could tell that this spa-like experience was much more deeply rooted in the Turkish culture than any spa is in the US.  On our walk back from the hamam we ran into a riot on Istaklal street, which simultaneously intrigued and overwhelmed us.  We watched from the entrance to a mall, tried to pass by it on the edge of the street, ran back to the mall when everyone else started running, tried again to leave the opposite direction, jumped when something exploded in the streets, were allowed to pass by a line of police who were blocking off a side street, and booked it back to the hotel!  At the restaurant later that night, the waiter apologized for sniffling - he said he was reacting to the tear gas from the riot we saw!  After dinner a few of us tried out a hookah bar to unwind and stay up a bit later.

Sunday was relaxing and a great end to the weekend.  Catherine, Fiona and I were on a flight back to Athens in the evening, so we leisurely returned to the Hagia Sophia (directly between the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace) and spent a good hour inside.  It was amazing, but I definitely wished I had some sort of tour guide!  Otherwise we wandered, shopped, and had a relaxing day in the city before flying back to Athens.  Such a great trip!