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Monday, November 26th, Istanbul, Turkey
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As we have made our way
slowly eastward through the Mediterranean over the past
year and a half, we have noticed discernible yet
overall, pretty subtle changes in cultures from country
to country. Leaping from Italy to Croatia entailed
a more dramatic divergence in attitudes and atmosphere.
But that was nothing compared to our experience in
Turkey. Actually, Marmaris doesn't count.
Arriving in Istanbul has opened up the wonderful world
of Turkey to us with all of its rich and exotic sounds,
sights, smells and tastes.
The most obvious and
ubiquitous differences arise from religion. Just
as Italy, Spain and France (I think) are ninety percent
Catholic, ninety percent of Turkey's population
practices Islam. Interestingly enough, the city
of Byzantium was founded in 658 BC by the Greek Byzas,
who had visited the oracle at Delphi and been advised to
settle "opposite the Land of the Blind." This was
interpreted to mean opposite the Greek city of Chalcedon
which was established on the Asian side of the Bosphorus.
Those Greeks must have been blind not to see the obvious
strategic advantages of the unsettled European side of
the straits, which was bound on three sides by deep
waters. The landward side of the city was easily
defensible with the construction of a wall running from
the Sea of Marmara to the shores of the Golden Horn, an
offshoot of the Bosphorus. With the exception of a
short period of Persian rule, Byzantium belonged to the
Greeks and the Romans, becoming Christian in the 4th
Century AD and remaining so until the rise of the
Ottoman Turks in the 15th century.
Since then, Islam has
taken a firm hold on the hearts and minds of the
population. Mosques adorn the city every half a
dozen blocks or so, with their towering minarets and
flat, round domes decorating the skyline in all
directions. Five times a day the muezzins sing out
the call to prayer, each from his own minaret at one of
the myriad of mosques, creating a cacophony of
haunting, mesmerizing chants, competing with each other
for dominance in your ear. It is charming and
mysterious, awe inspiring and humbling, except at 5:45
in the morning. The call to prayer shook us from
our slumber like an earthquake on our first morning in
Istanbul. We were ready for it the next day,
practically lying awake in anticipation. Much to
my surprise, after the first few days, I started
sleeping right through the city's seemingly inescapable
alarm clock.
Inside, the mosques
range from relatively modest to wonderfully ornate.
Here, the girls are standing upstairs in the segregated
area set aside for the women to pray at a small mosque
around the corner from our flat.
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The Sultan Ahmet Camii or Blue Mosque is much
larger (pictured with the four of us standing in front of the courtyard entrance
above) and more elaborate with rich blue tiles lining the interior, from which
it gets its name. The women's prayer area sits at the very rear of the
mosque, behind the space set aside for tourists to wander. You frequently
see women wearing head scarves, and occasionally a veil that covers the forehead
and connects over the chin just under the lower lip, but I have yet to see a
full face veil. Plenty of women go about without head scarves as well.
Islam is an obvious yet not oppressive part of daily life here.
In order to get the lay of the land, we
embarked on one of the Plan
Tours City Sightseeing buses. The sun shone, we had a nice cup of
Starbucks coffee in our tummies for the first time in longer than I can remember, and
we were full of hope.
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It didn't take long for those hopes to be
squashed like bugs against the windshield of a bus. The narrative
accompanying the tour offered nothing more than a simple announcement of the
names of the buildings or mosques that we drove by, the same three minute
snippet of Turkish music repeated ad nauseum, interspersed with frequent ads for
more extensive Plan Tours guided visits around the city. For twenty Euros
a ticket, fool that I am, I had expected more. Never again.
All the same, we ventured around the entire old
section of the city, along the Marmara waterfront and over into "modern
Istanbul" where we took advantage of the "hop on hop off" feature of the tour to
do a little wandering of our own in this section of the city we hadn't yet seen.
We discovered that we had done well in our hotel choice, staying in the
Sultanahmet area in Old Istanbul, within walking distance of all the tourist
attractions. The
apartment we
are renting is a few blocks from the main tourist strip. Although the
neighborhood is a little run down, it is safe and full of locals. We
discover new stores and tiny restaurants every day. The people are
wonderfully friendly and not at all aggressive as they can be in the tourist
sections. The apartment itself is newly renovated, big and comfortable for
the four of us. Imagine, a shower of our own with free flowing hot water!
We continue to take our touring at a slow pace
which works out so well with the girls. They have been astonishing many a
Turk and foreigner alike with their Heelys. I've been amazed at how well
they endure the hours of walking around. The Topkapi Palace, at the tip of the
Sultanahmet Peninsula, looks over the Sea of Marmara to the Asian portion of the
city. We decided today to hop over from Europe to Asia for lunch on one of
the frequent ferries. How cool is that?
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Much to our surprise, we have found some new
friends here in the city. Friends from Fair Oaks passed along the phone
number of a new Turkish neighbor's sister and her family who live in Istanbul.
They invited us to dinner the other night and we immediately hit it off.
We sat for hours at a traditional kebab restaurant sharing stories, talking
politics, religion, business and, of course, sailing. We are overwhelmed at the
willingness of Aysenur and Resit to reach out and welcome us and to share with
us a little bit of Turkey that would otherwise be impossible for mere tourists
to experience. What fortune!
Aysenur pounced on the opportunity to take me
and the girls shopping in the Grand Bazaar the next day.
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Shopping in a foreign country can be a little
intimidating, but this place takes the cake! Everywhere you turn are
little stores crammed full of leather, clothing, jewelry, pillows, rugs, lamps, pashminas,
shoes and just about everything else imaginable. The vendors are fiercely
competitive and pressure the casual shopper into their shops with persistence.
Having a local along to show me the ropes on my first foray into the lion's den was priceless. I made a good dent in my Christmas shopping list
and feel much better equipped to tackle the Bazaar on my own the next time.
Immersing ourselves as much as possible in the
local culture, the girls have even taken a liking to the special "apple tea"
that you find everywhere here. Joe and I prefer the traditional "Turkish
tea" variety.
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The food has been fantastic. Chicken and
lamb doner, either wrapped in thin
tortilla-like rolls or stuffed into pide
bread with onions, tomatoes, parsley, and peppers comprise our typical lunch.
The Turks eat this with a thin, salty, yoghurt-like beverage called ayran.
For variety, there are also many buffet style restaurants with a dozen different
dishes ready made to choose from. These are very local in character and a
fun experiment. The food is usually very tasty and quite cheap. At
the one around the corner we tried the stuffed peppers, beef stew, lentil soup,
rice, pilaf, and beans.
Everywhere we turn the girls elicit smiles and
happy stares. I have never seen a country so fond of children.
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Walking through the spice market, touring the Topkapi
Palace or just sitting on the ferry, people ask to take
their picture. They want to know their names and
how old they are and stare into their blue eyes. I
haven't once felt threatened by this, rather touched by
the joy our girls can bring to strangers by simply being
there. For all the differences in the culture,
this is just one of the wonderful things we marvel at in
Turkey.
Next
Entry>>>>>>>>>
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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