ISTANBUL 2011! Part I

Well, I made it back from Istanbul! Make sure you're comfortable, because this is going to be a long post. I’m having trouble posting, I think because it’s so long, so I’m going to try to spilt it up. If you don’t want to read it all, skip ahead to the next post for some pictures. I had a lot of fun and am glad I went for the experiences I was able to have, but in all honesty I would not want to go again. It's nice to be able to say that I've been to Istanbul, but I was never so happy as when I was back in Thessaloniki this morning.

The bus ride to Istanbul was terrible. It left at 10:00PM and was horrendously, terribly long; we got in to the Istanbul bus station a little after 8 the next morning. When I bought my ticket, the guy pointed out which of the pieces of paper was the correct one, so like an idiot I only brought the ticket. It turns out he was pointing out the return ticket, and the piece of paper that looked like a receipt was the actual ticket. The bus attendant didn't speak Greek and spoke very little English, so when he came around to check the tickets 10 minutes in to the ride I was terrified I wasn't even going to make it to Istanbul. Eventually he called the travel agency and everything was straightened out, but it made for a tense initial half hour. The rest of the 10 hour journey was much slower, and I only really got to sleep in the 3 or so hours after the border checkpoints.

When we arrived we took a cab to the hostel. I was staying in one called Bahaus with some friends, and other ACT kids were in all the surrounding hostels. As far as my first hostel experience goes, it was actually not that bad. It was dingy and sparse and not super nice, but it was cheap and warm. I stayed in a four girl dorm room that had a private bathroom attached, which was nice, but I was really underprepared for what a hostel experience entails--I didn't bring a
towel or shampoo/conditioner/soap, and none was supplied. Luckily I borrowed my friend's soap, and I just used an extra shirt as a towel. What the hostel lacked in cleanliness and niceties it made up for in personnel--the guys that worked there were amazing. They learned our names, held open doors, asked us about our plans and made recommendations based on what's nearby or what would be safe, and were able to give us vouchers and discounts at some places. It just made me feel way more secure, at least in the building.

In our three days in Istanbul, we covered pretty much all the main tourist locations. Our hostel was a three minute walk from the square with the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia, and from there is wasn't far to most of the other main tourist attractions. In addition to the Mosques we saw the Topkapi Palace, the Hippodrome, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, the Turkish baths. One day we walked across the bridge to the Asian side of town and explored there a while.
The Mosques were very impressive, in different ways. Hagia Sofia was amazing architecturally, and had intricate mosaics, but I found the Blue Mosque impressive too, with the elephant feet pillars and thousands and thousands of tiles covering every inch of the walls, ceilings, pillars. The Palace was interesting, but I would have liked to have a better understanding of what I was looking at. Plus, the Harem is supposed to be the most interesting and beautiful part of the whole Palace, but you had to pay extra once you were inside and the people I was with didn't want to spend it.
The Turkish Bath was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. There are a few in the city, but my hostel got me a discount at the oldest one. Called Cemberlitas, it was actually built back in the 1500s. From the outside I was a little leery, since it looked tiny and tacky, sandwiched between two fast food joints. Once inside though, you go in and down a few steps and suddenly you're in this huge, swanky hall. After paying, the women go one way and the men go the other. They give you a towel and a pair of one-side-fits-all panties, and after changing you head into a beautiful room. It's all marble with high ceilings, marble taps around the sides and a huge, circular marble slab in the middle of the room. It's warm and sauna-like inside, and when you walk in
huge, fat Turkish women in bathing suits grab your towel away and instruct you to lay on the marble slab (which is really warm). At first you're super self-conscious and nervous, being pretty much naked in a room full of strangers, but after a few minutes, as everyone around you is naked too, you get over it and can begin to enjoy yourself. At times I wasn't always sure what I was supposed to do next, but it was so fun. It's weird to describe, because you're pretty much being
washed/massaged by old Turkish women, but it was actually really nice and relaxing. I would recommend it to anyone who has the chance to give it a try; it's quite an experience but an awesome one to say you've had.

The Grand Bazaar didn't impress me at all. It was just a huge glob of overpriced shops and tourists traps all selling the same things. The Spice Bazaar was a little better, since it was really cool to see and smell all the spices, but it was more of the same; scarves, jewelry, hookah pipes, Aladdin lamps, t-shirts. It was frankly boring. I actually didn't get too many souvenirs--I got a ring and a scarf, but I didn't get either of them at the famous Bazaars. We had some really good food while in Turkey. Everything was spicy and delicious, and I definitely ate way too much. The only bad meal was the day the girls I was with decided they wanted omelets, and when they finally found a place where they were cheap on the menu the food was horrible; one girl was served what turned out to be a fried hot dog. Halfway through, the manager watched me get up, walk next door to a fast food type place, eat some cheap pita/meat thing for 3.5 TL, and then come back to my friends.

I tried a lot of street food too. Sweet roasted corn was everywhere, and was pretty good, but tougher than expected. The best was some drink; I don't know what it's called, but vendors sell it on the street all over the place. I don't know what was in it besides hot milk, honey, and spices, but it was delicious. I also tried hookah, which was pretty much flavored air. Hookah was everywhere; the Greeks constantly smoke cigarettes, and the Turks hookah. They would bring it
out after eating at pretty much any restaurant.

Besides the seeing amazing things and eating amazing foods, however, my experience in Turkey really wasn't very good. I've talked to some kids from ACT who absolutely loved it; they only met warm, friendly, helpful people who treated them amazingly. I, on the other hand, seemed only to attract creepers and crazies. All the shopkeepers and restaurant owners would stand outside their shops to try and entice you in, calling out and trying to get your attention, but sometimes
they would follow you for a little bit and it was nerve-wracking. We would be walking by a row of restaurants after having just ate, and every single one would bother us as we walked by, even as they saw us turn down his neighbors. We looked at one guy's menu, decided it was too expensive, and walked away, and he started swearing in Turkish about Americans and followed us for a little bit down the road. When asking for directions to the bath, one man looked at the pamphlet and said, "Oooh, the baths, maybe we go together and take a shower, meow meow!" It was just bizarre and unsettling and it may just be cultural differences, but I found the Turkish people I interacted with pushy, rude, and inappropriate. I was constantly on edge while in Turkey and didn't trust anyone, and it just made it harder to enjoy the experience.

One night we went to a bar where I didn’t feel comfortable at all. They made it seem like they were offering us free drinks, but it didn’t feel right so I didn’t take it. Then, of course, when we tried to walk away the person who gave the drinks “free” disappeared and someone else came running after the girls that took the drink and tried to demand 50 TL for two beers. It was just uncomfortable and I was less than happy with that aspect of my Istanbul experience.

The last day felt a little wasted, since we had already seen everything we wanted to see and had just planned on walking around, but it was freezing and rainy so we mostly just ran from café to restaurant to café to shop in an attempt to stay warm. The bus back was better than the bus to, since someone gave me a Tylenol PM, but I was still exhausted when we got back at 830, and I had to go to class at 1030. I was never happier to be in Thessaloniki—the extreme culture shock I experienced in Istanbul made me realize just how much I’ve come to view Thessaloniki as home over these past three weeks. I love it here, where I know the streets and feel safe enough to hop a bus downtown by myself and then back to Pylea for class. I know the stores around me and know enough Greek to get by if need be, or even when I don’t know what people are saying, I recognize Greek and it feels comforting and familiar after Turkish. I’m super exhausted right now and really glad to be home.