So ideally I would have taken more time to explore and visit new places since I was already in the neighborhood of Eastern Turkey, but I had to get back to Istanbul. The next day (June 20th), my Aunt Heidi and Uncle David would be in town and wanted to see me while I was there. I thought I owed it to them to make sure I was in town for their visit.
Aunt Heidi and Uncle David stayed in a nice hotel in Sultanahmet. In the tourist district there (very near the Aya Sofia and Basilica Cistern), everyone spoke English. I met them for breakfast at a very early 9am (this was early for me because with traffic the trip on the bus took about an hour to get there (and I had only arrived from my long journey just the previous evening)).
It turns out that they had already made some friends of their own. Apparently, the previous evening they met some Turkish guy that took them to a great baklava place (I had not been) and took them to a nice meal. I was glad that the Turkish hospitality was treating them as well as it had treated me.
So basically, I was going to be their tour guide for the day and take them to many of my favorite places in Istanbul. Our first stop was the Basilica Cistern. As I explained in a previous post a ways back, the Basilica Cistern was the holding place for all of Istanbul's water siphened directly from the Belgrade Forest nearby. To keep up the Cistern, it had solid roman columns (and a cool carving of Medusa's head at the end of the corridor). There were also a lot of awesome karp.
Next, I had to take them through Gülhane Park. Although the tulips weren't in bloom anymore, it was still a beautiful walk. It goes right past Topkapi Palace and takes you right up to the sea. We bypassed the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque because they had already seen those the day before (otherwise, I obviously would have taken them there). From there we walked along the Bosphorus (and then the Golden Horn) until we got to Eminönü, which was one of my favorite places to walk. I fell in love with it because it is right along the seaside and has plenty of cool sights to see.
I took them into the Yeni cami (New mosque), which was right next to the street in Eminönü. I would like to point out that the mosque is "new" relative to other buildings in the area. It was actually constructed around 1643, so we use the term lightly. I think this was the first place that I had picked that was a little off the beaten path. I am not sure they would have chosen to come there on their own.
From the New Mosque, we went right to the Mısır Çarşısı (Egyptian Bazaar) built in 1660. The Egyptian Bazaar is actually connected via some commercial streets to the Grand Bazaar, but it is a little bit lesser known. There is a fantastic spice market there. This is where Uncle David did a lot of his souvenir shopping for everyone. He even got me some pomegranate tea! Yum! I was going to try and make sure he didn't get screwed, but the truth of the matter is that the prices are much higher there and I didn't know what the normal price was. At least the art of negotiation was not lost on my Uncle, which is a vital skill to have in these parts. :)
After we got some Turkish delight, tea, and other goodies, we headed to our next destination -- Dolmabahçe Palace. I actually had toured this only a week or so before for the first time, but I thought it was something they needed to see. The palace was enormous (built in the 1870s and famous for its staircase). After the fall of the Sultan, the Grand Mufti lived in it for a while (his granddaughter recently returned from the US and received a private tour because it was her home as a little girl). After the War of Independence it became Ataturk's home. It is like touring any great palace in Europe. It's all very ornate and awe-inspiring that someone got to live there. One ironic aspect is that in Ataturk's bedroom, all of the clocks are turned to 9:12, which was the exact time when he died. The amount of reverence shown to Ataturk throughout Turkey is amazing. They love him there more than we love George Washington here (if you can believe that). The property of the palace is also beautiful. It's located right on the Bosphorus Strait.
After the palace, we took the bus up to Ortakoy, a famous neighborhood in Turkey. This is the neighborhood where Altug was from. While there, we walked around a bit and decided on a place to have a beer (mmmm Efes). After our beer, we sought out another place for lunch. I had not been to these restaurants but they were a bit overpriced, being in this neighborhood and being located right on the water. The waiter there new a little bit of English, but not much. I think he was relieved when he discovered that I could speak Turkish. The menus were only in Turkish and i had to translate the food items for Uncle David and Aunt Heidi. I also made some recommendations based on what was authentically Turkish and what I personally liked while I was there. I think overall the restaurant was good for them and they enjoyed it. The waiter was so funny. When it came time to order, instead of looking at Uncle David or Aunt Heidi, he just looked at me. Clearly, he didn't even want to try to understand English if he didn't have to. I think Aunt Heidi ended up having a kumpir, which is a Turkish stuffed potato with bulgar, sour cream, butter, and lots of other goodies. Actually, Ortakoy is famous for its kumpir (one of the best places to try it).
I decided to take them over to Taksim Square, which is where a lot of people go for shopping, restaurants, and bars. Uncle David was astonished by how many people were there. Istiklal Caddesi is usually wall to wall with people. Uncle David said it was more people than he'd ever seen in such a close area before. It reminded him of New York. It is a pretty darn cool place to see if you've never been! We found a place for drinks (and the restaurant guy was upset because we decided not to eat). I also took them to a place I knew in Taksim with really cheap beer (it was shown to me one time by one of my friends -- can't remember which one).
From there, we took the furnicular down towards Galata. I was hoping to get them to the top of the Galata Tower by sunset. We journeyed up hill on some back streets (which Aunt Heidi thought was a little questionable on my part). Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there and one could only go up if they had dinner reservations at the very expensive restaurant located at the top. I wish they would have gotten to see it. It was certainly one of my favorite places to visit in Istanbul (and if I would have know the problems, I would have taken them to Kiz Kulesi on the Asian side). Oh well...I guess we can't win 'em all.
Our final stop for the evening was to Tophane. You see one of my Uncle's favorite things to do is to smoke a cigar. He was also horrified by the fact that my cousin Morgan, his daughter, had brought home a hookah from Israel when she had visited (in the US hookah's are sometimes wrongfully associated with illicit drug paraphernalia because of the people who like to smoke it). Therefore, it was a requirement that I take him to a good hookah place. Of course, I couldn't take them to just any hookah place. I had to take them to the best. I knew the best place would be Tophane because that is where hookah's have been made since the 1600s in the Ottoman Empire.
We did hookah the traditional way. We sat on bean bags (just like when we went there during orientation) and ordered a hookah. We even got the backgammon board to go along with it (and played a few games). I think Uncle David and Aunt Heidi really enjoyed it! By the end, Uncle David was hoping that I would bring him home a hookah! I considered that a big success. It was nice to sit there and chat with them about Istanbul and my life and to have a little taste of home after being gone so long.
After hookah, we walked down to the water (near the bus stop) so I could show them a pretty view of the Bosphorus Bridge. The cool thing about this bridge (which I am sure I mentioned in the past) is that it is lit up with colored lights and those lights change colors every 5 minutes or so. We met a Turkish kid (close to my age) and we briefly chatted with him (in Turkish). I was happy for the opportunity because I wanted to show off to Aunt Heidi and Uncle David. I think they were impressed. I walked them to the station and we said our goodbyes.
Overall, I the visit was a nice one and I was really glad they came. I enjoyed playing tour guide and sharing with them some of my favorite places and things to do in Istanbul. By this time, I felt like Istanbul was my home and was happy for the opportunity to share that home with people I cared about.
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