Istanbul!

I loved Istanbul! The city is beautiful and fascinating, and I would go back anyday. Istanbul was bright, clean, and beautiful, and though I loved Cairo, far different from it. First, we all had spectacular views from our hotel windows. We looked out upon the Blue Mosque and the Aghia Sophia. The only negative aspect of our proximity to the mosques was our 5 am wakeup calls by the call to prayer at sunrise.

Among the sites we saw in Istanbul were the Theodosian Walls, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, the Blue Mosque, Aghia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Choras church museum, and monuments on our “Byzantium walk”. We also had two free days in Istanbul, though we were unfortunately inclined to spend much of this time studying for our four tests on Thursday and Friday. The other unfortunate part of our time in Istanbul (and Turkey in general) was that it rained practically all day everyday.

On Monday, I went to the Grand Bazaar, the famous shopping center in Istanbul of 4,000 shops. This is a must-see for any tourist, even those like me who don’t particularly enjoy shopping. The Grand Bazaar sells every type of clothing, jewelry, accessory, or souvenir that you could possibly want, and haggling is expected. However, it is much classier and tamer than the markets in Cairo or Aswan. I enjoyed the experience far more because I felt safer and more experienced. And while the girls were still called “pretty lady” or “Miss America” or “beautiful eyes/butt/hair”, the overall experience was not degrading or depressing as it often felt in Egypt. Most of the merchants were much nicer and not as pushy. At the scarf store, I found it particularly amusing how the merchant modeled for me every scarf I pointed at. He would flamboyantly twirl them, wrap them around his neck in a pretty knot, and smile.

Twice, the group spent time in Taksim, which is the “hip” shopping area of Istanbul. At night, this area is packed with young people, and it is really exciting to be there surrounded by swarms of bustling Turks. I say this because we got the impression that this was real Istanbul, and we saw very few tourists in Taksim. Though I would be lonely and very unwise to Taksim by myself, especially at night, I loved spending time here and experiencing the big city feeling of being alone responsible and aware of your existence. You are free, (strong?), and independent. This made me think of what it would have been like to go to a huge university, like most of my high school friends who are at the Universities of Wisconsin or Minnesota. I am so glad I’m at Davidson, but I can also see the appeal in being just another person.

Matt and I had a funny experience in Taksim that I may tease him about for the rest of the trip. We were walking back to the bus past a very nice-looking hotel. He wanted to go in and explore, so we do (or try to). As we walk in, he whispers that the employees at such hotels can never bother you because they don’t know if you are staying there or not, and if they ask you it and are wrong it reflects terribly on them. So we barely walk into the lobby and look around a little, when the porter approaches us and asks if we are staying here. We first act like we don’t know what he’s talking about, but we were caught with no way out but the door. As the porter ushered us out, Matt admits that he “just got served.” We decided that instead of fearing away from exploring fancy hotels, next time I should reply to the porter in French and pretend I don’t understand their English.

Also during our first visit to Taksim, Matt told me that Matt L. had gotten roasted chestnuts on the streets of NYC during orchestra tour and shared them with the group. In Istanbul, these little stands were everywhere, and I too decided to do the same. The chestnuts were delicious, and when I go to NYC, I am hitting up the chestnut stands. Thanks, Matts. ☺

On Friday night we went into Taksim for the second time. This was our last night before spring break, and we had a group dinner to celebrate Allie’s birthday, the end of testing and the start of break. (I, foolishly, still had one more test to take when I got back to the hotel at 10, but that’s another story). Louisa, Rob, Trent, Wheat and I took a taxi from the hotel into Taksim. That was one of the more frightening experiences of my life, and I would not do it again. First we had trouble getting a taxi. Rob approached every driver we saw and said we would only pay 20 lyra for the ride. Nobody would take us, and we finally consented to 30 lyra without traffic and 35 with traffic. The five of us tumbled in the taxi, with the three boys in the back and Louisa on my lap in the front. Our driver was ruthless, and he took every possible risk in his tiny car. He even laughed at scaring stray dogs by swerving at them and then away at the last possible instant. It was not fun, and on multiple occasions, I clenched Louisa in fear. But we made it through the heavy traffic, and the driver even let us off a couple blocks away from Taksim because we were in a standstill. We then ran through the streets to the central court area, arriving at 7:18, late for the 7:00 time set by Dr. Krentz. The rest of the group was nowhere to be seen, though we ran around the square looking for them. We then waited for about ten minutes as I tried to phone Jensen and Dr. Krentz. We weren’t sure if we should wait longer or find our own restaurant, and we began to accept that the group had gone to dinner without us. Right when we turned to find a restaurant, we spotted Dr. Krentz and Matt across the square, and we yelled and sprinted towards them. The entire group also appeared with them, we weren’t sure from where, but we reunited and all had a delicious meal together.