Day 3 of being in Turkey

 On Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early.  We decided to have breakfast first thing in the morning.  For breakfast we went to a restaurant that was on the corner right by Coby's home.   We had borek which is a bread with a noodle in it.  Sometimes they add meat or there is powered sugar on top.  Going to a restaurant in Turkey is so cheap.   What would cost at least $40 in the US costs around $10 in Turkey.  

 Immediately after that we walked to the ferry (a 20 to 25 minute walk going fast) so we go over to the European side of Turkey.   We walked to the Topkapi Palace.  This is a very large palace that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultan for around 400 years during the time period of 1465-1856 during there 624 year reign.

 This palace was used for the royal residents there, but it also was set for royal entertainment.  I have never seen anything like this before.  This is the first and only time I have ever got the head phones with more information regarding the area.

 We first toured where the Harem.  This contained around 400 rooms.  This was the home of the sultan's mother as well the wives of the sultan and their families.  This area also housed the concubines.   Many of the rooms were breathtaking and something I have never seen before in my life.

 The walls were so ornate and tiled beautifully

 The ceilings were amazing!

Above is a place where they washed their bodies.  In front of every mosque there is something like this.  Before the men go inside to pray they wash their feet and become clean.  It was fascinating to watch this happen several times a day.  

 Above is a view of one of the court yards overlooking the city.

 While in this palace I learned you don't make eye contact with men. It is considered very flirtatious among other things. Coby let me know this after I had smiled at a man.  It is my natural to make eye contact and smile at pretty much anyone so this was a hard habit to break.  Also when most of the people take pictures they don't smile. I witnessed this many times.   Americans as a whole don't visit Turkey.  It is very rare and most of the tourists that come are from Europe or Asia.  Because of this we had many people who stared at us.  Coby seems to know how to fit in better where he lives, but Kara and I stuck out.  Coby even had us wear dark clothes with hardly any jewelry and we still stuck out.  Oh well.

 More of the views from the court yards.

 Even I sometimes didn't smile as much as I saw others doing.  There was often a line of people waiting to get their picture taken.

 After spending many hours touring the palace we decided to go to the Museum that was below.   This was a museum that Coby had never attended before.  One mistake we made was not eating before we went into the museum.  I was starving by the time we left.

The Archaeological Museum is the HUGEST museum I have ever been to.  It is like having three museums in one.   One museum (in the main building) is the Archaeological Museum, then there is the Museum of the Ancient Orient and then the Museum of Islamic Art.   This museum has over one million objects that represent most of the eras in civilization in world history.  Below are some of the pictures we took while in this museum. 

 These were what many of the the Sarcophagus looked like.   

 After being in the museum for many hours ( there were many more hours we could spend) we were tired and hungry, mostly I was.  Sometime having to stop and eat is such a pain.   We went out on the waterfront and ate some yummy fish sandwiches and Kara had her first doner.

 The humid climate did wonders on my hair.  It was a crazy mess every day, but I tried to embrace it. :)

 We were going to go to the Spice Bazaar but we were so tired that we decided against it.  We walked around the waterfront during the late afternoon/early evening. One thing I need to mention is what crazy drivers there are in Turkey.  Istanbul has around 20 million people that live there.  There is always tons of people every where and I mean in every little place imaginable. Many of the people don't have cars so they walk everywhere.  There are so many forms of public transportation there.  Often you need to cross the street and crossing the street requires a lot of talent--seriously.  Cars are coming in all directions and whoever is the most gutsy in the car or person on the street is the one who determines if you can cross the street.  Everyone is honking there horn constantly. Honking your horn in Turkey is so different than honking it in America.  Often people honk their horn to let you know you can cross the street, or that they are behind you.  If you aren't careful there are cars every where.  Where ever you turn there are cars.  Coby would suddenly start crossing the street and we would have to follow. Most of the time I thought it was unsafe to cross.   If anything gave me anxiety while in Turkey it was crossing the street.  

Finally I would think it was okay to cross the street and Coby would tell me don't walk now.  Just when I thought I was getting the way the traffic worked I realized I didn't get anything.    Crazy.  

After looking around we decided to have some Baklava  at the most famous place in Turkey to have it.   There were delicious but my favorite there was at a different restaurant.  

 

After looking around this area  we took the underground tram home.  Wherever we went each day it seemed we were at least an hour or more away from the apartment.  So when we left we were gone all
day.  






After being on the tram we walked home and visited and then we were all too tired.  When we left for Turkey it was 9 hours ahead of Utah.  So we had jet lag, but we tried to pretend we didn't but it didn't always work!

Turkey Day 1 and 2

Coby picked us up from the airport.  I was surprised that there wasn't more security there.  We got our passport stamped without being asked a question. In the past when I have gone out of the states it feels like I got interrogated, but not this time.  We didn't see Coby until we left the airport and for some reason I couldn't remember that part.    Coby lives around an hour and a half from the airport when there is traffic.   Kara and I both had our very large suit cases (there were around 39 pounds, but they had stuff for Coby in them).  I was very grateful Coby could help us with our suit cases as it seemed like we got on and off five buses--seriously I think we did.  Also, while getting on the buses we had to carry our suit cases up two flights of stairs and then back down.  Oh also, did I mention that Coby is a super fast walker.

The first thing I noticed about Turkey is that we were being stared at, mostly because of our suit case I am sure, but also because we were so different looking.  Also, I have NEVER in my life every seen so many people on one bus.  We were squished like sardines and the bus driver drove CRAZY.  If we weren't holding on to the handle above I thought we would fall over.  After we got off all of the buses we walked to Coby's apartment.  It was at least a 20 plus minute walk, but it also could have been because we hadn't really gotten any sleep for 40 hours and were walking like zombies.

We were so happy to get inside Coby's apartment. It was so clean.  After getting situated a little we went to get a bite to eat, literally across the street.   There is a restaurant on every corner.  Then we went back to our apartment to plan our next day and to get a good night's sleep!

Turkey Day 2 

We woke up early and got dressed for a full day.   First thing that morning we decided we would eat later as we wanted to get going to the sites.  This is the only day we did this as we were starving! went out to eat.  We had a ( forgot the name)  I am sure Coby will let me know what we had.    The food is so cheap in Turkey.  A meal that would have cost us $30 in Utah seemed to be just under $10.   After eating we walked to the Boat shuttle.  Istanbul is divided into two sides.  One side is in Asia and the other side is in Europe.  Coby lives on the Asian side and for our planned activities we were going to the European side.   It was a beautiful day!  On our first day there we visited the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, Bascillica Cistern, The Grand Bazaar, and the Mosque of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent.  It was a very busy day!

 Our view from the boat--it was GORGEOUS!

Before first entering into the Mosque Kara and I bought a head scarf.  All women must be covered when entering the mosque and we also had to take off our shoes.    While we were walking around they started the call to prayer which is a formal worship in Islam. The men sing it very LOUDLYprayer to Allah.  Five times a day in Turkey they broadcast  over the intercom (and it is loud) the call to prayer. Quickly after the Muslims bow down to prayer.  The men wash their feet and go to the closest Mosque to bow down.  It was beyond fascinating to watch and it was a very beautiful ritual to witness.    Below I have included what a prayer might sound like. 
"O Allah, place light in my heart, light in my tongue, light in my hearing, light in my sight, light behind me, light in front of me, light on my right, light on my left, light above me and light below me; place light in my sinew, in my flesh, in my blood, in my hair and in my skin; place light in my soul and make light abundant for me; make me light and grant me light. "

We entered the Blue Mosque.  The mosque is known for its blue tiles that adorn the walls of the interior.  This building was built in 1609 to 1616 during the rule of the Ahmed I.  This mosque is still used as a mosque today.  

 The court yard outside of the Blue Mosque

 After we got out of the mosque we ate lunch.  One of the things that is typical for a drink in Turkey is a greek yogurt drink. It is very salty and very different. The first sip I had I thought it was terrible, but the flavor did grow on me.  The Turkish people eat a very healthy Mediterrean Diet.  

Later went to a Mosiac Musuem.  We were able to buy a tourist pass which allowed us to go in all the sites for a much lower price. It also gave us 20% off of other tourist locations. 

Next we went to the Hagia Sophia mosque.  This is no longer a practicing mosque, but a museum.   From the date of its construction in 537 until 1453 it served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral.  It was opened as a museum in 1935. It is so beautiful and the pictures don't do it justice.

 There were doing some work on the building. Underneath some of the walls that were painted they were able to find pictures of Christ, John the Baptist and Mary.  

 The picture they are trying to recover above and what it really looks like below. 

After this mosque we went to he Basilica Cistern.  It is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city ofIstanbul (formerly Constantinople), Turkey. The cistern, located 500 feet (150 m) southwest of the Hagia Sophia.  This was built in the 6th Century.   There some movies that are filmed in tis and I can understand why from going there as it is very different. 

Next we went to the Grand Bazaar.  This is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world with 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops.  They average between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors a day.   This was crazy!!!!  Kara and I thought we liked shopping until we went inside.  There are very aggresive shop owners that will hound you.  We didn't stay in this shop very long.  Coby was very kind to take us there as he didn't like it and I can see why.  

 After this we went to another Mosque.  This one was called the Mosque of Sultan Suleyman (Beyazit,  suleymanieye camii) and it is Istanbul's largest and grandest.  It was designed by the Ottoman Empire and it overlooks the Golden Horn bridge and is just north of Istanbul University.  After we went there we finally went out to eat; we were famished again.  I honestly don't know what we ate, but I remember it was delicious.    We headed for home after this. We had been gone for 12 hours and we seriously had walked at least 12 to 15 miles and we were all tired.  Coby was an excellent tour guide and we learned so much!!!  It was a fun filled day.