Tricking me into eating a banana? YOU are on the SHIT LIST!

As soon as we woke we walked straight to the area where all the major monuments are. It wasn’t too bad of a walk, but once we crossed the bridge, it was really hilly. Luckily, it wasn’t too hot yet though. Crossing streets in Istanbul can be quite the task though. Cars literally DO NOT stop. For anything. We were trying to cross this one street for like 15 minutes when eventually this nice Turkish man stood in the middle of the street for us so that we could cross. Basically, he risked his life for us. What a good guy. They drive like lunatics here, even more so than the other places we have been. So, our first stop was the Blue Mosque. We asked a local man selling corn on the street how to get there, but we did pretty well for ourselves with a map. Also, for all of you haters and doubters out there, I am getting better and better with a map! I just need to start carrying around a map of Pittsburgh.

We get to the top of the hill which is where the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque are located. They are really close to each other and are separated by this beautiful foundation, hippodrome, and garden. It really is beautiful. There were a bunch of trees with colorful flowers, and tons of people just hanging out in the shade between these two magnificent mosques. Talk about a day in the park. Anyways, we headed to the Blue Mosque first. The Blue Mosque is still a functioning mosque within the city where people come to pray and have services. The building itself is surrounded by this huge outside wall, and it looks gigantic from the outside. We walked into the inner courtyard and courtesy of Rick Steve’s, I read a little about the history.

The mosque was built in just seven years which is completely unbelievable if you ever get the chance to see it. It has six minarets which are these small towers poking out all around the mosque. The minaret is where the muezzin or the leader of prayer will climb up 5 times a day to announce to the city the call to prayer. It is still used for that purpose today, but they all use loudspeakers. Sultan Ahmet I apparently asked for a gold minaret, but the architect misunderstood him and instead built six because the word for gold and six are very similar. That is just legend though. It is really thought that the Sultan wanted six minarets because the central mosque in the city of Mecca only had six minarets. So, of course, the central mosque built a seventh minaret to keep the power balance. Pretty interesting if you ask me. I really enjoyed learning about the Muslim religion and Turkish culture while I was here just because it is so different from anything I know.

We accidently tried to enter the mosque through the entrance for worshippers only but were quickly redirected to the semi-long line of tourists. We all got prepared will our scarves around our heads, but apparently we didn’t really have to have our heads covered inside. We had to have our shoulders and knees covered and were not allowed to wear shoes inside. Luckily, we all brought socks which I was incredibly happy about. Another thanks to Rick Steve’s! I was a little put out though because they still made me wear a blue sheet skirt that they give out for people that aren’t dressed appropriately. I had a skirt on that hit my knees, but apparently that is not enough. Oh well.

Inside, the mosque is breathtaking. The carpet is beautiful, and the tile work on the walls is also very impressive. It was a bit of an optical illusion though because from the inside, the dome did not look as high as it did from the outside. It is probably because the dome is all one color, but it was a bit weird. Another thing that stood out was the chandeliers. They were HUGE. Like SO BIG. The main chandelier hung really low to the ground in relation to how big the place was and probably had a diameter bigger than an SUV. It was awesome. Additionally, there were no chairs. There was a wooden rail that separated the tourist area from the prayer area, and the carpet had a design that clearly designated where each person was to sit on the ground. They obviously stand, bow, and kneel a lot in their ceremonies, so I guess chairs really aren’t necessary. Also, the carpet had really small tiers which were almost invisible. These were probably in place so everyone could see the front. Pretty interesting. Also, there are no pictures of people or animals like there are in catholic churches, but they did have some Arabic words written on the wall which were pretty. I really loved it and didn’t expect the inside to look the way it did which was basically a vast, open space.

We left there after a while to walk over to the Hagia Sophia. Some people were really annoying though. There were signs clearly stating where to put your shoes back on and where you should not walk, but people were just oblivious to it. It really started to get to me to see people walking around the city in really revealing clothing. It may not be our culture, but we aren’t in American, and respect is what I have learned is the most important thing to have while traveling the world. It doesn’t mean you are Muslim to cover up your shoulders and knees for four days. I don’t know. It really got to me though, especially because we were here during a Ramadan which is an incredibly religious time. Walking around in miniskirts and tank tops is just ignorant, rude, and disrespectful.

Okay. So, I am done with my rant. We then started to walk over to Hagia Sophia, and it was getting HOT. We stopped to grab some water for like 50 cents and walked across the hippodrome and the garden. The hippodrome was a popular place for chariot races during the time of Constantinople. That was kind of a cool thing. So, Hagia Sophia is no longer a working mosque and is a museum. We had to pay 20 lira to get in, but it was definitely worth it. The line wasn’t too bad, and we only waited for about 15 minutes. Oh. And by line, I mean large mob of people standing around the ticket office. I don’t know what it is about Europe (east and west), but LINES DO NOT EXIST. It seriously pisses me off more than anything else. I absolutely HATE when people cut in front of me, and here it is totally acceptable.

We did get in though and separated ourselves from the massive amount of tour groups. The main part of the mosque is breathtaking. A fun fact about it is that the Statue of Liberty could do jumping jacks inside of the mosque. Pretty cool huh? Another fun fact is that it wasn’t originally a mosque. It started as a church during the reign of Constantine, but when the Ottoman’s took over, Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror converted it into an imperial mosque. The transformation included removing the functional parts of a church such as the altar and covering up the figurative mosaics and frescoes. It really is a cool mix of east and west, Muslim and Christian.
After seeing the Blue Mosque, I didn’t know if I could be more impressed. I was wrong. This place was HUGE. So massive and breathtaking. I absolutely fell in love with it. It had the same huge chandeliers but bigger, and the same huge dome, but bigger. It was also interesting because you could see where some of the frescoes of the old Christian church had been covered. The apse is part of a traditional mosque and has a niche to show where to face in order to pray to Mecca. It was a really cool space, and I can’t even imagine it being full of people.

We then walked towards the back of the church to the miracle column of St. Gregory. This is the legendary perspiring column of St. Gregory, the miracle worker. People believed this column “wept” holy water that could cure afflictions such as eye diseases and infertility. There is a hole in the column and you are supposed to put your thumb in it and turn your hand in a clockwise motion all the way around. If you feel water, your prayer will be answered. Well, of course, there was no water in it, but it was super smooth from the millions of hands that had touched it before me. It was a funny, and definitely a good legend. We left after that because it was starting to get crowded. We took a bathroom break and then headed across the street to Basilica Cistern or the Underground Cistern. We had to pay 10 lira to get in, but it was totally worth it. The outside of this place is literally a small square building above ground that holds the ticket office. As soon as you enter, you begin the descent down the stairs to this huge underground reservoir of water beneath the city. There is a path that goes all around the cistern, and the cistern is held up by recycled pillars from earlier Roman ruins around the city. It used to not have a walkway, and the water used to be six feet high which is around the time when it was used in the James Bond movie “From Russian with Love”. So, the tops of all the pillars have different patterns and different designs. Also, they have lights set up below most of the pillars that give the cistern this really creepy glow. It was really cool. The whole thing spans two football fields and was built to support the growing population of the Byzantine Empire. We walked through the whole thing, and it had this weird peace to it. I really enjoyed it. There were also fish in the water because it clearly is not in use anymore. Also, at the very back of the cistern, there are two pillars that have Medusa heads at the bottom of them. One head is right side up, and the other is on its side. Some say they were used as a reminder of the Roman prosecution of Christians, and some say that they were used just because they were a perfect fit. This was definitely one of my favorite places that we visited.

We took a lot of really funny pictures including one of my Rick Steve’s books in a hilarious light. It was pretty funny. He is our idol. I also pretended to push Candice into the water a few times. She was really amused. Haha. On our walk up to the monuments, we had passed this authentic looking restaurant that had pillows, couches, and tables close to the ground. There were also these two Muslim women sitting near the front of the restaurant rolling and cooking the bread used for gozlemes. So, we decided to eat there. It was really comfortable and definitely a good choice. I got two gozlemes which are small quesadilla like things. I had one with just spinach and the other with a mix of meat and cheese. They were really good, and I got to watch the women make them which was really cool. Lunch was fun though because Candice, Megan, and I were messing around taking pictures. Candice’s face got really burned the other day, so her face looks really red in all the pictures. Kind of like Santa! She obviously wasn’t pleased so she decided to take a bunch of really attractive pictures of Megan and me. It was pretty funny. I was in a giggly mood probably because I was so tired and overheated. Haha.

After lunch, we walked up the street the restaurant was on and did a little shopping. They have these really cool leather shoes that are handmade that I wanted, but they were trying to sell them for way more than I was willing to pay. The first store we went into was quite the experience. As soon as we walked in, I greeted the store owner and asked how he was doing. I mean, I always do that, especially being abroad because these aren’t chains. These stores are these people’s livelihood and their craft. Well, he was taken aback that I was so kind to him. Apparently people come in and out of his store all the time being super disrespectful. They don’t say hi to him, only ask the price, and throw his shoes around when they are looking at them. I do agree that this is super rude, but this guy was a little scary about it when he was talking to me. He started swearing and saying those people had horrible mothers who had raised them wrong and all this stuff. A little crazy. He did have really cute shoes though, but I was just not in the mood to drop 100 lira. So, I left pretty quickly since he was getting so heated.

Candice and Amanda bought some souvenirs and gifts, but I didn’t buy anything off the main street. One of the store owners was really funny though, and anytime we asked the price of anything, he would say it and add on “million dollars”. So, if it was 10 lira, he would say “10 MILLION DOLLARS”. Haha. Kind of like Austin Powers. It was pretty funny. He was really nice. Nicole was looking to buy some cigars so the funny Austin Powers guy led us up to this ice cream shop that sold some other stuff too. The guy serving the ice cream was really funny though. The ice cream they sell here comes out of these small bins, and they use a really long scooper to get it out. So, every time they try to get your attention, they hit the scooper against a group of bells. It scared the shit out of me a few times. So, then you turn towards them, and he has an ice cream cone stuck to the end of his scooper and sticks it in your face. He even stuck a cone in Amanda’s hand. It was pretty entertaining.
We walked a little bit farther up and walked into this handmade comforter and tablecloth place. The guy there was hilarious. He literally pulled like 50 tablecloths of the shelf and threw them on the floor while saying “No charge for looking!” Totally different from American. A few of us left without buying stuff, but he wasn’t even mad. In the U.S., store owners get mad if they put in that much effort and you don’t buy anything. It was fun though because some of the tablecloths were really awesome.

We decided to head back to the ship after this, so we walked down the hill to where we saw a cab sitting. Little did we know, it was almost the last cab ride of our lives. Of course, since we are so cheap, we squeezed 7 people in a cab that should have fit 4. We gave him the green sheet which is a sheet they give us in every country with where the ship is in Turkish or Greek or wherever we are. So, we take off. This guy is a LUNATIC. I literally thought we were going to die. Like swerving with less than an inch of space between other cars. At one point, we swerved around a truck and were headed full speed at the back of a car that was REVERSING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. It was a serious James Bond moment. Luckily, we slammed on the breaks in time and swerved around him, but it was insane. He also dropped us off at the wrong ship, so we still had to walk a decent amount back to our ship. Insanity.

We took a short nap, got showered, and had dinner on the ship. Megan officially caught Candice saying “bomb” which she thought she would never say, and Candice got some of her dinner on her shirt, so we had to wait for her to change. It looked a little like baby poop. Haha. We headed out to Istiklal Street which is this main drag that is made up of TONS of people walking and a lot of shops and bars. It was packed because it was a weekend, and they don’t have a rule about which side of the street to walk on. So, it felt like we were swimming against the current no matter what we did. We shopped a little bit, and I bought a really cute pair of traditional shorts and a painting. I am officially OBESESSED with this painting. I absolutely love it. It was sitting outside of this little music shop, and I even met the artist himself! It is a picture of a woman playing the cello which I can obviously relate to. The cool part about it though is that the cello is a man. So, it is like the woman is playing the man. Haha. I love it. The artist said it was a portrayal of his relationship with his wife. He was the cutest old man too. So adorable. So, I bought it.

We kept walking down the street because we were looking for a bar that served apple tea like the kind that the lamp guy served to us. We were looking for a while though because we all wanted to stop in different shops. Walking down the main street was a lot of fun. There were a lot of street performers, and they had these really cool lights that hung over the street. It was definitely the place to be. A tramcar also goes up and down the middle of the street for people to hop on and off. We all know Candice has trouble with tramcars, and she almost got hit by it a couple of times! We eventually ended up at this restaurant that had this beautiful roof terrace and some delicious desserts. Megan and I split the chocolate fondue with fruit. The chocolate was dark and thick and SO GOOD. We might have even drank it out of the cup once we were done with the fruit. Megan has never had a banana before, so she let me have all the bananas which were awesome. She is afraid to try one, and Candice got a banana frappe which she almost tricked Megan into trying. Haha. I kinda wish she had, but Megan was not pleased with Candice. She went straight to the shit list.

Dice also taught me a new fun phrase. Instead of just saying Ready as in “Is everyone ready”, she says “reds, whites, and blues”. Haha. I thought it was cute. We started walking back to the ship after we paid because it was getting late, and we ran into these really young Turkish boys. They asked me something, and I answered and before we knew it, this huge group of young boys was following us down the street. Not in a creepy way, but they were obviously just excited that we were older American girls. They didn’t speak much English, but I found out using their phone calculator that they were 16. Haha. We kept walking obviously, and eventually ran into some of their older friends. One of the boys was an exchange student from Germany and could speak English pretty well. So, he started translating for us to talk with all the locals. It was pretty funny hearing English translated to German translated to Turkish because the German boy’s friend spoke German and Turkish. I basically told the young boys who were following us around that in the U.S., it would be illegal and weird for me to be hanging out with them unless I was their babysitter. They also had American t-shirts on that said some pretty nasty stuff. Who knows if they actually knew what it meant. We talked to them for a bit, and then continued walking to the ship.
So, my group of friends and I can be a little weird sometimes, and we tend to talk in funny voices and laugh at each other a lot. Yet, for some reason, when I talk in a strange or weird voice, some local ALWAYS mocks me! It happens a lot! Like Candice does this deep, weird voice, and I do it now too. So, when we were walking back to the ship, I was talking to her like that, and this random guy sitting on the side of the street started mocking me! Haha. It is actually pretty funny and a fun cultural connection because I know what he is doing, but I just don’t know why it’s always me!

We ended up going the wrong way back to the ship and got a little scared because the streets were empty, so we grabbed a cab back to the ship. Just to be safe. :-)