Worlds Apart- Part I

NOTE: MOST OF THIS POST WAS WRITTEN ON SUNDAY

Modern technology is fairly impressive. I woke up this morning in Istanbul, just a stone's throw away from Asia. I now sit in the comfortable confines of the church hall underneath the flat, in Nottingham. Thank you British Airways. Although my holiday has been great, there's nothing like an overly friendly "hi-ya" from a tweedy flight attendant and a return to an extremely negative currency to get me in the mood for a return to the good ol' UK. I must say, I feel much safer in the hands of British Airways than Ryanair or EasyJet.

Enough about British Airways, and we'll get back to returning to England. You all probably would rather hear about my 3 days in Istanbul. Well at least, the two I haven't written about. On Friday we got up and went to the Great Palace Mosaic Museum, which houses an immense and incredibly well preserved mosaic from the ancient Byzantine Palace (circa 600 A.D.). When talking about Istanbul, one must always keep in mind that it was the capital (as Constantinople) of the Christian Byzantine Empire until 1453, when the Turks finally conquered the city and turned it into the capital of the Ottoman Empire. With the proclamation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the capital was moved to Ankara. Enough of the history lesson, the mosaics were cool. After that we went to the Istanbul Archeological Museum, which had some pretty intense tombs, but other than that, was somewhat sparse in terms of interesting items.

After a fun filled morning of history and stuff, we (after I got us lost) made it to the Cemberlitas hamam, or in plain English, the Turkish bath. After some awkward miming and confused looks, I found myself changing into a plaid bathcloth in a wooden compartment, then walking around in plastic slippers in a futile attempt to find the door before someone kindly pointed me in the right direction. The bath was quite beautiful, as it was designed by the Ottoman Empire's greatest architect in the 16th century. I laid around on a giant marble slab in a steam room for about 20 minutes before a large, hairy, mustachioed Turkish man gave me a violent cleaning and soapy massage. I think that image seems to fittingly sum up the experience. I don't think I've felt that clean since I was in Kyoto, Japan two years ago. You remember the Japanese bath, don't you Benjamin? Anyways, Turkish bath, good idea.

Following that, we headed over to the Grand Bazaar, the largest covered market in the world. It really is a barrage on the senses, as people are all over you, inviting you to look at their carpets, or their jewelry, or whatever wares they're selling. It's really crazy. And thanks to the strength of the dollar against the new Turkish lira, it's really cheap. You have no idea the joy I felt when I learned I actually wasn't losing money on exchange rates for a change. As a result, I returned laden with goods. I don't want to mention them all here, as many are gifts, but let's just say I got some cool stuff. What I'm most proud of is a small Turkish carpet I got, 100% wool and handmade. It's very nice, and will surely grace my dorm room next year. Kate went crazy on the inlaid wooden boxes, while Emily indulged in bunch of gifty type things as well.

Went to a whirling dervish ceremony at night. For those not in the know, it's a characteristic of the Mevlevi sect of Sufism (Islamic mysticism). The practicioners whirl around in a trance like state to traditional music, in the hopes of achieving a mystical communion with God. It was very intense, but unfortunate because of the touristic nature of the performance. It was very obvious that the people in it were really taking it seriously, but I felt it was bastardized by all the lame tourists taking blatant flash photographs, standing up to videotape, and other such distractions. It really took away from the sacredness of the moment and such, which is a shame.

After the dervish thing, the night got.... interesting. Well, I guess that depends on your point of view. You see, the previous night at the teahouse, we had made friends with two youngish Turkish males who struck up a conversation with us as we attempted to master the hookah (apple flavored). One guy, Moussah, was a student who spoke fluent English. He was accompanied by his friend "Herb," who worked in the Grand Bazaar. Anyways, we had made friends, and they tried to teach us how to play backgammon. We politely declined their offer to go out to a club, as we were broke and were fairly tired. Thinking that was the last of them, we said goodbye, happy to have connected with the locals.
Anyways, we come back on Friday night, and who should be standing in the entrance of the carpet shop opposite our hostel but Moussah and Herb (apparently Moussah was filling in for his father, who owned the carpet store). They invited us in for tea, and we obliged. He shared some insight on why Turks don't like loud, drunk Australian tourists (such as the ones who populated our hostel), because they are disrespecting their forefathers who died at Gallipoli by their behavior, and how they disrespect Turkish people. He also shared some stories involving him catching potential carpet-buyers performing lewd acts in the upstairs lounge. Anyways, they invite us out to a bar a block away from the hostel, and we agree to go for a few drinks. We tried some raki, which is a Turkish spirit that tastes disgustingly like licorice, and a few pints of Turkish beer. Needless to say, I had a good time, but one of our female companions was the subject of possibly some unwanted attention.

Saturday was fairly chill, we woke up sort of late, and spent the morning hitting up an Istanbul Starbucks, returning to the Grand Bazaar, and visiting the Suleymaniye Mosque. I thought the Suleymaniye to be the most beautiful mosque I visited, it was built by the Ottoman Empire's most skilled architect. We were there right before the noon prayer time, so as we exited, the call to prayer boomed out through loudspeakers as people rushed into the mosque. Probably the highlight of Saturday was taking a ferry across the Bosphorus to Asia. Literally. Istanbul is the only city in the world to straddle two continents. So we went over and just sort of chilled out. We went to a very cool cafe and had tea on a terrace that overlooked Sultanahmet (the district of Old Istanbul on the European side). It was cool to cross the Bosphorus. We saw Kiz Kulesi, also known as the Maiden's Tower. Or if you're like me, in The World is Not Enough, it's where Elektra King holds M and James Bond before boarding her submarine with the nuclear reactor. Finished off the night by eating in a Turkish place. We met some Australians who were there for ANZAC Day before embarking on a 6 week tour of Europe. So we imparted our travel wisdom to them, chugged our apple tea, and returned to the hostel.

Got up early the next morning (talking 5:00 A.M.) and were driven to the airport by a slightly mad bus driver. He may or may not have been going 90 MPH. Celebrated my arrival at the airport by throwing down 9 YTL for a coffee and a muffin at Starbucks. To celebrate my Britishness and impending return, I attempted to eat the muffin English style with fork and knife. I'm really trying to pick it up, and I think I was fairly successful. Anyways, the flight back was great, they had free Coke, breakfast, a movie inflight. Gah, it felt like traveling first class. We flew over the Alps and our approach into Heathrow took us right over central London, so I got some sweet photos.

In retrospect, I think I can say that Istanbul vies with Paris for the best part of my trip. I really enjoyed it. It was so cool and interesting to be in a Muslim country, which I thought played a big role in why I liked it so much. Everyone in college learns about Islam nowadays, but I feel we still miss a certain level of understanding. Istanbul certainly opened my eyes a lot more fully. First of all, the Turkish people and their hospitality and friendliness was amazing. Secondly, the Islam that I saw is a truly beautiful religion, far far removed from what we hear on the news. The mosques were very beautiful. Unlike the tourist clogged cathedrals in France and Italy, the mosques I visited demanded reverence. Everyone had to remove their shoes before they went in, visitors had to stay in the back to preserve the sanctity of the space, and they just seemed so very serene. It was so cool to have your day punctuated not by church bells, but rather by the calls of the muezzin echoing throughout the city. I would recommend Istanbul to anyone thinking of going to Europe. Turkey seems scary, but it isn't. It's very modern, but still retains that Eastern exoticism. A beautiful city.

Stay tuned for one more post trying to sum up the trip as a whole. I finally got my paper turned in and such, so I'm working on it. Later.