Istanbul, Turkey

After spending a blur of an evening in Bucharest (we arrived around 12am and left at 11am from our hotel) we hopped on the last train of our journey: a mere 20 hours through southern Romania, Bulgaria, around the tip of Greece, and through Turkey to Istanbul. We slept in our own compartment in comfortable accommodations, which was fine because, as our new best friend the train attendant told us, "Bulgaria? I like to look at Bulgaria like I like to look at my ass! There is no something in Bulgaria" (I told him that "nothing" is the word for "no something"). But we enjoyed the ride until 1am when we had to unload to buy Turkish visas. Eastern European countries apparently have two borders, not one, for each crossing. I don't know what stands between all these dual borders, but certainly not options for two Americans who, when asked whether we'd pay in Euros or dollars we answered, "Romanian!" (I didn't even know the name for the currency). The man selling visas shook his head grimly. Our friend the attendant and the Turkish conductor spotted us 30 Euro to get us through... we were deeply grateful for his generosity and saving us from abandonment at the Turkish border in the middle of the night.


Arriving in Istanbul on the edge of the sea was a welcome change from rain, rain, rain. The Mediterranean climate and food is mild and perfect this time of year. Every morning for breakfast we've had different types of local breads, five types of sheep and goat cheese, Turkish coffee and olives with our eggs. Yummmmm! Istanbul is a city divided into 3 parts, so it's hard to know where to start. We stayed in the Old City of Sultanahmet in a small hotel close to the Aya Sofia - my mom's favorite. The Aya Sofia is an enormous domed church built sometime around 500 AD, with mosaics that had to be excavated under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk when Turkey became a republic. It's incredible to see both Christian and Muslim influences in the same ancient building and hard to believe that the Muslims covered the mosaics with plaster when it became a mosque...the amount of work that was done on the Christian mosaics below is almost painful. Sultanahmet is also home to the stunning Blue Mosque, perched on a high hill directly across from Aya Sofia, and the underground cistern with two giant Medusa heads grazing the fish-filled waters. Everywhere you turn there is beauty and ancient history.

For a more contemporary experience we left the Marmara Sea for the Bosphorous, only a 20 minute metro ride across the bridge, and went to Taksim. On a 2km pedestrian-only promenade you can see every single slice of Turkey. Old women from the country with head scarves, lots of young people wearing Western clothes, old men smoking pipes and walking in 3 piece suits, "fashion Muslims" walking the strip arm in arm with their shiny silk headscarves, pretty much every type of person you could imagine. There are TONS of people packed wall to wall, but the promenade is not claustrophobic, and you get into the rhythm of moving with the current of humanity. At night I found a great jazz club with my friend Pinar, and the Bienal is a contemporary art festival that was also happening at the time. Istanbul is a cross between contemporary and traditional cultures, where old and young mix and you can hop back and forth over the water from "Europe" to "Asia."

Among the incredible mosques, palaces, endless archaelogical museum and gorgeous tiled walls, one place especially stood out to us. Rarely have I ever been so shocked by a life experience that I come out of a situation floating on clouds, as if the trees and temples and Bosphorous Sea were all part of some elaborate wax museum that mimicked reality. However, as I stepped out of the last hall of many that we visited on the grounds of the sultan's palace perched high above Sulanahmet, my mom and I looked at each other in disbelief and laughed. I could attribute such surprise at simply not having done my homework or knowing what lay inside the unassuming chamber, where I saw a whole array of artifacts belonging to all the patriarchs of monotheism. Was it enough to see not one, but seven tufts of the Prophet Mohammad (may peace be upon him)'s beard? They had two of his swords used in his return to Medina, his bow and case, a jeweled box containing a tooth, an imprint of his foot and an armoirre. So far from Mecca and in a secular (though Muslim) country I could not believe that they had so many of his sacred relics. But that was not enough for the Turks. We saw the supposed shriveled right arm of John the Baptist, the very arm that baptized Jesus (peace be upon him, too), covered in gold, and a piece of his skull. Abraham's bowl sat in the same case as the arm, the eating utensil of the father of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. And across the way a petrified staff, looking strong and in good shape, which apparently belonged to Moses and was the very staff he held when he parted the Red Sea (or his walking stick around that time). So they say, all relics pillaged from Egypt, but we got our meager $5 worth from this unexpected room where we decided to poke our head at the last minute. There was only one thing I could say when we came out: "Holy f***!"

We ended our week with a beautiful boat ride to the Prince Islands, only an hour and a half south of the great city. We spent the day wandering all over the largest island, eying the enormous colonial-style wood houses that perch on the windswept cliffs. The islands don't have any motorized vehicles, so we took a horsecart to the topmost point to the St. George monastery, where 360 degree views showed ocean, other smaller islands, and, in the distance, the long snake of Istanbul along the coastline. The island was worlds away from the enormous city, and the views incredible. We took the ferry back and topped off our night with some incredible jazz in a small club with our Turkish friends, a perfect last day in Istanbul.