not constantinople

i took a taxi to the airport with cloe straight from school...her flight back to france left a lot earlier than mine, so i wasn't in any hurry, and could've taken the subway and a bus...but the convenience of a taxi is always desireable, especially when you share the cost with someone else...when i first looked at flights, mine wasn't listed...as it turned out, i departed from a different terminal than cloe, even though we were both flying internationally...
my flight to istanbul was easy, and smooth...though i was rather disappointed in my meal...when given the option while reserving flights, i always choose a different meal...why go with the normal food when you can choose something else...this time i chose raw vegetarian...i ended up with fruit...and a roll...hmmm...not at all satisfying...not really a meal...and the roll definitely didn't qualify as raw...i'm not expecting anything different on the way back to ukraine...
amanda met me at the airport, she's a mate from rugby in korea...we took a bus to the center of town, an area called taxim...then a taxi from there...as i learned later, we could've taken the subway and walked to her flat, but at that point, the taxi was very much desired...especially because it was windy and rainy...i wasn't thrilled when she said that had been the weather for several days...i hate rain...we had a late dinner that night, caught up with each of our lives, then crashed...i gave her the ham she'd requested...turkey is politically secular, but in reality the dictates of islam determine a lot of daily life...which means finding pork/ham is difficult...ukraine doesn't have that problem...

i slept like a rock, though i woke up at my normal time...amanda said her saturday habit was poached eggs and coffee...i joined in for poached eggs, but had tea instead...i've got to try making poached eggs by adding vinegar to the water, she said that keeps the eggs together...in the past when i've tried poached eggs it's always really messy...
after hanging out too long, we made our way to a grocery store...i know i've said it in previous posts, but i love grocery stores, in any country...based on the grocery store alone, i'm already in love with turkey...a huge section for spices, tons of yogurt...how could i not like a country that sells yogurt by the gallon??!?!

after the grocery store we headed downtown to meet up with one of amanda's coworkers and her husband...we met at a fancy shmancy hotel called pera palace...jill said one of the papers had written that liam neeson was staying there while filming...hmmm...anywho, we all met for high tea, and it was fabulous...every employee was super deferential, i can't remember ever being treated that way by staff anywhere...i guess that's what four stars gets you:)...this was high tea properly done...tea served in silver, heaps of desserts to choose from...(over and over again, of course:)...it was a great way to relax and do something a little different...after stuffing ourselves for three hours, amanda and i walked up and down the main street nearby (called istiklal)...it was crowded as, and i can see why amanda doesn't particularly like the area...there are plenty of shops, but as it turns out, the turkish government taxes imported goods like nobody's business...why bother looking when you don't have any intention of paying twice what you would in the states? it was a great time for people watching...it was windy, snowy and cold though, so not good for just standing around...we found a few bookstores, and i bought a guidebook for turkey...i am nothing without a guidebook...lol...when i leave the country i'll leave the guidebook with amanda, she'll be able to get some use from it, as she has misplaced her guidebook...

christmas morning we again had poached eggs...this time with ham...amanda tried to do a hollandaise sauce, but apparently it didn't work out...i didn't see it...and salad, and grapes...YUM...
that afternoon we went into town again, and this time made our way to a hamam...a turkish bath...sooooooo relaxing...more expensive than korea, but still great...being in there really made me miss the saunas (jim-jil-bangs) of korea...i loved the scrub and massage, and just wish they'd been a little harder...i'm not a wimpy foreigner!! when we left i was cozy and warm, and didn't want to leave at all...lol...
after the hamam we headed toward the grand bazaar...it's always mentioned as a must see sight in the city, and amanda needed a new wallet...unfortunately, by the time we got there, most of the stalls had closed up shop for the day...oh well, another time...dinner on the way back to a tram stop was a chicken doner roll...oh how i love the food of this country...
after dinner we made our way to dan and kathleen's flat, in the crowded area of town i mentioned earlier in this post...amanda used to work with these two, they were hosting a christmas party...we didn't stay long, but we did meet a few people...fun...amanda said she would recommend that school as a place to work, if anyone who reads this is so inclined...shockingly, they treat their employees well...who woulda thought that was possible in the world of ESL?

despite already having eaten dinner, we still ate cherry cobbler when we got home...YUM...then went to bed early, as amanda had to work the next day...
fortunately, i didn't have to work...the joys of being on holiday:)...i got myself out the door of the flat before 1030, for which i was quite proud of myself...i'm quite often a very late starter when by myself...(though when i'm traveling with others i'm usually ready to go really early...why is that?)...i walked/took the subway/rode the tram back to the historical area of the city...and that's where my adventure started...
for the first time in a while, i wasn't able to orient myself easily...that is, even though i had two maps, i couldn't figure out which way i was facing...it didn't help that i could see two huge mosques, and couldn't figure out which was which...(the blue mosque and aya sofia)...i ended up at the blue mosque, though just as i was ready to go inside, it closed to tourists for prayertime...oh well...since i'd finally figured out where i was, i knew where i wanted to go next...

topkapi palace is another place always listed on must see lists for istanbul...the queue for tickets was crazy long, and this is off season...i can't begin to imagine what it's like during high season...yuck...fortunately, the queue moved quickly...inside the palace there were queues as well for the more interesting sections, though they moved quickly as well...i enjoyed the displays in the treasury and the privy (a private chamber for a high ranking person, as opposed to a privy during pioneer days in the US, which is an outhouse)...i also liked the harem area a lot...heaps and heaps of palace intrigue and gossip ruled the day back then!

i made my way to the grand bazaar, this time early enough that everything was still open...i've traveled a lot, so i wasn't super keen to see this particular market any more than i have been to see any other well known market...this is the world's largest market under one roof...something like 4000 vendors in all...just about anything you could want...i didn't want any of it, so i just wandered for a while...it's amazing how many guys want you to look in their store...do i look as though i want a carpet? or a hookah? i did exchange money though, they had good rates in the bazaar...not surprisinly, i got lost in there, and ended up exiting on the other side of the bazaar...whoops...fortunately it was easy enough to circle around outside and get back to the side i wanted...

after the bazaar i finally got to see the inside of the blue mosque...for all that it's famous, i wasn't supremely impressed...i liked it, but i wasn't overly impressed...i liked the mosques of malaysia better...i've always loved the light and airy feeling of mosques...
then it was time to head back to amanda's flat, and be there before she came home from work...we went to a doner place nearby for dinner, and i loved it...YUM...again, both of us crashed early...
the next day i was slower about getting going for the day, but i didn't have the problem with orientation, so my real start time on visiting sights was about the same...i started with the aya sofia, and absolutely loved it...now that's a place i can understand being on all the must see lists...it was a church, then a mosque...now it's a museum...you can see all the influences of both religions, it's amazing...turkey has a long and complicated religious history...the frescoes and mosaics are fabulous...watching all the people was fun too...

from there i walked to the spice bazaar...i meant to stop at the post office along the way, but i missed that turn...whoops...i did get there on the way home though...the spice bazaar sells more than just spices, not surprisingly...and i'm pretty sure the prices are higher than they should be...but it was fun to see what is available, should i decide to bring stuff back to ukraine...i miss spicy food there, so paprika might be in my future:)
from there i walked to yet another mosque...it starts with an S, and is located near a university...near the spice bazaar...i liked this mosque the best of what i've seen so far in turkey...i was there during prayertime, something i haven't experienced previously...one of the things i like about islam is that it is practiced several times each day...not just once a week...part of being muslim is daily prayer...you can go to the mosque for each prayer time, but most people only go on fridays at noon...this was a midweek, midafternoon prayertime, so there weren't too many people there...
that night amanda put me on a bus to the massive bus station, i was off to my next destination!