The Istanbul Diaries, Pt. I: Sights

Istanbul, Istanbul, I-stan-bul. How I love(d) thee. I take notes during my trips so that I won't forget pertinent details. If I tried to give a day-to-day recount of those five glorious days in the 'Bul, you'd be reading for about a year. If you've read any of my other posts, you know that I can write/talk, so the fact that  this post would have been longer should tell you something. Therefore, in an effort to condense my gushing to a (slightly) more appropriate length, I present the Istanbul Diaries, which will divide my time there into the easiest categories I could think of. I shall first begin this segment with a not really quick rundown of the bazillion sights my travel companion and I visited. 

We stayed in a pretty convenient location in which we could walk to the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and Ayasofia (Hagia Sophia) Cathedral within 10-15 minutes. From there, you could pretty much walk anywhere in the city, which we did. The amount of things to see in Istanbul is slightly daunting; I would've needed an extra two weeks there to really put a dent in the sights. However, I'm more than grateful for those things which I saw. Rundown:

Hippodrome, aka The Sultan Ahmet Square

We literally passed by this every single day. As soon as we recuperated from the journey to Istanbul, we set out and this was the first thing we saw. The sun was shining and the square just looked phenomenal. It's the heart of the Old Town, possibly because of how perfectly located it is. 

Egyptian Obelisk in the Hippodrome

Egyptian Obelisk. SN: I was feeling my hair that day. Like, feelin' it 

Even. More. Egyptian Obelisk

Sultan Ahmet Mosque, more commonly known as the Blue Mosque

My favorite sight in Istanbul. The outside is the most beautiful and imposing structure I saw there. It's nicknamed the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles that decorate the interior walls. The carpet inside has tulips (which are some type of symbol in Istanbul) that face east toward Mecca. Note: you do wear scarves inside a mosque and have to take off your shoes; they also ask that you dress properly (read: no shorts, mini-skirts, leggings). While the inside was nice, it's the actual structure that will forever wow me. I'm sure I took a photo of it every single time I passed by.  

Tell me this isn't beautiful!!!

Interior Cupola

Tulip-decorate carpet. The tulip faces east toward Mecca

Blue-tiled walls

Kinda obsessed with it...

It even looks good at night. #love 

 Yerebatan (Underground) Basilica Cistern

I don't know if you know what a cistern is, but I didn't when we went, so, just to clarify, a cistern is a receptacle for holding water. Istanbul is a G because theirs is underground (or are they just conformists because all cisterns are underground???). In any event, it was amazinggggggggg!!! Dimly lit and cool, which was nice since it was a lil' toasty outside. There were some really huge fish inside; I know that's random, but those fish looked like they were on steroids. It was calming and slightly spiritual in feeling. The mood was temporarily broken when  I saw the tacky photo booth area where one could dress up like a sultan. That was really unnecessary for such a cool area. There are apparently two Medusa heads which are used as column bases somewhere, but my eyes don't do well in dimly lit spaces. Second favorite place in Istanbul. 

Okay, they don't look so big here, but I promise those fish were obnoxiously large. 

It was so tranquil

Art Gallery

We were just randomly walking around after visiting the Cistern and stumbled upon an art gallery. Real simple: the artist is amazing. He apparently had this random phase in which he painted a crap ton of cats and horses. Everything, including the questionable animal phase, was lovely. The back of the gallery is just an open garage-like area on whose walls the artist painted these vivid and beautiful murals. 

 

Galata Tower:

 We walked across the Golden Horn to the side of town where Taksim and Beyoglu (more to come about these areas in a later post) are located to visit the Galata Tower. We were going to go inside and walk to the top of it, but the line was long and pretty stagnant and it was hot. We were already going to have to climb like 50 million stairs, but having to wait and prolong the inevitable was just too much...thank goodness. I didn't realize the tower was on top of a hill about 35 minutes from the hotel and that I had to climb stairs and walk up a never-ending incline to get there. I definitely wasn't mentally prepared for that. Then, having to add the stairs inside the tower...I need time to prepare my spirit for that and Mama just wasn't ready, y'all. 

Vini, Vidi, No Vici

Aye. It be like that sometimes.

Bosporus Cruise

Quick history/geography lesson: Istanbul is a transcontinental city, meaning it's located on two continents (Europe and Asisa). The Bosphorous Strait separates Asia and Europe, is one of the narrowest straits used for international navigation, and connects the Marmara and Black Seas. 

Istanbul obviously capitalizes on this by offering Bosphorous cruises. One can take a day-long cruise that drops you off in Asian Istanbul for a few hours or just a two-hour cruise on the water. We opted for the two-hour cruise on a beautiful day. It was greatttttt!!! Granted, I was doped up on seasickness pills, but whatever works (and they did!). It was lovely to see Istanbul from the water and cruise along this strait that's such an important part of both Turkish and world history and politics. It was slightly nippy out on the high seas (or as close as I'll ever get to them, since I don't do cruises), but a jacket and/or sweater helped with that.  

Topkapi Palace

It was home to sultans for 400 years. Now, of course, it's a tourist site. There was this extremely disorganized and overwhelming process to purchase tickets and enter. The ticket booth was in one place and the entrance in a completely different location. There was no one actually guarding the security clearance, so anyone can steal a bag off of the belt. Once you get through that stressful process, you're finally inside. The grounds are spacious and well-manicured, but completely overrun with tourists and students on field trips. SN: I met the cutest kids who wanted to practice their English with anyone whom they thought spoke the language by saying, "Hello!" to everyone. I mean, they were adorable! Anywho, the palace is nice, but certainly nothing amazing. I've sen far more beautiful and imposing structures. I don't think it was worth 25 Turkish Lira. It's only redeeming qualities were the gardens and view. There was a lovely view of the Bosporus and the tulip garden was a wannabe photographers (cough me) dream! 

Yay. It's a castle...but not. I've seen better.

A few of my new friends

Great view, though!

And lovely tulips!

 

Grand Bazaar:

It's definitely grand...and completely priced. It was lovely to go inside and have the experience of having visited, but that's all it's worth. You can get better deals on the street and in other stores.

All the Lights!

MTTB Demonstration

 MTTB: Milli Turk Talebe Birligi. English: National Turkish Students' Union. While this doesn't necessarily count as a sight, we did just happen to stumble upon it. It took me forever to find the name of the organization in English and I'm still not quite sure what they were protesting (ya know, not speaking Turkish and all), but we followed what appeared to be the end of their demonstration to the Fatih Belediyesi Cultural Ampitheater, located next to the Cistern. It was interesting to see their passion, even if I had no idea what sparked it. 

Hagia Sofia Basilica/Mosque/Museum

It was once a church, later a mosque, and considered the greatest and most sacred place in the city during the Byzantine Age. Now, it's a museum. What I thought would be the thing that I adored the most was surprisingly underwhelming. I don't know if I just built it up so much in my mind that the reality had no chance of living up to the dream, but it was something of a letdown. Don't get me wrong, it's still lovely, worth the Lira and wait, but it didn't hold a candle to the Blue Mosque for me (maybe the Blue Mosque ruined it?). The structure, though, was absolutely beautiful. 

Look to the left. That is the Hagia Sofia. More to come on where  this photo was taken.

Isn't it beautiful!?

Even at night

The Virgin Mary between Justinian and Constantine

Outisde

Spice Bazaar

Spice. Bazaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr. My gawd, that place is amazing! That was home for me. It's a site and also a great place to buy souvenirs, so I'll say more when I write the post about souvenir shopping, but as a tourist site, it resembled a real bazaar, whereas the Grand Bazaar looked like a huge strip mall. Ugh, my love affair with the Spice Bazaar...

So, the Spice Bazaar was the last stop on five days filled with amazing sights. I really did try to make this post shorter, but, in my defense, the majority of it is photos! :) I've been writing this for the better part of two hours and have worked up an appetite by recounting all of this, so deuces world wide web! I'll try to condense the gushing and photos next go-round. :)