As you’ve probably gathered from my most recent posts, Tony and I ventured to Istanbul for a weekend. I couldn’t quite tell who was more excited to be there – me or Tony. It is a city that has been on our travel list for quite some time and we were like giddy school children when finally able to make a trip work.
Tony met me at our hotel, the Park Hyatt Istanbul, around 6PM on Friday evening. I had already been there for a day working and he joined me for the weekend. A massive snow storm had delayed my flight by a full day and the last thing I expected to see upon landing were piles of snow.
Friday evening we kept it low key. we wanted to try authentic local cuisine and that’s just what we did, stopping in a place called Kosebasi. Waiters immediately started coming up to our table offering plates of yummy food and I just picked what looked most appealing. We were brought out shots of what tasted like chicken broth which I sipped and Tony threw back like vodka. Plate after plate of hummus, lamb, pita, etc. were laid before us and I chowed down like it was my last night on Earth. If there is one cuisine I love, it is anything that is Arabic inspired. I could eat hummus and grape leaves all day, every day. It makes me wonder if I lived in the Middle East in a past life.
After eating ourselves silly, we hit the sack. We were experiencing the epitome of a food coma and wanted to be all rested for our exploration of Istanbul the next day.
We had a tour guide take us around starting at 10am on Saturday morning. The sun was shining bright and started melting all of the piles of snow. We tried to dress accordingly to keep our feet dry and warm, and our bodies layered for easy removal when it got too hot.
Our first stop was the Blue Mosque, know to locals as Sultan Ahmed’s Mosque. It is approximately 400 years old and still operating as a mosque today. We were able to venture around the outside as well as the inside, and as expected, I had to cover my head and remove our shoes to go inside.
The interior beauty, from the ceilings to the carpeting to the windows, was so exquisite. From every angle I found my eyes absorbing pure luxury and decadence, and the bits of Arabic found throughout reminded me it is a place of worship. What would make me stop in my tracks is whenever I would remind myself how old this building was – that this kind of detail and beauty withstood time and was created so long ago.
After the mosque, it was off to Hagia Sophia. It is located across the street from the Blue Mosque, so very easy to access. Hagia Sophia was even more mind-blowing than the Blue Mosque. First, Hagia Sophia is older by about 1,000 years. Second, it was a Christian church turned Mosque. Throughout this building are old mosaics with the images of Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist. Yet elsewhere are large hanging circles that have Arabic writing found within them. To see this was such a powerful juxtaposition and to me, another proof point that maybe religions aren’t so fundamentally different.
Tony was in absolute awe this entire time. Being such a history buff and having studied ancient Greek and Latin, he and the tour guide were chatting away like busy little chipmunks gathering acorns. While it was even more informative to have what felt like 2 amazing tour guides with me, after an hour at each location, I was ready to move on.
Next was the Basilica Cistern, or one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen. I felt like I entered a warm, damp, haunted house. The orange lighting glowed eerily off the water, and every so often you would catch the glimpse of a fish down below. The platforms laid out above the water and in-between the large columns holding up the earth were all wet. I worried one slip would put me in the water with those fishes. We were on the hunt for Medusa’s head, which was placed underneath one of these columns. It was built upside-down so she couldn’t turn you to stone with her eyes.
The Basilica Cistern was meant to be a back-up water supply. Since Turkey has been around since the dawn of time, the country has been involved in man conflicts. A back-up water supply was always a good idea for the survival of the residents. It’s kind of like how the Swiss proactively sent out anti-radiation pills in preparation for the apocalypse.
We were starting to get hungry by this point, and try as we did, we could not keep our feet dry. There was one last stop before lunch, though. This was an amazing ceramics store right across the street from the Basilica Cistern. Beautiful handmade ceramics are a big thing in Turkey, and I got to try to make my own clay bowl. It was a total disaster, and ended up all lopsided. But the experience was still cool.
We bought two incredibly stunning dishes that I know I will cherish forever. Tony was beyond excited to get one that was Bears colors. Bear down, even in Istanbul!
Then it was time to eat. We wanted local, cheap and fast, which brought us to Sultan Ahmed’s meatball stand (actually called Sultanahmet Koftecisi). French fries and meat? Sounds good to me. Tony also tried Ayran which is the salty yogurt water I had in Doha. My personal opinion was one time was enough, but Tony appeared to enjoy it more than I thought he would.
When lunch was done, it was time to do what I do best – shop! We were off to the Grand Bazaar and I couldn’t wait. It was total sensory overload. Housed inside what looked like a massive cement building, there were items for sale everywhere you looked. Anything you could possibly imagine was available for sale in the Grand Bazaar:
- bowls, dishes and glassware
- carpets and scarfs
- jewelry, jewelry, jewelry
- ceramics and lanterns
People were calling out to us and my head was turning so fast I started to get dizzy. I didn’t know where to turn, where to look, what to buy, whom to speak to. One guy tried to get my attention by shouting “Hey Romania!” An interesting tactic, if I may say so.
The lamps themselves were my favorite part of the Bazaar. The colors were insane and appealed to every single cell in my body. Every shop we passed, I had to stop and look. What was different, what was new, where were these gorgeous colors coming from?
We ended up buying our own incredible Turkish lantern for our new apartment. I was very impressed with Tony’s bargaining skills. That is my thrifty hubby! As we made our way out of the building portion, we found ourselves on very crowded streets lined with more stores and vendors. This is where all of the textiles were – clothing, shoes, purses, coats, arts and crafts – you name it, you could find it here. Again, sensory overload, but at least this time we were outside. As the snow was continuing to melt, shop owners were laying out buckets to collect the water streaming from their roofs.
At the end of this section was what Tony had been waiting for – the Spice Bazaar. We found ourselves back inside a concrete building only instead of goods, we saw nothing but spices and candies. This part was really interesting because the spices were incredibly colorful. You could literally reach out at any point and grab a handful of whatever, it was all that close. Although I wouldn’t recommend doing this. 🙂
Tony went wile picking out spices. I feel like he got one of everything that was available. I had to stop him from also picking up teas and Turkish delights. He is already using his new hot chili flakes every evening and is worried he will run out. He has 2.5 lbs of this stuff haha! I am not too concerned.
By the time we were done at the Spice Bazaar, it was past 5:00pm and we were exhausted. We headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner, and spent the evening watching movies.
Sunday was extremely low key. We slept in, wandered to a busy little cafe for breakfast, and strolled up and down the streets just looking.
We had seen so much the day before that we didn’t really have the energy for further hardcore exploring. We also enjoyed the relaxing and absolutely EPIC bathrooms at the Park Hyatt. Highly recommend the hotel because of this fabulous amenity. A Turkish bath is the ultimate in relaxation.
Overall, it was an incredible journey. Istanbul is definitely somewhere we plan on returning to so we can further explore and spend more time in this magical place. Until next time…
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