Mosques, mint lemonade + May Day mayhem

230am arrival on May Day...

So I arrive at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul at 230am and the chaos begins. I've been running around doing so many other things that I didn't even bother to check to see if I needed a visa to travel to Turkey...well end result is, I did. I figured that out after I waited for 30 mins in line at Customs to be told I needed to buy a visa. Once that was over, it was time to get a cab...I see the Information Desk and proceed to ask how much a cab should be to Taksim and she tells me that a cab will be 80€ and I should take the shuttle which is 40€ instead. Needless to say, I was getting ripped off but I didn't have the energy to fight her, it was by then 330am.

So I take this 40€ shuttle after also being suckered into a Bospherus boat ride on Monday, another 35€ and realize...my driver has no idea how to get to my hostel. He asked at least 4 different people. Then, we finally get to Taksim Square and what do we find? All the roads are blocked and no cars are allowed in because, it's now officially May Day!

As I sat in the pulled over shuttle, with my confused driver (me pissed off and tired) at 430am I decided to start that I would start to jot down the early morning happenings.

It is almost 5am and I'm sitting in a minivan with a strange driver that doesn't know how to get me to my hostel. The entire 2.5 hour ride here from Frankfurt I stat next to a couple that talked about Heidi Klum's 4th pregnancy for the entire 2.5 hours. I talk a lot but there's no way I could talk for a straight 2.5 hours about people I don't even know!

Then I arrive after hearing Heidi's story and being all of a sudden paranoid about this swine flu mess, after enduring some man's disgusting cough all the way there (I'm pretty sure he's the first case of the swine flu in Turkey). I hustled off the plane in front of Swine Man and finally got in the country.

Now I'm in this minivan...hours later and the driver has asked most of Istanbul where my jostel is and they've all told him but he still can't get it together. It's now almost 5am and someone from reception is coming to get me.

I did get to see the mosques at night up on the hill in Sutlanahmet but I would rather just be looking at the inside of my eyelids since I'm supposed to be waking up in 4 hours to tour Istanbul all day...


So these guys were the friendly officers I encountered as I tried to walk to the Galata Bridge to get my day started. Apparently this year was the anniversary commemorating the death of 35 people who died on May Day 35 years ago and people near where I decided to stay, protested by lighting fires and throwing rocks. The police decided to break up the chaos with tear gas and water cannons. I was blown away when I saw people sitting at cafés with gas masks on like it was no thing.

This is the New Mosque (which is not new but blue)

This lady hated me and anyone like me who tried to take her picture. I thought it only appropriate to take pictures of the crazy people feeding the nasty flying rats that most people call pigeons. They were EVERYWHERE. I was ducking for my life hoping to avoid getting crapped on. Piazza San Marco is bad enough...this was over the top!

The Hippodrome

This guy carrying Turkish style bagels on his head...very impressive.

The sculpture of a three-headed serpent(missing its heads)
It was broought from Delphi Greece which only stands at 75% of its original height. One of the heads is in the Archeological Museum.

In Morocco, I got sucked in by the sweet, hardworking women weaving rungs. This weaver was here for a minute chatting on her cell phone...reason for me not getting roped into buying a rug this time around and I'm grateful.

Egyptian Obelisk. All four sides are covered with hieroglyphics celebrating the pharoah.

The Blue Mosque was built to surpass the beauty of the nearby Aya Sophia Church. It's built in Ottoman style and is decorated with glass and tiles.


For someone who wears a scarf almost everyday you wouldn't know it since the day it is most appropriate for me to cover I had nothing to cover my head of my neck. On top of that, as I was taking off my shoes before entering the mosque, i stumbled on to the first entryway carpet and the guy yelled at me and pulled up the carpet. Yikes! I must learn better etiquette, or to be less clumsy.

Random pictures merit random information. Turkey is the only country that is located on two continents (Europe and Asia).

Next up was the Yerebatan Basilica Cistern also known as the Sunken Palace or the Sunken Cistern. It's the largest of 700 ancient cisterns

One of the highlights of the Cistern were the Medusa sculptures. There are many rumors about Medusa and the one I liked most and that I have heard most was displayed in the Cistern that says:

Medusa is said to be a girl who was very much proud of her black eyes, long hair and beautiful body. For a long time she was in love with Perseus, the son of Zeus. At the same time goddess Athene was in love with him and she became jealous of Medusa's love with Perseus. For that reasons she turned Medusa's beautiful hair into horrible snakes. The whoever looked at Medusa turned into stone. When Perseus saw that Medus was bewitched and she was turning people into stone by a mere glance, he cut her head, then won many wars by showing his beloved one's head to enemies. From that time onwards it is said that Byzanthine swords' handles where stylized with Medusa's head.

Here are the heads


Onto the Aya Sophia...

Now why, in the middle of so much beauty would I choose to post this picture of a urinal??? Because I was surprised and I thought it was hilarious. I paid 1 Turkish Lire to pee in a hole. I thought that I would see these more in Morocco and I didn't encounter one. There you either pee in the desert or you have a Western toilet...well to my surprise here you have it :)

Topkapi Palace
The palace was home to the Ottomans for almost 400 years. The biggest attraction is the Harem (which you pay an extra 15TL to get into. This way you get to see how the Sultan's wife, and his other ladies lived.

Land of the Tulips. I was told that there are 14 million tulips in all of Istanbul and although that sounds like a really big number...it's believable because there wasn't one place I went that didn't have a beautiful bed of tulips.


I don't know what it is but Turks love their cats. I mean they might not actually love them, but cats love Turkey. I saw more cats that mosques, and that's hard to believe since there are almost 3,000 functioning mosques in Istanbul. Okay I didn't see all the mosques or all the cats but I can tell you, cats love Istanbul.


After leaving Sultanahmet area I went to try to figure out the tram system and of course looked a mess! I looked like such a tourist it was ridiculous. Because I stood out so much another tourist started chatting me up. His name is Kevin. He's from Barbados, Wilmington NC, Texas, and Nigeria...he's a man of the world, and became my travel buddy for the rest of the trip.


Last big stop of the day was to the Galata Tower aka the Great Tower. It's 9 stories and thankfully there was an elevator or else I would've been in trouble after the long day I had.

Amazing view, even though it started to rain while we were up there.

When I returned to the area where I was staying I decided that I needed to take a break before getting lost trying to find my hostel (since I had to take some weird long route with Turkish women in the morning to avoid the craziness). I stopped in a place called Kitchenette.

The famous mint lemonade...
I can't even articulate the goodness and comfort I found in this delicious concotion. Imagine a mojito with no alcohol. (I know for you alcohol lovers, this is hard to grasp, why a mojito without alcohol) but for me...it's the perfect drink, garnished with granny smith apples, mint and grapes. this place became my second home while I was in Istanbul. I went back every single day for my mint lemonade and a delicious pastry.

While sitting in Kitchenette that raining first evening this is what I jotted down about the day.

Today I went around to all the places I wanted to see. I met a guy from Marbados who lives in Nigeria. Really nice guy. We met getting lost on the tram while some guy tried to pickpocket me. He just didn't know who he was messing with but I let him know. I had a great convo with a Turkish guy who lived in Milwaukee for 17 years and I bought myself a pair of hippie McHammer pants (very BoHo chic) and an umbrella because I anticipate getting lost trying to find my way back to the hostel.

I have also just had the most amazing mint lemonade on the planet in Taksim Square. Some guy at Topkapi Palace asked to have his picture taken with me which automatically made think that I had gotten bird poop in my hair from the first mosque I went to and he wanted to have a picture with the loser tourist with bird poop in her hair. To my surprise, it was just because. I definitely peed in a hole today and didn't expect to. Just one more new experience right?

I definitely am OBVIOUSLY a tourist! People keep coming up to me and saying WASHINGTON, ooh New york, hello, bonjour, no, African??? At least 20 times today I've been approached by someone. I've even been walked to several places and told repeatedly "don't worry I'm not a guide or anything..." ummmhumm, yeah.

Some guy and girl were walking in the Hippodrome area and asked me if I was American. The guy goes, "Are you from Washington D.C.? I think I've seen you at Kramer Books in Dupont Circle"...this was soooo bizarre. This guy was Turkish...it's a SMALL world.

Best Turk I've met so far literally walked me to the metro, bought me a metro coin and took the metro with me to my stop. He didn't speak a lick of English and couldn't explain to me how to get to the stop I was trying to go to so he just decided to take me there. Why can't people be more like that guy! (not that you'll ever see this but, you're awesome)

Now I'm at Kitchenette on the verge of ordering my third mint lemonade and hoping the hostel owner will not ask for another kiss as he told me and apparently everyone else in the hostel, he must have a kiss if you stay there. yeaaaaah.

First up, figure out how to get back to the hostel. Next time I come to istanbul for May Day...someone remind me to bring a gas mask.

Taksim Square

I made it back to my hostel! Here it is people...Chambers of the Bohème. This was in my room...not my bed though since my bed wasn't next to the window but you get the idea...

Before heading to bed, I decided to go and enjoy some nargile aka a hookah/shisha which is just a water pipe that is used for smoking. Those of you that know me knwo that I detest cigarettes but fruit flavored tobacco is another story. It was great. I sat there chatting with the guys that work there and practiced Turkish, Farsi and Arabic. Win win.

How Bazaar, how bazaar...

Day two I met up with Kevin again to explore the markets. we started off at the Egyptian Spice Market. I bought some cardomom which no one I've asked seems to know about...I'll school you when I get home and start cooking with it.

Künefe pastries are amazing!!! It's a vermicelli like pastry used to make sweets...basically phylo with pistachios and other deliciousness...Although it originated in Palestine it's found all over these days. You basically drizzle a row of thin streams of flour, water and batter onto a turning hot plate making it dry into threads. If you ever get a chance, try it!

For those of you who might have a hard time making relations that looove pastries...apparently there's something for you that doesn't involve a blue pill anymore...check it out ;)

Once we entered the Grand Bazaar I went a little hat nutty. I snuck to try on at least 4 hats in the bazaar. Since most places say, no touch if you no buy, I figured I would quickly sneak to do it because they look like so much fun.

Nargile

The Grand Bazaar this for many is shopping paradise! There are over 4,000 shops inside the bazaar. It's pretty much a small town with everything you could possibly ever need to furnish your home, jewelry, food, etc. We didn't even cover half of it and spent the better part of the day there.

while in the bazaar I was standing in front of a costume shop. One of the staff approached me and asked if i would be interested in buying a belly dancing costume. I suggested he go ask these other ladies because I was not interested. After awhile he told me I could just try it on for fun...so you know what I did + here's the proof!

Here I am with my favorite belly dancing costume vendor. He ALMOST made me a believer but since he wouldn't tell me how much it cost...I knew better than to try to afford it, even if it was just for fun. Later, my friend Akiko who is an awesome belly dancer, told me that they start at about $300USD. Better to just have a pic.

So you know that I didn't make up this Bazian (people from the Bahamas) travel buddy...this is Kevin, who I also made wear a hat and reflect on his days as Aladdin in his younger days!

Classic

Okay, so after the Bazaar it was time to meet up with Akiko (fellow PIM 67/awesome woman who is living and working in Istanbul...representing the Asian side of Istanbul and proud of it). But before we met up I decided that I HAD to try this corn on the cob that is sold on every street corner in Istanbul. I love corn and I figured it had to be amazing...unfortunately, mine was not. :(

When we meet up with Akiko we went to get lunch...this is the view from the rooftop where we had lunch...not bad eh?


We braved the nasty mid-afternoon weather on this rooftop and stayed there for a few solid hours. Kevin attempted to teach us how to play chess on his new mother of pearl chess board.

Akiko pretenting to be excited about Chess!

PIM 67 all day. also the two most amazing women on either the European or Asian side of Istanbul. (inside joke but true of course!)

Akiko accompanied me back to my hostel area and we went for dessert and an introduction to mint lemonade...
She also schooled me on the various types of transportation around Istanbul This picture is of the Tünel but there is also the funicular and the tramvai)
We spent the rest of the evening chatting, catching up, and hanging out in the lobby of my hostel. we went to Café Bohème which is also part of my hostel but didn't last long since no one danced. I was going to try to convince her to belly dance but it would be hard to do to Michael Jackson and Turkish pop music.


The following day was spent with old bones, and mummies...

Archeological Museum
It was really cool...divided into three buildings. There is a lot of history there.















Night life...
I know I never have any exciting pictures of nightlife on my trips but that's because 1) I hate taking out my awesome but large camera when I'm just going to a bar or lounge. 2) I don't go out that much when I'm traveling because I'm tired for the day and always have to get up too early to go out the night before.
I made an exception this night and hung out with my roommates. I think awesome roommates come in threes for me and are guys. The three guys in my room were Spanish, Tunisian, and Romanian friends all living in France. They invited me out for a tea and I finally obliged. We went and listened to some live music...(a guy playing a sitar-like instrument) and then Me, the Spanish guy and the Tunisian guy went off to get Künefe deliciousness. We then walked down the hooker street which was entertaining and went to another bar. It was cool to talk to them about religion, race relationships, sex offenders, cultural differences and those effects globally. It's always great to see another side.


We arrived to our hostel around 2 something in the morning and were greeted at the door by none other than Ahmet or hostel owner, and local comedian. He was sitting in the dark wearing a cowboy hat, with a lighter pistol and was watching a movie on his favorite couch. I couldn't accurately describe him if I tried. I was named the girl who cried creepo the second night because of all the kissing and weirdness he gave off in the beginning but I just realized he's silly and I got over it.

The next morning I was hating myself when I had to get up for this Bosphorus cruise. Somehow my body dragged me to the meeting point and I made it at 745am. I was blown at how terrible the "guided" tour was. We went to half the places I'd already visited and the guide had a terrible attitude. I had a good nap on the boat but still managed to wake up to take some pics.







After the cruise I went back to Kitchenette for one last meal and two more mint lemonades with Akiko...and I was on my way. My ride back to the airport was only 35TL (would've been less if I hadn't wanted that lemonade...but it was worth it) and then it was back to the EU.

This flight back was odd because:
1) I realized that all the Asian people on my flights, and at the airports were masked. I felt unprotected from the SWINE but I'm here to write you about it so i guess it was just a brief bout of paranoia.
2) This German guy was wearing bright blue toe nail polish and no shoes... Some people crave attention.
3) I realized that I flew for the first time with a woman pilot from Frankfurt to Barcelona and thought it was awesome and there should be more female piolots.

But I made it safely and would love to go back and visit other parts of the country...

This is your cue. Hoşça kalın.