Istanbul
What I remember most about Istanbul were the countless domes and minarets of mosques. As we drove through the city they seemed to sprout up from every direction, each one larger and more impressive than the last. We kept looking for the most famous, the Hagia Sophia, finally thinking we’d spotted it only to be met with yet another glorious dome.
We flew into Sabiha Gökçen Airport, which unbeknownst to us is situated in the Asian part of Turkey and is over an hour outside of Istanbul. As our transport relentlessly chugged along I began to seriously wonder if we’d gotten on the wrong bus and were instead heading deep into Asia Minor. That would have been an interesting adventure, but at last we reached the city . . . only to be rather dismayed by the rough areas our bus passed through.
Our hostel, however, was located in a beautiful part of town very close to the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace. Of course it was lovely because it was the touristy area; is it very bad that sometimes I prefer the glossy surface presented to foreigners instead of stark realism? I love traveling but not at the expense of safety or all comfort.
I think in Istanbul we got a good mix of both realism and tourism. For one, no matter what area of the city you’re in Turkish men call out and come on to women incessantly. It very much reminded me of my visit to Mexico four years before, though with more actual attempts at conversation and less whistling. Amusingly, and to our continual bafflement, the question Megan and I received most frequently was “Are you twins? No? Sisters?” We may have essentially the same haircut but otherwise we look nothing alike. And yet we heard this from multiple different men every day. After about the 8th time it just became hilarious.
Our trip in September also coincided with the month of Ramadan, which gave the whole visit a unique spin. During the day the neighborhood was fairly quiet except for tourists, but the instant darkness fell masses of Turkish families appeared to socialize and picnic on the grounds between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. And the first two nights we were startled awake about 4 a.m. by a man wandering the streets banging a drum. The first time as I fuzzily tried to comprehend what was happening – “Wait, there’s a guy down there? And he’s really banging a drum??” I figured it had to be a drunk reveler. But after the second time, we realized he was acting as a town crier: drumming the townspeople awake an hour before sunrise so they would have time to eat. Wild! Talk about a literal wake-up call that one is in a predominantly Muslim country.
The view from the roof of our hostel
The Blue Mosque
The Hagia Sophia
The famous Deësis Mosaic within the Hagia Sophia, dating from 1261
Overlooking the Bosphorus Strait from Topkapi Park