A Turkish delight (final part)

Thursday, 2 July 2015

The first thing I did this morning was check my swollen feet…all the walking on cobble streets, up and down hills, took its toll on me the previous day. But icing and some anti-inflammatories seem to have had the desired effect. And we had a bit of a different day planned…a Bosphorus cruise.

The Bosphorus is the strait that connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara in Istanbul and it separates the Asian and European continents. Ideally, if we had more time in Istanbul, we would have loved to make a trip inland. There is so much to see in Turkey, but alas we didn’t have the time. But we were definitely going to do a cruise on the Bosphorus! We needed a little bit more of a relaxing day after two extremely busy days and decided to take the Şehir Hatları cruise, the official ferry company. They offer several Bosphorus cruises, and we chose the full Bosphorus cruise, which takes an hour and 45 minutes, to its final stop in Anadolu Kavaği, the last port before the Black Sea. If we left at 10:35am, we would arrive in Anadolu Kavaği just after 12:00pm, which would give us sufficient time to have a look about and have some lunch, before the return journey at 15:00pm. And we would be back in Istanbul in time to still do something else. Perfect!

We left the apartment and stopped for a traditional Turkish breakfast at Istanbul Travel Café, en route from our accommodation to the tram station.

Another traditional Turkish breakfast…

We took the tram to the Eminönü harbour and bought a return ticket for TL25. We also decided to rent guided tour headsets and settled inside the ferry. The guided tour was interesting and came with a booklet and gave lots of information about the many large homes and palaces (yalı) on the banks of the Bosphorus. There was a map (much more detailed than the picture below!) accompanying the headsets, and we had much fun trying to identify the houses from the pictures…not always so easy.

The Şehir Hatları Bosporus tour route

The ferry stops at a few ports along the way, but not long enough to disembark. The Bosphorus is quite a sight and it was clear why this strait has fascinated so many over the centuries. The legend goes that the Greek God Zeus had an affair with a beautiful woman named Io.  When Hera, his wife, discovered his infidelity, she turned Io into a cow and created a horsefly to sting her on the rump. Io jumped clear across the strait. And hence the name, as bous (cow) and poros (crossing place) was combined to form Bosphorus or the crossing place of the cow…

Crossing under the first bridge on the Bosphorus cruise

 

Putting our feet up…

 

At Kanlıca, one of the final stops on the cruise

 

First views of the Black Sea

 

Anadolu Kavağı harbour – the final stop

 

Anya trying to take a picture of a jellyfish

 

At Anadolu Kavağı

 

Sitting high on the hills overlooking Anadolu Kavağı and the Black Sea is the Yorus Fortress, built by the Byzantines in the same spot where Phoenician and Greek ruins from hundreds of years BC are being excavated today. It was the perfect position with views in all directions.We saw the fortress from the ferry and wanted to walk up, but I must admit we underestimated the climb quite a bit, but it was definitely worth it! The views over the Black Sea were magnificent!

The hike to the Yorus fortress

 

The Yorus fortress

 

Anya taking a breather…

 

At the Yorus fortress, overlooking the Black Sea

 

Another picture of the stunning view…

Back at the harbour, we had a fantastic lunch of local produce and fish (of course).

Quite a spread for lunch!

 

Anya battling with her prawns…

After lunch, we made a move on the ferry as we wanted to have good seats on the way back. While we were waiting for the ferry to depart we enjoyed the views and scenes, including local afternoon activities!

A local taking a swim at the harbour

The return trip was relaxing and we had beautiful views over the European banks and even had a glimpse of the Dolmabahçe Palace.

The Dolmabahçe Palace from the Bosphorus

 

The Ortaköy Mosque from the Bosphorus

 

View of the Bosphorus bridge with the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge in background

We disembarked at the Karaköy harbour and took the tram to Taksim Square, at the northern end of the most famous shopping street, İstiklal Caddesi, our next place to explore…We had a coffee at Starbucks, as you do with a teenager on tow, and set off to explore. İstiklal is a pedestrian road and reminiscent of many European and British shopping streets with the likes of H&M and many other high street stores dotted with family owned Turkish shops. It was quite a sight. There is also a historical tram running down the street.

The historic tram on İstiklal Caddesi

 

İstiklal street

As this was almost the last day in Istanbul, we did a little bit of shopping, before we finally rested our tired feet at a local Kebab restaurant. Joining just as the locals were breaking their fast, we were astonished at the sizes of some of the feasts being consumed around us! After dinner, we walked the last bit to our apartment, and fell into bed exhausted!

Friday, 3 July 2015

It was our last full day in Istanbul…and we could not believe it. Our days in Istanbul were packed to the brim and we had seen and experienced so much, but we were not done yet, and we wanted to get the most out of our final day. Which meant we had a very full day planned, mainly shopping. Anya made lists of everyone we still needed to get gifts for and saved it on my iPad. We had leftovers for breakfast and made our way to the Eminönü district.

First stop the Spice Market! I bought spices and Anya bought some of her loved Apple tea, Then we made our way, as we did with Cammie on Tuesday, past the sweet shop, stopping for tulumba and onwards to Altan Sekerleme, for some sweets and Turkish delight.

Spices galore in the Mısır Çarşısı or Spice Market

 

And sweets to die for…

 

Anya tucking in to a tulumba (Turkish koeksister…)

Our next stop was at the Yeni Cami or New Mosque where we met Cammie the first day. We were given cloaks to cover ourselves and entered. It was prayer time, and we traipsed around quietly while taking in the beauty.

The inside of the Yeni Cami mosque

We made our way to the Suleymaniye area, because there were one other thing we definitely wanted to do and that was to visit a Turkish bath. And there was a Turkish bath in the Suleymaniye district, and we decided it would be the perfect stop after our next escapade, the Grand Bazaar! We made a reservation and went to the Grand Bazaar or Büyük Çarşı. It is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets, with construction started in 1455! And who says shopping is a new hobby??

The Grand Bazaar or Büyük Çarşı

 

A sensory overload at the Grand Bazaar

Our bartering skills were tested at the bazaar and on more than a few occasions, we would walk away wondering whether you got a good deal or not, but it was a fantastic experience and we managed to spend a fair amount of Turkish Lira…!

One of the many streets in the Grand Bazaar

At the end of the day, we were exhausted and as we made our way to the Suleymaniye Hamam, we were looking forward to a pampering session! The Suleymaniye Hamam was commissioned by the Sultan Suleyman the Great and was built in 1557. It is a small hamam and caters for families and couples as opposed to most of the hamams in the city that separates men and women.

And pampering it was…As you enter the hamam, you are given a bikini set made from material and a Turkish towel, as well as wooden slippers. The routine starts off with a sauna session on a large slab in the centre of the domed hamam. You then proceed to one of the rooms leading off from the sauna area where you are scrubbed and foamed from head to toe! They even wash your hair if you so wish. After the 15-20 minute scrubbing session, you are given dry towels to wrap yourself in and are led of to a small lounge, where you can order refreshments while you wait to dry completely.

Anya in the ‘after’ towel wraps…

Of course, with all the shopping, and snacking all day long, both Anya and I had not eaten much during the day and it was already 16:00 by the time our hamam experience started, and we both got headaches from dehydration. I would definitely recommend making sure you are properly hydrated before going to a hamam!

After getting dressed (there are even hairdryers), we relaxed for a while in the common loung area, before starting to make our way back to our apartment with all our shopping!

The lounge area of the haman

I took a headache tablet on an empty stomach at the hamam, and this resulted in nausea, so I needed to lie down for a little bit. The lie down was fairly short though, because there was one more item on our list of things to do…dinner on the Asian side.

We made our way back to the Eminönü and caught another ferry to Kadıköy, on the Asian side of Istanbul. We made it to Kadıköy just in time to view our final sunset and what a sunset it was! The view of the Hagia Sophia from a completely different continent was mind blowing. There was an live band playing music and people walking around in traditional clothes.

 

From the ferry, looking back over the large city

A sunset concert at Kadıköy

Our final sunset view over Istanbul from Kadıköy

 

A sunset to remember from Kadıköy

We made our way to the Ciya Sofrasi restaurant, another recommendation from Cammie. As they were not allowing English menus during Ramadan, it was a bit of a confusing effort to order dinner, but we managed eventually and had a good meal.

As we made our way back to the apartment, knowing that we didn’t have much time for anything other than packing the next day, we had mixed feelings. We wished that we had a few more days in Istanbul or even enough time to go and see a bit more of Turkey, but also looking forward to sleeping in our own beds again.

Istanbul was an experience that transcended anything that I was expecting. The indisputable place where east and west meet, in the architecture, the food and the people. I would love to go back one day and spend more time in this city with new experiences around each corner. And maybe venture into the rest of the country.

Until we meet again!

(if you missed the first two parts of this journey, click here)

 

A Turkish delight! (part 2)

Wednesday, 1 July 2015

I woke up this morning with a bubble of excitement in my stomach. We were planning to just spend a relaxing day in the Sulthanahmet district, visiting the Topkapı palace and the Archeological museum.

And I have also been reading quite a lot about local things do see and do and one of the things that I sort of wrote off was a whirling dervishes ceremony. Now if, like me, you’ve never heard of this before, the whirling dervishes practice a religious ritual called a Sema, which is rooted in Sufism, an Islamic order started by the famous poet, Mevlâna Rumi in the thirteenth century. And…I managed to track down a Mevlana order in Istanbul where they perform these rituals every day and made a booking!

By the time Anya eventually woke up (she was reading Harry Potter long past the time I fell asleep…), we were quite hungry. Our Airbnb hostess, Hanife, was making french toast and offered us some. With feta cheese (of course) and olives, because that is the way they do it in Turkey…It was delicious.

When we finally made our way to the Topkapı palace it was past 11:00am already and there was a bit of a queue getting into the palace. The large palace, nestled on the banks of the Bosphorus, was the main residence of the Ottoman sultans for about 400 years and it is a UNESCO world heritage site. It also contain many Islamic relics, including the cloak and sword of the prophet Mohammed (which we saw, but no pictures were allowed…).

Once you enter the Imperial Gate, a large courtyard with big trees open up in front of you with the Babüsselam Gate at the far end. There was a band marching down on the right hand side and lots of people milling around in the green gardens.

The second courtyard with the Babüsselam Gate at the far end

We veered to the right and entered the Palace Kitchens, where there were beautiful exhibitions of kitchen implements and the most glorious porcelain crockery. It was evident that the Turkish love of sweets was practiced extensively in these kitchens for the benefit of the Sultans…

The palace kitchens

Next we entered through the Babüssaade gate, through the Dormitory of the Akagalar or Audience Chamber, into the third courtyard with the Chamber of Petitions in front of you. There was a very large queue waiting to enter the treasury, so we decided to give this one a skip. By now Anya was complaining that she was starving (in all honesty, so was I), so we were quite relieved when we saw a sign indicating the way to the Restaurant. We decided to eat at the Konyalı Restaurant, which was probably not the cheapest option, but by far had the most stunning view over the Marmara Sea.

The Audience Chamber, right behind the Babüsselam gate

 

The view over the lush gardens of the third courtyard, with the people queuing to enter the treasury on the far end

 

Anya in front of the Chamber of Petitions

 

Lunch with a stunning view over the Marmara sea!

Tummies filled, and even sharing a dessert plate, we set of again. The fourth courtyard is quite magnificent and contains the Sofa Mosque, the Baghdad Kiosk and the Marble terrace.

Stunning views over the Marmara sea from the Mecidiye Kiosk, also known as the Grand Kiosk

 

The beautiful gardens in the fourth courtyard

 

The upper terrace with the fountain

 

The Marble terrace

 

The Baghdad kiosk

 

Inside the Baghdad kiosk

Retreating from the fourth courtyard back to the third courtyard, we visited the Privy Chamber, that contained the cloak and sword of the Prophet Mohammed, as well as the Staff of Moses, the turban of Joseph. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, and it was clearly a holy place, with recitations from the Qur’an taking place in the background.

Next we entered the Dormitory of the Royal pages, with portraits of the Ottoman Sultans, the Inkwell chamber or the clocks’ section and finally the Mosque of the Ağas, the largest mosque on the palace grounds. Everywhere, there were İznik tiles and we found that we were dragging our weary feet along to try and see as much as possible.

We also visited the Harem of the Sultans (an additional fee) with its more than 400 rooms and it was quite an eye opener. I don’t really know that much about the Ottoman Sultans, but it was quite extraordinary to read about and see all the apartments for the concubines, the queen mother, the princes and the favourites. Once again the rooms were gilded and decorated with the most spectacular İznik tiles everywhere.

View from the Harem

 

Anya in the Hall of Ablution

 

The Imperial Hall inside the Harem

 

Gilded inscriptions and İznik tiles abound

The view of the Tower of Justice from the second courtyard, on our way out

After our visit to the Topkapi, we went to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, which actually consists of three museums, the archaeology museum, the museum of Islamic art (the Tiled Kiosk) and the museum of Ancient Orient. We were quite exhausted by this time and sat down for a while at the cafe in the courtyard of the museums.

The archaeology museum was fascinating, with outlines of the history of the whole Turkish region back to the Archaic period, the Roman period, the Byzantine period and the Ottoman era and more. The Tiled Kiosk had an impressive collection of the finest İznik tiles and the Ancient Orient museum had an impressive collection of artifacts from pre-Greek Anatolia and Mesopotamia. I was too tired to take many pictures by now…just soaking up the art and atmosphere (in between stops to rest my feet…).

Glazed brick panels from the Ishtar gate in Ancient Babylon

 

The street view outside the Archaeology museum

After our visit to the Archaeology Museum, we started making our way to the Sirkeci train station to collect our tickets for the Whirling Dervishes ceremony later that evening. We walked to the train station and picked up our tickets. After a little rest and ice cream at the harbour, we made our way across the Galata bridge towards the Galata Tower.

The view over the Eminönü harbour

 

Fishermen on the Galata bridge

 

The Galata Tower

 

At a cafe next to the Galata Tower

At the Galata Tower, we sat down for a while, having a drink and taking in the surroundings. (Did I mention we had to climb another one of the seven hills to make it to the Tower??)

We then started making our way back towards the station for the ceremony.

The local hardware stores on the Beyoğlu side of the Galata bridge

The Whirling Dervishes ceremony took place in the Sirkeci Events Hall at the Sirkeci train station. On arrival, we were offered a complimentary drink and we settled down to wait for the ceremony to start. The hall filled up slowly and eventually, just after 7:00pm, the ceremony commenced with the entrance of 4 men with a few strange looking instruments playing Sufi music.

Anya sipping on her apple tea (a firm favourite by now) while we wait for the ceremony to start

After a while, they exit and then enter again. Finally one of the dervishes enter, lay down a red rug, and exit again. When the 4 dervishes enter together, they all have black over coats over their white dresses and the start the ritual. Initially they just move in circles and reunite on the side, and eventually the whirling starts, slower and then faster. There are breaks in-between each set of whirling. It was fascinating! They start whirling with their arms crossed over their breasts and as they start whirling (with closed eyes), their arms loosen and they eventually whirl with arms outstretched. I cannot describe it properly at all, so I have posted a youtube link of the video I took with my phone.

The Whirling dervishes of Istanbul

The ceremony is clearly a religious ceremony and the aim of the whirling is to reach some sort of a trance, I suppose similar to a meditative trance. To some extent you almost feel a little bit like an intruder, but I am very happy we did this. I think it is such an integral part of the culture of Istanbul that I certainly think we would have missed out had we not attended this.

I was intrigued as I saw whirling dances in Egypt many years ago, but with multicoloured dresses and it was much more of an entertainment act than this ceremony. I did a little research and the whirling dances in Egypt are definitely related to this Sufi ceremony, but most of the whirling dances you will see in Egypt are done as part of an entertainment package, often with belly dancers so they are not Sema ceremonies.

After the ceremony, it was time to look for some dinner. It was Ramadan when we were in Istanbul, and I did a little research and found out that the place to be at breaking fast time in Istanbul is the Hippodrome. We decided to walk to the Hippodrome, instead of taking the tram and got a bit tangled up in the roads around the station, so had to cross roads like the locals, anywhere, to get where we wanted to be. It reminded me of Cammie telling us the previous day that her mom, when she hesitates walking across a road, tells her she has been in England too long!

Snacking on simit, a local favourite you can buy anywhere on the streets, with Nutella en route

During Ramadan, Istanbul residents gather at the Hippodrome to break their fast. There are wooden benches and a little market (reminiscent of German markets in Europe over Christmas) and Istanbul residents bring their food from home and gather as large families at the wooden benches and have their meals together. We loved the atmosphere.

The Ramadan market at the Hippodrome

Enjoying a coffee after our dinner of döner kebap

The Hippodrome packed with locals breaking their fast together

(apologies for last few pictures’ quality…camera’s batteries gave up, thank goodness for iPhone!)

There was also live entertainment at the amphitheatre and we peeked at the show over the shoulders of the many locals watching…It was already after 10:00pm when we started making our way back towards our accommodation (but not before we tasted the most divine chocolate baklava ever!) and the area was packed.

We finally collapsed in our beds that evening (my swollen, sore feet elevated on a cushion) with much satisfaction. FYI, according to my iPhone, we walked 18.83km on that day alone, and apparently climbed the equivalent of 19 floors, mostly cobblestones, so I guess it was no wonder my feet needed a little TLC!

Our plan for the next day was a Bosphorus tour, with a little stroll around the Beyoğlu area afterwards.

But, that is a story for another day!

G x

(Ps: If you missed part 1 of this trip, click here…)

 

A Turkish delight! (part 1)

A secret…I’m not much of a computer whizz…but I guess you know that. And if you received my post about Istanbul via mail and clicked on the link, you would have gotten to a blank post!

For that, I apologise profusely! When you take your time to write a post, like I do, WordPress tends to post date when you started the draft and not when you actually publish it, so I thought I ‘fixed’ my post!

So, this is to all my email followers…enjoy!

justcallmegertie

Monday, 29 June 2015

After our extended layover in Cairo, in which time we managed to do a tour to the Pyramids, we finally arrived in Istanbul at 5:30pm on the Monday afternoon. Getting through the airport didn’t take too long, and we decided to take the Metro and tram to our Airbnb accommodation in Beyoğlu, in the new part of Istanbul. The tram took us through the Sultanhamet area (old area) of Istanbul and we were literally craning our necks to try and spot the first glimpses of the Hagia Sophia and other attractions. By 7:30pm we checked into our accommodation after a very eventful taxi ride from the tram station. It was clear that drivIng a car in Istanbul requires a LOT of patience and preferably a verA Turkish delight! (part 1)y small car!

Our room was fairly small, but clean and comfortable, and since we were in…

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