My Amazing, Superb, Fantastic Weekend in Turkey

Hello world!

Why yes, I AM still alive! Things have been crazy and, unfortunately, writing a blog post gets pushed to the bottom of the list most days.

First of all, some bad news to report. I, Emily, am sick. When every other person in this building was coughing and wheezing, I scoffed and said, "HA! That won't be me, I take vitamins!" Oh, how the mighty do fall. Hopefully it's just a cold. And nothing's really the matter with me except for my lack of oxygen, beet red face, and death rattle of a cough. I'll be fine.

But I'm really out of it, so if there are stupid grammatical mistakes in this post, don't judge me!

Happy March! I volunteered at a down syndrome clinic last Thursday and we made these red and white string bracelets called Martis (that means March--the Greeks wear them during this month) to ward off the sun, which will be coming out soon. Because SPRING is around the corner! We actually had a beautiful day last weekend and some of us went out to the waterfront and enjoyed the sun. I can't wait til it's warm outside and we can go to the Halkidiki beaches every day! Except on school days, of course....*cough*

Just a disclaimer: this is going to be a very long post. Two weekends ago we went to Istanbul, Turkey, and it was pretty much the best weekend of my life. So. I have a lot I want to write about!

Eight of my friends and I got our bus tickets to Istanbul from a place called Crazy Holidays (nice name, right?) and we took an overnight bus on Thursday night. We boarded at 10:00 pm (or 22:00 European time) and got there around 7 in the morning. It was difficult to sleep on the bus and as soon as I finally fell into a semi-sleep it was "BLAH BLAH TURKISH BLAH" on the intercom. Very loud. So we all groggily got up and were promptly kicked off the bus for the Greek border control. When we were allowed back on the bus, everyone again closed their eyes, only to be kicked off again at the Turkey border. Here, they made us stand in line to get our Turkish visas and then another line to get them stamped. Back on the bus. Once again, we heard that dreaded voice over the intercom. Off we go, again. This time to put our luggage through a scanner and have our bus checked. Then we waited outside in the cold while our bus drove in circles around us. At this point, we're like TURKEY SUCKS. But then it was back on the bus and all was well. And I have a Turkish stamp on my passport. :)

Friday, when we arrived in Istanbul (or Constantinople, as the Greeks insist it's called) we arrived full steam ahead. We rode the metro to the historical area and searched for our hostel. We finally found it and were very impressed. If you ever need a cheap place to stay, try hostelworld.com. We stayed in a 26 bed room and it was only 8 euros a night! It's so easy to meet people. And we got the full experience: farting in the middle of the night included. But it was very close to everything we wanted to see, so it was worth the noisy nights. They even had free breakfast, free lockers, and a shuttle service!

Here's the hostel! A place called The Sultan. 

That first day, we did lots of touristy things. We went to a nearby restaurant and got some authentic Turkish breakfast and sat in some cool bean bag chairs.

This is apparently what the Turks eat in the morning.

When we finished breakfast, our waiter came over and was like, "Hey, there's some ruins underneath us and I give tours. You want to see?" And he pointed to the glass floor, through which you could see giant arches and columns. BOOM, cultural experience.

Here's our lovely group!

 After the restuarant, we walked the 7ish minutes to the historical center and were confronted with the beautiful Hagia Sophia, located directly across from the stunning Blue Mosque. What a view.

The Hagia Sophia

Here's the Blue Mosque

First, we went to the Hagia Sophia. When it was first built, it was actually a Christian church, a fact that I was not aware of. The Christians painted beautiful artwork on the walls, but when the Muslims took over, they painted over them because they're not allowed to have any pictures. So when the church became a national monument (not sure how or when that happened...), people uncovered the old Christian paintings. So it is a very interesting blend of Muslim and Christian artwork.

Breathtaking 

In the Hagia Sophia, they had a hole in the wall that everyone was crowded around. Interested, we went over to find out that it was a "wishing" hole. Due to some ancient myth, it's said that if you put your thumb in the hole and twist it clockwise while making a wish, it will come true. Here I am, making my wish:

And you know what? I think it may have come true.

With the Hagia Sophia completed, we headed across the way to the Blue Mosque.

Now, here I would like to digress a bit and talk about the population of Turkey. Let's just say that the majority (and I mean the MAJORITY) of the people on the streets are men. Like, all the people are men. No women. Unless they are foreigners. As a Muslim country, the women usually stay inside and out of the public eye. Which made us, a group of 9 women, EXTREMELY popular. And the men of Turkey are not shy. Everywhere we went it was, "How beautiful you are!" "Look, the Spice Girls!" "Hello, Lady Gaga!" and my favorite, "You dropped something...my heart!" Such a great ego boost! And we got a loooooot of free stuff. But it wasn't like a creepy I-will-stalk-you attention, all the men were very nice and respectful. They just don't see women very often.

So back to the Blue Mosque! To get inside, we had to wear appropriate clothing. I was wearing long jeans, so I was fine, but Alex and Brittney had to wear skirts. But I got to put my scarf on my head! I think that makes me a nerd for being so excited. But I'm posting a picture ANYWAY.

Gina and I = scarf heads

The Blue Mosque was gorgeous. Inside and out. The had an area roped off specifically for those who wanted to pray, so it was very interesting to see such a different religion.

Here's the inside view

Next, we decided to walk around Istanbul and take in the sights. We passed by some people dressed in blue and beating random drums, so naturally we stopped to join. Even got some pretty cool glasses and hats in the process. They were promoting Istanbul Blue Night, which included festivities in various places around the city. We decided to go to the side across the river to join said festivities.

Now don't we look sexy?

For dinner that night, we were roped in by a waiter promising traditional Turkish dance, the Whirling Dervishes and a belly dancer.

The Dervishes were pretty cool, but after 30 minutes of them spinning in circles we were more entertained by the man across from us sleeping in his food. He woke right up when that belly dancer came on, though!

So after dinner was over, we headed across the river to the Istanbul Blue Night. We saw a building bathed in blue light, but other than that, I didn't really notice anything else blue. So, of course, we found a bar instead. Oh! The bar was called Blue something. At the bar, we took about 2,000 pictures of ourselves in various stupid poses, but I won't put all of those on here. After that we went to a club and then called it a night. Oh, and by "night" I mean at like 4am after two of the people from our hostel took a few of us up to the roof to see the lights of Istanbul.
End day 1.

Day 2 dawned bright and early! (Way too bright and way too early)
Today we went to the Grand Bazaar. Which was the most BIZARRE thing ever (see what I did there? HA.) I've never haggled so much in my life! People were everywhere, yelling and urging us to see what they had to offer. And always, the "Beautiful girls!" everywhere we went.

It's a little bright, but here we are!

Here I got some souvenirs (not telling you what, mom--it's a surprise), a scarf for myself, and a pair of beautiful Turkish boots. The boots were interesting, we haggled with the man for forever and I really think he was regretting showing them to us. My friend Gina was also buying a pair and she was five lira short and she was practically in tears begging him to bring it down. He finally consented, a bit angrily. Score for us! The lamps for sale were beautiful. Too bad I can't bring one back in my suitcase...

So the Grand Bazaar was quite the experience. We left and headed home to our hostel to get ready for our Turkish Bath. Yes! A bath. Also, quite the experience. Here're the rooms where we changed and kept our stuff:

This is the oldest Turkish bath in Turkey, made in 1475. We brought our bathing suits, but little did we know, the tops wouldn't stay on for long! Let's just say the 9 of us girls are very much bonded now. The experience was great, though. We first got in the sauna and then laid on this giant marble slab in the middle of the room. Some Turkish women came in and made us lie down 4 at a time. They scraped all the dead skin off with a tool and then we went to basins around the edge to wash off. We came back and they soaped us down with these really sudsy pillow-case like things. We were all covered in white soap bubbles. Then they gave us one of those massages that really hurts until they're done and then it feels amazing. After that, they shampooed our hair and we got into this very cold swimming pool. It took me awhile to get into that pool, I'm such a baby about cold water. But after doggy paddling around there for awhile we got back into the sauna and that was that! It was a very cool experience, and one that I might not ever have the chance to do again!

Here we are, wet and clean

When we were done at the baths, we walked to visit our favorite old Turkish man, seen below. He owned his own shop and he was the cutest, sweetest thing ever! Every time we went in he would make us tea, make special prices for us, and tell us stories about Turkey. He even invited us to dine with him at his nephew's fish restaurant! We couldn't because we were leaving. He was the best. And the green apple tea he made us was pretty much the greatest thing ever.

The next step of our journey took us to a hookah bar. Yes (mom), I know it's terrible for you, but when in Turkey... And I really didn't even see the appeal. But anyway, again--a cultural experience. While there we met a few very nice German and Dutch people who were on vacation as well. They invited us to go out with them, so away we went! Back at the hostel we met the guys who showed us to the roof the other night, and they sort-of invited themselves to come along. They took us to this awesome Turkish club that was completely jam-packed with people. It was on the roof of this complex and they were playing Turkish music and dancing Turkish dances and I was blown away from how awesome it was. We had to leave early because of all the people, but I thought that was so cool.
Everywhere we went, there were so many people. And it didn't matter how late it got, people don't sleep in Turkey! Including me... This was by far my favorite night.
End day 2.

On Sunday, we eventually woke up to the sound of Alex's alarm clock going off 15 times. Today was the day we had to check out, so we had to hurry and get our stuff together. The hostel let us hold our luggage in the luggage room since we weren't leaving until 10 that evening. Sunday was bright and beautiful weather and I think I even got to take my coat off! (That never happens!!) We headed over to the Basilica Cistern and Alex, Leighfonda, Gina, and I went in. It was underground and so beautiful.

You had to follow these raised paths because the bottom was full of water. It seemed like a maze in a way. At the "end" of the maze, there are two Medusa heads on two columns. It's a mystery why they were carved so many years ago. It's also unknown why one is upside down and the other is tilted on it's side. What does it MEAN?!

After the Basilica Cistern we wandered around looking for the spice market. And we wandered for...awhile. A long time, actually. But we saw many interesting sights and eventually found it! That was similar to the Grand Bazaar, but not as intense. We did get a lot of free samples, though! I didn't pay for a single bite of Turkish Delight and I'm pretty much set for a few years.

We left the spice market and made our way under a bridge to see the Bosphorus River! As we came out of the tunnel (packed with thousands of people), we were met with this sight:

See all those people fishing?? Insane.

To add awesome to more awesome, we purchased tickets to go to ASIA! Putting my continent list at three, BOO YAAA. Turkey is split into the European side and the Asian side, so it's really easy to cross over. We just hopped on the ferry and away we went! Here's our "we're stepping foot on Asia for the first time" picture:

After wandering around Asia for a bit (that sounds so awesome) we had to head back to catch our bus home. Sad. It was a little stressful finding the metro station, then the bus terminal, and then the actual bus, but we did it somehow!

And this just proves that Greece doesn't care at all about Turkey--to get back into Greece it was one stop for about 5 minutes. You could have brought anything back!

All-in-all, everything worked out way better than I had anticipated. I mean, we didn't get hopelessly lost, kidnapped, or sold into the sex trade. A success!

It was the best weekend ever and I cannot wait for other weekends to come.

Now I have to go to sleep because I'm losing consciousness. This was a really long post. You probably just skimmed over it, which is more than I would have done. (Except for you mom, I'm convinced you're stalking me.) Until next time! (And who knows when that will be...)

Kalinuxta!