I am going to forewarn you - this post is going to be LONG. but I hope you still read and enjoy it. :) before I can even begin to tell you about the wonderful city of Istanbul, I have to talk about our TWENTY-FOUR hour train ride there. mind you the train wasn't supposed to take 24 hours - it was only supposed to take 20 - but we made so many random stops for god knows what reason that it took an extra four hours! by the way, this was also the "express" train. if this was express, I'd hate to know how long the regular train was...
so the train had a total of three cars. one Romanian car, one Turkish car, and one Bulgarian car. and NO food car. for 24 hours there was no food. luckily, well sort of, Furi Kuri and I woke up late the morning of our train ride and had to end up throwing all of our breakfast stuff in little baggies to take with us (because we did have a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive from where we were staying to the train station, not to mention we still had to return the rental car) so we had food for the train ride. just had to ration everything out to last us. we did make friends with the guy working on the train and ended up sharing a beer with him and his friend. it helps to talk to people. :) some other interesting factoids about this train ride:
1.) we literally stopped at every border station for them to check our passports. all other trains I've been on they check your passport while the train is still going. and not only did they stop the train, but they stopped it twice. once to check your passport from the country you were leaving and then 15 minutes later for the country you were entering.
2.) I have two stamps in my passport for Bulgaria, even though I have never stepped foot in that country (just like The Netherlands - I was only in the Amsterdam airport for a total of three hours, yet I have a stamp in my passport).
3.) they stopped the train at around 2am to add another car. seriously took about 45min -1 hour to this. unsure why it took so long, but I don't work on trains so I couldn't even begin to give you an educated guess.
4.) they kicked everyone off the train at 5am when we got to the border of Turkey so we could get our visas. we had to go to one window to purchase the visa and then stand in line at another window to get the stamp. not exactly a very efficient system if you ask me. also, you were never sure of how much the visa was going to cost. and you had to pay in your own currency (they didn't take Turkish money for them). the cost depended upon Turkey's relationship with your country at that time - so I will say a thank you to the US Government, this time, for not effing things up with the country of Turkey. because if it cost any more than the $20 I had, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have let me in their country.
we finally made it to Istanbul. my very first impression was that it was similar to Cairo, though much more cosmopolitan. thank goodness we had looked up the address to the hostel from the train station on Furi Kuri's phone and saved the map because otherwise, I have no idea if we would have ever made it to our hostel. first thing we did after checking into our room was change and head out to do some sightseeing. our hostel was literally a 5-10 minute walk from the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. I cannot even begin to describe what it was like to be in the Hagia Sophia. I mean, it's something I've only ever studied in a text book and then to see it in real life?! the magnitude of the place is unreal. let's just say, the inner art history geek in me was freaking out a little. I had to leave Furi Kuri to explore a little on her own the rest of the afternoon as I didn't have any energy left (I had been sick from the moment I stepped on the train to Istanbul - and believe me, being sick on a rocking train is NOT fun whatsoever).
the next day was absolutely amazing and one of the reasons I also absolutely love traveling with Furi Kuri. we started out the morning going to the Topkapi Palace. let me just tell you - the Turks have EVERYONE beat when it comes to jewels. I mean they had a box on display of lose emeralds. I can't imagine what they were for. unless the little spoiled prince of a sultan decided he was going to play bocce ball with emeralds or something. after the palace we were going to head over to the grand bazaar. on our walk there we heard someone say "girls, girls," which at this point we had learned to ignore since it usually just meant someone was just trying to sell you something. but after we kept on walking we heard the person say "I'm not trying to sell you anything." at this point we actually turned around to see that the gentleman that was talking to us had a Florida Gators shirt on! turns out he was from Turkey, his wife was from South Carolina and they were currently living in Sarasota. he had his own private carpet selling and making business (plus a few hotels and other business ventures as well). we were asking him for tips on what to look for when buying a Turkish rug, so he asked if we would like to go to his private building and have his general manager explain everything to us (usually only reserved for clients who buy wholesale). our answer? sure! so we headed over to the building (which looked like an art museum inside) and the general manager and his brother pulled out rug after rug after rug to show us the differences and things to look for to make it authentic. now I wasn't really looking to buy a Turkish rug (mainly because I didn't think I could afford it), but I saw one there that I just HAD to have. it literally was perfect. I threw my credit card at him and told him to charge it before I changed my mind. even though it was one of the largest purchases I've ever made in my life, I do not regret it one bit. I love that rug! Furi Kuri took a little longer in her search to find the perfect rug. she won't buy anything unless she absolutely loves it (something I admire about her). in the meantime, they bought us lunch from a place that only caters to businesses and as someone walking in off the street you cannot order anything from them. after a little while longer there we left to drop off my rug back at the hostel and then continue to our original destination - the grand bazaar.
somehow on our second walk to the grand bazaar we found another small street bazaar. stopped into this linen and towel store and started talking to the guy about prices and such. somewhere along our trip we heard that we should say we are from Canada as people tend to jack up prices for Americans (which wouldn't surprise me one bit). so when the guy at the store asked us where we from we told him Canada. all of a sudden his face lit up and he explained to us that the owner of the store, Jennifer (who was sitting just a few feet away talking to someone), was also from Canada! shit. we tried to hurry up and leave, but the guy kept talking so much that we didn't get to leave before Jennifer came over. he was so excited to tell her that we were from Canada as well. and then of course she was so excited to have someone from her home country in her store. here is how the conversation went:
Jennifer: "where are you from?!"
me: "...Toronto..."
Jennifer: "omg! I'm from [insert name of small Canadian town here]"
me: "omg no way! that's crazy!" (meanwhile of course I had absolutely NO idea where she was talking about)
we actually ended up having a good 1-2 hour conversation with her about how she got started in the business, her other business ventures, how everything in the store was organic and made right on small farms in Turkey. she even had a video on her camera that she showed us of this 80 year old spinning silk from this huge vat of silk worms onto a loom. it was amazing to watch. another one of her business ventures was in quartz and ceramics. I mentioned that I was looking for a gift for my mother, so she personally walked us down to her other store and told the guy there to explain the differences between quartz and ceramic to us. after getting a few souvenirs, the guy asked us if we would just like to walk down to another store that had all the quartz stuff in it. sure! let me tell you, it was amazing!! once I save up enough pennies I'm definitely going back to get my dad something! we got to talking to the guy and asked him for restaurant recommendations - which he said that there were a lot of good places along the water by the bridge and that actually him and his friends were going there to have dinner, drinks and dancing. we promised to try and stop by after he got off work, but if we weren't there then not to wait for us.
we finally made it off that street and went to this textile store that Furi Kuri had been drooling over our entire trip. of course spent another few hours there going through hundreds and hundreds of squares in all shapes and sizes of the most colorful textiles you've ever seen from every "stan" country you can think of. finally we were starting to get hungry, so the shop keeper suggested a place to us that was just up the road. we ended up making friends with our waiter there, who felt so bad that Furi Kuri didn't like the meal he suggested to her that he brought us free alcohol. next thing you know, he was telling us that one of the other waiters wanted us to join him for shisha and backgammon (HUGE in the country of Turkey by the way). next thing you know, it was three o'clock in the morning and we had just finished smoking way too much shisha, playing countless games of backgammon and having the most delicious popcorn I've ever tasted. oh, what a night. (I feel like I should bust out in Frankie Valli's "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) )
the next day we actually managed to get up early (since it was our last day in the city, we wanted to take in everything that we could) and make our way down to the water to catch a ferry over to the Asia side of Istanbul. we were bad tourists in that we didn't really explore the area too much, we mainly just went over there to be able to say we went to Asia. our next goal was to find the modern art museum and somehow along the way we managed to find the spice bazaar. wasn't 100% what I was expected, but still fun to walk through (minus of course everyone shouting at you "girls! girls! come look in my shop! I have many, many things for you!"). we searched forever and ever for this museum and ended up in what I am pretty sure was a place they do NOT put in the guide books. we kept seeing a sign for this cafe, so we decided to stop in and ask them where the musuem was and ended up stumbling upon one of the best views of Istanbul. (I was totally right by the way in that we were completely on the wrong side of the city for the museum - just want to point that out.) so we stayed there and had lunch and just soaked up the views before I unfortunately had to go back to the hostel and pack since the airport shuttle was leaving at 8:30 that night (even though my plane didn't leave until 2am - yeah, that was a fun wait in the airport). on our walk back to the hostel we finally made it to the grand bazaar. maybe because we didn't have much time or maybe because we had already gotten all of our gifts, but I wasn't 100% impressed with it. don't get me wrong - it definitely was cool - but actually a little more modern than I was expecting.
and even though I hated to leave this city because it was my favorite of the trip, unfortunately the time had come. :(
so the train had a total of three cars. one Romanian car, one Turkish car, and one Bulgarian car. and NO food car. for 24 hours there was no food. luckily, well sort of, Furi Kuri and I woke up late the morning of our train ride and had to end up throwing all of our breakfast stuff in little baggies to take with us (because we did have a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive from where we were staying to the train station, not to mention we still had to return the rental car) so we had food for the train ride. just had to ration everything out to last us. we did make friends with the guy working on the train and ended up sharing a beer with him and his friend. it helps to talk to people. :) some other interesting factoids about this train ride:
1.) we literally stopped at every border station for them to check our passports. all other trains I've been on they check your passport while the train is still going. and not only did they stop the train, but they stopped it twice. once to check your passport from the country you were leaving and then 15 minutes later for the country you were entering.
2.) I have two stamps in my passport for Bulgaria, even though I have never stepped foot in that country (just like The Netherlands - I was only in the Amsterdam airport for a total of three hours, yet I have a stamp in my passport).
3.) they stopped the train at around 2am to add another car. seriously took about 45min -1 hour to this. unsure why it took so long, but I don't work on trains so I couldn't even begin to give you an educated guess.
4.) they kicked everyone off the train at 5am when we got to the border of Turkey so we could get our visas. we had to go to one window to purchase the visa and then stand in line at another window to get the stamp. not exactly a very efficient system if you ask me. also, you were never sure of how much the visa was going to cost. and you had to pay in your own currency (they didn't take Turkish money for them). the cost depended upon Turkey's relationship with your country at that time - so I will say a thank you to the US Government, this time, for not effing things up with the country of Turkey. because if it cost any more than the $20 I had, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have let me in their country.
we finally made it to Istanbul. my very first impression was that it was similar to Cairo, though much more cosmopolitan. thank goodness we had looked up the address to the hostel from the train station on Furi Kuri's phone and saved the map because otherwise, I have no idea if we would have ever made it to our hostel. first thing we did after checking into our room was change and head out to do some sightseeing. our hostel was literally a 5-10 minute walk from the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. I cannot even begin to describe what it was like to be in the Hagia Sophia. I mean, it's something I've only ever studied in a text book and then to see it in real life?! the magnitude of the place is unreal. let's just say, the inner art history geek in me was freaking out a little. I had to leave Furi Kuri to explore a little on her own the rest of the afternoon as I didn't have any energy left (I had been sick from the moment I stepped on the train to Istanbul - and believe me, being sick on a rocking train is NOT fun whatsoever).
(inside ceiling of the Blue Mosque)
(inside ceiling of the Hagia Sophia)
the next day was absolutely amazing and one of the reasons I also absolutely love traveling with Furi Kuri. we started out the morning going to the Topkapi Palace. let me just tell you - the Turks have EVERYONE beat when it comes to jewels. I mean they had a box on display of lose emeralds. I can't imagine what they were for. unless the little spoiled prince of a sultan decided he was going to play bocce ball with emeralds or something. after the palace we were going to head over to the grand bazaar. on our walk there we heard someone say "girls, girls," which at this point we had learned to ignore since it usually just meant someone was just trying to sell you something. but after we kept on walking we heard the person say "I'm not trying to sell you anything." at this point we actually turned around to see that the gentleman that was talking to us had a Florida Gators shirt on! turns out he was from Turkey, his wife was from South Carolina and they were currently living in Sarasota. he had his own private carpet selling and making business (plus a few hotels and other business ventures as well). we were asking him for tips on what to look for when buying a Turkish rug, so he asked if we would like to go to his private building and have his general manager explain everything to us (usually only reserved for clients who buy wholesale). our answer? sure! so we headed over to the building (which looked like an art museum inside) and the general manager and his brother pulled out rug after rug after rug to show us the differences and things to look for to make it authentic. now I wasn't really looking to buy a Turkish rug (mainly because I didn't think I could afford it), but I saw one there that I just HAD to have. it literally was perfect. I threw my credit card at him and told him to charge it before I changed my mind. even though it was one of the largest purchases I've ever made in my life, I do not regret it one bit. I love that rug! Furi Kuri took a little longer in her search to find the perfect rug. she won't buy anything unless she absolutely loves it (something I admire about her). in the meantime, they bought us lunch from a place that only caters to businesses and as someone walking in off the street you cannot order anything from them. after a little while longer there we left to drop off my rug back at the hostel and then continue to our original destination - the grand bazaar.
somehow on our second walk to the grand bazaar we found another small street bazaar. stopped into this linen and towel store and started talking to the guy about prices and such. somewhere along our trip we heard that we should say we are from Canada as people tend to jack up prices for Americans (which wouldn't surprise me one bit). so when the guy at the store asked us where we from we told him Canada. all of a sudden his face lit up and he explained to us that the owner of the store, Jennifer (who was sitting just a few feet away talking to someone), was also from Canada! shit. we tried to hurry up and leave, but the guy kept talking so much that we didn't get to leave before Jennifer came over. he was so excited to tell her that we were from Canada as well. and then of course she was so excited to have someone from her home country in her store. here is how the conversation went:
Jennifer: "where are you from?!"
me: "...Toronto..."
Jennifer: "omg! I'm from [insert name of small Canadian town here]"
me: "omg no way! that's crazy!" (meanwhile of course I had absolutely NO idea where she was talking about)
we actually ended up having a good 1-2 hour conversation with her about how she got started in the business, her other business ventures, how everything in the store was organic and made right on small farms in Turkey. she even had a video on her camera that she showed us of this 80 year old spinning silk from this huge vat of silk worms onto a loom. it was amazing to watch. another one of her business ventures was in quartz and ceramics. I mentioned that I was looking for a gift for my mother, so she personally walked us down to her other store and told the guy there to explain the differences between quartz and ceramic to us. after getting a few souvenirs, the guy asked us if we would just like to walk down to another store that had all the quartz stuff in it. sure! let me tell you, it was amazing!! once I save up enough pennies I'm definitely going back to get my dad something! we got to talking to the guy and asked him for restaurant recommendations - which he said that there were a lot of good places along the water by the bridge and that actually him and his friends were going there to have dinner, drinks and dancing. we promised to try and stop by after he got off work, but if we weren't there then not to wait for us.
(finished silk worm cocoon)
we finally made it off that street and went to this textile store that Furi Kuri had been drooling over our entire trip. of course spent another few hours there going through hundreds and hundreds of squares in all shapes and sizes of the most colorful textiles you've ever seen from every "stan" country you can think of. finally we were starting to get hungry, so the shop keeper suggested a place to us that was just up the road. we ended up making friends with our waiter there, who felt so bad that Furi Kuri didn't like the meal he suggested to her that he brought us free alcohol. next thing you know, he was telling us that one of the other waiters wanted us to join him for shisha and backgammon (HUGE in the country of Turkey by the way). next thing you know, it was three o'clock in the morning and we had just finished smoking way too much shisha, playing countless games of backgammon and having the most delicious popcorn I've ever tasted. oh, what a night. (I feel like I should bust out in Frankie Valli's "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) )
(shisha "house" we were at)
the next day we actually managed to get up early (since it was our last day in the city, we wanted to take in everything that we could) and make our way down to the water to catch a ferry over to the Asia side of Istanbul. we were bad tourists in that we didn't really explore the area too much, we mainly just went over there to be able to say we went to Asia. our next goal was to find the modern art museum and somehow along the way we managed to find the spice bazaar. wasn't 100% what I was expected, but still fun to walk through (minus of course everyone shouting at you "girls! girls! come look in my shop! I have many, many things for you!"). we searched forever and ever for this museum and ended up in what I am pretty sure was a place they do NOT put in the guide books. we kept seeing a sign for this cafe, so we decided to stop in and ask them where the musuem was and ended up stumbling upon one of the best views of Istanbul. (I was totally right by the way in that we were completely on the wrong side of the city for the museum - just want to point that out.) so we stayed there and had lunch and just soaked up the views before I unfortunately had to go back to the hostel and pack since the airport shuttle was leaving at 8:30 that night (even though my plane didn't leave until 2am - yeah, that was a fun wait in the airport). on our walk back to the hostel we finally made it to the grand bazaar. maybe because we didn't have much time or maybe because we had already gotten all of our gifts, but I wasn't 100% impressed with it. don't get me wrong - it definitely was cool - but actually a little more modern than I was expecting.
(view of the city coming back from the Asia side)
(our lunch time view)
(some sweets at the bazaar)
(man trying to sell me sweets at the bazaar)
(anyone fancy a hat?)
(some of the spices at the spice market)
(some gorgeous lamps I saw at the bazaar)
(deciding what pieces to put into a Turkish rug)
(many of the carpet stores literally had stacks upon stacks of rugs)
and even though I hated to leave this city because it was my favorite of the trip, unfortunately the time had come. :(
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