Are you lost? Where are you from? Do you want to see my carpets?

It is currently 11:30 PM on Sunday night in Istanbul and I am sitting here in the Sabiha airport, surrounded by my unwieldy luggage and my fellow weary travelers. I got here two hours ago and my flight is not until 3:30 AM, but I had no other choice because this airport is supposedly 80 km from the center of Istanbul and I had to take a special shuttle to get here. Let me just say that my mother was not happy when she found out that my airport was quite far from the city and my flight was not until 3:30 in the morning, but that’s what you get when you fly discount airlines! Yes, I survived a whole day in Istanbul by myself and even made some friends in the process. Let me start with the beginning.

I’d been dying to go to Istanbul for a long while now, and I finally had the opportunity to go . . . I also figured I’d score major brownie points with my students if I went to Turkey, although most of them are not from the Istanbul area (and this was not a big motivation anyway). According to Jimmy, an infamous man I met here, “Turkish people in Berlin are not Turkish, they’re Kurdish.” He does not look too favorably on them, it seems (surprise surprise, if you’ve been paying any attention to Turkey and the Kurdish “problem” recently). Anyway, after a lovely 2.5 weeks at home and three days in Boston, I flew to Istanbul instead of going back to Berlin. My mom was working the flight, that way I could stay at the hotel with her for two nights for free. When we got into Istanbul, we napped a bit, then went into town to go to the Grand Bazaar. It really is confusing! There are over 2,600 shops, and because they all sell similar merchandise, it is so easy to get lost. We were on a mission—to find Jimmy, merchant extraordinaire. Jimmy is famous with the Delta crowd. He’s also been in the Post and the NYT. So many Delta people go there that he has all this Delta stuff displayed on his stall. He knows several flight attendants really well, and it just so happens that some were there at the same time as us, so we got treated to wraps and Turkish apple tea. I got a pair of earrings that I am looking forward to showing off at a fancy occasion.

Jimmy, me, my mom, and three other Delta flight attendants in front of Jimmy's stall. Notice the Delta and U.S.-related stuff on top. Also, notice that Jimmy doesn't have the stereotypical Turkish look.










Every seen me wearing one of my many pashminas? Here's where they come from! Another Delta-frequented place.

















The Turkish flag and flags of some man hanging from the ceiling of the Grand Bazaar. You see this crescent moon and star graffitied all over the place at my school--on desks, chalkboards, chairs, etc.

Jeff's shop, with lots of bracelets, necklaces, keychains, and other trinkets. Jeff is the third in the Delta triumverate.

On Day 2 we hit most of the touristy stuff. We first went to the Ayasofia, or Hagia Sophia, or St. Sophia, or Holy Wisdom, depending on who you ask, where Hasan gave us a tour. That place is magnificent! So huge, and the combination of Christian and Muslim decorations is quite fascinating. Of course, they weren’t really ever there at the same time until Ataturk (my students’ biggest hero) turned it into a museum. The Muslims had all the Christian stuff covered up with plaster, not necessarily because they were Christian (Islam shares a lot of religious figures with Christianity, after all), but because of their no-icons policy.

Outside the Hagia Sophia.

My tour guide and me in front of some stained-glass windows. As you can see, he was really short! And doing the Hagia Sophia without a tour guide would be such a waste--there's no real info in there about what you're seeing. So a bunch of Turkish guys hang around outside and ask if you want a tour. A good investment.

A part of the ceiling and some big round things that say things like Allah and Muhammad in Arabic.

A mosaic of Jesus, Mary, and John (?), which was of course covered when the Hagia Sophia became a mosque.

Making a wish. If you can turn your thumb 360 degrees in this whole, your wish will come true. I actually forgot to make a wish, but I think many have already come true, so it must have worked!

After the Hagia Sophia we were off to the Basilica Cistern, which was quite cool—in the literal sense. There are a bunch of columns and the water with huge fish swimming around. Not the most ideal place for pictures, but here are some:

Outside the Cistern, founded 532 A.D.

Columns and the water inside the cistern.

Fish in the water. These guys are obviously very well fed!

We then hit up the Blue Mosque, which we couldn’t see earlier because it was closed for prayer (which, as anyone who knows even a little about Islam knows, happens five times daily). We had to take off our shoes and I think were supposed to cover our heads, but because we were tourists we got away with being disrespectful. It was quite strange to see a women-only section at the back behind a gate. The men were praying at the front or crouched listening to a few men chant something in Arabic.

Me outside the Blue Mosque. Why isn't it blue?

Ablutions outside the Blue Mosque. All (Muslim) men must wash their feet before entering a mosque.

Now you might be able to see why it's called the Blue Mosque--the tiles are blue. You can see men listening to chanting at the front.

Men praying.

My mom left the next day and I set off to see Topkapi Palace, which is an expansive set of courtyards and palace buildings. I found all the artifacts interesting, especially the religious ones. I apparently saw the beard of Joseph, the staff of Moses, and some things relating to Abraham and Muhammad (I could have these switched around, but the point is there was really really old stuff from OT people . . . and Muhammad). No religious fanatics were there though (darn).

The entrance to the first courtyard, complete with military guards.

Some colorful tiles at Topkapi.

The view from Topkapi across the Golden Horn.

I spent the rest of the day just walking around and taking in the sights. I especially liked walking along Galata Bridge, which crosses the Golden Horn. There was a continuous line on each side of men fishing, and at the end of one side there was a small but lively fish market. When it came time to eat, I discovered just how much better Berlin Doener is (the real stuff). For dessert I asked to join some American college students I had just seen in a shop—no use sitting alone when I can have some perfectly good company!

Men fishing off the Galata Bridge (which crosses the Golden Horn), with a mosque in the background.

The fish market. Tasty!

While Istanbul is not my first experience with a non-Western culture (and certainly not my first experience with the Turkish culture, considering my students and the neighborhood where my school is), I found it to be so totally different than anything I had seen before. First, all you have to do is look at the skyline and see just how many minarets there are all over the place. Mosque after mosque after mosque. This becomes especially evident during the call to prayer. Each mosque blasts a call to prayer at the same time (although certainly not synchronized), causing an awesome effect when in the vicinity of several mosques. I was on the Galata Bridge during one call to prayer, and I must have heard like 10 calls to prayer. People also obviously look different here too (although more than a handful of Turks could pass for Anglo-Saxons!), and I was overwhelmed by the number of women wearing full-on burkas, only showing their eyes and noses. (didn’t see any with the eyes covered though) The majority of women who choose to wear religious clothing choose the headscarf over the burka though. I’d say the majority of younger women are scarf-free (although not by much), and a majority of older women wear the scarf. I saw several families in which one woman wore a burka, one wore a headscarf, and one wore nothing. Turkey has really been pushing for secularization, but I can’t say if they’re achieving it all that quickly. Probably loads more secular than it used to be!

A bunch of Turkish girls wearing headscarves outside the Blue Mosque.

My absolute favorite thing about Istanbul is how downright friendly the people are. I felt completely safe here—much more than in other, Western cities—and even wanted to stop and chat with all the men who came up to us on the street, although I used my better judgment and didn’t in most cases. I’m serious, you can’t walk anywhere without getting talked to. When I first got off the bus on the first day, I noticed I was being stared at quite a bit, and then looked around and noticed 1) only men and 2) no obvious foreigners. I attribute the staring to that (although I did get told by a waiter at one restaurant I went to that I’m beautiful—after I paid—but I’m sure he went and told the overweight old lady next to me that on her way out). And then when I hit Sultanahmet Square, I was bombarded with “where are you from” and “do you want to see my carpets” and “do you need help.” Always willing to give directions, even though I was never willing to look at carpets. And waiters stand in the street trying to get you to come in and eat—they’re quite relentless, and so nice that it made me sad to ignore them. Everyone has gone out of his way to be nice to me: the men currently sitting next to me at the airport, who speak to me in broken German because they think I’m German; the bus driver; random guys on the street telling us “you have to know this if you are in Istanbul” when we were doing the wrong thing on the tram. (I wonder if Turkish women are also really nice?) The guys at the Delta-frequented shops were the nicest of all, even calling everyone they knew about getting to the airport and offering to hang out with me late at night if I felt unsafe. Actually, I think the nicest guy of all was a man selling crafts at a train station. I had totally run out of lira (stupid souvenirs!) and asked if he could give me lira for Euro, and he just gave me lira and refused my money. That inspires me to be nicer to people . . . hope I don’t eat my words soon . . .

So yeah, I like Istanbul a lot, for all its East-meets-West qualities and the wonderful people who live here. I look forward to heading back to my current home, Berlin, but that means I have to be at school in 12 hours. I’m not ready to have work again!

Turks love their yogurt!