Intersection of East and West

Sorry for the lag time with the blog posts! I’ve been crazy busy ever since starting my study abroad program. Posts on that will come later!

Leaving Mykonos was such a difficult thing for me; I could honestly stay there for weeks at a time further exploring it and the surrounding islands. But my sadness didn’t last long, since after a quick flight, we arrived in Istanbul.

For those who follow the news, our timing to visit Istanbul wasn’t the best. There have been protests against the government for more than 20 days now, but luckily, Istanbul didn’t prove a problem, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Our hotel was in the Nisantasi neighborhood, which had so many cool designer clothing stores that had my mom and me excited, and my dad panicked. But luckily for him we were content window-shopping. After walking around the area, we went to a restaurant that had traditional Turkish food. Now, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the food, Turkish cuisine isn’t exactly super popular in Texas. But just like all the other meals I’ve had on my trip, I loved it and proceeded to devour it. 

After getting a good night of sleep, we woke up early and went to visit the typical tourist spots in Istanbul. My inner art history nerd was pretty excited to see the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, and they didn’t disappoint.

The Blue Mosque was exquisitely decorated on the inside. Everything was so ornate and beautiful that I think I took pictures of almost every crevice in the building. For women to enter the mosque, they must have their shoulders covered, bottoms that reach their knees, and their hair covered. I didn’t think to bring a scarf or something to cover my hair, but luckily the mosque had something for the women to put on, so I was still allowed in. Most people know that I get weird about wearing public things. For example, I don’t particularly like bowling because I have to use the shoes, and when I have gone I put on about three pairs of socks (not kidding,) so I was struggling with having to wear the scarf around my head. Luckily I was distracted by the inside of the mosque.

Blue Mosque

From the mosque, we walked over to the Hagia Sophia, which I think is a great representation of Istanbul itself in that it has both western and eastern influences. The interior is a mish-mash of Christian and Islamic features since the building that started off as a Christian church was turned into a mosque but is now a museum. It was interesting to see everything side by side.

Our tour guide, who awesomely enough had toured Russell Crowe around when he went to Istanbul, then took us to a store that sold authentic Turkish pottery and mosaic tiles, but sadly I only managed to get one picture before my camera died. But the colors, details and workmanship were so great that my parents and I brought a few things back with us.

Underground cistern by store

We decided to go back to our hotel to take a quick break, and afterwards went on a boat tour of the Bosphorous, which really just had me in awe of how massive Istanbul is! It seemed to just stretch on and on with no end in sight. On the way back from the tour, our driver was taking us back to the hotel and as we approached a stoplight, with police officers on one side and protestors on the other, tear gas came out of nowhere. Our driver threw the car in reverse so fast it had my head spinning. Luckily he found another way to get to our hotel, and once we got there, the staff strongly recommended staying in the hotel for the rest of the night, which we did. But after that minor encounter, we didn’t see any of the protestors for the rest of the trip.

The next day we went to the Topkapi palace, which is where the sultans lived, and let me tell you, they had a pretty amazing place. The palace grounds are pretty expansive and housed the sultan and his harem, which consisted of the sultan’s four official wives, and about 20 other women…so that was pretty interesting.

Of course he wanted a picture..

ONE of the sultans bedrooms

The view from the palace

Following the tour of the palace we went to a shop that sold authentic Turkish rugs. We got to see a women working on a silk rug in the store that when completed would be priced at around 15,000 dollars. For a rug. That you step on. Just let that sink in. I don’t think I would be comfortable walking on something that beautiful and expensive. But I did get to help the women make the rug! And by help I mean that I made about two knots that make up the thousands and thousands of knots in the rug, but hey I contributed. I did manage to convince my parents to let me get a rug for my apartment in Austin, but it was less (a lot less) expensive than the other one.

A 30,000 dollar rug

 We also got to visit the famous Grand Bazaar, and it definitely is grand. Little shops line the many pathways in the bazaar, selling a variety of things. My mom was in heaven, because unlike me, she has the endurance to walk around and look at everything in all of the stores. However my dad and I tried to limit her shopping with just scarves (she bought 14…) and jewelry. By the end of our time in the bazaar, my dad and I were going a little stir crazy.

Istanbul is a city unlike any other I’ve ever visited. Three days there aren’t even close to enough, and I really hope that I get to go back to further explore this incredibly rich cultural city.

 Hopefully I have enough time in the next couple days to post about the beginning of my study abroad. I already love Italy and everyone that I've met here!