A Slow Start to
Turkey
We’re first off the plane and into the customs line and wait
our turn to enter Turkey. 35 minutes later we reach the front and after a brief
flip through our passports the customs officer asks “where is your visa?” We
knew we could get one on entry, but had seen nothing, so presumed it was at the
passport checkpoint, so we ask where we can get one, “just over there” he
points to a small hole in the wall before the line begins for customs. We jump
in the mercifully short visa queue to be told that it will be 45 euros, EACH,
for a visa for an Australian. The most expensive tourist visa. Americans get in
for 15 Euros… Kiwis get in FREE! Not having 90 Euros in cash on us, and of
course they only accept cash, we are pointed to some ATMs. We get cash and
again queue for the visa, getting our little sticker in our passport. Whilst
doing this we watch as three planes of people get in the passport queue. We
once again queue for customs, one hour later we’re clear but are concerned our
bags have been going around and around for 2 hours unattended. Luckily they’re
still there. We get out of the terminal, find the bus to town and miss it by 1
minute getting the next 15 minutes later.
The ride into the city took an hour or so, we saw a massive,
vibrant and cosmopolitan city pass by our windows as we cruised into the centre
of Istanbul. We get a taxi the rest of the way into the old town as public
transport at 10pm in a foreign city is just too complicated and patience has
run out. The driver stops along the way to check in with the other taxi drivers
on exactly where to go, but we got there in the end.
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| A side view of the Blue Mosque |
Istanbul, the
Soaking.
In the morning we head upstairs to the terrace for
breakfast. It is raining heavily so we sit indoors and peruse our breakfast
options. Turkish breakfast is unsurprisingly Mediterranean with olives,
tomatoes, cucumber, cheeses and meats. None of this is our bag so we get some
yoghurt, dried fruit and bread. This would be the usual breakfast for most of
Turkey.
Heading out into the rain decked in our waterproof kit we
attempt to find the main post office to check what limb we’ll need to sell to
send our heavy winter kit home. After a bit of getting lost we make it and get
the information we need. Turkey is surprisingly more affordable than a lot of
countries to send a parcel. Along the way we encounter the umbrella sellers
that are much the same as in Italy though the umbrellas differ. With the
constant rain we get one and later on would get another with even Simons
‘waterproof’ softshell yielding the rain and soaking through. It is freezing,
and here we were thinking this would be the start of the sunshine component of
our trip.
Up the road we find the Spice Market. An ‘L’ shaped building
that contains mostly spice merchants selling every kind of flavoured powder
imaginable and some unimaginable ones piled in perfect pyramids. Along with
that there is limitless baklava and lokum, aka Turkish Delight, plus fresh teas
of the most diverse variety we’ve ever seen. We curse our Australian quarantine
rules as it’s all so cheap, amazing and delicious we want to buy it all! We settle
for some lokum and baklava to snack on as we browse all the shops. The
experience is made much nicer as the sellers here are much less aggressive than
in Morocco letting you browse a little before approaching you. The usual ‘look
for free’ ‘smell this!’ ‘come try some’ offers are there but a polite smile and
shake of the head is all they need to see from you to try another wandering
face.
As we browse the spice market we are asked where we’re from
constantly with for the first time no one guessing Australia. Denmark, Germany,
Sweden, Russia, England are all thrown our way. Goes to show how diverse the
tourism crowd in Istanbul is.
Having had our fill of sweets we decide to get something for
lunch and just outside the market is a café with massive doner and chicken
cylinders rotating and roasting away. We have been waiting and saying no to
street kebabs for 6 months in anticipation of a great Turkish kebab when we got
to Turkey. It was terrible. Honestly I’ve had a better kebab from Ali Baba in
Canberra (which is very poor). It was so dry and flavourless, we thought we’d
been to a dud but it turns out the Australian kebab is a hybrid kebab/gyros.
The sauce element is not present in Turkey. It’s just a wrap with tomato, meat
and lettuce. They use very little meat, because its expensive and no one would
buy it if they put more meat in as the price would be higher. We have talked to
a few people about this, and its just the deal with Turkish kebaps. Needless to
say we were annoyed but lesson learnt, we have not really had shwermer kebabs
since.
With a vague heading from the waiter we set off through the
rain towards the Grand Bazaar, one of the oldest and largest covered markets in
the world with over 2000 shops. We find it eventually and are so happy it’s
covered, the rain is relentless.
Inside is a wonderful array of leather goods, lanterns and
crafts, jewellery from cheap handmade bracelets to high end diamond rings and
beautiful linen shops with ornate patterned towels and soft sheets. We might be
sending a whole bunch of stuff home but we want to fill another box with the
beautiful things from the market. We enjoy the opportunity to do what the
locals do and stop for tea and any given moment, choosing between Turkish black
or apple tea. You could spend a day wandering the bazaar, it is modern and
clean and not nearly as exhausting as others.
We are located in Sultanamet which is the tourist hub, meaning
you are close to the big attractions, but everyone is overcharging and the food
choices are plenty, but the quality is lousy. We did hear of one that was meant
to be close by and pretty good. Their speciality was the testi Kebap, this is
where your meat is cooked with sauce in a clay jar, making the meat super
tender. This place has a lot of theatre as the testi kebaps come on a tray on
fire, the flames reach a good 50cm high as the waiter brings the tray out,
everyone stops to stare at the flaming dish. He places it down on a special
bench, takes out the flaming clay pot, waits a little until the fire stops
burning on the pot, and then with precision breaks the pot open, placing the
yummy inside on your plate. The flaming tray takes a good 15 minutes to burn
out, meaning around the restaurant are all these burning trays slowly burning
out. Don’t make a wrong move in this place! We didnt bring the camera that night...
Ancient
Constantinople and the Great Near Camera Disaster.
With the rain still falling we make the short walk up to the
Hagia Sofia aka the Aya Sofya. One of the wonders of the world and the image of
Istanbul and sometime Turkey itself, the Sofia has stood since the 5th
century AD. Initially it was the greatest church in all of Christendom before
Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans in the 15th century and
was converted to a Mosque. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly
a thousand years and is said to have changed the history of architecture. When
the Ottomans conquered the city they were so impressed with the building that
instead of destroying it they plastered over most of the Christian mosaics and
built four minarets around it. The mosaics were able to be uncovered 500 years
later by restorers who found them underneath the whitewash. The height and size
of the dome is incredible given that it was built when there was hardly any
sort of mechanical assistance available, the engineering in it is very cool.
Naturally one half of the inside was covered up for renovation, so it lost a
bit of its sheer size.
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| This picture shows Mary at the top above the windows - a reminder of when it was a church, and the giant sign in Arabic a sign of the time it was a mosque. |
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| A mosaic that was for 100's of years covered |
Nearby is the Basilica Cistern, essentially an ancient Byzantine
water tank. The standout feature though is that it was forgotten about after
the Ottoman takeover of the city and only rediscovered several hundred years
later. The engineering and architecture in the cistern is beautiful and they’ve
done a good job with the lighting to really make it look 100%. It is cool and
calming, with beautiful low lighting, and it makes a wonderful way to escape
the bustle of the city, and the heat of summer. There are fish in the water as
it’s fed from a river nearby and empties into the Bosporus when it’s too full.
It is very damp down there which led to the great near camera disaster.
Whilst taking pictures underground we had a huge drop of
water land directly on top of the camera. The screen immediately went blurry
and white, like a staticy TV. We were not sure if it’s permanent but manage to
get a final couple of photos before the camera shut itself off. We’re pretty
frustrated at this point, what if it’s completely stuffed?! We return to the
hotel and get onto Sony.com and camera websites. Amy blow-dries the camera all
over and in the nooks. We find a Sony store in Istanbul and with the
receptionists help we get directions and go there. On the way we turn it back
on and it seems 95% OK. We get to the store and fortunately they are able to
help us and check it over. It is OK, no problems. Thank goodness! The whole
going across the other side of Istanbul and finding the store has cost us about
4 hours of the day, but that’s travelling I guess.
We get a metro back towards down but stop before crossing
the river. We have heard that the best food is in the Beyoglu district and we
are determined to get the best food we can find. So far everything we’ve eaten
besides lokum, and the testi kebap has been really average. We find a place called
Antiochia thanks to our Lonely Planet guide book we bought earlier to help us
out around Turkey. It is sensational! Finally good Turkish food hallelujah! The
meze platter is amazing with 6 assorted dips and the mains are delectable. It
was so good we returned the next night!
We wandered the streets of Istanbul back towards our hotel,
night time always gives things a different perspective and Istanbul is no
exception. Seeing beautiful monuments like the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque lit
up at night gives a whole other dimension to their appearance and warrants
significant photo time (if only we had a tripod!).
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| I love the way this picture gives scale to the Aya Sofya, it is unbelievable |
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| Again with the sheer size! |
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| The Blue Mosque, this mosque sits opposite the Aya Sofya, and the two together are what makes Istanbul so recognisable |
Gallipoli
An early start to the day for our trip to the Gallipoli
peninsula and ANZAC cove. It’s about a 4 hour drive to the site so we chat to
the person next to us in the minivan, Mary-Kate from the US. Turns out it’s
just the three of us doing the Gallipoli tour today so we become fast friends
over a very average roadside breakfast (why is day tour food always so
terrible?)
We arrive at the peninsula and stop at a town called Eceatbat.
In it the Turks have built an incredible monument and memorial to the fighting
that is so lifelike and detailed it’s quite moving. A recreated battle scene of
dug out trenches and cast bronze men shooting at one another from just 8 metres
away gives a realistic depiction of the fighting that occurred nearby.
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| This quote is found everywhere around Gallipoli |
Our guide took us to the mouth of the Bosphorus to give us
the background to the campaign. After a failed naval assault on the river to
capture Istanbul a land operation was launched. We all know the highlights of
the campaign but a few little known details:
- The Australians did in fact land in the correct landing area,
there is plenty of documentation
- There was very little resistance when they landed, the Turks
thought they would land elsewhere, it was dark and all casualties before
daylight were drowning’s
- New Zealand soldiers made it many kilometres inland to the
mountain top objective from the first landing but due to lack of support and
few numbers they were unable to hold the high ground. They did hold off attack
long enough for several more landings of troops and supplies.
- The soldiers were civil to one another, after a particularly
bloody assault which left thousands dead a ceasefire was called to bury the
dead. The soldiers helped one another and got to learn their foe. They would
throw notes, chocolate and cigarettes to one another in the trenches (they were
only 8 metres apart) and they would carry the wounded from the other side to
their lines for help. All of this civility and gentlemanly behaviour is what
has led to Australia and New Zealand being so respected by the Turks even
today.
ANZAC cove is a very solemn place today with manicured grass
and a large memorial stretching almost right across it. If you didn’t know the
history of the place it would be quiet calm and beautiful.
Up on the hills is the Lone Pine cemetery and memorial for
all those soldiers whose remains were not found. The wall of names is huge,
giving a visual aid to the volume of casualties at the site.
You see ANZAC cove on the TV every year for ANZAC day but to
actually be there and see the locations, hear the stories and learn the Turkish
side of history was a really significant and moving experience.
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| The lone pine, at Lone Pine |
Turkey had its own legends born from the Gallipoli campaign.
To them they were defending their homeland against invaders, fair enough that’s
exactly what we were doing. The biggest thing to happen that would shape the
future of Turkey was a little known regional reserves commander who was responsible
for repelling the invaders, would go on to become the founder of the modern
nation of Turkey, create a republic and establish democracy and a president,
Ataturk. Perhaps this would not have happened if we had succeeded in our
mission at ANZAC cove?
We had another long ride back to Istanbul. When we arrived
we returned with Mary-Kate to Antiochia where we had eaten the night before for
another round of delicious food. After we went to Shake Shack, an American
burger and frozen custard chain that is sweeping the US. We had shakes and they
were totes magotes good!
Visiting Asia and Former
Glory
We were up early to get the most out of our last day in
Istanbul, the rain had backed off which was a nice change. As Istanbul
straddles the continents of Europe and Asia you can take a boat/ferry ride over
to the Asian side of the city easily enough. There are many tour operators
running boats up and down the river but at 20 euro each they’re pricey for a 2
hour activity. We opted to take the regular ferry across the water (for $2
each) and rely on our guidebook for spotting the important things along the
way. We saw the Maidens Tower which most people would know it from the Bond
Movie ‘The World is not Enough’.
Our next stop was Topkapi Palace, before this we popped into Edebiyat Kiraathanesi famous for their Turkish deserts. They did not disappoint! We had fresh apple tea, and the tastiest rice puddings for ‘lunch’ and sampled some really good baklava. The menu here is like nothing you have ever seen with about 50 pages of just incredible sweets, you need a good 15 minutes to figure out what you are having, and the decision is nearly impossible. The Turkish love sugar, sugar, sugar in everything, rice puddings and baklava are the sweets of choice and Turkish tea is had with at least 2 cubes of sugar.
The Ottoman Empire was once one of the largest and most powerful in history. Accordingly the palace in Istanbul of the sultans is magnificent. Unlike more European palaces the Topkapi palace is built into a series of courtyards, each more private and exclusive then the one before.
We spent about four hours exploring all the parts of the
palace from the beautiful courtyards with lush gardens and into the harem, the
sultans home and playground. Reading about the political system of the time
where inheritance did not go to the firstborn by default was horrific, brothers
would kill their male siblings in single nights of bloody fratricide to ensure
they got the crown. This led to male siblings being imprisoned from birth by
older ones to make sure they could not challenge them.
The harem itself is magnificent, it’s a totally different
style obviously to European palaces, less bling, but more artistic ottoman
styling. The iznik tiles all throughout impress with their scale of size and
the intricacy of the patterns.
The treasury was also a highlight with the fifth largest
diamond in the world on display along with an incredible dagger with huge
emeralds set into the handle. We could not take photos in the treasury, not
even sneaky ones they were very strict about it so you’ll just have to imagine
the splendour and bling that the royals once enjoyed, trust me you can’t buy
this sort of thing anywhere today.
There were so many pavilions, kiosks and other small
buildings around the place that are all for strange purposes. There was a hat
building for all the sultans’ hats. A circumcision room for well… you know and
a greeting room was just a HUGE bed that the sultan would be on while guests
stood in a small space to the side.
Lessons Learnt
- Turkish coffee seems like a thing of the past,
no one anywhere seems to drink it. Black tea (çay) rules supreme with
men carrying trays and pots of it everywhere. Tea is the lifeblood of Turkey it
is social, a ritual, part of the daily routine and a token of hospitality.
- You can always rely on an umbrella seller to be
there when you need one.
- Baklava is best in its original forms, adding
chocolate or other things doesn’t work.
- Australia has WAY better kebabs than Turkey.
-
Trench warfare was horrific, it’s hard to
imagine the fear and agony the men went through there.
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| The Blue Mosque by day. |
Parting Thoughts
Istanbul is massive, seventeen million people live there. To
experience it in 4 rainy days is but a taste of a city that would take a
lifetime to explore and know. Once you leave the old town though with its
impressive monuments it becomes like any other city with regular shops, malls
and apartment buildings etc. We see and meet a lot of people fresh off the
plane that look at everything with this starry eyed wonder and amazement and
contemplate if we’ve become too accustomed to moving around so much that we’ve
lost that. I don’t think we have, but perhaps we don’t have the ‘everything is
different and exotic, WOW!’ glasses on and can see things for what they are.
Istanbul is great, but it wasn’t the amazing mysterious city
it is hyped to be. The shopping is incredible, the architecture is wonderful,
but somehow it just didn’t live up to expectations. Maybe it was the rain, that
always seems to impact our impression of a city.
It’s easy enough to walk around Istanbul but rain makes
exploring any place miserable. We could have seen and done a lot more but the
weather just encourages you to hole up somewhere with a hot cup of Turkish tea.
Our guide book was full of great walks and shops to explore that we never got
to do. That said we did see the best and biggest things in Istanbul and don’t
feel the need to rush back, except maybe for the Turkish Delight range.
