I am back on the ship headed to Morocco. I have spent the last five days in Istanbul, and wish I could have at least five more days there. Istanbul is such a big city with so much to do and see, and five days does not do it justice. I tried to see everything I possibly could while I was there, and my days were jam-packed. On Friday, we went to the Underground Cistern, which is an underground water reservoir that was built in the sixth century a.d. to store water for the population of Istanbul at the time. The cistern now hosts occasional concerts, and is a tourist site known for it's dimly lit and beautiful pillars, and two stone medusa heads from the Roman structures. We then spent the rest of the day at the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is the world's oldest shopping mall. During the Byzantine times, the Grand Bazaar was the main market in Istanbul. When the Ottomans came, the Grand Bazaar grew bigger and more diverse, and became the center for trade in the entire Ottoman Empire. The Grand Bazaar remained Turkey's commercial trading center through the 1950s. Today the Grand Bazaar hosts over 4,000 shops, and sells 10 times more jewelry than it used to. My experience there was one I do not wish to experience again. Someone should have warned me that if you do not like shopping then you should not go there! Not only was the Grand Bazaar overwhelming, but the walk there alone should have been enough warning to make me turn back. On the way there, I got run over by more strollers than I can count and get pushed and knocked around like I wasn't even there. Maybe if I was a foot taller and ten times bigger, I would have been able to handle it, but seeing as I am really short and small, I got trampled all over. I thought the Grand Bazaar would be better, but it turns out it wasn't. There were just as many people in the Grand Bazaar as there were on the streets so I continued to get ran over. Not only that, but I did not find bargaining very fun, and I did not enjoy all the men hollering at me, telling me I'm beautiful and yelling at me that I broke their hearts because I would not buy anything from them. To say the least, my "shoppers anxiety" was at its peak. I can't even handle going to the mall in Lone Tree, Colorado so why did I think I could handle the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey?! Everyone I was with came back with bags and bags of souvenirs... jewelry, clothes, lamps, tea, you name it, they bought it. What did I come back with? Not one thing. Most everyone I was with bought all of their souvenirs there and bought all of their gifts for their family and friends there so let me just say that I'm sorry that none of my family or friends will be getting gifts from Turkey. Some of my friends even went back to the Grand Bazaar more than once. Kudos to them, but the Grand Bazaar was not my favorite place. I can honestly say though that I'm glad I got to experience it one time, and it makes me even more glad to know that I never have to go back there again. I spent the next day seeing the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. The Haiga Sofia is FILLED with history so bear with me while I give you yet another history lesson. For centuries the Hagia Sofia was known as the Megalo Ekklesia, or the "Great Church" of Constantinople. The Greeks called it the Hagia Sophia or Aya Sofia (that's the Turkish way of spelling it), which means "Divine Wisdom". The Emperor Justinian built the Hagia Sophia between 532 a.d. and 537 a.d. For 900 years it served as the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople. When the Ottomans took over Constantinople in 1453, the Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror converted the church into an imperial mosque. The Hagia Sofia remained Istanbul's most important mosque for five centuries. In the 1930's during the Turkish Republic, the mosque was converted another time into a museum, in which it is today. It retains elements of both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires and aspects of the Orthodox Christian religion as well as Islam. The Hagia Sofia is overwhelmingly beautiful... I really enjoyed my time there. We then ventured over to the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque was built in 1609, and is called the Blue Mosque because of the blue color that dominates the inside. The Blue Mosque is unique because it has six minarets. According to Muslim tradition, the imam (the prayer leader) would climb to the top of a minaret five times every day to announce the call to prayer. Today, an imam still announces the call to prayer, but over loudspeakers that you can hear all over the city. The Blue Mosque is still a working mosque today, and going inside of it was an experience in itself. In order to go in women have to cover their shoulders and heads, and must wear clothes that cover their entire legs. As you walk in you take off your shoes and carry them in a bag with you. Once inside, you notice that the women are separated from the men. The men are up front in the main area while the woman have to stay behind the railing in the back of the mosque. Everyone is sitting, standing, or kneeling in the same direction. Everyone prays facing southeast towards Mecca, Islam's holy city. It was a very spiritual experience getting to observe all of the Muslims' who were praying in the Blue Mosque at the time I was there.
On Monday, Andrea, Jenny and I took a ferry up the Bosphorus Strait to the Asia side of Turkey. If you look at a map of Turkey you will see that the country is split in two pieces separated by the Bosphorus Strait. One little piece of Turkey is on the continent of Europe and the other piece of Turkey is on the continent of Asia. So we took a ferry through the Straits of Bosphorus to Asian Istanbul where we had lunch and reveled in the fact that we were in Asia. From my experience Asian Istanbul looks, smells and feels exactly like Europe Istanbul, but it's cool to say that I ate lunch in Asia.
Yesterday on our last day in Istanbul, I decided to get a Turkish Bath. I had heard that you can't go to Turkey and not get a Turkish Bath so after breakfast yesterday I walked through town to the Cembillitas Bath. I had no idea what I was in for, but it was quite the experience. This big Turkish woman, who didn't speak English, handed me a towel and a pair of underwear and pointed up this stairwell. Not really sure what I was doing, I walked up the stairs where I found a small locker room. I figured I should put on the underwear she gave me so I did, then I wrapped the towel around me, and walked back downstairs. The lady showed me through these big doors that led to this big room that was as hot as a sauna with a big marble slab in the middle of it. She pulled the towel off me, threw it on the marble slab and pointed at it. If there weren't a couple of other ladies already in there laying on the marble slab, I probably wouldn't have known what to do, but thankfully there were a couple of people already in there so I laid down on my towel in the middle of this big marble slab where I waited for my Turkish bath to begin. After thirty minutes or so the lady came over to me and poured a bucket of water on me, scrubbed my entire body, threw more water on me, poured bubbles on me, scrubbed me again, poured more water on me, etc. It went on for an hour or so, all the while slapping me and yelling things I didn't understand in order to get me to roll over, sit up, stand up, sit down, lay down, turn over, etc. At last she had me sit up one last time where she scrubbed my hair and face and dumped bucket after bucket of water over me until I was officially the cleanest I have ever been in my life. If I hadn't watched a couple of people go before me, I would have been terrified, but by the time it was my turn I was ready for it and I actually thought the whole experience was pretty comical. Yes, it was a little awkward having someone bathe me, and it was a little awkward being practically naked in a room with all these other women, but it was an experience that I'm glad I got to have, and I can honestly tell you that I have no more dead skin anywhere on my entire body.
I wish I could have gotten to sped a couple of more days in Istanbul... five days were definitely not enough, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I am back on the ship now, and will be in Morocco on Monday morning. I can't wait!! I will be in Morocco until Friday and then will be headed home!
Sorry for the really low quality of these images!