Istanbul - days 3 and 4

Day 3 was the day of boat rides, and the day we went to Asia for an evening out.

First, Brian and I took a boat tour on the Bosphorus. In case you need a little geography refresher, Istanbul is a city on two continents, with the Bosphorus strait dividing the European and Asian sides. I am not a geography teacher, I am just married to one, so here's a map that might help you:

The boat ride was windy, sort of dramatically so since we cruised past palaces and mosques and colorful, crowded apartment buildings several stories tall and at least a century old. I tried adding to the drama by wrapping a scarf around my head (for the wind, not for modesty this time) and wearing the big sunglasses that I bought on Istiklal street for 10 lira (around $5). They are Prada sunglasses, if you believe the logo printed on them, which of course I do. I have this sunglass issue – I lose them, break them, leave them at home, need to buy new ones in unlikely places. My sunglasses all seem to have stories lately. These ones will known as my Jackie Onassis-on-the-Bosphorus-look sunglasses forever, or at least until I leave them somewhere or they break. So Brian and I sat on the top deck getting windblown, watching container ships and small highway traffic on the bridge overhead, trying to match what we saw with the map in our borrowed guidebook until we gave up.

In order to get to the Bosphorus from our hotel, you have to walk down Istiklal street, around the Galata Tower, and down to the Galata Bridge. The bridge is busy not only with pedestrians and chestnut vendors, but with fishermen. They stand along the rail, their backs to the slow-moving traffic, and bait their hooks with small silverly (sometimes bloody) fish kept in plastic tubs on the ground. We had to pause a few times as we passed by to give a fisherman room to cast. I wonder how many oblivious tourists are hooked each year as they cross the bridge.

On the other side is the dock where you can catch the boats, and it swarms with people walking quickly, slowly, weaving in and out, stopping at ATMs, selling little toys and sesame-covered bread rings. The man finding passengers for the tour boats calls out “Bosporo Bosporo Bosporo” over and over again. On the other side of the bridge is the old city. This is how we walked to get to the Blue Mosque and the elusive cistern on day 2, and how we would walk in search of the Great Bazaar on day 4. 

After our boat ride and a nap at the hotel (all that walking around had caught up with us), we met up with our intrepid tour guide Liz. We ate some Chinese food, and then we went to Asia. That's right, we took a ferry to Asia in order to find somewhere to drink beers. First we got on a Dolmush, which is a kind of shared taxi mini-bus. We took that down to the ferry terminal and took a boat across the Bosphorous to Karakoy.

We ended up at a place called the Corner Bar, listening to what we later determined was a Turkish rock cover band. We figured since most people in the place were singing along, either these guys with Ataturk style mustaches and hipster outfits were really famous, or were playing someone else's songs. We didn't know the difference. Then we hopped on a Dolmush that drove all the way back across the bridges to our side of town.

Thursday (day 4) was Bayram, which is the Turkish version of the Islamic holiday which celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. The holiday weekend started Wednesday, and continues until at least Monday.  We felt like it was a Sunday too. There was less traffic, many shops were closed, and we were moving slower as a result of the late night described above. We caught up with Liz and wandered back down to the old city, pausing for a casting fisherman along the way. We were trying to find the Grand Bazaar, which is supposed to be the world’s largest indoor market place. Unfortunately, it too was closed, or at least we assumed it was since the streets around it were all deserted. Instead we took to slow wandering back down the hills and in and out of tourist shops. Things to buy in Turkey include candies, spices, baklava, ceramics, scarves, olive oil, and little brightly colored dancing donkeys that play their own music. We ended up at a café with walls covered in newspaper and huge picture of Nicolas Cage on the wall. Then we ate tapas on the second floor of a restaurant (we had tired of kabobs by then) while watching people on the street below and feeling pretty tired.

Early this morning we left Istanbul. In the darkness just before 7am, a taxi driver spotted us on the street with our suitcases, flashed his lights, hit the brakes, reversed uphill on a major street to pick us up. It was pretty cool. If he had missed us, there were three other taxis approaching to offer us a ride.

I like Istanbul. Brian described it as a "Southwest Asian/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern San Francisco," which is an apt a description as I can think of.

Even though I’ve had my fill of crowds for a little while, I’d go back. I’d like to see the rest of Turkey too. Until then, I will check out the one of the Turkish bakeries I’ve seen in Hannover, read up a little on Istanbul history, go through all my photos, and I probably wrap a scarf around my head and put on those Prada sunglasses.