The view looking upwards, towards the domes, in the Blue Mosque.
More of the Blue Mosque. In this photo, you can see the Ottoman-style arches, and the thousands of tiles (the name "Blue Mosque" comes from the blue tiles), all gorgeously patterned.
The view from the Golden Horn. We walked along the waterfront at sunset, and the views were just stunning.
Sarah, me, and Desi, in the Blue Mosque. We're standing in front of one of 4 gigantic pillars that hold the dome up. The blue headscarves are lent to tourists, as women are supposed to cover their heads inside mosques, although they don't bother with headscarves for large tour groups.
The Blue Mosque. This is the right side, and it's a little blurry since they aren't too keen on flash photography inside.
Me, in front of the Aya Sofya.
Several of us at a narghile cafe. The thing in the middle is a narghile, or water pipe, and it's a major Turkish pastime.
The Blue Mosque, looking down from Sultanahmet Park.
A man praying at Yeni Cami.
A shot of some of the inscriptions under the dome at Yeni Cami.
Some of us exchange students, with Yeni Cami in the background.
A close-up shot of the fishermen and cafes on the Galata Bridge.
Yeni Cami. It's simply immense, and there's so much attention that was paid to every last detail, it's gorgeous.
Fishermen and shops on the Galata Bridge. The card game "bridge" is named after the Galata Bridge; apparently British soldiers stationed in Istanbul during the Crimean War would cross the bridge every night to play a new card game in a Beyoğlu coffeeshop.
Yeni Cami (The New Mosque, although it was finished in the 1600s), from Beyoğlu.Hey!
It was a little cold last week, so about a dozen of us exchange students took off for Istanbul for the weekend. It was incredible. We stayed in Taksim, which is full of shops, boutiques, restaurants, cafes, and bars, and we saw soooo much! We took the bus there Friday afternoon, which took about 6 hours. It was only 20 lira, and the bus had a beverage service, and gave out chocolate brownies, which is definitely something that the New York-Boston busses should look at. We got to our hotel at maybe 9 at night, and had dinner and chilled for a while after walking down Istikal Caddesi, which is where the locals come to see and be seen, and to do their shopping. It's a very Western street: I've only seen one Starbucks in Ankara, in a shopping mall, but there were 2 Starbucks, a Dunkin' Donuts, and 2 Gloria Jeans on Istikal. I didn't actually stop at any of them, but they certainly illustrated that Istanbul is not Ankara. On Saturday, we went for breakfast, then walked down sidestreets full of music shops and other specialty shops to the Galata Bridge, which connects the 2 European parts of Istanbul. The bridge is really cool: under the part where the cars drive, there are tons of cafes and restaurants, where you can sit and watch the sea (One cafe has beanbag chairs, which are heavenly after a day of walking around Istanbul). There are also loads of street vendors on the bridge, as well as fishermen casting their rods off the side. It's a very lively place. On the other side of Galatay, we toured the Yeni Cami, or New Mosque. The "new" part is relative, as it was finished in 1663; it was stunning. It was right next to the Spice Bazaar, so we toured that next, and had some Turkish Delight, which is really good when it's fresh. I saw some spice sets that I liked, and was going to get them, but then the shopkeeper found out I was American and refused to do business with any "American terrorits." Other than that guy, the shopkeepers were more than happy to do business with us, often too happy. We practically didn't need our limited Turkish, as so many of the vendors spoke English; we still tried to speak Turkish as much as we could, though. After the Spice Bazaar, we wound our way to the Grand Bazaar, which is immense and overwhelming. Imagine any large shopping mall, but increase the size, fill every spare inch with vendors, and have merchandise literally packed in, with scores of Turkish shopkeepers calling out "Hey ladies," "Excuse me, beautiful," or "Oooh, it's a harem!" (we were walking around in a group of four girls and a guy). It actually wasn't very crowded, because this is the tourist off season, so it was kind of nice. I didn't buy anything, though, because the prices were all at least 4 times what I'd seen things for in Ankara, and the shopkeepers had us pegged as tourists and didn't really want to barter. Note to the wise: don't actually buy things in the Grand Bazaar unless you speak Turkish. We stopped at a narghile cafe afterwards, and had some narghile and tea. Narghile is a Turkish water pipe, and it's part of the core of Turkish identity. The stereotypical Turk on a Sunday afternoon is sitting at a cafe with a narghile and some tea, playing backgammon. It's pretty relaxing. We found a guy selling earrings on the street for 1 lira, so naturally we all bought several pair; they're really nice. We then wandered down to Sultanahmet Park, which is known for the two buildings at the ends of the park: the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque. I didn't go in to the Aya Sofya (I will next time, for sure), but I did get to see the Blue Mosque, which was absolutely stunning. It's just immense, and the builders made sure that every small detail was just gorgeous. While we were walking on the grounds, we bought head scarves from a vendor; mine is black and red, and I don't have photos of it yet, but I'm sure I will soon. We then wandered down to the Golden Horn, and walked around it on the waterfront back to the Galata Bridge (incidentally, the card game Bridge is named after the Galata Bridge), where we stopped at a cafe before heading back to Taksim for dinner and dancing. On Sunday, we slept in, brunched at a cafe, and did some shopping before heading to the bus station, where we bargained (or, Katy bargained, as she's been here since Fall semester and therefore has better Turkish and better bargaining skills) and got 15 lira bus tickets back. We went shopping and ate at the Otogar (bus station) Metro station, which is full of shops selling everything (I could have got a television, or baklava, or a handgun. yes, they had 3 different stores selling handguns. this is so not America!); I picked up some Turkish Delight, which is really good, but only when it's fresh. We got on the bus at 7, it left at 7:30-ish, and we were back in Ankara by 2AM. I was absolutely exhausted in class today, but it was so worth it. I was really surprised at how different Istanbul was. It was very Western, and very tourist-oriented; so many people spoke English that I think if I studied there, I'd never learn Turkish. I also saw more "stereotypically Turkish" things in Istanbul than in Ankara: doner kebap were everywhere, they're huge amounts of meat packed onto a vertical metal spit and cooked, the cook shaves off meat as it's ordered. There were also a lot of shops selling Turkish Delight, which you really can't find in Ankara. It seems to be primarily popular in Istanbul. A lot of the things for sale in the tourist shops struck me as odd, because I hadn't seen them as part of Turkish culture.
I am really glad I got to Istanbul this weekend. It is an amazing city, really romantic in the old-ageless-but-really-modern city kind of way. It was also like 60 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny, whereas there's definitely still snow on the ground here in Ankara.
I'll leave you with some photos of my trip. I don't think I'll get a chance to caption them tonight, but I can edit my post tomorrow and add captions. I tried to capture how gorgeous everything was, and how absolutely immense Istanbul is.
Take care,
-R
4 comments:
Just saw in the photos that the three girls are wearing headscarves in the Blue Mosque. Are they now forcing women to wear headscarves when you enter or did you do it yourselves? I haven't been to the mosque for a couple of years now.
I've had different experiences at different mosques. At the mosque next to the Tomb of Haci Bayram, in Ankara, we were expected to cover our heads; luckily it was in January, so we all had hats and scarves. At Yeni Cami, in Istanbul, they had a bin full of headscarves for the tourists to borrow, and all the women seemed to be wearing headscarves. The Blue Mosque was a bit different, because it's such a tourist destination. They didn't bother with headscarves for the large tour group that entered right before us, and they motioned that we could just put our winter scarves over our heads, but they had a huge pile of blue headscarves for visitors to borrow, and we figured as long as the scarves were there, we'd rather be respectful of their religion. I don't think it's an issue of forcing women to wear headscarves as much as it's an issue of visiting women showing respect for the religion and the house of worship. The people at the Blue Mosque were definitely more casual about it, though.
-R
I can definately understand your wish to respect Islam by wearing the headscarves on offer at the mosques. What I find interesting is that it is only in the last couple of years have they (whoever is in charge of the mosque)have even cared that foreigners should be covering up. When I first came some 12 years ago there was no way that a foreigner was even given the option to cover up. I'm not trying to attack Islam here but it seems to me that Turkey is becoming more conservative. Any thoughts?
Well, I've definitely not been here long enough to notice any long-term changes in how conservative Turkey is. Before coming, I'd read up on Turkey, but every book or website seemed to have a different opinion on how conservative Turkey was when it comes to women and headscarves, so I had no idea what to expect when I got here. ODTU's student population is very liberal, and it's a state school, so I don't see many headscarves in my day-to-day life, but when I head to Balgat for the bazaar, I see a fair number of them. I was surprised that I saw more headscarves and conservative dress in Istanbul than I did in Ankara; I'm really looking forward to travelling East and seeing what the customs are like there.
It does surprise me that 12 years ago tourists weren't given an option to cover up, given my experiences at mosques have all been "headcovering-required" (except I suppose at the Blue Mosque, which was more of a recommendation); that would definitely seem to me to show a more conservative trend in Turkey.
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