Tip: this is a bit long, so if you just want the funny parts, skim through to the food subsection. If you're planning to come here though, this should make a pretty good guide to a 2 day tour of istanbul.
Istanbul
I'm sitting on a bus, closing in on hour 6. Wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be... Had some space at the front to stand and stretch a bit, and the time went quick as I read most of the lonely planet Turkey book, watched a couple sitcoms, and enjoyed some surprisingly nice scenery - much more like Germany's Black Forest than the arid Middle East I was for some reason expecting. And now of course, catching up on some blogging...
First of all, the drivers in this country could really use some lane assist technology, but otherwise it's fairly tame driving. I think that's because it's hard to do anything crazy when you are simply stuck in gridlock. Our ride from the airport to our hotel in old town took over an hour and a half for example, sans AC or openable windows.
DAY 1
Day 1 in Istanbul was jam packed as we were out on the street before 9 am and didn't get back till well after dark. All that walking, more than 8 hours, was hard on my recently gimped foot, so I've taken to icing it every evening. But worth it. Our day included:
- Hagia Sophia, which was probably the best display of Islamic and Christian art and architecture intermixing you can find. Partially restored golden Christian mosaics poking out under Islamic calligraphy and tiles gives you a real sense of the ancient roman history, the ottoman conquest, and the recent secular transitions over the past 1600 years. At times you can almost sense the moments where things shifted between them. I've been in old churches and mosques before, but never a church come mosque come museum, so that was quite a treat.
- unexpectedly close by was the Blue Mosque, which for my money had the most impressive exterior in Istanbul. An hour long line to go inside though (which we skipped by paying a guide to take us to the front) wasn't particularly worth it. If I were doing it again I'd take the great outdoor shots and skip the interior. Drop by Sulyamane Mosque instead as it's larger, less visited, and generally a nicer experience. It also has terrace restaurants across the street with incredible views of the golden horn and Bosporus straight.
Blue Mosque
Sulyamane Mosque
- enroute to the Grand Bazaar we hit the Byzantine Cisterns. More than a CFL football field in size, it held water from aqueducts running 19km away and watered the eastern roman capital until the ottomans replaced it with running water, after which it was apparently forgotten by all except the carp that still live there. Definitely worth the visit.
- the Bazaar definitely is Grand. Merchants have been hawking their wares here since 1461, and we spent most of the afternoon here getting lost trying to get in to, through, and out of it. There's the jewellery section, the leather section, the gold section, the carpet section, the belly dancer costumer section... Not sure how large it is but it's a pretty good stroll. Also, apparently it played the "Iranian" bazaar in Argo recently, which was a very cool movie and I'm pretty sure I recognized it in hindsight.
- for the evening we forded the golden horn by way of galata bridge, then walked way, way up to taksim square by way of Beyoğlu neighbourhood. Fantastic area and 1 of my favourite things we did there. The crowds are something else too... It was just a typically Saturday night but the 2km stretch would have easily surpassed a record crowd at the Calgary stampede. My foot was screaming bloody murder by the end of that so we figured out the local metro system and headed home to crash until the jet lag kicked in at precisely 3 am. You'd think if you're body was tired it'd be smart enough to just stay asleep.
DAY 2
Day 2 was more relaxed, especially after Jaimie went for a long walk while I slept in. This is how I keep up with a younger women, I let her do a lot more work!
- we started off at the archeological museum, which bored her to tears, or rather I bored her to tears while soaking it all up. Ive seen old stuff before but I think that was the best museum I've ever seen for that. When you start reading things written by Sumerians, you're skipping way back past even the ancient Egyptians, which is the kind of thing that floors a guy like me. The world's oldest written peace treaty between said Egyptians and Hittites, a paltry 3200 years oldish, is also pretty cool. And I'd always thought the oldest cities in the world were in Iraq but apparently they are right here in ancient Anatolia. Mind boggling.
Old stuff
Ham sandwich
- the ottoman topkapi palace was next... Mostly forgettable IMHO. I much prefer empires and artifacts to kitchen cupboards and really really old chairs that people just sat in. The grounds were nice, the views from the terraces were great, and seeing my first Islamic holy relics (the sword of David and the staff of Moses for example) was pretty cool. But the crowds and lines were unbearable.
The circumsion room, seriously
DAY 3
Day 3, as in, today, was a repeat of day 1 except with a guide adding some color commentary. The highlight was a ferry ride across the incredibly historic Bosporus straight. Of course, this was just a trap to get me inside a bus at the other side for this 6 hour ride.
FOOD
Oh the other highlight today... People were wondering, myself included, what the heck I'd eat over here whilst needing to strictly avoid FODMAPS (google it). Well, the answer is grilled chicken breast, white rice, dry French fries, 2 slices of grilled tomatoes, and a cooked jalapeño. I had exactly that for 3 meals in a row. 4 is you count the one that was a chicken kebop (best cooked I've ever had) instead of a breast but otherwise identical. 5 if you count the donair meat with identical fixings. Every restaurant here, save the expensive ones, all serve the exact same things, plus a couple custom items, which I usually can't eat. The one that served garlic and onion free dolmas was a welcome treat. But unless you are ordering stews or salads (which I also can't do), you get <insert meat choice here> and white rice, dry French fries, 2 grilled tomato slices and a cooked jalapeño. Exactly. Every time. As near as I can figure, that must be enshrined in the constitution here, which they are currently rewriting and I really hope they allow themselves some carrots this time.
The monotony is broken up only by breakfast, which is hard boiled eggs, cheese, deli meat, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and some other things I can't eat. Which I'm told is the exact same at every hotel so I guess that doesn't really break up the monotony after all. I planned ahead though so I can at least supplement that with gluten free oatmeal and/or "Holy Crap" cereal (TM).
Anywho, the highlight was that today we stopped at a place that had honest to goodness garlic and onion free beef goulash!!! I nearly fell over myself running to a table so they could put a bowl of it in front of me and I wasn't the slightest bit ashamed to display my foodgasm consuming it in front of my new travel companions. Nor to order an entire second serving with a side of rice so I could soak up every last drop of the oily sauce. Or even to strut around with the resulting gargantuan food baby for the next several hours. I was simply over moon.
All joking aside, it hasn't been bad at all. The meals have been tasty even if repetitive, and I feel a gabillion times better sticking to this diet so I'm perfectly content to eat whatever I can find. Plus I'm thoroughly enjoying my Turkish teas, daily dosage of ice cream, sneaking deserts like milk pudding sunken in chocolate sauce, sesame crusted sugared peanuts, and the endless free samples of Turkish delight you can eat without buying if, like me, you have no shame.
Turkish delight "free" samples are awesome
Jaimie ordering a pocket full of ice cream to cool down
Ooh, and I found a new spice called zaater, which is described as a Turkish thyme spice but apparently has garlic, so today I got to watch a guy at the spice market hand make a special batch just for me without any garlic, then vaccuum pack it for my trip home. Could be the best souvenir I've ever bought myself. It'll be slathered all over some kind of meat when I get home. And of course, severed with white rice, dry French fries, 2 grilled tomatoes, and a cooked jalapeño.
Anyway, I'm at the hotel in Ankara now and the young whipper snapper went out for drinks with the group, but this old guy is knackered so good night.
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