(day 2) lunch!

I was pretty hungry and thirsty after seeing the Basilica Cistern, so I walked to a nearby restaurant Sultanahmet Koftecisi Selim Usta, which I had read about in a guidebook, for lunch.

A köftecisi is a place that sells köfte, which gets described as a Turkish meatball.

The summer salad, which was really light and refreshing. So far it seems like Turkish cooking uses really fresh ingredients, I think I've had fresh, ripe tomatoes with every meal so far. It was only 5TL = $1.70, and it was really very good.

This is the köfte, served with some pickled peppers (taste just like pepperoncini but shaped differently), I don't remember what they're called. I think this dish was maybe 18TL = $6. I think the meat is ground and then grilled, so it has the texture of meatball, but not so crumbly, since it's grilled.

In search of dessert, I found this display of beautiful cakes and puddings...

Closeup.

But in the end I found what I was looking for, dondurma (Turkish ice cream)! No, there was no trollish man, and no, I was not made to look like a fool :< maybe next time. It was delicious though, kind of like gelato, but has a sticky quality to it. 3 scoops was a medium, 9TL = $3USD.

After this I was getting a bit tired (jet lag...) and honestly I was getting quite fed up with being hassled and heckled constantly by people trying to sell me things or bring me to their restaurant, so I decided to head back to the hostel. With the intention of going back out, of course, but I ended up passing out until nighttime. With no prospects of finding food outside, I went up to the rooftop terrace and they made me a really delicious pasta. Stayed up late reading a book and hanging out with other travelers.

Days survived = 1.

Bombs encountered = 0.

Times hassled = 15+.

Annoyance level = 8.5.

2+2 = 4.

(day 2) basilica cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıçı)

The Basilica Cistern was built by emperor Justinian I during the 6th century. There were many Byzantine emperors but among them Constantine I and Justinian I stood out as being extra super awesome, Constantine, during the 4th century AD for founding the Byzantine Empire, establishing Constantinople as its capital, and most importantly for converting the official religion of the empire from polytheistic worship of Roman deities to Christianity.

Justinian ruled during the 6th century AD, and he left his mark on history by reconquering many of the western Roman lands that had been lost to the Roman empire, as well as ushering in a golden age of Byzantine culture, including the completion of the Hagia Sophia. Most notably, he set about consolidating and reforming Roman law, which had once been the structural backbone of the sprawling Roman empire, but that had since been revised and expanded upon so severely that it was impossible to follow and even contradicted itself at times. Justinian's new Corpus Juris Civilus is still the basis of civil law in modern states today.

But anyway. He built a cistern (a cistern is for storing water).

The cistern provided an additional water source for the Great Palace of Constantinople, a sign that the empire and its capital city was flourishing. The water came from Belgrade Forest, 12 miles north of the city, and it was brought to the cistern via the Valens aqueduct, built by an earlier emperor Valens in the 4th century AD. The aqueduct walls, though no longer in use, still exist today, and are passed by thousands of locals each day, as 3 major roads run through its arches. It's also within walking distance from the city center, I'd like to take a look if I have time.

As centuries passed, the cistern fell into disuse and was somehow forgotten. It was accidentally rediscovered by in 1545, when a Frenchman researching Byzantine antiquities in the city noticed that people in the neighborhood not only got a hold of water by simply lowering buckets through holes in their basements, they sometimes even caught fish this way. Upon further investigation, the Basilica Cistern was re-discovered.

Anyway, I think the Basilica Cistern is really cool, both the history of it, and the way that it was rediscovered.

Entry to cistern is 20TL = $7 USD, and there was no line when I went.

Isn't this place creepy cool? There isn't a sound of running water per se (the water is mostly standing water, I think), but you can hear water lightly lapping against the walls. The acoustics are crazy, all sounds echo and reverberate around the chamber, and the air is slightly chilly and damp.

I just kept thinking what an awesome Halloween nightclub it would make, especially with a thin centimeter-layer of water covering the floor.

A particularly stunning "teardrop" column.

"Ancient texts suggest that the tears on the column pay tribute to the hundreds of slaves who died during the construction of the Basilica Cistern." -Wikipedia

Stupid tourists have rubbed a hole into it doing the same thing that you do at the Weeping Column in Hagia Sophia, except this one doesn't even have a chance of performing miracles, so...enjoy the international thumbhole of germs you morons.

There are 336 columns total, most in Ionic and Corinthian styles (I don't know what that means, but in layman's terms I think those are the "pretty" column heads with decoration at the top), and a few in Doric style (plain style with no decoration at the top). You can steal my mnemonic device for remembering this vital information, "boring Doring". Take it! Take my mnemonic device! o_o

The columns are actually recycled columns, brought from ruins from all over the empire, hence the different styles. I'm guessing not many Doric columns survived long enough to be recycled because they were just too boring Doring and people smashed them. I want to smash them. So boring. Boring Doring.

Tons of fish swimming around! The cistern can hold thousands of gallons of water, but today is reduced to just a few inches.

Two columns in particular feature these awesome Medusa heads at their base. One is upside down, one is sideways. It's still unknown whether there is any significance to these heads being here, or if they were simply recycled and used as column bases. 

If I had to guess I think they brought her here to turn all these columns into stone.

As beautiful and significant the Hagia Sophia is, I personally found the Basilica Cistern to be cooler. Like literally it was pretty cool in there, I'm glad I brought a scarf.

But no really.

It was pretty cool.

Like I was shivering the whole time.

But no really.

It was cool. I think partially because of the backstory, partially from the creepy, haunted atmosphere, and partially because it had a very understandable and functional purpose. Sure, the Hagia Sophia did too, but I have a harder time getting behind the religious and architectural significance of it, I guess.

Most importantly, there were far less people here and I didn't constantly want to punch someone in the face for getting in my way.

(day 2) Million (Milion) Stone

On my way to the Basilica Cistern, I stumbled upon the Milion Stone. I cannot get over how close together everything is. I'm literally (not literally) tripping over ancient monuments with every step.

The Milion Stone is really cool. In Ancient Rome, it used to be the origin of all roads leading to Constantinople, and as such it was used to measure distance to all other cities from this city.

It was thought to be constructed by Emperor Constantine during the 4th century, which is when Constantine came and made it the new capital of the Roman Empire. (Prior to that, it was still the city Byzantium).

A modern interpretation of the stone's purpose.

Was reading this sign for about 30 seconds before I noticed this little guy napping in his hiding spot. Lots of tourists and traffic sounds, and he didn't even flinch.

(day 2) sultan's tombs

I started off my day looking for the Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya). My hostel is located in Sultanahmet, the "old city" district of Istanbul, and many of the oldest, most famous buildings are all densely packed into this area. Back in ancient times there were no cars, trains, trams, etc. so everything in the city center was within walking distance, which makes for some convenient touristing!

Or so I thought. I followed my gmaps to what I thought was the Hagia Sophia, but turns out was actually the Sultan's Tombs, which is part of the Hagia Sophia grounds/complex, but for touristing purposes, is separated. The Sultan's Tombs are free, whereas Hagia Sophia has long ticket and entry lines to get in.

The innocuous entrance. There's a security guard posted here, you have to walk through a metal detector and put your bag through a scanner. There were also signs to cover your head, which I did with some amount of difficulty, I think I looked like a mummy.

This is inside the tomb of Sultan Mehmet III, constructed in 1608.

The tomb is an octagonal shape and covered with a dome.

The amount of detail put into decorating is amazing, every square inch is covered with tile, each panel of tiles is different, and these tiles weren't mass produced in a factory, they are handmade Iznik tiles.

Tiles with Arabic calligraphy.

In front of the next tomb, the tomb of Sultan Selim II, this sign reports how the Louvre stole a whole tile panel from the tomb! The panel was a good deal lighter colored than the identical tile panel on the other side, I guess replica Iznik tiles aren't nearly as good as the real thing.

The inside tomb arrangement looks similar to the first. According to a friendly security guard, the large tomb in the middle is the sultan's tomb. The medium-sized ones flanking is are his wives. The little tombs are for the children. The white turban-looking wrappings indicate a male child.

The bodies are actually interred underground, these structures are just a representation of the tomb, although I don't know if they were placed back in 1600 or if that's something the museum curators did later.

A different geometric design in this dome, which was constructed for Sultan Selim II while he was still alive. Construction had not finished by the time of his death, but was eventually completed 3 years later in 1577. 

 A closeup of some of the Iznik tiles. Iznik is a town in Turkey that was famous for ceramic productions from the late 1400s to the late 1600s.

Prior to this, Turkish artisans were unable to make porcelain, and could only produce fritware.

A lot of inspiration was drawn from Chinese ceramics, which were treasured by Ottoman sultans. They believed that the glaze on the ceramics would change color in the presence of poison, an ever-present danger for rulers during this time.

Much of the early Iznik pottery lacked color; they were only able to produce blue and white ceramics. It wasn't until later that green, and finally red dyes and colors were introduced. As such, the tiles can be roughly dated just by looking at the colors used.

Ok last tomb I promise. (There are actually 5 in total but I got bored and didn't go to all of them).

This is the tomb of Sultan Mustafa I and Sultan Ibrahim.

Looks a little different than the other ones from the outside...

No tiles, no calligraphy, no brilliant blue and green colors, jut old brick and some simple motifs done in paint.

This building was actually not built specifically as a tomb, but is an old structure from the time of the Byzantine empire that was later transferred into a tomb. It is the former Baptistery building of Hagia Sophia, thought to be older than Hagia Sophia itself.

A tell-tale sign of Byzantine-turned-Ottoman buildings is the red brick walls.

The inside looks similarly unadorned, and you can see the remains of a Byzantine paint job, touched up, I'm sure.

J-k!!! I trick you. Tomb of Sultan Murad III, built in 1599. This was the largest tomb, and had really pretty stained glass windows that the other tombs didn't have.

(day 2) bahaus guest house

A street view picture of the hostel that I'm staying at, Bauhaus Guesthouse.

When I arrived at check-in, the guy at the front desk said that they'd been expecting me last night, and when I didn't show up they had cancelled my room. I realized later that I had thought I was landing on the 13th (the day of my departure), and had booked my room for that date, but I actually landed the next day on the 14th. Oops.

Since they gave away my room, he could only put me in the 6-bed girls dorm, which is slightly more expensive since it's a room shared by fewer people. But! That it was currently unoccupied so I would be the only guest in there.

Music to my dirty, sweaty, culture-shocked ears.

As much as I appreciate hostels and what they offer to a solo traveler, I have always treasured and craved privacy. I can't stand not feeling comfortable in my own home. Staying in a hostel means sharing facilities and trying to be respectful of the other 15 people in your room, which is the opposite of comfort and privacy.

But look! Semi-privacy from curtains. Beds are clean.

Bathroom is pretty clean.

An entire 6 bed room all to myself!!!

But the nicest part of the hostel....

The beautiful rooftop terrace!

 You can look across the Bosphorus and see the Asian side of the city.

While enjoying a delicious complimentary Turkish breakfast.

I couldn't quite figure out how to eat anything. It was just like fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, slices of cheese, slices of bologna, hard boiled egg, basically all the components of a salad, but you just eat them individually or something. It was good, but I felt like I wasn't eating it correctly.

I woke up pretty early thanks to jet lag, had a sumptuous shower in my private bathroom, lounged around in my private 6 bed room, then went upstairs and had a yummy Turkish breakfast. It was a great start to my first day in Istanbul, now I'm ready to go see old things!

(day 1) Turkish Airlines

This is my first time flying Turkish Airlines. While searching for info on baggage policies, I stumbled upon some Yelp reviewers that reealllly did not enjoy their time with Turkish Airlines. Lost baggage, horrible customer service, these are the smallest seats my powdered princess butt has ever been exposed to etc. So it was with some amount of trepidation that I boarded flight TK0080, Boeing 777-300ER from SFO to IST.

Agghhh they provided complimentary pillow blankets and headphones, the nerve. (Coffee not included :<) Consider yourselves reported to the BBB, foul Turkish Airlines!

I didn't check in my bag and most of the complaints were about lost bags, but really the plane was a lot nicer and newer than most other planes I've been at (looking at you, United and Delta).

When I picked my seat during check-in, it had said the other two seats in my row were taken, but in the end those people never showed up! My cackle of glee was just beginning to seriously disturb other passengers when a large surly man was moved to the end of my row. Curses.

As soon as we had climbed to an appropriate altitude, the very professional and attentive flight attendants started handing out goodies!

Sadly not pictured (I was really excited to get a pic to show you guys but it didn't save on my phone), the FIRST thing we got was a tiny wrapped Turkish delight!!!! It's kind of like a gummy candy, thought not so chewy as a gummy bear and not nearly as sweet, dusted off with powdered sugar or possibly cocaine. I stuck it up my nose just to be sure. I'm guessing there are different flavors but mine was soooo good!!!! It tasted like hazelnut/nutella, albeit very subtly so.

We also got these care packages full of all of the things I was so careful to pack. It was nice though.

Also hot hand towels to blow our noses with. Today's booger forecast: hail with a chance of blood.

Also really detailed and accurate menus of the 12 hour feast-to-come.

At this point I'm slightly worried that I actually sat in business class. 

Dinner came shortly after. It was.................amazing. Like no joke. I've always harbored a fondness for airplane food, and aside from the time I was served a styrofoam puck instead of an egg on my United flight from Tokyo to SFO, I've never really understood why people bitch about airplane food so much. But this meal was truly sublime. The eggplant puree thing in the upper left hand corner was so good that I cried when I ate it. Mr. Surly also cried when I leapt over the seats and stole his and ate it too.

Oh and in the upper right hand corner? Baby white wine!

The entertainment system was really nice, too. Everything is touch screen, the screen itself is big, and there were tons of movie selections.

I thought I was going to watch a bunch of them but I ended up reading a book for most of the trip.

Historical fiction set during World War II. It is *really* good. Highly recommend. I guess the Pulitzer Prize and NYT bestseller list can't both be wrong.

It took me about half the flight to finish, and then I passed out for a couple of hours. When they came around a couple of hours before landing, for food, I was so sleepy and grumpy that I almost wanted to skip it but the memory of eggplant puree still lingered tantalizingly in my mind, so I forced myself up. Mr. Surly looked impressed by my surl. Respect nod.

It was really good. ._.

I couldn't eat the yogurt because it was too rich. Do grocery stores only sell low fat and non fat? It felt like I was eating solid udder fat. I'm sure it was quite good but I just wasn't used to it.

 Couple more hours and we landed! Turkish Airlines was absolutely amazing, hands down one of the best flying experiences that I've had (equalled only by Qantas I think, and that's only because their mid-flight snack was AN ICE CREAM BAR HNNNGHGHGHGH). All of the flight attendants were exceedingly polite and attentive, everything was presented in a very thoughtful and well-packaged way. I was truly very impressed and happy with the flight, and would definitely fly them again.

We didn't pull up to an actual gate, we de-boarded and got on buses that took us to the terminal.

Once inside, follow signs for "Passport" or "Passport Control", don't look for "Immigration" because you won't find it and you will be left in the dust of the magnificent stampeding tourist herds. When are those going extinct, amirite.

Immigration was quick and painless. Customs was sectioned off into two areas (like Taiwan), Declare or Nothing to Declare. I just walked straight on through Nothing to Declare, and I was out!

Took the Metro to Zeytinburu, then transferred to the tram to Sultanahmet stop. Met some fellow travelers that were all trying to figure out how many tokens we needed to get on, the information wasn't well presented anywhere. Turns out we needed 2 tokens, which were 4TL (Turkish Lira) each, one for each leg of the trip. Exchange rate is 3TL -> 1USD, so took about 2.50 to get to the city, maybe half an hour travel time. Other than the confusion about tokens, it was very painless, very cheap and very convenient to get into the city. I also made a sidekick friend, a France-born-and-raised Algerian guy from Lyons traveling to Istanbul for business. Very nice and pleasant to talk to but all I can remember from our conversation is how badly I wanted to brush my teeth.

Made it to my hostel, Bahaus Guesthouse in Sultanahmet (district in the Old City) in Istanbul. Home sweet home for the next 3 days!

(day 1) intro to Turkey, aka I am flying 12 hours to get ice cream

 After weeks of studying, I'm finally off to Istanbul! This is probably both the least and most I have ever been prepared for traveling. Most, in the sense that I actually researched cultural norms, history, power outlets, currency, etc. before going, but also least because going into this trip, I really don't know much about Turkey, Istanbul, or Islamic culture at all! Hence all the research.

Despite the advent of globalization, the birth of the internet, and Disneyland's shrill and nagging propaganda that the world is getting smaller, in truth only some parts get smaller, don't they? But with the dangerous side effect that we feel like we are actually much more worldly now. But all of those forums, articles, discussions that you spend all day browsing on the internet, they're all written in English. Written by people from all over the world, sure, but with poor representation from many cultures and countries that are largely non-English speaking.

Just a realization that I had as I was preparing to come here. I actually...don't know...anything about Turkey...at all! Istanbul is a city with such a rich history, a bridge between continents, fought over by countless empires, and yet my only impression of Turkey is from the Turkish ice cream vendors that troll you when you try to claim your sweet sweet ice cream.

This jerk right here. Look at him. He knows you're never going to get the ice cream.

And so armed with the knowledge that I am heading off into uncharted territory, off I go!