| turkey, march 12 - 24, 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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My wife and I spent 12 days in Turkey in March 2002. This is a transcription of my travel journal from that trip, our third time to Turkey. The cast of characters includes: KR (my wife), Elizabeth (our guide), Lori and Brian (friends of ours from Pittsburgh), and various other group members. Photos are by me unless designated (BZ): Bhakti Ziek, or (BC): Brian Cavalier.
Tue, Mar 12 2002 5:00 pm, Pittsburgh PA We're on a plane. Not the one we originally wanted, but it'll fly. The mini jet we were to take to JFK had mechanical problems so we were turned away on the tarmac. We only had an hour layover in JFK to begin with, so they rescheduled us on a USAir flight via Frankfurt. KR has befriended a Turkish businessman returning home from visiting his family in Pittsburgh.
Wed, Mar 13 2002 8:30 am, Frankfurt Airport I was awake for the whole flight. We had individual entertainment centers, so I watched two movies ("Bandits" and "The Green Mile") and some other junk instead. I dozed during descent. Touchdown in Frankfurt woke me. Our Turkish businessman friend has been very gracious to walk with us, arrange a call to our hotel in Istanbul (to let their driver know that we'd be late), and sit and chat with us.
8 pm, Kybele Hotel, Istanbul We didn't see a driver for us at the airport when we arrived, so I called the hotel from the airport post office to make sure that he wasn't there somewhere. As I walked away, the postal clerk ran after me to say "telephone pay." 250,000 TL, about 15 cents. We took a cab to the hotel (10,000,000 TL). The Kybele Hotel is a small bed & breakfast style place owned by three Turkish brothers: Hasan, Alp, and Mike. Mike is the artist, buying and selling anything he finds beautiful. Mostly, it's rugs, though he has textiles and objects of all types. Mike is the one we bond most with, since he's often the one who accompanies us on our excursions, translating and bargaining when needed. Our room this year is quite a bit smaller than the one we've had the past two times, but the ceiling is full of their little lamps.
After settling in, we took a quick walk around Sultanahmet, being accosted every few minutes by friendly young men who each wanted us finally to shop at his (or his brother's or cousin's) rug store. Sultanahmet is the Old Town section of Istanbul. It's the main tourist target, a small area with a number of stunningly beautiful sights: Aya Sofia, The Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, the Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace, and a few nice little museums. It is also the place where it's most impossible to stand still without being approached by street vendors and self-proclaimed tourguides.
On our return to the hotel we asked the front desk to order us kebabs and hummus from Buhara (a little restaurant around the corner, toward the Grand Bazaar). It was delicious. We ate in the hotel dining room, while a lot of people - some from our group, I think - socialized in the living room.
Thu, Mar 14 2002 6 pm Today was an excellent-typical day. Lots of memories re-lived. (Even waking up at 3:15 and lying awake with my mind spinning for two hours.) Breakfast made me happy. Tart yogurt with white raisins and honey, cucumbers, lemony carrots, fresh orange juice (Elizabeth arranged for the juice guy across the street to bring two pitchers for us - the hotel usually serves Tang), hard boiled eggs, oranges, and more. It's a clear cool day. A nice day for a walk to the Grand Bazaar. Today we stopped at the two places we always visit: Osman's and Abdula's. Both are located off of the beaten path. The Grand Bazaar is a part of town - roads, shops, restaurants - covered with a roof. To get to our two destinations we wound our way through the bazaar, past shops brimming with jewelry, t-shirts, leather goods, rugs, fabric, beads, and occasionally stuff that causes a double-take: "What was that??" At a critical (and hard to remember) point we cut down a narrow alley, up some stairs to a rooftop or upstairs room. Osman is Kurdish, Abdula is Uzbek. As in every store in Turkey, we arrive, exchange greetings, and place drink orders: usually tea (chay), but you can also get apple tea ("the Tang of teas"), Turkish coffee, Nescafe, water (su), or soda.
Osman moved his textile shop. He used to be in a rooftop shack, up some perilous steps and across the rooftop. Now his shop is just at the top of the steps (which have been repaired). He had loads and loads of great stuff. We looked mainly at susanis, and KR bought coats, jackets, hats, and some small stuff.
Lunch was at a really good Ottoman place - dolmas, köfte, brussel sprouts, and a honey-soaked cake topped with water buffalo whipped cream (no kidding) for dessert. Abdula recognized us, and was pleased to see us again. KR bought more coats and some small pieces.
The pay toilets are the filthiest. Here in our hotel room KR is demonstrating the technique for squatting over a hole-in-the-floor toilet, since I haven't had the pleasure of doing that yet. Many WCs have real toilets, but the more primitive places have a hole in the floor with a ceramic fixture, with foot-treads, installed over the top (sorry, no picture). The regular toilets all have a little water-nozzle on the back of the rim. The butt-washer we called it. Efficient, though I never developed an expert technique.
12:15 am Dinner tonight was at Hamdi, where we've been every time we're in Istanbul. They sent their own vans to get us. It's on the second floor, and requires an elevator ride. The elevator I was in got stuck for about three hours (it felt like three hours, but was more likely two minutes). We had a delicious kebab dinner, with loads of appetizers, lots of wine, and a "shredded wheat" dessert with honey, pistachios, and cheese inside.
Fri Mar 15 2002 7 pm After breakfast KR went to Arasta Bazaar with Jeff and Jean, and I went to the airport with the hotel driver to meet Brian and Lori.They had already arrived by the time we got there, so we scooped them up and got in the car. I pointed to a few things as we drove back to the hotel. At the traffic light in front of Aya Sofia, Brian said, "There's someone I know." I truly had no idea who it could be. It was KR, who jumped in with them in the back seat. We all convened in Mike's upstairs room for his world-famous rug lesson and some early shopping. KR grabbed a beautiful striped Persian flatweave, a couple children's ikat coats (made from larger, old ikat panels), and a cool quilt-patterned lambskin bedspread that we're having second thoughts on now. Mike's place is completely full now, with tassles hanging from every inch of the ceiling, except the skylight, which is also covered, but not as densely. He also has formed a tunnel-like doorway out of his cut-out susani bedspreads. They're cool, but too expensive for us.
Lunch was pide - pizza-like things on pita, rolled up on the edges to form canoes. And shredded lettuce and cabbage salad dressed with lemon. Afterwards, Elizabeth and some of the group went to buy plane tickets from Konya back to Istanbul (we'll be going to Konya via train). Brian, Lori, KR, and I walked around the tourist area awhile. Bright green parrots flew overhead near the Blue Mosque and landed in a tree where they picked berries and squawked at each other. We spent a few minutes in the Blue Mosque (5 million TL got us 5 tickets; the attendant didn't say how much of a donation to give). It's spacious and beautiful, but doesn't out-shine Aya Sofya. Now Lori & Brian are sleeping and we've packed for our trip to Konya tomorrow. Okay, KR packed while I wrote.
11:25 pm Dinner tonight was at Ege, the fish place where we went on our last trip without Elizabeth and had fish soup. We sat outside and enjoyed the people strolling past - some selling almonds, little lamps, big dolls of all racial types, and enormous wooden ships. Toward the end of the meal, the band came outside to play us some Turkish music. The guy at the next table, full of raki (the "official" Turkish alcoholic beverage), did some sort of belly-dance, laughing.
Sat Mar 16 2002 4:45 pm In the morning I went through the Basilica Cistern with Brian and Lori. Then to the Grand Bazaar with the group for icons, metal, beads, fabric, and a kebab lunch. The icon dealer was a very nice young guy named Ercan (pronounced ehr-jon). He was very knowledgable and he obviously loved the works he had in his shop.
Unfortunately, KR went back to the hotel mid-morning, ill, to nap. Lunch was at Mike's favorite kebab place in the bazaar. We crowded into the small kitchen to watch them make Smashed Salad, a sort of Turkish salsa made by chopping tomatoes, parsley, pepper flakes, and other luscious ingredients using a huge crescent-shaped rocking-knife on an ancient concave chopping board (Jean wondered how much chopping block makes it into each salad serving). There was laughter and clowning around as we tried in Pidgin-Turkish to ask for an empty glass so Tabbetha could mix Coke with bitter yogurt drink.
Next: The train to Konya. |
