I Can See Asia from my Hostel, or how Day 1 of Istanbul went

Two updates in one day... aren't you lucky!

(And there may be some personal gain on my part too.)

Well, you've already heard my morning sob story about not getting enough sleep, so I won't repeat it. Instead I can enlighten you on the gregarious interactions I've had with people, because today was very much about the meeting and the ignoring.

Yes, ignoring. I'm an awful person, but as a lovely single lady, I can't stop and chat with every man that yells out "Hello, lady" or "Yes, please." (I even got one "Good morning" this evening.) I knew that most of the sights didn't open until 9, but I was getting bored sitting around (and without a converter, couldn't really just play around on the internet). So I put on my fleece and stepped out into the quiet morning. I walked up to the Blue Mosque, but got distracted by a rooster, so ended up in a parking lot overlooking the Bosphorus Strait (though it might have been closer to the Sea of Marmara. Check out this map if you really care.) Speaking of animals, Istanbul has more strays than any other place I've been. And the cats are cuter than the mutts (which often look like a cross between a German Shepard and some other sleeker hound), so they have a few more starring roles in my pictures.

I loved the morning, until I started wandering around the tourist section before there were tourists there. A very insistent man came up to me, and trailed me for a few blocks before I shook him off (though he was in the square in front of the Hagia Sophia, so I was scared he was going to try again). Some how I ended up with his business card, which makes that two of them now. (The first was from my "friend" last night on the tram, who struck up a conversation, then warped it into me stopping by his shop so we could become "good friends." In case you were wondering, I am not going to buy a rug, so I'm not going to visit him.)

So after that early morning harassment, I went into the Blue Mosque. All mosques have a courtyard with a cleansing area, with running water and little stools, so this area had one. Walking around the building, all the tourists went in the side entrance to take off our shoes (though head coverings weren't required at this one). Inside was the giant dome. It was awesome (as in "brings awe", not the meaning followed by "dude"). Good ol' Rick told me all sorts of thing that I wouldn't have noticed. For example, the carpet (besides being vacuumed) had lines on it to help the worshippers be oriented. The six minarets on the outside were the most in the world (until the one at Mecca had to build another, not to be outdone.) The legend about the minarets is the Sultan Ahmet asked for a gold (altin) and the architect heard six (alti). That was probably just an excuse for him to build six, really. And, of course, I have to mention the crazy cool dome.

Next I headed over to the Hagia Sophia, a church-turned-mosque-turned-museum. It was built to mimic the Blue Mosque (no wonder I was confused last night!) It has a ridiculous soaring dome too, which has been under restoration for years apparently. But, with the 10-story tall scaffolding, it is still impressive. The Christian idols were covered by plaster when the Ottoman Empire (I think) invaded, so some are destroyed forever, some were preserved because of it. When's all said and done, they were impressive. The vastness and openness that they tried to achieve with dome (which is bigger and better than the Blue Mosque's) worked.

Then it was the Underground Cistern, which was a luminous wonder. The reflections in the pool of all of the mismatched columns was beautiful. I should have a place just for pictures, since this is getting a bit full of them.

So that is basically the end of the typical tourist part of the day. Now, it was time for adventure. Well, once I passed the Hippodrome (a former chariot race track) where I found not one, but two obelisks!

I went to an off-the-beaten-path mosque (not that off-the-beaten-path though, there were a few other tourists there), then followed a random cobblestone road down a hill. There, I found a street of artisans, so I stopped in the first shop that caught my fancy.

And for the first time, I was not harassed until I bought something or left. In fact, I looked around the little shop for five minutes until the artist came up. When I finally chose a sketch of a whirling dervish, it was only about $7! And he packed it up with such care... He cut a board to put behind it, and taped up the envelope really well. I would show you a picture of it, but it is so well-packed, I don't want to take it out. And such a dear, too.

So, fresh with that experience, I went across the row to another little shop, where a woman was printing on fabric. She welcomed me, and then I asked (using the universal language of hand gestures) for her to show me. She painted on the black (India?) ink, put it on a cloth, and pounded. I was very impressed, and then, she gave a scrap cloth to me with some of her printing! When I asked her name, she gave it to me, then used her signature stencil to print it on my bandanna-sized piece of red fabric. I was already very thankful, then she offered me some Turkish delight. What a blessing.

I wandered down to the bank (crossing a very busy street in a less-than-opportune spot... but not getting hit!) After I walked along for a ways, I began to meander my way back toward the hostel, because my camera battery was going down, I was getting tired, and I wanted my sunglasses. While walking around the backstreets, I heard a man ask in English for a beer. My curious and friendly nature got the better of me, so I sat by him and asked for one, too. Gustaf from Sweden was headed to Ethopia to learn medicine, and when he went back to the WC, I started chatting with two other guys that came up and had been smoking like chimneys since we got there. They happened to be heading to the same hostel, so after an hour or so of chatter, we headed back that direction... where I subsequently fell asleep.

I woke up and was ready for dinner, but not really feeling up to walking around in the dark alone. But, I toughed up and made it to a cafe where I had some sort of potato pastry, and another one that I didn't know anything about. I made it back to the hostel, met the 8 other girls in my room, and chilled. And wrote this huge post. Sorry for the length, congrats if you made it this far! Time to socialize more. :)