Final Days in Turkey

On Monday I went to the Grand Bazaar with Kaitlyn and Andrea.  It was not at all what I thought it would be, but it was really cool.  I imagined it being like a bunch of outdoor tents selling junk and stuff, but it was all inside.  You walk into the bazaar and it is just rows and rows of shops basically in a grid pattern.  It is pretty much impossible to see everything but we walked around for hours.  They had all kinds of jewelry, scarves, pottery, rugs, bags, trinkets, etc.  The most fun part of the bazaar was getting to practice our bargaining skills, and we were pretty good at it I must say.  They told us the key was being able to walk away and they were definitely right.  After a few hours in the bazaar we were ready to eat and I must say Turkish food has been the least appetizing so far.  Not to mention that all over Istanbul there has been American fast food and even a Chili’s and TGI Fridays.  So we all caved and went to McDonald’s – I had a McChicken and fries and it was so delicious!  Then we continued to walk back towards the ship passing the Spice Bazaar on the way.  This was smaller than the Grand Bazaar but had most of the same trinket type items.  The difference being that the Spice Bazaar sold fresh spices and teas that you could fill up a bag with what you want and they vacuum seal it so that you can bring it through customs.  It definitely had a strong smell inside, but was cool to see all the spices and especially teas.

Yesterday I went on a SAS tour of Byzantine architecture in Istanbul.  As we were driving toward our first place, our tour guide had us get out to look at a new excavation site.  They had started digging an underground tunnel to go across the Bosphorus when they discovered that the area was part of the old harbor and they have discovered over 60 ships in the excavation.  We couldn’t really see much though; it just looked like a construction site.  Next the bus dropped us off at the entrance of Old Town and we walked to the Seven Towers Fortress which was part of the old city walls.  Then we walked through the town to see an old church.  On our walk back the tour guide got us all sesame rolls to try.  They were good and basically like soft pretzels but covered in sesame seeds.  Then we went to the Kariye museum.  It was originally a church, then a mosque, and now a museum.  It was interesting to see all the detailed mosaics that were inside.  Then we drove to a pretty central part of Istanbul to see the rest of the sights.  First we saw the Obelisks (one from Egypt and one from Delphi) that stand in the center of what used to be a chariot racing track.  Then we went to a mosaic museum where they have uncovered and are piecing together huge mosaics because that used to be how floors in all the houses were done.  Then we went to the underground cistern which used to hold all the water that the city could use.  It is just supported by lots of columns and arches and has really neat lighting now.  Then we went to the main attraction of Istanbul – Hagia Sophia.  It was also originally a church then turned into a mosque but is a museum now.  There was lots of scaffolding there because hey are restoring the mosaics of the dome, but it was still really cool.  There is still a bunch of stuff from when it was a mosque, but they are also uncovering the old Christian mosaics that were there even earlier.  The last stop of the day was to a mosque still in use called Little Hagia Sophia.  It is 10 years older than Hagia Sophia and was supposedly built as a model for the larger Hagia Sophia.  It was the only actual mosque that I ever went inside so we all had to take off our shoes, but there was no one there because it wasn’t a prayer time.

Today I had an SAS trip for my cross-cultural psychology class about student life in Turkey.  We went to Bosphorus University which is a top university in Turkey and 1 of 5 that teach completely in English.  The campus was really beautiful and surprisingly full of lawns and trees for being in such a large city.  We sat on one of the lawns while a panel of about 6 students talked about the educational system in Turkey and then it was opened up for questions.  It was very interesting to learn about, but not a very exciting way to spend the last day in Istanbul.

Overall, Istanbul was the first port city that was genuinely a lot different from our culture.  It was interesting to be walking around normally and hear all the calls to prayer coming from the mosques.  Not everyone in Istanbul wears the full Islamic dress because the country is trying to become more westernized, but there were lots of women with the full head scarves.  We were all told to dress more conservatively as well, so I’m very glad it was cloudy most of the time so it didn’t get too hot.  A lot of Istanbul is surrounded by water so there was generally a nice breeze too.  Now I am back on the ship and ready to start doing all the work I have for class tomorrow before the 6th port – Bulgaria.