Exploring Istanbul

Tom and I had the unbelievable opportunity to visit Istanbul in between my work trips to London and Greece...

Istanbul is such a dynamic city! The sights and sounds and smells were enough to keep Tom and me whirling for months. It was certainly one of the most interesting cultures I’ve ever experienced. It’s become a bit cliché by now, but it really is the cross-section of the world in so many ways… of religions (Christianity meets Islam), of continents (Europe meets Asia), of gender roles (modern Western women meet burka-clad women – both curious about the other), of cultures (fast-paced Western business meets slow and idle sojourns).

I don’t even know where to begin. How about quick observations?

The biggest city in Europe… who knew? 20 million people, a city that seems to stretch on an on. Crowds and mobs of people everywhere. At times you felt PACKED IN by the crowds, and not just on the metro, but walking on the streets.

VERY few women seen employed or working anywhere – never once as a waiter or anywhere in a restaurant, cab driver, shop salesperson – from upscale to the bazaars, ferry or train workers, at any tourism stop. It was just bizarre. We saw thousands of local workers throughout our time, but never a woman. With two exceptions… At our Western hotel there 2 women who rotated among the front desk staff (but never maids, restaurant workers, concierges, etc.), and at the traditional baths, where women and men’s sections are separate.

The most colorful city I have ever seen! Every product and stall and store seems to only sell items that come in every color of the rainbow, from pottery to purses, head scarfs to hanging lights, flowers to Turkish Delight. Combine that with pungent smells, all variety of sounds (stall workers shouting out deals, calls to prayer, taxis beeping), plus extraordinary sights… it is sensory overload.

The loud speakers moaning/singing and calling people to prayer got old fast. It must have been 5 times per day – loud and obnoxious. We never saw anyone change their behavior when it began, but then again, we were in the touristy areas.

People smoke a lot, especially at restaurants, yet the country blurs out cigarettes when someone is smoking on TV. Hmm.

Never once saw a man holding a baby or child, despite seeing children with women everywhere.

Every sidewalk is packed with carts selling one of three types of food items: roasted corn, roasted chestnuts or a pretzel/bread product in a ring shape. You only have to walk about 10 feet before you run into another. We never saw anyone buying the chestnuts, despite all of the carts. LOTS of folks snacking on the other two items though.

They drink lots of tea out of mini-tulip shaped glass cups – it’s everywhere and always the same distinct cup

Tom and I got a kick out of what we termed “purse piles.” You would look down a small side street and see a huge blanket laid out on the sidewalk, and hundreds of purses piled on top of each other. The salesmen would toss them back and forth to a new pile in order to keep refreshing those on top, always shouting and chanting something in Turkish.

We saw every type of woman – from scantily clad teenagers to modern tourists to modest headscarves to full burkas. Despite this diversity, as a woman I definitely felt discriminated against in many situations. I can’t totally describe why or how… it was just obvious when a man looked at me with contempt or wouldn’t look at me in the eye, or would only speak to Tom. This part of the country was like a virus, it slowly pulled you down as the days went on, and I was happy to escape it when we left.

Oh, and a highlight of our trip… the traditional Turkish bath. Tom and I had a slightly different experience, so it was entertaining comparing notes afterwards. But in general, these bath houses date back to the 17th and 18th centuries and are in beautiful, historic buildings.

There is a separate section for the men and the women. You start in an open area with a huge, beautiful domed ceiling. They were like the Turkish version of a country club locker room, with chairs to sit and socialize, “stalls” that serve as private dressing areas, tea service – but very rustic and basic. In your stall you receive old wooden sandals and a thin cloth to use as a wet and dry towel.

Then you move on to the actual bath, which is in another beautiful domed-ceiling room, which also happens to be a sauna (very hot and steamy) that’s all marble and tile, columns everywhere, no lights other than sun lights cut out of the domed roof, with an elevated marble octagon slab in the middle. On each side of the slab lies a customer getting scrubbed down and/or massaged by a worker. Around the sides are marble slabs to sit against, as well as old fashioned fountains with a hot and cold spout and a basin to scoop up the water.

Women’s side: matronly, large, older women speak little English and lead you around to the different stages by your hand, yet grab your hair as they go to shampoo it. Men’s side: Tom said all of the workers looked like “Rulon Gardner with a mustache,” who gave painful, jarring “massages” with no oil and dripped sweat on every surface while they grunted things like “dat gooood, dat gooood.” Women’s side: The workers rinse you off by emptying the basins of water over you, getting soap and water in your eyes, leaving you wondering what the heck is going on. Men’s side: For rinsing, rather than the “underhand” approach of the females, they opt for “overhand,” forcefully slapping water onto the backs of the customers while still yelling “dat goooood, dat goooood” and grunting at each other.

Understandably, the male customers are a bit more bewildered and startled about what’s going on. You walk out of the baths and meet up and just kind of stare at each other, like “did that just happen?” Sharing our stories over a beer afterwards was almost as fun as the experience itself.

Another favorite activity, though much more tame, was a cruise up the Bosphorus we took on our last day. The Bosphorus is a river – a straight – that cuts through Istanbul, separating Europe from Asia. It connects the Black Sea in the north with the Sea of Marmara in the south, which connects to the Mediterranean Sea. It’s wide and beautiful, and is lined by charming towns and historical fortresses.

It was a bit of a relief to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city, and the further away from Istanbul you go, the more you start feeling like you could be in Denmark or Norway. Imagine little fishing villages with cafes on the water and little colorful homes all in a row.

We stopped at the northern-most end, in a town called Anadolu Kavagi, which was just picture perfect. We ate fried eggplant and sea bass on the water’s edge, hiked up to an old fortress, actually saw some live turkeys in turkey, bought some souvenirs from a local family right outside of their home, and ended our stay with gelato.

Needless to say, we saw plenty of other neat sites, including the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia – which was originally a huge, historical church turned into a mosque, the Basilica Cistern where they would store water as early as the 6th century, the Galata Tower – one of the world’s oldest, took a boat over to the Asian side of the Bosphorus, sat in lots of little cafes drinking tea or beers, went out one night to one of Istanbul’s most hoping night clubs.

We were frequenters at a tiny cabob shop on a side street down a set of stairs not too far from our hotel (the workers would greet Tom as an old friend), and we indulged in our share of baklava.

Istanbul was such a great stop on my whirlwind European Tour, and to have Tom there made it the best ever.