Come and knock on my door...

It might have come to your attention that I am staying conspicuously silent on the matter of recent interesting events occurring in Istanbul.  I've received several touching emails or messages from friends, and just want to say that I am fine; I've been staying well out of it and fully intend to continue to do so.  But regarding my thoughts or silence thereof, this is not a political blog, and frankly there are more than enough opinions on this situation that are percolating and circulating around the internets already.  I want to ask only that -- no matter what your political opinion, that you please just stay calm and smart about the whole thing.  Spreading information is good.  Re-sharing obviously photoshopped images, photos from a completely different conflict altogether, mis-translated quotations, or posting some histrionic version of "ZOMG THIS HAPPENED TEAR GAS!" is not helpful.  The internet makes it all too easy for people to be idiots.  Don't fall into the trap!  Check your sources, take a breath, and don't be part of sensationalism.  Because if nothing else, you better believe that someone on your friendslist is going to notice that photoshop or be able to speak Turkish and translate that quote correctly, and they are going to call you out and you will feel stupid.

Ahem.

Now back to the good part.

Cappadocia was incredible, but even with the several hours I spent deliberately Relaxing, I was still pretty much exhausted by the time I got home Monday night.  That was just too bad for me, because there was a night event at my school Tuesday, and then I had just two days to plow through laundry and get the apartment presentable before my friend Sarah came to visit!

She got in late Friday evening; I met her at Ataturk and we came back together to the lovely borough of Sirinevler.  Just long enough for us to change and brace ourselves for the long ride into Taksim, because Rachel's parents had come for the weekend and they were taking us out to dinner!  We ate at a traditional Turkish place, on floor cushions.  I had one of my Turkish faves, iskender, and it was quite tasty.

Sarah, me, and Rachel

There is no way I can tackle all of this in my typical narrative chronological style, so here are the highlights of Sarah's 10-day Istanbul Adventure.

Saturday was a full day.  We conquered the "Rick Steves Back Streets Istanbul Walk," which included four mosques and two giant bazaars among other things.  It was my first visit to the Suleymaniye Mosque, as well as the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar.  I am definitively not a Bazaar Person.  I found the constant haggling, wheedling, catcalling, and simpering to be positively abrasive.  The massive crowds didn't help either.  But the clincher came at the Spice Bazaar, where I saw a tiny box of Turkish Delight offered at the staggering price of 40 lira.  You have got to be fucking kidding me.  Found the exact same box elsewhere for 10 lira.  I have pretty much zero respect for anyone trying to take such disgusting advantage of people who just plain don't know any better.

Grand Bazaar

Inside the Suleymaniye Mosque

 We crossed the Galata and had an excellently refreshing respite with some fried calamari, stuffed mussels, and beer (for me).  Then we took the tram back up to Sultanahmet to see something that's been on the top of my Istanbul Must-See list since I got here -- A Whirling Dervish show!

The show was great, but I knew that I was paying for a Tourist Spectacle.  After the dervishes, a freaking belly dancer came out.  Seriously?  Not exactly two great tastes that taste great together.  I'd plunked down my 40 lira to see dervishes, and would have been completely happy if that was all there was to see.  Awkward solo belly dancer shaking her stuff to a half-full room of mostly couples and/or older women... did not really add much to the evening.

We got a late start on Sunday, and went to see the Archaeological Museum.  A bit dry but worth a look around.  Interestingly, Rick Steves advised that, if pressed for time, you skip the Museum of the Ancient Orient, which was my favorite part of the whole affair.  The Kadesh Treaty is here, which is the world's oldest surviving peace accord, as well as friezes of Babylonian dragons and some cool Egyptian artifacts.  Ah well, each to his own, Rick Steves!

Kadesh Treaty

Inside the main museum, the highlight for me was this incredibly creepy poor guy on display.  They called him a mummy but there sure didn't seem to be much mummified stuff left.

I also really liked this guy, a giant statue of the god Bes, who apparently is sometimes mistaken for Hercules.

The third building, the Tiled Kiosk, has some beautiful ceramics and examples of Iznik tiles.  Unmistakably the prettiest, but possibly the least interesting, from a historical point of view at least.

Door into the Tiled Kiosk

After the museum, we got ourselves some fresh air and did a Bosphorus Cruise.  I'd done one before and this was pretty much exactly the same, but the weather was nice and there were no Turkish teenage boys being douchebags on this go-round, so it was enjoyable enough. :)

Sarah with Europe behind her

On Monday, we decided to foray off the beaten path a bit, and find Chora Church.  We got a little lost attempting to do this, and ended up making our own road through a Muslim graveyard.

It wasn't really Rick's fault but we needed someone to blame in the moment.

Eventually, we found it.  The Chora Church is famous because of the marvelous mosaics that have survived inside.  Rick says to take an hour scrutinizing them all?  Yeah... we made sure to take absolutely as long as we could because it had been such a bitch to find, and pretty much ran out of stuff to stare at after 15 minutes.  Undeniably beautiful though, even if I couldn't manage to fill the hour!

Chora Church

Chora Church is right next to the Old City Walls, built by Constantine when this place was still Constantinople.  So we got out our rock-climbing skills and checked them out.

Stairway to heaven?  Also, crazy freaking steep.

I still had to work my standard Tuesday through Friday, but we managed to have some fun in the evenings anyway.  On Tuesday, we ventured all the was over to Asia and had dinner in Kadikoy.  On Wednesday, we went out to Aksaray and did a traditional Turkish hamam.  Pretty identical to my hammam experience in Trabzon, except this time I was able to communicate that I didn't want buckets of water poured over my face or soap covering my eyes.

When Saturday rolled around again, it was time for another full day.  Sarah had seen a lot of the Tourist Must-Sees on the days when I was working, but she hadn't caught the Blue Mosque yet, so we started with that.  And holy crap, the line.  When I visited in February I was able to walk right in!  Istanbul in June is... engorged.

Line snaking around the inner courtyard

Specifically because I knew I'd be going to a mosque, I wore a pair of capri shorts that covered my knees.  But apparently this was not good enough, and they made me wear this ridiculous blue skirt/wrap thing.  Oh well.  As I kept saying to Sarah throughout the week, "When in Constantinople..."

Sarah, me, the Blue Mosque, and my skirt

After the Blue Mosque, we wandered through the peaceful Arasta Bazaar, which is where I will be doing all my shopping when it comes time for it, and did a quick spin through the Mosaic Museum.  Small but quite interesting; I liked the prevalence of mythological creatures in the mosaic art.  The Green Man, a winged unicorn, a griffin... very cool.

Green Man

We wanted to tour the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, but it's closed for renovation.  So we walked across the Galata again because I'd finally convinced Sarah to try one of the awesome vendor cart fish sandwiches!  It was just as good as I remembered. :)  Then up to the Istanbul Modern, which is discretely tucked away along the Bosphorus and a welcome soothing balm to the bustle (and hustle!) of Sultahahmet.  Sadly, no photos inside, but a very interesting collection of often provocative pieces and installations.

I loved the juxtaposition of all the conflicting styles in this shot.

We walked up to Taksim for a bit, and saw some riot police who apparently got the memo one week too early.

And finally, Sarah took me out for an amazing dinner of Thai food!  I have been seriously missing my Asian fix, and this could not have been more perfect.  Spring rolls and extra-spicy (requested!) red curry, followed by poached pear and ginger ice cream with lemon and ginger tea.  100% HEAVEN.  Thank you again, Sarah!!

On Sunday, I accompanied her to the airport on Sunday morning and then had the No Pants Day of my LIFE.

It was awesome to have a friend from home here, to be able to experience Istanbul from a different perspective.  The days went by too quickly, but I don't see how we could have crammed anything more into them!  I got to check almost everything off my Istanbul Bucket List though -- I think only the Aquaduct and maybe the Dolmabache Palace are left.  And I very much hope that things quiet down here soon.  I have presents to buy for folks.