Istanbul - before the trip

Castle @ Anadolu Kavagi
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We arrived at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul round 1.30am and found a shuttle company to take us to the hostel for 50YTL, we discovered the next morning going to the airport only cost 10YTL! Oh well it was early in the morning and all we wanted to do was go to bed so we couldn’t be bothered bargaining. It was almost cold in the air-conditioned bus, something we’d crave almost constantly over the next 40days.

When we arrived at the hostel we had to face the unpleasant task of leaving behind the air-con. The heat hits you like a wall, you can taste it and feel the mugginess in the air. Instantly sweat forms like a permanent shroud. We checked in and found our way up to our room where four people slept, turning every now and then to try and find a cooler position, a futile mission. This was about to become our fate. We organised our packs and collapsed into the bunks. That night we learnt a very important lesson, if you’re ever staying anywhere in the Middle East, get air con. I spent the night constantly readjusting my PJ’s so they covered as little of my sweat drenched body as possible. It also didn’t help that I could feel the spring coils through my shabby excuse for a mattress. I awoke in the morning (well awoke may not be the best word, I’m still not convinced that I actually slept) and looked forward to the prospect of a cold shower. The shower felt magnificent right up until the precise second the water stopped flowing. Then you were in a stuffy room with no ventilation and the sweat formed instantly.

Blue Mosque
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After showering we went down for breakfast which consisted of sliced tomato, cucumber, a cheese segment, small tubs of jam and butter, slices of bread and a boiled egg. This was pretty much how breakfast was most of the journey, except that further south there were no tomatoes, the nice berry jam turned into fig jam and the bread became hard. We then began our exploration of Istanbul. Our hostel was in a street running parallel to the sea and from the rooftop bar we could see the roofs and minarets of the Blue Mosque. Most of the buildings in our street were about 6 stories high and mainly backpackers and bars. Thrown in were a few carpet shops and a laundrette. It was fairly quiet when we left; I expect most of the locals were still at home sleeping. The heat and humidity hadn’t let up at all over night, even at 8am it was still hotter than anything I’d ever experienced. We later found out that there was a heat wave and the temperatures were close to 50 degrees!

Marc & Rose outside the Blue Mosque
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As it was my first time in a Moslem country we started by visiting the Blue Mosque. I was a good tourist and had brought with me a headscarf and the legs to zip on my shorts. We made our way through the other tourists donning blue clothes, women around their heads and shoulders, the men over their knees as a skirt. Inside the Mosque was spacious and airy due to the high domed ceiling. The walls were amazing; they covered with finely detailed patterns and had lots of stained glass windows.

The Aya Sofia
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Next we went to visit the Aya Sofia; a massive church built during Roman times and was later converted into a mosque. It was a huge mass of domes and turrets. When it was converted the Christian mosaics upstairs were covered up which meant they’re really well persevered. To get up to the gallery to see the mosaics we had to go up a never-ending stone ramp. It was funny watching female tourists in highly inappropriate shoes struggle their way up.

Where we were down the tourist end of Istanbul, it was hard pick the locals from the tourists. There were two extremes of female dress from; some wore scant clothing while others wore full burkhas. Walking down the street we’d soon became very familiar with the cry of ‘Gidday Mate, are you Aussie? Kiwi?’ We soon learnt to ignore it otherwise we’d get a barrage of questions and a sales pitch for whatever they were trying to sell, from food to carpet.

Inside the Blue Mosque
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In the four days we spent in Istanbul there was very little escaping the heat; day and night we would sweat. One day we didn’t manage to get some reprieve. We were trying to catch a ferry across to the Dolmabahce Palace but ended up buying a ticket all the way up the Bosphorus so we decided we might as well do the full day cruise. The breeze from the boat was pleasantly refreshing, although in saying that we probably experienced our hottest spell on the trip once we reached our destination. We climbed up a hill to visit a castle; the climb wasn’t huge but the sun beating down on us made it unbearable. We were so relieved when we made it to the top and there was a spectacular view. To one side was the Black Sea and to the other the Bosphorus. By the time we arrived back at the ferry terminal I was desperate for a swim but the water there wasn’t exactly appealing.

Roof detail in the Blue Mosque
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When we finally made it to the Dolmabahce Palce it was amazing. It was gigantic with two main sections; one for the Sultan and his business and the other for his harem. The Sultans Muayede Hall was stunning, with its huge pillars, a high domed roof and brightly painted ceiling.

On our last day in Istanbaul we discovered another stiflingly hot place, The Grand Bazaar. It was a labyrinth of alleyways and shops selling everything under the sun. The shops were arranged into areas of similar items, for example there was a whole street of jewellery shops. We were almost tempted to face the harassment, sorry sales pitch, in order to enjoy a few moments of air-con, but we were tired of being pestered. Instead we went in search of things we actually wanted to buy. We found a small instrument shop and had our first bargaining experience. Looking back I think we could have got the Zurna (Turkish wind instrument) for less but we were happy with the price. He did the ‘ANZAC’ speech. ‘New Zealand and Turkey we are good friends, I give you special cheap ANZAC price’. After working our way through the constant calls imploring you to purchase something’s from them (‘You want a leather jacket? Come buy a scarf? Just look, costs nothing to look’) we headed back out into the daylight and searing heat.