Turkey! Day 1

A few weeks ago when we were at the DeJoy's rug flop, my friend Courtney and I were talking about travel and places we wanted to go. Turkey came up and we started talking about how much we wanted to visit. The next day I got a message from Courtney saying she couldn't get Turkey out of her head and did I want to go on a quick trip to Istanbul for spring break. Well, unless you're new around these parts, you know I won't say no to travel and adventure ever. So we started planning! I asked my friend Christine if she was in and she doesn't say no to travel either, so she was a go!

We started planning and booked our hotel and flights and had our days loosely planned. And then, a few days before we were supposed to leave, Christopher called and said, "Do you know you need approval from the embassy to get into Turkey?" and everything came to a screeching halt. I had done the research and hadn't seen anything about needing approval. Hell, we already had our visas from the Turkish government! So we all sent in our applications to get approval- mine was kicked back and denied almost immediately so Christopher sent word back that he wasn't traveling and it was just us and we waited.

The next day Christine's husband went to work (it was a day off) and checked and she had been denied. We all assumed we'd be denied and after some deliberation, Christine and I cancelled everything. Within minutes of me canceling our flights Courtney got the message that her application had come back with the note that approval wasn't needed! Christopher jumped up and ran to work and mine and Stella's application was approved. Womp womp womp.

After some number crunching, small tantrums, and sleeping on it, I decided to just suck it up and buy our tickets again. After the partial refund and tickets that ended up being cheaper than the first time we bought them, we were only out $340. Which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't horrible. And I know I will never regret spending money on travel. Christine heard back from the hotel and they were willing to reinstate our room and credit our account the money from her original booking that she'd cancelled, so she decided to go as well!

So we packed our bags, headed to the airport a little before midnight and headed on our adventure! Two more ladies joined us so we all piled in to the lounge and snacked and chatted before catching our 2:15am flight.

This girl got more sleep than anyone... I put her to bed super early before we left and she had a solid four hours of sleep before she slept for the majority of the flight. She hit the ground running! The rest of us hit the ground in search of coffee...

Our amazing hotel! When I was looking online it was one of the first places to pop up on trip advisor and it had incredible reviews. Their customer service was absolutely outstanding and they went above and beyond to take care of us (including the cancelling and rebooking fiasco). I highly recommend them if you're ever traveling to Istanbul! 

We arrived and they took our bags for us and sent us down to have breakfast. I was too tired to snap a picture but it was delicious and wonderful. While we were finishing up our breakfast the hotel manager came down and brought us city maps and brochures for things to do. He laid out a map and took a pen and told us a quick run down of where things were, how to get there, and what to do in the city. He talked about things to look out for (corrupt taxi drivers and common scams that are used to target tourists) and was so, so helpful! It was amazing and I've never had that sort of service before. We actually found out that the Hotel Amira was rated the #14 hotel in the world by Trip Advisor and made some top ten lists on other lists and they absolutely lived up to their status in customer service alone! 

This is the view of the lobby from the steps at the dining room.

The steps were amazing leading up to the lobby! Such a cool idea and a great use of space!

I asked the front desk if they had gluten free options for breakfast for Stella and not only did they accommodate that, he gave me a few of these printed out cards to give to restaurants to let them know, in Turkish, that there was a wheat allergy. And they absolutely came in handy! 

They checked us into our rooms early and we dropped our bags off and freshened up. Our room was so cute!

We loved the lights!

The view from our window 

Stairs leading down to the lower level of the hotel

The elevator

We met back up in the lobby and headed out to explore the city! 

It was an absolutely stunning day! The weather was perfect- mid 60's, sunny, clear skies and clear air! We were all in heaven!

We came across a small bazaar that we walked through to get to the main square!

So many gorgeous treasures! If that pomegranate platter had been smaller or I'd had a giant suitcase, it would have come home with me for sure!

Meerschaum pipes (Meerschaum is a smoking pipe made from the mineral sepiolite, which comes from a form of sea foam that's found in the Black Sea- Christopher has a couple of pipes and loves them and I meant to get him another one and kept forgetting...next time!)

Right at the square looking at the Blue Mosque

We all loved this cool tree!

Stella in front of the Hagia Sophia

Wearing our matching fox shirts!

Me and Christine!

The whole group of us!

Standing by the side of the Hagia Sophia and looking out towards the Blue Mosque

Stella was excited for grass... she scrambled over a stone half wall and shouted excitedly for me to take a picture of her in grass...living in Bahrain has absolutely taught us to appreciate green any time we see it! 

At the Topkapi Palace looking over the Bosphorus straight to the Asian side of Istanbul

The Topkapi Palace!  We ended up not going in to the palace- the lines for tickets were just crazy long and we felt like we had so much to see and so little time, we opted out of it this go 'round.

Stella pointing at a Parliament of Magpies. We joke and call her our little magpie because when she was little she was forever snatching shiny things (like keys and beads and coins and whatever she could get her little hands on) and hide them in pouches and purses or bags. 

Random ruins 

Big fat cat... the stray cats and dogs in Istanbul are very well cared for and very well fed! They were all so tame and fat! 

Leaving the palace 

There were fountains and ablution stations all over the city!

Gorgeous building! I think this was a school or a government building. 

Heading towards the spice bazaar... I will never tire of European streets and architecture 

There was such a mix of old world European and Middle East architecture. Wandering the streets was awesome! 

Inside the spice bazaar! It was crowded and very warm in there with tons of people selling well, spices, but Turkish delight, baklava, tea, and all sorts of things!

At this point, two of our group who were leaving a day early, headed to catch the ferry to see the Asian side of the city and we headed towards the Grand Bazaar and in search of lunch!

Honey and honeycomb in a shop on the street

We found the bazaar! 

The ceiling of the bazaar

So many carpet stores!

Winding streets of the bazaar

Massive drinking fountain at a crossroads in the bazaar

Tired, lost, thirst, and hungry, we couldn't find a place with food in the maze that was the bazaar so we stumbled across an exit and headed out. 

We stopped at the first cafe that didn't annoy us and bug us to stop (this is a common thing in Turkey, which we're used to since we live in the Middle East, but getting heckled to stop somewhere is annoying and all of us were hangry and tired and not having it). We walked in and past their kitchens to our table.

Stella had chicken doner (like schwarma) and I ordered a vegetarian pide, which is sort of like a pizza, open faced calzone-y sort of thing. We all sucked down bottles of water and scarfed our food down like we were starving. 

After we ate we were all still a little tired and need of some down time so we headed back to our hotel.

The city was waking up from winter and everything was starting to bloom. The tulips were gorgeous!

We found the hippodrome on our walk back to the hotel. This was an open air venue for chariot and horse racing and other social events back in the heyday of Constantinople. 

After a nap, we met up with Anna and Barryanne who were back from the Asian side of the city and we all headed to dinner. 

We passed by the square again and got another glimpse of the Blue Mosque

And the ever impressive Hagia Sophia. 

We had a recommendation from some friends who had been to Istanbul last year so to make things easy, we headed there! It was located in the older part of the city and was much quieter!

Olives, hummus, and delicious homemade bread! The hummus wasn't as smooth as what we get in Bahrain, but I actually liked it better! It was garlicky and delicious!

Christine and I split some appetizers- The rolls are called Borek- pastry rolls filled with cheese and parsley. We also had some vegetable fritters (Christine was a good sport and ate veggie with me!) Both of these were just sort of... meh. Not good, not bad. Unimpressive. 

Sam (whose birthday it was that day) and Anna decided to split a lamb stew that was fired in a clay pot! Our waiter rolled out this trolley and lit it on fire and spun their clay pot in the flames before breaking it open and pouring it out for them! It was quite the show and they said it was delicious!

After dinner we headed to see a Whirling Dervish show! No pictures were allowed since its a religious ceremony but it was neat! 

There is a sect of Islam called Sufi and they're into more mysticism than the traditional sects of Islam. They meditate and the dervish or Sama, is a sort of moving meditation they do as part of their worship practices. I'ts done to traditional Turkish music and there's a method and reason for each turn and spin. It was hypnotic. We were all utterly exhausted and I caught myself nodding off while watching them. Not that it was boring in any way, it wasn't... but to watch them was mesmerizing and almost put the watcher into a trance. It was fascinating! 

 

Photo credit: Hodjapasha Cultural Center 

After the show we headed back to the hotel. Along the way we passed a little kid sitting on the street and one of the girls traveling with us gave him some money. We walked away and another kid came after us. Chased us down and started hanging on the lady who had given his friend money. He refused to leave and refused to take no for an answer. It was quite obvious that the kid was just fine- he was clean with new jeans on and the shirt he was wearing looked like holes had purposefully been cut. We knew he was scamming us but he refused to leave and kept hugging and touching Barryanne. We came across some police officers and told them what was happening and they shooed him away and we kept on walking. We never felt like we were in danger, but it definitely made me super uncomfortable- especially having Stella with me. So... impromptu lesson about scams and people lying to you to get your money and how not everyone you come across in life is going to be good.

We made it back to our hotel and everyone crashed hard! I think I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow! It was an absolutely wonderful first day!