If you read my previous post you will know that while I loved the old ruins of Ephesus, the port town of Kuşadası was not for me. I had high hopes that the following day in Istanbul would be a better experience, and thankfully for us it was. Some of my readers left comments stating their experiences in Istanbul were not great, but we had a wonderful guide which I think helped tremendously.
Our day started early, and we were to have a full nine hours in the city. Our guide was a short Turkish man with more energy than height who was enjoyable to be around, and had plenty of tricks up his sleeve in order for us to maximize our day. We started our adventure with a visit to two popular mosques in the city – Hagia Sophia, and The Blue Mosque (also known as The Sultan Ahmet Mosque.)
Originally our tour notes stated we would not be able to go inside of The Blue Mosque because it was closed, but on this morning it was opened for a short period of time.
We went inside of Hagia Sophia first, and while normally the line would have taken over an hour to stand in, our guide was a magician with getting us in. He prepped us before we got off the bus and told us his plan. We were to wait casually on the outskirts of the line in small clusters while he went to find one of his colleagues who was already close to the entrance.
We would then slowly add ourselves into his colleagues group (the line was wide and chaotic and easy to sneak into) and voila, we waited all of 20 minutes.
Admittedly I did not love this, it felt a bit stressful to me and I didn’t like how our guide bounced around like a pogo stick (I also hate the idea of cutting in line), but at the end of the day it worked and I didn’t have any other choice (this is why I prefer arriving places before the world comes to life.) Ultimately we were able to maximize time and for that I am thankful.
Women were only admitted entry if their hair was covered, and everyone must take their shoes off. We entered in and saw some of the most beautiful ceilings I have ever seen, and my feet were blessed with cushy Turkish carpet.
This mosque was once a Christian church and the ceiling has four seraphim mosaics. These were known as God’s protector angels, and their plump moon like faces were covered for almost 160 years when the church was turned into a mosque. Three of the four angels still have their faces covered, but one was revealed when the mosque was turned into a museum. Church to mosque to museum to mosque.
In 2020 the museum was turned back into a mosque, and all of the Christian references within the mosque have been covered with tapestry. Except for the one angels face.
The energy inside the mosque was infectious. I found this to be the highlight of my time in Istanbul. I am by no means Muslim, but it was impossible to be inside such a magnificent building and not feel the energy. My favorite part was the cat inside the mosque that everyone seemed to love on. There were a few men praying in a designated area where the rest of us could not go, and the cat walked up to them and sat down. One of the men pet him as he was praying.
I could have sat in there for hours. I felt we spent enough time inside and I did not feel rushed one bit. As we were leaving I noticed a remaining Christian image on the outside of the main entrance to the mosque. What a fascinating piece of history. The Blue Mosque is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Hagia Sophia, and we headed over there next for a quicker walk through an equally beautiful location.
The line for The Blue Mosque was long, but not as long as Hagia Sophia. The line moved quickly thanks to our tour guide helping random patrons with preparation by the front door. We all wore headsets to hear him even if he was not close by, and listening to him ushering people in was comical. We were only inside for 10 minutes or so, and I don’t remember much of what was discussed, but I do remember the wonder of these ceilings.
As we exited to head towards our next location we stopped to take a few photos from the outside of these two mosques. They are directly across from each other with a beautiful park like area separating them. There were people everywhere enjoying the sunny day.
I didn’t care much for our next destination. We spent far too much time here, and I would have preferred more time at a later spot we went to, alas I didn’t have control over this. We visited the Topkapi Palace, which was beautiful and had many things to see, but the only thing I felt intrigued by were the gardens and the details on the walls.
I have always considered myself a minimalist, with desires for simple spaces and not a lot of “busy” features to a room, but these Turkish ceilings and walls are an exception to my rule. I would love a wall like this in my house.
From here we headed to lunch, which could not have come sooner. My belly was growling and I was ready for a feast. I had hoped we would be treated to a Turkish meal similar to when we were in Israel, but we ended up dining on chicken Florentine. It was delicious, but unexpected. After lunch we made our way to our last destination – The Grand Bazaar.
As we started our drive towards the Bazaar we found ourselves in some traffic that seemed to surprise our guide. I could tell he was beginning to panic a bit because we were wasting already precious time. No one knew what the traffic was for, but our guide coordinated with our bus driver to drop us off on a corner we could then walk from, and we were to meet back at a different corner an hour and a half later.
We had to walk about 20 minutes each way, but we would have never made it to the Bazaar had we not walked some. I loved this detour in plans, walking part of the city was such a treat.
There was a guy in our group who we sat next to at lunch, and it appeared he and his wife were on a trip with his parents. Maybe it was a honeymoon vacation as they looked to be a young couple, but this guy was dead set on buying multiple knock off Rolex watches. Fake watches are a big deal in Turkey, and our lunch mate was eager to ask our guide where it was best to buy them within the Bazaar.
I had other plans. All I wanted was a simple Turkish coffee maker. I had seen some the previous day in Kuşadası, but the prices were high and the hovering was intense. I had no desire to be watched like a hawk while trying to look at my options so I left empty handed. The Bazaar was my last chance to find what I was looking for, but at first it was proving difficult.
I don’t know what I expected the inside of the bazaar to look like, but I didn’t expect it to look like a run down US shopping mall. Our guide let us loose inside to shop and explained to us the layout of the area, but I was worried about getting lost because our time was limited. He told us once we got off the main strip the shops got smaller, and most of the coffee makers throughout the shops I saw looked cheap and mass produced.
I was beginning to give up hope, but then we wandered into what felt like a back alley of the bazaar with more authentic looking stalls.
I stopped in front of a stall with floor to ceiling copper and other metals. It looked like a junk yard at first glance, but as I stopped in front of the stall an older man approached me to say hello. I braced myself for the aggressive attempt to get me to buy something, but the man stepped to the side and said nothing more. I was taken aback by his disposition, and it was because of this I was able to actually soak in what I was looking at.
Duncan pointed out the perfect coffee maker at the top, and this is when things got comical.
Our lunch mate wasn’t the only one to ask our guide where to buy something within the Bazaar. I asked about the coffee makers, and our guide told me I could find them everywhere, but what was most important was to not pay full price. I was determined to haggle for my coffee maker despite the concept of doing so making me wildly uncomfortable.
It’s 2023, we’re pushing outside of our comfort zones y’all.
Haggling is part of the culture, and I was prepared to ask for a lower price when I asked the kind older man how much the coffee maker I wanted was . He told me the price in Lira, which was equal to about $24 (already half of what they wanted in Kuşadası.) I only had USD because I knew it would be accepted here, so I paused and offered him $20. He came back with “that’s not the same as what I asked for” and apparently my hesitation was obvious.
I counteroffered one more time and told him I would give him $20 and 2Euro, and he said we had a deal. At the end of the day I still payed less than his original ask, even if just by around $1. I call that a success. Truthfully I was happy to pay this man what he wanted simply for his chill behavior while I was looking at his shop. If this man taught his peers how to act around foreigners this would likely result in more sales from people like me.
With my goal complete we wandered our way back to meet our guide, saying hello to cats along the way.
We walked back to the corner we were meeting our bus, and I soaked up the hustle and bustle of the city thinking about my experience in the Bazaar. Our journey to find our bus driver was smooth and easy, and we avoided the chaos of traffic that many of the other buses got stuck in. Our guide was amazing at his job, and I am thankful we were placed with him for the day.
We made it back on the ship with time to spare, and settled in before heading to dinner. My experience in Istanbul was entirely positive, and I am over the moon about my fun new copper trinket.
I don’t know if or when I will make it back to Turkey. There are so many other places on this earth I would love to visit, but even just a brief introduction to this culture was rewarding in its own way. I didn’t enjoy the discomfort that came with the pushy vendors in my previous post, but I never felt unsafe with my group. Overall I am thankful for the entire experience, including the salespeople.
My next post will conclude this series of travels where we found ourselves back in Greece for a tromp around another ancient city, more black cats than I could handle, and plenty of blue and white alleyways.
Q: Would you have haggled, or would you have paid the asking price? As an American it feels engrained in me to pay the asking price, but I really wanted to partake in this aspect of their culture. Who doesn’t love saving a dollar? I wasn’t good at it, but I tried. LOL.
Blissfulbritt 