Increasingly Better Views

I had an ambitious schedule planned for my final day in Turkey. Being that my internet had once again out, I had no distractions in the morning and headed out fairly early. I had read there were a number of interesting things to see under the bridge between the two European sides of Istanbul so I made my way to the coast. This statement would have been true if by interesting things you mean a row of seafood restaurants.


Although there was not a lot to see under the bridge itself, the views of both sides of the city were quite nice.



As I reached the other side there was a small underground shopping mall that you were forced into before you could reach the street. If you needed a remote control or 'authentic' article of clothing, this was your place.



Once safely on the other side I was greeted by this lovely advert.


I was now heading towards the Galata Tower. This was near the exit of the bridge and involved walking up a large hill surrounded by older looking buildings.




I entered the tower and handed the cashier the amount posted on the board behind him. With ticket in hand I waited for the elevator. When it arrived I tried to enter but was stopped by the elevator attendant who started yelling at me in Turkish and pointing to the other elevator adjacent to it. He let everyone else in. In Turkey there is are two prices for everything. One for Turks and one for foreigners. The Turkish price is usually considerably lower. This attraction was no exception however it also had separate elevators right next to each other going to the exact same place. Depending on which ticket you had you would use a specific elevator. I had apparently been sold the Turkish ticket because they thought I was a local. I waited to enter the Turkish elevator and embraced the 15 Lira I had just saved because of my beard. Once at the top the view was even better than the bridge.



The bridge and tower took considerably less time than I had thought they would so I decided to take a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul.



Once we started to get close to the other side I noticed this balloon in the distance.


I have never been on a balloon and wanted to check this mode of transportation off of my list. Once I got off the boat I was at Haydarpasa Terminal which is the busiest rail terminal in Turkey and the Middle East and one of the busiest in Eastern Europe. It was built in 1909 and was pretty impressive from the outside.


I exited and followed the coast to try and find this balloon. As I walked I passed a large bus 'station' and many food carts and street shops. After around 20 minuets I came upon it.


An interesting spin on the balloon/dart game.

I walked right up to the ticket counter and asked how much. Only 20 Lira, I was in! I boarded the balloon and waited for it to take me on my journey. As expected, the view from the balloon was spectacular.




It was filled with helium and was held down by a huge steel cable. I kept thinking that if this cable broke, we would pretty much keep going up until we hit space and suffocated. I was a little scared but we ended up making it down untouched. I decided I would now explore the side of Istanbul I had not seen yet.


I ended up stopping in a random restaurant and attempted to order lunch. The guy was very helpful and I eventually ended up with some sort of soup and a rice combo dish with chicken, tomato sauce with beef, and veggies.


It was very good and only cost about $2. It appeared to be a quick meal stop for the working class. After lunch I walked around and found some open markets and shops.




I then made my way to a sweet shop and got 2kg of home made Turkish Delights. If your lucky enough you may get to try them. The people at the shop were also very nice and helpful. I noticed that everyone on this side of Istanbul was much nicer and much more helpful than the European side. It may have just been my few choice encounters but it left a good impression. On the ferry back to the other side of town a few people decided to feed the seagulls while we waited to depart. They proceeded to follow us across the bay. It was quite impressive.




After arriving back in Europe I headed for my last stop of the day; the Egyptian spice market. I was expecting something identical to the Grand Bizarre but it turned out to be one of my favorite stops on the trip. The outside was filled with all sorts of animals, pets, and animal food.





I then ventured into the heart of the market.


There were all sorts of cool things to see and buy. There were spices everywhere that you could purchase in bulk or by the gram.


The whole thing was pretty impressive and I ended up doing most of my shopping here. As I left the market I knew my time in Turkey was coming to an end. I came to terms with this and attempted to determine what my last meal would be. My flight left at 5am so it had to be something that would hold me over to the next day. I had been eying a particular item for a while but never acted on my curiosity. For my final meal I decided to indulge. I present to you, the McTurko.



It consists of a large piece of pita bread filled with two hamburger patties, lettuce, tomato, and barbeque sauce. It was...not very good.


It was also one of the messiest sandwiches I have ever eaten.


It was a fitting end to a wonderfully interesting trip. I will also not miss this at all:

Stupid Falcons

The night I lost my internet for the first time I decided to give Turkish TV a closer look. To this point I either did not have a television or had mostly been watching dubbed American movies and Turkish news programs. As I surfed through the channels I was dumbfounded when I stumbled upon a live NFL game. I had no idea the NFL had any significance outside of North America. On top of that it was a Falcons game. I have a battle every week trying to watch the Broncos game and I always end up settling with the Falcons when it becomes clear no one in Georgia cares about my interests. I just can't escape them. What are the odds? The Falcons being the team that they are quickly escorted me to a lengthy slumber. I woke up semi early the next morning because I had a lot on my plate. My first stop was Basilica Cistern.


The cistern was built in the 6th century for the emperor Justinian the first. In the past it was functional and contain things like gardens and such but now it is dark and filled with water. I wont try to bullshit you any further, I really don't know a lot about it other than it looked awesome. Google image search brought me here. The entrance is in this small nondescript building right in the middle of Sultanahmet. I must have walked by it 10 times the day before without knowing it. The cisterns are not terribly big but you end up spending a lot of time looking through the forest of pillars that catch you in a trance.



Once you reach the deepest part of the cistern there are two columns with Medusa heads at the base. They were not facing upright so I am not sure if they were made to face this way or they had fallen at some point. Either way it gave you the explorer feel that I enjoy so much. This cistern had been forgotten for a number of years and I can only imagine how cool it would have been to discover it again and reach the end to find these creepy 'chick is crazy shell turn you to stone' heads.


After the cistern my next stop was the Blue Mosque. I am staying a block away from this particular mosque so I had passed it many times but never ventured in. It is a massive building and really makes you want to see how the managed to construct it all those years ago.



Like most mosques the inside is wide open from floor to ceiling. They only let visitors venture into a small portion of the building so this was pretty much what there was to see. None the less it was very impressive. All of the mosques in the area are.


As I was leaving I saw this guy hanging out by a palm like tree in the courtyard.


I had seem him on the street the day before but failed to get a proper photo (the hip shot failed me). No idea who he is or if he has any affiliation with the church but he looked like a tropical Santa Clause. He was even jolly and posed for pictures. After my unexpected photo opt the next stop on my Sultanahmet tour was Topkapi Palace. This was the primary residence of the sultans for about 2/3 of the Ottoman empires reign.

I walked towards the palace but saw no signs pointing to the entrance. I could see the palace but was blocked by walls at every turn. Being as I could not find a way thought it I decided to follow the wall in the hopes of finding an entrance. This game plan landed me in a nice quiet park alongside the palace. This park was apparently the place to get to first base with your lady. There were Turks straight macking on every visible bench. I felt super weird walking by them but I suppose its a European thing.

These benches must have been reserved for future macking.

I eventually reached the coast and realized that I was nowhere near the entrance to the palace. I decided that I might as well just make the loop and see the sights.



After a while the sidewalk decided to slim down and I found myself dodging speeding cars.


I eventually reached the rear gate but it was under construction so there was no entry for commoners. I did get a chance to see the wall that used to protect the city however. It was a recommended sight when I did my 15 minutes of research for the days activities the night before but when I looked at the suggestion I remember thinking how dumb it looked. Well, I was here now, so might as well make the best of it.

You can see the edge of the palace behind the wall

I noticed a few openings in the wall and decided to take a look inside. It was much thicker than it appeared from first glance and must have once housed a number of tunnels and structures at some point in time.




It was pretty neat but also kind of terrifying walking down each corridor. There were a lot of homeless men in the area and I can only assume they use this area as some kind of super homeless city where they capture American tourist and harvest their organs for fuel and nutrition. I was a bit more hesitant when exploring these areas and did not go as far as in them as I would have liked. My kidneys thanked me.

I ended up completing the loop and eventually found the entrance. It was literally a block away from my apartment. The walk was nice but I probably would have preferred to just go right to the entrance. That was until I actually saw the palace. It started out cool enough with extravagant exteriors...


But then proceeded to get lamer and lamer. I'm not sure if my earlier trip to Dolmabahce palace had spoiled me but I was thoroughly unimpressed. Most of the cool artifacts were in rooms you could not take photos in and the rest was meh. I paid the extra money to see the sultans private apartments but that was also a letdown. Every room looked pretty much the same. They were also bare of any artifacts, furniture, light, or any objects whatsoever. It probably wasn’t as horrible as I am making it out to be but it wasn’t that interesting and got repetitive real quick.



I was able to get an overpriced kabab with a nice view however at the palace cafe.


After my late lunch my next stop was the Grand Bazaar. I really had no idea what to expect. I was envisioning a huge outdoor market but it was more a gigantic indoor mall with all sorts of hidden hallways, shops, and food stalls.




A lot of the shops were selling similar items but if you dug deep enough you would reach pockets with some weird and interesting items. Take for instance this super appropriate costume for your young daughter, niece, or granddaughter. Look how happy she looks!


I bought a few items for the people who could not make the trip and headed home. On the way back to my rented bed I noticed an overturned sign on the side of the road. Upon close inspection I realized it was the sign pointing to Topkapi Palace. The sign I was unable to locate. At least they got a clean cut.


I rested a bit at home base before setting out on my last stop of the day which was Taksim Square. I had spent time on the other European side of Istanbul but it was mostly to see Dolmabahce palace and attend the soccer game. Taksim Square was reference by a number of internet resources as being the more modern section of Istanbul. Being that I am based in the super tourist area I wanted to get a feel for what Istanbul was moving towards. At around 7pm I left my place and hopped on the light rail. It was about a 1km walk from the closest station and a 2km walk to the square (1km if you don't take the Family Circus style super lost rout I managed to take).


Right in the middle of the main intersection they had this really cool monument which seemed to memorialize those who had fought for Turkey.

After a short photo shoot I made my way to the main street and looked for somewhere to eat.


I ended up choosing a random restaurant and attempted to go inside. A guy leaving who clearly saw I was trying to enter closed the door. He then stood outside. As I was thinking what an asshole this guy was I opened the door and approached the waiter who was in the dining room. He proceeded to point to the guy who had so kindly shut the door in my face. I turned and attempted to get his attention and after a large dose of douchebaggary he finally sat me and took my order. I was upset but remained in the restaurant out of spite. I was pretty sure they would pee on anything I ordered. After a quick scan of the menu I couldn’t pass up the 'Turkish Style' ravioli. I ordered and after a timely wait it finally arrived and looked, well, interesting.


It was pretty much Asian style dumplings filled with lamb and covered in a light yogurt sauce. It turned out to be pretty tasty. The yogurt sauce was a little bland but the spicing of the lamb and the tenderness of the freshly made pasta made up for it. They gave me a sampling of spices to add to the sauce but even a hardy application did not seem to effect the flavor much. Fueled up I hit the streets and window shopped like no ones business.

I'm s big fan of the lady sporting the jorts with leggings and uggs in mid November

The streets were vibrant and the people looked genuinely happy. They had a number of western establishments as well as some local outfits. They even had interesting ad campaigns.

I sure hope its a private party, because the size of that suppository is alarmingly large.

I even managed to locate the Turkish Communist Part headquarters!


As the night carried on I made my way back to the train station and headed home. It was a pretty exhausting day and I needed to recharge for my final day in Istanbul.