Visits from the Homeland

I had my second visitor from the States at the end of March. Lori made the trek all the way from Virginia during her spring break and I met her at the airport completely estatic to have my closest friend be a part of my new life. As Lori pointed out, I don't have many pictures or information in my blog about Istanbul, so Lori's visit makes the perfect excuse to give a virtual tour of my city.





My Top 10 favorite things to do in Istanbul

1. Stand between the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet. The Hagia Sofia, originally a Christian church, then converted into a mosque and now a museum is considered one of the greatest and most beautiful buildings in history. The Blue Mosque (pictured below) was purposely built to face the Hagia Sofia, however the architect was unable to create a dome as a big as the Sofia's, so he added lots of smaller ones.




2. Ride the ferry in the Bosphorous in international waters and be on two different continents, Europe and Asia, in 20 minutes.

3. Ladies in head scarves. Not every woman in Turkey wears a headscarf, but I am fascinated with the way that women do wear them. There seem to be hundreds of ways that you can wear your scarf--women color coordinate and some are quite fashionable. As you can see below, all three women are wearing their scarves differently.

4. Bazars and Markets- Turkey has a market or bazar for everything. The produce markets are amazing. For examples, yesterday, I bought a kilo of the most beautiful strawberries I've ever seen for about $2. They sell spices, toys, clothes, garden equipment, pigeons. You name it and there is a market it for it. Behind the Spice Bazar is actually a little market for leeches--not sure what they do with them, but if you want some I can get you a good price.


5. The Galata Bridge- Every weekend there are thousands of men fishing for little silver fish on the Galata Bridge. After watching them cast their lines into the waters that also harbor tankers, ferries and freight boats, you can go underneath the bridge for dinner. There are tons of restaurants underneath that serve fresh fish (of course, the fish comes with the head, tail and bones, but is quite delicious and fresh).


6. Simits and Turkish Tea- Simits are a bagel-esque street food with seasame seeds on top that you can buy for about 30 cents. Turkish tea is served in little tulip shaped glasses. You can hear the clink of the silver spoons in the glasses as Turks stir in their sugar.


7. Ortaköy, with it's weekend, pedestrian jewelry market, makes for a peaceful Saturday or Sunday morning. It also houses one of my favorite mosques in the city. The food in Ortaköy is quite unique to Turkey. The women below are all selling gözleme- a crepe-like food that can be filled with sweet or savory ingredients. My favorite?... chocolate.




8. Turkish hospitatlity- Outside of the tourist areas, you begin to see why Turks are famous for their hospality. Just while Lori was visiting we encountered tons of generosity. For example, in the jewelry market a lady who was eating dried fruits gave us both a handful and encouraged us to take more. At dinner one night, in addition to everything we ordered we were given a special kind of Turkish flatbread and told we were not allowed to pay more than 5 lira for our meal. We were given countless glasses of tea and my rug dealer, Hussein, bought us dinner one night. Hussein also appointed one of his boys to show Lori around the city one day when I had to work so that she didn't have to do it by herself. Turks have a sense of selflessness and generosity that at first is disconcerting because Americans aren't used it to, so we view hospitality with cynicism. However, Turkish hospitality is something I have grown to love about the culture.


9. Shopping for rugs- If you find a decent rug dealer, rug shopping can be fun and educational. My rug dealer, Hussein, makes it a point to teach me about rugs, buying them, how they are made and most importantly how to tell the good stuff from the rip-offs. His shop is always a place I stop in when I need a rest from the city or just want to chat over some tea.



10. The Basilica Cistern-is a giant underground chamber with water and hundreds of columns. Built in the 6th century, the cistern is famous for its Medusa head columns. The cistern is one of several underneath Istanbul and is a great place to seek refuge from the brutal summer heat.