Turkish Rap

Aeroplane

WHOOP WHOOP CONCERT IN ISTANBUL LAST NIGHT WAS EPIC!

Spoils of War!

Yesterday we went to the Grand Bazaar finally! The shopping experience of a lifetime. It is an indoor football stadium sized maze of shops selling everything you have ever dreamed of. Each shop specializing in one item ranging from antique pocket watches to rugs to jewelry to Turkish coffee to local art work to plates to hookahs to anything and everything! And there are so many shops side by side selling the same type of stuff that the store keepers have to be very attendant to everyone who passes by. You don't go one minute without someone hollering at you to "spend your money here" or encouraging you that their products are "almost free" with an endearing "yes please" and "hello beautiful" every now and then. I am pretty sure they have memorized these sayings in almost every language so that not one potential customer is overlooked. Word around the block is that prices here are a little higher than shops in other areas of Istanbul because it is a big tourist attraction but its worth it for the experience. It is very important to bargain because the first price offered when inquiring "bu ne kadar?" (Turkish for "how much is this?") is always exorbitantly expensive. But with a little eyelash batting and scare tactics they will come down to a nice compromised price. I snagged a leather bound book of blank pages with an emblem of the evil eye, a wall hanging jeweled evil eye, and a shiny red&blue Turkish made bed cover.

The Old City

Sultanahmet District -

For full effect listen to this video while you read the following post. It is of an Azan, the Islamic call to prayer that rings through the city five times a day:

AYASOFYA

The largest building of this type I have ever been inside. There is nothing comparable to the sensation you feel upon stepping foot inside of this most spectacular World Heritage Site. After making your way through the museum entrance the room opens up to what seems like an impossibly large and mind boggling arena of religious symbols. There is no better way to describe it than the cliche that it takes your breath away. The light coming through the stained glass windows flooded the room making everything appear to glow. Gold leaf, mosaics, tiles, and detail painting covers every inch of the interior. Every which way you look there is something eye catching. It is remarkable to think about how much pain staking work went into building and decorating it especially when you consider that it was constructed in 537 BCE.

http://www.ayasofyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/tarihce.aspx

TOPKAPI PALACE

We only had an hour and half time slot for touring the palace and the exhibits within its walls however the shuttles being late and getting our museum passes shortened it so that we were so rushed after we finally made it inside. I for sure will be taking another trip here because I barely made it through any of the rooms and hardly had time to read any of the descriptions alongside of the artifacts. There was so much bling! So many golden thrones. Beautiful ceremonial suits of armor. And some really famous diamond that I missed :/

http://www.topkapisarayi.gov.tr/

BLUE MOSQUE

After waiting in the courtyard for 20 minutes until prayer hour was over we were allowed inside. It was only a brief walk away from the Ayasofya. All of the sites in the Sultanahemt district are so close together it is amazing! Even the Grand Bazaar is only two tram stops away. After seeing the Ayasofya the Blue Mosque had a lot to live up to but their beauty is so different they are hard to compare. The Blue Mosque is a lot less ornate and still a functioning place of worship. 

http://www.bluemosque.co/

(View of the Blue Mosque in the distance from one of the Ayasofya windows.)

If your dress is not appropriate enough, long skirts (such as the blue one Emily is sporting above) are provided along with head scarves. And no shoes allowed thus the whole place smells like feet. 

Unfortunate News

Two dead in suicide bomb attack on US embassy in Turkish capital Ankara
   article link^

After walking out of the Hagia Sophia today our mentors informed us of the bombing in Ankara at the US embassy that had occurred only 10 short minutes prior. Ankara is 5 hours inland from Istanbul via road travel. The news certainty put a damper on the rest of the day but we all tried to keep the mood light. We were reassured that being in Istanbul was the safest place especially Sultanahmet (the old city) because it is the cultural center of Turkey rather than the political center such as Ankara. Istanbul has much less everyday crime than the states and I feel more safe here (especially on Koc campus) than I ever have in Baltimore or Washington DC.

Garipçe Brunch

Traffic Madness

The traffic in Istanbul is ridiculous. I just got back to my dorm on a bus ride that was supposed to take one hour but we hit rush hour and football traffic which doubled our trip. If the traffic alone isn't bad enough, the style of driving in Istanbul makes it that much worse. Every time I look out the window I swear we are about to hit something whether that be another person, the median, or an oncoming vehicle. I don't know how the drivers have managed to get us safely to our destinations seeing as it's almost impossible to tell the difference between the road and the sidewalk - there always seems to be people and cars on both. And the fact that even when there is only a single one-way lane they somehow turn it into a two direction road. There must be some unwritten Istanbul driving rules but I haven't been able to identify any sort of organization yet.  

This video I found is a pretty accurate depiction. 

But add more cars.