Day 1 – Istanbul, Turkey
October 15 - Istanbul
I imagined the early morning call to prayer something romantic. A beautiful, baritone voice magically echoing the streets with perfect reverberation, the sun cresting over Hagia Sophia, the cool, sea breeze stirring me from slumber…
yeah, it was NOT that. Nope, just some dude singing into a loud speaker way too close that was both too quiet and too loud…with said loudspeaker feeling right outside the window…
Scared the living junk out of all of us, but we were so tired, we were still able to go back to sleep once it concluded. (Although Elijah was sure his dream of Nate singing was true)
When we finally managed to get up, we headed up to the roof for breakfast.
The spread was NOT lacking.
There were all kinds of foods we haven’t seen before, and a lot of fruits that we had, but it was all different. For instance, this was our first time having seeded great. I forget that in America, all we have are the seedless varieties.. at least all that I’ve had. Our hotel was right on the Bosphorus, and it looked like an old boathouse or fort walls. The weather was chilly and cool, perfect autumn.
Hagia Sophia
was our first stop. I absolutely love this building. Fun fact, not a lot of people know that I actually minored in anthropology. So ancient architecture is 100% my jam. Now. I knew that Hagia Sophia would be mostly covered because of all of the restoration that they’re doing. I also knew that recently in 2020, the Muslims took it back, and converted it from a museum, to a mosque. So the floors would be covered, and a lot of the iconography would be covered. It did not sway my excitement.
We walked to the front of the building to start after we got tickets and sat marveled at its beauty. I had studied this for so long, and so long ago that seeing it in person and touching it is almost surreal.
Upon going inside, there was still parts of the original mosaics that existed uncovered and nerdy me was more excited to teach the boys all about it. We saw the mosaics, the iconography that wasn’t covered by the Ottomans, where Constantine put himself in the family pic with Jesus… I could go on but then this blog would be more of a history lesson than a blog.
Upon leaving, we walked in the Grand square and somebody commented on Nate’s… eclectic style. (He was sporting his Donald duck fishing hat from Japan, a red pirate coat, green cyber Gothic pants with straps and hooks, and black dress shoes. )
The guy started chatting us up, and mentioned that he sold rugs. I knew we were in trouble. But he was friendly and offered to take us to his shop after we were done touring the Blue Mosque. He only led us to the door…nothing we couldn’t have done ourselves, but with the confidence and air of our very own private guide. We just brushed it off with smiles and went inside.
You have to take your shoes off to go in. Wow. I hadn’t studied the blue Mosque as intensively as Hagia Sophia. But the mosaics were absolutely stunning. The architecture was just breathtaking. So after a time of admiring the art and joking about the foot smell, we headed out to go find our new guide.
He waved and expertly guided us through the old streets
to a shop under street-level where he introduced us to “the closer.” Moldo greeted us like old friends and had chairs in the back all ready for us. The smell of the store was both musty of age and old yarns, and fragrant with the smell of spices and fragrance. The shop was tiny, but very homely and comforting. They got us in because of politeness. We stayed because of Turkish tea.
The boy in training kept getting rugs to lay out and Moldo went back to see about the tea. I turned to Nate (the sweetest of all suckers) and told him he better be prepared to spend A LOT of money.
Moldo returned with tea and so began the show. He showed us several rugs, and expertly spun them around so the lay would change, making it seem like the color changed. (They had a no-pictures sign up, so I respected their wishes)
We sipped tea and pretended to be interested…me full knowing a Turkish rug was out of our price range, but totally excited about the experience. Elijah was actually genuinely interested too, and Nate was fully drawn in.
Moldo went through his rugs and after, asked us which we’d like. I picked the red silk one that was the size of a welcome mat, but full of intricacies. Nate boldly proclaimed “that one!”
Not too bad. It was only just shy of
$3,000 << US dollars, not lira.
‘Well good sir, I do believe it is time for us to go,” Nate said loudly slurping his tea. The whole scene was just too funny. They didn’t know what to make of him. After a bit of barting and back and forth, we left with a rug. (No, not the 3 grand one)
Did we need a rug? No. Did Nate spend more money than he wanted? Absolutely. Was the whole experience totally worth it? YES.
We had one more market to hit up.
This was the much smaller, Arasta Bazaar. I wanted to get a pashmina on the way there so I wouldn’t have to buy the plastic head coverings from, Hagia Sophia, but we went a different way and I didn’t know where I was. But I would get my pashmina now…still would need one for the Vatican. While the boys sat outside playing with awful AI printed pillows, I went inside to feel the textures and look at the colors of different pashminas. It was quiet, small, slightly dark…The Vibes were totally vibing. I also needed a Turkish towel for later on in the trip, and got one at the first textile store that I came to.
We finished walking through the market looking at the different teas, laid out and enjoying the smell of strong spices in the air. We didn’t purchase any this round, because we’ll be back on the second round of our trip. The rain had mostly subsided so now it was just a cool day getting lost down the winding cobblestone roads of Istanbul. Mate, soon figured out that it was the city of cats and had to pet and snuggle every kitty he came upon.
It was so surreal.
It was so surreal. It was mid morning, so not a lot of people out and the gray skies made the whole vibe feel like it was out of an anime. Such a wonderful day.
We left with plenty of time. Picked up our luggage, checked out and walked back to the bus stop. No problem this time as the sky’s were mostly clear. We boarded and after an hour, arrived at the airport.
Our flight to Rome was delayed, but we managed to get into the spacious IGA lounge…biggest airline lounge we’ve ever seen in our lives…and found a quiet corner.
We couldn’t find any information on the flight on the boards, my phone, the Turkish website…I had a minor panic attacked, convinced that we had come on the wrong day (even though passport control and security let us in) but it turns out the flight was just majorly delayed.
We relaxed and dinked around for a few more hours…we were too relaxed. We hadn’t checked the boards and just casually strolled out, looking for nail clippers for the boy and got in a super long line to instead buy European chocolate. I pulled my phone out to convert the price to find my headsup display reading “now boarding”
And of course, we’re in the duty free line where everyone is trying to avoid taxes. The lady in front of us had a full basket of thingss. Dude to our left couldn’t find his passport. Finally, we saw a lone cashier in the corner with a “card only” sign and dashed to her. We got the chocolate and hurried to our gate.
Wouldn’t you know it, its on the FURTHEST hallway in the airport? People only move slow when you’re in a hurry. We dodged and weaved and finally got to our gate as the “last call” flashed on the screen. We ran inside behind the few other stragglers and collapsed in our seats. Made it. By the skin of our teeth,.
The flight to Rome was only a few hours and then after customs and baggage claim, we navigated to the train station.
“How do you know where you’re going?” Nate demanded to know. “You look at floorplans or something?”
“Yes.”
This made him uncontrolably cackle in the middle of the airport (if you know, you know) so that added some..flair to our situation. Apparently…that’s weird? I dunnot…I kinda don’t like surprises and like to know where I’m going? Whatever. We got on the high-speed train and made good timing to Roma Termini where we checked into our hotel and met up with Nate’s mom and brother who jumped in on the trip. Over delicious Roman food we caught up on the day, talked about our highlights and prepared for tomorrow.