Day 11 – Istanbul, round Two! Ready…?
October 22 -- Athens to Istanbul
Farewell, Europe! It’s been lovely! Woke up to a foggy morning with the Acropolis looming over us. The city had already started, and the street was noisy and busy. We finished packing our few belongings, and headed upstairs to the roof for breakfast. Lovely. The juice was out of this world. I really like my orange juice filled with pulp, and this one did not disappoint. It was almost if I was simply drinking an orange.
We took our last pictures of the Acropolis, and then headed downstairs where our driver was waiting. We had different flights, so we first walked Carole and Ryan over to her check-in counter, and waited in ours. Not exactly sure what’s going on with Turkish airlines, but there was nobody there. So we’re all waiting in the hallway until they made the lines for us to wait in. After about 30 minutes, they finally opened and we checked our luggage to hurry and meet Ryan and Carole on the other side of security.
Except, that’s not what happened.
Security line took FOREVER. like, forever forever. We are absolutely spoiled at DIA… I’ve never waited more than 30 minutes back home. Here, we waited for over an hour. So, we missed Carole and Ryan. Was kinda disappointing since it felt our trips just split with no closure, but we know where they live. We took a lunch break in the lounge and headed to our gate. This flight was just a puddle jump to Istanbul…. I just barely got to sleep before the announcement came on that we were landing.
Another time crunch. I wanted to see a show tonight in Istanbul, but I didn’t buy the tickets unsure if we would make it. Last time, I timed our progress and it took about 2.5 hours from wheels down to our bus stop… Way too long. But this time we were ready. We knew that the first passport control was for Turkish citizens only. We knew that it was five long runways back, then to the right to get to the exit. Passport control took 6 minutes. The walk was only 10. We knew which bus to get on, so we got in line before the crowd arrived. Not only did we make it, we made it onto the the bus PREVIOUS to the one I had planned for. Fantastic!
The bus ride was pretty routine, no problems or issues or rain so we made it to our stop in no time. This end of the city was absolutely swarmed and lively. We were under two mosques that had absolutely gorgeous architecture and our hotel was located in the middle of a very busy and crowded market.
We had to push through the throng to get inside but the vibe was completely different. It was an old building with a beautiful (spiral? square? squiral?) staircase leading up. We found our room. It had a loft and opened up over the busy street, right next to the spice market. The mosque was in view. Elijah was super excited to finally have his own “room”
We admired the place, dropped our stuff and headed back out into the fray.
We had time. we wandered, looking at all the various wares and cheap knock-offs, following our noses to something lovely. A kebapçı store. We were invited in and sat outside along the busy street. the guy was very patient; we had no idea what we wanted, so we let him order for us. He came out first with the sides and the appetizers and the tea, and after a few minutes, the main dish. Absolutely delicious (no idea what we ordered, but man it tasted good) There was chicken, lamb, and some unidentified meat (pretty sure it was liver) absolutely delicious.
But…all the time we saved was slowly being eaten up. Because we were meant to dine. But we ain’t got no time to dine. We asked for the check and for a box for our food. Instead, they took our food and disappeared. The check guy kept walking by. 30 minutes remaining trickled to 13. A gal came by and served us more tea. Box guy still hadn’t returned, but gave us a thumbs up. Busser spoke as much English as I speak Turkish and went to get someone else. 7 minutes remaining and check guy returns. Pay the bill and our box guy comes smiling, and handed us a bag.
We gave each other knowing glances as we downed the rest of our tea. We had trained for this – we just speed-ran the Acropolis. This was simple, flat, one direction, no stairs. We got this.
We walked through tight markets, around ice cream shops and under an old mosque. Into a new market and missed the turn. Go back, found it.
oh yeah. 4 minutes to spare. We made it to Hodjapasha – an art center hidden down an alleyway in the market – to watch the whirling dervishes.
We were shown to our seats and only had a little bit of time (obviously) to get settled before the show began. It had been years since I researched them – I wish we came earlier so we could have read the plaques in the museum, but alas. From what I could gather/remember/absolutely didn’t research, the whirling dervishes originated from a poet who was trying to get rid of self.
The show started with a musical concert of sitar, flutes and a chorus of singing men before the dervishes arrived. I took note of all the little details, following along so I could look it up later.
On eof the dervishes came in with a red fleece rug, walking with measured steps. He placed it across from us, bowed, and turned, keeping his back from facing it. An older man came in and everyone in the band stood as he entered. They sat near us on their knees, and bowed to pray. The song was amazing. it was Acapella and the stone room had just the right amount of reverb. I’m curious how the music is written for such a song because he did the voice undulations that I cannot even describe. Absolutely lovely.
At the end, they all pounded the ground in unison and stood. The oldest of the men walked to the red sheepskin and bowed. The band stood as well and each man wrapped his arm across his chest, gripping his shoulders.
Everything was purposeful. The older man stood across from us and as the others past him counter-clock wise they began to spin. As they spun, thier arms slowly uncrossed and went down their body, before raising them slowly in the air. Their heads were tilted and it really looked like they went into a trance. The music was gorgeous and the dervishes whirled. But while we were focused on their faces… “are their eyes open? How are they not puking” they would switch. Like it was so flawless that I didn’t even realize that the person in front of me had changed three times until the 4th.
There were four stages of this dance. It was very fascinating to watch them and their faces trying to figure out how they keep from getting dizzy.
The show ended on a reflective note in silence. how they came in was how they existed and the lights were simply turned on letting us know we could go.
Full disclosure, this is supposed to be a ritual and not a show, and so, photos are not allowed. All of these were pulled from their own website.
We headed back through the now-empty streets to our hotel. The night was cool and when we arrived, we chilled, looked out our window and dug into our leftovers – they packaged it all nicely which is why it took so long. A great night back in Istanbul.