7 Days in Istanbul

Istanbul, its 14.4 million inhabitants, and its two thousand six hundred and seventy-five years of history intimidated me. The city consists of 5,000 square kilometers of land that have been the seats of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. While I cannot claim to understand the history of this modern day metropolis split between two continents, I do understand that I should know more about it, and during our week living at the edge of the Bosphorus I learned a little bit more.

Istanbul is big. It is much larger than I expected, but it is also more run down and less put-together. For example, the apartment we stayed in is on the 3rd floor of a concrete building that was probably built in the 1970s and it is already falling apart. None of the interior doors shut cleanly, the stairs have tiles that are busted and broken, the balconies have exposed and rusting re-bar where concrete has broken off, and every electrical junction box is loose within its concrete wall opening. We might have just happened to be in the most run down building of the entire city, but I think not. Based on what we saw, buildings like this are being torn down left and right to make room for newer and bigger versions of the same.

Taksim Square isn’t very visually interesting. It is one of the most mentioned “destinations” in our neighborhood, but from what I could tell, the Republic Monument is surrounded by way too much barren concrete open space where squirrely street kids run around haunting the tourists taking photos. Perhaps the space is used for street fairs and events more often in the summer, or maybe there is a greater plan for landscaping, or maybe the beautiful buildings that used to line the square have been ruined over time? To me, it is just awkward right now!

Everyone drinks tea. The hot beverage is delivered by young men carrying silver trays and is always in a small tulip shaped glass on a tiny saucer with baby spoons and one cube of sugar. When you finish drinking, you place your saucer, glass and spoon in an inconspicuous spot and it is then collected by the same young man.

Turkish Coffee is not my favorite. We tried it a couple times, but no luck.

The city has a large tulip budget. Big beautiful blooms line the highway connecting the airport to the city, and I am convinced that the flowers are there to convince visitors that Istanbul is at the top if its game.

Most people working in the service industries are men. During our week there, the only women I interacted with were the ones behind the cash register at the grocery stores or Starbucks. Everyone else was a man. Every server, shopkeeper, ferry operator, security guard, taxi driver.

The ferry system is robust and a little confusing at first. You can criss-cross the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn to any destination by purchasing 4TL ($2) tokens at the automated machines. It took us a few rides to understand that if you are at a stop where that multiple routes stop at, the only way to know if the arriving boat is yours is to watch the clock. So even if a boat arrives at the platform going in your direction, don’t get on!

All restaurants, cafes, bars and coffee shops have outdoor seating. At first glance, I thought this was awesome…and then I realized that 90% of the people sitting outside were smoking. I am still shocked that I cannot stand to be in the presence of cigarette smoke, but it really ruins my experience. I have never smoked myself, but my parents smoked in our house and cars the entire time I lived at home. But ever since I left home at 18, I have lived and worked in smoke-free environments. So unless you are oblivious to 2nd hand smoke, al fresco dining in Istanbul will be problematic.

The experience of seeing the interior of the Blue Mosque was more impressive to me than seeing Hagia Sophia. There are plenty of reasons for this; construction, lighting, quantity of visitors, perception of chaos, etc. Also, my expectations for Hagia Sophia were much higher because the history is extremely rich and diverse because its function has evolved and changed over time, and unfortunately you can tell. Newer elements appear temporary, while original elements are often defaced and fading. In contrast, the Blue Mosque was designed to be a mosque, and still functions as one. For this purpose, the space is beautiful and every detail is in place all the way down to the subtly striped carpet.

The Grand Bazaar & Spice Markets were great! We expected to be hassled and herded from one aisle to the next, but instead we casually walked through and were only occasionally greeted.

The city feels safe. When we arrived, I expected everyone to be hustling me or trying to steal from me. Luckily, that wasn’t the case and it is just like every other big city.

I don’t want live in Istanbul. We aren’t really in the mindset of living abroad again anyways, and if there was a great opportunity I would live there, but it is not top on my list.

In conclusion, our week in Istanbul was a success. We saw everything we wanted to see plus some, and we felt like we were living there. I also know that we only scratched the surface, and with a little more research we could fill an entire month of exploration here.

Nik’s Post: Istanbul was Constantiople

Sicilia, a Tour of Family History

When Nik and I decided that we would take this extended trip, we petitioned our families to join us for parts of it, and Nik’s mom and sister took us up on it. They were most interested in joining us in Sicily to see where Nik’s maternal great-grandparents met before immigrating to the United States in the early 1900s.

The four of us met up last Monday in Palermo on the northern coast. L&M had already been there for two days, so they took us on a quick tour of downtown on our way up to the Catacombe dei Cappuccini. Nik and I had been to catacombs in Rome, but it was nothing compared to this. No photos are allowed inside, so imagine an underground loop of whitewashed tunnels lined on both sides with vertical recesses where mummified human carcasses are hung and organized by gender and class. It was eery, but also beautiful.

On our way back, we stopped at a family run restaurant with al fresco dining for the best meal we had had so far. It was a little awkward because it was 2:30pm on the Monday after Easter and they were about to close for siesta. But they happily served us alongside five or six large Italian family groups that appeared to have already been there for hours.

The next day, we had breakfast at our B&B and then caught a 1.5 hour train from Palermo to Cefalù for the next leg of the trip.

Cefalù is a town at the foot of a large rock formation on the northern coast of Sicily. In the 8th & 7th centuries BC, an active fort occupied “the rock”, and after several invasions and changes of government, the Normans began building a city at the base of the rock in the 1100’s. Today, the Norman city is mostly complete with tourism as its primary industry which is obvious. Luckily, the town is still beautiful and maintains it’s character as a small coastal town where all of the locals know each other.

During our stay there, we rented a 3 bedroom apartment at the edge of the historic city which placed us just far enough away that we felt like we could have lived there, but close enough to enjoy the city’s charm.

After 2 evenings of home cooked meals, we took another train ride from Cefalù to Catania which we would use as our home base for the final 4 nights in Italy.

On the first evening we set out to explore the neighborhood, chase the sunset, and find dinner. We tried to have dinner before sunset, but the restaurant we wanted to go to didn’t open until 7:45pm.

On the second day, we went to the main vegetable, meat and fish market to explore and collect ingredients for dinner. Then we meandered through town to find the ruins of a Greek theater that had been covered up with apartment buildings during the 1800s and is currently being restored. Then we walked up Via Etnea to the Bellini Gardens.

On Saturday (third day) we walked through a large clothing/housewares/music market and then to the port. Nik and his mom also found the alleged address of a relative and rang the buzzer, but no one answered. They left a note, and someone wrote back via text message a few days later!

I didn’t take my camera because I knew the market would be busy, but the views from the Port were much better than expected and I wish I had had it. From the tanker loading docks, you can see Mt Etna rising above the city without the view being obstructed by buildings. Also, there was a bar/cafe at the port that was attracting a lot of well dressed young people in fancy cars as well as motorcyclists. We didn’t stop for a drink, but I think that if I ever go back to Catania, I will.

For our final full day we rented a car with three goals: see the town Nik’s great grandparents lived in, see the Greek ruins of Taormina, and put our feet into the Mediterranean Sea. We accomplished all three AND we circumnavigated Mt Etna!

On our fifth and final day in Catania, we woke up early and drove to the airport so that we could all begin our transit days. Nik and I had a direct flight to Istanbul, and L&M were making their way to Dallas. For me, our time in Sicily was the perfect conclusion to our Italian adventure. It is always fantastic to spend time with Nik’s side of the family, but to spend time with them away from all of our daily lives and to experience places together for the first time ever is pretty amazing.

Nik’s Blog: Sicily: Palermo and Cefalù

Venice, Italy – City of Water

After the three hour drive from Tuscany, we returned our Fiat Punto to the Venice Airport rental car lot, and joined the line of new arrivals walking under a white awning towards the ferry bus terminal. After consulting the map and discovering that the stop we were supposed to go to, Academia, is not serviced by the airport boats, we decided to go to Ca’ Rezzonico insetad. I called our host while on the boat to tell him. He seemed confused, but said that he would meet us there.

As we stepped off the boat we passed a young man that appeared to be waiting for someone. When he looked at us curiously, I asked him if he was Carlos, and he said yes. He half-heartedly stepped towards my bag offering to carry it. I told him I could handle it, and he easily stepped away. Without another word, he started walking and we followed.

He took us through narrow passages, over bridges, along the sides of plazas, and as we walked I realized that he never mentioned my name. I hoped that we had not just started following a crazy man. Meanwhile he and Nik were chatting up ahead. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they both seemed to enjoy the conversation, so I figured we were okay. After our 10th turn, I gave up on trying to remember where we had come from and trusted he knew the way.

We arrived at a door in a narrow alleyway, our guide made a call, walked around a corner, and came back perplexed. He made another call to no avail. He seemed frazzled and told us that he did not have the key. His mother, Carla, had the key, and she was not home. I waited for him to offer a solution. He started to say, “Could you come back later?”, but he stopped mid sentence. I assume it is because he read my mind and realized that we both had luggage and that no, we could not leave and come back later. He called his mom again, and said that she would come over right away if we wouldn’t mind waiting for 15-20 minutes. It was a beautiful day, we had snacks leftover from the drive, and there was a small plaza 20 feet away, so we waited there and told him he didn’t need to wait with us. As he left, I said, “Thanks for meeting us Marco, and I apologize for calling you Carlos earlier.” He said, “No problem, ciao.”

A few minutes later, a frazzled woman and a younger girl came rushing towards the door apologizing over and over in Italian. She let us in and we mimed back and forth as she showed us how to open the windows & shutters, how to lock the doors, and how to turn the heaters on. After she left, we settled in a little before I sent a message to the owner of the property to tell her we had made it in. It was only then that I realized that the young man’s name was Riccardo.

On our first evening, we set out before sunset to orient ourselves and to take in the beauty of this City of Water. We watched couples glide by on boats directed by the gondoliers, we watched delivery men drive power boats under bridges, and we saw the light of the sky fade and the lights of the city illuminate. Venice is undeniably one of the most romantic and perfect cities we had been to yet.

On our second day, we leisurely had breakfast at the apartment and left around 10 to purchase 24-hour boat tickets. Once we had our tickets in hand, we took the ferry to Lido Island, then Burano Island, then Murano Island, and finally back to the main island near San Marco Square. From there we planned to walk back to the apartment, but got turned around and hopped on another ferry instead.

On our third day, we took the ferry from Academia to arrive at Rialto Market at 7:30am as the produce and fish vendors were setting up. I expected to see locals up and about early to avoid the rush of tourists, but there weren’t many which leads me to believe that the market really is for tourists. Regardless, it was great to hear the vendors joking around and singing to one another. It was also great to walk back to the apartment from the market because very few tourists were out. Everyone we passed on the streets knew where they were going, and we were the ones getting in their way.

That afternoon, I explored on my own while Nik rested at the apartment. I didn’t carry my camera and had no destination in mind. I wandered and wandered, and probably went in circles. I didn’t care. It was beautiful. I was even asked for directions, which is the ultimate indicator that I looked like I belonged here.

For our fourth day, we did our best to see areas of Venice that typical tourists didn’t see. We searched for the mundane, and found it after ploughing through the tourist mecca of San Marco’s Square. It was on the far eastern edge of the connected island in the park along Viale IV Novembre.  At it’s edges, we saw empty apartment blocks, vacant play areas, stray cats, and no tourists. We enjoyed the respite and then dove back in by walking along the Grand Canal as far as we could, which involved going through San Marco’s Square one more time!

By this time of day, the lines to the Doge’s Palace, the Clock Tower and San Marco’s Bascilica were stretched around the plaza, but there were also dozens of pigeons flocking towards the central area where kids held up their arms with the hope/trepidation that the birds would land on their arms while their parents took photos. It was a hilarious sight, and Nik even managed to have one land on his head, but I wasn’t fast enough to capture it with a photo.

Today, Easter Sunday, is our final day here. We have relaxed in our apartment all day and plan to do so through the evening because even though we are traveling in amazing places, sometimes we just need a day at home.