Turkish Love & Apple Tea

Toto has officially left the building. I'm not in Kansas anymore. I'm in the place where the East meets the West, the ice cream is elastic, the drivers are crazy, and the tea is better than the coffee. There's just no place like Istanbul.

I spent most of my days in Turkey hanging out with Katie and the friends she traveled with in Greece. One of these friends, Scott, sailed on the Fall '08 voyage where he met a Turkish guy named Batu. Batu, or "B" for short, calls Istanbul his home and he graciously showed us around the city. On our second day, Scott rented out a yacht and invited us onboard. We sailed around the Bosphorus and enjoyed a barbeque lunch and tea.  I went swimming in the Black Sea, and I swam to Asia! It was a relaxing and fun day.

The seven of us (Katie, Liz, Kristina, Scott, B, Eric, and I) had the best time-- we hit up a hookah bar, karaoke bar, and nice restaurants that had spectacular views of the city. One night we all got dressed up and went to a ritzy dinner at a restaurant that used to be a palace. Afterwards we went to a club called Reina that was sleek, pricey, and crowded with Turkish top models and soccer players.

Yes, Istanbul became my big splurge of the trip. The shopping was amazing! I strolled through both the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar where shop owners made all sort of offers and sales pitches to try to lure you into their stores:

• Pretty necklace for a pretty lady. 
• Nice rug for your mother in-law. 
• Oh you dropped something-- my heart. 
• You're from Texas?-- so is my cousin! That's my favorite state!

I went into a rug store that was featured in National Geographic. I know this because the shop owner eagerly pointed it out to us in the magazine. So Katie, Liz, and I went inside to check out the hand-woven Turkish rugs. They sat us down on a couch, gave us hot apple tea, and brought out every carpet in the store. We bargained, drank more tea, shared life stories with one of the salesmen named Fatih, and each of us went home with an unanticipated, expensive souvenir. But I absolutely adore my little rug, handmade with "Turkish love" and I have no regrets about purchasing it!

On our last morning, Bonnie and I woke up early to go to an ancient Turkish bath. I've never been to a spa or gotten a massage in the States, but I have a feeling this was a completely different experience. When you walk into the bath you are told to lie down on a hot slab of marble where you are scrubbed from head to toe by an attendant. After relaxing in the jacuzzi, you can request apple tea to sip on while waiting for your hot oil massage. It was the most luxurious thing I've ever done. Before we went back to the ship, Bonnie and I trekked across the city to go to the three-story Starbucks in Taksim. We were only in Istanbul for five days and we already had a favorite coffee spot-- that's so us. Although I must say that two of my favorite things in life, coffee and ice cream, are not my favorite things to order in Turkey. Turkish coffee is strong and muddy, and the ice cream is chewy and can be stretched into a 2 ft long rope, because it is made with an orchid tuber (which acts as a thickening agent.) How bizarre!

Don't worry--I managed to squeeze a bit of culture into my five days of fancy living. I visited the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia; both are beautiful in their own way. I took a trip outside of the city to visit the Hereke rug factory. This rug company claims to produce the finest rugs in all of Turkey, and they have presented their carpets as gifts to well-known figures including Pope John Paul II, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and many others. That same evening I attended a Sufi Whirling Dervish ceremony, which was a spiritual and solemn ritual. But I now know what the nuns are referring to when they sing "She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl." Sound of Music anyone?

I came to Istanbul with unrealistic ideas of what it would be like. I expected all the women to be dressed conservatively and it to be a very traditional culture. And though I was surrounded by the country's rich history and Islamic practices, Istanbul is very much a European city. It's home to over 16 million people, a huge advertising industry, hopping nightlife, and Westernized fashion.  I left the city with a new understanding of Turkey's history and culture, some apple tea, a new friend, and happy memories.