Istanbul

Some pics from the recent trip made to Istanbul with fellow completed first year Ewa. We were welcomed by an incoming first year named Ece (her name is pronounced like saying the letters "H" "A") who's generosity and hospitality were unbelievable. She picked us up at the airport and took care of us until she dropped us back at the airport. It was fantastic. I don't do that for my best friends and she did that for basically complete strangers. No wonder Turkey is supposed to have some of the best hospitality in the world. I mean how many places do store owners bring you tea while you're searching their wares? The trip was 5 days and our time was packed with things to do. The weather was very nice and aside from a bit of a drizzle one day, we had nice days.

The food was a huge highlight. I had no idea that Turkish food would be so good. It helped that Ece took us to great places but I was amazed at the quality and quantity of food. A normal meal consisted of cold appetizers, hot appetizers, several main dishes followed by desert. The best thing about it was even our most expensive meal cost less than an average meal in Spain. How much did we enjoy the food? Our average dinner was almost 3 hours. How can that be you ask? I'm happy to say that the scales were tipped by what is certainly my all time record for a dinner: 4 hours! No joke. We were really in a restaurant for 4 hours. Sure we were the last to leave and enjoyed a few drinks but believe me we were eating for a ridiculously large portion of the time. I suppose the view from our table helped. We dined while the sun set as you can see below.

What do Turks do for fun you may wonder? Well Turkey is a Muslim country. But in contrast to all the countries you associate with the Muslim religion, Turkey is modern and they separate religion from politics. Sure many of the people are religious but that doesn't mean they don't know how to have fun. This is where many people go in the evening and where we went after our 4 hour dinner; a Backgammon & hooka bar. For the record I was going to win the second game against Ewa. What happened during the first game was lost in a cloud of apple flavored tobacco smoke.
There are many landmarks that define a city. In most Islamic countries you will see Mosques everywhere. Just like there is a church every 5 inches in the states, Istanbul has Mosques. The difference is that many of the most spectacular Mosques in Istanbul were created during the Ottoman Empire from the 14th-17th century. During this time the Ottoman Empire encompassed not just Turkey but many of the surrounding countries. You may remember hearing the name Constantinople during your history classes, Istanbul used to be Constantinople. It was incredibly rich and powerful and as you can see they found no better way to spend their money than on creating spectacular Mosques.

Below you can see Hagia Sofia in the background. It may be hard to tell but the statue of liberty could fit inside. So could Notre Dame. The place is friggin huge. What's really cool about this mosque is that it was actually a church built in 532. It stayed a church until the Ottomans took over Constantinople in 1453 then was converted into a mosque. All the crosses, jesuses, marys, madonna's with child, etc. were painted over. In a Mosque's its not allowed to have depictions of people. However, it was converted to a museum in the 1930s and over the years the paint has faded and now some of the Christian symbols show through the paint and some of the mosaics of Jesus and others have been uncovered. Its the only mosque in the world where Christian and Muslim symbols and art is presented.

The photo above gives you an idea of how large this place is and the photo below shows the 20 story tower inside which they are using to make restorations.

Next on the agenda was the Blue Mosque. Why is it call the Blue Mosque you may wonder? Well because its blue and its a mosque. Actually its named for the "brightly colored tiles that line the interior" that's how Rick Steves describes it in his guide book and if you don't know Rick Steves yet, you don't know Jack! Throw away your piece of crap Lonely Planets and buy Rick Steves' guides for whichever countries they are available. You won't believe how good they are. Anyway enough ranting, here is the interior. Its mandatory that shoes are taken off and all women must cover their hair. Kind of how all men must take off hats in churches or all men must wear yamuka's in temple. Does anyone know how to spell yamuka?
If you can just look at the photo above for one more second you will notice that someone brought his own book of a higher power to the mosque. Assalamu 'Alaikum Rick.

Below is the rather borringly named New Mosque which sits in the perfect position to watch the Bosphorous flow by. The Bosphorous Straight cuts Istanbul in half which puts half in Europe and the other half in Asia.
Aside from 4 hour dinners, we took in some of the entertainment. The guys below have an amazing capacity to spin in circles without falling over. The Turkish band plays, these guys start spinning and some crazy trance takes hold. Seriously, your 5 year old would fall over 100 times trying to keep up with these guys. I forget their name so I will just bastardize their skill and significance by dubbing them, "the spinning fools."

With all the money and power you may wonder what an emperor does in his free time. Simple, he builds a ridiculously humongously gigantic palace. Named Tokapl Palace, Mehmet the Conquerer had this place built during the 1470s and a century later Suleyman the Magnificent made it his home and it remained the home of sultans for over 400 years. Below you see Jared the Fourhourdinneriffic wondering how to retrofit the Sultan's bedroom with a cactus garden. Shout out to AZ! And finally, what self respecting Sultan would build a palace without also erecting a vast living area for his "friends."

For a while I thought Istanbul didn't have that many people. I'm used to Barcelona where there are always a zillion people walking around for no apparent reason. Just to walk. I mean, can you imagine? Anyway, I told Ece that Istanbul didn't seem that populous and she couldn't believe I thought that way. The next day we walked between the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market and I realized that 10 million people actually did feel like 10 million people. Can you find Ewa in the photo below? I'll give you a hint, today she's 50% off. Seriously. Its a good deal my friend. Okay wait don't go, 60% off.

But unlike Barcelona where no one wants to talk to you...ever, the people in Istanbul spoke to us wherever we went. Almost always while they spoke there was a smile on their face and they were genuinley friendly. But what was most unexpected and wonderful was the fine man you see in the photo below. What makes this person so dang wonderful? Well take a close look, he's pouring delicious cherry juice for all the passers by. For reasons unknown the juice was free but even more surprising, it was made with 100% pure deliciousness.

I would love to continue this tour of Istanbul but I leave for Kenya in the morning. And by morning I mean the god forsaken hour of 5:30am. Really, no one should have to get up that early ever! When I am Sultan, no one will be allowed to wake up before 7:30. The punishment with be death or cherry juice to the Sultan. Am I not merciful?

Thanks to Ewa for being a great travel companion and to Ece for being a fantastic guide and a wonderful host. This was an awesome trip!

Done and Gone

The first year of the MBA is over! I can't believe it. So trying, so demanding and so rewarding. Our last final was on Friday and a paper was due today. As of this morning the paper was sent from where I am staying in Istanbul which means I am free from the studies of the MBA until September. WoooooooooHooooooooooooo. Looking back, the time flew by amazingly fast. But to paraphrase one of my favorite bands, the weeks went fast but the days went so sloooooow.

Last week was a good week for a number of reasons. 1. Tessa and I were communicating very well and celebrated our 4 year anniversary. 2. Jeff, Tim and Jeff's sister were in town visiting. 3. Finished 1st year of MBA. 4. Tickets were booked to Kenya for my 3 1/2 week trip there for research/safari/trekking. 5. Left for Istanbul.

Which now puts me in Istanbul. I traveled here with a fellow survivor of the first year named Ewa from Poland. We're enjoying the hospitality of a really nice new first year named Ece. She has been showing us everything worth seeing in this city and has taken great care of us. Ewa and I have many questions about the Muslim religion/life and Ece has been extremely patient with us. At the same time, I have had a lot of explaining to do for American foreign policy.

Istanbul is a fantastic city. Straddling the Bosphorous River, it is partly in Europe and partly in Asia. Of course it is within Turkey which has a few neighbors known to get a little wild from time to time, namely, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Bulgaria and Greece are somewhat more tame.

Today we visited a church called Hagia Sofia which was a christian church from the 6th-14th century then converted to a mosque. The structure is immense and the dome is huge. The Statue of Liberty would fit inside with space to spare. This mosque is so interesting because its one of the only religious structures in the world to have so many christian and muslim symbols in the same place. Although very interesting, now it is more a museum rather than a place of worship which is what made our next destination so cool. We went to The Blue Mosque which is one of the finest designed and decorated mosques in the world. People still pray there but luckily tourists were allowed in. Everyone has to remove their shoes and then we just marvel at the structure, the design, the play of light, and the architectural elements.

Anyway, gotta cut this short. We're getting up early tomorrow to head to the Toptaki Palace and The Grand Bazaar. Its time to do some shopping.