I took a brief trip to Istanbul towards the end of September, and while I had been planning on doing the trip for a while, it ended up being perfect timing for me taking a little breather from Albanian culture. I 
spent about 5 days there but even with the short amount of time, I love the city! I met up with another volunteer friend for the first few days and then flew solo for the last few days meeting new people and making new friends.
After finally making my way out of Albania (after 2 mini-buses, a taxi, another bus and getting to a city where the info I had found on-line about a bus to Istanbul was incorrect…so I had to get another bus to Skopje—the capital of Macedonia—where there was actually a bus!), it was about a 13 hour bus ride from Skopje to Istanbul. Unfortunately, I confused many members of the Macedonian Muslim community because I was traveling on Big Bajram (end of Ramadan)…and since I was speaking Albanian with them, they couldn’t understand why I was by myself on such a big holiday and kept asking if my mom and dad where back in Macedonia because everyone spends Big Bajram with family. Nope! They are definitely back in America!...
I got into Istanbul at about 6 am and wasn’t meeting up with my friend until 3 pm that day. So I went to the touristy area (by the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya) and watched the city wake up. I always love seeing cities as they come to life. I will admit that my first official stop after getting in on the bus was a Starbucks! No shame! But after 6 months of mediocre coffee with no variety in Albania, I was ready for my hazelnut soy latte! And crazily enough…in the Starbucks I frequented I found 2 other Peace Corps volunteers serving in Azerbaijan. They actually are serving with one of my dance friends from college—Evan! Small world!
My first day in Istanbul I spent wandering around the city. Istanbul is HUGE and gorgeous! I spent
quite a bit of time in the Taksim area which is probably the most westernized part of the city with its more youthful population and its excess of western stores. It was nice to go shopping after 7 months! It’s also the place for nightlife! Somehow we ended up going out 3 nights in a row until at least 4 am! Every night I said I was going to get to sleep early…but somehow I ended up out dancing […once I get dancing, you all know I can’t stop]. However, it was nice to be able to go OUT again…since at my site in Albania everything is closed by 9 pm now. And I certainly can’t go out dancing! Dancing highlights included a Prince tribute (requested by myself) and I got into a dance-off with a 45 year-old man! He’d been dancing up on the stage all night like he was hot shit…dressed all in black, mustachioed, and wearing …none other than a doo-rag! It was slightly amazing! [in the ridiculous sense, o f course!].
Otherwise I did most of the touristy things—I went to the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, the
Aya Sofya, shared a hookah with friends, ate fish sandwiches by the river, drank Turkish coffee with Turkish delight, drank apple tea, and ate some FABulous mezes! (like tapas, but Turkish style) I also ended up taking a cruise up the Bosporus to the Black Sea. I did not take a Turkish Bath nor did I see the Asian side of the city…but like I say…always leave something to go back for. I think my favorite things I did were the spice bazaar (shocker of the year…I could have probably spent 3 days there), and the Aya Sofya. The Aya Sofya was originally built as a church but then was turned into a mosque and now stands as a museum. It was just crazy walking into a place that was juxtaposed with so much religious imagery it almost brought me to tears. Scripts in Arabic juxtaposed next to a mosaic of the Angel Gabriel, etc. It was awesome!
My other favorite thing I did was the last meal I ate. A newly-made American friend and I went to an area that’s full of outdoor restaurants strung with lights. We determined that we were not going to go to a restaurant if the waiter accosted us to eat there [frequent occurrence in Turkey is for the waiters to compete to get customers by basically charming you and grabbing you and seating you and forcing you to hear the menu]. So we ended up at one where no one had said anything to us, and they didn’t eve
n have a menu outside and it was full of a bunch of older Turkish m en. It ended up being the perfect meal with amazing food! We even received a free round of raki and grapes from the table beside us because one of the men heard me say something in Albanian and he had spent some time there. We ended up going back to our hostel area and met up with people and went to a hookah bar and I learned how to play backgammon! And then we went out dancing!! A PERFECT last night out of the country if you ask me!
Overall, it was a great trip out of the country. I had forgotten how much I love travelling and exploring new things and running into other people and making travel buddies!
spent about 5 days there but even with the short amount of time, I love the city! I met up with another volunteer friend for the first few days and then flew solo for the last few days meeting new people and making new friends.After finally making my way out of Albania (after 2 mini-buses, a taxi, another bus and getting to a city where the info I had found on-line about a bus to Istanbul was incorrect…so I had to get another bus to Skopje—the capital of Macedonia—where there was actually a bus!), it was about a 13 hour bus ride from Skopje to Istanbul. Unfortunately, I confused many members of the Macedonian Muslim community because I was traveling on Big Bajram (end of Ramadan)…and since I was speaking Albanian with them, they couldn’t understand why I was by myself on such a big holiday and kept asking if my mom and dad where back in Macedonia because everyone spends Big Bajram with family. Nope! They are definitely back in America!...
I got into Istanbul at about 6 am and wasn’t meeting up with my friend until 3 pm that day. So I went to the touristy area (by the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya) and watched the city wake up. I always love seeing cities as they come to life. I will admit that my first official stop after getting in on the bus was a Starbucks! No shame! But after 6 months of mediocre coffee with no variety in Albania, I was ready for my hazelnut soy latte! And crazily enough…in the Starbucks I frequented I found 2 other Peace Corps volunteers serving in Azerbaijan. They actually are serving with one of my dance friends from college—Evan! Small world!
My first day in Istanbul I spent wandering around the city. Istanbul is HUGE and gorgeous! I spent
quite a bit of time in the Taksim area which is probably the most westernized part of the city with its more youthful population and its excess of western stores. It was nice to go shopping after 7 months! It’s also the place for nightlife! Somehow we ended up going out 3 nights in a row until at least 4 am! Every night I said I was going to get to sleep early…but somehow I ended up out dancing […once I get dancing, you all know I can’t stop]. However, it was nice to be able to go OUT again…since at my site in Albania everything is closed by 9 pm now. And I certainly can’t go out dancing! Dancing highlights included a Prince tribute (requested by myself) and I got into a dance-off with a 45 year-old man! He’d been dancing up on the stage all night like he was hot shit…dressed all in black, mustachioed, and wearing …none other than a doo-rag! It was slightly amazing! [in the ridiculous sense, o f course!].Otherwise I did most of the touristy things—I went to the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, the
Aya Sofya, shared a hookah with friends, ate fish sandwiches by the river, drank Turkish coffee with Turkish delight, drank apple tea, and ate some FABulous mezes! (like tapas, but Turkish style) I also ended up taking a cruise up the Bosporus to the Black Sea. I did not take a Turkish Bath nor did I see the Asian side of the city…but like I say…always leave something to go back for. I think my favorite things I did were the spice bazaar (shocker of the year…I could have probably spent 3 days there), and the Aya Sofya. The Aya Sofya was originally built as a church but then was turned into a mosque and now stands as a museum. It was just crazy walking into a place that was juxtaposed with so much religious imagery it almost brought me to tears. Scripts in Arabic juxtaposed next to a mosaic of the Angel Gabriel, etc. It was awesome!My other favorite thing I did was the last meal I ate. A newly-made American friend and I went to an area that’s full of outdoor restaurants strung with lights. We determined that we were not going to go to a restaurant if the waiter accosted us to eat there [frequent occurrence in Turkey is for the waiters to compete to get customers by basically charming you and grabbing you and seating you and forcing you to hear the menu]. So we ended up at one where no one had said anything to us, and they didn’t eve
n have a menu outside and it was full of a bunch of older Turkish m en. It ended up being the perfect meal with amazing food! We even received a free round of raki and grapes from the table beside us because one of the men heard me say something in Albanian and he had spent some time there. We ended up going back to our hostel area and met up with people and went to a hookah bar and I learned how to play backgammon! And then we went out dancing!! A PERFECT last night out of the country if you ask me!Overall, it was a great trip out of the country. I had forgotten how much I love travelling and exploring new things and running into other people and making travel buddies!
1 comment:
Was the Albanian word "Gazuar!"?
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