Istanbul
Of all the places I have traveled in life, no destination has generated more questions from family and friends like Turkey did. I have a math degree and I can't count how many people have asked me why I would want to go to Turkey. Fair question given the current political tensions between the United States and Turkey. Also fair given the recent terrorist attacks in Istanbul and of course there is the constant fighting along its border with Syria. Maybe it was naive of me, but I set all of that aside at first and instead focused on the reasons to go instead of not to go. Along with Rome and Jerusalem, Istanbul is arguably one of the most influential cities in the formation of western civilization. As the gateway between the eastern and western worlds, Istanbul has seen more history and gone through more radical changes than most cities on the planet. From the time it was known as Constantinople and the capital of the Roman Empire, this city has always been wanted and fought for by the major empires of the world as it hosted the Romans, the Byzantines, and most recently the Ottoman Empire.
It's this history as well as the clash of cultures where the east meets west that drew me to Turkey. Even with all the negative stuff going on in the country, I still decided to go due to a little inspiration from one of my heroes - Anthony Bourdain. His passing last month definitely hit me hard as he was one of my favorite authors and television personalities. His writings and shows taught me a lot about the wonders of traveling and one of the biggest lessons he taught me was to not be so afraid of things. Don't be afraid to travel to some off the wall country, don't be afraid to eat dinner with a local who invites you into their home, and especially don't be afraid to eat new and weird things. His show really shows that no matter what nationality you are, at the end of the day we are all humans with the same desires and feelings as the next guy. With this in mind, I took off to Istanbul. I have to admit, even though he did inspire me, he also did frighten me a little bit as the opening scene to his Parts Unknown: Istanbul episode are of giant riots in the streets and civil unrest everywhere. This along with me being an American in the current political climate did make me slightly nervous to land, but I knew at the end of the day whatever happens would just all be part of the adventure.
Inside the Grand Bazaar.
What an adventure it was. The first day on the ground I set off to explore the world famous Grand Bazaar which is one of the largest and oldest covered markets on earth and is often regarded as the world's first shopping mall. Instead of this, I found closed doors and very few people in the area. As I walked around probably looking confused, a shoe shiner who I helped out after he dropped some things told me that the bazaar is closed on Sundays. After giving me this bit of helpful information, he proceeded to rob me and took all my cash. Welcome to Istanbul. After recovering from this shock, I decided to again channel my inner Bourdain and find a seat at a plastic table in the middle of a street and order whatever sort of mystery meat they were cooking over an open flame, and I am so glad I did.
Street food in Istanbul is some of the best in the world and it is everywhere. Various forms of kebabs, dürüm (think Turkish burrito), pide (think pizza in the shape of a boat), lahmajoun (think super thin crust cheeseless pizza), grilled corn, roasted chesnuts, and simit (think seasame seed crusted bagel) are being sold by the dozens every direction you look and it is all good and it's all cheap.
To further satiate my desire for food, I of course had to go on a 7 hour food tour that left me uncomfortably full but also left me a very happy man. I highly recommend doing a food tour in any city you visit. The guides will take you to the most local of restaurants that you would never find as a tourist. For example, we started with a breakfast of simit in a blacksmith shop that had a bunch of old guys making wires, petting cats, and bringing us tea in cups that looked like they were last washed in the 80s. Good luck getting that memory on a main street of a city. They also have you try things you would never order such as a traditional Turkish drink called ayran which is cold yogurt mixed with water and salt. It tastes exactly like it sounds - pretty shitty.
The company I went with in Istanbul was actually the same company that guided Bourdain around Istanbul so I was pretty confident I would be getting the best experience possible and of course I was a little fan boy when I walked into a restaurant and instantly recognized it from the episode.
While talking about food, I would be remiss to not mention two of my favorite parts of the Turkish cuisine - Turkish coffee and baklava. Turkish coffee was one of the first ways humans started preparing coffee and it is basically unfiltered coffee. When you order a coffee, they will always ask how you like it, meaning how much sugar you want in it as the sugar has to be added during the brewing process. They will then bring out a little cup full of a deep brown coffee with a light foam on top. It is an extremely smooth cup of coffee that packs a giant punch as all of the coffee grounds are still in the cup! When you reach the bottom of the cup, you will be left with about a centimeter of coffee sludge which is when you stop drinking (unless you are desperate for the caffeine).
Everywhere you go in the city, you will see way too many stores selling all sorts of baklava and Turkish delight. Turkish delight is a weird flavorless gelatin dessert that looks like a marshmallow and is always disappointing to eat. Where this falls short, baklava makes up for it. Baklava is found throughout the Middle East and is a dessert made of layered phyllo dough with some sort of ground nut and honey. The nut used is dependent on the area - Turkey usually sticks to pistachios. They make all sorts of variations of this baklava but no matter how it is eaten, it is amazing and still one of my favorite desserts on earth.
Istanbul is by far the biggest city I have ever visited, with latest numbers giving it a population around 15 million people in the city proper alone and it has the terrible traffic to match. I was actually quite surprised that I made it out of there alive as there is virtually no crosswalks in the city and so it is just one continuous game of Frogger. Everyone just walks across a busy 6 lane highway wherever and whenever they want and somehow they make it to the other side. I saw my life flash before my eyes more times than I can count while in Istanbul as I had to join the swarms of people who make the walk across these 6 lane highways with buses coming at you going 50kph. Away from the busy highways, you find the busy narrow streets of the old town of Istanbul. I have also never seen streets packed like this. For probably 20 city blocks, every street is crammed with people shoulder to shoulder doing their shopping in the various street stalls like it is nothing. Combine this with 95 very humid degrees and you have yourself one hell of a good time...just kidding its miserable but all part of the experience.
Guy braving the traffic to sell his simit.
Istanbul's skyline is possibly one of the most recognizable in the world as it is dominated by the signature minarets and domes of the city's star attractions - the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Süleymaniye Mosque. Each of these were built (or rebuilt in the case of Hagia Sophia) in the traditional Ottoman mosque look. This means one large dome with successively smaller domes surrounding the large one with all of this being flanked by very tall pointy minarets from which the call to prayer is sung 5 times a day. This style of architecture conveys a sense of power from the building when you are standing in front of it. I loved visiting these mosques as their intricate marble interiors are something to rival St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
As it has been many times in Istanbul's history, the future of Istanbul and that of Turkey is still unclear at this time. I talked with many Turkish citizens who always brought up politics and told me how they cannot stand their current president and how hard it is becoming to live in Turkey as a young person caught between the East and the West. The government has recently taken a more conservative approach to governing which is tending more towards a government similar to many of the Islamic governments in the Middle East. Many of these people even said they are looking at moving out of Turkey because they want to leave while they still can. I also talked with the owner of a bar there from South Africa who had a similar opinion about moving away and also told me that I am the first American tourist he has had there in months. He does have a few Americans come, but they are just passing through killing time from a layover at the airport - they don't make Istanbul the destination. He said that even Europeans have dropped off from visiting the country making business very hard (after this he informed me that two bombs went off 50 yds down the street from where we were a year ago - check please). Istanbul was a beautiful city with wonderful people and I just hope that the future is bright for it.
