Istanbul: Gateway to Asia AND Europe

So when we landed in Istanbul, we landed on the 'Asian Side'.  I didn't know what this meant until our host explained that Istanbul is the only city on two continents.  One side is on Asia and you can drive all the way to Thailand.  The other on Europe.  So little did I know, but we got a stop in to Asia while on our European Adventure (so now we can say we've been to Asia too) ;)

We had a little trouble finding the right spot that our host was meeting us to take us to her apartment.  There's the whole area called Askaray and we were supposed to go to Askaray METRO Station.  However, our cab driver didn't know where this was (we later found out) and just dropped us in the middle of Askaray the area.  We found our way to Askaray Tram Stop thinking this was the metro but it wasn't so we asked for directions and everyone just told us to keep going.  After almost a mile of walking, we finally came to the Askaray Metro Station where we were greeted by our lovely host, Verity and her big furry chow, Gus (who we fell in love with).

Verity is British so it was great to be able to learn about the area from a native English speaker.  She has been in Istanbul for 4 years teaching English at the Leeds Language Academy and married a Turkish man.  They're a super fun couple and especially Verity.  She has traveled and lived all over the place so she had loads of stories to tell and was hilarious.

So after we arrived and got acclimated, we went to the Blue Mosque and Eye of Sophia and just walked around the square.  It happened to be Ramadan while we were there so lots of people at the Mosque praying.  To enter the Blue Mosque you have to take off your shoes and make sure you are covered for the women.  I was wearing a sundress so they gave me a wrap skirt and head scarf to all the females to borrow while inside the Mosque.  It was stunning architecture and really cool inside (however, with all those people walking around barefoot, it did smell a little like feet).  Next we went to Hagia Sophia (Eye of Sophia).  We didn't go inside as it was closing and you have to pay an admission fee.  It's like a museum inside now and the outside is really the beautiful thing to look at.

 After that we wandered down the cobblestone streets to find some dinner and found this lovely rooftop terrace with a beautiful view of the Bosphorus ( The strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara).  We had this delicious yogurt dip and mushroom casserole.   Some thing we found hilarious was when we got our rice to go with the casserole, it was garnished with french fries, cucumber, and tomatoes!  We LOLed, how bizarre!

We walked back to the main square to catch the tram back to our base and the Mosque and Sophia at night were really beautiful!  

The next day we went to Spice Market where I got some Saffron for my friend back home, Cathy (she loves to cook and apparently saffron is really expensive in the US).  Next we went to the Grand Bazaar where I haggled for some silver earrings and a cashmere pashmina.  I didn't really like haggling all that much because they wouldn't always stop you from walking away and I was never sure if I negotiated a good price or not.  The earrings I got were 8 grams of pure silver and I paid $30 for them.  The Pashmina, I got for $6.50 and the saffron for $17.  I loved the markets because there were so many beautiful things to look at and colors popping everywhere!  Bill and I really liked the hanging lamps and wanted to get some but we're on a budget and shipping them back would be too much.  We did see contemporary Turkish Rugs and those we actually considered for a hot second.    

After the market we went to the Underground Cistern and saw the heads of Medusa where legend has it, if you look at, you will turn to stone!  Luckily Bill survived ;)  The Cistern was really beautiful though, we couldn't stop snapping pictures (go see more in our FB album)

After that we stopped for some lunch and go these great turkish wraps (Doners, SP?) that were only $1.75 each.  I had chicken and Bill had vegetarian (although, the next day my vegetarian husband broke down and tried the chicken off the stick and loved it! Shhh don't tell PETA).  We went home and took a little nap because let me tell you, being a tourist is exhausting!  It's a like your job to make sure you go see all the major attractions during your short time there so your running around trying to see everything otherwise you'll feel like a failure lol.  Later on that night, our hosts took us out to dinner and hookah and we had a great time with them and stayed out till almost 3AM (Which Bill and I haven't done in ages).  Our hosts liked to party and showed us a good time.

The following day was our last day in Istanbul and so we went in search of this particular Hamam (Turkish Bath) that I had found online that was a 'local' spot and much cheaper than the tourist spots.  However, this Bath we later found out was deep within a maze of streets and after walking for almost a 1.5 miles and not being able to find it, we hailed a taxi and gave him the address and even HE couldn't find it and had to stop and ask someone for directions.  FINALLY we get there only to find out that #1 They don't speak English and #2 They service men and women on different days and that day it was only the men.  I was so disappointed because of everything, I really wanted to do the Turkish Bath while in Turkey.  It was pretty late in the day at that point though and so I just gave up and decided to for-go my Hamam experience.  I intend to make up for it when we get to Budapest and soak in the Thermal Hot Springs there.  For our last night we wandered around historic Istanbul and tried Turkish Ice Cream (which was like this interesting marshmallow-like texture and not super sweet) while taking a stroll along the Bosphrous, had some Turkish Delight (the rose flavor was my favorite) and Bill bite the bullet and tried the chicken doner.  

All and all we had a great time in Istanbul but were glad we were only staying a couple days because we pretty much got to see and do everything on our list in that time frame.  The next morning, it was up, up and away to Greece, but not without a goodbye kiss first, from our new favorite Chow, Gussy :)