Birthday Trip

Unable to have a giant party with my friends and family in the States, I opted for a fabulous birthday trip. Luckily, Gearoid agreed with my plan. After weeks of vacation websites, visits to travel agencies, changed minds, and a few tears of frustration we chose to spend 5 days in Istanbul, Turkey. Turning 30 in Istanbul was wonderful and I recommend a trip there (birthday or otherwise) to anyone. The city is beautiful and has one of the most amazing skylines I have ever seen. We visited and saw structures that had dates like 390AD and 560AD.  History soaks into the very clean and well kept streets while fat cats and dogs (all strays) lazily loll around in the sun or on the steps of monuments knowing their next meal will come from local vendors with extra food or amused tourists. As the third largest European city (with part of it located technically in Asia), it is bustling with friendly people and filled with amazing sites and delicious food. I highly recommend it as a trip for anyone and plan to return myself one day.

Wednesday Night-

After literally taking trains, plane(s), and automobiles, we arrived in Istanbul in the late afternoon and enjoyed gorgeous views all the way to our hotel. Our hotel was located a quiet neighborhood that was only a 10 minute walk away from most of the tourist attractions. After settling in, we went for a walk before dinner. The streets were hilly (especially compared to the Netherlands) and the houses were pushed together in an eclectic and attractive manner. We peeked in windows and at posted menus and quickly learned that we could not look around with being invited by borderline pushy business owners trying to get customers in the off-season. We soon wandered onto the Hippodrome where we were able to see many of the historical sites we would visit in the next few days all lit up. It also began to snow lightly adding to the already romantic and charming atmosphere. After a dinner of Turkish pizza and kebab (for us vegetarians- a plate of grilled veggies with yogurt and flavored bulgur), we headed back to the hotel to rest up for our big day of site-seeing the next day.

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

This obelisk has been in this spot since 390AD. It's actually older because it was constructed and brought over from somewhere else (I think Egypt). 

Thursday- My birthday!

My birthday this year was amazing. After the light snowfall the night before, on my birthday we were rewarded with blue skies and the shining sun (something that we hadn’t seen recently in the Netherlands). Before we left the hotel, we enjoyed the complimentary breakfast buffet of fresh breads, cheeses, olives, eggs, yogurt, and more (I warn you now- I will be talking a lot about the food). It was when Gearoid got his third sesame roll with fresh sheep cheese and I was smearing Nutella on sweet bread that I fully realized that we were in vacation mode. It would be difficult to get back to our usual breakfast routine of yogurt and muesli after 4 more days of this breakfast spread. Full and ready to go, we were stopped by the hotel staff who brought me out a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday. Not wanting to disappoint them (and never one to turn down cake), despite being full we each enjoyed a piece of the most delicious cake I have ever had. There were layers of chocolate, hazelnuts, pistachios, cream and more and luckily we had a fridge in our room to save it!

Enough for now about the food- Our plan for the day was Topkapi Palace. We paid extra for the entrance to the harem and the audio tour and both were totally worth the cost. The tile work in the harem (where 300-500 concubines lived!) was amazing and I spent a lot of our visit looking at ornate ceilings. We spent half a day walking around, listening to the tour, enjoying the views, and soaking up the sunshine. At one point, we became part of the tour when a group of English learners came up to ask us basic questions as an English assignment. Later in the day, they recognized us and took pictures of us to remember their time at Topkapi Palace.

Throne room- I found it amusing that the thrones in this palace were more like king-sized beds that you could relax on with maybe a few concubines.

View from the palace's cafe where you pay extraordinary prices for a drink because you're really paying for the view.

Behind the walls on the left were the kitchens. Our audio guide informed us that soldiers were fed from this kitchen but would only eat if they thought the pay they received was fair. If they didn't eat, salary prices were immediately renegotiated.

These mirrors were located at a point in the harem where there were 3 entrances. The "harem masters" (not their official name) would use the mirrors to keep track of the comings and goings in the harem.

The big thing in the middle was used to provide heating for this room. There was no heating while we were there and with all of the tiles and stone, it was a frosty visit.

Beautiful room and proof I need to work on my posture.

Fountain in a sultan's room

Entrance into palace grounds

This is a sign in front a wooden room with a view that was primarily used to enjoy sherbets and sweet fruit drinks. I think I'll add such a room to my house.

Built in shelves- Gearoid had a clever idea to post a fake Craig's list ad about a room for rent that included built in book shelves and space for 300-500 concubines. 

After the palace, we headed to the Grand Bazaar where we tried to ogle the goods without looking too interested and avoided as much eye contact with the vendors as possible. It didn’t help. We were constantly telling people “no thank you” in several different ways. We did end up getting sucked into a fabric vendor’s stall and I did start to feel bad and ended up buying a gorgeous piece of embroidered cloth that I have no idea how to use or what to do with it. After the old man selling fabric was a little boy who got us to buy 3 tops (as in the toy) that we had no use for. We meandered around a little more before heading back to the hotel for a rest and admittedly some more of my cake. We finished my birthday with a nice dinner at a restaurant with a view of the lit up monuments and a warm cup of delicious boza (a warm thick milky drink that tastes like homemade tapioca pudding without the tapioca- it even formed a skin if you didn’t drink it quick enough) from a vendor near the Hippodrome. Overall, it was an incredible birthday.

Inside the Grand Bazaar. It was enormous and maze-like, making it impossible to see everything (although admittedly most of the stalls seemed to sell the same type of things). It was also divided by what was being sold and you could tell where you were by the window displays- gold, fabrics and clothing, silver, carpets, etc. 

Street outside the bazaar

The second obelisk was the point on the hippodrome where the chariots would turn around during races. 

More to come….