Istanbul

February 17-21, 2008
I took a vacation from Milan. Leaving Malpensa airport on Sunday, I packed my khakis and brown pumas which I haven’t worn since I arrived in Italy. I vowed to spend until Thursday with little thought of fashion or beauty. My soul, and perhaps my feet needed a break. Not everyone in Milan who was visiting Turkey took the same approach. A Milanese guy, a little younger than us, decided to wear a pink yankees hat with a matching pink scarf. I must say, I have never seen a man wear a pink yankees hat. But, he seemed happy, so hey, go for it, and nothing in Italy surprises me at this point!



Amy’s feet were a dull gray black color. Her eyes watering as she swallowed hard trying to convince herself she would not vomit here. She would not end the night puking, she had made it through the Forbidden Temple’s harem without puking, through the Blue Mosque, where we had to walk in stocking feet through the freezing carpet, she did not puke there. Yet, as we sat in the bathroom staring at her feet, I wondered what a Turkish hospital would be like. An answer neither of us wanted to consider. Too bad web md wasn’t here for a remedy.



We had landed in Turkey exactly 24 hours earlier, to snow. This will not surprise my Dad, but whenever I envisioned Istanbul, I imagined a very mild climate. How I am certified to teach geography amazes me most days. Friends had cleared up the myth of warm weather before we left, but I guess I was truly unprepared for the weather we would soon encounter.



Julie, our gracious host, who had spent the last six months in the city teaching math on a Fulbright teaching exchange had carefully planned a trip to highlight the main sites of Istanbul. Her apartment in Atasehir, was a bus, a ferry and a tram ride away from any historic site. Seven inches of snow made most of the twelve million residents stay home. We would not find out until later in our trip how sedate Monday’s commute into the city actually was.

It turns out that on the ferry you can, for .50 YTL (40 cents) get a Turkish tea served in tulip shaped glass with a red and white striped saucer with a tiny silver spoon to stir in your two lumps of sugar. Willing to drink anything warm, I gulped it down



I was so cold that I couldn't enjoy the fact that I was actually walking through the Sultan's palace. Or that I was touring through the harem. That I was standing in a room that housed countless women, from various sections of the Ottoman Empire. In that moment, I couldn't consider what had even gone through their heads, their hearts. I knew, that had I been able to feel my feet, I would have paused longer at the huge columns or taken the time to scrutinize the tiles that adorned the walls. I would have tried to feel what it must have been like to live in that moment, that place in time. But the pain, was excruciating and I could think of nothing but my feet!




Finally, giving up the battle, we found a shoe store that sold boots, the warmest ones we could find. My only option, red 37s. We took our drenched socks off and put our barefeet into the sheep wool lined boots. Pure relief!

The following pictures have no story written for them yet... writers block coupled with complete exhaustion......





Turns out, cab drivers tend to like us. We got separated from half of our party and we didn't think we had Julie's number or address. A little panic and Amy's lips started turning blue! An exciting first day in Turkey to say the least.





The Hagia Sophia took my breath away. Something I had talked about for years in History class came alive. Just look at the tread and see how many people have crossed that threshold.



The Roman Cisterns underground.



The Grand Bizarre Entrance. Thank goodness we have been given lessons from Sonja on bargaining. Amy and I who had begged not to be apart of bartering for our bikes were now feeling confident in the crossroads of civilization.



I must say I was tempted to flirt with the sellers. I had forgotten a hat and it being so cold, I decided to wear my pashmina scarf around my head, I looked a little ridiculous, but it did the trick, I was finally warm! This is a picture of my favorite seller at the spice market. When, showing me different kinds of tea, he got to one labeled love tea. I immediately smiled and asked him, if it would help me find love? His eyes smiled as he said, "Let's see!" Leaning in to smell the tea, he exclaimed, "Ah, I feel it working already!" Then he waltzed me around his stall feeding me Turkish Delight and serving me tea until I was literally giggling. We were both winners. He made a sale and I got to laugh a little.



My Dad would have LOVED the spice market!



The streets became rivers as the snow melted and the temperatures started to rise.



We took a break for Turkish Coffee and pretended to read our fortunes. Doesn't mine look interesting?



This is our travel group. Julie and Virginia are teachers from Massachusetts that Amy met at a conference over the summer. Stephanie was Julie's friend from college. We ranged in ages and life circumstance, but what amazing people and what fun we had!