ISTANBUL: Sights, Sounds, Smells, Colors and Flavors.



Istanbul, the ancient Constantinople, the only city in the world located on two different continents, Europe and Asia. We didn’t really plan for Istanbul and actually, we weren’t sure that it was going to fit into our plans until just a few days before going. But, since we are traveling by the seat of our pants, we made it work and we are REALLY glad we did. Each day we liked the people and the city more than the previous one and when our days there did finally come to an end, it was a SAD day. Well, maybe that is a little too dramatic but, we could have stayed longer for sure. Why, might you ask? The answer is really hard to explain but, if you have been there you know. It is the people, the sights, the colors, the smells, the movement, the feelings, etc.

It’s Istanbul! (no, I did not get a job on the Turkish Board of Tourism in case you were wondering)

Day 1

We arrived at night. Not totally uncommon, but it always makes the city, when seeing it for the first time, look more daunting, dangerous, big and scary. That is what happened to us. We had trouble finding the hostel. Street signs are not so popular as they are where we come from and if anyone offered help it was because he then wanted to sell you something. But we finally did find it and, asa our luck would have it,was less than expected. So after one night, we packed up and moved. Doesn’t sound like Istanbul is that great yet, does it?  

Day 2

After checking into our new hostel (huge improvement) we went exploring. First stop: the Sultan’s Palace. It was a pricy ticket but worth it. Like all the wealthy rulers in any culture, there were jewels, thrones, ornaments, etc bursting the seams of the Palace but, those were not the most interesting. The best part of the tour was the HAREM. That was the part of the palace where the Sultan’s Ladies were “kept” or "stayed", depending on who you talk to. It was obvious they played an important role in the palace, especially the “High Mother” (or something like that I don’t remember now what she was called) who kept the others in line. By mid-afternoon, we were ready for a Turkish KEBAB. Good and 1 euro. Who can beat that? By the end of the day, we felt comfortable in this city and were excited to explore more the next day!

Day 3

Today we took the ferry through the Bosphorous (sp?) Straight to the ASIAN side of Istanbul. We expected, obviously that the Asian side would be, well, more ASIAN than the European side. That, however, is not the case. There were less burkas and veiled women and less mosques on the Asian side than the European side! We also found a strip of bars with, get this, BEER! We spent the whole day until dark wandering the street, watching kids in the park, getting lost in the food market and just plain enjoying ourselves. At sundown, we went back to the European side because we were told that they catch fish fresh and fry a fish sandwich for you near the harbor. Not just a few people were involved with this, though. There were hundreds of people fishing, hundreds of people cooking and thousands of people eating! Maybe I am exaggerating a little bit but, it was very cool to see. Apart from the fish, they were selling chestnuts, corn, juice, pickled vegetables…..We opted for corn and chestnuts for dessert! Not a bad day.

Day 4

Today was the Mosque day. We hadn’t been inside one yet. We had constantly been hearing the people sing from the minaret to call the Muslims to prayer but, we didn’t go inside. There are a few famous and beautiful ones and, of those, we chose to see the Blue Mosque and the New Mosque. Both impressive and beautiful. You must see at least one while in Istanbul. After that, we had a juice. But not just any juice. It was THE BEST juice I have had so far. Fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. Made right in front of our eyes. Incredible. With juice in our belly we wandered on through the streets and made our way to a bar (we actually went in the night before thinking it was a lamp store) to smoke the sheesha. Don’t worry Mom, it is not a drug. It is the tall water pipe that is typical among Arabic cultures. Anyway, we sat among locals and smoked our pipe filled with really fragrant apple tobacco while sipping Turkish tea. Very relaxing.

Day 5

The Grand Baazar. This is the bargainers DREAM. Nothing has a price and everything is negotiable. We spent the whole morning checking it out and only saw a piece of it. There is a little bit of everything there. From high quality Turkish rugs, beautiful silver and gold jewelry to ugly postcards and plastic key chains. If you can get something for a 1/3^rd or 1/4^th of the original price, you have worked hard and you deserve it! I should say though that every encounter we had with the sellers was positive. They are happy people who like to talk and sell. They won’t lie to you about the quality and they won’t be offended if you don’t buy. They have just as much fun selling as you do buying. Our final hours in Istanbul consisted of…..eating. Street food is great. Another Kebab, this time lamb, another juice, (pomegranate of course), baklava (a really heavy honey/pistachio/nut/flaky pastry crust thing) and a Turkish tea. We stayed on the street sipping our tea until the very last minute. As the sun went down, we put on our backpacks and headed towards the airport.

So, that’s all folks. Probably hearing it like this it does not seem like too much but, like I said before, Istanbul is something you must experience.

We know that these photos do not do the city justice but that’s okay, we will take more next time. And for sure there will be a next time…...

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Estambul, la Antigua Constantinopla, unica ciudad del mundo situada en dos continentes distintos, Europa y Asia. Cargada de historia y punto de encuentro de culturas, religiones y tradiciones, nos resulto acogedora. No sabiamos muy bien que esperar de esta ciudad, pero cada dia nos fue gustando un poco mas. A dia de hoy y con la perspectiva de las semanas que ya han pasado, para mi puede que sea la ciudad que mas me ha gustado de las que llevamos vistas en nuestro viaje, no tanto por la arquitectura de sus edificios o la belleza urbanistica, si no mas por la vida que tiene, por la gente, la comida, los olores, los sonidos... las sensaciones.

A continuacion, alguno de los detalles y de las cosas buenas que hicimos o que nos pasaron cada dia, para intentar explicar por que Estambul es uno de los sitios favoritos de nuestro viaje.

Dia 1:

La llegada no fue lo mejor. Cuesta encontrar las calles y, cuando vas con las mochilas en ristre, te asaltan los vendedores de habitaciones y los taxistas. Ademas el albergue no estaba demasiado bien. (Cambiariamos al dia siguiente). Para cenar, probamos algo que no conociamos en una terraza de una de las calles mas concurridas de Sultanahmet por la noche, unos rollos hechos con hoja de viña y rellenos de arroz. No sabemos el nombre, pero estaba muy bueno. Y el ambiente de las calles del barrio de Sultanahmet tambien era muy bueno, con mucho bullicio y animacion (el no llevar mochilas ayuda a pasar un poco mas desapercibido, con lo que se puede apreciar mas lo que hay alrededor).

Dia 2:

Visitamos el palacio del Sultan, junto al Bosforo. Lo mas interesante (ademas de tronos, joyas de oro, diamantes de 96 kilates y otras baratijas) quiza fuera el Harem, con todas las habitaciones, salas para las mujeres del Sultan, sus concubinas, los principes y los eunucos. Parecia que todo lo tenian muy organizado y cada uno tenia su sitio y su funcion.

Un kebab para la merienda, bueno y por 1 euro! Ya nos encontramos mas comodos y le estamos cogiendo el gustillo al ritmo de la ciudad, muy vibrante a todas horas. De vez en cuando, se oyen los rezos que vienen de los minaretes de las mezquitas.

Dia 3:

Cruzamos el Bosforo en ferry para conocer la parte asiatica de la ciudad. Paradojicamente, esta parte de la ciudad parece “mas europea”. La gente viste mas al estilo moderno occidental, especialmente las mujeres y las chicas, que no llevan “burka”, hay bares y restaurantes con estilo y musica tambien mas occidentales... Por la tarde paseamos por los mercados de la calle. Nos encantan los puestos de verduras y, sobre todo, de pescado. Esta todo colocado perfectamente, el pescado se ve muy fresco y siempre hay dependientes recolocandolo y regandolo con agua para mantenerlo mas fresco. Hay tambien algunos peces vivos, que van colocando en los mostradores segun van vendiendo mercancia. Esta lleno de gente. Nos dan ganas casi de comer el pescado crudo, o los mejillones rellenos listos para comer. Pero ya tenemos planes para la cena. Volvemos en el ferry y el puerto esta abarrotado de gente vendiendo cosas, otros comprandolas, otros paseando, otros cocinando, otros pescando, otros comiendo. Muchos olores mezclados de comidas distintas que vienen de los carritos que estan cociendo mazorcas de maiz, asando castanas, haciendo pescado a la plancha... y eso es lo que cenamos: bocatas de pescado a la plancha, con cebolla, tomate y lechuga. El sabor, fuerte y nos duraria un rato... De postre, mazorca de maiz y castanas. Que mas se puede pedir?!

Dia 4:

Visita a dos mezquitas, la Mezquita Azul y otra junto al puerto. Y, con todo el respeto por las mezquitas, creo que puedo decir que lo que mas nos gusto de este dia fue un zumo de granada exprimida delante de nosotros en un carrito de la calle. Precio: 1 Lira Turca (unos 0,5 euros) y estaba buenisimo. Tambien nos tomamos un zumo de naranja, del mismo carrito y al mismo precio. Despues de cenar, nos vamos a un bar-salon de te que teniamos localizado, a tomarnos un te y a fumarnos una pipa de agua. La mayoria de la gente, local. Somos pocos los extranjeros. Casi hay una pipa por barba. Nosotros fumamos una de manzana y nos tomamos dos tes, uno de manzana y el otro el tipico te turco. Muy integrados ya, como os podeis imaginar!

Dia 5:

La visita al Gran Bazar, el jaleo de calles, tiendas, puestos, olores, colores, sabores. Compramos algunas cosillas, siempre con el necesario regateo que me resulta mas una charla amigable con desconocidos que una negociacion para ahorrar. Ejemplo: compramos varios monederos, termino hablando de futbol con el vendedor. Despues de irnos, nos damos cuenta de que deberiamos comprar otro para otra persona. Volvemos y, como el chico no tenia cambio, no nos cobra el monedero. Intentamos volver despues de comprar otra cosa y tener cambio, para pagarselo, pero no hubo manera de encontrarlo. Para terminar: kebab en un chiringuito junto al Gran Bazar, que comemos en un taburete en la acera entre lugareños; otro zumo de granada natural; dulces tipicos de aqui (que se nos llevaban saltando los ojos de las orbitas varios dias) baclava y hojaldre relleno de pistachos; y para terminar, te en una terraza en la acera de enfrente del hotel, en una calle cualquiera, vamos.

Y eso es todo. Quiza no parezca mucho. Todo son pequeñas cosas, pero el conjunto nos resulto muy atractivo. Esta es una ciudad a la que seguro que volveremos.

Os dejamos con unas fotos que os ayuden a entender de lo que hablamos (una lastima que el blog este no tenga seccion de olores y sabores. Aqui nos hubieran venido muy bien).

The Blue Mosque
La Mezquita Azul

The shared bathroom in the first hostel. See why we left? (okay, it was actually the bathroom in the Sultan's Palace)
El bano compartido en el primer hostel. Mira por que nos fuimos.(vale, era el aseo en el Palacio del Sultan)

The Sultan and the High Mother's Throne
El Trono del Sultan y de la primera mujer.

Pretty Palace building
Un edificio bonito del Palacio

The Blue Mosque
La Mezquita Azul

The Aya Sofia Mosque
La Mezquita Aya Sofia

Busy Market
Mercado abarrotado

Dried fruit, anyone?
Frutas secas

The Blue Mosque...again
La Mezquita Azul...otra vez

Inside the Blue Mosque
Dentro de la Mezquita Azul

Both of us in the Blue Mosque
Los dos en la Mezquita Azul

The Aya Sofia Mosque by day
La Mezquita Aya Sofia de dia

Fisherman catching our supper
Pescadores trabajando para nuestra cena

The New Mosque
La Mezquita Nueva

The New Mosque at sundown
La Mezquita Nueva al atardecer

This is what I call "mobile banking"
Esto es lo que viene a ser "un banco movil"

Looking for the next bargain in the Gran Baazar.
Esperando el siguiente regateo en el Gran Bazar

Lamb Kebab
Nuestro Kebab-tentenpie

Heaven in a glass (or our freshly squeezed pommegranate juice)
Exprimiendo granadas para uno de los mejores zumos del mundo

These smiles only cost 50 cents
Mirad que sonrisas por solo 50 centimos

To top it all off, Baklava
Y para rematar la faena, Baklava y hojaldre relleno de pistachos.