By the time I found a washroom in the airport and got moving, the visa line was ridiculously long. We waited a total of two hours to get our visas and get through emigration. When we finally got through customs and connected to the net we discovered our accommodation had fallen through, and we needed to find something else. I was tired and annoyed; our first day in Istanbul was loooooong. I was cursing our decision to leave Asia, the land of cheap and relaxed.
When we finally booked a room, we laughed when we walked up to the door; It was broken, full of rust and spray painted with the name of the hostel. There were no windows, no signage and we thought we were at the back door when a staff came to let us in. The inside was a dilapidated cave-like building with a long living room area that you had to duck to get through. Our room fit only the bed. It was clean though, and the shower was hot. We collapsed on the bed and were asleep by 8:30.
We woke early the next day, ready to explore (my mood was much improved!) We started walking down our road when we witnessed two older men shouting at each other in a cloud of blue cigarette smoke. One was a salesman, the other a customer. Hands were flying and the discussion became louder and more rapid. Steve and I exchanged glances and looked at our feet, giving them a polite amount of space so we could skulk away, when one slapped the other on the back and smiled. We witnessed this type of conversation a few more times until we realized that the Turks are just very passionate people! They speak with caps lock on. It has become an inside joke for us to give them English overdubs:
"HOW ARE YOU?"
"IS YOUR MOTHER WELL"
"HOW MUCH FOR THIS SWEATER?"
It's all in good fun.
We had a fabulous time exploring Istanbul. The mix of religions and ethnicities (Kurds, Iranian, Turkish, Eastern European) is fascinating, and the food that comes out of it is amazing! We tried to stick to hawker food, and ate an amazing variety of donairs, turkish pizza, turkish delights, and all sorts of yogurt enhanced food that we can't pronounce. It's been my favorite food of the trip so far!
We saw a good many sights in Istanbul (which I will post separately). Some of our favorite things though have just been people watching. We passed through a feminist protest where the riot police were set up with full gear and water cannons (no pics of that one, since we hurried out of there!) and overheard some interesting opinions on the roles of women. As a woman it's been interesting to have to make conscious decisions about "modest clothing", but I haven't found it to be oppressive or negative. It's been a great learning experience and I appreciate knowing how I can show respect in new lands.
Although Istanbul started out a little rocky, we are falling in love with Turkey, the land of amazing scenery, history, and culture.
In the next post I will give a quick rundown of what we saw in the city. It was a very packed 4 days!
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