Hey! We landed in Istanbul, Turkey this morning (night?)! We woke in the morning and, after a fiasco about the very sad loss of two sentimental keychains of mine, flew to Johannesburg with no issues except one. As we came in for landing, we nearly touched down when the plane suddenly came back up! As I am here it was nothing but air traffic, but I at least couldn’t help worrying about terrorism or a problem with the landing gear. We were all a bit nervous. This, of course, happened while the super strict flight attendant glared at us to make sure that “the kids” didn’t step out of line. Seriously, she actually came over to me and tightened my seatbelt! The flight to Istanbul was cramped and uncomfortable, but there were no issues with the plane. We said goodbye to Ronit, who wasn’t feeling very well, and drove to our apartment. I saw a few things that struck me, among them the number of mosques, stray cats, and, surprisingly, wind turbines. We went to sleep immediately and only woke up at noon, though the time difference is only an hour from South Africa. In the daylight, we walked around the city. Before I note what we saw, I want to dedicate this post to all the SUPER CUTE BRUNO CLONES here in Istanbul. Half of the cats here look like Bruno as a kitten, and there are a lot of them.
As we walked around, one thing that I found very interesting was that there were many varieties of clothes worn by women. The burqa, which covers the face as well as the body; the niqab, that only covers the face; the hijab, which covers the head and chest; and shuriat, shorts. Women also wear short dresses, long dresses, pants, skirts, tank tops, tights, etc, but what astounded me is how smoothly everything flowed! A woman in a burqa would not even glance at a young girl in a tank top and short shorts. I even saw a mother in a hijab leading her shoulder-shirt-decked tween daughter! We headed over to Taksim Square, located very close to our apartment, and Asher and I each had a sesame bagel from one of the many vending carts there. We then smelled the enormous row of shawarma booths and, of course, we each had one of those. They put so many spices into it that it was simply heavenly!
After petting tens of stray cats and kittens (they all looked exceedingly healthy except for one very lethargic and skinny young one),
It’s not perspective, he’s that small
we wandered around the rest of the day, snacking and eating Turkish Delights and popping into stores. A large mall-ish street next to Taksim was where we witnessed a Gay Pride march. The number of police was incredible! Even during the Eurovision in Israel I hadn’t seen so many “polis”!
The march was actually banned by the government, but activists still showed up with rainbow textiles, face paint, and other articles. Though we did not see it in action, we did pass by a group of activists which were later attacked by dogs, batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. Aba and I went out to by fruit and saw another demonstration, as well. One of the difficulties I have had here is not calling Aba “Aba”. He doesn’t want people to know that we’re Israeli. This is very hard! It’s like trying to call someone you know as Mike as Todd instead without sounding sarcastic or slipping up a lot! We went back to the square for another shawarma dinner and some Turkish delights (yuuuuumy!) and saw some men fight each other in an argument. The next day, in addition to strolling Taksim again, we went to two bazaars. The first was Mısır Çarşısı, the Egyptian Spice Market. There, we ate walnut-stuffed dates, apricot-stuffed figs, pistachio balls, and more! Everything was so colorful that it sort of reminded me of India. Thankfully this was in a covered area so we didn’t die of heatstroke!
After that, we headed to the Grand Bazaar where items are sold such as some pants that I bought. We then went to the Nuruosmaniye and Blue Mosques. The Nuruosmaniye Mosque opened in 1755 and the Blue Mosque opened in 1616, and while both are still in use, the Blue Mosque is undergoing renovations so we only go to see people praying in the Nuruosmaniye Mosque.
It was an interesting experience in both places, as I had to wear a makeshift scarf-hijab. I was already wearing long pants, brutal in the broiling heat and humidity.
That evening, after eating, we sat at a sweets store and sampled desserts! We went thrifting on a street of antique stores and to the spice bazaar again the next morning as well as the underground Basilica Cistern.
Out of the hundreds in existence, it is the largest cistern, an underground reservoir for water, in Istanbul. Unfortunately, it is also undergoing renovations so there was no water or poison-alerting carp in the cistern. We got to cut the line by paying a little extra, which was fun, and enjoyed the coolness away from the sun.
An interesting part was when we speculated over the significance of some Medusa carvings and then discovered that there was none; they were simply there for decoration.
The next day, our last day, today, was our shopping day! We explored modern Turkish fashion and bought quite a few items of clothing and even shoes! In the evening, we went to see a Whirling Dervish performance. It was interesting and I’m glad we got to see it, but they conducted a slow ritual for ten minutes and the rest of the hour was spent whirling. Asher even fell asleep! However, for the first few minutes, it was truly beautiful and enchanting.
We are leaving for Russia in the morning, something I’m excited about because I’ve been reading War & Peace which is set in Russia, but I wish we’d had more time in Turkey. I would love to see more of the beautiful country. However, I’m glad I can finally call ‘Ofer’ ‘Aba’ again!
Ella
18-24-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-17-14
