Soooooooooo I went to Istanbul, Turkey!!!!!! It was the first trip i've taken since being here and i'd say it was a success! Where to begin: we took our final tests in ulpan and headed to the airport. We (8 of us..and 5 more came later) flew turkish air and the plane was nearly empty...i guess flying from israel to turkey isnt that popular. the only people on the plane were in fact americans on my program- turned out going to turkey this weekend was THE thing to do. We landed around 630ish turkish time and scampered to the carlton hotel- an alleged 4star hotel that looked glamarous in pictures and not so glamarous upon arrival: tiny room, closet shower, no drawers, two outlets, crap hairdryer, turkish only speaking concierege. that night our concierge suggested/made our reservation at a restaurant called hamdi (we did learn that "reservation" was a favored word of our concierge). we arrived at hamdi and had a table all set for us full of delicious salads and dips (very israel..but the hummus was bad). after a difficult convo with the waiter we were brought giant platers of "mixed meat" kebab (this turned out to be lamb, beef, and chicken). the lamb in turkey was AMAZING and they are in love with pistachios so we had lots of delicious meat mixed with pistachios. soso yummy. that night we tried and failed to go out due to lack of english communication with cab drivers and our lack of knowledge about where all the hot spots were.
no matter: we woke up the next morning and hired a private boat to take us on a bosphorus cruise. 16 of us boarded the boat and jetted off into the sea. our "captains" were a little quiet so we didnt know much about what we were seeing but we were sure we were seeing both asia and europe (the point of the cruise is to claim that uve been in asia and europe at the same time) and we did our best with a variety of guidebooks to understand what we were seeing. during our stop in europe we went to the fortress of rumelli - an ancientttttttt (constantine) fortress that is huge and beautiful - we climbed manyyyyyyy manyyyyyyyy stairs and had gorgeous views of the bosphorus and the asian side of istanbul. next we continued cruising and stopped in asia (people were realllly amped to be in asia..until i reminded them that israel is in asia soo thats where we live...) "in asia" we visited a beautiful mosque but there was a funeral being held and things got awkward quickly so we boarded our boat and headed back to sea. after docking we had a little cab mishap but ended up at a cute little lunch place for more salad and more meat. mmm meat good.
after lunch, WE WENT TO THE TURKISH BATHS!! capitalization doesnt do it justice! so turkey is famous for their ancient and luxurious baths. we went to cemberlitas - so first we went into separate womens area. in the locker room we changed into just black undies and a towel. we then went down into this huge room with a giant stone that was reallllly hot and steamy. we all laid on the stone until a scary turkish woman in a black bikini motioned at us to come. then she ripped away our towels and gave us our own little area on the stone. then we got washed and scrubbed! she used some hard scrubby thing and then dead skin just starting accumulating- she washed it off then put soap alllll over. then she lead me into a little room and bathed me like a puppy..legit there were buckets of water poured on my head and shampoo was in my hair. then we went into the hot tub room AND since we splurged on the "luxurious package" we then all got oil massages! my skin still feels like a babys bottom- it was the most luxurious thing ive ever experienced and soo authentic! so many turks were there as if it was a daily routine to hang out on the hot stone and drink pommegrenate juice!! what a life
after the baths, we were all exhausted and in a very zen state so we went for a little dinner nearby. our second night out we actually made it to a club that was extremelyyyyyyy posh and way too fancy for us! they were too cool to dance there so i disliked.
day 2: we started the day at 9 with a half day walking tour...our tour guide had the best accent EVER and kept referring to us as "the 11 group". we were actually late to the tour because we couldnt find where it started and people were not helpful. so i cant really say where we started but it had to do with ancient things from egypt? unclear. next we went to the blue mosque! we had to take off our shoes and carry them in a bag- those of us in leggings (not jeans) had to put on skirts provided by the mosque. the inside was beautiful- not as blue as i expected but HUGE and very detailed. next we went to the hagia sophia. this was the most interesting place to me as a visible intersection between christianity and islam is seen. the building was originally a church but through crusades eventually became a muslim building- dispute over the building occured and in the early 1900s it was declared a museum rather than a religiously affiliated building. mosaics and paintings of christ and the virgin mary are seen right next to huge paintings of the names of muslim leaders and imams. very cool. next we took a bus to this turkish rug place- essentially the tour company and the rug place have a deal where teh tour comes to the rug palce and they try to seduce u into buying a turkish rug..they are $$$ but we enjoyed learning about how they are made and learning some tricks of the turkish rug trade.
then our tour ended and we went to the grand bazaar (the enormous market in istanbul) there are over 4,000 shops in the bazaar and it is crazy overwhelming! bargain bargain bargain. everything u read about the bazaar says never accept a price higher than 50% of the original offer. bargaining is hard stuff but i had lots of success (one failed bargain of mine was for a shot glass and eventually he took it out of my hand and wouldnt let me buy it) i bought a few things including a small ceramic bowl that says istanbul in it and a small lamp - there were soo many lamps that were so colorful and beautiful we had to get them. i also got one more thing but i cant talk about it because its a gift for someone! and its awesome!
next we went to lunch (apparently since salad bars arent meat/kebabs turkey hates them and we got a beautiful salad bar for 5.50 lira...thats like 3 dolllars) next we rounded out the day by going to the topekai palace which was gorgeous and had so many ancient pieces like swords, armor, caftans, baby craddles, etc. then emma and i went off to the galata tower, an ancient tower (with multiple purposes) that has a beautiful 360 view of istanbul. sadly, it was hazy but we still got some gorgeous pictures
that night we went out to celebrate our friends 21st bday dinner at a restaurant called mikla. it was a very highly rated restaurant at the tippy top of a gorgeous hotel in istanbul- the view is amazing and the food was delicious!!! most of ordered pistachio crusted lamb chops and there was hot chocolate lava cake for desert! after that, we went out to celebrate alex's bday and again found ourselves at a wayyy to posh club (tables were 4000 lira!) but we still made the most of it and had a great time.
well thats about it on the turkey update!!! flew back on sunday and am so happy to be back "home". being in turkey i realized how spoiled we are here in israel that everyone speaks english and that israel is so warm and welcoming to its guests. it was a very different way of life to not wear our chamsa necklaces and jewish star rings, to not tell people we came from israel, and to not speak hebrew. of course, we knew that israel and turkey dont have a loving relationship but being there it was so clear that jewish people really arent any interest to turkish people and israel isnt a place they care about or care for. so i'm happy happy to be back.
other updates: we started classes today- i'm signed up for too many so once i solidify my schedule i'll update you on what i'm learning. i'm also in the works of planning a weekend to eilat/petra (beach vacation slash day trip to jordan) and also my spring break trip to greece! very exciting!
pictures from turkey coming next!
xoxoxo
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