Turkish Bureaucratic Ailment is a plague in this country. Better known as TBA, Turkish Bureaucratic Ailment seems to be a disease that is contracted by most foreigners who spend more than a few weeks in the country. My own battle with TBA is a long and exhaustive one - and since Turkey has not yet switched to universal health care (though I don't think TBA would be covered under that, either, without the proper paperwork), my energy, spirit, and wallet has suffered from the experience. Having finally (mostly) recovered, I would like to share my story.
I began to exhibit signs of TBA on February 6, 2012. But I was infected many weeks earlier. Please allow me to digress...
No interruptions.
***
The year was 2011. I was preparing to leave the United States for a semester abroad in Istanbul. My parents, in their infinite wisdom (I mean this sincerely) insisted that I not bring my computer to Eastern Europe, where I was to be traveling for a few weeks prior to my arrival in Istanbul. It seemed the prudent thing to ship the computer, along with a few extras that I would need for school (like extra clothes, some random books, an obnoxiously massive American flag, a few sweatshirts for the remainder of the winter. Basically anything I might need at school but couldn't fit into my backpack).
Of course, we shipped it with a reputable service (FedEx), insured it for way more than the total package was worth ($2390) and even made the prudent decision to send the package only after my arrival at the Superdorm and the start of my program, as Duke had warned us that the Turkish mail system is unreliable at best, and the Superdorm would not hold packages that arrive earlier than the student.
So, with what we thought were all of our bases covered, I arrived in Istanbul on January 29, 2012, without a computer, after a month in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Even now, it was probably a good thing I wasn't carrying around a theft magnet like a year-old Macbook Pro through the former Soviet Bloc.
A few days later, my parents shipped out the package. This brings us back to February 6, when the package arrived.
***
I received a call in my room from one of the guards in the Superdorm lobby. He informed me that a package has arrived. With glee, I rambled down the three flights of stairs, grasping the poles at the bottom of each set of stairs, jumping and swinging myself around to continue my descent uninterrupted - I love receiving mail, and this particular package had a lot to be desired inside of it.
It was not a package. It was an envelope from FedEx. In Turkish. I assumed it is related to the package I was expecting, but I had no way to translate it yet (short of painstakingly typing the whole letter into Google Translate, which I tried. But I failed). Assuming I had a little time to get the package, I left the letter on my desk for a few days. In retrospect, early detection is key to curing TBA, and I made a terrible mistake in not immediately trying to remedy this situation.
***
Fast forward to February 9. Duke was taking us on a weeklong excursion to southern Turkey. Our morning flight was cancelled, and we spent 15 hours or so at Atatürk Airport. At some point, I pulled out the letter and showed it to Karanfil, one of my professors this semester, and one of the Duke program's chaperones.
According to Karanfil's translation of the letter from FedEx, the package had arrived and was waiting at Atatürk Airport customs. I had the choice of coming to pick up the package myself, or to pay 150TL ($84.25) for someone to deliver it to me. I reacted with the instinctual, "Well, when we get back from the trip I can just pick it up here at the airport, and bring it back with me!" But Karanfil wisely told me that there might be all kinds of legal trip-ups along the way, and if she was given the opportunity to pay someone only 150TL to deliver the package to me, she would pay it in a second. Either way, we did not have to deal with that until we got back from our trip; the package deadline, according to the letter, was 20 days after arrival, or February 26. We would be back with plenty of time to spare. I wasn't worried, though I felt a small pang in my gut. That was either another early warning sign of TBA, or the parasite I had contracted from drinking the tap water that I would deal with over the following week. But that's a different matter.
***
The date was now February 15. 11 days until deadline. I spoke at length with Sarah Carpenter, who has been deftly running our program from well before Day 1, and she graciously offered to give the FedEx people a call for me, to figure out just what I needed to do to get the package.
I received the bad news that night. Well, some of it, as one of the distinctive symptoms of TBA is a tendency to get way worse before it gets better -- if it gets better. It seems that in order to get the package, I would have to not only pay 150TL in additional shipping fees, but an additional 75 € ($100) for a third party company to fill out the necessary paperwork to retrieve the package. I reluctantly agreed, mentally racking up the amount of money this little ordeal had already added up to. But that wasn't all.
***
It was now almost a week after that. February 21 or so. I receive a call from Sarah, who has been on the phone all day with FedEx and some company that does the sort of thing that we needed them to do, namely, get my package out of customs. It seems my problems at this point were two-fold:
1) I was to be taxed for the contents of the box before it could be delivered, based on the insured value (though... it was over-insured!) of the items inside, because that insured value exceeded whatever price was necessary to give the package a commercial designation - which meant I needed to pay taxes as if I bought it in Turkey. That tax, based on Turkish sales tax, was somewhere around 18%, or 850TL ($477). Officially, the price to get the package back had about equalled/probably exceeded the cost of shipping.
2) The company that gave us this information was unable to do anything else for us, until I officially hired them. Which I couldn't do without a notarized power of attorney document, authorizing them to work on my behalf.
So, with a grimace on my face (this time from TBA, not my parasite named Brian), I resolved to find me a notary.
***
February 23rd, 2012. 3 days until deadline.
A friend on my program, Savannah, was cleverly tricked into accompanying me to the notary office in Etiler, a wealthy district adjacent to the Superdorm area. We took the bus a few stops, found the road between the two Günaydın restaurants (yes, there are two adjacent Günaydın restaurants), and turned left at the first opportunity to find the little Noter office.
Of course, no one inside spoke Turkish, so I called Sarah up to translate for me. She tried, but when I got back on the phone with her after her talk with the man behind the desk, she informed me that my identity could not be confirmed without a translated passport (basically a notarized paper with my passport information translated into Turkish on it), and that I could not sign a power of attorney without having the contents explained to me by a translator. Sarah offered to be that translator, but apparently they only go through official channels for this sort of thing. So they put me on the phone with İrfan Özdabak, a Tercüme & Danişmanlık (translator and consultant - though I still get no end of fun from the latter title).
İrfan informed me that I should bring my passport down to his office in Rumeli (by the University South Campus, basically the same distance from the Superdorm I was at but on the other side), and we'd figure all this stuff out.
The next thing we know, Savannah and I are in a book-infested apartment with little blue plastic booties over our shoes, chatting with İrfan while he translated my passport. It turns out he graduated from SUNY Binghamton, like my mother, but that's unimportant. He then explained to me the contents of a power of attorney which, amazingly enough, are almost identical to a power of attorney in the United States.
With a translated passport in hand, Savannah and I made our way back to the notary. A few minutes after our arrival, İrfan shows up behind us to finish up the last of what we need to do. He certifies the passport translation to be accurate, they stamp it, and they charge me 62TL ($34.80) for the stamp (Oh, and İrfan charged me 30TL ($16.84) for the translation, plus 50TL ($28.06) for explaining to me the power of attorney and coming down to the notary to help me out). Next, they had İrfan tell them that he explained the power of attorney, and they let me sign that, too, with the small fee of 85TL ($47.70) for the stamp tacked on.
I left the notary thoroughly sickened, though confident that all was finally right with the world. I could hire this company to do my dirty work now. I called Sarah to inform her, and she called the company to give them the go ahead.
I went to Nexus, my favorite bar in the area, to drown my sorrows in 13 tequila shots.
***
I woke up the following day thoroughly ill. I do not blame the alcohol for that in the slightest - it was clearly all the fault of my ever-worsening TBA. And it was about to get terminal.
I was sitting in Karanfil's class, cursing my aching brain that was rotting only from TBA, when I received some information from Sarah. I stepped outside to call her.
As it turns out, my third party company had discovered a little snag in the system (because everything thus far had gone so smoothly). In order to receive the package, I would need to obtain two items. The first was a tax ID. This is easy. I can go to any tax office in Istanbul and get a tax ID within minutes. The second was a residents permit. This was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. I had no residents permit.
See, the Turkish student visa I arrived with counts as a single entry visa. Within one month of arrival, I must apply for a residents permit. Duke insisted that we didn't need to worry about that appointment for a little while (until towards the end of our first month), so we didn't. And to their credit, appointments had never been backed up more than a week or two in the past. But when we went to sign up, the earliest appointments were in May. I got the earliest day of anyone on my program, and that was May 7! More on that in the Epilogue of this tome.
Without a residence permit, I would be unable to retrieve the package before the deadline. Even if this company could weasel me into a residence permit, it would take a week to process and I would be beyond my 20-day deadline, which would result in the accumulation of all sorts of late fees for leaving a package in customs for more than 3 weeks.
I made a snap decision in this moment. It took some serious thinking and a little mental math, but I had to make a call.
It would cost 850TL to pay the taxes on the damn thing. It would also cost 75€ to keep this company on retainer to get the package, plus 150TL to deliver it. I've been over these costs before, but I felt I should reiterate. Because, as it turns out, to ship the damn thing home to the US would be cheaper. So I made the call.
But I had an epiphany! In just a few short weeks, I would be receiving a different sort of shipment, in the form of a friend from school coming to Istanbul for Spring Break! So I asked Sarah to have the package shipped instead to Sophie in St. Louis, and from there she could put the contents in a suitcase and carry the items to me for free (well, relatively speaking). Such a simple solution...
***
A few days later, the package was back on its way to St. Louis, with plenty of time to spare before Sophie's departure. I even saved some money on shipping and managed to get my notary fees refunded. And then I woke up.
We had succeeded in getting the late fees from customs mostly waved (since I was no longer attempting to get the package through customs), and weren't going to have to pay the 850TL in taxes, nor the 150TL in additional shipping costs. But the successes stop there.
It's now February 28. I receive a call from my father, informing me that he had gotten a phone call which demanded $900 or so for return shipping by 5pm EST or "the package will be destroyed." I had never gotten a ransom call before, and this was a bit of a shock on my system, already so taxed by TBA. But we called the weird, non-FedEx shipping company back and argued a lot. Well, my father did on my behalf. I was a little weakened by the disease.
I was not privy to the negotiations, but it turns out that MNG Kargo, FedEx's partners in Turkey, would end up quoting me 395€ ($527) for return shipping, plus 295TL ($47.70) for customs fees. Those broke down as follows:
Brokerage and warehouse: 75TL
Terminal fee: 85TL
Export warehouse fee: 55TL
Government stamp: 25TL
Master airway bill: 55TL
Ah, and we would need to send an AGR form (whatever that is) filled out to MNG/FedEx and letters from the original sender and from me indicating our wish to see it returned.
At this point I was coordinating with Irene, one of my father's coworkers. Together we filled out the AGR form and wrote multiple emails (they kept making us resend them) indicating our wish to have the package returned to the US and rerouted to St. Louis.
Hopefully, problem solved. We would now play the waiting game...
***
March 6, 2012. 9 days past original deadline. 3 days until Sophie's departure for Istanbul.
I receive an email from Irene, saying that FedEx wants us to send them the address to send the box to, again. I gave them Sophie's address, but at this point there was no way it was going to make it in time for her departure. No matter, at least it would be there when I got back from Turkey, and not destroyed.
My TBA was flaring up again... I had at this point been without my computer (or any computer, for that matter) for over 2 months, and had been only a few miles away from it for a month of that time. And now I wouldn't receive it at all.
But there was a silver lining. Sophie had an extra computer, and graciously agreed to let me borrow it for a semester. It is on that device I now write this little story of mine.
***
Sophie arrived on March 10, 2012. No word on the package. Upon her departure from Istanbul, though, while she was on the plane home on March 19, in fact, I received this email from Irene:
"Return tracking number 489922252968
The package was actually delivered today in St Louis -- K. Simon signed
for it at 1038am in the mailroom"
K. Simon, my hero. A man for whom no amount of distance nor red tape could be a burden. This man who was willing to go out of his way to help me, an ailing victim of TBA, with the most urgent of problems.
Granted, I still don't have any of that stuff, and now I'm living out of a single backpack for the entire semester, but at least all my stuff, my computer most importantly, is back in St. Louis. It only took 42 days, more money than I care to add up, and far too many hours. The saga was over.
***
But my TBA was not.
***
Remember how I couldn't get a residence permit until May 7? The Turkish Bureaucratic Ailment had reared its ugly head a second time, interfering with my package-getting abilities and also with part of the reason I came to Turkey to begin with: to be a stones throw from other cities and countries I want to visit. If I can't leave the country, how will I ever see Athens? Cyprus? Bulgaria? Cairo? Clearly I most likely won't get to any or all of them, but the option is what matters.
Anyway, shortly after leap day, I was frustrated with my May 7th appointment. And no, it wasn't ONLY because 1,454 years ago on that day, the dome of the Hağia Sofia collapsed here in Constantinople, or that 97 years ago on that day the Lusitania was torpedoed and sank. I was frustrated because I was going to be forced to pay (yes, you must pay a lot) for my residence permit and would only have a maximum of 4 weeks to use it before leaving the country for good. And most of that time is during finals. What use is that?
So I made a half-court shot with my eyes closed. I booked another appointment for a slot that didn't have as long a waiting list. I skipped over the heavily-booked long-term residence appointments and student visa residence appointments, and booked a March 21 appointment for University Faculty. Why? Why not?
On the fateful day, I awoke at 5:00am. Vatan'da Emniyet Müdürlüğü, where I would have to go, is about 1.5 hours from the Superdorm, and I had an 8am appointment. I arrived around 7:15am. Better early, right?
Wrong. Bureaucracy always runs late. The policemen who receive you didn't even show up until 8:15. I had gotten through security, gotten lost in the building with the most massive Turkish flag ever woven flying on top, and made it to the appointment spot with 30 minutes to spare before I even saw another human face in that office.
The office consists of a bunch of glass-divided windows lining one corridor, a room with more glass-dividers along the middle corridor (though separated from the rest of the area by sections of actual wall), and a row of chairs lining the third corridor, with a larger waiting area with more chairs branching off of that. Here, I sat for 2 hours while numbers were being called. I was 504. They started with 1, which freaked me out at first until I realized that the one guy doing University Faculty started at 500. Still, it took 2 hours before 504 was called.
I was immediately turned away. Hadn't printed out my appointment page. Kind of hard to do that when you only just got a computer, so you didn't even have the appointment page until two days prior.
I went downstairs and had mine printed for an absurd 8TL (2 pages!). Undaunted, I returned to booth #16.
I was waiting behind a professor who kindly offered to help me organize my things to make sure I had everything I had. Four passport photos: check. Passport: check. Appointment pages: check. Copies of my passport and visa pages: check. Copy of my employment contract with my University: uncheck.
He told me I had made a mistake. I started to explain to him that I couldn't have, I had made the appointment weeks ago and needed to get my permit immediately. He explained that, "since your Turkish is a little poor, you misread 'Öğretim,' or 'teaching' as 'Öğrenci,' or 'student' (Because when I went through the English version of the appointment-making website, this was definitely printed there). I sheepishly admitted that yes, I must have made that mistake. I begged the man for help. I actually told him I had TBA, and that I might need to go to the U.S. for treatment! He translated to the policeman at window #16, and I was waved down to #18, to someone who spoke English.
"Are you Erasmus?"
"Yes."
"Are you Erasmus?"
"Well, no. Exchange student."
"Come back at 3."
It was that quick, and that annoying. I had 5 hours to kill at this point. Including an hour and fifteen minutes to make it back to campus for my Historiography class. So I made that attempt. But by the time I had taken a bus to the tramway, and the tramway to Kabataş, it was almost 11. I wouldn't have made it until at least 11:30, halfway through the class. I called Isabelle instead, who was in Sultanahmet with a friend, and hung out with them for a bit.
I headed back around 1:30 to Vatan. I pushed my way to booth #18, where I was asked about Erasmus again. I stumbled, wanting to say yes to make things easier, but when pressed I admitted my lack of Erasmus status.
"Ok," he said, angrily. "If you were Erasmus, I wouldn't do this."
He filled out some sheets and stapled a picture of me to the page, signed something, had me sign something, then sent me with the papers to the cashier. Here I was made to pay 172TL ($96.50) in cash (which I had to run downstairs to get from an ATM). With the receipt in hand, though, I was sent back to #18. Many several minutes later, I was told, "come back one week, give this, get permit." I was handed my passport and two sheets of paper; receipts for my permit. I had succeeded.
I walked back to the tramway instead of taking the bus. It was a nice day, and I was feeling better about my TBA than I had in weeks.
***
Today is March 28. I got out of my Turkish midterm at 10. I went to a commiseration brunch of Menemen at White Castle (Beyaz Kale) with my fellow Turkish-language students Isabelle, Brennan, and Sean. I showed up for Historiography but the professor was more than 15 minutes late, and every student left the room. So I followed. Hopped a bus, then tram, then metro to Vatan. I arrived at 20 to 1pm. Of course, they were on their lunch break.
After their lunch, a few policemen showed up and started handing out permits. I was called in, made to sign something, and was handed a little booklet to go with my passport. I can officially leave the country. Which is good, because I had already booked a trip to Georgia this weekend.
And later this same evening, Sophie has officially informed me that, "[Michael] Warford is taking it [the package] to your house tonight".
My TBA has finally been beaten.
I am in remission.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Gallipoli and Troy
If I had asked two friends in the States on a Friday morning if they wanted to take a 6 hour bus at midnight that night 215 miles to the coast on a random whim, spend a single night there, and take the same bus back the following afternoon, they would probably have told me to piss off.
But one of the advantages of being on the program I'm on is that there is always someone willing to drop everything and join you for a mini adventure. In this case, Emily and Hillary agreed to join me for my little excursion.
We didn't book a ticket in advance, but took the 43R bus to Kabataş, the Tramway to Yusufpaşa, and the Metro to Büyük Otogar, Istanbul's main bus terminal. The complex is massive, and its a damn good thing we sort of knew which bus line to get on (though Metro Turizm has about 8 different store fronts in the Otogar complex). We arrived at the station on Friday night, around 10:30pm. We got 43TL tickets for 12:15AM, a few hours later.
We all passed out on the bus. I woke up around 5am, and we pulled into our stop around 5:30am.
6 hours to the west of Istanbul is the Dardanelles, the straits on the other side of the Sea of Marmara. To get from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, you must pass through the Dardanelles, as well as the Bosporus. We couldn't find lodging on Friday afternoon for Saturday night in Çanakkale, the larger city on the Asian side of the straits, so we ended up staying in Eceabat, a small fishing town on the European side.
When we arrived, the sun hadn't yet come up, but the light was starting to peek over the hills on the Asian side of the straits, and we stood on the shore and watched for a while until the light had sufficiently saturated the sky and was no longer the watercolor painting-like sight to behold that captivates one during a sunrise.
The hostel we booked, the Crowded House (which did not live up to the name), had no real directions for how to get there. They told us they were 150m from the ferry terminal, which was about 50m from where we were dropped off. So we wandering a little until Hillary noticed the sign "Crowded House Hotel" on a tall building just on the other side of the pitiful main square that constitutes the Eceabat town center.
For only 7 Euro per night, the Crowded House dorm room is very clean and well maintained. We even had a private bathroom for the dorm room. We arrived there around 6 in the morning, and quickly organized a tour of Gallipoli for 12:30 the same day, so went upstairs to nap for a while.
While Emily and Hillary slept, I was unable to. I spent the time instead planning and figuring out transportation for next weekend, which I plan to spend in Tbilisi, Georgia, at Peter's Why Not? Hostel over there (he'll be there at the time, too, so that's good as well). I wanted to do something with someone in my program, but no one has their residents permit yet except me (a story for another post). So I decided to meet Peter in Georgia. I found a cheap flight with Pegasus airlines, but my card wasn't going through, and wouldn't until late that evening.
I got a few winks of shuteye in, but we were up by 11am and wandered Eceabat, looking for a little food. We got some Köfte sandwiches and made it back to the hostel just before 12:30. Here we met our guide, with a name I can't remember, but it sounded like Bill. We also met the two other people on our tour, Australians Sarah and Geoff, both solo travelers.
Speaking of Aussies, Eceabat and Çanakkale are completely geared towards Australians and New Zealanders. For good reason; The Gallipoli Campaign is one of the bloodiest in Australia and New Zealand's histories, and is a common place to visit when in the region for Aussies and Kiwis. But Eceabat brings the catering to a new level. Stickers in every window, hostels named after places in Australia, planters in the square sculpted to resemble kangaroos. Really interesting.
Bill brought us to a place for lunch (though we had just had something small) and let us eat (included in the 60TL tour price) together for a bit. Emily and Hillary and I laughed at how we had eaten at the same restaurant not 6 hours before when we stopped by for a quick Kahvaltı (breakfast) that morning.
Next we hopped on a bus bound for Gallipoli. It was only 10 minutes away, our first stop at least, but up and down a few big hills and along a fairly windy road.
The Gallipoli Campaign took place in 1915, from the 18th of March until about 9 months later. It was a bloodbath for both sides. ANZAC, the Australian New Zealand Army Corps, sustained horrible losses between the three front battles they were fighting, as did the Ottoman forces on the opposing side, led by the now-infamous Mustafa Kamal Atatürk. We were there to find out how and why (and to enjoy what is now a gorgeous national park that, without its bloody history and endless monuments to that history dotting the hillsides, could be one of the most fantastic parks I've ever seen).
Our first stop was Brighton Beach, a beautiful sandy beach on the Aegean, where the first ANZAC landing forces were supposed to arrive. The location was ideal: an easy landing on a beach, quick fighting along the flat terrain and smooth, obstacle-free (besides the opposition forces) sailing all the way across to the other side of the peninsula. If they had landed on Brighton Beach and managed to accomplish this feat, ANZAC would have probably secured a quick victory without much bloodshed. This would have put the Dardanelles under Allied control and would have meant a then-unobstructed route to Istanbul (the Ottoman had no navy at the time, so needed to keep the Dardanelles at all costs to protect their capital).
But the ANZAC forces didn't land on Brighton Beach. Landed farther up at present-day ANZAC Cove in the middle of the night (a fatal error), against a steep hillside, which led them into a terrible and bloody extended altercation. This was our second stop, the ANZAC landing site. Here we found bleachers under construction, as ANZAC day is fast approaching, on April 25. On that day, Aussies and Kiwis will descent on the area and participate in the annual commemoration of the soldiers lost at Gallipoli. I would go back for it, but my program will be taking me to the Black Sea region for spring break that week.
We stopped at several graveyards, which cover only the soldiers whose bodies they could identify or find. There are many more that are just listed on a group memorial. It's really quite sad. I only found two Jews in any of the graveyards (denoted by a Star of David in lieu of the usual crucifix) we saw. I wasn't surprised at so few - Jews didn't migrate to Australia or New Zealand in great numbers until after WWII. I left a few stones for them.
As we reached the ridges of one of the 'fingers' that protrudes out from the highest point in the area (one of the major objectives of the Campaign), the road was following the path of the no-mans land between the opposing trenches. To the right, we could see the remnants of the Ottoman line, and to the left, the remnants of the ANZAC line. The Trenches have filled in a lot, but you can still tell where they were and, especially, how close they were to each other. I could have a normal-tone conversation with a soldier on the other side, if I wanted. In fact, many soldiers did. They would pass food back and forth sometimes, or tell jokes, or hold up dolls for their enemies to shoot at, etc.
We got back from Gallipoli around 5, and took a siesta. Just before 7, Geoff and Sarah and the three of us met up in the Hostel lobby and caught the 7pm ferry to Çanakkale for dinner. Across the Dardanelles. Casual dining in Asia never gets old.
In Çanakkale, we found the first hints of the following day's adventure to Troy. We took a left out of the Ferry terminal and wandered for a bit, stumbling across a large statue of a Trojan Horse. I took a picture, and we moved on. It wasn't until later that we realized this was the horse used in the 2008 movie Troy.
Dinner was at a place recommended in Emily and Hillary's Lonely Planet guides. We got Pide and Lahmacun, both because it was the specialty of the place we were at, and because Geoff and Sarah both were hopelessly unaware of some of the finer points of Turkish cuisine. Though not totally without redeeming qualities - after dinner, Geoff brought us to a fantastic Pastanesi that he had discovered the day before, which makes a local delicacy, Peynir Helvası.
Peynir Helvası translates roughly to "cheese dessert." The food comes in two forms. Either baked, with a golden brown and crunchy exterior and a warm gooey center, or uncooked, where the consistency is more like fluffy cookie dough. Basically the thing is made with a combination of cheese, sugar, and flour. Incredible and artery clogging.
We stopped at a Nargile cafe for a few hours and made the 11pm ferry back to Europe.
I passed out by midnight.
We woke up on Sunday at 7am. We lost an hour of the sleep in the night due to daylight savings time. Groggily we got up, packed up, and checked out. Leaving our stuff in the Hostel, we set out for a half-day of adventures.
We got on the 8am ferry, making it to Çanakkale by 8:30. We walked down the main street to the second light, and took a right. We continued to walk until we reached a small bridge. Here, we both read and heard from a man who was in our room when we first arrived at the hostel but checked out that day, we would find Marshrutkas (here they call them Dolmuş) that would take us to Troy on the cheap. The first one left at 9:30, so we went to get breakfast.
Breakfast at Simit Evi, a little bakery near the departure point. Really funny guy behind the counter thought we were Azerbaijani.
Our bus didn't leave at 9:30, but at 10. Looks like we misread the sign. But no matter, we made it to Troy by 10:30, and for 5TL each.
We were going to pay for a tour, but everyone had told us that A) Troy wasn't all that great, B) It was mostly speculation anyways, and C) Everything was labeled and explained there, so you didn't need a guide. We took their advice. Got in through the gates for free with our handy Müzekart (another big savings... these 10TL cards have at this point saved me 80TL or so with all of the places I get into for free and/or with discounts).
The first thing you see when you walk into Troy is the horse. It was built several years ago by the Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı as a publicity stunt. I'm a huge fan. It's an ugly horse, to be sure, and with the 7 windows on each side and the huge hump to accommodate more people inside, I would be fairly certain a true Trojan would not have accepted the gift. Oh, and there's stairs that allow you to climb inside. Of course, we did. It was awesome.
Next were the actual ruins. Troy consists of something like 9 layers of different cities built on top of each other. As sediment crept up the old city walls, they built more on top. As one bit collapsed, they build newer bits on the old foundations. The city was inhabited for something like 3,500 years, and not after 500AD (which means, well, old).
Aside from the name and the layering of different eras of Troy, there wasn't anything about this set of ruins that really sets it apart from others in the region. And the fact that it is Troy is still up for a little debate. It was found by an overzealous man named Heinrich Schliemann who used clues from the Iliad to find it in the late 19th century. So... it may be historical, it may not be. We just don't totally know.
Emily and Hillary and I ran through the ruins, snapping photos and reading plaques. We wanted to get the noon dolmuş back, so we had time to do one more thing before we got the 16:15 bus back that we had booked upon our arrival to Eceabat.
The dolmuş was a tad late, but we made it back to Çanakkale around 12:30 and proceeded to hike back to the ferry. We missed the one to Eceabat by about 50m/30 seconds. Big shame. But instead of going to Eceabat to get a dolmuş to Kilitbahir, we found a ferry bound directly for Kilitbahir. There we walked along the water to a fortress built in 1463 at the European side of the narrowest point of the Dardanelles. Kilitbahir Fortress has a set of walls on whose ramparts you can walk, but there are no safety nets or hand rails, just dangerous stairs and sloping, crumbling rocks. A sign next to the first set of steps warns: For safety and security reasons, those with heart disease, hypertension and vertigo are strongly urged not to climb the stairs of the Kilitbahir Fortress.
Of course we walked on it anyway. It was really cool. Hillary twisted her ankle a bit and almost fell off, and the wind had us all swaying a bunch, but it was fine, and we made it down without incident.
We had lunch at Eminönü Balıkçisi, a fish and köfte place just outside the fortress. The man grilling was a real Usta (master), and so was his (presumably) wife, who made the sandwiches inside. She made köfte and fish sandwiches that were to die for. Incredibly done.
Quick dolmuş ride back to Eceabat and we were ready for the bus, which arrived a little after 16:15. We took our seats. I pulled out my iPad and discovered fairly high speed wifi on the bus, which allowed me to skype home, as well as my friend Mingwei, who was visiting my house and housemates in St. Louis this week. I also slept a lot of the bus ride.
We arrived back in Istanbul a little after 10, and made our way back to the Superdorm, arriving there around 11:30. It was a hell of a two days, but so much fun. I crashed around 3am, after uploading a ton of photos to facebook.
But one of the advantages of being on the program I'm on is that there is always someone willing to drop everything and join you for a mini adventure. In this case, Emily and Hillary agreed to join me for my little excursion.
We didn't book a ticket in advance, but took the 43R bus to Kabataş, the Tramway to Yusufpaşa, and the Metro to Büyük Otogar, Istanbul's main bus terminal. The complex is massive, and its a damn good thing we sort of knew which bus line to get on (though Metro Turizm has about 8 different store fronts in the Otogar complex). We arrived at the station on Friday night, around 10:30pm. We got 43TL tickets for 12:15AM, a few hours later.
We all passed out on the bus. I woke up around 5am, and we pulled into our stop around 5:30am.
6 hours to the west of Istanbul is the Dardanelles, the straits on the other side of the Sea of Marmara. To get from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, you must pass through the Dardanelles, as well as the Bosporus. We couldn't find lodging on Friday afternoon for Saturday night in Çanakkale, the larger city on the Asian side of the straits, so we ended up staying in Eceabat, a small fishing town on the European side.
When we arrived, the sun hadn't yet come up, but the light was starting to peek over the hills on the Asian side of the straits, and we stood on the shore and watched for a while until the light had sufficiently saturated the sky and was no longer the watercolor painting-like sight to behold that captivates one during a sunrise.
The hostel we booked, the Crowded House (which did not live up to the name), had no real directions for how to get there. They told us they were 150m from the ferry terminal, which was about 50m from where we were dropped off. So we wandering a little until Hillary noticed the sign "Crowded House Hotel" on a tall building just on the other side of the pitiful main square that constitutes the Eceabat town center.
For only 7 Euro per night, the Crowded House dorm room is very clean and well maintained. We even had a private bathroom for the dorm room. We arrived there around 6 in the morning, and quickly organized a tour of Gallipoli for 12:30 the same day, so went upstairs to nap for a while.
While Emily and Hillary slept, I was unable to. I spent the time instead planning and figuring out transportation for next weekend, which I plan to spend in Tbilisi, Georgia, at Peter's Why Not? Hostel over there (he'll be there at the time, too, so that's good as well). I wanted to do something with someone in my program, but no one has their residents permit yet except me (a story for another post). So I decided to meet Peter in Georgia. I found a cheap flight with Pegasus airlines, but my card wasn't going through, and wouldn't until late that evening.
I got a few winks of shuteye in, but we were up by 11am and wandered Eceabat, looking for a little food. We got some Köfte sandwiches and made it back to the hostel just before 12:30. Here we met our guide, with a name I can't remember, but it sounded like Bill. We also met the two other people on our tour, Australians Sarah and Geoff, both solo travelers.
Speaking of Aussies, Eceabat and Çanakkale are completely geared towards Australians and New Zealanders. For good reason; The Gallipoli Campaign is one of the bloodiest in Australia and New Zealand's histories, and is a common place to visit when in the region for Aussies and Kiwis. But Eceabat brings the catering to a new level. Stickers in every window, hostels named after places in Australia, planters in the square sculpted to resemble kangaroos. Really interesting.
Bill brought us to a place for lunch (though we had just had something small) and let us eat (included in the 60TL tour price) together for a bit. Emily and Hillary and I laughed at how we had eaten at the same restaurant not 6 hours before when we stopped by for a quick Kahvaltı (breakfast) that morning.
Next we hopped on a bus bound for Gallipoli. It was only 10 minutes away, our first stop at least, but up and down a few big hills and along a fairly windy road.
The Gallipoli Campaign took place in 1915, from the 18th of March until about 9 months later. It was a bloodbath for both sides. ANZAC, the Australian New Zealand Army Corps, sustained horrible losses between the three front battles they were fighting, as did the Ottoman forces on the opposing side, led by the now-infamous Mustafa Kamal Atatürk. We were there to find out how and why (and to enjoy what is now a gorgeous national park that, without its bloody history and endless monuments to that history dotting the hillsides, could be one of the most fantastic parks I've ever seen).
Our first stop was Brighton Beach, a beautiful sandy beach on the Aegean, where the first ANZAC landing forces were supposed to arrive. The location was ideal: an easy landing on a beach, quick fighting along the flat terrain and smooth, obstacle-free (besides the opposition forces) sailing all the way across to the other side of the peninsula. If they had landed on Brighton Beach and managed to accomplish this feat, ANZAC would have probably secured a quick victory without much bloodshed. This would have put the Dardanelles under Allied control and would have meant a then-unobstructed route to Istanbul (the Ottoman had no navy at the time, so needed to keep the Dardanelles at all costs to protect their capital).
But the ANZAC forces didn't land on Brighton Beach. Landed farther up at present-day ANZAC Cove in the middle of the night (a fatal error), against a steep hillside, which led them into a terrible and bloody extended altercation. This was our second stop, the ANZAC landing site. Here we found bleachers under construction, as ANZAC day is fast approaching, on April 25. On that day, Aussies and Kiwis will descent on the area and participate in the annual commemoration of the soldiers lost at Gallipoli. I would go back for it, but my program will be taking me to the Black Sea region for spring break that week.
We stopped at several graveyards, which cover only the soldiers whose bodies they could identify or find. There are many more that are just listed on a group memorial. It's really quite sad. I only found two Jews in any of the graveyards (denoted by a Star of David in lieu of the usual crucifix) we saw. I wasn't surprised at so few - Jews didn't migrate to Australia or New Zealand in great numbers until after WWII. I left a few stones for them.
As we reached the ridges of one of the 'fingers' that protrudes out from the highest point in the area (one of the major objectives of the Campaign), the road was following the path of the no-mans land between the opposing trenches. To the right, we could see the remnants of the Ottoman line, and to the left, the remnants of the ANZAC line. The Trenches have filled in a lot, but you can still tell where they were and, especially, how close they were to each other. I could have a normal-tone conversation with a soldier on the other side, if I wanted. In fact, many soldiers did. They would pass food back and forth sometimes, or tell jokes, or hold up dolls for their enemies to shoot at, etc.
We got back from Gallipoli around 5, and took a siesta. Just before 7, Geoff and Sarah and the three of us met up in the Hostel lobby and caught the 7pm ferry to Çanakkale for dinner. Across the Dardanelles. Casual dining in Asia never gets old.
In Çanakkale, we found the first hints of the following day's adventure to Troy. We took a left out of the Ferry terminal and wandered for a bit, stumbling across a large statue of a Trojan Horse. I took a picture, and we moved on. It wasn't until later that we realized this was the horse used in the 2008 movie Troy.
Dinner was at a place recommended in Emily and Hillary's Lonely Planet guides. We got Pide and Lahmacun, both because it was the specialty of the place we were at, and because Geoff and Sarah both were hopelessly unaware of some of the finer points of Turkish cuisine. Though not totally without redeeming qualities - after dinner, Geoff brought us to a fantastic Pastanesi that he had discovered the day before, which makes a local delicacy, Peynir Helvası.
Peynir Helvası translates roughly to "cheese dessert." The food comes in two forms. Either baked, with a golden brown and crunchy exterior and a warm gooey center, or uncooked, where the consistency is more like fluffy cookie dough. Basically the thing is made with a combination of cheese, sugar, and flour. Incredible and artery clogging.
We stopped at a Nargile cafe for a few hours and made the 11pm ferry back to Europe.
I passed out by midnight.
We woke up on Sunday at 7am. We lost an hour of the sleep in the night due to daylight savings time. Groggily we got up, packed up, and checked out. Leaving our stuff in the Hostel, we set out for a half-day of adventures.
We got on the 8am ferry, making it to Çanakkale by 8:30. We walked down the main street to the second light, and took a right. We continued to walk until we reached a small bridge. Here, we both read and heard from a man who was in our room when we first arrived at the hostel but checked out that day, we would find Marshrutkas (here they call them Dolmuş) that would take us to Troy on the cheap. The first one left at 9:30, so we went to get breakfast.
Breakfast at Simit Evi, a little bakery near the departure point. Really funny guy behind the counter thought we were Azerbaijani.
Our bus didn't leave at 9:30, but at 10. Looks like we misread the sign. But no matter, we made it to Troy by 10:30, and for 5TL each.
We were going to pay for a tour, but everyone had told us that A) Troy wasn't all that great, B) It was mostly speculation anyways, and C) Everything was labeled and explained there, so you didn't need a guide. We took their advice. Got in through the gates for free with our handy Müzekart (another big savings... these 10TL cards have at this point saved me 80TL or so with all of the places I get into for free and/or with discounts).
The first thing you see when you walk into Troy is the horse. It was built several years ago by the Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı as a publicity stunt. I'm a huge fan. It's an ugly horse, to be sure, and with the 7 windows on each side and the huge hump to accommodate more people inside, I would be fairly certain a true Trojan would not have accepted the gift. Oh, and there's stairs that allow you to climb inside. Of course, we did. It was awesome.
Next were the actual ruins. Troy consists of something like 9 layers of different cities built on top of each other. As sediment crept up the old city walls, they built more on top. As one bit collapsed, they build newer bits on the old foundations. The city was inhabited for something like 3,500 years, and not after 500AD (which means, well, old).
Aside from the name and the layering of different eras of Troy, there wasn't anything about this set of ruins that really sets it apart from others in the region. And the fact that it is Troy is still up for a little debate. It was found by an overzealous man named Heinrich Schliemann who used clues from the Iliad to find it in the late 19th century. So... it may be historical, it may not be. We just don't totally know.
Emily and Hillary and I ran through the ruins, snapping photos and reading plaques. We wanted to get the noon dolmuş back, so we had time to do one more thing before we got the 16:15 bus back that we had booked upon our arrival to Eceabat.
The dolmuş was a tad late, but we made it back to Çanakkale around 12:30 and proceeded to hike back to the ferry. We missed the one to Eceabat by about 50m/30 seconds. Big shame. But instead of going to Eceabat to get a dolmuş to Kilitbahir, we found a ferry bound directly for Kilitbahir. There we walked along the water to a fortress built in 1463 at the European side of the narrowest point of the Dardanelles. Kilitbahir Fortress has a set of walls on whose ramparts you can walk, but there are no safety nets or hand rails, just dangerous stairs and sloping, crumbling rocks. A sign next to the first set of steps warns: For safety and security reasons, those with heart disease, hypertension and vertigo are strongly urged not to climb the stairs of the Kilitbahir Fortress.
Of course we walked on it anyway. It was really cool. Hillary twisted her ankle a bit and almost fell off, and the wind had us all swaying a bunch, but it was fine, and we made it down without incident.
We had lunch at Eminönü Balıkçisi, a fish and köfte place just outside the fortress. The man grilling was a real Usta (master), and so was his (presumably) wife, who made the sandwiches inside. She made köfte and fish sandwiches that were to die for. Incredibly done.
Quick dolmuş ride back to Eceabat and we were ready for the bus, which arrived a little after 16:15. We took our seats. I pulled out my iPad and discovered fairly high speed wifi on the bus, which allowed me to skype home, as well as my friend Mingwei, who was visiting my house and housemates in St. Louis this week. I also slept a lot of the bus ride.
We arrived back in Istanbul a little after 10, and made our way back to the Superdorm, arriving there around 11:30. It was a hell of a two days, but so much fun. I crashed around 3am, after uploading a ton of photos to facebook.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
10-Day Istanbul Itinerary - Sophie's Visit
On March 10, I got up at an absurd 6am to go to the airport.
What with the restrictions the Turkish government had thus-far placed on me, I was unable to leave the country without a residents permit- I was picking up a friend.
Wash U was on spring break, and Sophie was coming to Istanbul for a week, and what a week! I know I've only been here for two months or so, but it was so nice getting to be a 'tourist' again, trying all kinds of delicious (and occasionally weird) foods, wandering the heavily populated streets of Sultanahmet and Taksim, getting an excuse to head over to Asia, and even the Princes' Islands.
Sophie only had ten days in town, so we had to make the most of it. Fortunately, she kept a list of the two most important types of things we accomplished (sightseeing and food eating), so it can be saved for posterity - and now I've reproduced it, with some minor embellishments, below.
So now a little roll-playing. You're coming to Istanbul for a week. You want me to show you around, and you ask the exhaustive question of "What is there to do in this city, anyway?"
Here it is, your 9-day Istanbul Itinerary, as determined and accomplished by Sophie and myself. Figure out the order and timing on your own.
Things to do--
Hağia Sofia - I've been back a few times since my first, freezing cold visit with Jonas, and I have yet to be disappointed in the slightest. The building is magnificent, and even with only a fractious knowledge of its history as a Roman church, a Byzantine cathedral, an Ottoman Mosque and a post-Atatürk museum, there's just so much to see here. Roman emperors were crowned here and Sultans prayed here. A must see; also, this is probably #1 on every tour book's suggestions...
Blue Mosque - Also called Sultanahmet, the Blue Mosque is probably #2 under Hağia Sofia for what to see. And, surprise surprise, it's right next to Hağia Sofia. Fancy that. Beautiful vaulted domes, gorgeous inscriptions, impressive (to put it lightly) architecture, and free entry. Need I say more?
The Grand Bazaar - Sophie got no end of fun out of the Grand Bazaar, and during my longest school day spent several hours there, shopping for herself and her friends. 118 streets or so, 10,000 stores. The two biggest items sold (and the only ones that Istanbulites go to the Bazaar for) are gold and leather. Gold shops on the main street still pay their rent in gold - 7kg of 14 karat gold per year. This place is an assault on the eyes if nothing else, but it is so much more. Closed on Sundays, though... so don't leave the souvenir shopping to the last minute.
Spice Bazaar - Not as gigantic as the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar is just as impressive. Spices, everywhere, punctuated by the occasional 'regular' store, as one might find in the GB. It smells wonderful, the Lokum (turkish delight) is delicious and mountainous around you, and everything is in bright colors. If the Grand Bazaar assaults your eyes, this also assaults your nose, and you'll be grateful it did.
Archeological Museum - Four different buildings make up the Archeological Museum in Istanbul. In my opinion, it's mostly sarcophagi. Artifacts dating back thousands of years are found here, from bits of the Temple of Artemis (one of the ancient wonders of the ancient world, more on that below), to mummies, to the first-ever peace treaty, to ancient statues of a man with stubble. Worth a look-see if you have time.
Hippodrome - This square is located just outside the Blue Mosque, but most people pass through without knowing where they are. The Hippodrome used to be just that- a Hippodrome. Chariot races (Ben Hur-style) were held there, in front of the imperial palace of the Roman Emperor which stood where the Blue Mosque is today. It was the centerpiece of the Imperial setup, as it symbolized the closeness the people of Rome could get to the Emperor (and a symbol of Roman awesomeness). In the Hippodrome you'll find two obelisks. One marked the turning point in the track for the Charioteers. The other was a gift from the Egyptians, and was placed on top of carvings of the Emperor and his Senate in the center of the Hippodrome. It was apparently dragged all the way from Egypt to get there. You'll also find a statue of rusted bronze, twisted together. This used to be three serpents intertwining, but no more. Legend has it a Polish diplomat had it removed when he was drunk hundreds of years ago and brought it back to Poland with him. Also in the Hippodrome, you'll find a fountain that was a strategic gift from the German Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Ottoman's, given just before the onset of WWI. Many people say that the fountain was one of the reasons the Ottoman's sided with the Germans during the war.
Topkapı Palace - the home of many an Ottoman ruler. Situated behind the Hağia Sofia, Topkapı is a veritable treasure of beautiful buildings, and incredible artifacts. In some of the exhibits, you'll find such gems as the Staff of Moses, Saucepan of Abraham, Beard of Mohammed, Arm of John the Baptist, Joseph's Turban, King David's Sword, and many more. All completely authentic, of course, though how they got the snake to turn back into a staff for moses baffles me.
Çemberlitaş - The burnt column. Built in 330 to be the centerpiece for the grand promenade that extended from the column to the Imperial residence, it once had a statue of Constantine on top. In 1106 that statue toppled in a hurricane/terrible storm that swept through the city. The byzantines had a cross placed there as a replacement. Then, after the 1453 Ottoman Conquest, the cross was removed. In the late 18th century, a fire broke out in the neighborhood, and charred the outside of the column, which earned it the name it has today. An innocent bystander to so much history, this is something that many people pass by without looking at.
Center of the Roman Empire - There's a large remnant of an Aqueduct along the road that passes Hağia Sofia. This isn't that. Look next to the aqueduct for a little tiny piece of a column sticking out of the ground. It's white. You'd pass it any day without a second glance. This was the center of the Roman Empire after the capital switched to Constantinople. All points in the Empire were measured from this point. For over 1000 years (the Byzantine Empire used this point too, I believe). Congrats, you just found where all roads lead to (besides Rome itself).
Galata Tower - A Genoese tower built in 1348. It is the oldest tower in the world that still allows visitors inside. It has an interesting history, but on a clear day early in your visit you must suffer the 12TL ($6.50) entrance fee and go to the top, for a fantastic view of the city and a great way to figure out your bearings a little bit.
Galata Bridge - crossing the Golden Horn, the Galata Bridge has a myriad of overpriced but fun restaurants just below the road level, along the water. Drop-line fishermen line the sidewalks on the upper level all day, and boats pass through the middle, but you can eat, drink, and be merry on either side of the lower level of the bridge.
Taksim Square - This is the Times Square of Istanbul. Just in that it's central... there are no massive lighted billboards advertising coke and cars. From here you can get a bus to virtually anywhere in the city, as well as a Funicular to Kabataş for the Tram to the old city. Also home of the best Islak Burger in Istanbul (more on that below). İstiklal Caddesi branches out from Taksim, too.
İstiklal Caddesi. When someone says they're going to Taksim, they mean İstiklal. More than one million people pass through İstiklal on the slowest and coldest of days throughout the year, without fail. On the street itself you'll find countless name-brand shopping outlets, cheap food options and some overpriced tourist traps. Just on the north side of the street, down all the side streets, you'll find bars and restaurants galore. Some are great, others are not, like any nightlife area. But this is the nightlife of Istanbul, Taksim. This was our center of operations when Sophie was in town, and it probably should be yours as well (if you don't mind music blaring through the window until 5am and having the option of going out every night to party... if you do have issues with that, stay in Sultanahmet area near the Blue Mosque.
Princes' Islands - Don't go there on the weekends, and be wary about hot days in Summer, as the islands will be overrun. This tiny archipelago got its name because Ottoman sultans used to exile their brothers here when they rose to power, to make sure they didn't usurp the throne. They have been home to many a famous person, so I've been told. I think Trotsky lived one of them for a time - don't quote me on that. Anyways, go to Büyük Ada. It directly translates to "Big Island," and is the fourth island stop on the ferry you can catch from Kabataş (get off when the masses of people/everyone left on the boat gets off). Beautiful island, wild horses, no privately owned automobiles, and a few delectable seaside fish restaurants. Fun place.
Neighborhoods - There are several fantastic neighborhoods to see in the city, as well. Starting on the Asian side, take a ferry to Kadiköy, a working-class neighborhood with great people watching. Wander the streets, enjoy. It's also cheaper there than in Europe. On the European Side (going from south to north), make sure to look at Beşiktaş, a boisterous, football[soccer]-loving neighborhood along the water with good nightlife and an interesting vibe. A little farther up, also technically part of Beşiktaş district, look for Ortaköy, where you'll find a long line of Waffle and Kumpir shops, lots of little restaurants, and silly souvenir stands. Great place for a relaxing night on the town, a good Nargile (hookah), or to watch a soccer match without getting killed. Next is Arnavutköy, a little fishing neighborhood with some incredible restaurants much farther up along the Bosporus. Finally, Bebek, though this is optional and only gets a mention as its a wealthy town just down the hill from my campus and has great waterfront seating at overpriced places. Beers here cost 15TL each on average, compared with the 4.50TL you'll find just up the hill and 7TL you'll find in Beşiktaş and Ortaköy, for example.
Other things you should probably do while you're here - Find a Nargile cafe (hookah lounge). There are a bunch near the water next to the Tophane tramway stop. They're a bit kitchy but worth it. Standard price for Nargile is 15TL, and don't pay any more than 20. Get a good flavor. I like Apple and Mint (Elma ve Nane) Nargile. Also, hit up a tea garden. If you're in Sultanahmet, there's a place behind a royal graveyard between Blue Mosque and Çemberlitaş that doubles as a tea garden and Nargile cafe. If you're into modern art, see the Istanbul Modern, near Tophane as well. Go to the Chora Church, one of the best examples of a Byzantine-era church we still have. it's a little ways out of your way, but worth it if you care enough. Also, check out Suleymaniye Mosque, constructed by Suleyman the Magnificent to rival the Blue Mosque. Everything else worth doing in this city, to my knowledge at this point, is food related.
Things to Eat--
If you want to know where to go for these delectable treats, either ask me or consult the latest edition of IstanbulEats, my food bible to this city. I literally do not leave home without it, and try to go to a new restaurant at least once a week at minimum. So far I've hit up 17 of these places, and they're consistently amazing. But these are the types of food you should try to stick a fork into.
Menemen - a breakfast dish made of egg, tomato, tomato sauce, pepper, and deliciousness. Scrambled up and served on a hotplate (most of the time), great with a basket of bread and a glass of water.
Pide - One of two things in this country that's advertised as "Turkish Pizza." It gets the closest. This is a boat of bread filled with cheese and toppings. Sometimes tomatoes make an entrance, but rarely in sauce form.
Iskender - One of my favorite feel-good foods, Iskender is a dish consisting of layers of bread under sauce under meat with a yogurt dip on the side. Simple, but to die for. This is a specialty of a place in Bursa, but has been imitated around the country, and incredibly so in Sultanahmet, near Serkeci tramway.
Döner Dürem - you cannot walk down a street in Istanbul for long without seeing a shop selling this. It's the classic - meat shaved off the vertical spit, wrapped up and handed to you within a minute. Some come with pickles, some with french fries, all wrapped up inside. A classic.
Ayran - Yogurt, watered down to be drunk, salted heavily. The Türks love it, most visitors don't, you have to try it. If you see it being made fresh, you must try that one. I'm starting to like it more and more, and last night a friend decided to woefully announce she was getting her first Ayran craving.
Simit - It's like a bagel, but better. I don't know how to describe it, but you'll find simit on any streetcorner for 1TL. Get one, get several. Don't bother with toppings, it doesn't need any.
Turkish Delight - known as Lokum here, this is, well, delightful. Try to buy some from a place that makes their own, not from a mass-produced box. If you're allergic to nuts, make sure you know what you're getting.
Çay - Tea is a staple of the Turkish diet. You'll get it with most meals. Do not decline. However, if you are so inclined, order the following as a substitute:
Elma Çay - apple tea. Incredible. Made purely from apples.
Seafood - Istanbul has amazing seafood. All of it is good. I recommend the Calamari, as it comes with a dip that is unlike any calamari sauce you've ever had (it's yogurt-based, like all food in Istanbul), and is to die for.
Efes - the only beer worth buying here. Not great, but not the worst either. Cheapest around but hardly bottom of the barrel. I'm growing fonder every time I have some.
Kaymak - Best described as clotted cream, this is so much more than that. It's used like whipped cream, as a topping for dessert. Best, in my opinion, as a topping for a candied quince (Ask for Ayna Talısı).
Mantı - Mini dumplings stuffed with meat and covered in yogurt and sauce. Add all the spices on your table, mix up, and enjoy.
Baklava - no words, just smiles.
Islak Burger - a wet burger, by direct translation. Burgers found in a steam box. Sounds gross, but its amazing drunk food (and sober food, let's be honest).
Waffle and Kumpir - Speaking of drunk food, these are the ones you'll find along Istiklal and throughout Beşiktaş along with Islak joints. Waffles are just that, but smothered in chocolate and caramel and fruits and sprinkles and pretty much any other delicious topping you might want. Kumpir is a large baked potato, stuffed with more substantial foods, but still equally unhealthy.
Yani Rakı - A licorice-type alcohol. It comes clear, but is mixed with water to dilute the flavor and becomes cloudy in the process. An acquired taste.
Börek - kind of like a blintz. Filo dough and a filling. The filling can be cheese, meat, spinach, or potato. Quite good.
Köfte - turkish meatballs. Quite tasty. Can also get Balık Köfte, fish balls.
Kebap - Kebab, şiş kebab, two different things. Well, the latter has a stick up its ass, the former lies bare on the plate. Both amazing. Adana Kebap is spicy, Urfa Kebap is not. Both are good.
Street nuts - there's countless guys cracking open what I think are walnuts (but i'm no nut expert) and baking them until they expand. Some people enjoy them, I didn't. They are as plentiful as Simit salesmen along Istiklal.
Sahlep - kind of like hot chocolate, but there's no chocolate. Kind of like egg nog, but there's no egg or rum. Not totally sure how it's made, and I don't want to know. It's delicious.
Söğüş Kelle - Sheep's Head. Sophie and I decided to try something wacky. So we got boiled and chilled sheep head. Our mad scientist street vendor skillfully chopped up the head and placed all the lean bits on a plate, mixed it up with lettuce, onion, and spices, and served it to us with bread. If I hadn't known what I was eating, I would have loved it. As time goes on, my memory of it becomes fonder and fonder.
Turkish Coffee - I don't drink coffee, and the IstanbulEats-recommended turkish coffee shop made a cup I truly enjoyed. Have this.
and finally,
Ciğer - Liver. Some Turks swear by it... I don't know. It could be good, with enough onions to give it some crunch and after being deep fried... be adventurous, try it. Maybe you'll like it?
Oh, and I'm going to add in Penir Helvası. Sophie and I didn't attempt this one, because I didn't know about it. But having just spent a weekend in Çanakkale (to be described in a later post) where this stuff is the specialty, this cheese-and-sugar-based mana from heaven is probably the most artery clogging thing I've had in Turkey, and one of the most delicious.
So that's Istanbul. Fit that into a week, I dare you.
Sophie and I also took a 26 hour trip down to Izmir, Selcuk and Ephesus. In addition to Ephesus, with its gorgeous facades and fascinating ruins (and 50,000 person amphitheater!), we saw the house that the Virgin Mary died in, as well as the remains of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Not much is left of the temple, but a column has been reconstructed from pieces of the temple to give one an idea of its former glory. It was a great overnight trip, which is also highly recommended. Get a guided tour (we got one for 90TL each, but I'm sure there are cheaper... we booked last minute), but try not to buy stuff at the random (and hilarious) overpriced tourist stops along the way. I would write more on the subject, but A) I'm exhausted, and B) it's one of those "see it to believe it" type places, so either look up pictures of it or go yourself.
What with the restrictions the Turkish government had thus-far placed on me, I was unable to leave the country without a residents permit- I was picking up a friend.
Wash U was on spring break, and Sophie was coming to Istanbul for a week, and what a week! I know I've only been here for two months or so, but it was so nice getting to be a 'tourist' again, trying all kinds of delicious (and occasionally weird) foods, wandering the heavily populated streets of Sultanahmet and Taksim, getting an excuse to head over to Asia, and even the Princes' Islands.
Sophie only had ten days in town, so we had to make the most of it. Fortunately, she kept a list of the two most important types of things we accomplished (sightseeing and food eating), so it can be saved for posterity - and now I've reproduced it, with some minor embellishments, below.
So now a little roll-playing. You're coming to Istanbul for a week. You want me to show you around, and you ask the exhaustive question of "What is there to do in this city, anyway?"
Here it is, your 9-day Istanbul Itinerary, as determined and accomplished by Sophie and myself. Figure out the order and timing on your own.
Things to do--
Hağia Sofia - I've been back a few times since my first, freezing cold visit with Jonas, and I have yet to be disappointed in the slightest. The building is magnificent, and even with only a fractious knowledge of its history as a Roman church, a Byzantine cathedral, an Ottoman Mosque and a post-Atatürk museum, there's just so much to see here. Roman emperors were crowned here and Sultans prayed here. A must see; also, this is probably #1 on every tour book's suggestions...
Blue Mosque - Also called Sultanahmet, the Blue Mosque is probably #2 under Hağia Sofia for what to see. And, surprise surprise, it's right next to Hağia Sofia. Fancy that. Beautiful vaulted domes, gorgeous inscriptions, impressive (to put it lightly) architecture, and free entry. Need I say more?
The Grand Bazaar - Sophie got no end of fun out of the Grand Bazaar, and during my longest school day spent several hours there, shopping for herself and her friends. 118 streets or so, 10,000 stores. The two biggest items sold (and the only ones that Istanbulites go to the Bazaar for) are gold and leather. Gold shops on the main street still pay their rent in gold - 7kg of 14 karat gold per year. This place is an assault on the eyes if nothing else, but it is so much more. Closed on Sundays, though... so don't leave the souvenir shopping to the last minute.
Spice Bazaar - Not as gigantic as the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar is just as impressive. Spices, everywhere, punctuated by the occasional 'regular' store, as one might find in the GB. It smells wonderful, the Lokum (turkish delight) is delicious and mountainous around you, and everything is in bright colors. If the Grand Bazaar assaults your eyes, this also assaults your nose, and you'll be grateful it did.
Archeological Museum - Four different buildings make up the Archeological Museum in Istanbul. In my opinion, it's mostly sarcophagi. Artifacts dating back thousands of years are found here, from bits of the Temple of Artemis (one of the ancient wonders of the ancient world, more on that below), to mummies, to the first-ever peace treaty, to ancient statues of a man with stubble. Worth a look-see if you have time.
Hippodrome - This square is located just outside the Blue Mosque, but most people pass through without knowing where they are. The Hippodrome used to be just that- a Hippodrome. Chariot races (Ben Hur-style) were held there, in front of the imperial palace of the Roman Emperor which stood where the Blue Mosque is today. It was the centerpiece of the Imperial setup, as it symbolized the closeness the people of Rome could get to the Emperor (and a symbol of Roman awesomeness). In the Hippodrome you'll find two obelisks. One marked the turning point in the track for the Charioteers. The other was a gift from the Egyptians, and was placed on top of carvings of the Emperor and his Senate in the center of the Hippodrome. It was apparently dragged all the way from Egypt to get there. You'll also find a statue of rusted bronze, twisted together. This used to be three serpents intertwining, but no more. Legend has it a Polish diplomat had it removed when he was drunk hundreds of years ago and brought it back to Poland with him. Also in the Hippodrome, you'll find a fountain that was a strategic gift from the German Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Ottoman's, given just before the onset of WWI. Many people say that the fountain was one of the reasons the Ottoman's sided with the Germans during the war.
Topkapı Palace - the home of many an Ottoman ruler. Situated behind the Hağia Sofia, Topkapı is a veritable treasure of beautiful buildings, and incredible artifacts. In some of the exhibits, you'll find such gems as the Staff of Moses, Saucepan of Abraham, Beard of Mohammed, Arm of John the Baptist, Joseph's Turban, King David's Sword, and many more. All completely authentic, of course, though how they got the snake to turn back into a staff for moses baffles me.
Çemberlitaş - The burnt column. Built in 330 to be the centerpiece for the grand promenade that extended from the column to the Imperial residence, it once had a statue of Constantine on top. In 1106 that statue toppled in a hurricane/terrible storm that swept through the city. The byzantines had a cross placed there as a replacement. Then, after the 1453 Ottoman Conquest, the cross was removed. In the late 18th century, a fire broke out in the neighborhood, and charred the outside of the column, which earned it the name it has today. An innocent bystander to so much history, this is something that many people pass by without looking at.
Center of the Roman Empire - There's a large remnant of an Aqueduct along the road that passes Hağia Sofia. This isn't that. Look next to the aqueduct for a little tiny piece of a column sticking out of the ground. It's white. You'd pass it any day without a second glance. This was the center of the Roman Empire after the capital switched to Constantinople. All points in the Empire were measured from this point. For over 1000 years (the Byzantine Empire used this point too, I believe). Congrats, you just found where all roads lead to (besides Rome itself).
Galata Tower - A Genoese tower built in 1348. It is the oldest tower in the world that still allows visitors inside. It has an interesting history, but on a clear day early in your visit you must suffer the 12TL ($6.50) entrance fee and go to the top, for a fantastic view of the city and a great way to figure out your bearings a little bit.
Galata Bridge - crossing the Golden Horn, the Galata Bridge has a myriad of overpriced but fun restaurants just below the road level, along the water. Drop-line fishermen line the sidewalks on the upper level all day, and boats pass through the middle, but you can eat, drink, and be merry on either side of the lower level of the bridge.
Taksim Square - This is the Times Square of Istanbul. Just in that it's central... there are no massive lighted billboards advertising coke and cars. From here you can get a bus to virtually anywhere in the city, as well as a Funicular to Kabataş for the Tram to the old city. Also home of the best Islak Burger in Istanbul (more on that below). İstiklal Caddesi branches out from Taksim, too.
İstiklal Caddesi. When someone says they're going to Taksim, they mean İstiklal. More than one million people pass through İstiklal on the slowest and coldest of days throughout the year, without fail. On the street itself you'll find countless name-brand shopping outlets, cheap food options and some overpriced tourist traps. Just on the north side of the street, down all the side streets, you'll find bars and restaurants galore. Some are great, others are not, like any nightlife area. But this is the nightlife of Istanbul, Taksim. This was our center of operations when Sophie was in town, and it probably should be yours as well (if you don't mind music blaring through the window until 5am and having the option of going out every night to party... if you do have issues with that, stay in Sultanahmet area near the Blue Mosque.
Princes' Islands - Don't go there on the weekends, and be wary about hot days in Summer, as the islands will be overrun. This tiny archipelago got its name because Ottoman sultans used to exile their brothers here when they rose to power, to make sure they didn't usurp the throne. They have been home to many a famous person, so I've been told. I think Trotsky lived one of them for a time - don't quote me on that. Anyways, go to Büyük Ada. It directly translates to "Big Island," and is the fourth island stop on the ferry you can catch from Kabataş (get off when the masses of people/everyone left on the boat gets off). Beautiful island, wild horses, no privately owned automobiles, and a few delectable seaside fish restaurants. Fun place.
Neighborhoods - There are several fantastic neighborhoods to see in the city, as well. Starting on the Asian side, take a ferry to Kadiköy, a working-class neighborhood with great people watching. Wander the streets, enjoy. It's also cheaper there than in Europe. On the European Side (going from south to north), make sure to look at Beşiktaş, a boisterous, football[soccer]-loving neighborhood along the water with good nightlife and an interesting vibe. A little farther up, also technically part of Beşiktaş district, look for Ortaköy, where you'll find a long line of Waffle and Kumpir shops, lots of little restaurants, and silly souvenir stands. Great place for a relaxing night on the town, a good Nargile (hookah), or to watch a soccer match without getting killed. Next is Arnavutköy, a little fishing neighborhood with some incredible restaurants much farther up along the Bosporus. Finally, Bebek, though this is optional and only gets a mention as its a wealthy town just down the hill from my campus and has great waterfront seating at overpriced places. Beers here cost 15TL each on average, compared with the 4.50TL you'll find just up the hill and 7TL you'll find in Beşiktaş and Ortaköy, for example.
Other things you should probably do while you're here - Find a Nargile cafe (hookah lounge). There are a bunch near the water next to the Tophane tramway stop. They're a bit kitchy but worth it. Standard price for Nargile is 15TL, and don't pay any more than 20. Get a good flavor. I like Apple and Mint (Elma ve Nane) Nargile. Also, hit up a tea garden. If you're in Sultanahmet, there's a place behind a royal graveyard between Blue Mosque and Çemberlitaş that doubles as a tea garden and Nargile cafe. If you're into modern art, see the Istanbul Modern, near Tophane as well. Go to the Chora Church, one of the best examples of a Byzantine-era church we still have. it's a little ways out of your way, but worth it if you care enough. Also, check out Suleymaniye Mosque, constructed by Suleyman the Magnificent to rival the Blue Mosque. Everything else worth doing in this city, to my knowledge at this point, is food related.
Things to Eat--
If you want to know where to go for these delectable treats, either ask me or consult the latest edition of IstanbulEats, my food bible to this city. I literally do not leave home without it, and try to go to a new restaurant at least once a week at minimum. So far I've hit up 17 of these places, and they're consistently amazing. But these are the types of food you should try to stick a fork into.
Menemen - a breakfast dish made of egg, tomato, tomato sauce, pepper, and deliciousness. Scrambled up and served on a hotplate (most of the time), great with a basket of bread and a glass of water.
Pide - One of two things in this country that's advertised as "Turkish Pizza." It gets the closest. This is a boat of bread filled with cheese and toppings. Sometimes tomatoes make an entrance, but rarely in sauce form.
Iskender - One of my favorite feel-good foods, Iskender is a dish consisting of layers of bread under sauce under meat with a yogurt dip on the side. Simple, but to die for. This is a specialty of a place in Bursa, but has been imitated around the country, and incredibly so in Sultanahmet, near Serkeci tramway.
Döner Dürem - you cannot walk down a street in Istanbul for long without seeing a shop selling this. It's the classic - meat shaved off the vertical spit, wrapped up and handed to you within a minute. Some come with pickles, some with french fries, all wrapped up inside. A classic.
Ayran - Yogurt, watered down to be drunk, salted heavily. The Türks love it, most visitors don't, you have to try it. If you see it being made fresh, you must try that one. I'm starting to like it more and more, and last night a friend decided to woefully announce she was getting her first Ayran craving.
Simit - It's like a bagel, but better. I don't know how to describe it, but you'll find simit on any streetcorner for 1TL. Get one, get several. Don't bother with toppings, it doesn't need any.
Turkish Delight - known as Lokum here, this is, well, delightful. Try to buy some from a place that makes their own, not from a mass-produced box. If you're allergic to nuts, make sure you know what you're getting.
Çay - Tea is a staple of the Turkish diet. You'll get it with most meals. Do not decline. However, if you are so inclined, order the following as a substitute:
Elma Çay - apple tea. Incredible. Made purely from apples.
Seafood - Istanbul has amazing seafood. All of it is good. I recommend the Calamari, as it comes with a dip that is unlike any calamari sauce you've ever had (it's yogurt-based, like all food in Istanbul), and is to die for.
Efes - the only beer worth buying here. Not great, but not the worst either. Cheapest around but hardly bottom of the barrel. I'm growing fonder every time I have some.
Kaymak - Best described as clotted cream, this is so much more than that. It's used like whipped cream, as a topping for dessert. Best, in my opinion, as a topping for a candied quince (Ask for Ayna Talısı).
Mantı - Mini dumplings stuffed with meat and covered in yogurt and sauce. Add all the spices on your table, mix up, and enjoy.
Baklava - no words, just smiles.
Islak Burger - a wet burger, by direct translation. Burgers found in a steam box. Sounds gross, but its amazing drunk food (and sober food, let's be honest).
Waffle and Kumpir - Speaking of drunk food, these are the ones you'll find along Istiklal and throughout Beşiktaş along with Islak joints. Waffles are just that, but smothered in chocolate and caramel and fruits and sprinkles and pretty much any other delicious topping you might want. Kumpir is a large baked potato, stuffed with more substantial foods, but still equally unhealthy.
Yani Rakı - A licorice-type alcohol. It comes clear, but is mixed with water to dilute the flavor and becomes cloudy in the process. An acquired taste.
Börek - kind of like a blintz. Filo dough and a filling. The filling can be cheese, meat, spinach, or potato. Quite good.
Köfte - turkish meatballs. Quite tasty. Can also get Balık Köfte, fish balls.
Kebap - Kebab, şiş kebab, two different things. Well, the latter has a stick up its ass, the former lies bare on the plate. Both amazing. Adana Kebap is spicy, Urfa Kebap is not. Both are good.
Street nuts - there's countless guys cracking open what I think are walnuts (but i'm no nut expert) and baking them until they expand. Some people enjoy them, I didn't. They are as plentiful as Simit salesmen along Istiklal.
Sahlep - kind of like hot chocolate, but there's no chocolate. Kind of like egg nog, but there's no egg or rum. Not totally sure how it's made, and I don't want to know. It's delicious.
Söğüş Kelle - Sheep's Head. Sophie and I decided to try something wacky. So we got boiled and chilled sheep head. Our mad scientist street vendor skillfully chopped up the head and placed all the lean bits on a plate, mixed it up with lettuce, onion, and spices, and served it to us with bread. If I hadn't known what I was eating, I would have loved it. As time goes on, my memory of it becomes fonder and fonder.
Turkish Coffee - I don't drink coffee, and the IstanbulEats-recommended turkish coffee shop made a cup I truly enjoyed. Have this.
and finally,
Ciğer - Liver. Some Turks swear by it... I don't know. It could be good, with enough onions to give it some crunch and after being deep fried... be adventurous, try it. Maybe you'll like it?
Oh, and I'm going to add in Penir Helvası. Sophie and I didn't attempt this one, because I didn't know about it. But having just spent a weekend in Çanakkale (to be described in a later post) where this stuff is the specialty, this cheese-and-sugar-based mana from heaven is probably the most artery clogging thing I've had in Turkey, and one of the most delicious.
So that's Istanbul. Fit that into a week, I dare you.
Sophie and I also took a 26 hour trip down to Izmir, Selcuk and Ephesus. In addition to Ephesus, with its gorgeous facades and fascinating ruins (and 50,000 person amphitheater!), we saw the house that the Virgin Mary died in, as well as the remains of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Not much is left of the temple, but a column has been reconstructed from pieces of the temple to give one an idea of its former glory. It was a great overnight trip, which is also highly recommended. Get a guided tour (we got one for 90TL each, but I'm sure there are cheaper... we booked last minute), but try not to buy stuff at the random (and hilarious) overpriced tourist stops along the way. I would write more on the subject, but A) I'm exhausted, and B) it's one of those "see it to believe it" type places, so either look up pictures of it or go yourself.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
School, Strays, Superdorm and Scrumptiousness
It's been a while since I've posted anything on here. I wish my excuse was a good one -- I've just been lazy about posting.
So here's life so far in Istanbul.
Part I
School:
After getting back from Cappadocia, we had a few days to kill before school started. We did some exploring of the city, as well as the area around school, Rumeli Hisarüstü. We discovered some great restaurants and bars (to be discussed below in the section on Scrumptiousness), and enjoyed the company of each other, and the Turkish roommates that started showing up.
My roommates arrived the day before school. I still haven't really had more than a five minute conversation with any of them. They are all freshmen and their English is not the best.. And while I have nothing against either of those items, it makes it more difficult to relate and interact with them. But I've been enjoying hanging out with some of the roommates of the Duke program kids, so that's good. I still need to meet more Turks, though.
I signed up for a bunch of classes, and the first week attended 6 classes. The two I ended up dropping were Islamic Art and Architecture (just not my cup of tea) and Everyday Ottoman Life. The former was something I was not too interested in, the latter had nothing but readings in Ottoman Turkish... A little past my language abilities.
This left me with the requisite four classes Duke and Wash U are requiring me to take. My schedule is as follows, finalized two nights ago officially:
Monday: no class (hell yes, three day weekend!)
Tuesday: 9:00-11:00 - Turkish Language for Foreigners I; 2:00-5:00 - Alexander the Great and His Legacy.
Wednesday: 9:00-11:00 - Turkish Language for Foreigners I; 11:00-12:00 - Historiography II (there is also a 3:00-5:00pm Turkish section that I can attend if I happen to sleep through the morning section)
Thursday: 10:00-12:00 - Historiography II
Friday: 9:30-12:30 - Philosophy of Religion and Morality (or Morality and Religion, I can never remember)
Turkish is a self explanatory class title. But the teacher's style is pretty self explanatory as well. She reads from the textbook. Literally. I could read from the textbook too. It would teach me Turkish at the same rate. The only advantage so far to her teaching is hearing her say the words correctly. But she doesn't answer questions, or not well, and I feel that I could get just as much benefit, if not more, from sitting with a Turkish friend and having him teach me the material from the book over lunch.
Alexander the Great is a fascinating class so far. We have only met twice, and the first class she let us out immediately after reading off the syllabus, but my professor is really interesting and gave a fascinating lecture last Tuesday.
Historiography II is the continuation of an historiography class last semester, but it's not necessary to have that class to take this one. Each week we look at a different era of history and how it's been written about, explored, examined, and viewed then and since. It's pretty cool. I also recently discovered that the class is a requirement for all history department students, and it's one of the classes that no one wants to take but everyone must. Yet I find it fascinating. And the professor is so opinionated and confrontational! I'm afraid (as of yet) to open my mouth in class. Partly because I'm the only foreigner in the class, and partly because every time someone makes a point he does his best to get you to defend it with all your might, with citations of specific authors and publications or through historical examples. He's brutal, but I like it.
Philosophy is with all the Duke students, taught by Karanfil, who came with us on the excursion and works with Duke to make this program happen. She's a Boğaziçi graduate and professor. We had an interesting first class (though I was incredibly hung-over and thus didn't participate. Had spent the entire night before drinking away my troubles over a bottle of tequila due to a hellish experience with a package my parents tried to mail me... Much, much more on that in a later post), and class this week was cancelled due to a medical emergency that Karanfil had to deal with. But I'm looking forward to it.
And that's it! Only four classes, but they all seem manageable and interesting and worth it. And I'm among the brightest young minds in Turkey; only something like the top .1% of Turkish students can get into this school. It's the best in the nation and I think 34th in the world right now.
Part II
Strays:
İstanbul has a lot of stray animals. Lots. They're everywhere. Dogs and cats are on every street corner and rove with complete freedom. I used to think this was depressing, dangerous, and unhealthy. But it's none of those things.
The municipality makes sure to spay and neuter all of the animals. And they vaccinate them. And then tag their ears (for the dogs) so we know that they're safe, and so the city can look after them and keep track. And the people take responsibility and feed them.
Boğaziçi loves its strays. There are cats and dogs everywhere. Cats wander into buildings, dogs stretch out on the grass. Some people pet them, others ignore them. But they have such a good life, lazing and wandering, playing and being played with. They're pervasive: a cat found its way into my philosophy class, on the 4th floor of a building.
Naturally, I've adopted a few dogs of my own. Some naysayers have told me they probably only like me because I feed them. I have yet to offer any of my dogs a scrap of food (with the exception of one time, when G-dubs wouldn't take my last scraps of Simit; they're too well fed to eat people peasant food).
My dogs are as follows, in order of when I met them. We Duke students gave them the names we call them, though I hear most of the dogs have their own names from other groups as well.
Hercules, tag 427: Hercules is a fully grown golden retriever who spends her time (yes, her, I did not check gender before the naming process) around the Superdorm, and occasionally down the hill in Bebek by the Bosporus. She sleeps at the gate to the dorm, on mats provided by the gatekeeper. She loves a good belly rub and will follow me for hours.
George Washington Carver, tag 396: Emily named this one for his peanut colored fur. He's a playful guy, loves to nibble on us, and plays pretty rough. But he's a loyal and friendly dog. Spends his time by the Cengiz Topel and Nespitiye bus stops. Recently he was walking with a limp on his back right foot, but he's been feeling better since.
Loki: Hillary gave her the name, and it suits her. Loki is another golden retriever, but much younger than Hercules. They spend all of their time together. We first met Loki in Bebek but she lives with Hercules at the gate now. The two of them are always playing or sleeping together, and hate when the other one gets more attention than them. Loki is easily as mischievous when it comes to attention as her Norse namesake.
Mr. T, tag 426: I just met Mr. T, and haven't seen him that much. But he's a friendly black dog with some serious bling-colored hair around his neck, which earned him his name. Hopefully I'll see more of him, but I'm not sure if he lives around the Superdorm or not.
Part III
Superdorm:
The Superdorm is impersonal and cramped. The rooms are tiny and the hallways dark. There's no wifi (though someone set up a personal wifi station and I've been stealing it from them), and partying is not allowed in the dorm.
Not that that stops us. We have a good time, we just have to revert to freshman year rules, bringing empty cans and bottles out by ourselves to anonymous dumpsters so the cleaning crew doesn't find it.
There's a little shop in the basement where we can get snacks, toiletries, water, etc. It's priced fairly enough. There's also a Landry room, and you have to pay a woman to do it for us. One load is 10TL, a little over $5. It's pricey but the only cheaper option is a laundromat down the road a ways that'll do a load for 8TL, which does not make it worth it to haul your crap to and from.
We have an in house hair cutter, but he doesn't even give straight razor shaves, so what good is he? I've been getting a 6TL straight razor shave every weekend, and it's the highlight of the week for me. So much awesome.
There's also a not-very-good cafeteria that's overpriced and under par with the food in the area. It's close, but that's all. And most places around here deliver for free, so if we were desperate to not move we could just do that.
Speaking of food....
Part IV
Scrumptiousness:
The food in this city is incredible, flavorful, and unbelievably varied. David pointed out the other day that it'll be hard to get sick of the cuisine, as you can pretty much keep switching it up and never get bored of one thing.
That being said we have all discovered our favorite food spots and watering holes. Here are a few:
Nexus: we discovered Nexus a day or two after it opened its doors for the first time. It's the cheapest beer in town, and the bar atmosphere is wonderful. It's one of the few bars around here that doesn't allow smoking inside, so the clean air is a nice change. The beer is 4.50TL for half a liter, and tequila shots are 5TL. They also make a good gin and tonic and the girls have very much enjoyed their sangria. Great music, good staff, lots of fun. We have been there at least more than half of the total days they've been open, which is about a month now.
Mutfak: Mutfak means 'kitchen' in Turkish, and that's what this is. Mutfak is a little kitchen with two tables and a door. You come in, sit down with whoever is at the tables already, and pick from a wide variety of homemade dishes, just like some Turkish mother might presumably make. Actually, a Turkish mother makes all the food in front of you, and is cooking while you walk into the kitchen part of the kitchen and peek into all the pots and pans yourself. It's the only place to get free water and the easiest and cheapest place to get a really healthy meal. We frequent at least ever other day, they know us and love us.
The corn guy: just outside the Turkcell store that Serkan, program coordinator Sarah Carpenter's brother-in-law, owns and operates, there's a nice old man serving corn. Just corn. For 1TL, he'll salt a ton of kernels, but a little butter on top, mix it up and serve it to you in a cup with a spoon. It's the best dessert to a meal at Mutfak on the walk home. He speaks no English, but we're getting to know each other slowly but surely.
Doydos: this place has some of the best drunk food ever. It's a little burger joint on the walk back from Nexus, and they make a Tavuk Burger (chicken burger) that's unbelievable. And only 3TL or so.
Rumeli Pilav Üstü: this is THE chicken place. You have three choices for food. Rice, chicken, or rice and chicken. It's simple, it's delicious, and wonderful. Half of a chicken on a plate costs 9TL, a thing of rice with shredded chicken is only 4. They have homemade Ayran, a salted yoghurt drink that's popular here, but is an acquired taste. I like it, most don't.
Börekçisi: Börek is simultaneously fantastic breakfast and drunk food, and it's open for both times, from about 8am to 3am. This place makes only Börek, a flaky breaded item stuffed with either cheese, meat, potato, or spinach. To die for.
Beyaz Kale: literally translating to "White Castle," this place is nothing like the American version. Good breakfast food, fresh squeezed orange juice, and great outdoor seating. Always fun.
Galata Mutfak: all of the above are in the vicinity of the South Campus of school. This place, though, is downtown by Galata tower. It's worth an honorable mention because Sara Sandmel discovered it when she first arrived, and I went with her in early February. We've been back a few times, and it's wonderful. A larger version of our local Mutfak, with higher prices but more food selection. Great location and so good.
Ok, and in addition to all of those, I need to mention the Holy Book.
No, not the Bible. I'm talking about something more sacred. Istanbul Eats: Exploring the Culinary Backstreets. It's a book that the above mentioned Sara discovered a month or more ago, and it contains the secrets of the city, with hidden gems sprinkled all over to discover and fall in love with. I have been to approximately five restaurants in this book, and not once have I not been blown away. It's incredible. None of the places feel overrun, either. The restaurants are modestly priced, but the best food in town, for any taste buds, and they're uncrowded and perfect. Cannot get enough of Istanbul Eats.
Well, that's all for now.
So here's life so far in Istanbul.
Part I
School:
After getting back from Cappadocia, we had a few days to kill before school started. We did some exploring of the city, as well as the area around school, Rumeli Hisarüstü. We discovered some great restaurants and bars (to be discussed below in the section on Scrumptiousness), and enjoyed the company of each other, and the Turkish roommates that started showing up.
My roommates arrived the day before school. I still haven't really had more than a five minute conversation with any of them. They are all freshmen and their English is not the best.. And while I have nothing against either of those items, it makes it more difficult to relate and interact with them. But I've been enjoying hanging out with some of the roommates of the Duke program kids, so that's good. I still need to meet more Turks, though.
I signed up for a bunch of classes, and the first week attended 6 classes. The two I ended up dropping were Islamic Art and Architecture (just not my cup of tea) and Everyday Ottoman Life. The former was something I was not too interested in, the latter had nothing but readings in Ottoman Turkish... A little past my language abilities.
This left me with the requisite four classes Duke and Wash U are requiring me to take. My schedule is as follows, finalized two nights ago officially:
Monday: no class (hell yes, three day weekend!)
Tuesday: 9:00-11:00 - Turkish Language for Foreigners I; 2:00-5:00 - Alexander the Great and His Legacy.
Wednesday: 9:00-11:00 - Turkish Language for Foreigners I; 11:00-12:00 - Historiography II (there is also a 3:00-5:00pm Turkish section that I can attend if I happen to sleep through the morning section)
Thursday: 10:00-12:00 - Historiography II
Friday: 9:30-12:30 - Philosophy of Religion and Morality (or Morality and Religion, I can never remember)
Turkish is a self explanatory class title. But the teacher's style is pretty self explanatory as well. She reads from the textbook. Literally. I could read from the textbook too. It would teach me Turkish at the same rate. The only advantage so far to her teaching is hearing her say the words correctly. But she doesn't answer questions, or not well, and I feel that I could get just as much benefit, if not more, from sitting with a Turkish friend and having him teach me the material from the book over lunch.
Alexander the Great is a fascinating class so far. We have only met twice, and the first class she let us out immediately after reading off the syllabus, but my professor is really interesting and gave a fascinating lecture last Tuesday.
Historiography II is the continuation of an historiography class last semester, but it's not necessary to have that class to take this one. Each week we look at a different era of history and how it's been written about, explored, examined, and viewed then and since. It's pretty cool. I also recently discovered that the class is a requirement for all history department students, and it's one of the classes that no one wants to take but everyone must. Yet I find it fascinating. And the professor is so opinionated and confrontational! I'm afraid (as of yet) to open my mouth in class. Partly because I'm the only foreigner in the class, and partly because every time someone makes a point he does his best to get you to defend it with all your might, with citations of specific authors and publications or through historical examples. He's brutal, but I like it.
Philosophy is with all the Duke students, taught by Karanfil, who came with us on the excursion and works with Duke to make this program happen. She's a Boğaziçi graduate and professor. We had an interesting first class (though I was incredibly hung-over and thus didn't participate. Had spent the entire night before drinking away my troubles over a bottle of tequila due to a hellish experience with a package my parents tried to mail me... Much, much more on that in a later post), and class this week was cancelled due to a medical emergency that Karanfil had to deal with. But I'm looking forward to it.
And that's it! Only four classes, but they all seem manageable and interesting and worth it. And I'm among the brightest young minds in Turkey; only something like the top .1% of Turkish students can get into this school. It's the best in the nation and I think 34th in the world right now.
Part II
Strays:
İstanbul has a lot of stray animals. Lots. They're everywhere. Dogs and cats are on every street corner and rove with complete freedom. I used to think this was depressing, dangerous, and unhealthy. But it's none of those things.
The municipality makes sure to spay and neuter all of the animals. And they vaccinate them. And then tag their ears (for the dogs) so we know that they're safe, and so the city can look after them and keep track. And the people take responsibility and feed them.
Boğaziçi loves its strays. There are cats and dogs everywhere. Cats wander into buildings, dogs stretch out on the grass. Some people pet them, others ignore them. But they have such a good life, lazing and wandering, playing and being played with. They're pervasive: a cat found its way into my philosophy class, on the 4th floor of a building.
Naturally, I've adopted a few dogs of my own. Some naysayers have told me they probably only like me because I feed them. I have yet to offer any of my dogs a scrap of food (with the exception of one time, when G-dubs wouldn't take my last scraps of Simit; they're too well fed to eat people peasant food).
My dogs are as follows, in order of when I met them. We Duke students gave them the names we call them, though I hear most of the dogs have their own names from other groups as well.
Hercules, tag 427: Hercules is a fully grown golden retriever who spends her time (yes, her, I did not check gender before the naming process) around the Superdorm, and occasionally down the hill in Bebek by the Bosporus. She sleeps at the gate to the dorm, on mats provided by the gatekeeper. She loves a good belly rub and will follow me for hours.
George Washington Carver, tag 396: Emily named this one for his peanut colored fur. He's a playful guy, loves to nibble on us, and plays pretty rough. But he's a loyal and friendly dog. Spends his time by the Cengiz Topel and Nespitiye bus stops. Recently he was walking with a limp on his back right foot, but he's been feeling better since.
Loki: Hillary gave her the name, and it suits her. Loki is another golden retriever, but much younger than Hercules. They spend all of their time together. We first met Loki in Bebek but she lives with Hercules at the gate now. The two of them are always playing or sleeping together, and hate when the other one gets more attention than them. Loki is easily as mischievous when it comes to attention as her Norse namesake.
Mr. T, tag 426: I just met Mr. T, and haven't seen him that much. But he's a friendly black dog with some serious bling-colored hair around his neck, which earned him his name. Hopefully I'll see more of him, but I'm not sure if he lives around the Superdorm or not.
Part III
Superdorm:
The Superdorm is impersonal and cramped. The rooms are tiny and the hallways dark. There's no wifi (though someone set up a personal wifi station and I've been stealing it from them), and partying is not allowed in the dorm.
Not that that stops us. We have a good time, we just have to revert to freshman year rules, bringing empty cans and bottles out by ourselves to anonymous dumpsters so the cleaning crew doesn't find it.
There's a little shop in the basement where we can get snacks, toiletries, water, etc. It's priced fairly enough. There's also a Landry room, and you have to pay a woman to do it for us. One load is 10TL, a little over $5. It's pricey but the only cheaper option is a laundromat down the road a ways that'll do a load for 8TL, which does not make it worth it to haul your crap to and from.
We have an in house hair cutter, but he doesn't even give straight razor shaves, so what good is he? I've been getting a 6TL straight razor shave every weekend, and it's the highlight of the week for me. So much awesome.
There's also a not-very-good cafeteria that's overpriced and under par with the food in the area. It's close, but that's all. And most places around here deliver for free, so if we were desperate to not move we could just do that.
Speaking of food....
Part IV
Scrumptiousness:
The food in this city is incredible, flavorful, and unbelievably varied. David pointed out the other day that it'll be hard to get sick of the cuisine, as you can pretty much keep switching it up and never get bored of one thing.
That being said we have all discovered our favorite food spots and watering holes. Here are a few:
Nexus: we discovered Nexus a day or two after it opened its doors for the first time. It's the cheapest beer in town, and the bar atmosphere is wonderful. It's one of the few bars around here that doesn't allow smoking inside, so the clean air is a nice change. The beer is 4.50TL for half a liter, and tequila shots are 5TL. They also make a good gin and tonic and the girls have very much enjoyed their sangria. Great music, good staff, lots of fun. We have been there at least more than half of the total days they've been open, which is about a month now.
Mutfak: Mutfak means 'kitchen' in Turkish, and that's what this is. Mutfak is a little kitchen with two tables and a door. You come in, sit down with whoever is at the tables already, and pick from a wide variety of homemade dishes, just like some Turkish mother might presumably make. Actually, a Turkish mother makes all the food in front of you, and is cooking while you walk into the kitchen part of the kitchen and peek into all the pots and pans yourself. It's the only place to get free water and the easiest and cheapest place to get a really healthy meal. We frequent at least ever other day, they know us and love us.
The corn guy: just outside the Turkcell store that Serkan, program coordinator Sarah Carpenter's brother-in-law, owns and operates, there's a nice old man serving corn. Just corn. For 1TL, he'll salt a ton of kernels, but a little butter on top, mix it up and serve it to you in a cup with a spoon. It's the best dessert to a meal at Mutfak on the walk home. He speaks no English, but we're getting to know each other slowly but surely.
Doydos: this place has some of the best drunk food ever. It's a little burger joint on the walk back from Nexus, and they make a Tavuk Burger (chicken burger) that's unbelievable. And only 3TL or so.
Rumeli Pilav Üstü: this is THE chicken place. You have three choices for food. Rice, chicken, or rice and chicken. It's simple, it's delicious, and wonderful. Half of a chicken on a plate costs 9TL, a thing of rice with shredded chicken is only 4. They have homemade Ayran, a salted yoghurt drink that's popular here, but is an acquired taste. I like it, most don't.
Börekçisi: Börek is simultaneously fantastic breakfast and drunk food, and it's open for both times, from about 8am to 3am. This place makes only Börek, a flaky breaded item stuffed with either cheese, meat, potato, or spinach. To die for.
Beyaz Kale: literally translating to "White Castle," this place is nothing like the American version. Good breakfast food, fresh squeezed orange juice, and great outdoor seating. Always fun.
Galata Mutfak: all of the above are in the vicinity of the South Campus of school. This place, though, is downtown by Galata tower. It's worth an honorable mention because Sara Sandmel discovered it when she first arrived, and I went with her in early February. We've been back a few times, and it's wonderful. A larger version of our local Mutfak, with higher prices but more food selection. Great location and so good.
Ok, and in addition to all of those, I need to mention the Holy Book.
No, not the Bible. I'm talking about something more sacred. Istanbul Eats: Exploring the Culinary Backstreets. It's a book that the above mentioned Sara discovered a month or more ago, and it contains the secrets of the city, with hidden gems sprinkled all over to discover and fall in love with. I have been to approximately five restaurants in this book, and not once have I not been blown away. It's incredible. None of the places feel overrun, either. The restaurants are modestly priced, but the best food in town, for any taste buds, and they're uncrowded and perfect. Cannot get enough of Istanbul Eats.
Well, that's all for now.
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