The second half our trip started on Tuesday which we decided to try and fit in as many sites as possible. We started with touring the Hagia Sofia which is what Istanbul is obviously most known for. You walk in through an arch with a mosaic of Jesus looking down at you. It was a church under the Latin rule that was converted into a mosque by the Ottomans. It has a beautiful dome that still baffles visitors today. Two things to note about this most important building in the world: it is in bad need of repair for parts of walls are falling off along with the fact that the inside of the doom itself was getting worked on with the help with scaffolding that ruined the effect of the building. Nonetheless when I saw mosaics of Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, I had a respect for this building and for the Muslim religion for it is not much different than Christianity and in many ways is the next step. We moved from the Hagia Sofia to the Basilica Cistern, which is a large underground water deposit that was built in ancient times and kind of looks like a Greek temple with its pillars and sculpted heads of Medusa. This visit was short and we moved on to the Turkish Archeological museum.
There we saw artifacts and stone from civilizations in Turkey going back to 15th century BC. Along with that we could see the transformations in the style of sculpture from the Hellenistic period to before and after the Byzantine Empire. Not only was it interesting to brush up on my history of Turkey, but also I found it hilarious to read some of the translated scripts on rocks dating back to BC centuries in the teens, whether they are love contracts, peace agreements, or ways to solve male impotency. We actually stayed there for 2-3 hours and by the end of it we were wiped which seemed to becoming a commonplace. We ate that night at hostel café where it was relatively cheap and a great atmosphere as in there were people there that weren’t geriatric. More cards and chicken Casserole which I have to say was one of the most satisfying meals I had, but mainly I was just happy that it wasn’t kebob. I think that it will take weeks before I will be able to eat that again for Monica actually got sick eating the lamb in her casserole. We went to bed fairly early that night because the next morning we had our tour to brush up on everything we missed. Before I go on, I know this is random but the city is infested with stray cats and dogs. Some areas would be dominated by dogs and they would walk around with you and other areas would be infested with cats who beg every living moment, expect to be pet, and then have the audacity to climb up you. I have to say though by the end of trip, my hatred of cats had gone away...
The van came to pick us up at 830 and of course being with three girls we were late especially since we grabbed some breakfast before left. We were the youngest people in the tour with the average age probably being somewhere in the 60s or 70s but that was ok. Our first stop of the day was the Spice Market which is pretty much a miniature of the Grand Bazaar except for the majority of the goods was spices and teas. We didn’t buy anything until we were sold on Lemon tea from this guy who charmed us with his French. He totally called us out for not being from Paris because of our rougher accents. He knew that because he was dating a Frenchie, hence we said we were from French Canada. We had to hurry back because our free time was running out and on the way out we passed a lot of butchers which is where I saw the grossest thing of trip: skinned goat head. But no Dad there weren’t snakes or mangled animals at the bazaars, I must have laughed for 20 minutes when I saw that question…The tour bus drove us to the dock where we all boarded a large boat that would sail us up the Bosporus. As we moved out of Istanbul and into the smaller suburbs, one could see that many of the buildings needed work and that there wasn’t really beautiful strait-front property. Now the houses overlooking the water on the Asian side were nicer, probably mansions from rich Turks who lived farther East. Of course on the way we saw Ataturk’s yacht that resembled somewhat of a small Titanic.
The best part of the sail was seeing the Rumeli Hisari which is the citadel protecting the entrance of the strait. It’s not your typical square fortress and is kind of lopsided along this hill but towers were strategically placed so that ships coming down would have to submit or be caught in a strong cross-fire. Too bad we didn’t have time to walk the ramparts, but I have a feeling that I will back to Turkey someday. Our sail ended and we boarded buses to then go back in to our hood where we ate more kebobs, but the meal was interesting because we were able to talk to a British couple. They expressed their views over maintaining a strong relationship with the US and allowing it to take its place at the top of the table which is hard for a lot of the old countries of Europe (France). He also explained to me what I already knew about how the Brits don’t want to join the Euro because of the Pound being strong and that if Turkey joined it would be hard to limit immigration to Britain. Since there was a Turkish guy sitting next to us, he later said that by taking in Turkey it would be a good place strategically and could be a bridge into the crescent lands. As that might be true along with Turkey bringing in a large population and developing economy, it also has problems that I will address in the conclusion of the trip.
We finished our meal and rousing conversations that made us actually experience real people having the views that it taught to us in our political science classes. The four of us had asked the tour company to not go along with the rest of the group for the last stop and rather take us to the Dolmabahce Palace. This was a palace construed in the 1800s and was the center of Ottoman administrative affairs. It is about the closest thing there is to a French Versailles, which I have to say I have not visited yet in France. I will get around to that one of these das. Inside it holds many vast ornate rooms including one that houses the largest Bohemian crystal chandelier, a present by Queen Victoria. Other perks in the palace included presents from the German Kaiser Wilhelm during WWI and bear skins from a Russian czar. This palace was clearly built to be a façade on the power of the Ottoman Empire. As the empire was falling apart it was used by the Ottomans to impress their European counterparts. It’s kind of like the Saudi palaces where they are so rich and ornate and yet they have people starving and massive human rights problems. It was not to that degree in the Ottoman Empire or so I hope, it’s just I felt that they were trying too hard to be acknowledged by the West in building this palace. Ataturk spent his last days there so it’s even more a national monument.
I have to admit by the end of the trip I was falling in love with Ataturk. Not the insane degree as the Turkish people, but at least I can understand why they loved him so much. He ended the Sultanship of the Ottoman Empire and formed the Republic of Turkey of which he was the first president. He also brought social and economic reforms to get Turkey on the fast track to becoming more Western. Personally he looks like Dracula in some sort of way and his face is somewhat hypnotizing in some pictures but nonetheless he is the national hero of Turkey. The only downside is that if you speak out against him, it is a crime and you can be put in jail. I could even get some harsh remarks from Turkish friends for this post, but this is my commentary. I feel like if something or somebody is that great than it can withstand criticism, by creating laws that make speaking out against him or the idea of “Turkishness” is somewhat oppressive to the free speech part of their so-called secular democracy. More on that later.
As we left the palace tour, I noticed that across the street the soccer stadium was starting to attract large amounts of people. A Turk next to me told me that there was a match today, so I walked across 8 lanes of traffic to inquire about the prices which turned out to be 15 Turkish Lira. Only up until 2005, did Turkey get rid of 6 zeros of the currency to appreciate their currency into something that is almost one to one with the dollar today. Regardless this was cheap for a match so I decided to go leaving my things with the girls. The girls would have gone had it not said in the guide books that you could count the girls at the soccer matches on one hand. And if I was somewhat timid to go then the girls would be as well. The club’s name was Beskitas and actually beat Liverpool a week before, so I decided to give them a look. After buying a ticket, I must have asked 10 different policemen how to get to my seat and then finally when I got to the open admission section, I sat next to the police. I did this only because I saw police in full riot gear and games in Turkey sometimes have a tendency to get out of hand. The stadium wasn’t really full so the game went pretty smoothly. Beskitas ended up losing this Turkish Cup game 1-2, which proved to be very disappointing because the opposing team was near the bottom of the league table. My life insurance was buying a scarf so that people wouldn’t ask me questions considering I did kind of stand out a bit. After the game ended, I walked back for awhile and grabbed a Starbucks which for those 5 minutes put me back in the States.
Our last day of the trip proved to be my day of shopping and revival. By this point I had not bought anything except a Turkey soccer shirt (go figure), and I felt that I needed to get presents/buy a carpet. I originally was going to go to a Turkish bath but after I realized that I was going to be scrubbed down by a hairy Turkish guy, I decided not to considering I just had taken a shower. Instead I must have hit up 15 stores on my way and back to the Grand Bazaar. Let me tell you, carpet shopping is a hell of an experience because at the beginning I knew nothing and by the end I was able to get a beautiful carpet for an amazing price with a story to go along with. It was hilarious how many times people tried to cheat me and sell me crappy/holey rugs that were not even worth a fraction of the price they wanted. The best part is that they would pressure me into buying because of my age and thought that I would succumb. Once I started I pretty much got into this craze that made me sift through their bullshit and find out what was really going on. They would be say things like oh this is our first sale so I’m giving you a good price or I am good friends with Bill Clinton so buy my shitty carpet. Men or “guides” would stop me on the street and bring me into the back warehouse and try and impress me with their French and almost sit there as a “friend” telling me that I am getting a good deal. They are all actually part of the game and get a commission for bringing you in. Most of the time it was the carpets that turned me off, but sneaky sale’s tactics and harassment were others that led me to believe they were charging me double what a good price was.
I finally walked into this little whole in the wall shop where I basically said I have been around, I know what I am looking for and what are good prices, don’t screw with me because I know your bullshit. The guy who was about a foot shorter proceeded to tell me that he was Kurdish after I rejected the first few. When he called me out on being American, I proceeded to ask him many questions about the current affairs. He told me that he used to sell carpets in Eastern Turkey but then moved once the Gulf War started because of the death of tourism in that region. He also proceeded to tell me that he wants his own country someday (Kurdistan) which he could call a home and become prosperous for the regions in northern Iraq and Eastern Turkey are somewhat rich in natural resources (Oil). I then asked him what he felt about the Turkish border forces and their attacks on PKK’s strongholds in Iraq. He proceeded to tell me that it is doing nothing except for killing women and children in the villages surrounding the mountains. He told me that he wasn’t getting discriminated against in Turkey but rather that Turks were very rigid in their beliefs not open to any opposing side. They certainly would never solve the Kurdish problem by giving up some of their land. After rejecting a bunch of carpets, the owner went in the back and pulled out one from his village which looked totally different than the rest and ended up being the colors that I wanted. There were crosses on this Kurdish carpet which he told me were for the Christians in the Kurdish society, but I read on the internet that the symbol is for good luck. He gave me a price a little more than the others because it was hand spoon wool, but I was able to haggle it down to 110$. Out of all of the stores I had been to, this carpet was by far the best I got for that price. When I went to bazaar later on that day, the guy who I bought my gifts from told me that he probably paid anywhere near 85$ for it and it would probably sell in the 200s. And in the States it would sell for much more. It was the best deal I got and I really liked the carpet so I sucked it up and bought it after I brought Monica to look at it and make sure I wasn’t buying something ugly. Oh also that day I picked up a leather wallet that happened to say Gucci on it. One of the best things I will take away from Turkey will be the haggling skillz that I developed. Too bad it doesn’t work in Paris because I could really use some price reductions here haha. After my successful day which actually lasted a few hours, I went back to the hotel to find out that we wouldn’t have a room that night because it wasn’t worth it with our shuttle coming at 3AM to take us to the Ataturk Airport for a 5AM flight. We ended up just shacking up in the hotel lobby until that time which was a site to see but an experience that you only do when you are in your 20s.
On the flight back in my sleep-deprived state I was thinking about what to write in my final commentary on Turkey. I already addressed how I felt about Ataturk. On the Kurdish problem, I feel that they need their own country, which is why the guy called Americans “best friends.” Although I feel its contradictory for the US to stop Turkey in going after terrorists in other countries because the US did exactly that and one democratic presidential candidate (OBAMA) not a republican might I add, said that if necessary as in they found out where Al Qaeda was in Pakistan they would attack them without the government’s support. I guess since Iraq is an American colony it’s a little different. People have said John don’t call Iraq a colony, but I mean come on we go in topple government, reinstate an ineffective puppet government whose country’s infrastructure is built in relation to the occupying countries needs. Anyway back to Turkey, the Kurdish problem along with the Armenian and Cyprus’s are reasons within themselves that Turkey will never join the EU. This along with some somewhat anti-democratic laws like I referred to above in terms of speaking out against the government are other reasons. The Armenian problem is the fact that they deny that genocide occurred during WWI. They can call it what they like it still doesn’t change the fact what happened. I mean I wasn’t there but the way they handle/oppress opposition shows they are hiding something. Germany acknowledges the Holocaust and America knows it killed a lot of Native Americans so can Turkey. Salosi in the House of Representatives just recently tried to put through legislation confirming that it is in fact a genocide which is morally right I feel but not good in terms of diplomacy especially with a fellow member of NATO. The last and final major issue is the Cyprus occupation, which Turkey again has a law throwing people who criticize it in jail. Turkey invaded the northern part of Cyprus and has established a republic that the UN doesn’t even recognize. Being that Greece and Turkey have always fought over Cyprus, I don’t see how Turkey could join the Union with Cyprus and Greece in it without first allowing Cyprus to unite the whole island. It’s hard for Turkey to be in NATO and not be accepted into the EU. They could profit greatly from the membership, but countries like France would never allow a Muslim country join that is so drastically different. I personally think that they should wait and allow Turkey to go ahead with so more of its reforms that it has promised while being a candidate state and also fix some of these diplomatic ties before entering the newly constructed Europe that is championing democracy and secular modernism. Good bye Turkey for now, hopefully when I come back it will be a lot more open and I will be able to actually read this blog out loud in public and not get shot like Armenian journalists have in the past…
There we saw artifacts and stone from civilizations in Turkey going back to 15th century BC. Along with that we could see the transformations in the style of sculpture from the Hellenistic period to before and after the Byzantine Empire. Not only was it interesting to brush up on my history of Turkey, but also I found it hilarious to read some of the translated scripts on rocks dating back to BC centuries in the teens, whether they are love contracts, peace agreements, or ways to solve male impotency. We actually stayed there for 2-3 hours and by the end of it we were wiped which seemed to becoming a commonplace. We ate that night at hostel café where it was relatively cheap and a great atmosphere as in there were people there that weren’t geriatric. More cards and chicken Casserole which I have to say was one of the most satisfying meals I had, but mainly I was just happy that it wasn’t kebob. I think that it will take weeks before I will be able to eat that again for Monica actually got sick eating the lamb in her casserole. We went to bed fairly early that night because the next morning we had our tour to brush up on everything we missed. Before I go on, I know this is random but the city is infested with stray cats and dogs. Some areas would be dominated by dogs and they would walk around with you and other areas would be infested with cats who beg every living moment, expect to be pet, and then have the audacity to climb up you. I have to say though by the end of trip, my hatred of cats had gone away...
The van came to pick us up at 830 and of course being with three girls we were late especially since we grabbed some breakfast before left. We were the youngest people in the tour with the average age probably being somewhere in the 60s or 70s but that was ok. Our first stop of the day was the Spice Market which is pretty much a miniature of the Grand Bazaar except for the majority of the goods was spices and teas. We didn’t buy anything until we were sold on Lemon tea from this guy who charmed us with his French. He totally called us out for not being from Paris because of our rougher accents. He knew that because he was dating a Frenchie, hence we said we were from French Canada. We had to hurry back because our free time was running out and on the way out we passed a lot of butchers which is where I saw the grossest thing of trip: skinned goat head. But no Dad there weren’t snakes or mangled animals at the bazaars, I must have laughed for 20 minutes when I saw that question…The tour bus drove us to the dock where we all boarded a large boat that would sail us up the Bosporus. As we moved out of Istanbul and into the smaller suburbs, one could see that many of the buildings needed work and that there wasn’t really beautiful strait-front property. Now the houses overlooking the water on the Asian side were nicer, probably mansions from rich Turks who lived farther East. Of course on the way we saw Ataturk’s yacht that resembled somewhat of a small Titanic.
The best part of the sail was seeing the Rumeli Hisari which is the citadel protecting the entrance of the strait. It’s not your typical square fortress and is kind of lopsided along this hill but towers were strategically placed so that ships coming down would have to submit or be caught in a strong cross-fire. Too bad we didn’t have time to walk the ramparts, but I have a feeling that I will back to Turkey someday. Our sail ended and we boarded buses to then go back in to our hood where we ate more kebobs, but the meal was interesting because we were able to talk to a British couple. They expressed their views over maintaining a strong relationship with the US and allowing it to take its place at the top of the table which is hard for a lot of the old countries of Europe (France). He also explained to me what I already knew about how the Brits don’t want to join the Euro because of the Pound being strong and that if Turkey joined it would be hard to limit immigration to Britain. Since there was a Turkish guy sitting next to us, he later said that by taking in Turkey it would be a good place strategically and could be a bridge into the crescent lands. As that might be true along with Turkey bringing in a large population and developing economy, it also has problems that I will address in the conclusion of the trip.
We finished our meal and rousing conversations that made us actually experience real people having the views that it taught to us in our political science classes. The four of us had asked the tour company to not go along with the rest of the group for the last stop and rather take us to the Dolmabahce Palace. This was a palace construed in the 1800s and was the center of Ottoman administrative affairs. It is about the closest thing there is to a French Versailles, which I have to say I have not visited yet in France. I will get around to that one of these das. Inside it holds many vast ornate rooms including one that houses the largest Bohemian crystal chandelier, a present by Queen Victoria. Other perks in the palace included presents from the German Kaiser Wilhelm during WWI and bear skins from a Russian czar. This palace was clearly built to be a façade on the power of the Ottoman Empire. As the empire was falling apart it was used by the Ottomans to impress their European counterparts. It’s kind of like the Saudi palaces where they are so rich and ornate and yet they have people starving and massive human rights problems. It was not to that degree in the Ottoman Empire or so I hope, it’s just I felt that they were trying too hard to be acknowledged by the West in building this palace. Ataturk spent his last days there so it’s even more a national monument.
I have to admit by the end of the trip I was falling in love with Ataturk. Not the insane degree as the Turkish people, but at least I can understand why they loved him so much. He ended the Sultanship of the Ottoman Empire and formed the Republic of Turkey of which he was the first president. He also brought social and economic reforms to get Turkey on the fast track to becoming more Western. Personally he looks like Dracula in some sort of way and his face is somewhat hypnotizing in some pictures but nonetheless he is the national hero of Turkey. The only downside is that if you speak out against him, it is a crime and you can be put in jail. I could even get some harsh remarks from Turkish friends for this post, but this is my commentary. I feel like if something or somebody is that great than it can withstand criticism, by creating laws that make speaking out against him or the idea of “Turkishness” is somewhat oppressive to the free speech part of their so-called secular democracy. More on that later.
As we left the palace tour, I noticed that across the street the soccer stadium was starting to attract large amounts of people. A Turk next to me told me that there was a match today, so I walked across 8 lanes of traffic to inquire about the prices which turned out to be 15 Turkish Lira. Only up until 2005, did Turkey get rid of 6 zeros of the currency to appreciate their currency into something that is almost one to one with the dollar today. Regardless this was cheap for a match so I decided to go leaving my things with the girls. The girls would have gone had it not said in the guide books that you could count the girls at the soccer matches on one hand. And if I was somewhat timid to go then the girls would be as well. The club’s name was Beskitas and actually beat Liverpool a week before, so I decided to give them a look. After buying a ticket, I must have asked 10 different policemen how to get to my seat and then finally when I got to the open admission section, I sat next to the police. I did this only because I saw police in full riot gear and games in Turkey sometimes have a tendency to get out of hand. The stadium wasn’t really full so the game went pretty smoothly. Beskitas ended up losing this Turkish Cup game 1-2, which proved to be very disappointing because the opposing team was near the bottom of the league table. My life insurance was buying a scarf so that people wouldn’t ask me questions considering I did kind of stand out a bit. After the game ended, I walked back for awhile and grabbed a Starbucks which for those 5 minutes put me back in the States.
Our last day of the trip proved to be my day of shopping and revival. By this point I had not bought anything except a Turkey soccer shirt (go figure), and I felt that I needed to get presents/buy a carpet. I originally was going to go to a Turkish bath but after I realized that I was going to be scrubbed down by a hairy Turkish guy, I decided not to considering I just had taken a shower. Instead I must have hit up 15 stores on my way and back to the Grand Bazaar. Let me tell you, carpet shopping is a hell of an experience because at the beginning I knew nothing and by the end I was able to get a beautiful carpet for an amazing price with a story to go along with. It was hilarious how many times people tried to cheat me and sell me crappy/holey rugs that were not even worth a fraction of the price they wanted. The best part is that they would pressure me into buying because of my age and thought that I would succumb. Once I started I pretty much got into this craze that made me sift through their bullshit and find out what was really going on. They would be say things like oh this is our first sale so I’m giving you a good price or I am good friends with Bill Clinton so buy my shitty carpet. Men or “guides” would stop me on the street and bring me into the back warehouse and try and impress me with their French and almost sit there as a “friend” telling me that I am getting a good deal. They are all actually part of the game and get a commission for bringing you in. Most of the time it was the carpets that turned me off, but sneaky sale’s tactics and harassment were others that led me to believe they were charging me double what a good price was.
I finally walked into this little whole in the wall shop where I basically said I have been around, I know what I am looking for and what are good prices, don’t screw with me because I know your bullshit. The guy who was about a foot shorter proceeded to tell me that he was Kurdish after I rejected the first few. When he called me out on being American, I proceeded to ask him many questions about the current affairs. He told me that he used to sell carpets in Eastern Turkey but then moved once the Gulf War started because of the death of tourism in that region. He also proceeded to tell me that he wants his own country someday (Kurdistan) which he could call a home and become prosperous for the regions in northern Iraq and Eastern Turkey are somewhat rich in natural resources (Oil). I then asked him what he felt about the Turkish border forces and their attacks on PKK’s strongholds in Iraq. He proceeded to tell me that it is doing nothing except for killing women and children in the villages surrounding the mountains. He told me that he wasn’t getting discriminated against in Turkey but rather that Turks were very rigid in their beliefs not open to any opposing side. They certainly would never solve the Kurdish problem by giving up some of their land. After rejecting a bunch of carpets, the owner went in the back and pulled out one from his village which looked totally different than the rest and ended up being the colors that I wanted. There were crosses on this Kurdish carpet which he told me were for the Christians in the Kurdish society, but I read on the internet that the symbol is for good luck. He gave me a price a little more than the others because it was hand spoon wool, but I was able to haggle it down to 110$. Out of all of the stores I had been to, this carpet was by far the best I got for that price. When I went to bazaar later on that day, the guy who I bought my gifts from told me that he probably paid anywhere near 85$ for it and it would probably sell in the 200s. And in the States it would sell for much more. It was the best deal I got and I really liked the carpet so I sucked it up and bought it after I brought Monica to look at it and make sure I wasn’t buying something ugly. Oh also that day I picked up a leather wallet that happened to say Gucci on it. One of the best things I will take away from Turkey will be the haggling skillz that I developed. Too bad it doesn’t work in Paris because I could really use some price reductions here haha. After my successful day which actually lasted a few hours, I went back to the hotel to find out that we wouldn’t have a room that night because it wasn’t worth it with our shuttle coming at 3AM to take us to the Ataturk Airport for a 5AM flight. We ended up just shacking up in the hotel lobby until that time which was a site to see but an experience that you only do when you are in your 20s.
On the flight back in my sleep-deprived state I was thinking about what to write in my final commentary on Turkey. I already addressed how I felt about Ataturk. On the Kurdish problem, I feel that they need their own country, which is why the guy called Americans “best friends.” Although I feel its contradictory for the US to stop Turkey in going after terrorists in other countries because the US did exactly that and one democratic presidential candidate (OBAMA) not a republican might I add, said that if necessary as in they found out where Al Qaeda was in Pakistan they would attack them without the government’s support. I guess since Iraq is an American colony it’s a little different. People have said John don’t call Iraq a colony, but I mean come on we go in topple government, reinstate an ineffective puppet government whose country’s infrastructure is built in relation to the occupying countries needs. Anyway back to Turkey, the Kurdish problem along with the Armenian and Cyprus’s are reasons within themselves that Turkey will never join the EU. This along with some somewhat anti-democratic laws like I referred to above in terms of speaking out against the government are other reasons. The Armenian problem is the fact that they deny that genocide occurred during WWI. They can call it what they like it still doesn’t change the fact what happened. I mean I wasn’t there but the way they handle/oppress opposition shows they are hiding something. Germany acknowledges the Holocaust and America knows it killed a lot of Native Americans so can Turkey. Salosi in the House of Representatives just recently tried to put through legislation confirming that it is in fact a genocide which is morally right I feel but not good in terms of diplomacy especially with a fellow member of NATO. The last and final major issue is the Cyprus occupation, which Turkey again has a law throwing people who criticize it in jail. Turkey invaded the northern part of Cyprus and has established a republic that the UN doesn’t even recognize. Being that Greece and Turkey have always fought over Cyprus, I don’t see how Turkey could join the Union with Cyprus and Greece in it without first allowing Cyprus to unite the whole island. It’s hard for Turkey to be in NATO and not be accepted into the EU. They could profit greatly from the membership, but countries like France would never allow a Muslim country join that is so drastically different. I personally think that they should wait and allow Turkey to go ahead with so more of its reforms that it has promised while being a candidate state and also fix some of these diplomatic ties before entering the newly constructed Europe that is championing democracy and secular modernism. Good bye Turkey for now, hopefully when I come back it will be a lot more open and I will be able to actually read this blog out loud in public and not get shot like Armenian journalists have in the past…
