görüşürüz türkiye
June 5th, 2009 | Written by hurricanic
Bizim son günümüz harikadir. (Our last day in Istanbul was great.) Sabah’ın serin ve soğuğunda trama binmeden önce, Christian Deor’un güneş gözlüğü giyen bir nija kadınla karşılaştık. (We jumped on a tram in the early coolness of the day, only after passing a ninja woman, as we call them – the ones covered in black from head to toe with only their eyes and noses exposed – wearing Christian Deor sunglasses.) Çok komiktir ya. (Hilarious.) Küçük kapılı çarsıda bir as gezdik ve alişveriş yaptik. Büyük kapılı çarsı gibi ama o kadar büyük değildir ve o kadar çilgin değildir ve bir az acılıdır. (Then we shopped around the Spice Market for a bit. It was like the Grand Bizarre, only less grand and less bizarre and a bit more spicy.)
Now that your Turkish lesson for the day is over, we’ll just get back to English…for all of you who just aren’t as culturally advanced.
We also happened upon a group of local fishermen fishing on the Golden Horn off a bridge. It was so fun to watch them work and attempt to catch them in action without being seen. A simit salesman saw me, though, and proudly displayed his product, perched atop his head on a tray. I tell you what…these Turks can be a little vain. They just love getting their pictures taken.
Then we were off. We headed to the Cora Church, Annie’s favorite site here in Istanbul. The mosaic work in this former church is breathtaking. And it’s so well preserved. There were a thousand signs strictly instructing us to not use flash. Thankfully, with my fancy schmancy camera and its high ISOs, this would be no problem. Wouldn’t you know, however, that I decided to pull out my little point and shoot that doubles as a video camera to capture a bit of an explanation from Annie about where we were and failed to realize that it was still on camera mode? Nice. Three guards immediately turned and yelled “NO FLASH!!” I was mortified, but thankfully not thrown out.
We then headed back to go on a boat tour of the Bosporus Straight. We were able to see a pretty fantastic view of the waters edge of both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. We also managed to see a hint of the Black Sea in the process. Check. Our favorite site on our tour, however, was not the Dolmabahçe Palace, the Çiran Palace, Rumeli Hisar, or the dozen different beautiful mosques along the water. No, it was the Turkish woman sitting behind us who had covered her head, already covered in a head scarf that would’ve served its purpose by itself, with a plastic bag. Oh yes, pictures a plenty were taken. My favorites being of her an her friend sitting on the back of the boat near tour’s end with the Turkish flag waving in the background. Awesome.
We hopped off the boat, only after, mind you, using the squatty potties with the added complexity of being on the water, and headed to Ortakoy. Ortakoy is a fairly artsy little area of Istanbul right by the water, in the shadow of the Bosporus Bridge. We found the perfect setting for our final meal together and enjoyed the view of the water, anxiously awaiting what turned out to be one of our best meals here. The background music? The sound of the man’s lighter at the table next to us being opened and closed over and over and over and over. The click of the zippo was enough to drive us all crazy. Curtis attempted to stare him down, and somehow, I’m sure, they asked to move tables (which was our original plan) because we were being creepy. Which came first, I ask? The chicken or the egg? Still, we found it almost comical that the sound of that blasted lighter could still be heard halfway across the patio.
We walked around Ortakoy for a while and grabbed dessert (Star Waffles – a fantastic combination of soft waffle, fruit, cream, white chocolate, and almonds…and let us not forget the ever important sprinkles). We sat water’s edge and watched boats go by as the light once again turned amber illuminating the hills of Istanbul. Glorious. We walked to catch the bus, headed back to the hotel, and watched the sunset over the landscape of this amazing city. It’s now time to head to bed so we can wake up at 3 a.m. with enough time to head to the airport. Seriously…3 a.m.? That’s less than five hours from now. Gross.
Our bags are packed and the taxi has been called. We’ll be leaving for the airport in six hours and then I return to my American way of life. No more simit on a street, a heck of lot fewer car horns honking, and perhaps a few more choices for meat than lamb. I’m sad to go. I have loved my time here and definitely dig spending time with Curtis and Annie. We keep talking about the next time I’m here, as if it will be in the next year or so. We’ve also, however, been talking about going to Thailand together, so maybe that will have to happen before I return to Turkey. We’ll see. Needless to say, we’ll see you later, Turkey. Thanks for a great two weeks.
Görüşürüz Türkiye!
i hope you made it home safely!