Day 1 in Istanbul

...I think this blog has the potential to be more about my travels outside of Spain than in them... until I get around to talking about all the backlogged stuff I have to talk about from Spain...

I’m in Istanbul with Sarah Theobald (a friend from Bryn Mawr who was studying in Cairo this semester)!!!!!  We went today with our hostel roommate Emily (not my Spanish roommate Emily, but she’s just as nice) on some adventures.

After the best hostel breakfast ever (raw cucumbers and tomatoes – the first I’ve had since leaving home that haven’t been covered in salt and olive oil – fresh cheese, yogurt and bread and Nutella), we took the tram to the touristy part of town, intent on doing all that stuff first so that our more intense exploration would take place later.  Our first adventure was to the underground cisterns from Justinian’s time (532 AD and renovated in 950, re-renovated in 1985 and opened to the public for tourism), which was HUGE and totally worth the 10 lira and included two pillars with enormous Medusa heads at the bases.

Once upon a time, it held 80,000 cubic meters of water, just so you get an idea.  We made wishes with small coins and admired the enormous fish, walked around in the damp and were completely in awe.

Then we accidentally wandered past the Hagia Sofia and into what appeared to be a park at first - these were just some ruins hangin' out there... y'know, ancient stuff:

...but was actually the entrance to the Topkapi Palace complex, where the Ottoman sultans hung out and, you know, also ran their empire until the 19^th century.  This is Sarah and Emily being impressed:

We went to the harem, which was surprisingly AMAZING and also very important politically, basically the place where all of the royal family intrigue took place...

...and also saw the exhibit of religious relics that belonged to the sultans – including supposedly Moses’ staff, John the Baptist’s hand and forearm and skull, Muhammad’s beard, and Abraham’s saucepan (the latter was my favorite).  It was… fascinating, to stay the least.  There was also a guy singing the Quran live for the museum visitors, which was also interesting – I was surprised it wasn’t just a recording.  We wandered around, in and out of amazingly tiled, inlaid and carved rooms, saw the royal treasure and admired the view of the Bosporus and the Golden Horn River:

 We had a late lunch of bagel-like street bread and the best pomegranate ever grown that we shared while sitting on a wall – while we were eating, we were approached by two Turkish medical students who wanted to practice their English, and they were really sweet and we had a rather awkward but very nice conversation with them.  While trying to find the Blue Mosque, we stopped for tea and baklava at a small place near the Grand Bazaar, which was delicious.  Basically, today was a day for awesome food.  We found the Blue Mosque, which is really impressive, especially when all lit up at night:

...but it was prayer time and we had not brought scarves so we couldn’t go in past the patio anyway.  We plan to go tomorrow morning.

Also on the plan for tomorrow: crossing the Bosporus on a boat and exploring the Asian side (a new continent!), going to the Grand Bazaar, eating fresh fish from the bridge where nearly a hundred men are lined up with fishing poles and buckets, and possibly seeing the Hagia Sofia even though we’ve heard from fellow hostellers that it’s overpriced and not worth it…

Here is a map of Istanbul, with the place we are staying and the region we explored today:

I'll keep you updated, because evenings in the hostel are low-key and relaxing...

Much love!