Today Reuben and I dragged ourselves out of bed at around 11:00am. It might be the biggest understatement of the year to say that we were exhausted. After getting home from La Rambla last night we both reflected on the fact that we have no idea when we’ll return to this incredible city that we’ve both fallen completely in love with. Haha some how that turned into not wanting to sleep away any of our time here even if it was just spend in the apartment. We chatted and opened the floor to ceiling windows in our room to just let the city in. I know, how completely pretentious of me! But it really is a beautiful city and I’m sad that in a few weeks if I’m feeling antsy again there’s no jetting off to Spain for the weekend. Oh well, back to the normality of living in Chapel Hill, NC. Don’t get me wrong. I love North Carolina but it’s nice to live in Europe and have so many places accessible and affordable.
Anyway we headed to an internet café to check out a list of restaurants, bars, and cool places that Reuben’s friend Chesleigh, who studied abroad here last semester, sent us. We settled on going to La Champagneria, a champagne bar near Barceloneta Beach. I expected a dive-ish bar from Chesleigh’s comments but I figured it would be pretty dead during the day. We thought we’d go grab a plate of tapas and relax. Nope not at all; it was packed out! I could barley fit my pinky toe in the door. We finally stepped inside, read all the signs and decided to go have a real lunch and regroup!
We went to La Cala for lunch, it was near the harbor just off Carrer Reina Cristina. I don’t recommend it. The wait staff was not very friendly and the food wasn’t great (which for some reason didn’t stop us from eating most of it anyway)but oh well you win some you loose some. We headed back to La Champagneria and had a game plan. This isn’t a get fucked up and throw up kind of place, there were a ton of tourists there with families and lots of college kids just grabbing a bite to eat. The rules are: they don’t sell full bottles after 5:00pm and if you buy a full bottle you have to buy at least two sandwiches or tapas plates to eat. I think it’s a great idea, especially since the most expensive bottle of champagne they had was 5 euro! We got a bottle of their classic champagne and two chicken sandwiches. It was a really cool experience other than the fact that the only place available to stand was right by the entrance so people entering and exiting were constantly pushing us. But who’s complaining, when Reuben went to pay at the counter they only charged us 5.50 euro!
After that we decided that the best and most efficient way to see as much of the city as possible in the only day that we had left (we’re on a 11:00am flight tomorrow) was the hop on hop off city tour. So we bought tickets for the Barcelona Turista Route. The price was a little steep, 23 euro per person, but it included an audio guide and we definitely made the most of it. I wish that we had bought tickets yesterday because then we definitely would have made sure to ride all of the three routes. I mean we walked most of the green line because it’s around the area where we are staying but I really like to hear the history and descriptions of what I’m seeing.
We rode most of the Red line and all of the Blue line which took us to the Sagrada Familia, Parc Güel, FC Barcelona Stadium and lots of other beautiful Gaudi houses. I had never even heard of Gaudi architecture before this semester but I’m really into it now. It’s so cool it reminds me of like a child’s mind. I felt like I was looking at houses and buildings out of Alice in Wonderland or something. It was really beautiful and I’m so glad I got to see it. We rode all up and down the 5th avenue of Barcelona, saw the Gothic neighborhood again by bus and pretty much rode around the entire city other than the Olympic Complex. I wanted to see it but getting there and then getting back to the city center on the red line would have taken almost an hour and we weren’t up to it. Today the weather was definitely not as good as yesterday, it was overcast all day and the clouds were definitely getting to us.
So we hopped off the bus and walked from Plaça Catalunya to Jaume I where the Gothic quarter is. We stopped at one bar to have 3.5 margaritas and mohitos and some nachos con queso but the drinks weren’t that great and once we found what we were really looking for it was annoying that we had already spent money. So I had read online about these tapas bars where they lay out trays and trays of tapas that are all on these massive toothpicks and at the end of your time there they charge you per toothpick. Well we saw a couple places that had food on toothpicks but they were different prices and more like a menu that you pick from. So of course Reuben started to doubt that these places exist, when low and behold we found Bilbao Beria! A small bar tucked inside the street across from the Jaume metro stop where we had dinner last night. They had wine for 1.80 euro a glass and a huge bar filled with tapas for 1.65 a toothpick! I wish I was more hungry so I could have tried more foods but unfortunately all (haha all, I got a good amount down, running will be necessary when I get back to Istanbul!) I could eat was: a mini crossaint with crab and shrimp salad, two Chinese chicken samosas (good but weird and a tad too oily), and a salmon pie thing, it was salmon, cheese, a tartar like sauce, and a small amount of greens in a small pie crust the size of two quarters. Needless to say it was delicious and exactly what we were looking for even though I could barely breathe I was so full!
After that we were both exhausted and we headed back to the apartment to rest and shower, I mean it was 9:00pm. Jesus the days in Spain last so long, I finally understand why an afternoon siesta is necessary. So here we are resting and trying to decide whether to head to University Plaza to find the 2 euro shot bar or to head back to the beach (as long as it doesn’t rain) for 9 euro drinks to chill with. Either way is fine with me! This has been such a great vacation I can really say that we did everything I wanted to do in Barcelona, though I wish we could stay longer in this incredible city I feel good about cramming my crazy list of things to do in two full days! Side note: being here has made me realize that my Spanish is still pretty ok, I enrolled in Conversational Spanish for next semester. It will be interesting since I haven’t actually taken Spanish since freshman year and I’ll be taking Turkish at the same time but what the hell! I only have one year left in college and if being abroad has taught me anything it’s that you need to take advantage of every opportunity you have to learn and experience new things, so here I go!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
May 6: Barcelona- Beaches, Bottles, and Prostitutes?
Today we got a semi late start but considering we didn’t even finish dinner until after midnight I’d say that noon was quite early. While Reuben got ready I ran around the neighborhood trying to get out cash only to find out that my bank had blocked my atm. Oh great. Our only source of cash gone and to top things off the Internet in the apartment stopped working. So I finally found an internet café owned by two Indian/Pakistani guys who were nice enough to let me use the internet for free, since I didn’t have any cash and all. All to find out that my bank only deals with issues like this during ‘normal US Eastern time’ business hours, excellent. Thankfully Reuben realized he brought his Wachovia card and I had my credit card so for the day we just sucked it up and took the international fees. Hopefully all this mess is sorted out by tomorrow.
We wandered around the neighborhood for about another half hour and then headed to beach kinda near us, Nov Mar Bel? First of all, if this beach is indicative of how beaches look in Barcelona, I’m blown away. It was absolutely gorgeous, the Mediterranean (I think) was sparkling and greenish blue and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Since this is less of a touristy area the beach wasn’t packed out but there were still a lot of people hanging out. The cool thing for me was that every hundred meters or so there was a beach bar with a huge patio. How convieniet! We looked at a few menus before finally settling on one that we though was reasonable (ish- you can’t really get too reasonable in Western Europe). In any case we got a great view and enjoyed flavor Mohitos and delicious lunches.
In the afternoon we went to another beach, walked around and just chilled out with a great bottle of wine. Did I mention how cheap alcohol is here? Maybe it’s just because I’m coming from Istanbul where the works cheap and alcohol used in a sentence very well might be illegal, but getting a great bottle of wine for 1.60 euro is just unheard of. Literally none of the wines in the grocery store were more than 6 euro!! What in the world?!?!?
After a full day of day drinking and sunbathing we were ready for showers and a quick nap. Little did I know after all that waking up from my nap would be painful to say the least. We wanted to go out and enjoy this city, even though both of us were exhausted the thought of staying in all night when we only had another full day left in Barcelona was just unheard of. So we woke up and headed out around 10:00pm. Since our internet was still down we just hopped on the subway and decided to get off at the Jaume I stop. It looked cool and had the Gothic quarter so we figured it couldn’t be too bad.
Once we got off the metro there was about a 70% chance that I was going to fall asleep standing up so we stopped at a Cappuccino café and caffeinated. It was actually a really cool café that had many different types of cappuccinos and desserts! I got a cappuccino and an espresso shot. I was determined not to let my sleepiness ruin the night!
Then we wandered down a random street that was bustling with people only to find a really cool area. It was centered around this really Gothic looking church, the whole street was beautiful and had a ton of restaurants. We finally settled on a place called, Cheese Me. It was so modern and cool inside I didn’t even care that my meal wasn’t too great. And truth be told I wasn’t even really that hungry. But the restaurant had a 15 euro menu so I got a warm goat cheese salad (this was delicious) , a beef burger patty with greens (not so good, it tasted like unseasoned ground beef), and a piece of cheesecake (too dry?). Reuben definitely won with his last two courses. He got a Caesar salad (it was ok too much anchovy dressing), duck confit with a side of greens (I don’t think I’ve ever had duck but it was really good!) and chocolate ice cream (another case where simplicity wins, it was really good ice cream!)
Afterwards we wandered around for a while finding more cool side streets filled with people then we headed to the infamous La Rambla. Now I’m sure that it is very exciting and awesome but coming from Istanbul, the biggest city in Europe, and being used to walking down Istiklal Street where no matter what time it is you are always in a sea of people La Rambla was kind of a let down. I mean it was cool and all but I couldn’t really spot any bars, I guess they were all down side streets but literally all you saw on the main street where prostitutes. Side note: I just came from Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria pretty much the Disney Worlds of the sex trade but I have literally never seen anything like the prostitutes on La Rambla. First of all most of them are Spanish or African? Then they are all wearing normal clothes, barely any make up, and like slipper shoes. To top it all of they are (excuse my language) fucking aggressive. They rub themselves and smack their asses and like ugh I don’t know the kind of man that would pay for sex in the first place but the kind of men that would buy that kind of prostitute is a whole other category. Like when men walk by they maul them and I know that sounds harsh but if you’ve been there you know it’s pretty accurate. Reuben kept saying thank god you’re with me. I was like his little prostitute shield!
Then we decided to take a long walk. Our long nap earlier energized us and we were both not quite ready to go back so we walked along the waterfront from La Rambla to the Barceloneta metro stop. It was cool and we covered a lot of the southern part of the city. Today was a great relaxing day. I can’t wait to see the rest of the city tomorrow!
We wandered around the neighborhood for about another half hour and then headed to beach kinda near us, Nov Mar Bel? First of all, if this beach is indicative of how beaches look in Barcelona, I’m blown away. It was absolutely gorgeous, the Mediterranean (I think) was sparkling and greenish blue and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Since this is less of a touristy area the beach wasn’t packed out but there were still a lot of people hanging out. The cool thing for me was that every hundred meters or so there was a beach bar with a huge patio. How convieniet! We looked at a few menus before finally settling on one that we though was reasonable (ish- you can’t really get too reasonable in Western Europe). In any case we got a great view and enjoyed flavor Mohitos and delicious lunches.
In the afternoon we went to another beach, walked around and just chilled out with a great bottle of wine. Did I mention how cheap alcohol is here? Maybe it’s just because I’m coming from Istanbul where the works cheap and alcohol used in a sentence very well might be illegal, but getting a great bottle of wine for 1.60 euro is just unheard of. Literally none of the wines in the grocery store were more than 6 euro!! What in the world?!?!?
After a full day of day drinking and sunbathing we were ready for showers and a quick nap. Little did I know after all that waking up from my nap would be painful to say the least. We wanted to go out and enjoy this city, even though both of us were exhausted the thought of staying in all night when we only had another full day left in Barcelona was just unheard of. So we woke up and headed out around 10:00pm. Since our internet was still down we just hopped on the subway and decided to get off at the Jaume I stop. It looked cool and had the Gothic quarter so we figured it couldn’t be too bad.
Once we got off the metro there was about a 70% chance that I was going to fall asleep standing up so we stopped at a Cappuccino café and caffeinated. It was actually a really cool café that had many different types of cappuccinos and desserts! I got a cappuccino and an espresso shot. I was determined not to let my sleepiness ruin the night!
Then we wandered down a random street that was bustling with people only to find a really cool area. It was centered around this really Gothic looking church, the whole street was beautiful and had a ton of restaurants. We finally settled on a place called, Cheese Me. It was so modern and cool inside I didn’t even care that my meal wasn’t too great. And truth be told I wasn’t even really that hungry. But the restaurant had a 15 euro menu so I got a warm goat cheese salad (this was delicious) , a beef burger patty with greens (not so good, it tasted like unseasoned ground beef), and a piece of cheesecake (too dry?). Reuben definitely won with his last two courses. He got a Caesar salad (it was ok too much anchovy dressing), duck confit with a side of greens (I don’t think I’ve ever had duck but it was really good!) and chocolate ice cream (another case where simplicity wins, it was really good ice cream!)
Afterwards we wandered around for a while finding more cool side streets filled with people then we headed to the infamous La Rambla. Now I’m sure that it is very exciting and awesome but coming from Istanbul, the biggest city in Europe, and being used to walking down Istiklal Street where no matter what time it is you are always in a sea of people La Rambla was kind of a let down. I mean it was cool and all but I couldn’t really spot any bars, I guess they were all down side streets but literally all you saw on the main street where prostitutes. Side note: I just came from Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria pretty much the Disney Worlds of the sex trade but I have literally never seen anything like the prostitutes on La Rambla. First of all most of them are Spanish or African? Then they are all wearing normal clothes, barely any make up, and like slipper shoes. To top it all of they are (excuse my language) fucking aggressive. They rub themselves and smack their asses and like ugh I don’t know the kind of man that would pay for sex in the first place but the kind of men that would buy that kind of prostitute is a whole other category. Like when men walk by they maul them and I know that sounds harsh but if you’ve been there you know it’s pretty accurate. Reuben kept saying thank god you’re with me. I was like his little prostitute shield!
Then we decided to take a long walk. Our long nap earlier energized us and we were both not quite ready to go back so we walked along the waterfront from La Rambla to the Barceloneta metro stop. It was cool and we covered a lot of the southern part of the city. Today was a great relaxing day. I can’t wait to see the rest of the city tomorrow!
May 5: Barcelona- First Stop Paella!
International flights are really falling off. We flew Spainair here which was a nice enough airline, the lady at the counter gave us exit row seating and we had a great flight time. But what kind of international flight do you have to buy water on? I just don’t understand! Also all the prices were in Euro, all we had was lira…just a weird experience I guess. Anyway once we landed we exchanged money and hopped on the Aerobus to Plaça Catalunya. I love traveling to European cities. The public transportation is always (usually) so great that you can look at a map and figure out where to go with no help at all. We had the address of the apartment we were looking for so from the bus stop we hopped on the L4 metro, got off at the right stop and then walked to the apartment. Granted we walked in circles for a while, we still got there!
After numerous attempts to find descent hotel either near the city center or near the beach we ended up just getting on www.airbnb.com and renting a room. I know this sounds semi risky but when Mom and Dad came to Istanbul we used the site to rent them an apartment and it worked out lovely. In any case we picked a place that was close to the metro, beach, and had good reviews. But really it was Wednesday morning and we were supposed to leave on Thursday afternoon so we really just needed a place to stay.
When we finally found the apartment both of us were shocked at how lucky we got. Honestly we looked at so many photos and read so many reviews that I had no idea which one we were actually going to. But the apartment in the Poblenou neighborhood of Barcelona, a quieter more residential area with no shortage of great restaurants! The owner of the apartment, Ivan, a nice Colombian man greeted us and gave us recommendations for places to eat and bars to go to. Staying in someone’s apartment turned out to be perfect. We got advice from a local while still having way more than enough privacy. We had our own section of the apartment with a private bathroom and huge room. Ivan and Reuben were fast friends, while I unpacked they shared a glass of Dalwhinne, Reuben’s new best frind from Duty Free!
By the time we finally checked our emails and settled in we looked at our watches and it was already 11:00! Thankfully Spain is really the country that never sleeps. Now we had heard from a few people that the food in Spain isn’t great but I refuse to believe that. The food all over Europe is amazing and I figure, Spanish wine is great, so worst case I live off bread and wine for a few days! But Rohan told us that the paella he had in Barcelona was amazing, so of course our goal for the weekend was to find incredible paella! We went outside to tons of restaurants that were still open and settled on a nice place that had a great daily menu. We got an order of Catalan bread, an appetizer, paella, and a huge glass of Sangria for only 15 euro each! I had garlic shrimp and meat paella and Reuben had a massive bowl of mussles and seafood paella. It was delicious and the perfect meal to start of what I think will be a vacation we never forget.
After numerous attempts to find descent hotel either near the city center or near the beach we ended up just getting on www.airbnb.com and renting a room. I know this sounds semi risky but when Mom and Dad came to Istanbul we used the site to rent them an apartment and it worked out lovely. In any case we picked a place that was close to the metro, beach, and had good reviews. But really it was Wednesday morning and we were supposed to leave on Thursday afternoon so we really just needed a place to stay.
When we finally found the apartment both of us were shocked at how lucky we got. Honestly we looked at so many photos and read so many reviews that I had no idea which one we were actually going to. But the apartment in the Poblenou neighborhood of Barcelona, a quieter more residential area with no shortage of great restaurants! The owner of the apartment, Ivan, a nice Colombian man greeted us and gave us recommendations for places to eat and bars to go to. Staying in someone’s apartment turned out to be perfect. We got advice from a local while still having way more than enough privacy. We had our own section of the apartment with a private bathroom and huge room. Ivan and Reuben were fast friends, while I unpacked they shared a glass of Dalwhinne, Reuben’s new best frind from Duty Free!
By the time we finally checked our emails and settled in we looked at our watches and it was already 11:00! Thankfully Spain is really the country that never sleeps. Now we had heard from a few people that the food in Spain isn’t great but I refuse to believe that. The food all over Europe is amazing and I figure, Spanish wine is great, so worst case I live off bread and wine for a few days! But Rohan told us that the paella he had in Barcelona was amazing, so of course our goal for the weekend was to find incredible paella! We went outside to tons of restaurants that were still open and settled on a nice place that had a great daily menu. We got an order of Catalan bread, an appetizer, paella, and a huge glass of Sangria for only 15 euro each! I had garlic shrimp and meat paella and Reuben had a massive bowl of mussles and seafood paella. It was delicious and the perfect meal to start of what I think will be a vacation we never forget.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Bosphorus Cruise!!
So today was my family’s last day here ☹ It makes me really sad. I knew that I had to go back to my apartment, sleep, and wake up early for my History of Christianity midterm tomorrow but I really just wanted to go back with them and chill for the rest of the week. Unfortunately I didn’t have that luxury. But I bullshitted and studied at Starbucks because surprise surprise my two morning classes were cancelled without any notice. This is becoming a trend that I’m not a huge fan of. Anyway I decided since I had so much free time and was already on South Campus I might as well walk all the way down the hill to Bebek to take advantage of what an absolutely gorgeous day it was. It actually worked out really well I ‘studied’ for about a half hour before Dad text me and said they were headed my way.
I took them to Bebek Waffle where Mom, Dad, and I split absolutely delicious waffles filled with chocolate, strawberries, banana, kiwi, and hazelnut paste and Uncle Kam had a huge kumpir (Turkish baked potato with a million toppings). After that I took them to the café that Reuben’s ta took us to the first week, I actually still don’t remember the name of it but it’s the last café in Bebek before you hit the park? Anyway I left them there to enjoy their tea while I headed to my midterm.
So the midterm was easy like Professor Katz had promised but my family was here and my grades are pass/fail so the incentive to study wasn’t that great! I still knew the answers to all but two questions so I’m not complaining.
Afterwards all of us headed to Ortaköy to catch a Bosphorus cruise but unfortunately they only run every few hours on weekdays. So we just caught a cab to Eminönü for times sake and took the cruise from there. It was a really nice water cruise and takes you from Sultanahmet all the way to Rumeli Hisar near school, unfortunately it doesn’t point out any landmarks or give you any history along the way.
Then we all just chilled out, I did a little prep for a State Dept interview I have tomorrow and everyone else packed ☹ I can’t believe their trip is over already, 10 days seemed like such long trip but I really feel like it wasn’t enough time. Regardless I’m grateful that so many members of my family made it all the way to Istanbul to come see me. I wish all of them would just move here so I wouldn’t have to leave!
I took them to Bebek Waffle where Mom, Dad, and I split absolutely delicious waffles filled with chocolate, strawberries, banana, kiwi, and hazelnut paste and Uncle Kam had a huge kumpir (Turkish baked potato with a million toppings). After that I took them to the café that Reuben’s ta took us to the first week, I actually still don’t remember the name of it but it’s the last café in Bebek before you hit the park? Anyway I left them there to enjoy their tea while I headed to my midterm.
So the midterm was easy like Professor Katz had promised but my family was here and my grades are pass/fail so the incentive to study wasn’t that great! I still knew the answers to all but two questions so I’m not complaining.
Afterwards all of us headed to Ortaköy to catch a Bosphorus cruise but unfortunately they only run every few hours on weekdays. So we just caught a cab to Eminönü for times sake and took the cruise from there. It was a really nice water cruise and takes you from Sultanahmet all the way to Rumeli Hisar near school, unfortunately it doesn’t point out any landmarks or give you any history along the way.
Then we all just chilled out, I did a little prep for a State Dept interview I have tomorrow and everyone else packed ☹ I can’t believe their trip is over already, 10 days seemed like such long trip but I really feel like it wasn’t enough time. Regardless I’m grateful that so many members of my family made it all the way to Istanbul to come see me. I wish all of them would just move here so I wouldn’t have to leave!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
April 27: Turkish Night
Last night after the Turkish Bath we had dinner at Wonderland Café this delicious amazing place in Rumeli Hisarüstü. Everyone was pretty tired and Mom and Titia’s stomachs were still iffy because of their sickness so a place with American, Chinese, Italian, Indian, French, and Turkish food would be perfect. Wonderland is designed after Alice in Wonderland; it’s a cool concept, sort of this place where you can have whatever you want from all over the world! The inside of course is very Turkish, in that it has huge couches and lush seats!
Today I took them to Ağac Ev (Tree house in Turkish), a great restaurant on Hisar Campus of my university. It’s cheap, has delicious food, the best cappuccinos outside of Italy and small portions, pretty much exactly what we needed. After lunch I showed Dad around my dorm. He’s so cute with his little video camera he took videos of everything. I’m sure that I’m going to be so happy that those videos exist in two months when I’m missing Istanbul like crazy and wishing I could be back in these moments.
In the evening we headed to the Southern part of the city to visit Istanbul University and the Galata Tower. Istanbul University is one of the oldest in the country other than that I don’t know much about it. But we walked around the main part of campus and took pictures in front of the beautiful Ottoman gate they have.
The Turkish Night show at the Galata Tower was just absolutely incredible. First of all the views from up there are INSANE. I thought I loved Istanbul before, but on a clear night from the tower, this city is just completely mesmerizing. I took a thousand pictures and I still don’t think the beauty of this city was covered.
After we walked around the outer terrace we headed to our table and were greeted with not only unlimited local alcoholic drinks (!!!!!!) but a HUGE plate of meze, which are Turkish tapas. After that we were brought a huge green salad, more drinks, and the show started with instrumental pieces from all over Turkey. Then we were brought our entrees, we all ordered mixed grille plates oh and more drinks. So it came with a piece of grilled chicken, steak, beef patty, and a lamb chop. Jesus I have never eaten and drank more in my entire life. This was when the real show started. A Sultan came and sat on stage with his two ladies. They were all dressed very Ottoman like and he kept feeding the ladies fruit on these ridiculously long toothpicks, really a sight to see! Of course like any good dinner show they started dragging audience members on state to participate and of course they picked Mom to go on stage to be a lady for the Sultan!! Ahaha he fed her tons of fruit while a 90lbs belly dancer strut her stuff on stage. We were all speechless, especially Reuben!
Then of course they grabbed Mom to belly dance, she didn’t disappoint, those Manipuri days are still paying off! After that they had male dancers come on who were awesome, they threw daggers, did backflips, jumped around, oh and called Reuben and Cevdet on stage!! Reuben, as you all know is a born show-man! He was a great sport and even tried to upstage the dancer…what a fool! Cevdet go the short end of the stick and had to lie on the ground while they covered his ‘man area’ with a wooden board so they could throw daggers at it ahh! After that they gave the audience a break so we could eat our huge dessert towers and drink more. Ah the food here, we got a huge tower included: fresh fruit, nuts, dried fruit, cream, and traditional Turkish desserts. Needless to say it was incredible!
The closing act of the night was a cute little old Turkish singer. To preface this, Turkish night at the Galata Tower is usually something done by tourists, so at each table they put the flags of the people sitting at the table. Our multicultural table got: USA, India, Nigeria, and Turkey!! So this incredibly talented man sang a song for every language in the room. How does one learn to sing in that many languages?? Other than anything African that is. Horribly offensive and incredibly funny at the same time; when he came to our table he sang in English and Hindi (Turkish he did at another table) we reminded him of Nigeria and so he put his hands on the small of his back and flapped his arms. Actually that’s pretty accurate; most women in Uganda did dance like that. But the bad part was that instead of just playing African sounding music, he literally opened his mouth and said “Aye- yai-yai-aye!!” Oh geez. Haha all in good humor though, and we’re great sports. At the end of course he pulled all the couples on stage and we all got out little solo dances. Overall it was a great night. I went home with a full belly, great pictures, and oh yeah I was pretty drunk after all that unlimited alcohol!
Today I took them to Ağac Ev (Tree house in Turkish), a great restaurant on Hisar Campus of my university. It’s cheap, has delicious food, the best cappuccinos outside of Italy and small portions, pretty much exactly what we needed. After lunch I showed Dad around my dorm. He’s so cute with his little video camera he took videos of everything. I’m sure that I’m going to be so happy that those videos exist in two months when I’m missing Istanbul like crazy and wishing I could be back in these moments.
In the evening we headed to the Southern part of the city to visit Istanbul University and the Galata Tower. Istanbul University is one of the oldest in the country other than that I don’t know much about it. But we walked around the main part of campus and took pictures in front of the beautiful Ottoman gate they have.
The Turkish Night show at the Galata Tower was just absolutely incredible. First of all the views from up there are INSANE. I thought I loved Istanbul before, but on a clear night from the tower, this city is just completely mesmerizing. I took a thousand pictures and I still don’t think the beauty of this city was covered.
After we walked around the outer terrace we headed to our table and were greeted with not only unlimited local alcoholic drinks (!!!!!!) but a HUGE plate of meze, which are Turkish tapas. After that we were brought a huge green salad, more drinks, and the show started with instrumental pieces from all over Turkey. Then we were brought our entrees, we all ordered mixed grille plates oh and more drinks. So it came with a piece of grilled chicken, steak, beef patty, and a lamb chop. Jesus I have never eaten and drank more in my entire life. This was when the real show started. A Sultan came and sat on stage with his two ladies. They were all dressed very Ottoman like and he kept feeding the ladies fruit on these ridiculously long toothpicks, really a sight to see! Of course like any good dinner show they started dragging audience members on state to participate and of course they picked Mom to go on stage to be a lady for the Sultan!! Ahaha he fed her tons of fruit while a 90lbs belly dancer strut her stuff on stage. We were all speechless, especially Reuben!
Then of course they grabbed Mom to belly dance, she didn’t disappoint, those Manipuri days are still paying off! After that they had male dancers come on who were awesome, they threw daggers, did backflips, jumped around, oh and called Reuben and Cevdet on stage!! Reuben, as you all know is a born show-man! He was a great sport and even tried to upstage the dancer…what a fool! Cevdet go the short end of the stick and had to lie on the ground while they covered his ‘man area’ with a wooden board so they could throw daggers at it ahh! After that they gave the audience a break so we could eat our huge dessert towers and drink more. Ah the food here, we got a huge tower included: fresh fruit, nuts, dried fruit, cream, and traditional Turkish desserts. Needless to say it was incredible!
The closing act of the night was a cute little old Turkish singer. To preface this, Turkish night at the Galata Tower is usually something done by tourists, so at each table they put the flags of the people sitting at the table. Our multicultural table got: USA, India, Nigeria, and Turkey!! So this incredibly talented man sang a song for every language in the room. How does one learn to sing in that many languages?? Other than anything African that is. Horribly offensive and incredibly funny at the same time; when he came to our table he sang in English and Hindi (Turkish he did at another table) we reminded him of Nigeria and so he put his hands on the small of his back and flapped his arms. Actually that’s pretty accurate; most women in Uganda did dance like that. But the bad part was that instead of just playing African sounding music, he literally opened his mouth and said “Aye- yai-yai-aye!!” Oh geez. Haha all in good humor though, and we’re great sports. At the end of course he pulled all the couples on stage and we all got out little solo dances. Overall it was a great night. I went home with a full belly, great pictures, and oh yeah I was pretty drunk after all that unlimited alcohol!
April 25-26: Topkapi and Cemberlitas with the Fam!
Monday
Even though we were exhausted after getting back from our epic Bodrum weekend, we just took a few hours to rest and then headed back out! The weather was absolutely awful. Why Istanbul?? Why do you always insist on having the shittiest weather when my family is in town? Oh well we made the best of it and headed to
Topkapı Place.
I had never been there before I was waiting to have my family here to see it. I know it’s weird but even though this has been such an independent experience it’s still so weird for me to see things like this without my family. I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the world with my family from a very young age so usually seeing palaces, museums, and beaches have always been with them. Anyway long story short I wanted to wait for them to see Topkapı.
Anyway the palace is absolutely beautiful and the largest grounds I think I have ever seen. I love going to places like that just to imagine how life was like when Sultans and their families walked around here. I’m such a geek but I bought the book Harem by Aslı Sancar (website), and even though it’s set in Dolmabahçe Palace it’s still cool to have the stories of Princesses and Sultans running through my mind while walking around. The only thing that sucked was that it was so absolutely cold that the palace pretty much turned into a refrigerator. It was still gorgeous the whole palace is filled with old Sultan’s clothing, gifts and jewelry from other empires, and rooms perfectly preserved from Ottoman times. Islamic art and architecture is just so beautiful, I was in awe most of my time there. The only thing we didn’t get to see was the Harem, we got there at 3:30 and by the time the palace closed at 5:00 we had barely seen all of the palace oh well I’m sure I’ll be back soon!
Tuesday
Unfortunately, I had to go to class today so I stayed in my apartment overnight and met my family in Sultanahmet. Everyone saw the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and the Cisterns in the morning and thankfully my directions were sufficient to get them around! I met up with them and after having a quick lunch the boys and girls split! Dad and Uncle Kam headed to the Grand Bazaar. Admittedly I’m not a huge fan, it’s very touristy, crowded, and the vendors are pushy. Like I’ve said before I think the Spice Bazaar is a million times better. That being said it’s still worth seeing, plus it’s like 550 years old so why not! Mom, Titia, and I headed to the Turkish Bath, çemberlitaş, of course.
I enjoyed it just as much if not more than last time! But being there with my Mom and my Aunt made me realize how different modesty is across not only culture but ages. People my age, well 20ish year old girls aren’t always thrilled about being topless in front of other women but mostly we’re kinda eh about it. My sister has seen me naked, so have a few cousins, friends, and pretty much anyone who has stayed at my apartment after a drunken night out. I sleep naked when I’m drunk ok? But Mom and Titia are so different about it. They have been sister-in-laws and best friends for more than 25 years but they’ve never seen each other naked? I know it’s not like a normal thing to regularly see family members naked but please I’ve seen Rene and Tara when we’re all changing or going to the pool? I guess modesty went out the window with my generation? In any case they had a great time and since the two of them were so sick and stuffy the sauna made them both feel a lot better!
Even though we were exhausted after getting back from our epic Bodrum weekend, we just took a few hours to rest and then headed back out! The weather was absolutely awful. Why Istanbul?? Why do you always insist on having the shittiest weather when my family is in town? Oh well we made the best of it and headed to
Topkapı Place.
I had never been there before I was waiting to have my family here to see it. I know it’s weird but even though this has been such an independent experience it’s still so weird for me to see things like this without my family. I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the world with my family from a very young age so usually seeing palaces, museums, and beaches have always been with them. Anyway long story short I wanted to wait for them to see Topkapı.
Anyway the palace is absolutely beautiful and the largest grounds I think I have ever seen. I love going to places like that just to imagine how life was like when Sultans and their families walked around here. I’m such a geek but I bought the book Harem by Aslı Sancar (website), and even though it’s set in Dolmabahçe Palace it’s still cool to have the stories of Princesses and Sultans running through my mind while walking around. The only thing that sucked was that it was so absolutely cold that the palace pretty much turned into a refrigerator. It was still gorgeous the whole palace is filled with old Sultan’s clothing, gifts and jewelry from other empires, and rooms perfectly preserved from Ottoman times. Islamic art and architecture is just so beautiful, I was in awe most of my time there. The only thing we didn’t get to see was the Harem, we got there at 3:30 and by the time the palace closed at 5:00 we had barely seen all of the palace oh well I’m sure I’ll be back soon!
Tuesday
Unfortunately, I had to go to class today so I stayed in my apartment overnight and met my family in Sultanahmet. Everyone saw the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and the Cisterns in the morning and thankfully my directions were sufficient to get them around! I met up with them and after having a quick lunch the boys and girls split! Dad and Uncle Kam headed to the Grand Bazaar. Admittedly I’m not a huge fan, it’s very touristy, crowded, and the vendors are pushy. Like I’ve said before I think the Spice Bazaar is a million times better. That being said it’s still worth seeing, plus it’s like 550 years old so why not! Mom, Titia, and I headed to the Turkish Bath, çemberlitaş, of course.
I enjoyed it just as much if not more than last time! But being there with my Mom and my Aunt made me realize how different modesty is across not only culture but ages. People my age, well 20ish year old girls aren’t always thrilled about being topless in front of other women but mostly we’re kinda eh about it. My sister has seen me naked, so have a few cousins, friends, and pretty much anyone who has stayed at my apartment after a drunken night out. I sleep naked when I’m drunk ok? But Mom and Titia are so different about it. They have been sister-in-laws and best friends for more than 25 years but they’ve never seen each other naked? I know it’s not like a normal thing to regularly see family members naked but please I’ve seen Rene and Tara when we’re all changing or going to the pool? I guess modesty went out the window with my generation? In any case they had a great time and since the two of them were so sick and stuffy the sauna made them both feel a lot better!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
April 17: Pamukkale
Another early early day! Looks like sleep is going to happen after my family goes home! We got up at 6:00am after going to sleep at 1:00am to get ready and head to Pamukkale. The six of us hired a driver to take us, since the season hasn’t started a group tour wasn’t available and all of my friends who had been told me that a guide was completely unnecessary. The drive from Bodrum was about three and half hours but it was SO worth it and everyone slept most of the way!
When we arrived I was literally speechless. The ‘cotton castle’ as it’s referred to stands out so much. It’s in the middle of a mountain range which is completely normal, so you’re looking at just regular average sized, green mountains and all of a sudden you see this huge White Mountain that looks like it’s covered in snow! We stopped to have gözleme (Turkish pancakes) which are more like really thin salty wraps filled with either spinach, meat, cheese, or potatoes. Dad really liked it because it was so authentic. You sit on the floor and it was connected to this old couple’s home; the old lady even made the gözleme right in front of us! After that we headed up the mountain.
You have to take your shoes off to climb the travertines because 1. It would be really slippery with shoes 2. All the mud and dirt from everyone’s shoes would just ruin the gorgeous whiteness of the place. Anyway we climbed all the way up, of course making sure to stop in every hot springs possible. It was actually the perfect day to come here. The morning when we first got here was rainy but by the time we finished eating and started climbing it was just cloudy and cool which was perfect; the few times it got really sunny my eyes hurt from all the white reflecting. At the top we visited Cleopatra’s hot spring, rumored to be Marc Anthony’s wedding gift to her, the theater, and the tomb of St. Phillip. This was my favorite place we’ve been to so far. It’s really hard to describe but I felt like I was seeing something from a fantasy the whole time I was there. Overall it was such a cool day; I’m really glad that we decided to suck it up and come see this place. It was just so unique there’s nothing anywhere else in the world that can compare to Pamukkale. Turkey should really work on marketing it better, which the right ad campaign this place could be the next pyramids or something!
When we arrived I was literally speechless. The ‘cotton castle’ as it’s referred to stands out so much. It’s in the middle of a mountain range which is completely normal, so you’re looking at just regular average sized, green mountains and all of a sudden you see this huge White Mountain that looks like it’s covered in snow! We stopped to have gözleme (Turkish pancakes) which are more like really thin salty wraps filled with either spinach, meat, cheese, or potatoes. Dad really liked it because it was so authentic. You sit on the floor and it was connected to this old couple’s home; the old lady even made the gözleme right in front of us! After that we headed up the mountain.
You have to take your shoes off to climb the travertines because 1. It would be really slippery with shoes 2. All the mud and dirt from everyone’s shoes would just ruin the gorgeous whiteness of the place. Anyway we climbed all the way up, of course making sure to stop in every hot springs possible. It was actually the perfect day to come here. The morning when we first got here was rainy but by the time we finished eating and started climbing it was just cloudy and cool which was perfect; the few times it got really sunny my eyes hurt from all the white reflecting. At the top we visited Cleopatra’s hot spring, rumored to be Marc Anthony’s wedding gift to her, the theater, and the tomb of St. Phillip. This was my favorite place we’ve been to so far. It’s really hard to describe but I felt like I was seeing something from a fantasy the whole time I was there. Overall it was such a cool day; I’m really glad that we decided to suck it up and come see this place. It was just so unique there’s nothing anywhere else in the world that can compare to Pamukkale. Turkey should really work on marketing it better, which the right ad campaign this place could be the next pyramids or something!
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