Today was a LONG day.
We woke up early, not because we had big plans or anything, but because the sun rose at about 3:00 and the noise from the street and the nearby train track was much too loud to sleep through. We enjoyed another delicious Turkish breakfast and made a quick plan for our day. We decided to take the 'City Sightseeing' bus tour to different sights around the city and then spend the evening in Taksim, which is the centre of modern Istanbul.
We got over to the Hagia Sophia around 10:00, after picking up some new batteries for my camera and some band-aids for Aussie's feet. We bought a couple of tickets for the bus, but it looked pretty full, so we decided to hang out and wait for the next one. It seemed like we waited quite a while for the next bus, but we filled the time by taking some photos of the Blue Mosque. When the next bus showed up, there was a mad rush for the doors— a huge crowd tried to squeeze up the steps. Luckily, we were able to get a seat on the open top.
We listened to the recorded tour guide talk about the Hagia Sophia, the Istanbul train station (which was the last stop for the Orient Express and the Galata Bridge. The Galata Bridge was really cool! There are restaurants underneath the roadway on the bridge. We crossed over to the modern side of Istanbul, passing many fishermen on the bridge. We drove by the Istanbul University Faculty of Fine Arts, the gardens full of sculptures. Some female Muslim students were working with plaster outside, their scarves wound around their heads like beehives. We drove by the Dolmabahce Palace, an Ottoman construction, back across the bridge and along the Golden Horn to Eyup.
Eyup is up on top of a very high hill which overlooks the Golden Horn and the city. We got off the bus at the bottom of the hill (not an official drop-off point), and boarded a cable car. At the top of the hill, we strolled by the Pierre Loti cafe. Pierre Loti was a French writer in the 1870's. He once lived in Eyup, where he fell in love with a Turkish girl, named Aziyade. The coolest part about Eyup is that the hillsides are covered in a cemetary! The graves are built up like flowerbeds, surrounded by white marble. Paths wind through the grave-garden, up and down the hill. We wandered around the top of the hill and settled at a table with a beautiful view of the Golden Horn. We tried some apple tea and these sesame seed bagel things.
Our plan was to walk to the next HOHO point (Hop-On Hop-Off) and catch the next bus. The next stop seemed to be not too far away from Eyup and it seemed as though it was clearly marked on the map. We went back down on the cable car and started to make our way. We walked along the water, where we saw 'Feshane', a small amusement park. The park seemed pretty empty, I guess that's because the children were all in the many schools we passed. We walked by some municipal buildings and saw lots of locals going about their daily bureaucratic business. We even saw a little boy dressed up like a Sultan, on the way to his circumcision. There is an election happening this week, so we saw about three campaign vans, blaring music and speeches, promoting the different party leaders.
As we continued to walk, we got a real glimpse of tourist-free Istanbul. As we walked, women with uncovered hair became less frequent. We saw signs directing traffic towards "Edirnekapi", which was our next HOHO point. We passed the large bridge and reached the ancient city walls, where we had to race across to the sidewalk on the other side of the motorway. Our moods became less positive and a little more annoyed as we trudged along the highway. At one point, we stood on the side of the road, trying to cross over, for about 15 minutes, only to find that we needn't have crossed at all!. We asked a couple of locals for directions, but it was difficult, as nobody spoke English outside of the touristy centre. Eventually, one man told us that we were in "Edirnekapi", which is, apparently, a neighborhood, not any kind of tourist attraction. Aussie and I wished that the map was a bit more specific about where we had to catch the bus.
We walked further and further and eventually, we gave up. Aussie spotted a metro station, so we decided to take the metro back to the centre. Thankfully, the station was supervised by a very helpful young security guard. He didn't speak much English, but he drew a route out on a metro map for us and made sure, using hand gestures, that we knew exactly where we were going. We rode the tramway back to our starting point, grabbed some icecreams to cool us down and clambered aboard that stupid "City Sightseeing" bus to get back over to Taksim.
We arrive in Taksim Square and headed straight to 'Istiklal Caddesi', which is a pedestrian-only shopping street. It was so busy down there! We poked around in the shops, did some people watching. Aussie bought some Turkish-made leather sandals and we both bought maxi-dresses (all the rage in London at the moment).
We stopped to try some Turkish pizza (which I'm not sure I liked all that much as mine had sausage and egg on top instead of tomato sauce and cheese). We looked in at some of the live music in the bars, where we heard bits and pieces of different acoustic guitarists singing folk-inspired pop tunes. All of the bars and restaurants seem to employ people who's only job is to stand outside and get customers to come in. They say "Yes, please!", just like in the bazaar and hand out compliments left and right.
Anyway, around 20:00, we started looking at menus for dinner. At first, all we could find was beer and burgers, but soon, a restaurant host somehow scooped us up and we were soon sitting on the 3rd floor terrace above a lively street. The view was pretty cool, as we could see many levels of dining rooms below us, and we could hear music coming from every window. Our server ordered us some drinks and then… disappeared. All of a sudden, we were presented with a large tray of appetizers and they took our orders for some fish and eggplant dishes. Then, it was almost an hour before they took our orders for our main course (and we had to flag down another server for that). the meal took ages to arrive! It was almost 22:30 by the time we finally ate. I suppose Aussie and I just aren't used to this laid-back dining, with our Western ways.
It was pretty late by the time we got on the metro to go back to our hostel.
*yawn* What a day. I promise tomorrow's entry will be less whiny.
We woke up early, not because we had big plans or anything, but because the sun rose at about 3:00 and the noise from the street and the nearby train track was much too loud to sleep through. We enjoyed another delicious Turkish breakfast and made a quick plan for our day. We decided to take the 'City Sightseeing' bus tour to different sights around the city and then spend the evening in Taksim, which is the centre of modern Istanbul.
We got over to the Hagia Sophia around 10:00, after picking up some new batteries for my camera and some band-aids for Aussie's feet. We bought a couple of tickets for the bus, but it looked pretty full, so we decided to hang out and wait for the next one. It seemed like we waited quite a while for the next bus, but we filled the time by taking some photos of the Blue Mosque. When the next bus showed up, there was a mad rush for the doors— a huge crowd tried to squeeze up the steps. Luckily, we were able to get a seat on the open top.
We listened to the recorded tour guide talk about the Hagia Sophia, the Istanbul train station (which was the last stop for the Orient Express and the Galata Bridge. The Galata Bridge was really cool! There are restaurants underneath the roadway on the bridge. We crossed over to the modern side of Istanbul, passing many fishermen on the bridge. We drove by the Istanbul University Faculty of Fine Arts, the gardens full of sculptures. Some female Muslim students were working with plaster outside, their scarves wound around their heads like beehives. We drove by the Dolmabahce Palace, an Ottoman construction, back across the bridge and along the Golden Horn to Eyup.
Eyup is up on top of a very high hill which overlooks the Golden Horn and the city. We got off the bus at the bottom of the hill (not an official drop-off point), and boarded a cable car. At the top of the hill, we strolled by the Pierre Loti cafe. Pierre Loti was a French writer in the 1870's. He once lived in Eyup, where he fell in love with a Turkish girl, named Aziyade. The coolest part about Eyup is that the hillsides are covered in a cemetary! The graves are built up like flowerbeds, surrounded by white marble. Paths wind through the grave-garden, up and down the hill. We wandered around the top of the hill and settled at a table with a beautiful view of the Golden Horn. We tried some apple tea and these sesame seed bagel things.
Our plan was to walk to the next HOHO point (Hop-On Hop-Off) and catch the next bus. The next stop seemed to be not too far away from Eyup and it seemed as though it was clearly marked on the map. We went back down on the cable car and started to make our way. We walked along the water, where we saw 'Feshane', a small amusement park. The park seemed pretty empty, I guess that's because the children were all in the many schools we passed. We walked by some municipal buildings and saw lots of locals going about their daily bureaucratic business. We even saw a little boy dressed up like a Sultan, on the way to his circumcision. There is an election happening this week, so we saw about three campaign vans, blaring music and speeches, promoting the different party leaders.
As we continued to walk, we got a real glimpse of tourist-free Istanbul. As we walked, women with uncovered hair became less frequent. We saw signs directing traffic towards "Edirnekapi", which was our next HOHO point. We passed the large bridge and reached the ancient city walls, where we had to race across to the sidewalk on the other side of the motorway. Our moods became less positive and a little more annoyed as we trudged along the highway. At one point, we stood on the side of the road, trying to cross over, for about 15 minutes, only to find that we needn't have crossed at all!. We asked a couple of locals for directions, but it was difficult, as nobody spoke English outside of the touristy centre. Eventually, one man told us that we were in "Edirnekapi", which is, apparently, a neighborhood, not any kind of tourist attraction. Aussie and I wished that the map was a bit more specific about where we had to catch the bus.
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| This is an awesome sign letting everyone know who gets the priority seating! |
We arrive in Taksim Square and headed straight to 'Istiklal Caddesi', which is a pedestrian-only shopping street. It was so busy down there! We poked around in the shops, did some people watching. Aussie bought some Turkish-made leather sandals and we both bought maxi-dresses (all the rage in London at the moment).
We stopped to try some Turkish pizza (which I'm not sure I liked all that much as mine had sausage and egg on top instead of tomato sauce and cheese). We looked in at some of the live music in the bars, where we heard bits and pieces of different acoustic guitarists singing folk-inspired pop tunes. All of the bars and restaurants seem to employ people who's only job is to stand outside and get customers to come in. They say "Yes, please!", just like in the bazaar and hand out compliments left and right.
Anyway, around 20:00, we started looking at menus for dinner. At first, all we could find was beer and burgers, but soon, a restaurant host somehow scooped us up and we were soon sitting on the 3rd floor terrace above a lively street. The view was pretty cool, as we could see many levels of dining rooms below us, and we could hear music coming from every window. Our server ordered us some drinks and then… disappeared. All of a sudden, we were presented with a large tray of appetizers and they took our orders for some fish and eggplant dishes. Then, it was almost an hour before they took our orders for our main course (and we had to flag down another server for that). the meal took ages to arrive! It was almost 22:30 by the time we finally ate. I suppose Aussie and I just aren't used to this laid-back dining, with our Western ways.
It was pretty late by the time we got on the metro to go back to our hostel.
*yawn* What a day. I promise tomorrow's entry will be less whiny.
