The next Monday, Alex left in the morning and I took the overnight train into Istanbul to meet my mother. I caught the wrong ferry to the European side of Istanbul, got very lost, and walked for two hours before finding Taksim Square, the location of our hotel. My mother arrived that afternoon, and we took our things back to the hotel before going out. We spent six days in the city, mostly in Taksim and Sultanahmet- the historical area of the city, home to the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Covered Bazaar and other well-known places, and therefore a terrible tourist trap. I thoroughly enjoyed messing with the locals, most of whom know more English than my students, by replying in Turkish when they spoke to me in English. "Hello! How are you!" "Iyiyim! Siz nasilsiniz?" "O-ha! Turkce biliyorsunuz mi?" "Evet. Ben Ankara'dan!" (I'm good, how are you? - You know turkish? - Yes. I'm from Ankara!) Most of the vendors laughed uproariously at themselves before turning back and attempting to fleece the more-unsuspecting tourists.
A few highlights...
- Of course, the Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) and the Sultanahmet Camii- know as the Blue Mosque because of its beautiful, individually handpainted Iznik tiles. Iznik, it might be noted, is a city in northwestern Turkey, once known as Nicaea- a name you might know from a famous Christian creed written in the same location.
- The Kapalıçarşı, or Covered (or Grand) Bazaar. We saw this on the same day as the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, on a rather high-speed tour with Alex and her parents. The shops are tiny and claustrophobic, and the shopkeepers are boisterous and friendly, and experts at bargaining- which is both a sport and an art form here. One can buy trinkets of every genre: nargile (hookah, or "water pipes" as they have been translated into English), Iznik tiles, arabic calligraphy, beautiful chess and backgammon sets, jewelry, carpets, headscarves, lamps and pipes and mugs and lighters and more cheaply made knickknacks than I ever want to see again. Alex and I spent a good deal of time fending off the younger vendors, and arguing with the older ones. But between the two of us, we generally worked our way into the "Turkish price" range, rather than the tourist one, and most shopkeepers were so amused with us and our attempts at Turkish haggling (mainly "çok pahalı!" - too expensive!) that they cooperated. Overall, it was very fun- but after an hour or so I was more than ready to get out and breathe a little without being hollered at.
- Topkapı and Dolmabahçe Sarayı - two Ottoman palaces, both beautiful. We saw the main areas, where the sultans worked and lived, as well as the Harems- not exactly the brothel-like image conjured when one thinks of a harem, it was simply the area where the sultan's mother, wives, and younger children lived. Interestingly, the sultan's mother was completely in charge of his (and everyone else's) private life- her quarters were even located between his and his wives', so that she was aware of everything happening in her home. The Sultan may have ruled the Empire, but his mother ruled his bedroom. Not completely surprising, though- Turkish women are not to be messed with.
- Food! My mother got to try all my favorites, from iskender to doner to manti. And of course, the desserts... and not just baklava. It's a terrible shame that of all the fantastic pastries available in every corner shop in Turkey, the only one that's made it across the Atlantic is baklava- not to insult baklava, of course, but really... there's so much more! My mother also had türk kahvesi, turkish coffee, for the first time, in a cafe overlooking the Bosphorus. I introduced her to kahve falı, the tradition of coffee-grind fortunetelling.
- The Cathedral of St Antuan- St Anthony's, a functioning church very close to Taksim, where we attended mass on Sunday with Alex and her parents. The music was familiar, the mass was moving, and it was good for my mother- something the same as home, after a long week of foreign and sometimes frightening experiences. My mother also got to watch a Nigerian man attempt to pick up Alex (or me, or possibly her- he didn't seem to have a particular target) as soon as we left the church.
There were many other fun stories, from arguing football with a taksi driver- he liked Ankaraspor, clearly soft in the head- to the daily conversations with our hotel maid, a soft spoken Turkish man with a kind smile, to the absurd numbers of stray cats that amused my mother to no end, and the friendly stray dog that accompanied Alex and I back to her hotel one night, when a taksi dropped us off a bit further away then we might have liked at that hour of the night.
Our parents returned to the States on Monday morning, and Alex and I met up in Taksim, sat in a cafe for a bit, and decided to catch the hızlı tren, the high-speed train from Istanbul to Ankara, even though I had purchased a roundtrip ticket for the overnight train. We arrived in Eskisehir a little before ten, and while waiting in line to buy the connecting ticket to Ankara, our train left. Without us. So we were stuck waiting for the next train, which was not due to arrive until 3:30 am. Coincidentally, it was the train we would have taken, had we simply taken the overnight train back. Instead we spent over 15 hours in transit, including five hours of sitting in a train station, being stared at by three curious and mildly creepy security guards, and spent twice as much money on tickets. We arrived in Ankara at 7:30 on Tuesday morning, one hour before we were due at work.
A final note, regarding "work"- As of this week, Alex and I have not taught a single class for an entire month. I'd explain, but I need to go find a tissue and wipe up the atrophied gray matter dripping out of my ears.
