Istanbul, Turkey (day 5)

Day 5 - January 11, 2023

Today was my favorite day by far! Had a rough plan to meet up for a guided tour, across the Golden Horn, in Galata at 3pm, but never ended up making it out that way. Wanted to stop at a few other sites to kill some time before making my way over to Galata. However, things took a bit of a turn for the unexpected. 

One of the many shops that sells baklava and Turkish delight. The front lower counter has all the different flavors of baklava. At the very back counter are rolls of Turkish delight.

I walked out towards the west to visit the Grand Bazaar. Turns out you can just purchase the tram tickets right at each of the tram stations. It was actually harder to figure this out online than I would have expected. Probably something that is normal, but I come from small town Washington and can be a bit oblivious to things outside my bubble :D I hopped off the tram at one of the stops near the bazaar and started heading that direction.    

Another cloudy day with a bit of light rain

Along the way I walked past a stone wall which had an open wooden door and happened to look through. A shorter, slightly older gentleman was making his way out the door with a dustpan in his hand. Because I had been looking through the doorway, he invited me to follow him. I am very glad that I did! Turns out there is a small school (called the Sinan Pasha Madrasa) inside which is also used as a bit of a tourist site. It can be difficult to tell what is a historical site and what isn't. All the buildings are crammed tightly together with a mix of new, old, and ancient structures. The school is very easy to miss, and to be honest, is not much to look at. It consists of an open square courtyard with sixteen dorms and a fountain in the center. The school was, and is still used for advanced Qur'an studies. 

The gentleman spoke English well, and explained to me what the place was. He led me into one of the rooms, which happened to be the calligraphy room. Entering the room is a very low doorway, which he explained was so that your head would be bowed in humility as you entered. It was a small square room, no bigger than 12 feet x 12 feet, with two windows, one facing the courtyard and the other, outside. There are texts, written in calligraphy, from the Qur'an framed and hanging on the walls. He started explaining to me what some of the different symbols and styles were. We talked for about ten minutes and so when someone popped their head in the window. I thought it was maybe a tourist and the initial man waved him in. 

Turned out that he was one of the more experienced volunteers at the school. He spoke the best English I have heard in Turkey yet. His name is Oğuz and he explained that he had been a colonel in the Turkish military for around 35 years and it was important for him to learn English there. Oğuz took over from the man that had been talking to me and we ended up talking for quite some time. We sat down together for some Turkish tea. He shared a lot of information about the school, about his beliefs, and also asked me about my beliefs. We had some really great discussion, and it turns out that we actually share a lot of the same values. We sat down for another cup of tea later in the courtyard and later yet, he invited me to the kitchen for lunch. Oğuz served me four different dishes: one was some sort of soup, another was meatballs with carrots, peas, and potatoes, the third was something called cacik (a traditional Turkish dish made of yogurt, water, cucumbers, mint, and olive oil), and a noodle dish with cheese. I would have taken a picture, but I wasn't sure if it would be rude to take out my camera for the meal :) Would definitely say it was some authentic Turkish food. He told me, in his belief, "it was not good to leave any bit of food on your plate". He had served me about twice as much as I would normally eat, but eventually I finished it all, but it was a struggle :D We ended up talking for almost three hours in total. It was a really great experience and I really appreciate the time Oğuz took to sit down with me!

Sinan Pasha Madrasa

After saying goodbye to Oğuz, I made my way towards the Grand Bazaar. It is a giant covered marketplace which seems to continue on and on. Walking in, you are met with the slight smell of cigarettes (seems like most men smoke in Istanbul). Long walkways are lined with shops on both sides and crowds of people are making there way through. You can find all sorts of things to buy here: gold, gold and silver jewelry, rugs, lamps, dishes, Turkish sweets, and clothing. I am not sure how anybody makes a living trying to sell things there. There is so much competition with a lot of the shops selling the same thing as the next. Lots of vibrant colors and beautifully crafted work to see. 

By the time I finished at the bazaar, it was too late to make my scheduled tour. There were a few more stops I wanted to make towards the west of my hotel, one of them being the walls of Constantinople. An impressive ruin which once consisted of two layers of walls and a moat in front. The walls protected the city of Constantinople, from land and sea attacks, until they fell to the Ottomans in 1453. I was able to successfully scale both sets of the ruined walls.