Istanbul: City Sounds Include Music!

My friend Heather has a brother, Michael, and he lives in Istanbul with his wife. He has been there for 7 years. What began as a study abroad has ended in an entire immersion in another culture and a life Michael truly enjoys. He was very helpful as my tour guide during my trip, and he took this job very, very seriously. Michael is a Musician, so he took me on an errand while we were in part of the city, he needed a skin for his drum.

Walking the streets in this particular part of town there were a lot of music shops. Istanbul is full of strange, amazing instruments, many of which I had never seen. Michael was an amazing resource in knowing the names of them and I learned so much from him. I am not a musical person. I love music, but I cannot sing or play any instruments. My disability in this area does not hinder my lust for knowledge of it and wandered up to so many windows saying "What is this?" in the way a child does. Michael knew them all. 

We walked into one shop, I went in to buy guitar picks for my boyfriend, and saw all these amazing instruments hung from the ceiling. The guy behind the counter was playing a Saz and started singing as well. After he finished, we chatted for a bit, but his English wasn't great so he and Michael chatted a bit more in limited Turkish. Every instrument I pointed at he would pick up, tune, then play. It was extraordinary. He and Michael also had an impromptu jam session. It was truly . I could've spontaneous and I could've stayed there for hours, but we were on our way to the tower. 

I feel like Turkey was full of interesting, wonderful people and this was not an isolated incident. It was just amazing that we had a common language to communicate in, music. 

Here's a video: 

https://youtu.be/rTCBHUohXfk

Galata Tower, Istanbul

In the city of Istanbul there is a tower. It is not a huge tower, but it does have excellent city views. It is old and has been in existence since 500 AD. I think this is the oldest building in which I have ever been. I know at some point there has been renovations and it's been re-built from fires and damages from wars, but this tower is a landmark which helps define the landscape of Istanbul. 

First of all, unlike most of the towers I seem to find myself drawn to, this one had an elevator to take to the top. So, good news, no major stair climbing. The way down was all stairs, which is much easier than the way up. 

In a post Covid world, you must have vaccination card and negative antigen test to enter. There are testing sites all over the city and the one at the airport only costs a little over 100 Turkish Lira, or about $16 us dollars.

You can see the entire city and Asia from the top of the tower. The Bosphorus is below with boats and ferries gently making their way in between the two continents and opposite sides of the city. When at the top of the tower you can see all the bridges. There are so many bridges crossing the water everywhere. 

I was lucky, it was a beautiful day, and I was able to see a woman walking her cat on her roof beneath me. It was cool because she had it on a little leash and everything. It is nice to watch people in their everyday lives move about the city peacefully. It's like a window into the life of the city. 

This is a must see if in the city of Istanbul. It was within walking distance of my hotel, and it's surrounded by amazing little shops! The view is worth it! 

Where I went: Galata Tower

Istanbul, it's not Constantinople

My latest and greatest adventure had me fly around the world to see the Black Sea and explore the city of Istanbul. This city is unique in the fact that it spreads over two continents and over the Bosporus. It is a charming and interesting city with wonderfully friendly people and many great things to eat. 

Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country. Officially it is secular, but the population mostly practices Islam. The mosques are beautiful, and I was able to go into a couple of them. The call to prayer is heard five times a day and it's a beautiful sound. It's one of those city's sounds, like Big Ben, or police sirens in Boston. It's a familiar regularity.  The smell of roasted chestnuts is everywhere!  

I wanted to come to this specific place because of the water way, the fact that it crosses two continents, and the amazing foods. There was ice cream, frozen yogurt, and baklava everywhere. 

I found mosques and old buildings. I found the grand Bazaar, which has been operational since before Columbus sailed to the new world. I found a public high school in the middle of the city that looked like a mansion. It was built by the French and given to Turkey as a gift. 

I also made a new friend. My friend Heather's brother, Michael, lives in this amazing city. His wife, Ece, is Turkish and grew up in this fascinating place. She amazed me when she drove through traffic I would never dare to attempt. Michael is a musician, and we went through lots of stores with musical instruments, a man even played a bunch of them for us. I learned about a lot of different musical instruments that day. 

There were so many things I did not get to see and I'm grateful for the things I did get to see. It was an extremely short trip and with the time difference it made it difficult to get out and about. Michael was extremely helpful and I wouldn't have seen as much as I did without his amazing helpfulness. 

I decided on the last night I stayed to take a commuter ferry over to the Asian side. Just so I could see Asia and say I've been there. That was interesting. 

The city is full of graffiti, trash, and stray animals, despite this, it is charming and not nearly as frightening as I thought it would be. It seems the Turkish have their priorities in line, they take care of each other, they take care of the animals, who are like tiny furry citizens. Everything else is an afterthought. They are kind and pleasant and willing to explain things, even when you don't speak their language (google translate was an excellent resource in this place). It was a wonderful visit; I wish I had more time or a traveling companion. It was definitely a place to revisit and explore more. 

Exploring local travel methods: The Ferry

While I was in Istanbul, my main objective was to take the ferry to Asia. Traveling on my own this became a task I had to figure out alone. I did some google searches, I looked on the maps, but everything on the ferry website was in Turkish, with no maps, just written locations. I searched the locations on my iPhone map and tried to find which port had anything close by I wanted to see (book shops, restaurants, a notable mosque, or museum) I worked on this for two days.  When I finally got the courage to try myself it was after 7pm at night and I was leaving the next day.  Moral of the story: look things up before going, this is a lesson I have never learned. 

Interestingly enough, there was a brand-new ferry location near my hotel (Michael and Ece told me about it), so, I decided to just walk to it. According to what I could decipher on the website they were open until 11pm and it was about 8pm at this time. I wandered the streets, looking ridiculous, peering down at my map to see where I was every few blocks and I found the commuter ferry!

The dock was surrounded by little shops and amazing little restaurants with men standing outside of them trying to lure people to dine. 

The next problem was, I don't speak Turkish, and other than "thank you" and "discount" I really didn't know any of it. At all. Thankfully after struggling with the ticket machine, I discovered there was a button for many languages. Apparently, I wasn't the only traveler unfamiliar with Turkish as two Russian women attempted to communicate with me in Russian and German, I explained to them in both languages, I only speak English and I was sorry.  I hope they found their way. 

I bought my ticket and waited for the ferry to arrive and go to Eminonu, it was the only stop at this location. I thought I saw this name on the other side, so in reality, I did not completely understand where it was going, I just knew it was possibly going to the other side of the Bosporus. I watched anxiously on the iPhone to see where I was going and when I ended up in Eminounu, I feared I made a mistake. Suddenly every fear I ever had came popping in my head. " You don't really know where you are going." My brain kept telling me, "You are going to get stuck somewhere if you keep going. You'll never get home. You'll end up trapped on the other side. You are literally going to get stuck in Asia." 

I quieted these voices and sat back down. There was no map, except my phone telling me where I was going. There were no normal routes posted on the ship that I could find, I did look. Also, there was no announcement I could hear. Even if there were, I don't speak Turkish. I began to think it was the dumbest thing I've ever done. 

The ship came back on, motors churning below me, and it took off. My only thought was, "what if it goes back to where I started?" but it did not. I watched on my phone as the ship took its course across the Bosporus and into Asia. I went out to the deck and watched the buildings and water. It was a beautiful night and the weather was perfect. 

I made it across. I stepped into Asia. I realized I did it myself and a sense of pride, and happiness, some relief washed over me as I saw where the Ferry back to where I came from was clearly marked.