Istanbul: Grand Bazaar
"There is not that country that I visited
I haven't fallen in love with,
I haven't fallen in love with,
whether it was for 10 minutes or 10 years - Anonymous."
With Istanbul, it definitely lasted more than 10 minutes. The fact that Istanbul straddles both Europe and Asia, coupled with a very rich history, make it all that hard to resist its charm and mystique. Now, tell me, what is not to love?
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| Photo credit: @leyorig |
Before Sunrise. Leah and I arrived, separately
a day earlier, at late afternoon. After about 10 years or so, we saw each other again -- at the immigration queue :) She's been based in Singapore for the past few years and we've never really gotten around to catching each other when she's in country or when I am. When we saw each other, we exchanged a hug and bantered on as if we've never really been apart. We joked and remarked how it's quite surreal that we both had to travel all the way to Turkey just to reconnect.
Immigration and airport was a breeze. We had a bit of a misadventure though with the cab we hailed. The driver is not familiar with our hotel. He knew the location but never been to the hotel itself. We had to go around in circles and at one point, we had to stop to ask directions from the locals. Leah and I were surprised to have our hotel’s receptionist show up. It turned out our driver called him up. All the while we were thinking he is calling a friend for directions. It turned out, he got hold of the number of the hotel and called the receptionist himself for directions. And even then, apparently, our driver still did not manage to locate the hotel.
The receptionist, fully suited up, turned to us and said the driver could not seem to follow directions and that we had to cover the rest of the way on foot. It was a bit funny having to tail behind him, looking dashing and formal in his suit, while he was wheeling two of our biggest suitcases on both hands.
Vegging out. Dinner was a simple affair at some hole-in-the-wall resto. I thought it would be difficult to look for a vegetarian meal since most of my friends who've been to Turkey would always recommend their supposedly, very tasty kebab. Good thing there were some fried vegetable tempura similar to our Filipino's "ukoy." That, some plain rice and ayran (yogurt drink), completed my meal.
Some snag. After dinner, we stopped by LC Waikiki and Koton (two Turkish brands I loved back in Erbil) and bought the stuff we needed. It was cold. Something we did not anticipate at all. The tour agency told us Ephesus would be hot and so we packed accordingly. I left all my winter/spring stuff in Erbil. I was even wearing open sandals and shivering the whole time we made our way out in the streets. And so we bought what we needed.
We went back to the hotel soon after. We encountered some guy harassing us while we were very near at our hotel. We chose to ignore him but he still kept at it until a man from a nearby bar shouted to him something like, "Stop it, okay? They are not like your usual." What he meant by that, I have no idea. I was just grateful that he stopped right away. I was feeling indignant, actually but I knew fighting back might only invite more trouble.
We got busy right away when we got back to the hotel. We unpacked and took out some stuff we would be bringing for the Ephesus and Pamukkale trip.
Fast Forward Two Days After: While true enough that Selcuk (Ephesus) and Pamukkale was hot (another blog entry on the Ephesus trip), when we arrived back at Ataturk Domestic Airport, we were met with a cold blast of air. We had to wait awhile for our pick up ride and so we were practically shivering in the cold.
Immigration and airport was a breeze. We had a bit of a misadventure though with the cab we hailed. The driver is not familiar with our hotel. He knew the location but never been to the hotel itself. We had to go around in circles and at one point, we had to stop to ask directions from the locals. Leah and I were surprised to have our hotel’s receptionist show up. It turned out our driver called him up. All the while we were thinking he is calling a friend for directions. It turned out, he got hold of the number of the hotel and called the receptionist himself for directions. And even then, apparently, our driver still did not manage to locate the hotel.
The receptionist, fully suited up, turned to us and said the driver could not seem to follow directions and that we had to cover the rest of the way on foot. It was a bit funny having to tail behind him, looking dashing and formal in his suit, while he was wheeling two of our biggest suitcases on both hands.
Vegging out. Dinner was a simple affair at some hole-in-the-wall resto. I thought it would be difficult to look for a vegetarian meal since most of my friends who've been to Turkey would always recommend their supposedly, very tasty kebab. Good thing there were some fried vegetable tempura similar to our Filipino's "ukoy." That, some plain rice and ayran (yogurt drink), completed my meal.
Some snag. After dinner, we stopped by LC Waikiki and Koton (two Turkish brands I loved back in Erbil) and bought the stuff we needed. It was cold. Something we did not anticipate at all. The tour agency told us Ephesus would be hot and so we packed accordingly. I left all my winter/spring stuff in Erbil. I was even wearing open sandals and shivering the whole time we made our way out in the streets. And so we bought what we needed.
We went back to the hotel soon after. We encountered some guy harassing us while we were very near at our hotel. We chose to ignore him but he still kept at it until a man from a nearby bar shouted to him something like, "Stop it, okay? They are not like your usual." What he meant by that, I have no idea. I was just grateful that he stopped right away. I was feeling indignant, actually but I knew fighting back might only invite more trouble.
We got busy right away when we got back to the hotel. We unpacked and took out some stuff we would be bringing for the Ephesus and Pamukkale trip.
Fast Forward Two Days After: While true enough that Selcuk (Ephesus) and Pamukkale was hot (another blog entry on the Ephesus trip), when we arrived back at Ataturk Domestic Airport, we were met with a cold blast of air. We had to wait awhile for our pick up ride and so we were practically shivering in the cold.
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| Photo credit: @leyorig |
The room was.. amazing... (could not even cover it... maybe splendid? magnanimous?) It was huge, with (more than) high ceilings and all. It was a twin suite, with Leah and I getting one huge bed each. What I loved most about it though was the bathroom en-suite. It's a room in itself with bath and shower and huge dressing mirrors, complete with Bulgari bath essentials... If only I was not too eager to see most of what Istanbul had to offer, it was a perfect place for a staycation -- just spending all day being lazy -- perhaps reading a book from the bed to it's huge bath tub. (I told you everything was huge!)
We got welcome treats as well: some backlava (of course) and some sweets. What more can one ask for?
It was truly a blessing. I'm not very picky with hotel rooms as one is usually up and about anyway during the day. I just want them really clean and smell nice. But yeah, staying in five star accommodations is really something. Who am I to refuse?
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| Grabbed from/ credit goes to: http://www.actualidadviajes.com/ kapalicarsi-recorriendo-el-interesante-gran-bazar-de-estambul/ Owing to the fact I could not find my photos for this particular leg of the trip. |
It took us a while to figure out the ticket booth as everything was in Turkish. A traffic officer helped us figure it out. So, armed with just a map, our metro tickets, and a sense of adventure, off we went. It was Grand Bazaar for the day and perhaps squeeze in a place of worship if we have enough time.
Since we did not have breakfast, Leah and I decided to stop by a resto to eat first. There were a lot of hawkers or those whose only job is to call out to customers to come and eat at their restos. We got approached by one who was quite forceful which turned us off completely. We then opted to just go towards the entrance to the Grand Bazaar. There we settled in one of the restos that sell kebab and the like. They have a vegetarian dish so it was better for me. The funny thing was that it turned out that the "caller" was married to a Filipina who lives in Buhangin, Davao City. Imagine that. He had been to the Philippines twice already. He can't believe either that we were Filipina's. He was working so he could not really talk to us for long. However, he made us promise to stop by again the next day to which we gave a noncommittal answer.
Now, Webster dictionary has this for the "simple" definition of the word. "grand," --"involving or including many people or things; very large in scope; intended to have an important or impressive result." True enough, there were a looooot of people... and the place is huuuuge! As to the "impressive result," it came after 2 hours of browsing -- I got lost!
Blame it on my being stingy with cash. As usual, I just brought enough (it is never enough) to make sure I can limit my purchase to just the things that I really wanted. Having bought two turkish lamps, some souvenir plates and what not's, I had to go look for an ATM. I found the purse that my niece, Tunga asked me to buy but ran out of cash. The owner of the shop was kind enough to direct me to the nearest one which was just around the corner. It turned out however that it does not dispense for Cirrus cards (mine is). So I looked for another one that would, thinking I could still find my way back. Big mistake. I managed to get some money but soon found myself turning from corner to corner as if navigating a "grand" maze. When I found myself in some kind of an inner courtyard with some tea shops twice, I knew I was really lost.
I did not panic nor got scared. I grew weary, however, thinking of how I would have to catch the metro alone and then walk from there. I then let my rational mind take over. I retraced my steps and by instinct, sought out a way to bring me back to the main alley/vein at the centre of the bazaar. I managed to find it. I then tried to retrace mine and Leah's steps as we went from shop to shop earlier. I ended getting lost again so I made my way back again to the main alley.
I got a text from Leah by then, asking where I was. Thank God, for mobile roaming (albeit costly). I told her I was lost. I got two text from her giving me the name of the shop and the alley number. I gave it to the police there who gave me directions (count five alleys from here then turn left). The funny thing was I stopped in a small shop selling some women's stuff for help too. I asked him for direction but he could not help me. He then made a sale's pitch which made me laugh. I told him pointedly, I would want to find my way back to my friend first.
I trudged on and lo and behold, the corner began to look familiar. I recognised the shop where I bought the plates from. Looking up ahead, I saw Leah and the shop owner waving at me. Leah had this big grin on her face. I was laughing as well. The shop owner very kindly offered me water hahaha! And then after I paid for the two purses, he offered to give us some tea. It was really cute. There were these guys bearing trays of teas going around, asking shops if they want some tea. The shop owner called one and then he offered us Turkish tea served in the familiar, minute istikan I have come to love back in Iraq.
It was quite late when we finish so we decided to just call it a day and do the mosque visits the next day. We walked towards the nearest metro station, the whole time, soaking up the entire atmosphere. Istanbul streets are lovely.
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