Successful Shopping

Today Jamie, Cameron, and I took the metro to Levent to go shopping at the Kanyon Mall. From the metro you can go directly into the mall. The mall is really neat. It's floor plans are very curvy. It feels like any indoor shopping mall, but it's not completely closed-in. From the walkways that take you past the stores, you can look up to the sky. I didn't have my camera with me, but here's a photo of the mall from Wikipedia.

Many of the stores were ones we have in America, like Steve Madden. There were also some Italian designers with stores there. There was a store called Mango that had women's fashion for very good prices. We found one great store with all these random objects: umbrellas whose handles are round knobs painted with faces, bike locks made to look like snakes, and cups with colorful wings for handles. My favorite item was a bracelet they had; it's a camel laying on its stomach, his legs straight out to his sides like he fell down in exhaustion or slipped on ice. The legs wrap around your wrist and hook to become the bracelet. I plan on going back to get that one!

The best thing about the mall was the large grocery store we found on the ground floor. We have small markets near our apartment that have the basic necessities, but lack good selection. This grocery store had everything: produce section, delicatessen, seafood counter, fresh bread, even a counter to get dried fruits and nuts. We also were able to find cooking utensils, tupperware, and hangers! We plan to go back there every couple of weeks at least.

When we got back from shopping Jamie made us delicious veggie stir-fry.

One of the two Finnish girls who will be living with us will arrive tonight.

Hidden Beautiful Places

Tuesday Walker and I took the metro across the Golden Horn to Sultanahmet. After a bit of wandering, we found the entrance for Basilica Cistern. This is a definite must-see for Istanbul. It's a subterranean structure, so it could easily be overlooked. The cistern held water for the Topkapı palace, where the Sultan lived, and many other residents in the surrounding area during the Byzantine period. The lighting they have installed gives a great atmosphere.

Most of the columns' capitals were decorative corinthian order, but some were plain doric.

The water was very shallow, but there were still a good bit of fish.
Most looked like catfish.

This was the only column that was different. It was kind of eerie.
Towards the back of the cistern are two Medusa's heads, one upside-down and one sideways.

Next we went to Hagia Sophia. The mosque looks large from the outside, but its vastness isn't really understood until you are inside looking up to the large domed ceiling. The scale is something hard to capture in pictures.

On the grounds outside the entrance were lots of pieces that I figure used to belong to the church.

The entrance...

The main dome.

This is where the Sultan would sit.
The mirhab.

The minbar.
The upstairs level...



Looking down to the ground level.
You can see the part where the plaster has been chipped away to reveal the mosaics underneath.
This tiny cross was etched in the wall. There were others, but they had been filled in.
One of the large, partial mosaics.
Another, more complete, mosaic.
Trying to give an idea of the full specturm. Too bad the scaffolding was up.
The ceiling as you exit.

Last night, Walker's last night, we went to eat at Zencefil. I read about it on the NY Times website and found several other positive reviews. It is nearby, down one of the first side-streets off of Iştiklal. We never would have found it if we didn't know where to look. The interior is great. The are we sat in had a glass roof, like a green house. Everything on the menu looked good, some Turkish cuisine, but mostly not. I had quiche and pumpkin pie for dessert. Walker had chicken and leek casserole and cheesecake. The price was good, I thought. About 11 YTL for each of our entrees.

Walker got safely on the last shuttle to the airport at 1:00 am. His flight left at 5:35 am this morning (Istanbul time), and he'll arrive in Atlanta at 2:00 pm (ATL time, but 9:00 pm here). What a long day!

Time for me to get ready for the day. I slept in a bit late after being up to see Walker off.

Galata Tower

Today, for the first time since we got back from Greece, we ventured past Taksim. We went to Galata Tower to go up to the observation balcony. I really like the area there, all pedestrian traffic. The view was amazing! You can see all of the bridges, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, and many of the mosques.

Hagia Sophia on the right and Blue Mosque on the left. ^

On the way home we stopped in a office supplies shop I had seen the other day on Iştiklal. I went in to get a pair of scissors and browsed through their selection of Moleskine notebooks. I was excited to find an İstanbul City Notebook, something I was looking for before my trip but couldn't find. It's great. It had maps of each area of the city; a metro map; conversions for everything from temperature to measurements; and spaces to record restaurants, bars, shops and people you meet.

I hadn't had lunch and didn't feel like eating out, so we came back to the apartment afterwards and had pasta (with butter, not sauce). If we can get up on time we're going to either take a boat tour of the Bosphorus or go to the Prince's Islands.

The World's View

I just discovered that we get the Al Jazeera - english version television channel. Right now a man from Pakistan's government is speaking. It's good to hear the world's view. It will be interesting for me to hear Obama's first months in office through international voices.

Last night I had a disasterous cooking experience. Walker and I decided pasta would be good for dinner. I had a can of domates salçası, which I assumed to be tomato sauce, but was actually tomato paste. I've never made spaghetti sauce from scratch, and wasn't sure if tomato paste was the main ingredient in tomato sauce. I added a fresh tomato, some water, pepper, and thyme; those being the only spices we had on hand. The result was not too good; very bitter. Unfortunately I had already piled our plates of pasta high with the sauce. We ate as much as we could and then turned to bread with Nutella for dinner. I think I will stick to pasta with butter and salt, like I used to always eat when I was younger.

I watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on TV last night until I fell asleep on the couch.

In the next few days before Walker heads back home we are going to try to see the rest of the Istanbul sights. We're planning to visit Prince's Islands, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Basillica Cistern, Grand Bazaar and Egyptian Spice Bazaar. Maybe the trendy shopping malls north of here as well.

So much for Athens

We went to the train station yesterday morning to get on a train to Athens; however, all the Athens' trains were booked for the next two days! We didn't want to waste more money on hotels in Thessaloniki, and without internet it's hard to plan a trip to another destination. So, we booked the train last night to come back to Istanbul, which is where I am now. I was pretty homesick in Greece. I think it was because I really liked Greece (Thessaloniki, at least), and it reminded me more of the US than Turkey did. So when I would start to think about going back to Istanbul and being here for four months, I would start feeling homesick. I was surprised when I got off the train this morning to feel happy to be back here. It felt sort-of like coming home after being on the road traveling and staying in hotels. I'm tired and need a shower, so that's all for now. The internet here is still horribly slow, so it may be a while before I get all of my Greece pictures (and the rest of my earlier Istanbul pictures) loaded.

It's Greek to Me!

I now get the meaning of that phrase. I've never seen words I knew less how to pronounce. But luckily for me, most people in Greece speak English also.

Monday our group of seven made it to our train. The 9:00 pm Dostluk/Filia "Friendship" Express from Istanbul to Thessaloniki. It was totally worth the 50 Euros, even if it had just taken us in a circle. The cabins were cozy, perfect for an overnight train ride. we even had a flip-open sink. From what I hear, the two WCs at the end of the car weren't too pleasant, but luckily I survived the ride without having to go. It was cool to see the outskirts of Istanbul diminish into empty land. With our little sink I was able to get ready for bed and even sleep!... Until we hit the border. Three knocks on our door in the middle of the night for leaving Turkey. Once to pick up our passports, once to hand them back with the 'exit' stamp, and once when we were visited by the customs man who demanded, "Where are you from?" After at 20+ minute stop we were on our way again and I was asleep again, until we hit Greece customs. The whole routine was repeated. I awoke feeling fairly well-rested with bright sun and a chilly cabin. Walker had the window down to take uninterrupted pictures of the Greek countryside. I washed up and got ready for the day but missed us coming into the city of Thessaloniki because I fell asleep again in the seat.






We got out of the train station clueless except for Jamie's friend's e-mailed guidance and a free map of the city. We found a nearby restaurant at which we refueled and pondered the map, figured out our bearings, and headed for the water. It was a beautiful scene. The water seemed to fade into nothingness. Through the fog you could barely seem some larger ships on the water.

The White Tower, a main landmark in Thessaloniki.

After relaxing by the water we went to find a decently-priced hotel. Thirty Euros for two people seemed to be the cheapest we would find for two people per room (and that's with sharing a shower and toilet with the others on the floor). Our room was the bare-minimum and our floor's toilet was quite gross (but it was okay because there were two other floors whose toilets were comparably cleaner). We did have a TV with news channels covering the inauguration. All of it was in Greek, but we got to hear some of Obama's speech through the news anchor's translations.




We split up for the day. It was hard to navigate even a group of seven through a large city (and I'm told Thessaloniki is the second largest in Greece). Walker and I ventured down the road our hotel is on, which seems to be a main thoroughfare. We found a great place for pizza and dessert, Eσtia (or something similar to that with Greek letters). It was well-priced too! Then we wandered around taking pictures of the ancient (well, really old at least) buildings/structures that were mixed in with the more modern-day buildings. Imagine walking down a street in NYC and all of a sudden you see this:

There were so many cats wandering around the grounds of this rotunda.

There was graffiti everywhere, on every building.

One street we went down was lined with orange trees.

The tower you see in the background is some modern building; it looked out-of-place to me.

While the others went to a fast-food type Greek restaurant, Walker and I dined on this delicious meal. We each had a salad with some of the best cucumbers and tomatoes I've ever had. Walker had veggies, wrapped in chicken, wrapped in bacon on kebabs, and I had grilled fish.



Although we weren't able to find Atatürk's birthplace (something I was looking forward too), we all agreed we'd seen all we knew to see in Thessaloniki. Cameron and Jamie found a 14 Euro train to Athens, so we planned to head there Wednesday.

Wednesday morning the rest of the group headed to get lunch while Walker and I were still in the showers. We were supposed to all meet at the train station, but somehow we missed each other. Walker and I waited there from about noon until three, never seeing the others. We eventually decided to book a hotel, spending another night in Thessaloniki, and catch a train out in the morning because any train we got at that point in the afternoon would spit us out in Athens after 10:00 pm to find a hotel/hostel. So, we are in Emπopikon hotel for 50 euros a night. It is worth it! Free breakfast, internet (that sometimes decides to work), bathroom in our room, and nice towels. Did I mention that the towels at the last hotel were stiff as a board? After checking in we did nothing. Walker said he was feeling achy and cold. It turned out he had a fever of 102 even after Advil. Maybe it's good we didn't travel to Athens yesterday. We went back to the excellent dessert shop last night and got some Powerade from a street vendor.

Walker still has a fever this morning (Thursday) but is feeling a bit better. We plan to take the seven-hour day train to Athens where the others are (they e-mailed) staying at the hostel: Athens' Backpacker.

I really like Thessaloniki. The people here seem very nice and tend to mind their own business. No street vendors or other salesmen shoving goods in your face or dragging you into their restaurant. I'm interested to see if Athens is as enjoyable.