Yesterday

Ready for the next installment? Whew! This is going to be a long one as I have just had two packed days...

Yesterday I took the shuttle to Sultanhamet, the part of Istanbul that is tightly packed with mosques and tourists. As soon as I stepped off the shuttle I was hounded by vultures. These are men who prey on unsuspecting tourists by trying to lure them into their business. They wait by the area where all the tourists get dropped off by bus, van or taxi and then they jump with their impeccable English. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying it is.

When I tried to brush the first vulture off he followed me to the Blue Mosque. Then he was, "Why are you being all aggressive? Why you so angry with me?" I told him just wanted to be left alone and that I didn't want to see his carpets. Ugh!

So the Blue Mosque was nice, but nothing to write home about...I am not into big, old churches or what not. I mean the outside is gorgeous, especially the park around it. But the inside smells musty and well, don't shoot me, I'm just not that into it.

Next, I went to the Grand Bazaar. An old man on "his day off" offered to walk me there. He asked if he could accompany me inside and I told him no. I never did figure out what his deal was. Inside was crazy! Those vendors are so aggressive and they jack up the prices! I found some belly dancing shops and almost bought a costume. It was quite nice, but at $260 that was still too high. I still might go back. He was very nice and he had my size which he called the, "special, hard to find" size. Boy was he right about that! The first shop I went to, the seller sent me up these steep, scary stairs to a room filled with bra and belt sets from head to toe! Every one he pulled out was too small for me until I was like, "I'm leaving now, you don't have my size." He told me he did and I told him to keep looking until I came back (which I never did).

Then I went to Ali Baba, which was supposed to have nice costumes...Well, I got a little person for a salesperson, who was smoking like a fiend and I hate to hear myself say this, but he freaked me out. I also went upstairs to the costume room, which was filled to the brim, but I just couldn't did through all those boxes and my shadow certainly wasn't helping...So no costume for me. All I bought was a shawl for Erika. I had to haggle to get the price down, but it is beautiful. A seller at another shop in the Spice market said I got a really good price. Kudos to me! I hope it is real!

Yeah, so then I had lunch and took the tram to the Spice Market, aka the Egyptian Bazaar. I checked out the New Mosque and watched the pigeons. I also visited the Pet/Plant market...which was crazy. They were selling bunnies, leaches, chickens, ducks, turtles, and fish, not to mention the random stray cats hanging out every where. It made me really sad to see the animals in such poor condition.

Anyway, the Spice Market was much nicer. The salespeople are still pushy, but not as bad. There are more locals there, so it is slightly more authentic. Outside of the market there are street vendors and there were a lot of good shops. I bought some food for dinner, because Adam and I decided to stay in. I took the tram back to Sultanhamet and I got there at the wrong time because the tram was soooooo packed it was way uncomfortable. It was commuter time or something, because the tram was full of locals.

I got to Sultanhamet early and I just hung out for an hour or so...I found another market, Aratasu, which Audra told me about. It was ok, still the prices are way too high! Finally, the shuttle came at 5:00pm and I didn't get to the hotel until 7:00! Yep, two hours on the shuttle, smelling diesel fumes and feeling so tired. I was the only one on the shuttle, but the driver was very nice, despite not knowing any English.

So, the reason why the shuttle took forever is that the Olympic torch came through yesterday, so they closed a lot of roads and it was packed. I saw the parade starting earlier that day down by Hagia Sophia, but when I was on the shuttle, they were having festivities at Taksim square and that's where we got stuck.

Adam got really worried about me. I finally got back and let me tell you, I was not in a good mood! Thank God I brought Clif Bars! So I brought dinner for us to eat in the room. It consisted of strawberries, radishes, sesame bagel-type things, cheese, and lots of cookies. :) Adam wouldn't eat my strawberries and I got offended. He said they were dirty because I bought them from a street vendor...his dad apparently told him that Egyptian produce is bad and it will give you hepatitis. First of all, Egypt is far away from Turkey, and second of all, that information is outdated by a couple of decades. We searched the web and couldn't find anything about it...I ate them and I feel fine. But you're not supposed to drink the tap water.

Ok, that was yesterday...most of it anyway. I'll explain today after dinner...

A little more than a week left!

Wow, time flies...I can't believe how soon this trip is coming up. I leave a week from tomorrow. I am thrilled. Adam finally booked our hotel for the extra two night we are staying there. This hotel was recommended in the Time Out Istanbul guide. We tried a few other places, but they were all booked. And get this: we are getting a shuttle to the airport at 3:00 am the day we depart. UGH!!!

Here's the hotel: http://www.sarnichotel.com/


None of the rooms have views, but the breakfast terrace looks really nice. That's the Blue Mosque in the background.

Adam also bought a really nice DSLR for the B-school. I think he's going to get some lovely pictures. I am going to bring my camera, which I have pretty much decided needs to be replaced. I wish I could before the trip, but no such luck. I think I am going to bring my extra lenses too.

I still have a few more things to think about before the trip. I am ok on money at this point, which feels really good. I need to buy some little items (like a money belt) before the trip and figure out which luggage to bring. I want to bring my nice rolling suitcase, but I fear it is too small for 7 days. I might ask my sister if I can borrow hers. There is also the question of what I am going to use as a daypack. I want something that is big enough so I don't have to carry a purse, but not so big that it becomes a hassle. I am planning on using luggage locks for the day pack.

Adam leaves for Rotterdam in a few days, which means we only have a couple more days to prepare together. I think he's a little stressed about getting everything together in time. I would be too.

There is also the question of what to do with my cat. I asked my neighbor to watch him while I was out of town this past weekend and she did fine. She's a little weird though, so now she sort of acts like she owns him. Anyway, she's the easiest and she does take good care of him. So I asked to watch him while I was in Turkey and she said she may be going out of town for work. Uh-oh. I guess I could ask my sister and I think I may have already. I can't imagine boarding him. He's never been boarded and I think it would change him forever. I think this is going to be one of my longest trips away from him. He'll be fine, I just want him to be able to have a normal routine when I am gone. Anyway, I really hope my neighbor's trip doesn't go through, even though she's nutty.

Time out, Istanbul

I got my last travel book yesterday, entitled "Time out Instabul." It had the highest ratings on Amazon, so I thought that would be good. I do like Rick Steves' better so far though. This one has advertisements in it...I paid for a book with ads. Seriously.

Anyway, it has a lot of great information about cultural activities. It is concise and each section is seperated by neighborhood. I think this will be useful to carry around with me while walking. It's slick and full color.

The Arts & Entertainment section looks great. While it doesn't rate attractions like Rick Steves' it offers many more choices. They have a nice night life section, including the places to go to see belly dancers. And get this, I am flipping through the book and who do I see? The dude from that German film Crossing the Bridge! Ha ha. He's on a boat, playing the bass, with hair whipping through is long goatee. Gross!

Oh and I just found out that there are factory 'outlets' where you can buy European and American clothing for cheap. Drool. Basically they are large markets that sell rejects from H&M and Miss Sixty and such. The labels have been ripped off, but you can buy a pair of jeans for about 40 YTL ($32). I have to go to this!

Adam and I are still working out details on our trip. We have plans to do this more on Wednesday. He's going to check with the hotel on a few things and we're going to figure out our transportation options. According to the hotel's Web site, they have shuttles that run to the two major tourists parts of town. It would be great if I could just take one of those every day. Hopefully I could get picked up again too. That would be awesome!

Anyway, so my books are proving useful thus far. I read the Rick Steves' one about twice a day and I plan to flip throught this new one more at lunch. The only one that hasn't been useful is the first one I bought with the flip out maps. We'll see if that comes in handy once I get there.

Less than a month left!

Wow! I can't believe how fast this trip is coming up! I don't feel ready. I should relax and take it easy on myself. I mean, it's not like I have to have every second planned.

I am a little disappointed that I won't be able to buy any nice costumes. That is a bummer. My last post was all about the costume designers and now I just have to go look. I have offered to buy nice costumes for my friends if they give me the money up front, plus a little extra (let's call it commission) for lugging it around and such. I hope that works out, because I would love to do shopping even though it wouldn't be for me.

At the very least, I will buy a cheap bra and belt set from the Grand Bazaar. I will probably also buy some hip scarves for myself and students/friends. Let's see what else? Shopping, shopping, shopping...That's about all I can think about...except for the Bath. I had the wildest dream about the hamam the other night. I can't even explain it, but let me tell you it got me excited.

Adam and I took a cold, hard look at my money situation last night. So far I have a little less than $500 saved for the trip. That was supposed to go to my plane ticket, but it looks like it will have to be my spending money. I can pay for the plane ticket after I return. I need money to eat! I plan on getting a little more money here and there, but we'll see.

I just received Rick Steves' Istanbul today. It says that you should plan on $100 per day for room and board, which includes $ for lunch and dinner, and assumes breakfast is included. Since I won't be paying for a room, I can assume $50 a day. Then I have to figure in entertainment to be about $7 per sight and a total of $20 per day for all that. So, I am up to $70 a day now, plus shopping and transportation. I think that sounds reasonable--although it looks like I will need to save a little more money... Any benefactors out there? ;) JK

I pray I can manage. I also pray that I have fun adventures out on my own. Adam will be working for a lot of it, which only gives us a couple of days together. I get sad when I think about it. I want him to experience it with me! I mean I know he doesn't want to do the belly dance shopping or the Bath, so I can do that with no guilt for sure. But for all of the other stuff, I want him to be with me. Although, Adam will get to go an excursion that I will miss because it is before I arrive. So at least he'll get to see some of the other sites.

We really need to get together and plan out those days we can be together. He'll have to tell me exactly where he wants to go and I will do all of the other stuff alone. Say he picks the cruise (hoping) and the Topkapi Palace, or other places like that. I would wait for him and we could go together. We still need to decide if we are going to change hotel rooms. I am leaning toward yes, but I am not sure if it is worth it.

For those days that Adam is working, I'll have to figure out how to get to the city-center by myself. After about 4 days of that I will have it down and so if we changed rooms, I would be back to square one. But it would be cool to have a place that is walking distance to points of interest. It would also be cool to travel outside the city to see other places and the countryside, but I don't know if that is possible. Probably not.

Anyway, as you can see there is much to be done. Now it's time to layout all of the details and groundwork. Hopefully we'll get to figure it out this weekend.

Found some cool stuff

I might be able to take some dance classes. Woo hoo! Although it is sooo pricey. A dance class cost $65 Euro which is $95! Here is the link: http://www.bazaarturkey.com/tours/Belly_dance_lesson.html

Here is another cool Web site although the owner is in some dire need of Web site design classes: http://www.turkumusic.com/travel.htm

Here is a cool tip:
"We are loving the akbil thing! Akbil is a little metal button on a tab that fits well on a key chain. It's a pass that you can load up which gets you into all the public transport- bus, ferry, tram, tunel, etc. You get a 10% discount over tokens as well as not having to spend the time in the ticket lines. You pay 6 lira for the thing, then load it up at machines or ticket windows. Keep your receipt when you buy it, because it's only a deposit, which you can get back when you leave Istanbul. We only have one and we scan it twice to get us both in. It will also get you some transfers free. It does not work in Ankara, or outside Istanbul."

I also am getting a travel video via Netflix today. I hope Adam and I can watch it this weekend. I'll post a review. Oh and we need to get to the bookstore to get our travel books!

Lunch with a friend and lots of notes

Today I had lunch with a friend of mine who went to Istanbul a couple of months ago. She is also a belly dancer, so she had some really great tips.

Here are the most important things I learned:

1) Get a driver from the hotel to pick you up at the airport. Taxi drivers suck and they will rip you off. They probably won't even know where the hotel is. Taxi rates also double at night. She said that taxi drivers don't know where places are, but they know landmarks and neighborhoods. They will drop you off in the general area.

2) It's expensive. Most people use Euro, which sucks for me because the Turkish Lira has a better exchange rate. Bring a calculator.


3) MUST GO to the Turkish bath, Cemberlitas Bath.

4) Write down the name of where you are going on a card and ask people for help. If they don't speak English, they'll recognize the name and point you in the right direction. You may have to do this several times before you find where you are going. Most importantly, carry around your hotel's card and memorize the closests/biggest landmark.

5) Go to Istiklal Caddessi for modern food, shopping and costume makers. Probably my best bet for vegetarian food.

6) Beware of pick pockets and wear a money belt. The trains and subway are crammed and people will try to scam you. On the plus side, public transportation is clean.

7) Outside of the Grand Bazaar is an area to buy beads and semi-precious stones. Must keep in mind for my jewelry. Also, if I want to buy precious metal I need to know the daily rate and make sure they weigh it.

8) The belly dance shows are good, but expensive and often with mediocre dancing and bad food. She said they all serve the same meal. She also said that the dancers all do raqs sharqi instead of Turkish-style. She suggested getting the hotel to book, so you don't get ripped off. GAR and Caravanserai seem like the best bets.

9) Go to the Aratsu Market. Not very well-known.

10) Of course, the Blue Mosque and some palace that I forgot to write the name of.

Anyway, I'm sure I will find out more from my lovely resource. She's going to send me cards of places to go, as well as help me figure out the public transportation system. She'll go over the map with me and mark the places I need to get off at. :)

I am bummed that things will be more expensive over there. I was hoping that I could use Lira which is less valuable than the dollar. That way I would get everything at about 20 percent off. But if I have to use Euro then that makes everything TWICE as expensive. I really need to brainstorm more ways to come up with money for the trip.

It looks like buying a nice costume is out of the question as they will run $550 and above. Although she also says they are worth it and much better than Egyptian costumes. I just bought a brand-new costume and I can't really justify buying another one.

It also sounds like people are very nice, yet willing to scam you or get their "commission." I must practice my bargaining and my stern look. Being from the south, that might be hard. Oh well, we'll see how it goes. I am still very excited!!!


Photos by Audra Evans. Used with permission.