Istanbul (Part 1)

It was bittersweet, but after our spectacular 4 months in South America it was time to move to a new continent. Our ultimate goal was to reach Southeast Asia but many of the flight options we saw tended to connect in Istanbul. When we had been in Europe one of our very few regrets was not being able to see Turkey when it was so close. Plus, Istanbul actually splits the border of Europe and Asia, so what better way to transition between continents (yes, we were coming from South America, but we made up as many excuses as we could to make sure we made it to Turkey)? With this in mind, we decided to set up our own "layover," one of about two weeks. Here we'd like to note that if you are planning your own trip abroad, and you have a little extra time, you should definitely look into extending your layover in whatever connections country you may have to transit through! It's easy to do, and often actually saves a little money on the flight if you book your tickets separately.

Our flight from Cali, Colombia was actually booked in three separate segments. We found EXTREMELY cheap flights from Cali to New York's JFK airport. While there we treated ourselves to a little treat from home with a Dunkin Donuts bagel and coffee, especially because that was our only food option (we have been caught with some long layovers in American airports with few amenities outside of security, and no restaurants close by). We also have had a struggle trying to find luggage storage to make it easier to go into the cities, as most of the locker options and baggage storage services were closed by major US airports following 9/11. It's a minor inconvenience, but makes a difference when you have as much airport time as we do when we book all of the cheapest fares. From JFK we flew to Frankfurt, and then took another flight to Istanbul. It was a mess of document management with all of the separate bookings, plus there were visas, Covid test results, etc. to sort through. We were happy to finally make it through border control and into the city.

Istanbul has three airports, but none of them are very convenient. Currently (though soon to change) your only options into the city are a long taxi or bus ride (1+ hours). Istanbul is notorious for taxi scams, where cab drivers take alternate routes to run up the meter fee. However, Uber has teamed up with the cabbies in the city and sets a range of prices, so at least there's a ceiling to what you have to pay. As it was late, we decided to taxi in, and our driver was actually awesome. He let us plug in our phones to play music (we tried to play some 90's rock, but blasted some unedited Coolio songs instead), and gave us a few small notes about Istanbul along the way. We dropped our bags at the hotel and immediately started looking for a dinner place, while also getting a feel for our neighborhood. Istanbul is a huge city, with somewhere between 15-25 million people in the metro area. We were staying near the "Old" Istanbul area with the historical buildings and museums. A lot of the food options in this area are traditional Turkish cuisine, and that's what we went with. We ate doner kebab wraps (this is Kyle's absolute favorite food, and there are doner stands all over Europe, but they are traditional to Turkey). The meal was about $6 each, which we did not think much of at the time, but we would learn that was extremely expensive for food in Turkey (especially as small, quick meal like ours). When the meal was over, the waiter brought us some complimentary tea, which is also a Turkish tradition that we explain further below.

The next morning we had our first traditional Turkish breakfast, which was included with our $25/night room rate. A lot of our Turkish blogging is going to be about food, and not just because Kyle is writing this post! A Turkish breakfast is very different from what you'll see in any of the Americas, or most of Europe. IT, to us, feels more like ordering all of the appetizers at a fancy Mediterranean grill. There are multiple cheeses (goat cheese/feta is the most prominent), marinated olives, pastrami, some citrus style fruits, wedged tomatoes and cucumbers, some spiced stews, and crusty bread to wipe it all up. Usually, there is an egg included although mostly it's just hard-boiled. While we stuck to our free hotel breakfasts, one of the big things to do in Turkey is sit down for a "breakfast for two" at a restaurant and watch them fill your table with dishes. It's usually the most expensive thing on the menu, but appears to be well worth the experience. Also, Turkish people tend to drink black tea with breakfast and save coffee for a little later in the day.

After breakfast, we spent our day winding through the streets of Old Istanbul. This is the area where cruise ships drop off people and tourists with only a couple of days to spare will spend most of there time. We went to Gulhane park at the base of the Topkapi Palace, and saw Hagia Sophia (one of the most famous mosques in the world, and one that Kyle has studied extensively in architecture courses) and the beautiful blue mosque as well. Along the way we ducked our head into a Turkish coffee house to get our first Turkish coffee. For you coffee enthusiasts out there.....this is not going to be your favorite. Turkish coffee is very unique in that it is brewed by boiling very fine grounds with water directly in a small metal container, and then pouring the entirety of the contents, grounds and all, into tiny ceramic cups. The result is a strong, dark cup of coffee that is really like 1/3 coffee grounds. In fact, they even bring you a Turkish delight to cut through the bitterness and a small glass of water to wash the grounds out of your teeth afterwards. It's perfect for when you need that caffeine hit, but not as great for slowly sipping at a coffee shop (at time of writing, we are drinking Starbucks flat whites). If you are a foreigner, the waiter will offer you a small, medium, or large dose of sugar in your cup. While out and about, and craving something sweet after coffee, we also tried our first simits, which is similar to a bagel, but thinner and with toasted sesame seeds. We had ours smeared with Nutella.

After walking around the courtyard of the mosques (the two major ones, there are actually hundreds in the city) we were off on our way to see the Grand Bazaar, which was about a 15 minute walk. When were were almost there, we were stopped on the corner by a carpet salesman. This was not the first time. In Turkey, and especially in Old Town Istanbul, there are tons and tons of carpet stores selling fine Turkish rugs. The streets are lined salesmen who are extremely friendly, and often start their pitch by offering you advice, directions, and even free samples of Turkish treats. They ask where you are from, and if you say USA they will invariably tell you that they have a brother/uncle/cousin that lives there, often in California or New York, but they tend to not have much more knowledge about their close relative when you ask follow-up questions. They also emphasize that they are Kurdish, and not Turkish. This confused us at first but we would later learn that Kurdish people are known for having higher quality goods. We were a little too nice our first few days there, so we were pulled into a few longer pitches. We tried to get out of some by asking for a business card and saying we would come back. This particular salesman on the corner said that would be fine, but that we would need to grab it from his "nearby" shop. We ended up walking all the way back to right by the mosques!

When we got to the shop, we were taken up 4 flights of stairs to a large, open room with hung rugs lining the walls, and stacks of rolled up rugs across the floor. When we had passed by the other floors, it looked very much the same, and we're sure the floors above us were similar as well. We were brought coffee, apple tea, and a large tray of Turkish delights. The salesman's "uncle" then stepped into the room (he was definitely the closer for the sale). He chatted with us for about 30 minutes about his life, our lives, politics, and family, without ever once mentioning carpets or rugs. After awhile, he finally asked if we wanted to look at anything or just go on with our day. We did, truly, want to see some rugs (although both he and us knew we were not buying, especially since some of the rugs were $8,000!), so he took us through the different types and traditional methods. After seeing what we wanted to, and stopping in the basement to see a different, sketchier nephew's fake watches and handbags, we were on our way with a shake of the hand and everyone on good terms. While the salesman in Turkey are pushy, and it can be very overwhelming if you are not used to it, it is actually very much part of the culture for them (as well as restaurant owners, and people in general) to invite people into their homes and shops for tea, even when it's clear there will be no sale involved!

We wrapped up our day by strolling through the craziness of the Grand Bazaar and it's surrounding streets, all the way down to the Spice Bazaar, both of which will be explained in more detail in later posts. We ended up walking about 15 miles in all that day, and were pretty hungry at the end. After checking prices all day, we learned that we WAY overpaid for our first meal as there were full platters available for $3-4 at many of the restaurants (although the same meal could be $10-12 at adjacent places, so you still needed to be diligent when deciding). A lot of the typical options on a menu include some sort of skewered and grilled meat served with spiced rice, tomatoes, yogurt, and pita bread, and we both got a variation of this (Kyle's was the "Iskender" style, named after the alleged inventor of the kebab. Afterwards we were brought some complimentary baklava and more Turkish tea, the perfect bookend to a wonderful first day in Turkey.

Note that while we were prepped for Turkish coffee, we had no clue just how much tea was consumed here. The Turkish people drink tea with every meal, and often throughout the day during small breaks as well. There are tea carriers constantly walking through the streets bringing tea to shop owners and passerby. We probably had 4-5 cups a day while in Istanbul!