After two party weekends, I was excited to start my *real* vacation in Turkey. I arrived on Sunday night around 11pm and was greeted at the airport by Askin, a good friend of mine who lives between NYC and Istanbul. Since it was already late and I was beat from Berlin, we just went to Askin's place in Şişli to relax. It was the third consecutive city where I was treated to an amazing view - this time from the 18th floor!
Monday: I got up at 9am, ate breakfast and then took the Metro to Taksim Square where I sipped some coffee and browsed my Istanbul guide book. Now's probably a good time to give you the quick skinny on Turkey. The republic was established in 1923 following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of WWI. It is a democratic and secular republic whose political system was crafted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the country's most revered leader. There are 70 million total people, 10 million of which are in Istanbul. It borders eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west, Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. Due to its strategic location straddling two continents (Europe and Asia), Turkey's culture is an interesting mix of East and West. Now that that's out of the way... let's get back to my vacation.
I spent my first morning exploring Taksim... wandering down İstiklal Avenue which reminded me of Las Ramblas in Barcelona. There were all sorts of cute boutiques, cafes and galleries so I took my time walking the side streets 
and stopping to do a bit of shopping. When I finally reached the end of the Avenue, I decided to hop aboard the trolley and take it back to where I had started. That afternoon I went back to Şişli to each lunch and meet Askin. We hopped in the car (it's definitely more of a car city!) and drove to Beyoğlu to walk around and catch a boat tour of the Bosporus, the strait connecting the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. We spent an hour or two on the water looking at old castles and palaces, a few bridges, waterfront night clubs and small island owned by one of the local soccer clubs. After the boat tour we ate a local favorite, kumpir (a baked potato piled high with toppings like corn, olives and hot sauce), and then drove to Nişantaşı, Istanbul's Soho-like shopping district. We ate dinner at Midpoint Cafe and then took my stuff to Karel & Max's apartment (which is where I'd stay for the next few days). Tuesday: I woke up, made an espresso and hit up the public transportation. After a few connections via metro, funicular, and tram I landed in the district called Eminönü. Tuesday was a full on sight-seeing day with stops at mosques (Yeni, Rüstem Pasa, Suleymaniye, Beyazit, Sultan Ahmet), the bazaars (Spice and Grand), a church (Aya Sofya), Gülhane Park and Hamdi for lunch. I ended the day by walking across the Galata bridge looking west toward Europe and east across the Bosporus to Asia on the way back to Karel and Max's apartment. That night Shirley arrived from Tel Aviv and we spent the night catching up.
Wednesday: Up, espresso and out...back to the old city, this time with Shirley. We grabbed a quick döner kebab (meat cooked on a vertical spit and sliced to order) and then walked over to Topkapı Palace, the official residence of the Ottoman Sultans from 1465 to 1853. There wasn't too much to see besides some jewels and weapons but we wandered the grounds and enjoyed the lovely weather.
After the Palace we went back toward the Grand Bazaar and found Cemberlitas Hamami, a Turkish bath built in 1584. For 80 Turkish Liras ($65) we got access to the large stone platform bath/sauna, a naked scrub and a 30 minute massage. Shirley and I were slightly unsure of protocol but were prodded along by the staff. After laying on the platform for a little while... a large, saggy-breasted woman motioned for me to come over for my scrub. She tugged at my bikini bottoms and so I yanked them off and she got down to business. She scrubbed the shit out of me, peeling off multiple layers of skin. I was slightly embarrassed by the sheer volume of nasty, gray skin sludge until later on that day when Shirley said she had the same. The saggy scrubber didn't speak English so I had to just follow along with her grunts and gestures - lay down, flip over, sit up, stand up, move over here, lay back down, etc. At one point when I was trying to rollover I slipped on the soapy platform and almost fell on the floor. It was hysterical. However, when all was said and done...Shirley and I were relaxed and glowing. After the bath, we did some more walking and eating (another döner) before heading back to Şişli. [Author's note: the Turkish döner doesn't come close to the Israeli shwarma!] 
That night the rest of the crew got into town - Taj & Raggy (London), Jane & Eugene (NY), Eileen (Madrid) as well as a few others. We gathered at Karel and Max's and actually ate Domino's Pizza 
- ha! It was a relatively low key night until sometime around midnight when Shirley, Taj, Raggy and I decided to walk Eileen home (to her grandmother's apartment where she was staying). The trip turned into an urban, Turkish version of our Ibiza nature walk as we peered into windows, posed with cars and signs, stopped to eat a Turkish "wet" burger, harassed a man unloading a truck full of flour sacks, stuffed Raggy into a kebab cart and on the way home stopped at a bar/brothel called Miami Club. 
It was a shading looking joint but I stormed across the street (locally purchased rainbow coochie duster in hand, mind you) and encouraged the crew to follow behind. When I asked the guy at the door if it was a "regular bar" he said yes so we continued inside. After a walk down a hallway and some stairs we found ourselves in a patron-less establishment with about 10 women standing in various places behind the bar and a gray-haired male DJ playing pounding electronic music from a laptop. We looked at 
each other, laughed and sat down to try and order a drink. As soon as we sat down we had the attention of everyone in the room - bringing us plates of fruit and nuts, asking us broken questions and starring. All I could think was, "oh shit... I hope this is not going to cost me a $1000 or a kidney". It was definitely an odd situation but as I've said before... there are two kinds of people in this world and I'm not the kind to just turn around and walk out. We're here, we might as well MAKE PARTY! So we ordered vodka tonics which turned out to be exclusively vodka (ouch!), made jokes among ourselves, fended off some female admirers and pumped our fists to the pounding music for about an hour. Slowly but surely some other patrons (all male, of course) entered the room and paired off 1 on 1 with the ladies behind the bar. I think we all were anxious to figure out how this little adventure was going to end so we asked for the check which was 100 Turkish Liras. They charged us a steep price for the nuts and fruit (which we didn't order) and the drinks (which we did) and although I knew we were getting ripped off, I didn't want to push our luck. I paid the bill and as we walked out we decided to ask for a picture with the guys standing outside. Surprisingly they were very willing and one of them (the owner!) even gave me his card. Ahh, the joys of travel!
Thursday: In a nutshell: pedicure, flight to Izmir, bus to Çeşme, food/sun on the pier at our hotel. And, we finally got to meet up with Onur & Chrissie (the bride and groom and the reason for the trip to Turkey)! That night Onur's mother treated the entire group to an amazing dinner in a nearby town. I thought I was going to die after eating the cold mezze (appetizers), let alone the hot mezze and then the half fish I had ordered. I avoided the black liquorice-flavored Raki (the unofficial national drink of Turkey) like the plague but watched others indulge at the strong urging of Onur's mom. After the meal we watched a slide show of Onur and Chrissie's Ohio wedding and then called it a night (who could move after all that food!)
Friday: The majority of us hopped on a bus for two hours to visit the ruins of Ephesus, an ancient city of Anatolia (circa 550BC), and the House of the Virgin Mary (where she apparently lived her last days). On the ride back we stopped at a restaurant for yet another feast, this time kebab and chop sis (tiny meat chunks on skewers) and then returned to Çeşme for a few hours of sun before the bachelorette/bachelor festivities. That night we split into two groups for dinner and then met up late night for drinks at relatively posh little outdoor bar where the staff was serving flaming shots and bottles. When the boys joined us they were all wearing matching t-shirts and chanting songs in Onur's honor. We co-mingled at the bar for a few hours and then took the party back to the hotel pier for some late night antics which included Eugene singing, dancing and otherwise entertaining the crowd of friends and strangers.
Saturday: The wedding wasn't until late evening so we had all day to chill out on the pier, in the water and on the trampolines. And then finally... it was time for the main event. The wedding was the first and only to be held at Çeşme castle which overlooks the Agean Sea. The official ceremony was extremely quick (just the way we like it!). The sun was setting during the beginning of the reception and then once it got dark, the wedding party made a grand entrance down the castle stairs with MASSIVE sparklers lighting the way. Later in the evening we were treated to a number of traditional Turkish dance routines, some of which we joined. As if the setting wasn't already majestic enough! Onur and Chrissy both looked stunning and their families couldn't have been happier. It was such a memorable event - I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. After the reception we all went to a beach club for a late night DJ set by Selim Cenkel a friend of Karel and Maks' from Istanbul.
No comments:
Post a Comment