dear all,
istanbul has been amazing, if we had known ahead how much we would love it here would have tried to get another week of holidays.Theres so much to see just in istanbul, and the rest of the country is suppose to be just as amazing. I would love to come back and see more of the country one day.
On sunday night we went to the whirling dervishes. On the way we walked through the istanbul station which was a stop on the original orient express journey. The whirling dervishes are sufi muslims who whirl around in order to enhance their prayers and concentration. There was trance like music being played by a small band with a flute, drums and a few turkish string instruments. Then the whirlers come out in long black coats with huge white dress like garments underneath, and after a few prayers and bows they began whirling with their arms in the air and their heads turned to the side. It was quiet creepy watching them in a such a trance like state, it almost felt like i was intruding.The spun for 5 mins and stopped and i though that all, but then they began spinning again and kept going for 5 more sets of 5 minutes, it was really making me dizzy watching them, but still amazing to witness their devotion and continual whirling.
Yesterday, Dan and I wandered around the grand bazaar. A huge covered market selling everything from gold jewellery to carpets to aladin lamps to gorgeous ceramic dishes and antique jewellery. The place is a maze of shops, and we got seriously lost. In the end we practised our haggling and i bought a dark red pashmina (silk + cashmere scarfe), its gorgeous and i got him down from 40 turkish lira to 20 (10 pounds) , so I was happy with that for my first haggling attempts. Dan also haggled a silver bracelet, because his orginal bracelet we left at home because the catch was so worn down.We haggled for a while,and even got a glass of apple tea bought into the deal.
From there we found a great little shop selling turkish delight!!mmm, it was the real stuff and tasted amazing. We sat in a small park and watched the feral cats wander around. Although there not so feral, a turkish friend explained that noone in istanbul has pets, so they treat the feral cats as pets, and everyone feeds them, so they are quiet tame. I was eating my turkish delight and all these little eyes were watching me!
Yesterday we went into the blue mosque, which i think will always remain a highlight of all my travels. There was a dodgy side entrance for foreigners,and we had to take our shoes of and cover our heads with a scarfe. We were then ushered in the back door with a small friendly pamphlet explaining islam.The mosque was amazing inside, the walls and domes were covered in painted gold, blue, green and red tiles and there were huge stained windows all around the domes, and then dark red soft carpet covering all of the floor. There was so much light and colour, it was beautiful and totally different to the european churches. Then hanging from the roof were huge racks with small glass cups holding lights that were dangling just above our heads. It was breathtaking and enhanced by the silence and seeing people in front of us bowed in prayer. We sat for a while and read the pamphlet attempting to understand what was going on around us.
Late arvo we headed back to our hostel and chilled upstairs. There are four levels and the top level is covered in floor level couches and huge big cushions and tables. It was totally relaxing and we had a few beers and chatted to a lady who use to be the aus representative for kumuka travels, an american teaching in czech repub,alaskan doctor, couple of other aussies and a girl who has just come from travels in iran, oh and a quiet belgium student studying in istanbul.there were also a few turkish people who worked at the hostel chilling with us. It was a great atmosphere and the hostel put on a free spag dinner for us and everyone chatted and ate. After dinner we had the shisha pipe going. Shisha is a water pipe, with a long tube that you smoke from. There is a water held in the bottom, and above there was a small ceramic dish that contains the apple flavoured tabacco covered in foil and then a charcoal placed over the top. It produces sweet apple flavoured smoke, and dosnt taste strong at all.
A great night and day ended with a really hot shower and some more beers, and a good bed.The hostel has been amazing.
jxo
p.s.please see the new photos!
