If the airport was anything to go by Istanbul was going to
be a challenge. Rude visa staff barking orders and demanding US dollars despite
the sign on the window saying pounds were accepted. Never ending queues to get
through passport control with no real order, people just crowded together
jostling for the next spot, the stuffy airport heat making the wait more
uncomfortable.
Istanbul however was a surprising city and one I would go
back to a well as making it onto the ‘I could live here’ list. It’s a city full
of history, winding cobbled stone streets throughout the old city, delicious
food with 101 different ways to cook eggplant (heaven for an eggplant lover
like myself) and clean streets, a nice change from many of Europe’s other major
tourist cities where rubbish and graffiti cover the streets.
The city was a view into the past with grand palaces, giant
mosques and insights into ancient civilisation still present from the Ottoman Empire
when Sultan’s reigned. While there was always something to see or do it was
also nice to relax on the roof top terrace, an amazing view of the impressive Blue
Mosque on one side and the Marmara Sea on the other with a cool sea breeze
often blowing.
The city was both modern, with its shopping strips in Taksim
square, and charmingly old with the grand bazars and traditional Turkish bath
houses.
To visit Turkey and not experience a traditional bath house
service would be a sin and it is an interesting experience to say the least.
Women and men are separated and after getting changed into a cotton robe I
found myself walking into a huge marble, stone, domed room built in 1584 where
I was requested to lay on the giant round stone slab along with the other women
to let my pours open. Old Turkish ladies walk around performing the cleaning
process one woman at a time. After
sweating profusely for 20 minutes it was my turn to be exfoliated like never
before. My skin was scrubbed raw all over by an old Turkish lady who then
enveloped me in bubble bath washing me from head to toe before depositing me in
a refreshing plunge pool. I walked out feeling cleaner then I had in weeks, the
stress of previous travel completely gone and my skin thoroughly scrubbed and clean,
ready for the next stop on my trip.
