Day 10: A Hamam & A Harem, Part 1

Cinili Hamam

Today we wake up eager to start over with Istanbul. We wanted so badly to love it here, but our exhaustion and frustration got the better of us yesterday.  We wake, shower, and share coffee with Figen. She tells us to go to the Cinili Hamam, one that is nearby. She explains that it was once beautiful inside, with mosaics covering the walls, but it had been stripped of the tiles years ago. How awful! She calls us a cab, tells him where to take us, and we hop in.

He drops us off and we shyly approach the entry-way, having no idea what to expect. We find the women's entrance and gather the courage to enter. I am thrilled and excited to have a second chance at this experience (I passed it up in Morocco and regretted it), but I am still quite nervous. I have very little understanding as to how things will unfold and what little I do know is based off the stories of the girls who went to a hamam in Morocco. A Turkish hamam could be very different.

Exterior of Cinili Hamam 

We walk into a lobby-type area where 3 or 4 women are sitting around chatting. One who seems to be the owner/leader ushers us in and asks what we want (I think). We try to explain that we want a peel and massage. She gets the idea and pushes us into a dressing/undressing room and gives us towels. Weird thing: the changing room has a giant glass window into the lobby. Why bother sticking us in a room? Christine and I wore bathing suits, though most go nude or at least topless. We, of course had no such intention. We take off our clothes, wrap the towel around our bathing-suited bodies, and slip on some water proof sandals they left for us in the room (I don't even want to begin to think about how many people have shared these shoes).

The old lady then guides us through the maze of halls. The deeper we go, the hotter it gets. Finally we walk into a huge open room with niches all around the walls and a big marble slab platform in the center. Below are pictures of this room in the hamam...I guess it would be considered the main room:

The woman takes us to one of the niches where we are told to sit down on either side of a large sink on the floor. The marble is heated. She turns the sink on and sets down a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo. She hands us plastic bowls like the red ones in the second picture above. She stares at us, waiting. Waiting for what? Finally she grabs the bowl from my hand, sticks it under the faucet and then pours it right on my face. A splash of hot water. (It probably would not have been so "in-the-face" had I not been looking up at her questioningly. Rather, it would have been over my head.) As this happens, Christine breaks into wild laughter which echoes in the big empty room. Apparently my facial reactions were worth such laughter. The woman dousing me began laughing too. And then I joined. She continued to poor water over me and then Christine for several minutes, effectively soaking us.  

Once she finishes, she says something in Turkish and leaves. So we wait, and wait, and wait. We have not idea what we are supposed to be doing, especially with no other women in the bath for us to observe and learn from. The sinks have no drain so the hot water begins to pour over the sides of the sink. We decide to continue to pour water over us with our bowls, I suppose to feel like we are doing something useful, and talk and laugh. Mostly laugh. Our outbursts echo throughout the hot, empty room. Anything was funny.  The woman comes back, accompanied by another woman, both of whom are now topless. The original woman takes me to the large slab tabletop and lays me down on my stomach. The other woman takes Christine and does the same. 

She begins to "peel" me. Essentially rubbing my entire body down with a rough sponge-type thing. Literally everywhere (my rear end...unfortunately she pulled down my bathing-suit bottom, my armpits, etc.). She tries to remove my bathing-suit top, and fails, luckily. She rolls me over, then sits me up. When she takes my hand to do my arm, I gasp. I can see the dead skin covering my arm. I couldn't believe it. She laughs at me and takes me back to the sink. More water pouring begins, then she washes my hair and takes me back to the marble slab. Next comes the best part. The soft message. This was my favorite part. It felt amazing. Just what I needed after a week of sleeping on a bus and lugging around my backpack. When she was done, she sends me back to the sink and instructs me to pour water over myself. 

Once Christine joins me and we finish, the lady guides us back to the main room where the changing room is. We step in and quickly dress in our fresh clothes, pay, and walk outside. I CANNOT believe how relaxed and clean I feel. I have never felt so clean in my life. I also didn't realize how dirty I had felt throughout this trip. No offense to Istanbul, but it is one of the dirtiest cities I have yet to visit. We decide to walk back to Figen's, using a map she had given us with her location circled. We walk...a lot, but eventually make it back. We recount our experience at the hamam with Figen and tell her we are now planning to visit Topkapi. This will be our first venture over to the European side of Istanbul so Figen tells us how to catch a ferry from Kadikoy to Eminonu. 

So, off we go. We catch a dolmus to Kadikoy and a ferry to Eminonu. I really grew to love the daily 20 minute ferry rides. It is only about 3TL (roughly $1.75) to go from one side to the other. Riding on the blue water with the wind blowing across your face. It was one of those simple moments that I grew to deeply appreciate. We arrive in Eminonu to crowds, throngs, swarms of people with the backdrop of domes and minarets towering over us:

 

We wander aimlessly toward the direction that is away from the port and masses of people and find ourselves walking by shops, restaurants (nothing cute or special, this part of the city is pretty commercialized and boring), and small roads leading off who knows where. We are hungry for lunch so we stop at a place that makes smoothies on one side of the "restaurant" and sandwiches, burgers, etc. on the other.  Like most restaurants in this area, rather than having a door, there is a big opening. The walls on either side offering different choices and tables for sitting in between. We both get a fruit smoothie and a pita sandwich. Delicious! We chow down on the yummy food and we are off to Topkapi.

Asheville Abridged

I had an engagement session to shoot at the Biltmore this weekend and decided to make a weekend mini-vacation out of it and Lawrence came along. We didn't do much other than wander the streets and eat yummy, yummy food. But it was wonderfully relaxing and a nice change of pace.

 

On the road

Downtown at night 

Downtown

Local brews

A delicious dinner at Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian

Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian

Rooftops

I have been working on the next post for Turkey. In the mean time, here is a photograph of rooftops in Istanbul.

Luncheon in the Grass

I have been bad about posting lately...things have gotten crazy. But here is a stunning photograph by the Virginia-native Sally Mann. One of my absolute favorite photographers/artists. Period.

Gorgeous.

Day 9: Failed Attempt at Relaxation

This day starts off a bit rocky. I go to take a shower before Figen wakes up and manage to break the shower head. I panic and get Christine and we realize it is unfixable. When Figen wakes, we tell her what happened. I felt so bad, I didn't even know this woman and here I am breaking her stuff. She is so gracious and relaxed about the whole thing. She says something to the effect of : "It's such a small thing. It has no effect on the day. There is no reason to stress or worry over it. It is something that can be easily fixed." This was how Figen approached life. She is so at peace. So open and has an understanding of what is truly important in life. It was eye-opening. I have never met someone like her, and I instantly wanted to be just like her. I've been trying to get there over the past year or so, but she made me realize that I am not even close. There was a reason this woman came into my life, and I am so thankful that she did.

So, after the showerhead debacle, we had a wonderful homemade Turkish breakfast with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, olives, bread, eggs, coffee, & peynir (of course!). It was delicious and so wonderful to enjoy it out on her porch which overlooked the Bosphorus and the European side of Istanbul (there is a picture further down of her view at sunset).

After breakfast we decide we want to relax by the water so we ask Figen which of the Princes' Islands are the best for this. She seemed a bit befuddled by the idea of laying on the beach, they don't really have beaches in Istanbul...but she suggested Heybiliada and Buyukada for that sort of thing. So we bathing-suited up and left for the ferries down by the water.

We decide to go first to Heybiliada which is the second largest island. We each buy a tost (essentially a grilled cheese sandwich) and some fruit and walk in the direction of the beach according to the English-speaking islanders that we were able to find. We walk for quite some time and when we were probably getting close, some wild dogs came and bothered us. We were both getting nervous. I am getting particular nervous since we are walking with food and they are far more aggressive than other dogs have been when it comes to getting our attention. Finally we realize we are not relaxed and are not having fun and we have walked probably 20 minutes in search of beach and decided we shouldn't force ourselves to do something if we are uncomfortable. So thanks to the dogs, we turn around and walk back toward the port area. We eat our tost and get some gelato and decide to catch a ferry to the largest of the Princes' Islands, Buyukada.

Heybiliada port

We arrive at Buyukada and are greeted by masses of people, strands of shops and restaurants with pushy waiters standing outside trying to draw us in. This island screams touristy. Not what we wanted. We wander a while, our hearts dropping by the minute as we slowly realize this is not the day we wanted to have. What happened to relaxing on the beach. There are some cute, low key streets where the hotels and inns are located, but overall, Buyukada is a bust. Of course we did not search the entire island for a beach, but we did not want to pay for transportation as it would have been a horse and buggy ride (cars are not permitted on the islands) and we were just too grumpy to try that hard. So we check the time for the next ferry back to Kadikoy (the port on Asian Istanbul from which we left) and had about an hour to wait. We get cappuccinos to cheer ourselves up and talk about how we are going to relax in a city that makes it seem impossible to do so.

**In the past when I have traveled I tend to sight-see in a leisurely manner. I decide on one or two big sites that I want to visit that day and spend as much or as little time there as I see fit. (In Paris I set aside a whole day for the Louvre so I wouldn't feel rushed, granted I only stayed for 5 hours. But it's freeing to think that you have nowhere else to be and can devote as much of your time as you desire to wandering a giant art museum or walking palace grounds). The rest of the day, I put my map in my pocket and just wander, wherever my feet take me is right where I want to be. When fatigue sets in, it's time for a cafe stop for some coffee and perhaps reading until I'm ready to march on. If you are spending enough time in a city, it's definitely the best way to sight-see and visit. Eat the cheap street food (nine times out of ten it's delicious), get lost, go to the local markets. It's the best way to get the feel for the culture and way of life in a foreign place. It's important to do the touristy stuff too, but never limit yourself to just that. I found some of my favorite spots when traveling Europe by simply wandering.**

So, after sharing this with Christine, we decide to visit one tourist site each day, and then wander and explore until we are ready to return home. Our goals are simply to see the things we came to see, experience the culture of Istanbul, and stay relaxed while doing so. Feeling a lot better, we catch our ferry back to Kadikoy.

Buyukada street

By the water at Buyukada

Catching a dolmus back to Uskudar (Figen's neighborhood) is quite a task. To a newcomer, the way that the dolmus system (if you can even call it a system, it seems so unorganized) works is not easily decipherable. In fact, it is terribly confusing. Eventually we find the right dolmus and hop on. We attempt to tell the driver where we want to go (so he can tell us when to get off, since we have no earthly idea) and we somehow make it to Figen's. We chat with her for a bit and ask where is a good place to get dinner. She makes a recommendation to go down to Kuzguncuk (near the water, where we met her the night before) where there are numerous restaurants to choose from and recommends a bakery with delicious cakes and treats for dessert. We shower and walk down to Kuzguncuk. After wandering a bit, we find a restaurant within our price-range down near the water called "MM". What a funny night.

The waiter does not speak a lick of English, but bless his heart, he tries so hard to please us. Constantly checking on us, always smiling, playing pranks, and making sure we get the food that we want. He even brings over a frequent customer that spoke English to help us order (even though the menu was in English). We laugh a lot and all of our frustration from the day melts away. After some delicious peynir, vegetables, and bread, we walked by the bakery and get a piece of cake to take with us. We walk home and talk to Figen about our next day's plans. Some of my favorite moments of the trip are those spent with Figen, whether it is talking about something menial, having a deep discussion about living life fully, or sitting quietly at the breakfast table on her balcony, just enjoying the view. She has such a wonderful view on life and I learned so much from her. It truly felt like we gained a friend...but we aren't saying our goodbyes yet! Christine and I do our laundry and settle down for bed. Tomorrow, we are visiting a hamam (a Turkish bath) and will then conquer Topkapi Palace!

View from Figen's home

*[[The body of water is the Bosphorus Strait and it divides European Istanbul from Asian Istanbul. We are on the Asian side. The European side is where all of the sites are so each day we take a ferry across the water. Figen lives at the top of a large hill and we walked down toward the water from here (only about a 15 minute walk) to Kuzguncuk.]]*

Day 8: To Istanbul We Go!

After a GLORIOUS night's sleep in a BED, we wake early. We had originally planned to travel to Istanbul today and then take a one hour bus to Sile, a small beach town on the Black Sea. However, we discovered last night while searching for lodging that there really is nowhere cheap to stay...so our goal of much needed relaxation on the beach is a bust. At this point, we are much better at rolling with the punches. We have gotten used to not getting what or where we had planned.

Plan B: Istanbul for our final 7 days. This turns out to be the best idea we have had yet. However, we have nowhere to stay for the next three nights. After considering hostels on the European side for more than we wished to pay, we find an apartment in what seems to be a peaceful area of the Asian side with a young woman who rents her guest bedroom out to travelers. Via email we finalize everything in time for breakfast in the lobby and a Nescafe at a nearby cafe (I do not believe I have yet explained our relationship with Nescafe. It is very much a love/hate relationship. Turkish coffee (kahve) is far to strong for my liking, as I do not like drinking teeny cups of sugary mud. The Turkish stand-in for "regular" coffee is Nescafe. It is instant coffee that tastes kind of like hot chocolate with a coffee essence. For us coffee addicts, it is not an adequate substitute. Yet, we continue to drink it throughout the trip except for the occasional cafe stops where we pay a little extra for a cappuccino because we just need it that bad. Like I said, addicts.)

We take a cab out to the otogar to catch our 11:30(ish) bus to Istanbul. As with every instance of travel we triple check that a bus is in fact coming to this location at the aforementioned time to take us to Istanbul. As we wait outside on a bench, enjoying the sunshine, a friendly police officer comes to talk to us. When we mention we are from America he makes little guns out of his fingers/hands (like you do as a kid), draws them from his "holster", points and shoots, saying "Cowboy!!" If I could even tell you how many times I have heard that line when abroad, you wouldn't believe it.

As promised, the bus arrives and we hop aboard, front two seats as usual (I swear they reserve these seats for "special" travelers that don't know what's going on, because every time we bought a bus ticket they gave us those seats). And, as we do on every bus trip, when the attendant comes around offering us a drink we jump at the opportunity for some Nescafe. Do not ask me why (well, I know for me it was often in the hopes that the caffeine would make me more alert so I won't be so miserable on the overnight trips where I'm too tired to read but not horizontal enough to sleep. Of course, alertness doesn't really come with Nescafe because I'm pretty sure there is no caffeine. It was just a mind game.). Though we almost hit a cow (literally feet, maybe inches from the poor animal) we make it to Istanbul safe and sound. Now, we are expecting to be taken to the same otogar that we spent those lovely 12 hours in on our first day in Istanbul. But, there are 14 billion otogars in Istanbul (a gross exaggeration, but I don't care), so every time we stop we pester the bus attendant asking if it is our stop. We reach the final stop. The bus is going no more. And this is NOT the place where we were a week ago. For some reason this freaked us out, even though every other place we had been thus far was obviously brand new to us. After asking a bunch of people for the metro, we finally find someone who gives us clear instructions. We must go up. We were outside on a bunch of roads/parking lots that seemed to be under a bunch of other roads/parking lots. It was so blasted confusing. Once we get UP, we suddenly know where we are. The OTOGAR from a week ago. Boy did we feel like ugly, American idiots after we repeatedly argued that this was not the otogar they were saying it was...

We find the metro and a map and begin trying to decipher how we are to get from the European side of Istanbul, over to the Asian side, to an area called Kuzguncuk, where Figen, the owner of the apartment we are to be staying in, said to go. This was quite possibly the second worst experience of the trip.

It turns out we are to take a metro to the end and it drops us off in what must be the center of metropolitan Istanbul and we so cleverly planned to hit this stop right as everyone is getting off of work. Seriously, could we get better at this fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants traveling thing? Once we buy our ticket I walk right up to some guy who appeared friendly enough, and score!! He explains in detail, even wrote things down, how to go to where we want to go. He offers to wait and take the same tram as us, but we have such large backpacks and are weary to wedge ourselves into a tram so we decide to wait for one that is less packed. Of course that imaginary train never comes, so eventually we shimmy into a tram and off we go. Lesson #1: People are meaner in Istanbul. And by meaner, I mean your typical city-folk. The rest of Turkey spoiled us. Everyone is worried about themselves. No "I'm sorry" or, "You look exhausted, why don't you take a seat". Instead it was a battle for a seat. As soon as we see one opening up, it is a test to see who can get there faster. Luckily, we have a little extra weight to throw around and though speed is not in our favor, we manage to snag some seats by seeming unable to handle our baggage and accidentally pushing others with it. FINALLY, a break for our bodies. We are still sweating profusely and probably smelling lovely (maybe that's why we got the seats) but, at least we can put down our bags.

Finally, we arrive at our stop and we are parched and feeble from lack of food (aka peynir, aka the magnificent cheese). We stumble into the first restaurant we see and a very amused waiter comes to our aid, bringing us water and delicious food, yummy coffee (that I do not believe was Nescafe if I remember correctly) and some complimentary tea ( I think he just wanted us to stick around). Figen texts us and has a party to go to so she suggests a cafe to hang out at and she will meet us there later.

We thank our waiter and hail a cab. The driver does his best to take us to Betty Blue in Kuzguncuk. When we can't find it he pulls over, insists that we stay in the car and runs to the nearest man asking for directions. Once he understands, he literally drives something like 30 feet down the road, back the way we came, and drops us off at the doorstep. Adorable. So there are SOME nice people in Istanbul.

Sadly, this is the only photo taken this day. Tea at Betty Blue.

Figen shows up after we are on our second cup of tea and we hop in her sister's car and drive to her apartment. It was beautiful. The view of the Bosphorus with the European side across the water was simply stunning. However, we are exhausted so we thank her for picking us up and crawl into bed. AHH yes, another bed. I am one happy camper.

Milo

The Big Day

Sarah and Eric's highlight video is finally done! It was a blast to put together since it is filled with people I love! There were some technical difficulties which were unfixable, but overall I think it represents all the love and fun that was shared that day...to view the video click HERE.

Top Five

One of my top 5, best experiences of my life! The Hagia Sophia/Aya Sofya! I decided I'm going to devote an entire post to the pictures and emotions from my visit to the site later on once I edit them all. But, I edited this one tonight and got too excited not to post. So far, this is the only thing I have seen that repeatedly caused me to cry throughout my entire visit. A monumental event to go on my life's timeline :)

Aya Sofya, Istanbul, Turkey 2012

Other World

Cappadoccia diptych

Puppy Love

My parent's dog Charlie is visiting so Milo has a 24/7 playmate for the next week. Naturally, I took some photos of the little cousin pups. Aren't they handsome...

Day 7 : The Day of Three Cities

Today is going to be a long one. We wake at 3:15 and are on the road by 4am. It's about a 4 hour drive to Ankara, where we are to drop the car off before 9am. It was a beautiful drive through the Turkish countryside.

We arrive at the Ankara airport, and after driving around the same loop multiple times, we figure out where to return the car. We go in through security and use the restroom to freshen up and then go in search of food. We hang for a bit until about 2 hours before our bus leaves. We go back outside in search of the airport transfer bus that goes to the otogar. It was more difficult than it should have been, but as always, we come across kind strangers that point us in the right direction.

Ankara, Turkey's capital city, was extremely unappealing from the bus window. It was huge, overcrowded, smoggy. Just your typical jam-packed, dirty city. We repeatedly state how happy we are we did not plan to stay in Ankara. We arrive at the otogar, and it's HUGE! Like a giant sports arena. We find our bus "port" and wait for it's arrival. We board and off we go to our next stop: Safranbolu!!

View from the bus out at the otogar before departure

After a relatively short (3 hours) bus trip, we arrive in Safranbolu. We had the kindest bus driver EVER who, once we arrived at the otogar, made sure we were set up with a cab to take us to our hostel. He made a phone call and everything! 10 minutes later, we are in the heart of an UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a gorgeous town that was made a world heritage site due to the unique architecture throughout the city. 

We meet the owners of the hostel. It's a cute old man & woman and their son. The son speaks English and gives us the run down. We then venture out into the city. First stop: ice cream! We continue to wander until we come across an artisan market with all kinds of cool things. Safranbolu is a city of winding, cobblestone streets with adorable shops, restaurants, and bakeries. 

 A street through the art market

When hunger sets in we search for a restaurant and settle on one in the art market. It was not very good. But the woman was so sweet. We wander a bit more to an area that overlooks the city. The views were pretty incredible. 

Eventually we make it back to our hostel and settle in for a good, full night's rest. FINALLY!

Day 6: In Transit to the Land of the Fairy Chimneys

We arrive in Konya at something like 6am. Through several conversations in broken English/hand-gesturing we manage to figure out how to get a cab to the Konya airport. It's a beautiful, cool morning. The sun has just risen. Everything is so peaceful. Once we get to the teeny-tiny Konya airport, we hop out and attempt to make our way inside. Someone outside asks us where we are flying to. We try to explain that we are simply here to rent a car. But, of course he has no idea what we are saying despite our emphatic reenactments of driving a car. We clearly were never meant to be mimes. I'm okay with that.

We manage to get in and get through security though they are all oddly angry with us for, apparently not speaking English. Perhaps they thought we were going to act as squaters in the airport (no one seemed to understand why we didn't have plane tickets). We sit for 3 hours, until 9am rolls around, when we are scheduled to pick up our car. Now that was a fiasco. The Budget car rental agent didn't speak much English so his buddy from one of the other car rental kiosks came over and managed to assist with the transaction/arrangement. It was an ordeal to say the least, but Christine somehow managed to walk away with a kiss on her hand. I don't know.

We get in the car which ended up being a manual (this was not specified, luckily I knew how to drive a stick-shift). Christine had not brought her driver's license so I was the DD for our trip to Goreme.

Of course the hostel we are going to is unfindable by the oober-trustworthy GPS. I love technology. And apparently since technology is so blasted fantastic, they don't make quality maps anymore. We drive around Nevsehir (the city next to Goreme) trying to find a map that will get us to Goreme. We stop and I buy the poorest excuse for a road map I have ever seen....somehow we manage to get back to the interstate and to Goreme (I honestly couldn't tell you how that wondrous feat was achieved). 

Goreme is a city located in the region of Turkey called "Cappadoccia". Cappadoccia is, hands down, one of THE most INCREDIBLE places I have ever visited. As we drove in, this is what we began to see:

We arrive to our hostel around 2 in the afternoon or so. It's AWESOME!! I wish we had taken a picture of the outside. Many of the hotels and hostels are essentially caves built into the rock formations/rock mountains. Here is the inside of our hostel room (we had the whole room to ourselves!):

The proprietor was such a nice man who ran it with his wife and son (about 12 years old). The son brought us coffee and the proprietor (whose name now escapes me) gave us some maps and advised us on what to do since we had such a short time there (literally the rest of that day, which I regret still!!) We quickly showered and went out to find some lunch. 

Then, as suggested by our hostel owner, we went to the open air museum. The open air museum was a collection of cave houses/buildings in a single area. This area also contained 12 churches. It was where St. Basil lived and taught, as did many others who came to stay and learn about the bible/Christianity. The inside of the caves were very simplistic, mainly just with carefully shaped mounds to make a dining table, etc. 

After we visited the open air museum, we hiked to the top of one of the rock-mountain formations for some spectacular views!

And then wandered over to Love Valley where we walked/hiked/tumbled/laughed/awed over the fairy chimneys. It is said that the inhabitants of the area used to worship these formations, believing them to be the homes to fairies.

Stunning. I never got over how incredible and beautiful this landscape was. These photographs do not do it justice.

We wander back to the hostel early and are in bed around 8pm since we have to get up at 3. Yes, 3am. 

[[Most of these photos are not edited. At a later date I will pick some of the better images and pretty them up a bit.]]