Meandering Muslim Mosques and Repulsive Raki

After sleeping in from a very long day of travel and night out on the town, we went to our hostel’s rooftop terrace for some a complimentary meal of eggs, fruit and Turkish tea. Being centrally located in the historic district made it convenient to step out our front door and begin exploring the sights.  Stop number one was the famous Aya Sofya, a nearly 2,000 year old structure that was originally built as the grandest church in Christendom and later converted to a mosque.  The dome inside the structure was quite magnificent as were the few beautiful mosaics made of gold and other precious stones.

Stop number two was the Hippodrome on our way to the Blue Mosque. The Hippodrome is basically a long narrow obelisk garden that was once used as a course for chariot races. We saw a hieroglyphic covered obelisk, one created in a spiral pattern and the largest that looked like a big Jenga set-up and was once covered in massive bronze plates.  

While admiring the sheer size of the obelisks we began hearing loud chants being projected from the nearby mosque and the numerous loudspeakers they use to project their prayers throughout the City. We followed the chants to the Blue Mosque and discovered that the local Muslims would be praying in the Mosque and it wouldn’t re-open for the next hour. 

 With the closure of the Mosque, we took the opportunity to find our way over the Historic Grand Bazaar.  This labyrinth shopping mall with over 4,000 stores felt like the Goldenwest swapmeet on steroids with some serious hagglers and salesman vying for your attention and lira. Jennifer was quickly sucked into some nice jewelry stores and Sam saw some cool t-shirts he liked. When all was told we became a little overwhelmed and ended without any purchases except for chicken and lamb wraps topped off with a Turkish ice-cream cone. 

After we fueled up with our lunch we decided to head back to the Blue Mosque and see if prayer time was over. Before entering we were required to take off our shoes and had to go in a special non-muslim entrance. The inside was beautiful with lots of natural light coming through beautiful stained glass windows. Numerous domes and half domes made the ceiling quite impressive as it towered over the cozy carpet covered flooring that our bare feet were enjoying (not until I just wrote that did I realize how gross it is that everyone is walking around on the carpet with their dirty, athlete’s foot covered, fungus growing feet). We enjoyed the sights of the Blue Mosque and set out for a brief nap back at our room before getting ready for the evening.

On our way to Taksim (the new part of town that is more western/modern with a plethora of shops and bars) we decided to grab some local snacks from food vendors haggling us to buy their treats. From their enthusiasm you would assume their products must be blissfully mouth watering… however, the fire roasted chestnuts were quite a let down and the corn was quite mushy and had the consistency of taffy after a few chews. We still enjoyed the treats and were glad we tried them.

The remainder of our walk to Takism was quite pleasant as we stopped to scope out a few sites and did a little casual shopping along the way. We grabbed a brew and salad to re-energize from our stroll across the Bosphorous River and up some steep grades. The bar was a random pick but a good one as the college age clientele reminded us of how much fun study breaks were during our days at UCLA and UCSB. We finished walking the main strip of Taksim and hopped on the tram heading towards our end of town. 

While we had planned on having a brief dinner and quick cocktail, our evening once again took us into the wee-hours of the night. Our first drink consisted of Raki… a Turkish hard alcohol that we had been told was a beverage that all visitors must experience. Save yourself a trip to Beverages and More as this is a drink you can do without. Raki is probably the stiffest alcohol we have ever tasted… even after being watered down with about 10 ounces of water. It was hard not to gag during each sip. With that said, you better believe that we finished the drink because we weren’t going to be “those wimpy Americans” who can’t handle their booze (even though we really were).  Our meal at the restaurant was quite enjoyable and we enjoyed the company of a traveler from Germany. We also befriended two men from South Africa who were in town for business.  One was a fire chief and the other a sales rep for fire equipment and they were doing some sort of fire related business in town.  It was fun talking with them about the fire world in South Africa and how it is both similar and different than in the states. Our night finished with a couple more beers to wash down the Raki and we were off to bed.