Turkey Part I: Istanbul

Last month just before Thanksgiving, Kyle and I made a trip to Turkey.  We did not see or eat any turkeys in Turkey, and our weather was pretty gray and gloomy, but we had a wonderful trip anyways.  We started our tour with a few days in Istanbul before going to the central region of Cappadocia.  We were both amazed at the incredible history and sights, great food and the welcoming people of Turkey.  

Istanbul straddles two continents;  Europe and Asia, separated by the Bosporus Strait.  Most of the historical sites are on the European side, which is divided by the Golden Horn into the Old Town (Sultanahmet) and the New Town.  The Sultanahmet was colonized by Greeks back in 667 BC. It is such a blend of cultures.  Istanbul has been inhabited by many great civilizations such as the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines and the Ottomans.  That blend of cultures, past and present, is certainly visible in the sights of Istanbul.

We arrived in Istanbul early in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to do some touring on our first day.  We stayed in a nice hotel very close to the iconic sights of the city.  We started off in the Underground Basilica Cistern, which is the largest of hundreds of water storage cisterns built in the 6th century by Justinian I.  It is a really unique, surreal place.  It almost looks like a cathedral that's been flooded and forgotten.  We've definitely not seen anything like it before!

Our first glimpse of the Blue Mosque...so impressive!

From the cistern, we went on to check out the Spice Bazaar.  While there are a lot of spices, teas, and sweets sold there, it also has a lot of other stuff being sold as well.  Walking through the bazaars in Turkey reminded me of  the kiosks in American malls where they are trying to get you to try their nail products...they're relentless!  Kyle had to be sneaky about taking pictures too...

The busy streets outside of the bazaar

Relaxing with the cutest cappuccino ever after dodging salesmen at the bazaar 

That evening we went on a dinner cruise on the Bosporus Strait.  The skyline of the city looks really beautiful lit up at night.  There was entertainment on the cruise, such as a belly dancer and performers that did traditional Turkish dances.  Touristy and cheesy?  Yes.  Fun and entertaining?  Absolutely!

Kyle and I aren't always into guided tours, but there is so much to see in Istanbul, and so much history, we thought a guided tour would be a good way to see and learn as much as possible.  We started off at the Hippodrome of Constantinople, which was a center of sporting and social activities dating back to AD 203.  The only thing left of the Hippodrome today are a column, and a couple of obelisks, which were all brought in from other places long ago.  The Serpent column dates back to the 5th century BC, and the Egyptian obelisk of Thutmose III dates back to 1490 BC.

One of the most well know sights in Istanbul is the Hagia Sophia.  It has such an interesting history.  It was once a church built by Constantine, was later turned into a mosque and is now a museum.  The original structure dates back to 537, but has been changed and reconstructed throughout its history.  The interior is incredibly beautiful and is an interesting mix of Islam and Christianity.  I really loved the beautiful mosaics.

The Deësis mosaic dates from around 1261

Of course no trip to Turkey would be complete without a carpet demonstration and sales pitch.  It was actually pretty interesting and was quite a spectacle.  They rolled out tons of different types of carpet, telling us the history of the patterns, how they're made, etc.  There were a couple that caught my eye, but several hundred euros is a bit much for an impulse buy!

From there we spent a little bit of time at the Grand Bazaar, a famous covered market that dates back to medieval times.  The Grand Bazaar is a colorful maze of shops selling everything from carpets, lamps, and scarves to cheese and pastries.  There are over 3,000 shops on 61 streets.  We barely scratched the surface during our short visit there!  It's kind of stressful for us shopping there, because we hate to haggle, and if you don't haggle you'll get ripped off!  It's a very interesting place to stroll around.

In Islamic countries, you'll hear the call to prayer coming from the speakers at every mosque five times a day.  Our tour was on a Friday, which is the Islamic holy day, and the mosques were overflowing, so people prayed in the streets.

Our next stop was the Blue Mosque, or the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, probably Istanbul's most recognizable sight.  It's a huge mosque situated across a large square facing the Hagia Sophia.  The mosque dates back to 1609, and is called the Blue Mosque because of it's gorgeous blue interior decoration.  It was very crowded inside because visitors are not allowed in during prayer time, so they crowd in when they can.  It's a very impressive space.

The area for ablution outside of the mosque

The Blue Mosque at night

Our last visit of the day was the Topkapi palace.  It's a beautiful palace complex that visits more like a museum rather than a traditional palace tour.  The palace was where Ottoman sultans lived for about 400 years.  It's a huge place, and you can see a wide variety of things, from treasury items, to sumptuously tiled relaxation rooms.  (Pictures were not allowed in many places.)

The next day we headed to another equally beautiful, but less touristy Ottoman mosque called the Süleymaniye Mosque.  It's the largest mosque in Istanbul, and dates back to 1550.  There were far fewer people inside, so it was much easier to take our time looking at the beautiful decoration.  On our way there, we walked through non-touristy areas and got a feel for what the city is like for "real people."

After our mosque visit, the weather turned pretty ugly.  It was rainy and very windy, which makes an umbrella kind of useless.  We kept going anyways.  We wanted to see a little bit of the new town, so we headed down to the Golden Horn.  We crossed the bridge where tons of fisherman were working, despite the unfavorable weather.  We took a funicular up a hill to the main pedestrian shopping street. The famous Galata tower was very close, but it was too cloudy and rainy for a good view, so we skipped it.  Instead, we walked up the very European looking shopping street, and ducked into a cafe for a while waiting for the rain to let up.  We then made our way up to Taksim square, which is a huge open square known as the heart of modern Istanbul.  It's also where the large protests took place back in 2013.

These fancy boats sell fish sandwiches and were very popular.

Looks like this could be any European city

The Republic Monument in Taksim Square

We turned in early that night since we would be heading out at 4:30 am the next day to catch our flight to Cappadocia.  (Stay tuned for the Cappadocia post!)  Kyle and I were both very impressed with Istanbul.  It's a very cool blend of eastern and western cultures.  They are very kind and welcoming to visitors.  The history and sites are pretty incredible, and the food was very good, which is always a plus!  (A note to others who might go to Istanbul: go during the low season!  I think the crowds and heat in the high season could make a person kind of miserable if they're anything like us!)  It is definitely a city you could return to many times and still not see everything.  Good thing it's just an easy flight away from Stuttgart!

Moroccan Adventure: Part 1

At the end of May, Kyle and I met our friend, Jason, for an amazing trip to Morocco.  We spent a week there and had an incredible experience.  We saw a little bit of everything; big cities, small Berber villages, mountains, waterfalls and deserts as well as meeting some wonderful people.  

You would think it would be pretty easy to get to Morocco from Stuttgart, but the journey took a lot longer than you would guess.  Our flight left Stuttgart at 6am (ugh) and we had an hour flight to Amsterdam.  Our layover in Amsterdam was supposed to be 3 hours, but our flight was delayed and the layover grew to 5 hours.  We finally left Amsterdam and flew into Casablanca.  From there, we were catching a train to get to Marrakech.  Because of the flight delay, we missed the train that we were wanting to catch.  Luckily, there was a later train that we still had to hustle to catch.  It was a four hour train ride from Casablanca to Marrakech.  The train was nice enough, but it was pretty hot!  We had some great views from the train of dry, arid mountains covered by cacti and sheep grazing while being watched by shepherds.  That's not something we're used to seeing!

 We finally made it to Marrakech at about 8 pm (9 pm German time).  At the train station, we met up with a driver who would take us to our riad.  (A riad is a type of house that is built around an open courtyard.  Now, a lot of riads have been turned into hotels.)  We quickly figured out that Morocco is not a place that we would want to attempt driving!  They drive like no one else is on the road!  Our driver drove us through the old city walls to the medina, or the old historic part of town.  It was right about dusk and we heard the evening call to prayer as we drove past the Koutoubia mosque.  It was a really neat way to be welcomed to the city.  

The Marrakech Train Station

Once we arrived, we were served delicious mint tea in the courtyard as we waited for our dinner.  They served us an amazing meal of tomato salad, eggplant salad, harira soup, chicken tajine with lemon and olives, and an assortment of cute little pastries for dessert.  We were pretty worn out after the long journey, so we went to sleep early.  We were definitely looking forward to meeting up with Jason the next afternoon!

After a tasty breakfast on the roof terrace, we had a couple of hours before Jason arrived.  We didn't want to see too much without him, so we headed up the busy main pedestrian street to the huge town square called Jemaa el-fna.  It is a fascinating place to just stand around and people watch.  The square is bustling with people doing all sorts of things like snake charming, offering henna, selling fresh orange juice, selling dentures, dancing, playing music, showing dressed up monkeys, etc.  You have to be careful when taking pictures, because most of these people will want money if they're in the picture, and they have eyes like hawks!  The snake charmer caught our eyes, and before we knew it, Kyle had two snakes around his neck and the guy had Kyle's camera snapping pictures for us!  I'm sure glad it wasn't me that they put the snakes on!

Breakfast on the terrace

From the town square we walked to the nearby Koutoubia mosque.  The original mosque built there dates back to 1147, but has gone through many changes.  Most mosques can only be entered by Muslims, so we just admired the beauty from the outside.

We had just a little bit of time before Jason arrived, so we had a drink at a restaurant.  Muslims do not drink alcohol, so it's not all that common in Arab countries.  However, restaurants and hotels in touristy areas serve it to the visiting westerners.  Morocco actually produces some nice wine!

We hadn't seen Jason in almost a year when we took a trip to Croatia, so it was great to see him!  (We really missed his fiance, Liz, though!)  We headed to a restaurant overlooking the square for lunch.  For some reason our funny server kept saying stuff as if he were a goat!

Delicious cous cous with veggies

Our view from lunch

After lunch we headed to the winding, narrow streets to visit the souks (specialty shops).  The souks in Morocco are well known for their hand made crafts such as leather, metal work, rugs, etc.  It was so interesting wandering through the maze-like streets.  There were so many things to look at, and so many smells!  You have the yummy scents of spices and grilled meats followed by the smells of the donkeys that they use to transport goods...(You get the picture.)  Our bonus was that Jason speaks Arabic, making communication 100 times easier, and it made people treat us better as well.

The covered streets are a great escape from the heat!

One of the souks we visited was a pharmacy/herbalist.  They sat us down, served us mint tea and gave us a huge presentation about their products.  They had all sorts of herbs, spices, essential oils, teas and cosmetics.  If you have an ailment, they have a cure for you!  (They even have a tea for ladies only to give you "big tits," in the words of the pharmacist.)  We bought some tea and argan oil, which is produced in Morcco.

He cleared our sinuses with black cumin seeds in a cloth...it was like sniffing horseradish!

After our shopping we toured the beautiful and intricate Ben Youssef Madrasa, which was an Islamic college dating back to the 14th century.  Pictorial representations are forbidden in Islam, so their architecture is decorated in intricate geometric patterns, mosaics, carvings and calligraphy.  The colors and patterns are really incredible.  

I spy a Jason head sticking out of the wall...

And a Kyle head, too!  (Jason's pic)

(Jason's pic)

We were all ready for a break after that, so we headed back to the riad to have some beer on the terrace before going to dinner.  At dusk, the huge town square becomes a night market.  Vendors come and set up temporary "restaurants" and entertainers come out to try to make some money.  We went to the vendor that was rated on Trip Advisor.  As we made our way there, we were bombarded by people with menus trying to get us to eat at their place.  I was glad to go to the one with the crowd since that meant that they had high turnover on their food, and it was less likely that the food had been sitting out for long, or even for a couple of nights.  (Which we heard was the case for some of these places.  Not good in summer heat!)  The food was very good, very cheap, and very quick!

Picking out our box of honey and nut pastries for dessert

The next day we ventured out across the old town to check out a different area.  It seemed much more like where the locals live and do business.  We walked through interesting food markets and some ancient looking buildings.

Bab (gate) Agnaou, 12th century

We also checked out the Bahia Palace, a newer 19th century palace and garden complex meant to exemplify Islamic and Moroccan architecture.  It was definitely a beautiful oasis in the middle of the busy city.

Reading up on the history

We had lunch on a sunny terrace next to the palace before making our way back to the riad for a little bit of rest during the afternoon heat.

Then we were ready to see the new part of town.  The "new town" has some really nice, impressive buildings, fountains, luxurious hotels, restaurants and sidewalk cafes.  It's probably where the young (and wealthy) Moroccans prefer to hang out.

Heading back to the old town, surrounded by historic red walls

We walked back to our riad in the old town and enjoyed some wine and a hookah before heading out to our amazing dinner.  (The hookah has flavored tobacco filtered through water.  Don't worry Mom, I'm not addicted :-)  The manager of our riad took us to a restaurant, just around the corner.  It was on a terrace overlooking the city.  There were musicians playing traditional music and belly dancers.  The food was delicious, but the view of Marrakech at dusk was the best part.  Hearing the evening call to prayer gives the city such an atmosphere.

Our amazing view at dinner (Too bad Kyle only had his iPhone with him!)

Jason's pic

If you listen closely you can hear the evening call to prayer in the video below.

We booked an excursion through the riad for our last day in Marrakech.  We were going to the Ourika valley in the High Atlas mountains.  It was about an hour and a half drive to get to the valley.  Along the way, we passed traditional Berber villages (the Berbers were the people native to Morocco), herds of animals and people walking alongside of their donkeys hauling their loads.  As we waited for our mini bus to come pick us up, we watched the people go by, preparing for the day ahead.

We stopped along the way to Ourika for some photo ops.  The rivers create lush, green valleys through the dry High Atlas mountains.

We also stopped at an pharmacy/herbalist shop and garden on our way to the valley.  They showed us how argan oil is made, went on a tour of the herb garden, and we sat through another spiel about their products.  (I din't mind too much.  It's pretty interesting!)  They offered a shoulder massage to us using the argan oil.  Jason was the only one that accepted their offer, which I'm glad I didn't since they had him take off his shirt in front of the group!

The traditional way of making argan oil

Beautiful views from the top floor

When we arrived at the Ourika valley, we met up with a guide.  Little did we know that we were going on a rugged hike up a mountain!  I expected a little hike, but the description of the excursion said nothing about climbing rocks and cliffs on the side of a mountain!  A lot of us were not wearing the proper footwear, including a lady wearing flip flops that looked about 8 months pregnant!  (She ended up going barefoot most of the time!)  However, it was a beautiful hike alongside a river that ended at a scenic waterfall.  The guide helped to hoist people up through the tricky parts.  During the entire thing, we kept thinking that this would never happen in America without signing a waiver!  Another funny thing was that all along the hike people were set up selling crafts and drinks.  People were trying to make money off of tourists at every turn in Morocco!

One of many shady looking bridges that we crossed

Tajines at a "restaurant" near the beginning of the hike

Jason enjoys the road less traveled...

I guess now I know that I can do anything in those shoes!

Traffic jam on the ladder!  One of the ladies coming down (with a different group going the opposite way) refused to go any further, so she turned around and went back.

We just climbed up from down there!

Along the river valley there were a bunch of restaurants that had tables set up along the river bed.  We ate lunch at one of the river restaurants, and were even serenaded after our meal.

Jason's pic

On our way back to Marrakech, we stopped to tour a traditional Berber house.  A guide showed us around.  His family actually lives in this house and he makes some extra money by doing these tours!

Churning butter

The kitchen (and a cat)

We had made reservations at a hamam near our riad for when we returned from our excursions.  Hamams are "baths" that are popular in Arab countries.  We all got the traditional hamam treatment, luckily in private, which isn't always the case at hamams.  First you change out of your clothes and they give you a tiny, funny little pair of disposable bikini bottoms to put on.  That's all...this is not for the modest!  (Jason was separate from Kyle and I.)  Then we went in a steam room and laid on a hot marble slab.  A lady first rinses you, then rubs oil on you.  You lay there for a few minutes while the oil absorbs into your skin, then she rinses you and exfoliates your skin with a scrubby glove.  Then she washes your body and your hair.  We were in the steam room for about 30 minutes total.  Then we went to a different room for an hour long full body massage.  It was a great, relaxing experience, especially after an afternoon of rock climbing!  (There are no pictures of the hamam for obvious reasons!)

We had another great dinner at a nearby restaurant that evening.  The next day we would be heading out on a two day excursion through mountains, desert and forest to slowly make our way to the incredible city of Fes.  Moroccan blog post part 2, coming soon!