Tur-Turkey-key!

"Chicken kebab, chicken kebab, chicken kebaaaaaaaaaaaabb!!!!"

This could be heard all over Turkey near any eating place

Istanbul was the city of... 
  - baklava (Yum! I think I may have put on an extra kilo in a week because of baklava)
  - smells (both delicious and disgusting) 
  - feral animals (there are dogs, cats and birds everywhere)

  - bad pop music covers (think of Savage Garden, Vanessa Carlton and Bill Withers...)
  - crazy drivers (they seem to specialise in tight squeezes down extremely narrow alleyways)
and last but certainly not least...
  - apple tea.

20th April - Leaving London with long lines
I left my house very early on Wednesday morning, to depart to Istanbul.  Despite leaving a large window of time to be able to catch my flight AND checking in online to save time... due to the longest line in Heathrow airport (ever) known to a person (slight exaggeration maybe), I ended up rushing to the gate to board my plane.  In addition to that, 'long airport lines' seemed to be a recurring theme for the entire trip.  

Waiting, waiting, waiting at London Heathrow airport 

Once arriving in Turkey, I waited a looooong time to pass through customs, along with the hundreds of others waiting to do the same... but again I was thankful for having ties to Finland.  It turns out that Turkey and Finland have an 'agreement' so I was not required to have a VISA to enter the country for the tour (yay!) which saved me yet another long-line wait.


The metro and tram transport system was a simple process but it took a little getting used to (for me, anyway!) as I couldn't understand any of the language.  It seemed rather simple once I understood it.  Buy a token, put it in a slot... get on the train (it didn't matter how far you went!)  And it was with that simple train of thought (pardon the pun) that I made my solo journey from the Atatürk airport into town to find my accommodation.  Our hostel was about a two minute walk from the Blue Mosque.

Sunset over the Blue Mosque on my first night in Istanbul

I met Mia late afternoon at our hostel.  Mia and I actually went to high school together and now after almost eight years, met up on the other side of the world and ended touring Turkey together!!  We walked west down the main road of Istanbul and came across store after store of extravagantly presented baklava.  It was too tempting to resist.  We dived in to the store and bought a piece of Cevizli Baklava (walnut - which ended up being my favourite.)  

Baklava!
Reflections of me and Mia 

After that, we turned around and walked north-east towards the port.  

Port down on the Bosphorus river

Mia braved trying some Kestane (smoked chestnuts) from one of the road carts.  She managed to convince me to try some too... which I instantly regretted.  I knew there was a reason I didn't want to try them in the first place!  They tasted like 'mushy nothing' but with a semi-smokey flavour.  

Kestane
Mia

Though I fixed the bad taste in my mouth by getting some dinner - meat kebabs and apple tea!!!  It was only when I was walking home that I realised I had ordered a 'meat' kebab... I'm not too sure what that vague title implies and I didn't let my mind wander too far on that thought!  

Apple tea at dinner

Mia and I just had to have a sweet fix, so we stopped by a local cafe and bought some more baklava where we were promptly told by a middle-aged Turkish man "Don't eat too much baklava - you'll get fat!!"  Quite frankly... I was prepared to take the risk. 


21st April - Exploring Istanbul
We awoke to a gorgeous (yet very cold and windy) day in the city.  At the beginning of our explorations, we got a little lost (what's new with me??!) in the backstreets trying to find the Little Ayasofya.  

Lost in the backstreets of Istanbul

When we found the Little Ayasofya, it was completely worth it.  It was a small mosque that seemed to be used in regular meetings.  It was the first experience I have ever had with the Islam religion that closely.  All decor, interior and structures are just completely different to what I have been exposed to in Australia.  

Graveyard at the Little Ayasofya
Mia

After seeing this, Mia and I went in search of the New Mosque which was maybe a couple of miles away.  However, the next part of our walk was not as tranquil as what we had just experienced at the Little Ayasofya.  They say things come in threes and the next five minutes proved it... 
We were walking along the old ruins of the wall that used to surround the city of Constantinople.  I was admiring the small archway openings that were built into the base of the wall.  Just as I went to take a photo, I heard some distant yelling making Mia immediately grab my arm and yank me away from the archways!  It turned out that a man had been standing under there, had seen us and had begun to chase after us!!  

Mad man archways
Things come in three - No. 1

Just when we thought we were in the clear, we came across a pack of feral dogs not more than a few steps away from the mad man.  Mia and I inched past the dogs all the while they followed us with their eyes.  Aaah!  Once we got passed them I realised they were fairly harmless... really lazy in fact.  The third thing became the road.  Somehow we ended up being on the wrong side of the road whilst walking to the city centre.  The pathway was really narrow and becoming more narrow with each step that we took.  So when we found a pedestrian crossing, we went to cross the road but it was not that simple.   Turks do not seem to value those little white lines across the road in the same way that drivers in Australia or England do.  The traffic sped past us until we caught a break and ran halfway across the double lane highway.  Mia and I then teetered on the 30cm wide part of the road that separated the traffic lanes for about 60 seconds while we waited for the traffic to pass.  
It was a stressful five minutes...

Dogs and narrow highway partitions
Things come in threes - No. 2 and 3

So after all that... we found the New Mosque.  Which was much bigger than the Little Ayasofya and so much more detailed.  I was beginning to feel a little more comfortable removing my shoes and covering my head now as there were more tourists around us than at the Little Ayasofya.

Inside the New Mosque

The Spice Market, which has been around since the 17th century, was the place that amongst amazing spices, loads apple tea and real Saffron.  It was also where I received two 'marriage' proposals... hmmm... I think I'd rather have the Saffron, thanks!!

The Spice Market

Up the hill, Mia and I admired the gardens on our way to the Topkapi Palace.  There were some amazing jewels in there, including the Kaşıkçı diamond (teardrop shape) which was 86 carats!

Topkapi Palace

View from the top of the palace

The empty palace pool

We stopped for lunch and had some apple tea at the Gülhane Sur Cafe (affectionately known as the Cat Cafe) which was amazing.  It was on a steep slope just outside the gates of the Topkapi Palace and it had the best apple tea that we could find in Istanbul.

Gülhane Sur Cafe
Turkish man serving our apple tea

Gülhane Sur Cafe
Me and Mia

After stopping by a local store to eat some more Cevizli baklava, Mia and I joined some other people from our hostel for a traditional Turkish bath.  We went down underground where the walls and floors were all made of marble.  I had a sauna and then the Turkish woman scrubbed me down with so much rigour and soap that I felt like a raw-skinned bubble bath on legs!!  She then proceeded to give me a nice massage - the result leaving me feeling ever so clean and relaxed.

Gedikpaşa Hamami - Traditional Turkish Bath

A very clean me

That second night in Istanbul, Mia and I were waiting to meet up with Greg and Luke who were on their way over from Greece.  We found shelter from the cold wind in an underground cafe called Edebiyat Kiraathanesi.  It was where I tried my first (and last) Turkish coffee.  It was probably the first coffee of my life that I have bought and have not taken more than two sips!  It was far too strong and 'thick'. 

Errr... Turkish coffee that left me desiring something a little more tasteful
 Edebiyat Kiraathanesi

22nd - Istanbul (New & Old)
The new day began with a team of four exploring the city... but not before another dodgy walk beside the narrow highway!  We caught the metro across the Bosphorus river to Taksim which had many commercial stores and looked a lot like Western Europe.  

Taksim Mall
Mia, Like and Greg

And we had our first experience with 'Aladdin' ice cream.  The Aladdin guys have to keep mixing it so that it will not freeze over.  They also have a lot of fun playing around with tricks while handing over the ice cream cone (I've put a video towards the end of this blog if you want to see what I mean.)

Ice cream from Aladdin: chocolate, mixer, chocolate, pistachio
People (L to R): Luke, Mia, Greg and me

After returning back over the Bosphorus we found the best mosque of our trip - the Süleymaniye Mosque.  It was a bit tricky to find (up some massive hills, through the backstreets and past some scary dogs again) but completely worth it.  

Following the bends in the roads and the inconspicuous street signs to the mosque

Looking down the steep streets on our way up the hill to the Süleymaniye Mosque

The mosque stands amongst regular buildings

And thankfully, after all that climbing, there was a man outside the mosque that gave us a cup of cherry juice which was greatly refreshing.  

Cherry juice
Greg, Cherry Juice Man, Luke

This mosque was apparently voted the best mosque by the Turks and I could see why they did.

Looking across the floor of the mosque

Looking up towards the dome
Me (in a headscarf)

Later that afternoon, we returned to the Gülhane Sur Cafe to drink some (more) apple tea and take in the atmosphere of the city.

23rd April - Istanbul 'On The Go' tour
The day began by meeting up with Phyllis (our Turkish tour guide from On The Go).  On our way, she gave us a little bit of history of the city... and I learnt that the wall ruins are what used to surround Constantinople; there are over 15 million people in Istanbul and over 97% of them are Muslim; and therefore, it's not surprising that there are over 2000 mosques just in Istanbul.  


Once we arrived in the city we went straight to the Hippodrome, used for chariot races.  

The Hippodrome pole

After that, we went to the Blue Mosque, which in Turkey is referred to as the Sultanahmet Mosque (as it was built in the time of Sultan Ahmed in the 1600s).  It is the second most important mosque (after Mecca).  It is known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles that are used throughout.

The Blue Mosque
Mia, Greg, Luke and me 

Inside the Blue Mosque

The Underground Cistern was one of my highlights of Istanbul.  I descended 52 steps to the underground palace that dates back to the sixth century.  Each of the 336 pillars that rise out of the water to support the cistern are nine metres high and five metres apart from each other.  

The Underground Cistern

The pillars have different styles, most are plain but some have a Corinthian influence.  One pillar however, absorbs the humidity.  

Pole to absorb the humidity

The Greek goddess Medusa is used to protect the cistern from unwanted bad omens because she would turn them to stone.  However, both her head's are upside down to protect people from turning to stone.  This cistern is actually in a scene from the James Bond movie - From Russia with love. 

Upside down Medusa head

I found the Hagia Sophia church an significant place as two dominant religions met in one building.  Originally being a church in Istanbul, it was later taken over to be a mosque.  Minarets were then added from different sultans.  Some Christian mosaics were destroyed during the iconostic period because Muslims are forbidden to worship with pictures or statues. Thus, during the time when the church was used by Muslims for worship, the Christian mosaics were covered over with plaster.  Future mosaics were then influenced by the Islam religion.

An Islam disc representing a word in their religion

Christian mosaics in the Hagia Sophia

Getting lost in the Grand Bazaar was probably one of the more fun times I've been lost in my life - it really is quite grand and I'm sure we didn't even see much of it at all.  Though, I think walking many different ways to trying to find each other and the way out helped us to see more of it.  I've never seen so many pathways to take in one mall and for all the stores to look so similar no matter which way you go!! 


Also, I did not get my father's gene of being able to bargain or haggle - I felt so bad and kind of sick when they wouldn't do it for me... so I left the haggling to Mia.  She helped me get some awesome prices on a genuine pashmina scarf and some Turkish tea cups and plates.  Our reward for finally finding a way out of the Grand Bazaar for some baklava.  Again, it tasted so wonderful that we went back for more... and again we were warned by the Turkish man, "Be careful don't eat too much!"

We went on a Bosphorus cruise (the river that separates the European from Asian side of Istanbul.)  It was interesting but nothing to rave about in particular.  As a side note, there are no photos of much of this afternoon as by this time my camera battery was perishing and I had forgotten to pack my camera charger (a combination of a rookie error and last minute packing haste).  I had decided to keep what little battery life I had left for Gallipoli.  Thankfully however, my housemate Sofia arrived in Istanbul that afternoon to do the same Gallipoli tour and had brought my charger with her.  Thanks, Sofia! 

After the cruise, we left the tour group to do then do our own thing.  We found the Stork Mall, which on the second floor had the remains of a women's prison.  It was tiny and cold but so cool that that such a prestigious shopping mall had kept such a historical part of the building.


As this was our last official evening in Istanbul we found a restaurant for a traditional Turkish meal.  We found 'Home Made Turkish' for our dining experience.  There was a lady at the front who made pancakes fresh on the dome like pan for our entree.  The restaurant was very hospitable (which I found all Turks to be generally).  Also by this time, Sofia had messaged me to say that she had brought my charger so I began to go a little snappy happy again!  

Making pancakes

Apple tea

For dessert, we called upon the Aladdin ice cream man again (a different one this time) and as we did, we could hear the call to prayer all around us.  There would have been at least three mosques surrounding us with the overwhelming sounds.  We stopped by the Blue Mosque on our way home to listen to the call.

Fountain and Blue Mosque by night

24th and 25th April - Gallipoli 
Click here to read my blog called Their name liveth for evermore


26th April - Back to Istanbul
We had a brief last day in Istanbul to have a quick morning walk and then head off to the airport.  We said goodbye to Mia after brekkie and then we were straight off to the Spice Market, where I had a second crack at haggling.  Finally, I had the courage to get four apple tea tins from 32TL to 25TL (yay!  a little success!)


And to bid farewell to Turkey, we had one last 'Aladdin' ice-cream with the most entertaining ice cream experience life could bring.  It's so much fun.  Check out this video below...

Istanbul was nothing short of a brilliant holiday!


But until next time... Cheers!


More photos of my trip to Tur-Turkey-key on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150170004179514.305769.502734513&l=67a8067259

Their name liveth for evermore

Visiting Gallipoli for Anzac Day is something that I have wanted to do since high school.  Although it was different to how I had envisaged it, it surpassed all my expectations entirely.  Being on the soil that our diggers had been on all those years ago helped me to think about how blessed we are and put all my problems into perspective... (such as being cold - as you will discover as you read below!)

April 24 - Istanbul to Gallipoli

It was Easter Sunday (and also the eve of Anzac Day.)  It was different, to say the least, to not even have a remote reminder of the significance of this day - not even a measly chocolate bunny!!!  But that is the 'consequence' of being in an Islamic country at this time of year.  I certainly did miss my usual Easter celebrations... (especially when Mum messaged to say that she had missed me) but attending the commemoration of our ANZACs in Gallipoli was something I had always wanted to do.  And therefore to soften the blow of missing out on true Easter, I had come prepared with some chocolate eggs!

On the bus with Cadbury Mini Eggs
Me and Mia

We made the five-hour long bus trip from Istanbul to Gallipoli with our tour company On The Go.  Time passed (relatively) quickly by listening to our tour guide, Phyllis, deliver rather interesting information about WWI in the most boring of tones and thickest of Turkish accents, making it a real challenge to understand her at all.  However, a little more of the history made sense when she switched on the movie 'Gallipoli' (yes, the one with Mel Gibson!) which seemed to fill some of the gaps that I hadn't understood properly.  The closer we got to Gallipoli the more beautiful and scenic the view became, especially when we caught sight of the coast of the Aegean Sea.  The coast sits right alongside gorgeous hillside that was incredibly lush and green.

Coastline along Gallipoli

Just before we entered in to Anzac Cove, we stopped for a traditional Turkish BBQ (with Köfte and chicken kebabs) at the Boomerang Bar and Café... well as traditional as you can get at an Aussie themed pub!  Greg, Luke and I also tried an Efes beer (a Turkish pilsner - for all those keen beer brewers.)  

Efes beer (and a 'lame' free Efes hat!)
Luke, me & Greg

After we were full up on Turkish food and beer, we made our way to the Anzac Cove entrance.  This however, was the beginning of a rather 'interesting' afternoon.  We weren't the only ones trying to get to Anzac Cove - there were also hundreds of other buses.  Anzac Cove is actually controlled by the Turkish military and we had to wait for them to 'clear the area' so to speak before we could gain access.  Thus once we were allowed access through to the Anzac Cove area, we were joined by all the others that had come along too and thus we ended in a rather large traffic jam.  However, where we got stuck just happened to be just outside the Lone Pine memorial.  So we jumped off the bus and went to take a look before the ceremony that would take place the following day.

Lone Pine

The traffic began to move but only briefly.  Our tour group was rather impatient as a whole and before I could even get a grip on the situation, the group were overriding the decisions of our tour guide and walking to the Anzac Cove gates leaving her in our dust!!  But the jubilee was short-lived - our tour guide had missed a rather crucial step... we had not gone through the checkpoint gate at the bottom of the hill to get the necessary registration number that we needed for all buses and bags that were entering onsite.  Therefore, we boarded the bus again to take a long and scenic route back down to properly check in our bus and get the luggage tags.  We waited patiently (and some impatiently) in the long line of coaches trying to do the same thing (that we should have done originally).  


And then we waited and waited and waited.  We looked out the window and there were no buses in view.  But we were still waiting.  Huh?  We had a clear run!!  Then it dawned on me.  Our bus driver was trying to start the bus... but it was not starting.  It had broken down!  After a lot of horn tooting aimed at us and other bus drivers coming to help us out... it turned out that there was a relatively easy fix.  Push start!  So in good old fashioned style, the 'men' got out to give the bus a push and get it going again.

Boys pushing the bus to do a reverse jump start

So after many traffic jams, registered swing tags and a broken-down bus later... we made it to Anzac Cove...

Anzac Cove

...and were only too happy to sit down and enjoy the sunset over the Aegean Sea.

Sunset overlooking the Aegean Sea
Me, Mia, Luke & Greg

We chose a spot in the stands with a clear view of the stage and overlooking the ocean.  There was entertainment all throughout the evening that was absolutely fantastic with RAF bands, movie clips, personal stories and history of the ANZACs and that fateful day, 25 April 1915.


As soon as that sun disappeared over the water... so did all warmth known to humankind!  The MC announced that it was anticipated to be six degrees Celsius with a windchill factor of -2 overnight!  Thus... some sleeping bag warmth was required!

Snug as bugs in rugs
Me and Mia

Unfortunately, Mia and I did not get to enjoy the luxurious warmth of our sleeping bags all night as the boys had forgotten theirs... so we sacrificed our comfort so that they did not freeze.  It was a less significant gesture in comparison to what our diggers did for our country... which put our problems into perspective.  Although I have not managed to find the data on how cold it got - I am almost certain that it was colder than predicted!!

April 25 - ANZAC Day
In the middle of the night (literally... right on midnight) I decided that the cove would be an awesome opportunity to take out my camera to get some long exposure shots of the stars.  I managed to convince Greg to come with me so that he could actually give me some tips as to how to do this.  We walked all the way back to the entry of Anzac Cove.  

Anzac Cove at the turn of Anzac Day

Hopefully you can see, I learnt quickly...

Stars at Anzac Cove

 ...and as I got a little more confident, I decided I wanted to experiment a little more by putting myself in the shot with the stars in the background... (harder than it sounds when its pitch black!)  But it worked - yay!

A timed-'selfie' with the stars

Then I got a little more playful... wanting to jump in the photo.  

Trying to perfectly time a jumping shot
Greg & me

But I got too excited!!  In my true klutzy style, I managed to land badly on the loose and large gravel and in urgency to save my bad ankles, I landed on my hands and knees (awkward, I know!)  This resulted in a few bad bruises and a trip to the Gallipoli 'hospital' for some treatment on my hand that began to gush the good red stuff.  After some brief exchanges in broken English, the Turkish doctors determined that I was up to date with all vaccines and I was good to go... though I felt a little nervous with more than four people treating a fairly superficial wound by wrapping it up rather extravagantly with bandages... it made me wonder if it was worse than I thought it was or if they were just bored! 

The Gallipoli 'hospital'
Me and a bandaged hand

After the longest and coldest night of my life, I awoke to the dawn of a very moving day.  The service was very official and felt like I was back in Australia!  I felt very united when we sang both verses of the National Anthem.  The bugle playing The Last Post was incredible as it seemed to echo throughout the cove and into the eerie silence that was held by thousands of people.  The light that lifted on the hills and encompassed the cove was quite a sight.  There was pink and orange bouncing off the mountains and the remaining scattered clouds.  Indescribable beauty to greet a brand new dawn.


And it was with thoughts of the diggers that it seemed only fitting to eat some of my pre-baked Anzac biccies for breakfast!

Anzac biscuits for breakfast
Luke, Mia, Greg & me

We made our way down to see the wreaths that had been laid in honour of our soldiers, and then continued down to walk along the beach where they had been so tragically greeted by the Turks 96 years earlier.  It was a solemn moment and I bent down to feel the fine grains and sweep the cool water.  It was actually the first sand I had felt since leaving Australia and it brought me sweet thoughts of all the amazing family and friends in my life back in Australia (and abroad too.)

The beach of Anzac Cove

Although the whole day was extremely emotive, it wasn't until we began to visit the cemeteries that I got emotional.  Only once did I get to the point where I had tears in my eyes (an achievement for me!) and it was one man's headstone in particular that choked me up.  He was a captain in the 1st 8N Infantry and his stone read: 

No reveille 
and no morning gun 
shall evermore waken him.

It was in that particular instant that I realised how silent the cemetery was and how once this exact spot had been rife with all kinds of terrible gun shot sounds and others I have trouble thinking about.  I thanked God for that man and for how blessed we all truly are.

Shrapnel Valley Cemetery

A short stop at the Beach cemetery found Simpson's gravestone.  This site also gave a pretty good idea as to why the ANZACs were such easy targets with the beach being such a short distance away (not what even seemed to be 30 metres away.)

"The Australian & New Zealand Army Corps landed near this spot on April 25th 1915"

The walk up to Lone Pine was on a steep, unstable and rocky road.  We visited the Shell Green cemetery along the way which had an incredible view and was also the site for a brief cricket game played by the diggers on December 17!  The Lone Pine service was great and I felt a little bit of a connection to home as it was the memorial for the Australians.  This is a significant site for Australians as we captured the area on August 6, 1915.

Shell Green cemetery

Immediately after the close of the Lone Pine service, we took the long and hilly path up to Chunuk Bair (for the New Zealand memorial).  We saw some remaining trenches that were still in tact which was quite a confronting sight.  As we continued we visited other cemeteries along the way and even spotted an old canon.  The Nek had an absolutely spectacular view of the coastline.  This high peak was quite significant where many Australians lost their lives.  There are over 400 unidentified people buried in this place - marks of a true tragedy.

View from The Nek

We finally made it to the top of the hill (even though it felt like we had just reached the peak of Everest) to the New Zealand service at Chunuk Bair.  They had best rendition of The Last Post and had, in general, a very touching service where the people that had gathered actually sang the hymns and anthem at a true volume.  I found the Kiwis to be very patriotic!


And that was finally the end of an experience that I had waited years to a part of.  I am so pleased that I have been to Gallipoli and witnessed the sites that made some of the heroes of our great nation.  I pray that this helps us to learn from what happened on this day that is so engraved in our country's history as to not make the same mistake again.


But until next time... Lest we forget.




There are more photos of my Gallipoli adventure through this link:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150187358029514.311097.502734513&l=293f8b2b39