Traveling with Chookie: The Past Two Months: Turkey

And now…for [one of] the post[s] you’ve all been waiting for (you=the maybe 4 people who actually care to read this), here’s everything you need to know about my trip to Turkey! After much anticipation, we arrived at our hotel in Istanbul at around 5am, and were allotted about 6 hours to sleep before we would begin touring. Our day began at around 12pm, when all 55 of us hit the lively streets of Istanbul, where we all bought corn and chestnuts from little stands. We took a short walk to the Hagia Sophia, one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. The Hagia Sophia was originally built as a church in the year 537 CE, but was later conquered and turned into a mosque in 1453 (it now serves as a museum do to its historical significance). When I first walked in, I was immediately struck by the details of the huge structure. The walls and ceiling of this massive mosque are covered from top to bottom in calligraphic Arabic written in gold, and have many flower-like shaped chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The beauty is so overwhelming; it’s almost impossible to take in everything. The Arabic covered building definitely gave off a mosque-feel, however, when I proceeded up the stairs I felt like I was transported to a medieval church. The walls are heavily decorated with gold mosaics displaying different scenes of Jesus and his disciples. It was a very distinguishable contrast from the rest of the building, and a very visual example of history. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. After we visited the Hagia Sofia, we made our way to the Blue Mosque, an active mosque that was built in the 1600’s. The Blue Mosque was the first active mosque I have ever been to, so it was fascinating to be able to experience a different religion and culture first hand. I covered my hair in a hijab and removed my shoes prior to entering. Immediately upon entering, I got a nice waft of warm, sweaty feet smell—not pleasant. But after about five minutes, I got used to it and was then able to focus my attention on the beauty of the mosque. The windows were all prominently blue stained glass, which stood out amongst the large red carpet that covered the whole floor. Non-Muslims had to remain behind a gate, while Muslims were allowed through the gate to pray. It was cool to see Muslims praying right in front of me, because, again, I’ve never had the opportunity to see Muslim culture and religion first hand. That night, we were given free time and money to explore the city and get dinner. Being the adventurous girl that I am, my friends and I decided we were going to try kokoreç, also known as lamb intestine, which is sold as street food all over Istanbul. Honestly, it really wasn’t bad, except for the squishy texture. We followed our adventurous eating escapade with some doner, or lamb kebab, and then topped off our night with ice cream and a walk along the Bosphorus strait, which is a body of water that separates the Asian and European sides of Istanbul. Our first day was awesome, and I was really looking forward to what day two would bring.

On our second day, we first went to the Ashkenazi synagogue, which was founded by Austrian Jews in 1900, and then went to the Ahrida Synagogue, which is the oldest of Istanbul’s 16 active synagogues. Visiting both synagogues gave me insight on to what life was like as a Jew hundreds of years earlier. It is crazy to think about how active the synagogues once were, and how nowadays, it is difficult for a minyan to be made on a given Shabbat. After visiting these historical synagogues, we went to the Topkapi Palace, which was easily the highlight of my trip to Turkey. In the year 1453, Sultan Mehmed II built the Topkapi Palace, and once finished, it contained his residence, homes for his mistresses, the Supreme Court, the palace school, a hospital and so much more. It was in use until 1853 and in 1960, was opened to the public as a museum. The massive palace is absolutely magnificent. It consists of room after room covered in gorgeous variations of turquoise tiles on the walls and floors. Some of the rooms have chests made from what looks like tortoise shell and mother of pearl. Many of the ceilings are in the shape of a dome, which are covered in tiles as well, and the doorways are topped off with beautiful, gold Arabic letters. Outside the rooms are several gardens, as well as a view of the Bosphorus. It is the most breathtaking place I have ever visited. Every inch of the palace was carefully attended to so that every detail was perfect. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to live in such a dreamy place. I left the palace in absolute awe and was stunned by the sheer beauty of the structure. Right after we left the palace, we were lucky enough, timing wise, to hear the muezzin sing the adhan, or Muslim call to prayer. Over the course of the few days we had been in Turkey, we had obviously heard the call to prayer over the loudspeakers over and over but it was really cool to see the muezzin right in front of us. To finish off what had already been an incredible day, we went to the Grand Bazaar, which is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. It consists of many high-end shops that sell expensive jewelry and clothing, many Israeli shuk-like sellers, awesome knock-off handbags, cheap, yet affordable jewelry, and lots of other random shops like souvenir shops, carpet shops, lamp shops, and so much more. It was the perfect way to end a perfect day.

Day 3 was a bit less fast paced. We first visited the Ulus Jewish School, which a majority of the Jewish students in Istanbul attend. We had the opportunity to meet with juniors and seniors from the school and discussed what it is like to be Jewish in a primarily Muslim country. They were all brilliant and it was a unique experience to meet Jewish kids just like me from across the world, in such an unexpected place. Afterwards, we went to the Jewish Museum of Istanbul, which held many interesting artifacts pertaining to Jewish life over the years. One thing that stuck out at me was a tzedakah box, which had Turkish (in Arabic letters) inscribed on it. For some reason, I’ve always had this perception that the Jews always stuck to themselves and kept from getting involved within the society in which they lived. But this tzedakah box got me thinking about how immersed into the society and culture the Jews must have been. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I was cursed with a shitty immune system, I began feeling quite feverish right before leaving the museum to meet with the chief rabbi of Turkey, Rabbi Haleva. I knew that meeting Rabbi Haleva and singing for him (Kivunim likes to sing for people, A LOT) would be a once in a lifetime experience, so I pushed myself to participate in song, after which I gave up and called it an early day. Luckily, Kivunim is extremely accommodating so my sick friend and I were taken back to the hotel to rest, because we had a plane ride to Izmir the following morning. The plan was to fly to Izmir at 6am the following morning, sleep in Izmir for the night, return back to Istanbul for half a day and night, and then travel to Bulgaria. I was hoping I would feel better to fly with the rest of the group, but my symptoms only got worse and, therefore, I was unable to go to Izmir. L But I got lucky that the plan was to return back to Istanbul for a night, because I was able to rest up and get healthy(ish) enough to travel with the group to our next destination: Bulgaria.

Overall, Istanbul exceeded my expectations, but more so in terms of the atmosphere of the city. I expected the mosques and historical sites to be beautiful, but I didn’t have quite as high of expectations for the people and vibrancy of the city. I assumed that the city would be overwhelmingly Muslim, which isn’t a bad thing, and, based on previous experiences, that the people wouldn’t treat us Americans so nicely. But I was pleasantly surprised by how lively and cultural Istanbul was. The people were so nice, the streets were constantly jam packed with all different types of people from women wearing burkas to women wearing practically nothing at all (LOTS of prostitutes) and lots of others in between, and the city was overall vibrant. I really fell in love with Istanbul, and I plan on going back at some point in the future.

Up next: the greyest country ever—BULGARIA.