How to queue barge, Bulgarian style...

At 3.30 this morning, Lucy and I could have been on a film set. A burly guard came to our three-person cabin and told us we had to get out for a passport check. We dutifully followed the other weary-looking travellers and went out on to the platform. Then we had to cross several tracks and climb back on to another platform into a little soviet-style booth and queue to get our passport checked. Or at least we thought you had to queue. However, this didn't seem to be everyone's principle as several little old ladies just wandered up the queue, found a space they liked (generally near the front), and stood there, not even looking slightly embarrassed. Needless to say Lucy and I did not adopt this tactic and duly waited our turn.

After being checked, we trundled back to our cabin, and apart from another check on the Bulgarian side, there were no other stops. We arrived in Plovdiv at 8.30 this morning and walked the mile or so up to the hostel. The Hiker's Hostel is lovely and we are the only people staying in the dorm so it is nice to be able to completely relax. We are going to chill out today, do some washing, have a much needed shower and drink lots of mint tea. This is the life...

Last day in Istanbul

We woke up this morning for the last time to the sound of the call to prayer which ushered in a beautiful day with blazing sunshine and a clear sky. After a quick breakfast, we walked over Galatay Bridge past myriads of fishermen to Beyoglu to find a Catholic church for Mass. Having got rather lost in side streets and feeling tempted to give up, Sarah spotted a nun, the first and last one we have seen here, who we accosted and managed to communicate with in very broken German. She directed us to the church of St Anthony of Padua on Iskleskal Caddesi which had an Italian Mass at 11:30. We think the sermon might have been something about John the Baptist but I wouldn't swear on it. The church was about half full - not bad considering there were three other Masses as well over the weekend. It's a lovely church run by Italian priests - Pope John XXIII preached here for ten years while he was the Vatican's ambassador to Turkey and there is a nice soppy statue of him outside the church with a dove. Catholic geeks among the readers, click here for more details.


Afterwards, we treated ourselves to Turkish coffee and an incredibly rich cake consisting of honey, cream and cheese, in a nearby cafe while we wrote postcards and then headed back to the hostel via a stall selling freshly pressed fruit juice - they literally squash an orange in front of you into a plastic cup and you do the rest.


And now we're totally up to date with the blog and feel very proud of our Herculean efforts! Shortly, we'll be off to have a meal before taking ourselves to the station for the late night train to Plovdiv. We're both really sorry to leave Istanbul - it's such a fascinating city and there is still so much more to explore. But we're very glad we gave ourselves a whole week; it's been a fantastic start to the trip. Wish us luck on the train - next stop Bulgaria!

So, there were these two English girls...

We decided that Saturday was going to be a real chill-out day and so we decided to treat ourselves to a Trukish Bath at Cagaloglu Hamami which is 300 years old. All seemed to be going well until we were conned into paying 10YTL for a hand mit, but as we'd been pretty savvy up until this point, we just put it down to experience. However, I do clearly remember asking if we needed to wear costumes and being told that no we didn't and that robes were provided, which we could see from the picture, all the women wearing. So there we were in our cubicle, modestly wrapping what felt like far too small a sheet round ourselves, then having to put wooden shoes on and waddling like ungainly geishas to the baths themselves. So far so good. Once in the baths however, we saw lots of naked women and this Turkish woman, with only a sheet covering her lower half told us to take our towels off. I don't think Lucy or I have ever shared such identical looks of horror. As we couldn't get out of it, we just had to go with the flow and tried to hide inconspicuously in a corner. No chance. The same woman thrust metal bowls at us and started using them to tip water over us and gestured that we should do the same. Thankfully, then we were left to get on with it for a while and regain some composure. The room itself it circular, with a big marble slab in the middle and lots of little marble sinks with warm and cold water running into them all around the outside. Being very British, we tried to pretend that we weren't completely starkers, but it didn't last long. Back comes the first woman, putting a bathing suit on and hauling Lucy onto the middle marble slab, where she proceeded to scrub Lucy with the over-priced mit. I thought I should just wait my turn, but suddenly this rather large Turkish woman came over to me wearing only knickers and told me to lie down next to Lucy. On went her swimming costume and I was duly scrubbed. At that moment, I really did understand the sentiment behind 'lie back and think of England', this woman could have easily had me for breakfast. After washing again, we were both massaged, which was actually incredibly relaxing and had our hair washed. By this point we were both quite used to being naked and toddled off as instructed to the hot room. More chilling out on the marble slab ensued before we finally emerged attempting to look elegant in our little robes (which suddenly felt much bigger). I don't think we succeeded, but we've certainly bonded...

After that little experience we were both completely comatosed, and just chilled for the rest of the day. You'll be pleased to note that there are no accompanying pictures.

Further afield on Friday

Having spent almost the whole time so far in Sultanhmet, we decided to extend our wanderings on Friday to take in the Asian district on the other side of the Bosphorus, and Beyoglu - the area on the other side of the Golden Horn. So we hopped on a ferry over to Uskudar and stepped off the boat on to Asia - the first time for both of us! It's similar in feel to Sultanahmet, perhaps slightly more conservatively Muslim. There were noticeably more women in headscarves, fewer tourists and a mosque on every corner. This area was conquered by the Ottomans 100 years before the rest of Istanbul and is very proud of the fact - there are a number of monuments up to the Ottoman Empire, as well as to Attaturk who unsurprisingly you find everywhere here. We walked up the coast road to see the views of Sultanahamet which were great despite the rain and fog (we've had to stop ourselves saying, "this must look amazing in the summer" as it started to become something of a catch phrase for the trip....). After visiting several local mosques, one of which had slightly offensive posters up urging a boycott on any shop with American and Jewish connections from National Geographic to Wonderbra, we stopped in a bakery for the inevitable tea and baclava. I'm trying not to think about the amount of sugar we've consumed this week..... On the positive side, however, we can now say at least one phrase in Turkish: ici cay lutfen (two teas please)! We're both developing something of a taste for black tea and it's wonderfully cheap here.

Mid-afternoon we took the ferry over to Besiktas which is on the European side, and walked along the coast past a totally over the top Baroque palace, built while the Ottoman Empire was crumbling around it. This was where Attaturk died and the whole area is plastered with posters depicting his life. Then it was on to Taksim Square - glamorous, urban, surrounded by expensive hotels and the kind of high street chains you'd find in London. This part of Istanbul could be any European city in the world, and as such, is not particularly interesting, but it is another side to the city so we're glad we visited. The whole area is packed full of sophisticated young Turks who looked with evident scorn on two bedraggled Britishers counting their lira to see if they could afford a coffee! We found a cafe full of students for a cheap but filling supper and then went to the cinema as we noticed that "Revolutionary Road" was being shown. It had Turkish subtitles and was shown on a screen that flickered in and out of focus. For reasons best known to the management, Sarah and I were put in the "courting seats" at the back, so we snuggled down together to enjoy the film! It was perhaps not the best choice for us as it's about two people who turn to travelling to sort their lives out, but it all goes horribly wrong and one ends up dead - just to spoil the ending for you. Ah well, at least we don't have two moronic children who wander in and out saying "but Mummy, I don't want to go to Paris". Feeling slightly depressed, we headed back to the hostel around 11pm and had a rather interesting time trying to find a bus - the public transport in the city remains a mystery to us and most of it seems to stop after 9pm. Safely back in the hostel eventually, we crashed out on our bunks.

I am single tonight for you...

Only in the Grand Bazaar could two bedraggeld girls warrant so much male attention. We wandered into it via the book section which has the most beautiful pictures of various scenes from Ottoman life, they seem to use calligraphy here to actually form shapes and they are covered in gold leaf. Unfortunately they are also about a hundred pounds, so not something for this trip! This gave us quite gentle introduction to what is the hardest selling I have ever witnessed. 'Are you looking for me?', 'Stop following me', 'Ladies, you are going the wrong way' along with 'I am single tonight for you' were just some of the lines shot in our direction from stalls selling absolutely everything; carpets, water pipes, iznik tiles, turkish lights, leather, pashminas, denim, backgammon sets, chess sets, belly dancing costumes, socks, jewellery, perfume, watches and antiques, you name it, you can find it in the Grand Bazaar. However, they were no match for the Lucy-Sarah team.

I has thought that I wanted to get Rob a chess set for his birthday and so we tried to see if we could find a vaguely decent one. This provd to be a bit of a challenge, although it wasn't long before we got offered a 'beautiful marble' one, after having rejected a tea set thinking that neither of our parents would appreciate it making its way back to either of our houses... Anway, negotiations started at 150 YTL (about 75 pounds), at which point Lucy looked at this man as though he had two heads and told him she would pay 20YTL as we were students and had no money. At this point we got the sob story about his 12 children and we had both worked out that this particular chess set was certainly not marble - given that he had about twenty just stacked up and easily pinchable, they probably weren't even worth the twenty we were offering. Lucy was fabulous as this man's price kept coming slowly down to our 20YTL offer. By this time, I thought Rob probably wouldn't thank me for this and so, as self-styled guardian of the purse strings, I said I didn't like it and we walked away. As we did so, he offered it to us for 10YTL - so think how little it must actually be worth...

After more of Lucy's expert haggling and my silent bad-cop routine, we left the Grand Bazaar on route to the Spice Bazaar. Again, outside it was absolutely freezing, but as luck would have it, a street seeler was coming up a little side street crying 'Sahlep' with what looked like a little gold teapot on a trolley. Lots of men from all the surrounding shops rushed out to buy what looked like hot milk, and I suddenly remembered that this was one of the things which Lonely Planet recommended we should try, so we bought one to share. It's actually sweetened milk with cinnamon sprinkled on top and has the consistency of custard. You have no idea how good it is to sip on a wet, cold day.

We found the Spice Bazaar by luck rather than good judgement and were both a bit unimpressed. There are quite a lot of spice stores and varieties of turkish delight as well as 'natural viagra', which looks suspiciously like a walnut, bu the chat up lines weren't nearly as good - 'Only 4 lira for blondes, free for a real one, I pity you' - cheek!!! The other problem I guess is that there isn't enough to make it different from the Grand Bizarre as for every spice stall there is a shop selling tourist tat, so it just doesn't feel unique. We did succumb to buying some Turkish delight to have later on at the hostel.

We headed back, desperate for a warm shower (a bit hit and miss at the hostel) and to dry off a bit. There was warm water than goodness and I think we both warmed up for the first time that day. We were thinking that we would have a quiet night in and maybe go out for a water pipe with Felicity and Stephie later on. However, when they came back, they'd managed to get talking to a local who had recommended a local restaurant, and realising how hungry we were, we decided to tag along and also got to meet an Australian guy called Matt who they'd met during the day. So down various back streets we went, asking random people if they knew where this place was until we came to a canteen which looked quite shabby. No one spoke any English and we just pointed at what we fancied. We were a bit concerned, but actually the chicken stew was fantastic and there was loads of lovely bread to mop it up with. Afterwards, the guy who the two other girls had met invited us all the the local bar where we sat drinking apple tea and playing backgammon. What a memory!

The rain it raineth every day

Thursday morning was bucketing it down with rain. So naturally we decided to walk all the way to the western disrict of Istanbul where no trams or buses go. We calculated that we must have walked about ten miles, squelching all the way. But it was all worth it, because we ended up at the Chora Church - a real little gem, just outside the old city walls which is full of the most beautiful mosaics dating from the 12th century. It became a mosque after the fall of Constantinople and is now a museum. In the picture at the side, you can just see Theodosius (chap who built the church) and his wife offering it to Our Lady and Christ. Presumably this was in one of the areas which surrendered to Mehmet the Conquerer as he promised to spare any churches which accepted his authority. The original decorations of the church are remarkably well preserved and there is little sign that it ever became a mosque. We stayed in here as long as we could to get out of the rain, before venturing out to explore the area more generally. After much wandering we found a local bakery where we had incredibly cheap cay (tea) and rice pudding (a Turkish speciality) and watched lots of local children running errands to buy bread and baclava. Then it was off again into the rain to walk along the Golden Horn all the way back to Sultanahmet, psyching ourselves up for an encounter with the Grand Bazaar......

Tickets to Plovdiv and Topkapi Palace

Having got our bearings slightly more, we decided to try and buy our tickets to Plovdiv on Wednesday morning. The station is, as everywhere, almost exclusively male, so again we looked just a bit conspicuous. We think we have the right tickets, even though Lonely Planet seems to think the train doesn't run on Sundays...

We decided to spend the day in Topkapi Palace, the palace of the Sultans built by Mehmet the Conqueror after the fall of Constantinople. It takes over a hill on the coner of Sultanahmet, with amazing views (when not drizzing) over the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. We spent the whole day wandering through the various different courtyards. The first as you enter is called the Court of the Janissaries (Janissaries were the personal soldiers of the Sultan) and in Ottoman times this area was the least restricted of the palace. There's a rather beautiful little fountain in the corner with a rather grim story; it's where the imperial executioner used to wash his tools. The heads of the people who had upset the Sultan were put up on a spike above the entrance to the Second Courtyard. Only the Sultan and the valide sultan (his mother) were allowed through the gate on horseback, everyone else had to dismount. This sets the tone for the sort of pomp and circumstance of the rest of the Palace.

Ironically enough, through the drizzle, up in the fir trees we saw some green parrots, much like you would and do see pigeons around the rest of the city. The most impressive feature of the this second courtyard is the Imperial Council Chamber, where matters of state were discussed with the Sultan 'eavesdropping' behind a gold grate. It's nothing if not noticeable, so I highly doubt that any of the various deposings of sultans was planned here. In the area which used to be the stables, there is a display about Selim III 1789-1807, a sultan who tried to introduce many political and social reforms. He was eventually deposed, partly due to not being able to choose a side and stick to it in the Napoleonic wars.

The Gate of Felicity leads you to the Third Courtyard, the domain of the Sultan, where very few people were allowed, apparently to keep a mystique surrounding the ruler. There's an Audience Chamber where the Sultan would sit whilst white eunuchs would ensure the visitor showed the correct amount of respect, bowing/grovelling etc. Apparently even if the Sultan and the visitor could speak in the same language, all conversation would nevertheless go through the Grand Vizier. Around the rest of the courtyard are collections of grand robes and the imperial treasury. The treasury includes countless emeralds and rubies and the Spoonmaker's Diamond; an 86 carat diamond, the fifth largest in the world, which was originally bought for just three spoons. By far the most important for Muslims are the Sacred Safekeeping rooms with various relics from the Prophet's life, including his beard.

The Fourth Court is the one that looks directly over the Bosphorus and is full of beautifully tiled buildings, generally used for medical purposes. The view in good weather must be lovely, although it was absolutely freezing when we were there. Although allegedly the Harem is supposed to be the most splendid rooms in the Palace, Lucy and I felt a bit conned, as the rooms are all empty and the lighting is so poor that you can't really see. The rest of the Palalce is well worth seeing though. We sat and had one of our 'moments' eating our picnic lunch in the Second Courtyard.

We spent the late afternoon in two local art courtyards, where you can watch local artists at work and where you aren't hassled and you get free tea. I'd love to come back to do a course here. Dinner was a delicious Turkish Pancake called gozelme, filled with spinach and potato cooked right in front of us. We spent the rest of the evening drinking Turkish wine with two of our roomates and eating dark chocolate, a very decadent end to a lovely day.