Today was big travel day. I took a bus from Plovdiv to Istanbul. I was assured that the bur ride was only six hours. This was correct; they simply failed to mention that we would also spend three hours at the Bulgaria/Turkey border. The bus was very comfortable; we even had a "flight attendant" lady who would occasionally hand out juice boxes and moist towelettes. I simply wasn't prepared for the ordeal at the border, since my previous 8 border crossings on this trip had been quite painless and quick. Not so here. We disembarked from the bus and everyone went to sit in the shade. Eventually Turkish guards came and searched the bus top to bottom. Then they searched all of our luggage. Several times the took alcohol out of peoples bags and smashed it into a trash bin. This took hours. Just when we had all boarded and it looked like we could continue; our "flight attendant" informed me that, as an American, I needed to purchase a Turkish visa to get in, and pointed me to a toll booth. I ran over paid a reasonable $20, got a sticker, and we were off. Next to me at the booth was a Canadian woman who was none too pleased to find out Canadians had to pay $65 for a visa. As soon as we crossed the border at Edirne, I saw a huge mosque. I guess the Turks get stuck at the border too and don't want to miss prayer time.After a couple more hours we arrived in Istanbul, a massive city of 10 million people! As we neared the outskirts of the city, there were people everywhere, picnicking in the median strip of the highway. Whole families in their Sunday Best (or Friday Best as is the case in the Muslim world) were enjoying the only piece of green grass to be found in their tightly packed Istanbul suburbs.
I didn't know quite what to expect from Istanbul. I had been to Turkey once before, and so I was not afraid of it being a conservative Islamic culture; but I was surprised to see how European the city is. It definitely feels like any other major European city, except there are noticeably fewer women on the streets; and those that are out are usually in head scarves. I rode a modern metro to the Sultanahmet district, where I was awed by the sights of old Constantinople. The Aya Sofya, pictured above, stands opposite the Blue Mosque, pictured below. These two massive, beautiful buildings are separated by a palm lined park and a large fountain. The scene is breathtaking. I sat for a long time and watch birds flying in and out of the towering minarets. Near sunset, I heard the muezzin call for the first time. After dark, a light show lit up the blue mosque, accompanied by a free theatre production, not in Turkish, but in French. Nearby a restaurant featured real whirling dervishes spinning around and around in a trance-like state to the fascination of tourists and Turks alike.
The Aya Sofya (or Hagia Sofia as it is spelled sometimes) is a world treasure of history. It was a cathedral, later a mosque, now a museum. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Medieval Seville Cathedral in 1520.The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It was the religious focus point of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire for nearly 1000 years.
In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. The Islamic features - such as the four minarets outside, the mihrab and minbar - were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the secular Republic of Turkey.
I was really looking forward to going inside the Aya Sofya, but alas, it is closed on Mondays, and I had to leave early Tuesday morning. Instead I toured the Blue Mosque, pictured above. It is "only" 400 years old, and had an amazing central prayer room.
This gentleman gave me an excellent shoe shine, as well as directions to the Sultans Palace.I walked the streets of Sultanahmet district for hours, including the famous covered bazaar. After a couple hours, I got used to the incessant pressure from every store owner I passed. Turkish businessmen don't settle for window shopping, they want to drag you in. Time after time I heard, "Hello, my friend, where are you from?" No matter what response you give, the guy has been there, or knows someone from there. So, after a couple hours I started answering "Istanbul." "Right here, born and raised." That got some laughs. I actually bought a few small items and met some interesting people. With one young man working in a t-shirt shop; I sat down and discussed the war in Iraq for a while. He felt that America should get out and go away, but he doesn't bear ill will to the many servicemen he has met that travel through Istanbul. In fact he said he would like to join the US Army himself. He heard that an unskilled person can make almost 30,000 dollars in the Army which is an unbelievable amount of money.
I enjoyed Istanbul immensely, and for the first time on my trip, was very bummed that I didn't have more time to explore.
