The Gateway to Asia

I am starting to get the feeling of having properly started travelling. France, Italy, Croatia - these were just a warm up, though highly enjoyable. Montenegro, Serbia and through Bulgaria - challenging certainly, but the backpacker mentality still hadn't set in. But once I pulled into Istanbul on the train, saw Asia over the water, and stepped out for the first time into a Muslim country, a country whose culture, cuisine, music, art and history was almost entirely alien to me, I felt I was truly a traveller.

Some will no doubt criticise me for not doing my research, but the very nature of this kind of travelling means you are making things up as you go along and playing things by ear. My time in Istanbul suffered because of this, but I still managed to have a fascinating time, and have certainly found somewhere I will come back to explore on another occassion. Although I arrived in the early morning, for instance, I spent most of the time just walking around, sitting in parks and not really making any concrete decisions. I knew I could not get into my hostel until the early afternoon, and having not changed, had a shower, or really rested for over 24 hours I was not in the mood for sightseeing. So in the afternoon, having stopped in to the hostel, I became more adventurous and explored Sultanahmet, where I was staying, from the water up to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and beyond. It is a glorious area, particularly the park between the two big mosques. The gardens are perhaps too formal and the number of tourists is a distraction; still, you can't help but be impressed by the magnitude and magnificence of the buildings on either side of you. Foolishly, I had changed into shorts, so endured the stares of the locals throughout the afternoon.

In the evening, the hostel where I was staying had organised what it called - somewhat misleadingly, in my opinion - a 'pub crawl'. Despite being tired, I decided to go so I could get to know some of my fellow backpackers. We set off at about midnight, taking a mini bus to get from Sultanahmet to the busier nightlife centre of the city. We spent the night mostly in live music venues, which played a spectrum from Turkish ska and Indie to Techno and even 50s Rock'n'Roll. At the end of the evening, however, our guide dissappeared. There was muttering that he had had an argument with his girlfriend and had walked off, so the remaining eight of us had to get into taxis and make our way back.

In the morning, I met up with the Californian I had met in Dubrovnik whose route had taken her down to Turkey and had just arrived into the city. We wandered around, sampled some of the local food, and went into the Blue Mosque. However, being a Sunday and a national festival, the crowds were overwhelming. The heat too was extreme, and of course we were covering up so we could go into the mosque. Having exhausted myself, I decided to leave the Hagia Sophia for another day and spent a relaxing afternoon and evening walking around and reading in the terrace above the hostel.

The said hostel was in some ways perfect: ideally located, a roof terrace with fantastic views across the Bosphorous, several large communal areas with free internet access, and so on. However, there were some major flaws, which meant the place did not have the same atmosphere as I had experienced in Belgrade and Dubrovnik. The hostel was big, spread over four floors, and so when it came to finding the people who I had met on the first evening, the task was impossible. Over the course of the three nights I was there, there were only three people with whom I had a chance to speak to more than once - hardly the ideal atmosphere for cultivating friendships. For a solo traveller, this is rather disastrous, and was the main downpoint in a weekend that was otherwise enjoyable. There was one guy I met, however, who was one of the most interesting people I have had the opportunity to meet so far; unfortunately I could not find him on the last evening, so never got his contact details.

Ironically it's illegal to export antiques from Turkey.

On Monday I had more sightseeing planned but the Hagia Sophia was closed and for some reason I couldn't locate the Cistern until after closing time - two fairly major failures, which limited my sightseeing opportunities. However, I spent a good time in the Grand Bazaar - certainly an experience in itself, as I managed to resist the attempts of shopkeepers to sell me every description of item - and walked in the heat through the palace gardens. I have discovered that Istanbul is not a city that can be fully appreciated in three days, and in the end had to give up in my efforts to pack everything in. But on my final full day I did get the chance to meet with several of the locals, sharing lunch in a cafe with one (who said he could find me job if I could get my hands on a forged TEFL certificate) and playing dice in the evening at the hostel with another. The residents of Istanbul are for the most part greatly friendly, welcoming to strangers and eager to talk to you, which can all be slightly disconcerting for a Westerner who is used to passing people on the street with no acknowledgement. But for the most part it's a good thing - you just have to make sure they're not trying to sell you something.

On Tuesday I rose early to catch the ferry across the Bosphorous - this is necessary if you are to travel on to anywhere in the Asian part of the country over land. It may have been due to my expectations, but I immediately noticed a difference as I stepped onto the Asian continent. Perhaps it is because this part of the city sees less tourism, but I could not find anyone who spoke English. I managed to locate the station through a combination of luck, instinct and by miming my request for the locals, and boarded the train.

written by

BenWH on April 18, 2009 from Istanbul, Turkey

from the travel blog: Gap Year Odyssey

tagged Turkey

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