My time in Istanbul was spent with my two good friends Alyssa and Michaela during my spring as a student at the University of Aberdeen. Istanbul was our first destination for our spring break trip. 

 

I arrived at the Dublin Airport to board my flight to Istanbul. I had just spent a lovely week in Ireland with my parents. Boarding was supposed to commence but we were delayed for an hour. I think this was because the plane before us landed late. The flight was pretty good. We were fed a dinner, where I ate some kind of meatball dish. I only ate this and the warm roll. The other parts of the dinner did not look appetizing. A few hours into the flight, I began talking to the two women next to me. They were both from Ireland and it turns out that they did not know each other before this flight but they have mutual friends and work for the same company. They explained to me to never sit next to an Irish person on a plane because they will be extremely talkative and chances are, they will know someone that you know. The one lady works all the time in Turkey and the other lady was going to Egypt for a holiday. This lady explained that she just got her Masters in criminal psychology. These ladies were quite interesting to talk to. I landed at the New Istanbul Airport, which opened less than two weeks before my arrival. I had to purchase a short-term Visa to be able to travel in Turkey and showed this Visa during passport control. The lady did not even look at my Visa and I was asked no questions. I found this a bit odd. My passport control was more intense in Dublin and I did not even need a Visa for Ireland. I went down to baggage claim where I would wait two hours until Alyssa arrived. I went to connect to Wifi but no networks were working. I went to a lady who had an "Ask me for help" shirt on and asked her how I could connect to the Wifi. She stated that there is a problem with this and that I must have a Turkish SIM Card to connect to the Wifi. Well this sucked. What is the point of having a new international airport if you do not even have a Wifi network that all people can connect to. I needed Wifi to communicate with Alyssa as to where we would meet when she landed. I also had transport coming and I had no way to contact them if something happened.

 

After two hours of sitting and walking around the airport, I was getting concerned because Alyssa's flight should have landed but it still said that it was in the air. I was getting extremely worried that I wouldn't be able to find her. Suddenly I turned around and she was right there coming down the escalator. This brought so much relief to me. We headed to the arrivals area where we would get our transport to our hotel. We looked at the many signs with names but I did not see my name anywhere. I kept looking and looking but nothing. I tried contacting the driver but I could not because I did not have internet. I went over to a Wifi stand and purchased an hour of Wifi for 5 Euros. I attempted to call the driver and the company through which I booked the transport. No response. It was already an hour past the time that I was supposed to be picked up. The man at the Wifi stand took us over to a private transfer stand and we had to book a private transfer to our hotel instead. The charge was in the currency of Turkey (Turkish Lira) so we had no idea how much the transfer was. After a simple conversion, we found out the transfer was $104. This is significantly higher than the 30 pound transfer I booked. I have an investigation ongoing with this company. I am very frustrated with the situation. We got in this smokey, smelly van and drove off to the hotel. The traffic in Istanbul was insane. The driver told us we could smoke in the van if we wanted but we both declined his generous offer. He then asked if it was ok if he could smoke and I said no, I have asthma. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the hotel. We had no issues checking in. We went shopping around for food since we did not have a proper dinner (it was 11:00 by now). No one spoke English or took card. We ended up getting Pringles, biscuits and pretzels for dinner at a local convenient store that finally would take card. Michaela landed on the Asian side of Istanbul and we waited up for her to arrive.

 

The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel (cake, bread, and really weird cocoa puffs). We then left the hotel and went to the Blue Mosque. Girls must have their head covered in the mosque and no shoes are allowed. The mosque was under construction and was not as impressive or beautiful as I was expecting. There are mosques everywhere. Once you see one, you see them all. The Haga Sophia was far more impressive than the Blue Mosque. After these two mosques, we entered the Tokapi Palace gardens. I was shocked how beautiful the gardens were. It did not feel like we were in Istanbul. There were bright flowers everywhere and everything was so clean. I exchanged 20 Euros into Turkish lira and used some of this money to buy a dürüm kebap with just chicken. The chicken tasted fatty but I enjoyed this lunch.

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After lunch, we were determined to track down another Turkish treat- Lokmata. However, the walk was 45 minutes away from where we were. Lokamta are fried pieces of dough that are filled with chocolate and are then covered with more chocolate. Toppings such as biscuits, nuts, and Oreo crumbs can be added to the top to create a nice texture. The walk was definitely worth it. I really enjoyed my Lokamta.

 

We did not want to walk all the way back to the hotel which was about 1.5 hours walk away so we took a taxi to the Grand Bazaar for only 10 Euros. The Grand Bazaar is extremely cool. It is a huge indoor market selling clothing, food, and souvenir items. There are fake designer brands everywhere. I do not know how the sellers can legally sell these products. There are really cool lantern shops which would make quite the cool picture but all the lantern shops have "no picture" signs hanging up. This did not stop me. I tried to get a picture but I got yelled at. Oh well, I tried. Unfortunately, smoking is big in Istanbul and even inside the market. One of the highlights of my time in Istanbul was pretending to be German. I was posing as a German and Michaela as an Austrian. Together, we would only converse in German so that the locals would not know we were Americans. Alyssa does not know German so she was our mute friend. Pretending to be someone else played in our favor, as we got really good deals at the Bazaar. I must say that I have a really good "German speaking English" accent.

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After the Bazaar, we headed back to the hotel and found a restaurant for dinner. The dinner was extremely tasty. I got a pita cheese bread, fresh squeezed orange juice, and grilled chicken. I even tried a dessert called Kunife which is fried cheese soaked in a sweet syrup. I did not really like the taste but I am glad that I tried this traditional dish.

 

The Istanbul streets are absolutely crazy. The drivers zoom in and out of traffic and are constantly honking their horns. There are a ton of clothing, shoe, and purse stores around our hotel selling fake brands. At night, they seem to pack everything up into giant cardboard boxes and these men carry them on their back to who knows where. First, that was painful to watch these men carry these cumbersome boxes. Second, I do not understand why they pack everything up. I still would like clarification on this. This happened two nights in a row. The Turkish people that I interacted with spoke little or no English. This proved to be a challenge at times. There are so many stray cats and dogs... so many. There are also many child beggars. I would also like to mention how cheap Istanbul is. I bought three meals, candy, Lokamta, and a bus ticket with 20 Euros. This was one benefit of traveling in Istanbul. The people that I interacted with were not rude but were not friendly. I might have had a totally different interaction if I spoke Turkish.

 

Our last day in Istanbul was essentially a travel day. We checked out of the hotel and went to candy store to get some more of the candy that we had bought the previous night. We did not understand the weights so we asked for 1 kilo of Turkish Delight. The lady started piling handful after handful of Turkish Delight into these boxes. I just wanted some in a little bag so we had to stop her. She spoke no English so we had to buy the box that she filled. My favorite Turkish candy were these sugar coated orange slices. I could eat these for hours.

 

Now it was time to go to the airport and I attempted to flag down a taxi. This proved to be a challenge but within 15 minutes, I got a taxi for 15 Euros to take us to Taksim Bus station. The drive to the bus station was extremely hectic and scary but we arrived safely and promptly. The ride to the airport on the Asian side was supposed to take 1.5 hours but only took 40 minutes. The Asian side of Istanbul looks much nicer than the European side. I would like to visit the Asian side some day. There are so many beautiful flowers alongside the highway and these flowers and other plants are combined to create beautiful artwork. We arrived at the airport and had McDonald's for lunch since we did not have many options. After three hours of waiting, it was time to board my flight to Athens. Overall, I enjoyed my time in Istanbul! This city was not similar to any city I have ever visited. Istanbul was rich in culture. I just wish I could have experienced Turkish culture with a native person.