The Strife and Exhortation in the European Capital of Culture: Istanbul,Turkey

October 20- 27 and 29-30, 2012

The wind blew colder around 5 in the morning than in Thessaloniki, Greece when we arrived in bus station (otogar), Istanbul. We were waiting for the sun to go up. I could see the roaming people busy going in and out of the buses. “Where are we going now?” I asked. I still felt like dried leaves that any time I am going to fall. I felt so tired and I wanted to catch more sleep. I need to snap out of these worries. I am worried on what happen again in this unfamiliar place. We always follow our instincts and trust our map.

Up the road across the terminal, at the bus station we looked for Taksim. There was a guy who sold bus stubs for 7 TL, and he never gave us the tickets. I think we were being tricked. One thing I learned in Istanbul, be cautious and alert. You can't trust anyone. I am sucked with this unpredictable experience in every city in Europe. But, I know it is going to be fun. We didn't know the language and we didn't know where Taksim was. There was a guy who could speak English helped us and gave us direction on how to find our accommodation.

It is easy to find the Taksim because it is the center of Istanbul and there are Tourist Information centers where you can ask for free maps. In the Center, I could see thousands of people and tourists going back and forth along the famous avenue, Istikial Avenue.

You could also see clubs and bars, grocery shops, restaurants and shopping centers on each sides of the streets. At the end of the avenue, you could find the tunnel. It was constructed during the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz. It is second oldest subway system of the world.

Along the road as we walked down to look for the Kalyonco Kullugi Caddesi no. 79 on the map, we had the hard time finding the accommodation, but the funny thing was the SOHO hostel is just along the next street. As I was standing in front of the English Learning office when a serene sounded so loud. I didn't know that it warned me to stay away from the building premises. But anyway, I didn't stay long there because we'd found finally the accommodation. I was so exhausted. Bringing the heavy baggage with me, I went to my husband .

The night came and we had enough energy (after resting 2 hours), we didn't miss any single moment upon our arrival. We went immediately to the night market in Istanbul to see what their market can offer. You know Tibi loves market and bargain. I have to support him.

As we rode on the metro train towards the sea port of tranquility. I have reflected on our long journey of our trips – we had fights and misunderstanding. To the extent, we almost lost each other. Finally, we come to our last leg, TURKEY. “I will try my best to submit myself this time.”I thought. I was wrong because during our stay, there were times, we didn't talk and he even complained that I let him do everything from decision making to cooking the meal. I thought submission means letting him do everything and I just have to follow him was a good decision I made, but it was not.

One day, we had to go out and started our Istanbul exploration, I couldn't hold on the pain anymore. I broke down and cried... while walking,I had torn the map into pieces as burst out my anger.“Why are you torturing me like this? What should I do, so you won't stop blaming me?”. I cried.

I think there's no way out to fix this. I think this is true that you will know the person when you travel with him. It is not easy to travel with someone, but it makes memorable one when you had a fight.

For the sake of the trip to work out, we had to reconcile and make things fine again so we can explore and enjoy our stay in Istanbul, Turkey.

Here are the places we agreed to see despite of the conflict we had. (The descriptions you can read here were taken from Istanbul Cultural map.)

Towers and Monuments 

Hippodrome was commissioned by Septimus Severus for chariot races. It was enlarged by Constantine I in 325. The U-shaped race track was about 450 m long  and 130 wide. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators. The two obelisks and Serpentine Column, now sit in holes in a landscaped garden. We spent one night and day in this beautiful garden and we had taken a lot of pictures. You could also enjoy the colorful fountains nearby.

Galata Tower was built on the highest point of city walls, in the time of Genoese colony in 1384. In 16th century, it was used as dungeon for Kasimpasa fleet captives.  It had been also used as observatory, fire tower and was restored in 1967. We decided to get in the tower to see the panoramic view of the city and we did also take pictures from the outside because we have a lot of places that we need to see. The day was so beautiful and the sun was bright to walk down and explore the city. 

CITY WALLS AND GATES

While we were on the bus, we could see some remnants of the history which the orange brown walls made of clay bricks, along the city lane.  These walls were built through out the history, but did not survive. These were starting from Sirkeci and following Sarayburnu and Marmara shore used to reach the hills on which Hagia Sophia was found. Now, you could see the remaining clay bricks of these walls to prove of its existence. However, my heart broke when I saw the walls being ambushed by pain. Abandoned. When we were in the Tokapi Palace Gate walls, I saw some squatting gypsies on the space in between these walls - good enough to shelter them from the cold nights. Not only that, there were trashes all over. I felt so sad to see things like this. I have realized when you are tourists you see not only the beautiful spots, but also the ugly reality of it. I hope they will preserve their cultural heritage.

CHURCHES

We visited the Catholic church along the Taksim street, where most of the Filipino Overseas Workers went for Sunday gathering. 

The most highlight of the church visits was the Hagia Sophia.

Hagia Sophia is one of the magnificent masterpieces of world architectural history. It was originally built as a church. The construction began during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor and wooden roof burned down due to riot and no remains survived. What a sad story of this church! From the architectural viewpoint, it is made up of vast interior. It covers with a dome that has 30.31 m and 55 m of height.  Now, Hagia Sophia was changed into museum in 1934 and opened public in 1935. However, seeing the long queue of tourist who wanted to get in, we hesitantly left. Instead we went to the famous, Blue Mosque across of it. I just wonder why they call it Blue Mosque. Is it all in Blue? 

Before we went in, we saw outside, that there's a free seminar, understanding Islam, so we joined because it's free. I learned from the speaker that Islam and Christianity have the same origin and so we are brothers from Abraham. After that interesting insights, we went in the Blue Mosque reminding ourselves to follow their custom like wearing scarf and covered your body and removing your footwear as paying respect to the church. 

Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Kulliyah  is the only mosque that was originally built with six minarets. As the walls are adorned with world famous Iznik (blue) titles "Blue Mosque" all over the world.  It's architect was  Sedefkar Mehmet Aga. It's pulpit is decorated with mother of pearl while its interior walls and columns up to the second storey windows are sheathed with the richest tiles in various types. So beautiful, right? It is well-carpeted in red on the ground spaces inside. During our visit, we were given a chance to take few shots inside the church only until the designated lane because beyond that was a prayer area for the Muslims.

We also attempt to see their bridges like Galata bridge, Ataturk Bridge, the Golden horn and the famous one, Bosphorus Bridge,which looks like the Golden gate bridge in San Francisco USA.

"The bridge was completed on 30 October 1973, one day after the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey, and opened by President Fahri Korutürk and Prime Minister Naim Talu. The cost of the bridge amounted to USD 200 million ($1.03 billion in 2013 dollars).At the time the bridge was opened, much was made of its being the first bridge between Europe and Asia since the pontoon bridge of Xerxes in 480 BCE. That bridge, however, spanned the Hellespont (Dardanelles), some distance away from the Bosphorus." (wikipedia)

In the first four years, pedestrian could walk over the bridge, reaching it with elevators inside the towers on both sides. No pedestrians or commercial vehicles like trucks are allowed to use the bridge today. Because of this, all we could do is to watch the beautiful bridge closer from the port after a thousand miles walking attempt all the way from Taksim to Dolmabahce Palace and Museum (It was closed then for holidays, so we just took pictures and enjoyed the view). 

We were enticed by its beautiful glittering and sparkling series lights that were pleasing to our eyes at night from further opposite view in Galatia Bridge. That was another awesome walking attempt with my husband. When we went home, we agreed to get on a bus way back to Taksim. But this time along the way back home, we noticed some skyscrapers and buildings in the greenish park. The set-up looks like in Ayala heights business center. 

"Haaaahh," I yawned. "Finally, we are back to the hostel. Now we have to worry for our next trip out of the city." When I looked at the map, I can't imagined we've been walking around the big city of Istanbul. Suddenly, my stomach is growling. I get hungry. I think better I grab some food from this restaurant just across our place.

Some time after we came back from our Turkey trip (Gallapoli and Pamukkale),we need to move to another hostel – Gakkos Hostel. Before we got there, we saw the horrible side of Istanbul – the abandoned buildings occupied by the gypsies and homeless people. We were so scared and I could see on Tibi's eyes how afraid he was when three people were approaching us. We were walking fast as we could and we went out to unknown street. We started blaming each other and he blamed me for taking ahead of him and walking through Istiklal C.

I just kept my mouth shut and finding our way out before anyone could rob us. The place was really look like a ghost town and we saw a guy at the corner of the street praying and he told us that the street that we were looking for was at the next two corner. Thank God!!! What a relieve... after we found it. Seemingly, we were away from the center, but it wasn't hard to find our way back to Taksim.

Even there in our new hostel, we still have misunderstandings. There was a night when we didn't talk. But, we were trying to reach out for each other. Our room mate maybe noticed something wrong between the two of us, she approached me and had me read her message, asking if we were okay. Then I told her bluntly that we were. But, I thought there was really something wrong. I think traveling with a partner is more challenging than traveling alone.

On our last day in Istanbul, we did find our way to the Ataturk airport taking the bus 96T line bus for 4TL from the central Taksim around 8:20 in the morning. On the last day, we arrived at the airport two hours before the scheduled flight to Dubai, then at 9 p.m. from there we would be transferred to Thailand. While waiting on our seats, I saw a Muslim lady across our seats crying so loud. She was asking for help. Unfortunately she missed her flight. I felt so sorry for her. That is very expensive trip to lose and to miss. I looked him grinning and thought," Even we sometimes we disagree on some little things, but it's good that we agreed to come to the Airport two hours before the flight. I couldn't forgive myself if we missed the flight.

At last, Tibi and I felt better after our relationship went back to normal. May be we were just so stressful along this long journey. Love and hate are normal when you travel with a partner. Just be patient and show willingness to reconcile to avoid disastrous trip. I have no choice then, I have to stick with him or else he would leave me there having nothing - the worst thing would ever happen. If there's one thing I learn from this trip, I can't hate him for long.