Turkish Delights: Ancient Wonders, Palaces, and Belly Dancers!

Istanbul - a view from the train

"You don't choose a carpet; it chooses you" read the promotional material delivered to our ship cabin. That meant one thing, we were nearly in Turkey. But I (Jahda) will get back to the carpets in a minute.

We were particularly looking forward to visiting Turkey and it been on Amanda's wish list ever since her dad had regaled her with tales of his visit to Istanbul and the famed 'grand bazaar' when he was an officer in the Australian army. We had deliberately chosen this particular Mediterranean cruise because it went east all the way to Turkey and stopped in two separate and quite different Turkish ports.

A taste of the mosaics in Topkapi palace - more below

First stop - Kusadasi, which is one of the ports near Ephesus. Second stop - Istanbul.

We arrived in Kusadasi earlier than planned because we were unable to stop at the party island of Mykonos due to high winds. The captain made some calls and managed to get us a berth in Kusadasi the night before our scheduled visit. For most people the highlights of Kusadasi are a trip to the ruins of Ephesus or the chance to buy a Turkish carpet. We chose Ephesus.

The famed entryway and arena of Ephesus!

As always there was a range of tours available for purchase on the ship at exorbitant prices, so being comparatively young and filled with confidence from 4 months of traveling, we chose to make our own way there. Not having done much research we made a beeline straight for the tourist information centre. Here they told us we could hire a taxi to Ephesus and back, which it turns out would cost almost as much as the ship's tour because there were only two of us (in a group of four it's definitely a more viable option) or we could catch a local mini bus/van known as a 'dolmus'. The only catch was we would have to walk about 40 minutes to the bus stop or catch a taxi to the bus stop! As the sun was starting to burn down and I had forgotten my hat, we caught a taxi to our dolmus and then jumped on board. It was still much cheaper than an official tour.

The name dolmus comes from the word dolma, which means stuffed. You may have eaten a dolmade before - its a vine leaf stuffed with a mixture of rice, nuts, lemon and herbs. It gets it's name from the same word. In this case, we were the rice and the mini van was to be the vine leaf. It turned out to be okay though. Everyone gets their own seat. The reference to 'stuffed' simply means that the van waits until it is full before departing. It's good value too, costing just a few euro.

The dolmus dropped us off on the side of the highway with the driver announcing this was Ephesus. It didn't look like Ephesus. It looked like the side of a highway in the middle of Turkey with dried grass baking in the sun (remember I had left my hat behind). It's amazing how quickly your confidence can fade. Thankfully though, four of our fellow passengers were also on their way to Ephesus. So we set out up the road the driver had pointed to. At this point we encountered a couple of Turkish taxi drivers. The little bit of research we had done made it very clear not to trust taxi drivers in Turkey, so when the taxi driver started to tell us this was the wrong entrance... that we'd gotten off at the exit... that he would drive us to the entrance and then pick us up again from the exit when we had finished... We did start to wonder. Remember, we couldn't even see Ephesus at this point. Then the bartering began, but we all stuck to our guns and kept walking. A minute later the taxi drove up to us and started again. This time he was armed with a map showing us the entrance and the exit. Something didn't add up for us, especially since the tourist information centre told us the dolma would take us there. So when our fellow travelers relented and got in the taxi, we kept walking, wondering if we were being fools... and if I was getting sunburnt. A minute later another taxi drove past and we asked for directions. His look betrayed both scorn and bemusement (clearly seeing us as the clueless tourists we were) as he responded, 'over the hill about a 5 minute walk'.

Sure enough, 5 minutes later we were in Ephesus. The first taxi driver had in fact lied to us as both ends of the Ephesus site were both entrances and exits. Fortunately, there were tourist shops everywhere, so armed (or is that 'headed') with a new hat, we set out exploring.

We did our usual sight-seeing thing - walking around trying to imagine what life was like where we were thousands of years ago, listening in to the occasional tour guide, and of course taking photos. For me the highlights were seeing the main road down to what used to be a port (now several kilometres inland), seeing the famous facade of the library, seeing the spot where once stood the famous temple of Artemis, which was one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world, and reflecting on what it was like there for the early church.

The ancient library of Ephesus

Back in Kusadasi, we decided to walk the 40 minutes back to our ship and we meandered through open fresh produce markets where Amanda bought some bee pollen (full of micro-nutrients and other things I'm told); criss-crossed alleyways selling all manner of items from cheap junk to leather jackets, to Turkish lamps, and carved boxes; and we stopped to try Turkish ice cream. I can't actually eat ice-cream but Amanda assures me it was delicious and had a more tacky texture than normal ice cream.

Another thing in abundant supply in Kusadasi was purveyors of fine Turkish carpets - either large handmade woolen carpets or the smaller silk variety that some people buy to hang on their walls. The promotional materially we were given on the ship helpfully warned us that, 'buying a carpet is an emotional experience'. We weren't entirely sure what this meant until curiosity got the better of us and we checked the prices of a couple of carpets. Wow. There was a whole other cruise right there in that price tag. Around the dinner table a few nights later we met some fellow passengers who had 'been chosen' by a carpet and decided to splurge. The promotional material was right... it was definitely an emotional experience... "I just spent how much on a carpet?!"

Back on the ship we enjoyed a special BBQ of Turkish treats, including baklava and turkish delights for dessert. Mmmm, yum.

One of the baklava-style treats we saw..yum!

Overnight, we sailed through the Dardanelles, which is where the battle of Gallipoli was fought. It's an iconic battle in Australia's wartime history and a lot of lives were lost. We ended up sailing past at about three or four in the morning, so we were fast asleep. Although, I think the guy we met who used to be in the SAS (Australia's most elite soldiers) would have been awake. I sometimes wonder what he would have been thinking about as we sailed passed.

The next day we made port in Istanbul...

Check out the green man's moustache!

First though, there is a story from our fellow travelers that I can't resist sharing. While enjoying our Turkish dinner we struck up a conversation with some fellow passengers. One of them recounted how a friend had been surprised to see China's influence in this part of the world. This got our attention so we took the bait and asked what sort of influence they were talking about and how they knew about it. They weren't too sure on the first part except there seemed to be a general presence. But the clincher is HOW they knew... Apparently they'd seen lots of Chinese flags! We agreed this was remarkable, until we realised they were actually talking about the Turkish flag. Oh dear. Well, I guess if you're not familiar with any flag other than your own star spangled banner, the red and yellow combination could get a little confusing. I wonder what they would confuse the Aussie flag with... Great Britain?!
So to Istanbul... So much to see, so little time. The good news was we were here overnight so had a day and a half to explore and we were coming back in a few weeks to stay with some friends.

When the ship offered a shuttle bus to the main tourist area for about 15 euro we figured there must be a local transport option! Sure enough, there was a tram/light rail set up right near the port that would take us all the way in. It could get a little crowded at times, but in a city of around 14 million people with both Asian and European history - what do you expect!?

We went to the blue mosque first. We had to wait outside a while as evening prayers were underway when we arrived. It gave us a chance to hang out and just observe locals and tourists coming and going, which is always interesting. Amanda made friends with a young girl - she didn't seem to speak English and we didn't speak Turkish, but it's amazing how easily the language barrier can be crossed with a big smile and a pair of funny looking 'toe shoes'.

The Blue Mosque in miniature

After visiting the mosque, most everything else had closed for the evening so we walked to the grand bazaar and had a quick look. After having our expectations built up we were disappointed to discover that these days it feels like a bit of a tourist shopping centre, just in a different shape and with some sections of of walls and roofs restored from ages past. Amanda was keen to buy a couple of Turkish lamps, but we were coming back in a few weeks so we decided to wait.

Grand bazaar - image sourced online as ours didn't work

The next day we explored the Hagia Sofia, which is the church Justinian built around 530 AD (there were two previous churches on the site dating back to 360 AD but both were destroyed by rioters). It was then converted to a mosque when Turkey was taken over by Ottoman Turks. In more recent times there was fierce disagreement over whether it should be a mosque or a church, so after 1100 years as a church and another 500 as a mosque, they turned it into a museum instead. The main building is actually much bigger than it's neighbour, the blue mosque. It's also considered by some as the epitome of Byzantine architecture with a square building and a dome roof. Others have struggled to replicate in the same proportions. It's quite something to behold.

Inside, it is quite cavernous, with two levels and one main, massive hall surrounded by a couple of hallways. There was the customary line up of tourists waiting for their turn to stick their thumb in a hole in the Sofia's marble column... If it comes out wet, it's supposed to bring you good luck. Joining in the queue (really, when would be back?), I did think to myself how amazing it was that there are people that still think humans are rational creatures.

Spot Jahda! (bottom right)

After our dose of good luck...and some hand sanitizer to prevent a dose of something else, we then explored the rest of the Sofia. Without a guide or a guide book or anything really, we just stumbled around enjoying it as we saw it. We were glad to come across a series of mosaics from the Sofia's time as a church. Some are almost fully intact while others are only partially there. It's amazing anything is there at all because when the Ottomans first took over they plastered over all the old walls - mosaics and all. Now that's quality workmanship...? I'm surprised they didn't rip them down, but we, like thousands of tourists before us, we're glad they didn't.

After a few more minutes just sitting on the edge of the great hall, staring in wonder at the dome ceiling and this great, old church, we made a dash for our last stop in Istanbul - the Topkapi Palace.

If you're going to live in a palace, this is the one you should live in. Built on a bank overlooking the Marmara sea as it becomes the Boshporus straight (which separates Europe and Asia), it is a luxurious and expansive abode with 'location, location, location'. Why settle for a million dollar view overlooking one continent when you can have one that looks down on two continents?

The palace was mostly flat with only one above ground level in most places. It had many wings and many individual rooms - some for relaxing, some for entertaining, some as private quarters and one 'circumcision' room (*cringe followed by a shudder). A number of these rooms were floor to ceiling in tiles, mosaics, and marble columns.

One of the mosaic walls in the Topkapi palace circumcision room

We endured quite a crush to get into the palace in the first place. It seemed it was where everyone wanted to be this particular day and there was no such thing as a line. I felt like I was in high school again, waiting in the crush of students to try and get a space (standing room only) on the 3.35pm bus to Petrie station. Wow, I never thought those skills would come in handy again. Then we discovered why - the palace was loaded with Treasures... Swords from this era, vases from that era, jewels from all over the world, including some very very big diamonds and golden ornaments. Apparently, much of it was a gift to Muhummed's tomb... but he seems to get a lot of gifts as these were now back on display in the palace. We then saw a bunch of people 'queuing' for another room so we joined them and discovered it allegedly contained King David's sword and Moses' staff... Oh, and Muhummed's footprint and tooth. Quite a collection apparently acquired when Sultan Selim 1 conquered Egypt Around 1517.

A ceiling in Topkapi place

After so much magnificence we were getting hungry and our ship was about an hour from disembarking, so we caught the tram back to the ship bypassing all the delicious looking turkish delight and walking straight past this guy, a security guard with his hookah pipe:

Back on board, we enjoyed another feast while watching a belly dancer do her best to throw her back out (she was actually quite good), joined in some ship board activities , and madly tried to find some intel on our next port - which turned out to be Split, Croatia.

~Jahda