Our plane landed in the middle of last night during a torrential downpour. We ogled minarets and narrow streets through foggy taxi windows, settled into our bunks, and woke this morning to explore the city on foot. It rained most of the day and we loved it. It was beautiful and made the streets look extra moody, the greens extra lush. We didn't have much of a plan for our first day, but our hostel is in the perfect location to stumble upon all the best that the old city has to offer.
We started our day at Sultanahmet Mosque, nicknamed the Blue Mosque. As crazy as it sounds, I felt so at home walking through the doors. My favorite class in college was Islamic humanities, and I honestly never get tired of mosaic arabesques and the melodic reading of the Quran. I made Matt stay for quite a long time so I could take it all in.
Interior of Sultanahmet Mosque
The rain was really coming down in droves after that, so we did what every single tourist in Istanbul did and tried to take cover at Topkapı Palace, which is stunning and grand and basically my dream home (if I were a lavish queen mother, of course). It reminded me a lot of my favorite places in southern Spain. We wandered through the harem and tried to imagine ourselves lounging on divans and poufs with iced desserts and taking dips in the palace pool with the sultan. Truly magical stuff.
I'm convinced that every single dog in Istanbul has the same dad—the canine sultan of the streets I call him—because they all have the exact same snout and build. I don't know if it's just because I miss my dog (thanks for sending videos, Mom and Dad!), but my heart is so full of love for these beautiful strays. They're mostly calm and friendly, and I just about lose it when I see them trot around and slump into an adorable nap. The first thing I googled when I got back to wifi was "stray dogs of Istanbul," so now I'm all emotionally involved in the welfare of Turkey's not-so-wild life. Not surprising.
After a few hours on the palace grounds, we wound our way uphill to the neighborhood of the Grand Bazaar. Because we're traveling with backpacks, we didn't spend much time shopping. The bazaar is a labyrinth of gold bangle salesmen and glorious kebap smells, but most of it is just as touristy as everyone says. I did eye a few rugs pretty seriously though. Once a rug addict, always a rug addict.
In the late afternoon we stumbled upon the beautiful cat-filled cemetery behind the Süleymaniye Mosque, which is truly an architectural marvel. The grounds were a perfect escape from the bustle of town. The kittens seem to think so too. While my Istanbullus dog obsession is to be expected, I never imagined that one day in this city could turn me into a full-fledged cat lover. Every time I saw one licking its paws I told Matt to take a picture. My goal is to have a lifetime supply (of photos, not cats) by the end of our four days here.
One rug salesman told me my hat made me look Australian. Another said it made me look Turkish. We took dinner recommendations from the latter and were rewarded handsomely for our decision in the form of yaprak sarma.
We accidentally found the Spice Bazaar as we were using the view of the Bosphorus to guide us back toward the Sultanhamet neighborhood. I insisted we buy a sampling of Turkish delight because Narnia, obviously. Also so we could say we've eaten Turkish delight in delightful Turkey. It was way more delicious than the Turkish delight I had in fifth grade when a kid brought it in with his book report.
One of my absolute favorite moments from today was when we were walking down a steep cobblestone hill and within a matter of minutes, a fluffy-headed kitten made faces at us through a shop window, a flock of loud birds nearly took off Matt's head, the third round of midday fireworks went off only a block away, and the call to prayer began. Call to prayer is amazing here. With so many mosques, you can hear it echoing from towers everywhere you go.
By this point our untrained walking legs were basically toast, so we decided to take an accidental two-mile detour through Gülhane Park, which has a seriously impressive tulip collection. I also took a photo of Matt because he'd been the camera man most of the day and that's why there are too many dumb pictures of my face.
We were home by nightfall mostly due to another storm, but tomorrow we'll try to act more like we're in our twenties instead of our seventies and get a feel for the city at night.
So far, Istanbul is a dream.
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